Most people in the US could have the IRS prepare their taxes based on income, interest, and other factors that are already reported to the IRS. I know the IRS could prepare most of my taxes with me just adding a few details. The reason this does not happen is that tax preparers pay huge bribes to legislators. An online service would not be that hard. It would also protect low income people from fraudulent loans for money they would have in couple days anyway.

The government grows because the nation grows. A larger more complex nation requires larger services. For instance, there were no need for ultra engineered paved roads in 1776. Post war federal spending as a percent of GDP has been around 20%. Most of the complexity in the tax code is to provide special privileges to special entities. It is, however, correct, for those certain entities will have income that is hard to define. This is why a flat tax would not work. Most of us we would pay about the same, but the special entities would manage to define income so they would pay less. Look at it this way. If I make money by working with my own two hands, my body, that is taxed at a higher rate than if I sit back and earn interest. Income of the wealthy is different differently than income of the working class.

The current deficit situation is probably caused by special entities not paying as much tax as they once did. For instance, federal debt fell rapidly post war, but increased 30 percentage points with respect to GDP during the reagan bush era. There were two reasons for this. First, as mentioned, borrowing is good and the country was not paying the debt down too fast. Second, Reagan cut taxes to below sustainable levels, something with bush realzied and fixe resulting, along with good, policy, the debt falling about 10 percentage points during the Clinton years.

Early 50's, 100kg, 6ft. I'm also able to recognize that I have the same instinctive bias toward (the not insignificant number) of people fatter than me. I don't know if other "cuddly" people have it or if it comes from my fit and fantastic youth ( one of the few "perks" of the "strong back, weak head" type of work I did back then ).

Bulls eye!

The message is I got is that if I want to be treated with respect I need to find a cuddly doctor, I'm guessing you already have an ego boosting slim one.

Reason being, everybody is somebody else's asshole.

I find this AC's post psychologically fascinating. Bloomberg is one of the most famous billionaires on the planet and has been for decades. The AC's question implies he knows nothing about that but he's happy to accept the rumor and come to the firm conclusion Bloomberg is being a jerk rather than (say) reacting to one.

And please, this not a defense of Bloomberg or an attack on the AC, it's a fascination at how susceptible people are to potential propaganda (including myself).

Not sure how taxi's operate in NYC but the ones I drove here in Oz have a meter that ticks over after a fixed time or distance, whichever comes first, the fees are mandated by state law so all taxis charge the same amount for the same trip. There's also a flagfall fee just for getting in the cab, so really there's no such thing as an unprofitable trip.

Having said that the only way to make a reasonable income from a cab is to make sure a customers arse is in the seat at all times, getting a 5min job that puts you at the back of a 2hr queue is just the luck of the draw. Although I have heard that airport staff here in Melbourne are issuing "short trip" coupons to drivers who get stuck with a local job, it entitles them to come back to the front of the queue, but again that can happen at any rank and most ranks are not staffed/policed like they are at the airport. Also 5min jobs themselves are not the problem, on Friday and Saturday nights you want the 5min jobs because you know you can get another one straight away, doing that all night on your home turf is about as profitable as taxi driving gets.

Knowledge is power, power can liberate or oppress, but this knowledge is in the open, meaning nobody has distinct power advantage because of access to this knowledge alone. Besides, this isn't local knowledge, it covers the entire continent. The map is unlikely to be used directly by local farmers living hand to mouth on the family plot. Rather it will be used by governments and NGO's to make better use of infrastructure funds for irrigation channels, grain silo's, etc. Yes it will also be used by corporations, but what those corporations do with it is ultimately at the mercy of the people. You can like or loath agribusiness, but if they disappeared tomorrow 3-4 billion people would starve to death in the following 6-12 months.

So here is my problem. When kids join the military, they think that it is all free. That they get the free money, free training, free room and board, a pension, healthcare, all at taxpayer expense, for free. You don't. When in the military you boss is the POTUS, and you don't get to argue. You agreed with that when you accepted the above minimum wage paycheck for training. Also, according to what I read, you accept to be inactive duty for a number of years. I would also add that if you go around saying you are a decorated veteran, there is some responsibility to not act like a fool and disgrace that work.

This is true to some extent for any taxpayer funded job. If you are a teacher you can be let go for your facebook page. If you are a politician you can be forced to resign for your tweets. Taxpayer funded jobs are not like private jobs. They come with strings.

In this light let look at this case. This guy is a retired Marine, which means that he volunteered to serve his country, follow the chain of command, and accepted a pay check to do so. He is 26-27 so he is probably still on active duty. He is quoted as saying "I'm starting the Revolution. I'm done waiting." I don't know about you, but when a person trained in war says that they are going to start a revolution, that would make a little worried.

Note that such a thing is the basis for treason..."Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court."

My understanding he is being treated with kid gloves. He was held in a mental facility, instead of being charged with treason. If he is suffering from PSTD this is a good thing. Many vets do not get the help they need, and listening for these cries for help is something that the government should be doing.

In the end Facebook, despite what we want to believe, is a public venue and we should not be plotting revolutions using it. Everyone knows Twitter is where all the cool revolutionaries go. The government has some responsibility to monitor public communications to keep the country safe. This is one of the few enumerated roles of government, and is why this kid did not have to go out and find a real job. In this case, he many only be crazy as opposed to someone who would go into Time Square a shoot a dozen people. In either case, be it prevention or help, I don't see how this is a bad thing. If nothing else it is an example to kids that the military is not just playing soldier, it has some lifelong responsibilities.

Even the java exploits out there are generally used to inject native executable code as malware.

Android is Linux. I get sick of people writing that they are two different things. Yes, the userspace is different, but it Linux is a kernel and Android uses it. Android is every bit as much Linux as is the more familiar GNU/Linux distros.

The company is using the word 'server' in a business sense, not a technical one that relies on which way you look at traffic. Just like the company's advertising has a poetic definition of 'unlimited'. The user has created his own definition of 'residential', which happens to be at odds with the definition used by the terms of service, and more importantly, common knowledge. - What we are all really talking about here is "fairness", both sides are twisting words to suit themselves but it seems to me the customer is the one being "unfair" because he is twisting the definition of a "residential" internet service, which is what they sold him. IMO, he should stop being a dick, get a business account, and put that all that wasted energy into something useful.

With a tube.

Just a big waste of taxpayer money for something purely cosmetic. It would a frivolous waste of money we dont have to fix something thats not broken. I already pay too many taxes as it is. We need to stop spending on frivolous crap like this. It would confuse the hell out of everyone and there are no real reasons or benefits, just nonsense excuses. I actually find the english system to be perfectly fine and useable on road signs. No need to fix something thats not broken. Take your awkward, unnatural metric system back to europe where it belongs. i like the mile and foot just fine and I actually prefer this on our signs.

Most companies already label their products with both systems which is just fine. As for roadsigns, the cost would be far too great, and it wouldnt be worth it for what is basically a cosmetic change, and I think would actually make things worse, I do not think metric is a better system in daily use. I also find the English miles unit size to be more natural, it may be because the English system developed out of practical use in daily applications while the metric was designed rather divorced from these things for scientific purposes. We are all very used the English system and easily can understand and visualize its units, why fix something that works just fine because it doesnt fit some purists subjective idea of symettricity.

I actually think the English system is better for daily use, the measurement units seem more natural to me than the metric ones. Metric is better for science applications. I am not for wasting resources and adopting a Metric system which has unit sizes which while may seem more logical are actually far more awkward.

government agencies already do use metric system inside the government. However, a government cannot ban private companies from using another system other than metric.

So I am opposed to any further move away from the English units.