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How much taxes do Americans actually pay? Compared to other first world nations? Because the level of bitching is astronomical.
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# ? Mar 12, 2010 07:17 |
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# ? May 13, 2024 21:31 |
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freebooter posted:How much taxes do Americans actually pay? Compared to other first world nations? Because the level of bitching is astronomical. I pay about 40% if you include state taxes.
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# ? Mar 12, 2010 07:24 |
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freebooter posted:How much taxes do Americans actually pay? Compared to other first world nations? Because the level of bitching is astronomical. Much less, usually, especially for sales taxes.
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# ? Mar 12, 2010 08:21 |
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quote:How much taxes do Americans actually pay? Compared to other first world nations? Because the level of bitching is astronomical. (Source, 2008 has incomplete data)
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# ? Mar 12, 2010 09:40 |
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But is it actually scaled according to income? Or is it flat rate for everybody? I'm Australian and I pay about 12 -15%, but I earn less than 30 grand a year. I (and maybe all Australians, dunno about high incomer earners) also get a significant amount back from what they took off me, at the end of the financial year.
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# ? Mar 12, 2010 12:29 |
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freebooter posted:But is it actually scaled according to income? Or is it flat rate for everybody? It's average tax burden as a percentage. For example, you think your tax burden is 12-15%, but there's also the 10% GST in there as well, as well as excise taxes on Tobacco, Petrol and Alcohol. Therefore your tax burden even at such a low income rate is still going to be closer to 17-22%. For firmer numbers, in my case, I paid 22.3% tax last year, and then if you figure the 10% GST on my non-mortgage non-fresh food income that raises it to a fraction under 30%. Seeing how I'm earning almost dead on the the average wage for an Australian, and I didn't have to pay other taxes like Stamp Duty or Capital Gains tax last year you can see how the burden works out. Australia has it much easier, as we have a national income tax, no state income tax and GST included in the price of every item, so rather then getting obviously hit up on every transaction, we get one lump of pain mid-year and then we forget about it. Which is why last election public opinion polls said Australians wanted higher taxes for more services, and why we have nowhere near the widespread anti-tax loon contingent as what you see here, thus bringing my post back on topic.
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# ? Mar 12, 2010 13:26 |
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got this one today, my response at the bottom.quote:GRRRRRRRRRR...! I'M MAD AND YOU SHOULD BE TOO! Medicare premiums are not going up $285.60 and in many cases not at all. http://questions.medicare.gov/cgi-bin/medicare.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2260 Congress voted in March NOT to give themselves a pay increase. Public Law 111-8, the Omnibus Appropriation Act, was signed March 11 and has a specific pay freeze provision. http://factcheck.org//2009/09/a-zero-pay-raise-for-congress-too/ Yes, there will not be a COLA increase for those receiving Social Security, but not because of an act of Congress. The COLA is tied to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) and has been for the last 35 years. For the first time in those 35 years, the cost of living has gone down, not up. http://www.factcheck.org/2009/09/social-security-cola/
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# ? Mar 15, 2010 06:05 |
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Were there pictures in that email or did they really space it out that much?
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# ? Mar 15, 2010 06:20 |
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horrible horrible "3D" gifs
the tingler fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Mar 15, 2010 |
# ? Mar 15, 2010 15:37 |
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Got a new one from my step-dad today:quote:Here is another one of those uneducated, radical, right-wing extremists that doesn't like Obama just because he is black ---- well, may be that's not the only reason........
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# ? Mar 19, 2010 15:33 |
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When will the white man get his chance? All those blacks putting all those black presidents into power. I mean, it's not like the black population is what, 12 percent of the total population.
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# ? Mar 19, 2010 15:39 |
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There's nothing of substance in her words. Some people voted for Obama simply because he's black; on the other hand, some people voted for McCain or a write-in simply because Obama is black. That argument works for either side. The rest of it is bullshit political buzzwords that don't address any form of policy. Obama will take away our liberties? How the gently caress do you become a professor and possess a complete lack of shame when it comes to not citing any of your claims?
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# ? Mar 19, 2010 17:24 |
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My town's newspaper published this a couple of months after Obama won the presidency. I thought it was funny that they managed to find the one black person who agreed with them. My mother-in-law actually photocopied it and snail-mailed it to everyone. Also, a few Google searches reveal Anne Wortham to be an Objectivist (read: Randroid).
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# ? Mar 19, 2010 17:26 |
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Finally some sour grapes for this smoothie I'm making
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# ? Mar 19, 2010 17:31 |
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Got this today, barely qualifies but the message is clear - illegals are pampered while the troops are ignored. I have no idea who Maxine is.quote:One of Maxine's best!!!!!!!!! The last line was in giant, red, comic sans.
