Complaint Thursdays

[MattPie]

+1 on tax day. Big hate for our government today. I think the number of people who actually pay real taxes is far less than that. Many people pay some taxes, but get more back than they actually paid. And don't forget all the people who pay no taxes, yet still get a refund due to all the "programs".

 

My taxes went up $82 this year. I'm not complaining. I have it pretty good, so if my taxes go to somewhere that helps other people so be it. It's all about perspective.

[Hirly5]

If she's having a baby in 6-8 weeks, she's in full insane pregnant woman mode. This is an inescapable fact of life. If your parents will chill out and back off for a bit, she will probably calm down and get over it.

Trust me, I wish this was the case but she also said some other very harsh things in the email. There is a bit of history so this isnt just an out of the blue and I have raging hormones thing. It could have been handled A LOT better than it was. I dont think there is any going back from it.

[SwampD]

My taxes went up $82 this year. I'm not complaining. I have it pretty good, so if my taxes go to somewhere that helps other people so be it. It's all about perspective.

You beat me to it. I was going to complain about all the people that complain about their taxes. Get over it. It's not that much to pay get the life we get to live in the US. I look at it as my tithe since I don't go to church.

 

Next, right wingers that collect unemployment. I don't care if you are a right winger. I don't care if you're collecting unemployment. But if you are both of these things then you are a hypocrite. It's even worse if you have a spouse that is working.

 

 

By the way, it's the third anniversary of me getting rescued by boat from my front porch. I'm really glad there was enough tax money to pay for that rescue boat.

[MattPie]

You beat me to it. I was going to complain about all the people that complain about their taxes. Get over it. It's not that much to pay get the life we get to live in the US. I look at it as my tithe since I don't go to church.

 

Next, right wingers that collect unemployment. I don't care if you are a right winger. I don't care if you're collecting unemployment. But if you are both of these things then you are a hypocrite. It's even worse if you have a spouse that is working.

 

At least there's a couple people that agree with me. What's even more amusing (or sad) are the folks I know from motorcycling that complain about taxes. All I can think is that if you have enough money to buy a bike and all the accouterments, taxes should be the last thing you're worried about.

 

There are people who end up with my tax money that don't deserve it. That's a given. Much like I'm sure there are people at, say, Wegmans that don't deserve their wages, which I 'pay' with my purchases. But, there are a whole lot more people who end up with my tax money that aren't lazy bums or whatnot, and I can live with the bums if the good folks get help.

[korab rules]

My taxes went up $82 this year. I'm not complaining. I have it pretty good, so if my taxes go to somewhere that helps other people so be it. It's all about perspective.

 

That's nice for you. Mine went up 5 figures. You'd complain, too.

[nfreeman]

Trust me, I wish this was the case but she also said some other very harsh things in the email. There is a bit of history so this isnt just an out of the blue and I have raging hormones thing. It could have been handled A LOT better than it was. I dont think there is any going back from it.

Oh well. Sorry to hear it.

 

You beat me to it. I was going to complain about all the people that complain about their taxes. Get over it. It's not that much to pay get the life we get to live in the US. I look at it as my tithe since I don't go to church.

At least there's a couple people that agree with me. What's even more amusing (or sad) are the folks I know from motorcycling that complain about taxes. All I can think is that if you have enough money to buy a bike and all the accouterments, taxes should be the last thing you're worried about.

 

There are people who end up with my tax money that don't deserve it. That's a given. Much like I'm sure there are people at, say, Wegmans that don't deserve their wages, which I 'pay' with my purchases. But, there are a whole lot more people who end up with my tax money that aren't lazy bums or whatnot, and I can live with the bums if the good folks get help.

Well, these are legitimate views, and there is plenty of room for reasonable people to disagree. My point was more narrow -- I think that when everyone has to pay taxes, everyone is invested in the idea of not wasting tax money (kinda like in a family, if there is an expense, everyone shares some of the burden so the kids don't think everything in life is free). In the tax system we have, almost 40% of the population doesn't pay any income taxes, so there is no incentive for them to care about holding down expenses. This inevitably results in waste.

