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Re: Way OT: RE: @Home's 119 domain names up for sale

  • From: Matthew Black
  • Date: Thu Aug 11 17:35:07 2005

It's kind of funny that people keep making these general claims as
though the money is wasted or goes to some unproductive purpose.
Personally, I don't consider subsidized housing for the lower-class
to be wasteful or a misuse of money.

I wonder how many people who decry wasteful government spending
would consider road and highway construction a waste of money.
If traffic moves to slow to work for your pleasure, get a job
closer to home or vice versa. After all, this is the land of
opportunity and nobody FORCED you to buy a home far from work.
Highway spending is all government financed, but few complain
about that as a waste.

Funny, when government spends money on something from which
an individual doesn't receive an immediate and personal gain
and suddenly it's labeled a government pork project.

As far as people looking to government to solve some social
ills and inequities, I don't see many people volunteering their
income to help the less fortunate. Many people seem to have money
to burn when donating to their favorite P.A.C. or a nonprofit
"charity" that sponsors their child's sports or music program.
What about donating money to something from which they receive
NO individual gain?

I live in a collective society and accept the fact that some
government spending does not improve my neighborhood. If government
cancelled programs to which there was any objection, nothing would
ever get accomplished.

Discussion of government spending often spins into a discussion
of simplifying the tax code or attempts to make it fairer. Keep
in mind that almost all of the tax code consists of rules lobbied
by and for corporate Amerika. Very little of the income tax code
applies to individuals. As to the fairness question, most of the
lower and middle class class are in a higher marginal tax bracket
than the well-to-do. The latter get a 7.6% marginal tax break
(no FICA or Medicare). So the middle class pay 32.6%; the wealthy
pay 20% or less. Talk about disincentives!

matthew black
california state university, long beach

Note: Opinions expressed herein are totally mine and may not
represent those of my employer.



On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 13:43:49 -0500
 "Brian Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote:

OK. Wasted was a poor choice of words, but even if the money does get back
to the people in some way, it is not doing so in a way that really
accomplishes something. Private companies do not invest in something that
will not have a return that benefits them. Political spending sometimes will
have no return other than political capital.

It's like buying candy. You can buya a ton of it, and either eat it or give
it away, but in the end it will be gone and very little will be accomplished
other than the kids who now love you for doing it.

So wasted was a bad term to use. How about used with little return if any.

- Brian J.


-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
Matthew Black
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 1:20 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Way OT: RE: @Home's 119 domain names up for sale



On Thu, 11 Aug 2005 11:57:25 -0500
"Brian Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote:


Holy communist manifesto batman!

Let's let the government fix everything. Hold on, hasn't that been tried
already? Oh yeah the USSR. That was a blazing success.

Conservatives generally aren't against the government helping in areas NO
ONE ELSE CAN. It is obvious to everyone involved that the government largely
screws up these sorts of "initiatives" and most of the money ends up wasted
anyways. It's these pork projects that kill us.

- Brian J.
Wasted? Please elaborate. It's not like the money vanishes. The money
goes somewhere, usually to pay non-government salaries.
Corporate Amerika is wasteful too: WorldCom, Global Crossing, Enron,
and Halliburton. These are companies that hurt the lives of
millions of Americans, including 40,000,000 citizens of California who
pay double the national average for electricity because Enron gamed the
system. We pay 15 cents per kilowatt! That wasn't completely the
government's fault.

matthew black
california state university, long beach

Note: Options expressed are mine and do not necessarily represent
my employer.