They don't like to charge big tax bills all at once. They like to nickel and dime you to death so you don't get pissed off and fire each and every last one of the worthless no good piece of shit sons of bitches.

Death by 1000 paper cuts.

in the context of economic stimulus, such investment sinks are actually desirable

Says who, the monetary cranks?

You should read Economics in One Lesson by Harry Hazlitt.

Do you actually believe any of the claptrap you just spewed?

It doesn't have to be that way. There could be a sudden outbreak of sanity. No doubt that would be painful in the short run, but it would save us from the ruinous path we are headed down.

Yes, Merry Christmas to you too. There's no need to be depressed and angry all the time. Get enough of that the other 364 days.:)

Technically you're right. Anyone who can print money can not go bankrupt per se, though it doesn't mean that those governments do not destroy themselves and their citizens by resorting to the printing press. That's the worrisome part.

It is impossible to spend our way to prosperity or print wealth. Wealth is not money nor is money wealth, but rather wealth is the capital of a nation as represented by machinery and other factors of production.

Money itself is a token used to trade for those things, the creation of which does not generate more capital just more claims to that capital.

This results in an increase in prices, but prices do not increase evenly and the inflation in the supply of money does not effect the populace evenly. Instead it stretches the middle-class to non-existence, impoverishing many at the expense of the politically well-connected (i.e. they are the ones who get the money before it has lost its value).

This is what I'm worried about. This is de facto bankruptcy. This is where we are headed if we do not change course.

This is why the thugs in Washington need to stop with the cockamamie spending plans. They are destroying us.

To hell with universal broadband.

Is it just me, or does no one realize that the country is bankrupt? Where the hell is $44 billion going to come from? There was a nearly $1 trillion deficit this year alone. Next year's could be double that. The national debt is over $10 trillion and there is an additional $40+ trillion medicare/social security liability.

Funny thing is if the federal government were a corporation all of its executives would be in jail for phony accounting practices.

I ask again, where is the money going to come from? (hint: the printing press is the correct, but morally and intellectually bankrupt answer)

The Constitution is a dead letter.

I would second this. There's no specific technological content, but in terms of best practices it kills.

I would add:
Design Patterns by Gamma et. al
Effective C++
Modern C++ Design
Large Scale C++ Software Design

I guess you can tell what world I live in...

I found Dive Into Python an excellent book too, but with the release of Python 3000 it is probably less relevant.