It is, technically, illegal to hire an employee for an unreported cash wage. Small businesses can get away with, but only because they fall under the enforcement radar. And no, simply calling someone an "independent contractor" and issuing 1099's does not provide a loophole, as the law defines who is and is not contractor v. employee independently of applied labels.

The point is, in order for someone to legally work for you, you are supposed to pay minimum wage + taxes, so if everyone obeys the law (ha!), there should be no change in the ration of wage v. cash.

Wage v. salary, though?

Yes, taxes are important. But gas tax, like all sales tax, is regressive. It hits poor people harder

Is it?

The 4th gives a right to be secure from unreasonable search and seizure. It does not guarantee any privacy. In fact, privacy is not mentioned anywhere in the constitution.

The Fourth Amendment is kind of like Santa Clause. It's a great idea that we all wish was true, but in reality is just a story we celebrate with children.

I am thinking hard about this inevitable question. Part of the answer is philosophical: it does me good to take positive action, regardless of the results of my action.

I am not so cynical or conspiratorial to think that the gubmint has become completely insensitive to the wishes of its polity. Largely insensitive perhaps, but completely, no. See their willingness to (at least claim to) convert the images from the naked scanners to a less explicit version. I think many times an issue that a few feel strongly about, when the few are truly in the right, can be transformed into a change garnering public discussion, when the few vocalize their thoughts. It takes time and sustained action, however. And there's no guarantee of success.

There is, however, a guarantee of failure if we do not take whatever positive actions are available to us.

My thought is that Silicon Valley, populated with folks like us here on /., affords probably the best pool of jurors available for a trial like this.

Most lawyers litigating in a big trial like this are from a firm. In-house lawyers guide the company's transactions, typically.

Yes, this.

In fact, MS still massively dominates the business sphere at all levels. A few tech companies use linux, some big enterprises use back end linux, a few "hip" shops use Macs, and everyone else uses Windows.

And Windows 7 doesn't suck. It's not pretty enough to make me switch from Mac OS, but I don't mind using it when I have to.

That's some factory--Nokia must have invented some kind of trans-dimensional technology. Surely that's worth a few bucks to someone?

Indeed. They couldn't even put out a 13" pro with same res as the 13" Air?!

Note too, that there is another way than class action to gain status: multiple party "joinder." Many parties can band together as plaintiffs and sue jointly, without it being a class action. They can even share attorney expenses.

The problem with letting science decide is that science cannot make normative decisions. That is, science cannot tell us whether one outcome is better than another.

Consider water pollution. Science can tell us that if we put *x* mcg of Hg into a stream, *y* number of trout will get contaminated and *z* number of people will get sick, and it will cost the plant *a* number of dollars, which will lead to *b* number of layoffs, and *c* number of people going on food stamps, etc.

What science can't tell us is what value of *x* is the right one.

First, the lawyers are not in charge, and were perhaps significantly influential only at certain times, such as at the founding of the US, and in the 60's and 70's. It appears that the people with money are in charge.

Second, lawyers are taught to practice zealous advocacy within an adversarial system, presenting opposing sides to fact-finder. How well this system works depends on the fact finder. In the US political system, the fact finder is the voting public. This fact is why the founding fathers, especially Jefferson, were so keen on public education. An irrational, non-discerning, non-analytical voter pool will be susceptible to unreasonable arguments.

But even when everything works perfectly, there can still be thoughtful, significant differences of opinion. There are often no objectively quantifiable success criteria, compared to most problems in engineering. But even in engineering, there are still non-engineering considerations that set priorities for engineering projects. Performance v. Battery life, for example.

It's why the US system is often cited as the worst way to come up with an equitable governance ever, except for all the others.

I approve of this message. I was going to say, "although perhaps religion wasn't the best analogy," until I realized that it was. Science today, as opposed to say 30 years ago, appears to suffer from religiosity, or more precisely, orthodoxy. Orthodoxy excludes what does not fit within the prescribed framework, thus limiting itself and limiting progress. That process is useful in some contexts, but science is not among them.

I think there are enlightened "elite" folks, although I don't know how few or many. Identifying them, however, and getting them in power and preventing their corruption once there are fraught with perhaps insurmountable difficulties.

You are getting to the crux of the problem, and the limitation of economic calculus to fashion an answer. How do you properly discount an indeterminate probability of future catastrophe? It's a difficult question to answer from any angle. Really smart people are trying, with no satisfying solution yet that I know about. My common sense cuts both ways.