 

More importantly, if the only consequence were a few dollars in wasted taxes, very few people would be concerned. The real issue is that when taxes get too high, taxpayers take their business elsewhere. This in a nutshell is why NYS and California are economic basket cases and why unemployment is and will remain at a 30-year high. So it's not just an extra $82 per year and don't sweat it -- it's the fact that your employer might decide to bail on NYS (or for that matter the USA) and you might have a heck of a time finding another good job if that happens. I'd expect this has probably happened to more than 1 person you know.

[korab rules]

Well, these are legitimate views, and there is plenty of room for reasonable people to disagree. My point was more narrow -- I think that when everyone has to pay taxes, everyone is invested in the idea of not wasting tax money (kinda like in a family, if there is an expense, everyone shares some of the burden so the kids don't think everything in life is free). In the tax system we have, almost 40% of the population doesn't pay any income taxes, so there is no incentive for them to care about holding down expenses. This inevitably results in waste.

 

More importantly, if the only consequence were a few dollars in wasted taxes, very few people would be concerned. The real issue is that when taxes get too high, taxpayers take their business elsewhere. This in a nutshell is why NYS and California are economic basket cases and why unemployment is and will remain at a 30-year high. So it's not just an extra $82 per year and don't sweat it -- it's the fact that your employer might decide to bail on NYS (or for that matter the USA) and you might have a heck of a time finding another good job if that happens. I'd expect this has probably happened to more than 1 person you know.

 

Even worse, we have a society where less than 50% of the people are paying the freight, but 100% of the people get to vote. It sets up class warfare, where the non contributing majority demands more and more from the contributing minority. Its like a parasite on a host - everything is fine until the parasites become too many or demand too much, and the host starts to die. You speak of corporate flight, which has been going on for years. Now we are seeing expatriation - people renouncing their citizenship in an effort to hide wealth. That's great for the super rich, but the upper middle class put themselves in debt getting through school, pay their bills, finally enjoy a little success, and still find themselves worse off than their parents.

 

The American dream is becoming a nightmare. We are becoming Europe. Do you see a better america ahead for your children? I don't.

[Trey]

I believe that Buffalo is going to beat Boston in this series, and yet people are getting on my back about looking ahead. I'm sorry, I guess I shouldn't have had that conversation about playing against Ottawa in the the playoffs before we even clinched. I guess The Great One shouldn't have made his cup predictions. I guess we should all be even keel and not be excited because we have a better team than Boston. I guess we shouldn't have predicted points at the beginning of the season because that would mean that we were taking the games during the season for granted.

 

Screw that. Buffalo wins and I'm looking at the second round.

[SwampD]

I'm not going to ruin this most joyous of days with this but had to give just a couple of quick responces.

That's nice for you. Mine went up 5 figures. You'd complain, too.

Congratulations. I'm guessing your income/profits went up a lot more than that.

 

Oh well. Sorry to hear it.

 

 

 

Well, these are legitimate views, and there is plenty of room for reasonable people to disagree. My point was more narrow -- I think that when everyone has to pay taxes, everyone is invested in the idea of not wasting tax money (kinda like in a family, if there is an expense, everyone shares some of the burden so the kids don't think everything in life is free). In the tax system we have, almost 40% of the population doesn't pay any income taxes, so there is no incentive for them to care about holding down expenses. This inevitably results in waste.

 

More importantly, if the only consequence were a few dollars in wasted taxes, very few people would be concerned. The real issue is that when taxes get too high, taxpayers take their business elsewhere. This in a nutshell is why NYS and California are economic basket cases and why unemployment is and will remain at a 30-year high. So it's not just an extra $82 per year and don't sweat it -- it's the fact that your employer might decide to bail on NYS (or for that matter the USA) and you might have a heck of a time finding another good job if that happens. I'd expect this has probably happened to more than 1 person you know.

It's actually 47% and not really true. Who else could explain it better than John Stewart. Also, where are all these people who are taking all this free money the guvment is handing out. The only people I saw getting money they didn't deserve were the contractors in Iraq that were paid to rebuild a country that we paid to destroy.

 

Even worse, we have a society where less than 50% of the people are paying the freight, but 100% of the people get to vote. It sets up class warfare, where the non contributing majority demands more and more from the contributing minority. Its like a parasite on a host - everything is fine until the parasites become too many or demand too much, and the host starts to die. You speak of corporate flight, which has been going on for years. Now we are seeing expatriation - people renouncing their citizenship in an effort to hide wealth. That's great for the super rich, but the upper middle class put themselves in debt getting through school, pay their bills, finally enjoy a little success, and still find themselves worse off than their parents.

