...I'm not about this grouping of New Years by culture or religion. I only value my personal, individual New Year, my birthday!

You can live without Microsoft's patented material. If a patent locks you out of your food supply, where are you then?

Any health concerns aside, what's really troubling about Genetically Modified crops is the patenting of foodstuffs. If GM crops really take hold, then you end up with a situation where one or two companies end up with the RIGHTS to grow the food that is available. So what if it's better tasting, or lasts longer? If they successfully run conventional/organic farmers and seed retailers out of business, then all you're left with is a contract with Monsanto Corporation, saying that you won't plant a garden without their explicit consent. Just like water rights, if you sign away your ability to provide for yourself, then you're little more than a slave, praying that Monsanto doesn't decide to play Communist Crop Planning with when and where it allows it's seeds to be planted.

This was fun. I was also about 50% left, 50% libertarian, which according to the international chart supplied is almost the exact position of the Dalai Lama. Score.

I think there's a factor at work here other than price. The iPad has achieved such a monumental status of omnifunctionality that it is, frankly, intimidating. "Anything" is a big world, and there's a level of self-determination there that can be uncomfortable. The Kindle e-reader was a simple device that introduced people to the idea of the tablet form factor, and built trust between those consumers and the company that made it. Now, those users are curious about the tablet hype, recognize the limitations of their Kindle, but are intimidated by the iPad. Enter the Fire: a scaled-back, more focused tablet from a brand that has build trust with previous experience, at a non-threatening price point. Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa are the target audience here. It's designed to move book readers from their safe havens into an expanded media environment. It's learning to skate with knee pads and a helmet. A structured adventure. With that in mind, the long load times and poor "flow" are almost irrelevant. It's a device that will be handled gingerly and navigated carefully.

Assuming the Fed isn't the one responsible for the problems in the first place. They control the money supply. A liquidity problem is a problem with the money supply. Credit was excessively cheap for a long time. It created a situation where people were paying for credit with more credit, because credit replaced growth in wages. Cut off the credit supply by cutting off the money supply, and suddenly there isn't enough money available to actually pay every debt owed. And the debt collapses. How much of America (property) do the banks now own because of this? How many bank-owned homes? They had everything to gain from causing the problem. Keeping it from crashing completely was simple self-preservation. At the end of that, you really cheer their plan to simply make credit cheaper and to extend more of it?

Glancing at my savings account at Boeing Employees Credit Union, I've got a 1.05% interest rate. My Checking account is running a 6.17% yield. It's their basic checking and savings package. It's been three years, and I've never once seen a fee or charge of any kind. If your bank meets that, then I salute them for offering value to their customer. But for some reason, I'd be surprised to hear that a rate on a basic checking account at Wells Fargo (or BofA, or Chase) exceeds a 0.2% APY, if it has a rate at all. More likely, you pay for the privilege. If a credit union is well run, it delivers that performance to rates and services. If a bank is well run, it delivers that performance to the top. That's simply how those businesses are designed to operate. If you want detailed comparisons, find a credit union at random in your neighborhood, and ask about their rates. Compare that with whatever national bank you like. You will see that there IS no comparison.

LOL That happened to my mortgage within two months of closing. It was amazing.

Prohibit a direct acquisition, and encourage T-Mobile to auction its assets (spectrum, patents, etc) to the highest bidder. Selling off small chunks at least makes it possible for the other two, and possibly some smaller carriers (lol) to partake.

Except that the money is created as a debt (by the sale of bonds and loans), with interest owed. For every dollar, there is a dollar + interest owed back, which is just countered by printing more dollars to cover that expense (inflation). The dollar as it is now is actually worth less than zero because it carries a debt on it, the total value of which exceeds the value of that dollar. That doesn't make it worthless, it still has a useful purpose, but it is indeed worth less than zero, by your asset/debt comparison.

I believe that's the Russian tactic of misinformation, or close to it. When something you don't want to be known becomes known, drown it out with a bunch of other half-truths, lies and uninteresting jargon. Or lump it in with the crazies, like that whole UFO thing. Then they can just go "Pff, conspiracy theorist..." and everyone will shy away.

I don't usually make resolutions, but when I do, I very much try to stick to them. It's been about two years since I've purchased a bottle of water for that very reason.

When I was a child in that age group (about 15 years ago), I got quite a bit of joy from Origami. Much like the Lego and K-Nex suggestions, it was something where you could start out with very simple designs, but as you got better, the designs could be more and more complex. Eventually, I started making my own designs, like many other posters did with their toys. The great thing about Origami, though, is that you can do it anytime, anywhere, so long as you have a simple sheet of paper. Or a leaf, or anything else flat and fold-able. Makes it easy to entertain yourself on the go, or to show friends something "real quick." The water balloons were awesome :)

Fair enough :) when looking at the big picture, you're absolutely right. Factoring in all levels of taxation, there's a lot more balance going on in terms of total tax owed.

The problem is, it's a matter of state-level taxation, and on a state level (in Washington), the taxation is regressive. In the past three years, I've made between $20,000 and $24,000/year, and I've never qualified for any state-level subsidies or breaks. So, as a working person in that bracket, in Washington, I pay a good five times as much of my personal income in taxes than my wealthier co-citizens.

Now, I don't personally feel like I'm being overtaxed. However, for a state to lean most heavily on it's poorest citizens for funding is just ridiculous. At the very least, it should be an even, proportionate contribution, and that's what this income tax intends to do. Plus, an income tax is just more sensible, as it only taxes the people who are actively making money in the first place.

Another poster (GayBliss) provided a link to an analysis of taxation in the states. Check out the results for Washington: http://www.itepnet.org/whopays3.pdf

People making $20,000 or less, at an average of $11,000/year income, pay about 17.3% in various taxes, whereas people making $537,000 or more, with an average income of about 1.7 million/year, pay 2.9% of income. My examples didn't have the exact figures, but this paper does.