Books Varieties of Religious Experience by William James has kind of stopped being an interesting read. The dude is smart and he has points worth hearing, but he meanders and rambles for way too long. The thing is over four hundred pages, I bet it could have easily been condensed down to 100-150 if he'd just get to the point. Yes, I know they're collections of lectures and all the caveats that go with that, but still though. I think the thing that gets me the most though, is that he constantly uses anecdotes to support his arguments, which is cool for a guy like me and technically probably an okay thing for a scientist from the 1800s, but compared to Dataclysm that Dala's reading right now that I stole a glimpse or two from, it's just not up to modern snuff. I want some numbers and statistics. I want some studies. I don't want a quote from Grandpa who was suffering an episode of night terrors. I'm doing a Secret Santa thing that involves books. The only clues I have for the person is they like history, biography, and reading The New York Times. I'm gonna head to one of the local book shops today and see what they have that I think might be interesting. Panama/Paradise Papers Remember last year's Panama Papers? Well, now they're followed up by a different company from a seemingly different country with a collection of leaked documents called The Paradise Papers. It strikes me as crazy that not many people seem to be talking about them (Unless you're The Guardian, then you're not shutting up about them). I got into a huge argument with someone yesterday about them because we were talking about this whole tax reform bill and I said maybe if companies like Apple paid their fair share this shit would be easier to figure out. Words were exchanged, I got called "a limp wristed liberal" and for some reason, for that insult, I will now hate Apple forever and ever for being a bunch of tax dodging fuck heads. Well that and the whole depriving our country of needed income for repairing roads, building schools, etc. Holiday Shopping I'm not gonna get much this year, but with the exception of two items I got already from big box stores because that's the only place they can be found, I think this year I'm gonna buy all local. I think it's the right thing to do.
This whole tax thing is pissing me off. Big companies can evade billions in taxes, but if Trump's tax plan goes through, I'll have to pay taxes on my tuition waiver -- which by most estimates will double what I owe. Fuck. I was so happy to be finally making five figures...all I want is to be able to not lose money while I'm finishing up school.
Money is a game for rich people and a life-and-death struggle for poor people. This allows the rich people to make gambits and feints that poor people simply can't afford. As such, they are much better at their game which tends to cost the poor a lot in their life-and-death struggle.
NYT and WaPo are both providing little pokes from the Paradise Papers whenever they can work them into their Trump narratives. I suspect the new model is "we can't make the audience care about this abstract thing right now when there's so much concrete bullshit going on so we'll use it as a database to fill out our coverage wherever we can." It is extremely difficult to make rank-and-file citizenry care about the particulars of how the rich are fucking them over, particularly when they have known forever that the rich are fucking them over and the ones being fucked the hardest have somehow decided a fake billionaire has their best interests at heart.
The whole subject really gets to me for two reasons. One, I can't imagine it'd be that hard to make laws to prevent tax dodging. Are you a company with an American presence? Bam! Show all your paperwork for all your business in all countries and then we'll figure out your tax rate from there. Or something, I dunno. I'm not a lawyer but sometimes I wish I wrote laws. The big thing though? I was raised in thinking that paying taxes is something you do out of civic duty, out of love for your country and neighbors. So tax dodging? That's a pretty big "fuck you." I think if other people saw it that way, they'd feel the same. But no, I get lame arguments like "If America didn't allow these loopholes to exist, these businesses would take their business elsewhere and we'd miss out" and I don't even know how to begin to argue against that.
The problem is, other countries don't require this. Thus, the Republicans point to how unfair you're being and point out that you're driving jobs abroad. And they have a point. One shitty thing about the Panama/Paradise papers: due to the way taxes in the United States are subject to state as well as federal control, Nevada, Delaware and other states end up being every bit as adequate as tax havens as Bermuda or the Azores. There weren't that many American citizens implicated in either dump because there didn't have to be. Now - so long as the banking industry controls Nevada and Delaware legislatures, don't expect much in the way of change. That said, the Obama administration's taxation and revenue department grew some real teeth. it's the most successful funds repatriation organization in the world. Piketty singled them out at great length and pointed out that if every country did what the US is doing, it would increase taxable revenues by something like 3 trillion dollars. With just the US alone that number was something unreal like 1.4 trillion. Now if only we hadn't spent $5.6 trillion on war.Are you a company with an American presence? Bam! Show all your paperwork for all your business in all countries and then we'll figure out your tax rate from there.
Lemme let you in on a secret, my friend. The government doesn't make anything. It doesn't produce a product. It doesn't sell anything. So the ONLY tool that your elected representatives have to negotiate with are Tax Breaks. Wanna know why the tax code is so fucked up and Byzantine? Because it is the ONLY tool they have, and when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Wanna know why EVERY SINGLE news story and conversation about government legislation is about taxes? Because that's the context in which ALL of their conversations and negotiations take place. "Here is a way I can benefit my donors by lowering their taxes, and pushing that cost off onto someone else with less money to spend on my campaign. And yet, taxes are one of the smallest expenses for any business or individual in America. So if they can keep you focused over here on this little tiny corner called "taxes", they don't have to actually deal with the real problems we face, that need real solutions. "One, I can't imagine it'd be that hard to make laws to prevent tax dodging."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16_Fighting_Falcon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoover_Dam Except resources, federal land, weapon, food, and aid to other countries, manpower, technology, etc. to businesses and other nations all the time. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/nov/08/trump-att-time-warner-takeover-threaten-deal https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/10/08/555879601/betsy-devos-first-semester-a-status-report CTRL-F-"Taxes" Results=0 I mean, I kind of agree with you there, but we could have gotten to this point without the hyperbole. The fact of that matter is though, the government both writes the tax laws and collects taxes. They literally have the power to prevent this shit. They could at least try to do something to put a stop to these shenanigans, instead of allowing loopholes so big you can fit the GDP of a micro-nation through them.The government doesn't make anything. It doesn't produce a product.
It doesn't sell anything.
Wanna know why EVERY SINGLE news story and conversation about government legislation is about taxes?
So if they can keep you focused over here on this little tiny corner called "taxes", they don't have to actually deal with the real problems we face, that need real solutions.
Every single one of those loopholes was intentionally put there, so someone could use it. The tax system is complex, but it is well understood by those who know how to use it. It's not like the benefits the rich get from all these loopholes were unintended consequences of tax law designed to help the majority. (Pedantic Detail: The highway system, the internet, Hoover Dam, the F16, and Betsy DeVos' entire budget, were all paid for with tax money. The problem is that the loopholes designed into the system allow some people to get off without paying their fare share, putting an inordinate burden on those who will benefit the least from those paid-for-with-taxes projects.)