Why should I suffer for making all the right decisions?

[logic_man]

Quote from oldtime:

you keep coming up with this idea that the only solution is divorce, dissolution, and seperation.

What was that guys name? Oh yeah, Lawrence of Arabia.

No sense of greatness on your part of unifying people? Even if they have extreme differences?

I guess it's a pretty simple methodology, whenever you see something big, just break it into little small pieces.

I must admit, we were all probably happier when we were just single cell amnobea.

No, I don't see any point in unifying people with extreme differences. To what end? Just to say you can?

There are certain eras in which the primary forces driving society are centripetal and certain eras when they are centrifugal. The 19th and 20th centuries were centripetal, resulting in the nation-states we see today. Today's forces are centrifugal, with the first rumblings of them being the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Another way of putting it is that certain eras reward economies of scale and other eras do not. Right now, we have some extreme agency problems which are overcoming the benefits of economies of scale. Put another way, the fact that there are some economies of scale in centralized government is being overwhelmed by the fact that the agents of that government pursue policies which are anathema to a significant proportion of the sovereign people those agents work for.

It's an extremely unstable situation, but one which is not driven by any inherent necessity, but is driven by the self-interest of those agents. Since I am not a captive of those self-interests, I can see this as an outside observer. As a consultant, my solution is to dissolve the union.

Arguably, science should be giving the human race more and more common ground than ever, but the areas in which these extreme differences are occurring are areas where science is a poor guide or the science itself is unclear, despite protestations of partisans on either side. I don't think anyone disagrees, for example, that the Earth rotates around the Sun, but that's hardly sufficient agreement upon which to form a society.

 

[logic_man]

Quote from BrakSir:

As a much better consultant (several orders of magnitude)

Thanks for the chuckle. I've actually worked as a consultant for some of the most prestigious consulting firms on the planet, as well as working as an internal consultant for two of the best-known companies in the world, so I'm putting the odds that you are a better consultant than I am at about nil.

 

[sle]

Quote from Hoofhearted:
It just seems arrogant to think that anyone one of us could have so much control of our own destiny.

You can't make a blanket statement that all of our success is driven by luck. Similarly, you can't claim that all of it is due to hard work and dedication. The reality is that success is a hybrid result of work and luck, with work being the main driver that gets you 99% of the way (one can make it to proverbial 1% on hard work alone) and sheer luck the rest of the way.

I hate paying taxes because a bigger portion of that money goes to things that have little to do with society and most have to do with special interests (military, farm subsidies, war on drugs - you name it). As a New York City resident and a private entrepreneur, my marginal tax rate is bordering on 50% already and will certainly move over that mark once the tax increases come though and more deductions will be phased out (e.g. if i can't deduct state taxes). So certainly, at some point I can and might make a decision to take my money and move to Hong Kong or Singapore where I'd be taxed at the rate that is a fraction of the US.

 

[pspr]

Quote from Hoofhearted:

I do believe to an extent that others should tell me how to spend my money.

Now hear this, now hear this. Send $100,000 to me in the form of a certified check to the post office box I will be sending you by PM. You are directed to do so by your own beliefs.

 

[PHOENIX TRADING]

Quote from sle:

You can't make a blanket statement that all of our success is driven by luck. Similarly, you can't claim that all of it is due to hard work and dedication. The reality is that success is a hybrid result of work and luck, with work being the main driver that gets you 99% of the way (one can make it to proverbial 1% on hard work alone) and sheer luck the rest of the way.

I hate paying taxes because a bigger portion of that money goes to things that have little to do with society and most have to do with special interests (military, farm subsidies, war on drugs - you name it). As a New York City resident and a private entrepreneur, my marginal tax rate is bordering on 50% already and will certainly move over that mark once the tax increases come though and more deductions will be phased out (e.g. if i can't deduct state taxes). So certainly, at some point I can and might make a decision to take my money and move to Hong Kong or Singapore where I'd be taxed at the rate that is a fraction of the US.

Serious question not rhetorical .
How would you do that without giving up your citizenship?
US citizens get taxed on worldwide income so I fail to see how your federal taxes would be reduced.

