I like it. Er, like it until about four years ago. So everyone minus one.

.....

Absolutely right. I live in the reddest state in the nation. If you don't have healthcare or a job here, you are generally seen as a lazy piece of garbage that deserves to die.
We also have the highest rate of mental illness.

.....

why would anyone like it?
coincidence?

Not going into it here. This thread is about life's big and small gripes. Let's just say health care is definitely not one of my gripes.

And yes, Scandinavian Countries, and Countries like germany, Canada etc. are doing it right. Raise the the taxes for everyone a bit, so that visiting a hospital doesn't ruin you financially. I've also heard about US insurances always trying to find reasons in order to avoid payment but thats another story.

.....

I don't think those people have understood what communism or socialism means. I also partially blame the republican party for consisting of ignorant (sometimes even stupid and racist) and incredibly reckless people who have absolutely no ties to the poor working class and think everyone who is poor is just lazy.

Some top-notch analysis going on, I see.

Here's an example of how greedy we are, from this working-man's perspective:

- Effective federal tax rate of 28% on a five-figure income
- State income tax of around 6.5%
- FICA tax rate of 15.3%
- Personal property tax that currently amounts to about 2.7% (this will be going up due to a school referendum in the next year or two)
- Local and state combined sales tax of 5.5%, but it works out to another 1-2% since this particular tax does not apply to everything.
- State and Federal fuel taxes. This runs about 0.4% for our family
- Other miscellaneous taxes, fees, etc., equal roughly another 1%

That's around 55% of our family's income going toward taxes on a 5-figure post-business-deduction income, but let's be generous and call it 45% because I know it's not quite that cut-and-dried, what with personal deductions and all that. So tell me again that we're selfish and greedy for wanting to keep a little bit more of the income we worked for so we can better support ourselves and build the nest egg that keeps us from needing aid in the future.

Meanwhile, as a business owner it's automatically assumed I'm a greedy little miser, out to screw every customer for as much as I can get away with.

Call people like me ignorant, greedy, stupid, childish, racist, and redneck all you want. But before opening your yap, how about taking a look from the perspective of the ordinary people who pay for this government utopia you're all so enamored with? But hell, we can achieve this flower-child-like social bliss by simply taxing a little bit more. And a little bit more. And a little bit more. I mean, shit, if we can get by on 45% tax, then paying on top another 5-10% won't matter. Right?

Here's the Utopian's Tax Return:

"Line 1: How much did you earn last year? $______

Line 2: Pay that amount."

Yet almost none of the higher-tax Utopians ever voluntarily pony-up more than the absolute minimum necessary to avoid breaking tax law, instead seeking every legal - and quasi-legal - deduction possible. This is how my 5-figure family pays a higher effective tax rate than the President does - the same President who, out of one side of his mouth, says we need to pay more tax and out of the other side takes every deduction available in order to pay LESS tax.

Let me paraphrase the oft-used retort: "I don't pay more because my little drop in the bucket won't matter when everyone else pays the minimum." Well guess what, sunshine: if every one of you folks saying we should pay more would actually, I don't know, voluntarily pay more just like you say we all should, then you would be that much closer to reaching those utopian goals.

Assuming, of course, that more tax money is the solution.

So why don't you volunteer to pay a higher tax? Why wait for government to force you to do so? After all, if it's "the right thing to do" then take Line 10 from your 1040EZ - or line 35 from your 1040A - multiply by 5%, 10%, or whatever assuages your inner guilt, and add that extra amount to write a bigger check to the IRS. If I'm greedy paying a measly ~45%, then surely paying any amount less than that is MORE greedy, and I'm sure you don't want to be stuck with the same label as an apparent ignorant, stupid, childish, racist purple-state redneck like me.



Excuses in 3... 2... 1...

"Pay... more? I meant everyone except me."

Bah, this actually leads to a completely different rant from myself: Why the fuck was my country doing just about everything in its power to throw rocks at me when I was working privately (or whatever you call owning one-man business)? The sheer amount of bureaucracy I've had to slog trough every few months was just astounding, and I've had to do all of that so state would kindly accept my money! God damnit, vast majority of that shit could have been easily handled by computers - I get angry every time I think about the clerk who has called me about forgetting to re-registrer myself in one place after suspending my business for a couple of months.

Basically, to suspend my business for a couple of months, I've had to inform the proper channels - but, I have found that I can inform just one place, tell them for how long do I want to stop, and they'll just inform everybody else. I was happy with this, 'cause I thought it's a nice change after having to do everything by myself.

Naturally, I have presumed that after the said time will run out, everything will get renewed again and all will be dandy. So I paid my taxes ... And a clerk has called me that I need to go to the town where I'm registered in (about 2 hours ride from here, trip costs roughly 20 bucks) and tell them that I'm resuming the business, otherwise I can't send them my taxes. When I got confused, she asked "How do you propose we'd keep track of everyone?" After that I got a twitch in my eye and politely told her that, fine, I'm going over there, but my brain went "INTERNET. USE THE FUCKING INTERNET. SOFTWARE CAN KEEP TRACK OF THAT SHIT! AAAAARGH". And it's like that with EVERYTHING. Now, thing is - I love freedom. I love being able to take any jobs I want and do what I enjoy, but I'm just not cut out to plough trough all the crap my own country is putting me trough, and all of that just so they're so kind and take my money that I'm perfectly willing to give them.

.. .. .. Well that kind of turned out unrelated to HereForTheBeer's post, didn't it? Eh.

edit: Oh, right, there was a point I wanted to make before writing all this. At this point, any argument for rising taxes just seems silly to me. I can only speak for my country of course, but what we need is not higher taxes, it's proper management of those taxes. The money my country receives every year is astronomical, and the amount that 'disappears' is even worse.

I asked a girl out and she turned me down...

Be happy about that, there are girls who will attempt to postpone you indefinitely and let me tell you, being treated like a customer who calls support with an obscure issue is not good :-P

Thanks. :) I can identify postponing, so I next such girls asap. But this one was promising. Well, every strike brings you nearer to the next home-run.

Believe it or not, it can work out well if done correctly. I think you would have a shock when visiting countries like germany. That is why I think US-citizens should follow a polished version of the monroe doctrine and leave the world alone.