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# ? Mar 20, 2010 15:48 |
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quote:REMEMBER ALL OF OUR MILITARY!!!!! So, what you are saying is that this Maxine person supports repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell?
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# ? Mar 20, 2010 16:28 |
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American troop worship is loving creepy. Even creepier are the people who are blind to it and convinced that the government hates the troops (much like the media is liberal).
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# ? Mar 20, 2010 16:40 |
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Here's a great new one:quote:Hmmmmmmmmmmm
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# ? Mar 20, 2010 19:00 |
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You should have posted the pictures if I remember correctly most of the mug shots were black. Edit: NVM somehow they didnt load before.
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# ? Mar 20, 2010 19:27 |
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Mordiceius posted:Here's a great new one: That isn't new it all. I swear it dates from a year ago. http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/mugshots.asp snopses say Jan 2009. It's from a collection of over ten thousand mug shots.
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# ? Mar 20, 2010 20:14 |
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I remember that thesmokinggun did that section as part of their weekly mugshot roundup. I bet there were people arrested wearing Bush shirts, but that's not as interesting. Also, I dont have the resourses to look.
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# ? Mar 20, 2010 21:07 |
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Astra posted:I bet there were people arrested wearing Bush shirts, but that's not as interesting. Also, I dont have the resourses to look. I can't really recall people sporting Bush/Cheney shirts. I'm sure they exist, but I don't really remember seeing people wear them, and I live in about the most Bush-centric area there is. Bumper stickers, sure, but T-shirts? No.
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# ? Mar 21, 2010 00:05 |
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Obama had a real cult of personality during his campaign. Not really since Kennedy has a politician been a real celebrity I think, if that makes sense.
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# ? Mar 21, 2010 00:35 |
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I'm sure a lot of people were arrested wearing Bart Simpson shirts in the early 1990s.
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# ? Mar 21, 2010 00:40 |
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Probably but Bush Sr. jumped on that already.
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# ? Mar 21, 2010 00:54 |
I think the T-Shirt craze started ~2004 because I'm hard pressed to think of examples of Clinton, Dole and older candidates selling shirts with VOTE CLINTON/DOLE/JAMES K. POLK.
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# ? Mar 21, 2010 03:11 |
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freebooter posted:American troop worship is loving creepy. Even creepier are the people who are blind to it and convinced that the government hates the troops (much like the media is liberal). Creepy isn't the right word. There are many people out there who booed and spit on returning Vietnam troops and now feel remorse and embarrassment. They have realized that while they may disagree politically or ideologically, the people who go out and give their time, limbs and lives are worthy of our respect and friendship. It isn't worship, it is deference for a person who has sacrificed. I do agree that people who try to portray the democrats as anti-troop are scumbags and this also causes a certain amount of overcompensating on the part of liberals.
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# ? Mar 21, 2010 05:36 |
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wormil posted:Creepy isn't the right word. There are many people out there who booed and spit on returning Vietnam troops and now feel remorse and embarrassment. They have realized that while they may disagree politically or ideologically, the people who go out and give their time, limbs and lives are worthy of our respect and friendship. It isn't worship, it is deference for a person who has sacrificed. A lot of those people who spat on the vietnam troops weren't hippies. They were world world 2 vets as well as korean war vets and Vietnam war supporters who thought the Vietnam troops were pussies for not doing the job.
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# ? Mar 21, 2010 13:40 |
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notcreativeenough posted:A lot of those people who spat on the vietnam troops weren't hippies. They were world world 2 vets as well as korean war vets and Vietnam war supporters who thought the Vietnam troops were pussies for not doing the job. Citation? Would be a good little fact to have on hand in next time that gets brought up.
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# ? Mar 21, 2010 13:44 |
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JamesJBuffalkill posted:Citation? Would be a good little fact to have on hand in next time that gets brought up. I think you might have trouble coming up with documentation of Vietnam vets getting spit upon in the first place, this seems to be one of those things that have passed into popular legend.
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# ? Mar 21, 2010 17:39 |
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JamesJBuffalkill posted:Citation? Would be a good little fact to have on hand in next time that gets brought up. http://www.salem-news.com/articles/february252008/vietnam_protest_2-25-08.php suggests from one Vietnam era protestor that the spitters were in reality working for the US gov't. The American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars did however not want anything to do with Vietnam Vets. If you do the research on how Vietnam vets were treated by the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars as well as how the World War 2 and Korean War people treated Vietnam vets you would have seen far more hatred and vile attitude towards the Vietnam vets came from the military and conservative side.
