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#141
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That's for sure. If any of us have luck on our side, it's surely those of
us who were fortunate enough to be born in the "Western world." Oh, crap -- there I go again, being "racist"... ;-) -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#142
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"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:aTE8e.23567$8Z6.2699@attbi_s21... You speak with the wisdom of a cosmopolitan traveler. I suspect that Mr. Honeck has never stepped foot in France or anywhere else in Europe, else how can his provincial attitude be explained? I own and operate a hotel in a city that is home to a world-class university, with 35,000 under- and post-graduate students, and 15,000 faculty members and staff. I thought you lived in Iowa. Mike MU-2 As such, I am fortunate to interact with people from all over the world on a daily basis. As you can see, I needn't fly to France, as the world comes to me. :-) -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#143
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I thought you lived in Iowa.
Ha! As opposed to, say, Idaho? ;-) -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#144
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"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:zoN8e.26116$8Z6.5821@attbi_s21... Just because French society has different values to the US doesn't make them "dunderheaded" either. Call it what you will. Anyone -- French, British, or Martian -- dumb enough to tax avgas up to $7.50 per gallon is dunderheaded. Why? Societies make choices about what they want their governments to provide and what to tax to pay for it. France (and most of the rest of Europe) has chosen to provide extensive social benefits and pay for them with taxes mostly on consumption. The US has also chosen to provide extensive social benefits and also buy a huge mililtary and pay for it with taxes mostly on production (and borrowing from their children.). If you look at it dispassionately, avgas is used primarily for recreation producing noise and pollution as byproducts. This is particulary true in France where trains go faster than most aircraft burning avgas. Why does it make more sense to tax people's productive effort directly through income taxes than it does to tax avgas? Mike MU-2 And that's on a *good* day. -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" |
#145
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"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:zoN8e.26116$8Z6.5821@attbi_s21... Just because French society has different values to the US doesn't make them "dunderheaded" either. Call it what you will. Anyone -- French, British, or Martian -- dumb enough to tax avgas up to $7.50 per gallon is dunderheaded. And that's on a *good* day. And this instance of dunderheadedness is certainly not isolated. |
#146
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"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:UmN8e.26114$8Z6.8446@attbi_s21... But as for much of my fortunes - yes, they are mostly the product of luck. History is rife with stories about people of "noble birth" winding up insane and destitute, and, OTOH, most of our wealthiest people were born on the wrong side of the tracks. I didn't have any control over my birth - it was certainly fortunate that being born into a middle class British family means I was born into the world's richest 10%. The vast majority of the world doesn't have it anywhere as easy. "Palace to poor house in two generations" -- American witicism from the late 1800's That's for sure. If any of us have luck on our side, it's surely those of us who were fortunate enough to be born in the "Western world." And even that isn't enough for most, and some of the wealthiest people are/were from Hong Kong, and Chinese are often the weathiest people in the countries in which they reside, often causing servere envy. |
#147
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"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:aKO8e.26241$8Z6.17556@attbi_s21... I thought you lived in Iowa. Ha! As opposed to, say, Idaho? ;-) -- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA Pathfinder N56993 www.AlexisParkInn.com "Your Aviation Destination" I don't think anyone in ID is claiming that we have a "world class" universitee...unaverasty...er...college. Some claim that we have "world class" skiing but that isn't true either. Mike MU-2 |
#148
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"Jay Honeck" wrote \ Hey -- didn't you hear? We just received national press coverage for being the university with the highest percentage of "binge drinking" in the nation? I'm IMPRESSED!!!! Who would have thunk it? Better than U of Wisc, who has the Bud song as one of their pep songs? Better than Ohio State? (where I did my share of influencing the stats, when I was there) Oh, that's right! The missing factor. Out in the middle of the cornfields of Iowa, there is not much else to do but drink! Or write. (yea right Jay, good try!) ;-) -- Jim in NC |
#149
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Jay,
On Thu, 14 Apr 2005 at 20:00:32 in message AZz7e.14314$xL4.12721@attbi_s72, Jay Honeck wrote: The Federal tax code has been carefully -- even diabolically -- written so that the average Joe on the street has NO idea what he's actually paying in taxes. By forcing employers to withhold the tax BEFORE the employee ever sees the money, the Gubmint not only guarantees payment, it guarantees acquiescence. As has the UK tax code. Bottom line: The government keeps the tax laws inscrutably complex quite on purpose, lest they provoke an uprising. Similar in the UK with all sorts of tax credits etc. The UK citizen's ability to offset expenses against tax is also very limited. Gas prices, on the other hand, are plain as day transparent, and people are already ****ed as hell. The Bush administration is crapping their pants right now, watching GW's approval rating plummet, primarily because of rising gas prices. If it hit $7.50 a gallon, you would see a revolution in America. Just did a quick sum. I am paying £0.855 per litre for regular unleaded. This is the equivalent at an exchange rate of $1.80 to the GBP to $5.83 per US Gallon. (3.78541 litres per US Gallon) -- David CL Francis |
#150
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"Mike Rapoport" writes:
"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:zoN8e.26116$8Z6.5821@attbi_s21... Just because French society has different values to the US doesn't make them "dunderheaded" either. Call it what you will. Anyone -- French, British, or Martian -- dumb enough to tax avgas up to $7.50 per gallon is dunderheaded. Why? Societies make choices about what they want their governments to provide and what to tax to pay for it. France (and most of the rest of Europe) has chosen to provide extensive social benefits and pay for them with taxes mostly on consumption. The US has also chosen to provide extensive social benefits and also buy a huge mililtary and pay for it with taxes mostly on production (and borrowing from their children.). Would that we were taxing ourselves, but we're not. And we're not borrowing from our children, but from the rest of the world. One day, not so far away, the rest of world will get tired of it. I think within 10-15 years the world's goods will be priced in something other than the US dollar (probably the Euro) and then our consumption will come to an abrupt halt. Dunderheaded is when you consume way more than you produce, when you borrow not to invest in production but in consumption, when you launch wars half way around the world on the basis of lies or gross incompetence, when your only national energy policy is drilling more holes and nothing else. Dunderheaded is also when you think you know everything by having a few foreign guests stop by. |
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