 

The American dream is becoming a nightmare. We are becoming Europe. Do you see a better america ahead for your children? I don't.

This just made me giggle. Yes, bring back the Robber Barons and the 90 hour work weeks for 10 year-olds.

[korab rules]

I'm not going to ruin this most joyous of days with this but had to give just a couple of quick responces.

 

Congratulations. I'm guessing your income/profits went up a lot more than that.

 

Up? Yes. A lot? No

 

 

It's actually 47% and not really true. Who else could explain it better than John Stewart. Also, where are all these people who are taking all this free money the guvment is handing out. The only people I saw getting money they didn't deserve were the contractors in Iraq that were paid to rebuild a country that we paid to destroy.

 

John Stewart is a comedian - not a news man - not a political commentator. He's a freaking comedian! Using him as a "source" makes me giggle.

 

 

This just made me giggle. Yes, bring back the Robber Barons and the 90 hour work weeks for 10 year-olds.

Not quite sure what robber barons and child labor have to do with our current unbalanced tax system, but OK...

[SwampD]

John Stewart is a comedian - not a news man - not a political commentator. He's a freaking comedian! Using him as a "source" makes me giggle.

I hate to tell you this, but there is no way that you could match him in a political debate. He would assault you facts that you wouldn't be able to counter. I know I wouldn't want to debate him.

Not quite sure what robber barons and child labor have to do with our current unbalanced tax system, but OK...

Sorry, your post just had that "Grampa's talking about the good ol' days again" feel to it. I figured I would take it back even further to when our country was really allowed to "prosper".

[korab rules]

I hate to tell you this, but there is no way that you could match him in a political debate. He would assault you facts that you wouldn't be able to counter. I know I wouldn't want to debate him.

 

The great thing about being a comedian who passes himself off as a political commentator is there is no accountability. Facts are fluid things, easily changing shape to fit your argument. I argue for a living, but don't live and breathe politics to the point where I would want to debate him today. Give me three months to prepare and I would welcome the challenge. The difficulty in debating someone like John Stewart is that facts don't matter - he makes ###### up as he goes, but says it very convincingly, so he gets away with it. You either spend the whole debate trying to debunk what he has said (which makes it difficult to win said debate) or you ignore the fact that he just made ###### up out of whole cloth, which also makes it difficult to win said debate. I would love to be able to analyze his so called "facts" after a debate.

 

Sorry, your post just had that "Grampa's talking about the good ol' days again" feel to it. I figured I would take it back even further to when our country was really allowed to "prosper".

 

Not Grandpa reminiscing. I am much to young for that. Frustration borne of a feeling you are the only one pulling on a heavy load, then looking up to see the ones who are supposed to be helping riding on the wagon. Frustration that trillions of dollars in national debt is un-concerning to most people. Frustration that no one sees the cliff ahead.

 

Tax day is really sucking the joy out the Sabres game tonight.

[wjag]

It's not 7:05 yet

[FogBat]

Shippers and/or consignees who take forever and a day just to get my trailer loaded/unloaded and who don't even bother to pay detention fees to my company for holding up progress. (Anyone out there who's a trucker or who has done it in the past knows what I'm talking about.)

 

As the old saying goes in the trucking industry, "If the wheels aren't turning, I'm not making any money."

[FogBat]

Oh, BTW, I hate being homesick.

[elcrusho]

That tent in the plaza looks so lame...

[RayFinkle]

I had a 6 o'clock appointment to get my hair cut today beofre the playoffs start. It is 6:20 and I'm still waiting.

[plenzmd1]

Congratulations. I'm guessing your income/profits went up a lot more than that.

 

 

 

Okay, killing some time for 45 minutes.

 

My taxes as a percentage of income went up significantly this year.Long story,but has to do with the AMT and where it phases in and out. I have no problem paying taxes, but do have a problem with the way the tax code is written, specificaaly AMT. We literally made 50% of what we made last year, and are paying close to 90% of what we paid last year, with much more in chartible donations etc this year.

 

Shudder to think with ther tax being rewritten in terms of paying tax on dividends etc, think by the time the current powers that be are done, we will be paying close to 60% of income in taxes in one form or another, damn close to 50% now.