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# ? Mar 21, 2010 20:21 |
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Mordiceius posted:Here's a great new one:
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# ? Mar 21, 2010 22:03 |
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This is from facebook, used unironically as an ad hominen attack last night after the house passed it's legislation:quote:Maybe you all are a bunch of MORANS! I can certainly tell none of you are parents. I could careless if you win this debate or not? I'm entitled to my opinion and i really don't care about yours. If I recall this was a conversation between *Person A* and I so you can keep out of it!!!!!!! Note third sentence. Is poster unsure of whether to be careless or not?
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# ? Mar 22, 2010 18:56 |
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notcreativeenough posted:A lot of those people who spat on the vietnam troops weren't hippies. They were world world 2 vets as well as korean war vets and Vietnam war supporters who thought the Vietnam troops were pussies for not doing the job. The point isn't about spitting, it is about the attitudes that greeted returning vets which persisted well into the 80's. It wasn't until Reagan cleaned up the military and flexed a little muscle in Grenada that attitudes began to change. And let me tell you something, I guarantee you there were no WWII vets spitting on soldiers. And there is no doubt in my mind that soldiers were spit on.
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# ? Mar 22, 2010 19:44 |
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wormil posted:The point isn't about spitting, it is about the attitudes that greeted returning vets which persisted well into the 80's. It wasn't until Reagan cleaned up the military and flexed a little muscle in Grenada that attitudes began to change. Then explain the hatred and hostility emitting when Vietnam Vets went to the VA or into American Legion places. Sorry but most of the poo poo the Vietnam Vets got was from Conservatives. Many vietnam vets joined the end the war movement.
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# ? Mar 22, 2010 19:58 |
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Thank you health care bill. You are the best way, after gay marriage, for me to determine what family members on facebook are insane and I should never have contact with. We couldn't do it without ya!
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# ? Mar 22, 2010 20:48 |
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notcreativeenough posted:Then explain the hatred and hostility emitting when Vietnam Vets went to the VA or into American Legion places. Sorry but most of the poo poo the Vietnam Vets got was from Conservatives. Many vietnam vets joined the end the war movement. I'm not an expert or anything but when a large mass of very young people start pouring into the ranks of an old people's club I don't generally expect the old people to be happy about it. You can add in a litany of other circumstances if you want but that alone would explain it for me.
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# ? Mar 22, 2010 21:50 |
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If anyone is curious about spitting on soldiers during Vietnam, I urge you, urge you, urge you to check out Homecoming by Bob Greene. It has a lot more than just stories about being spat on, of course. It's more of a general book of letters about the experiences of returning vets. Greene posed the question to the general public, "Were troops spat on?" and got a huge number of responses. This book is the result. It's divided up into the following sections: "Yes, It Did Happen...It Happened to Me" "I Was Never Spat Upon" "We Wanted a Soldier at Our Table" "Some Things Are Worse Than Being Spat On" (which is the largest section) "I Would Like to Tell Another Side of the Story" I especially recommend this book if you enjoyed Studs Terkel's The Good War.
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# ? Mar 22, 2010 22:05 |
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cheerfullydrab posted:If anyone is curious about spitting on soldiers during Vietnam, I urge you, urge you, urge you to check out Homecoming by Bob Greene. It has a lot more than just stories about being spat on, of course. It's more of a general book of letters about the experiences of returning vets. One of my links in a prior response dealt with a criticism of Greene's book and the whole vietnam vets being spat on by hippies meme. One thing was how all the details were pretty much the same like an urban legend being passed around.
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# ? Mar 22, 2010 22:08 |
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# ? May 13, 2024 21:31 |
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notcreativeenough posted:One of my links in a prior response dealt with a criticism of Greene's book and the whole vietnam vets being spat on by hippies meme. One thing was how all the details were pretty much the same like an urban legend being passed around. quote:On the other hand, Columnist Bob Greene's 1989 book Homecoming summarizes interviews with several dozen Vietnam veterans and focuses on firsthand accounts of mistreatment from anti-war protesters. He claims that protesters did indeed commit these acts. This article basically says "Greene made a claim", then adds in some pointless innuendo about Greene to muddy up the waters, then has a pointless paragraph that states nothing. How is that in any way a criticism of the things that are in Greene's book? Remember, the book is not Bob Greene telling you stories or Bob Greene telling you his opinions about the war or how returning soldiers were treated. It's a collection of letters from veterans about their experiences. The fact that he never went to Vietnam doesn't have a drat thing to do with the content of the book because it's got very little Bob Greene in it. Also it's got a lot more in it than stories about spitting on soldiers. Look at the sections I listed in my previous post. Teriyaki Hairpiece fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Mar 22, 2010 |
# ? Mar 22, 2010 22:22 |