 

[oldtime]

Quote from pspr:

Now hear this, now hear this. Send $100,000 to me in the form of a certified check to the post office box I will be sending you by PM. You are directed to do so by your own beliefs.

everytime you think you just about have it figured out, those beliefs will realy fuck you up

 

[AAAintheBeltway]

Quote from logic_man:

No, I don't see any point in unifying people with extreme differences. To what end? Just to say you can?

There are certain eras in which the primary forces driving society are centripetal and certain eras when they are centrifugal. The 19th and 20th centuries were centripetal, resulting in the nation-states we see today. Today's forces are centrifugal, with the first rumblings of them being the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Another way of putting it is that certain eras reward economies of scale and other eras do not. Right now, we have some extreme agency problems which are overcoming the benefits of economies of scale. Put another way, the fact that there are some economies of scale in centralized government is being overwhelmed by the fact that the agents of that government pursue policies which are anathema to a significant proportion of the sovereign people those agents work for.

It's an extremely unstable situation, but one which is not driven by any inherent necessity, but is driven by the self-interest of those agents. Since I am not a captive of those self-interests, I can see this as an outside observer. As a consultant, my solution is to dissolve the union.

Arguably, science should be giving the human race more and more common ground than ever, but the areas in which these extreme differences are occurring are areas where science is a poor guide or the science itself is unclear, despite protestations of partisans on either side. I don't think anyone disagrees, for example, that the Earth rotates around the Sun, but that's hardly sufficient agreement upon which to form a society.

Brilliant analysis.

Strong countries and societies are based on shared fundamental principles. Those will be tough to find if we have a president who got elected on class warfare demagoguery and whose party engages in brazen vote fraud.

 

[sle]

Quote from PHOENIX TRADING:

Serious question not rhetorical .
How would you do that without giving up your citizenship?
US citizens get taxed on worldwide income so I fail to see how your federal taxes would be reduced.

Well, it's easier for me, since I am a permanent resident but not a citizen. A green card is easy enough to give up. While there are some tangible benefits to the US citizenship, they diminish significantly once you reach a certain level of income or net worth. You don't even have to live in a country with low taxes, just in a country that does not tax off-shore income and conduct most of your business offshore (which most people do anyway).

PS. With regards to worldwide income taxation, as the Lebanon war has demonstrated, the US does not give anything in return for that tax money that citizens are required to pay while living overseas.

 

[Rationalize]

Quote from pspr:

Now hear this, now hear this. Send $100,000 to me in the form of a certified check to the post office box I will be sending you by PM. You are directed to do so by your own beliefs.

Call me a pessimist, but those same beliefs may have precluded the poster from accumulating the capital.

He may not see that as being his fault however, because no one gave him his fair share of opportunity.

Soultion: Tax opportunity, to make things fairer

 

[Scataphagos]

Quote from Rationalize:

Call me a pessimist, but those same beliefs may have precluded the poster from accumulating the capital.

He may not see that as being his fault however, because no one gave him his fair share of opportunity.

Soultion: Tax opportunity, to make things fairer

Some opportunities are given... like Odumbo has had all of his life. Most however, are nothing more than a doorway which must be recognized and acted appropriately upon... or envisioned and developed by entrepreneurial drive, ambition, and hard work...

IOW.. one must work and prepare to qualify for a job in the mail room (If you're a lazy fuck with no ambition, you don't even qualify for a CHANCE to start in the mail room... and if so, you've got no right to bitch.) Then if he "works his way up" by his own initiative and hard work, he deserves whatever rewards lie at the end of the journey. But if he "never does nothin' more... content to stay in the mail room"... "nothin more" is what he has earned and deserves.

Nobody should feel "entitled" to ANYTHING beyond what he/she has earned for themselves.

The notion of an "entitlement society" came from corrupt, unscrupulous politicians. The weak-minded and unprincipled hoi polloi chimed into it.. as the lazy and greedy have no qualms about accepting anything "free"... regardless of where it comes from. America is 100 years down that road... and likely "past the point of no return".