[FogBat]

The great thing about being a comedian who passes himself off as a political commentator is there is no accountability. Facts are fluid things, easily changing shape to fit your argument. I argue for a living, but don't live and breathe politics to the point where I would want to debate him today. Give me three months to prepare and I would welcome the challenge. The difficulty in debating someone like John Stewart is that facts don't matter - he makes ###### up as he goes, but says it very convincingly, so he gets away with it. You either spend the whole debate trying to debunk what he has said (which makes it difficult to win said debate) or you ignore the fact that he just made ###### up out of whole cloth, which also makes it difficult to win said debate. I would love to be able to analyze his so called "facts" after a debate.

BINGO!!! There is a very clear difference between formal debates and informal conversations. If anyone follows formal debates, they would know that there is a certain structure to them in order that each party is given equal time for opening statements, question and answer, rebuttal, and closing statements. I know this from listening to podcasts of one of my favorite theologians (hold the rotten tomatoes, please). This guy does formal debates as part of his ministry. Just coming up to someone on the street and engaging in informal (and sometimes vitriolic) dialogue and rhetoric does not pass for a real debate. I only wish I had understood this between 5-20 years ago.

[korab rules]

AMT is ######. Make one dollar too much and get slopes with 5 figures inadditional taxes. No more adjusting with inflation either.

quote name='plenzmd1' date='15 April 2010 - 06:21 PM' timestamp='1271370107' post='202650']

Okay, killing some time for 45 minutes.

 

My taxes as a percentage of income went up significantly this year.Long story,but has to do with the AMT and where it phases in and out. I have no problem paying taxes, but do have a problem with the way the tax code is written, specificaaly AMT. We literally made 50% of what we made last year, and are paying close to 90% of what we paid last year, with much more in chartible donations etc this year.

 

Shudder to think with ther tax being rewritten in terms of paying tax on dividends etc, think by the time the current powers that be are done, we will be paying close to 60% of income in taxes in one form or another, damn close to 50% now.

[darksabre]

The place I work at is managed by lunatics who expect us grunts to pick up the slack for them when they make insane promises to the buyers of our product. If it weren't for the guys who are always willing to ditch their horrible lives outside of work to do whatever the brass begs them to, maybe there would be some accountability in this joint. Everything is a f*cking crisis with these guys.

[shrader]

I hate when people turn this thread into a political bitchfest.

[Claude Balls]

So the last few days I have been at TBD getting a feeling for the upcoming draft. I make a post about the Brandon Marshall trade to Miami. So how long would it take before someone replies to my post bashing me for being a fan of a woman beater, which I clearly never said. A whole 4 or 5 posts later. Unbelievable, it's like clock work over there. Can someone please tell me why it is so freaking hard to post over there without any drama. There is so much more maturity over here at SS, and when there is an issue we can usually get it straightened out like adults. WTF!!!!

[Bmwolf21]

The place I work at is managed by lunatics who expect us grunts to pick up the slack for them when they make insane promises to the buyers of our product. If it weren't for the guys who are always willing to ditch their horrible lives outside of work to do whatever the brass begs them to, maybe there would be some accountability in this joint. Everything is a f*cking crisis with these guys.

Sounds like we work for the same people. Our upper management overextended us with a partnership that has overwhelmed our ability to function normally, gave us little to no direction on how to make it work, and when we start to make it work, they tinker with the processes, tell us we're doing it wrong or not doing enough, and screw the whole thing up. Idiots.

 

I hate when people turn this thread into a political bitchfest.

+1

[billsrcursed]

So the last few days I have been at TBD getting a feeling for the upcoming draft. I make a post about the Brandon Marshall trade to Miami. So how long would it take before someone replies to my post bashing me for being a fan of a woman beater, which I clearly never said. A whole 4 or 5 posts later. Unbelievable, it's like clock work over there. Can someone please tell me why it is so freaking hard to post over there without any drama. There is so much more maturity over here at SS, and when there is an issue we can usually get it straightened out like adults. WTF!!!!

 

Don't worry about that poster. he/she is a douche who's obviously too rapped up in other people's personal lives.

 

Most fans would agree with you regarding his on-field play.

 

The reason for more drama there is because of the volume. Many more posters there, and frankly, the NFL just draws more fans. unfortunately, there isn't a pre-screening for joining a forum, so you have to enter at your own risk... shake it off and don't let it spoil the many GOOD posters TSW has!