Forum Post: Defending Kim Kardashian
Posted 12 years ago on Jan. 9, 2012, 8:18 a.m. EST by darrenlobo
(204)
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Like ravenous sharks at the smell of blood, Courage Campaign has its eyes set on more income ripe for plundering through taxation. Their aim is to increase the Golden State's millionaire tax from 10.3 percent to 13.3 percent for income over $1 million and 15.3 percent for income over $2 million. On top of California's already horrendous business climate, this tax will undoubtedly provide more of an incentive for Atlases to do the proverbial shrugging and flee overzealous and overburdening government regulation.
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http://mises.org/daily/5861/Defending-Kim-Kardashian
The moral of the story is that more taxes are only going to hurt us.
I would generally agree with you but a difference of 3 and 5% on those scales is so little. Serious things need to be done and for the time being taxes probably need to be raised while the government as a whole probably needs to be shrunk.
Giving the govt more money is a way to expand it not shrink it. The are many serious harms to be undone, harms the govt caused. We can't turn to the source of the problem to solve the problem.
Yes I know. But how do you propose to shrink the massive debt? We can't really do so without doing the two together.
How come people who say things like "Taxes are too high" and "Government is too large and and needs to be reduced," NEVER seem to have any questions, critique or even notion of The Massive US Military Empire and its Gargantuan Expenditures ?!
Do such expenses have an impact on domestic taxation do we think ?!! If the government of The U$A was truly 'democratic', then its size wouldn't be the problem but as it is a pissant apology of a demoCRAZY deMOCKERYcy that is prevalent, whereby there exists merely a "Government OF The 99% ; BY a 1% ; FOR a 0.01%", then in the very least, complaining if not actually demonstrating, protesting and 'Occupying', becomes a moral imperative for all people of conscience.
A very real and fundamental point to bear in mind is that taxes on individual entrepreneurs, small businesses and just about everyone else in society (The 99%), would be lower if Imperial Wars could be ended AND IF the 1% and all the Corporations (legally individual persons!) paid their Proper and Fair Share of the Taxes (see : http://www.ctj.org/corporatetaxdodgers/CorporateTaxDodgersReport.pdf and http://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-30-american-companies-that-paid-less-than-zero-income-tax-from-2008-2010-2011-11?op=1#ixzz1ejBOPiGq ) !
The Banking Corporations in particular, with their already corrupt business model and practices, are also the primary culprits of the 'cult of tax avoidance and evasion' and their opposition to The 'Tobin' / Financial Transaction Tax, is utterly unconscionable given the long term existence of highly regressive 'Sales Taxes' and 'Value Added Tax' (currently 20% in The UK !), which everyone else has to pay !!
I'm not a violent person other than in self-defence but I'm beginning to have dreams about cutting out a senior banker's cold, dead heart with a rusty spoon ... and claiming it AS self-defence !!!
Finally please watch this documentary film : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GO_WC0FINmA to see the "astro-turf" roots and self-absorbed nature of The Tea Party & its Backers, whereas, in order to clarify OWS's 'raison d'etre', please watch The Excellent Documentary Film 'INSIDE JOB' :
a) Free Download : http://www.multiupload.com/7B46GXEHYZ ,
b) Latest Working Link : http://documentarystorm.com/inside-job/ &
c) The Official Movie Website ; http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob/ .
Narrated by Matt Damon ... "It's a powerhouse of a documentary that will leave you both thunderstruck and boiling with rage."
'Inside Job' provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over $20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in a global financial collapse. Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. It was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.
fiat justitia ruat caelum ...
I don't know how you missed it but us libertarians are opposed to taxes & war:
When the left decries the government’s diversion of its resources from human needs to the military it is on to something. War does impoverish us. What the left needs to understand is that a government with the resources to build schools also has the resources to build drones, a government with the resources to build roads also has the resources to build jet fighters, and a government with the power to tax and create money has the resources to pay for the weapons mentioned above and to wage war.
And wage war it will, for as Randolph Bourne wrote "War Is the Health of the State". Giving the state resources only feeds the war machine. Welfare at home and warfare abroad are also just flip sides of the same coin. If the left really wants to see Dr. King’s dream of peace come true they must face the reality that they can not give the government the tools it needs to wage war and expect it not to do so. It’s not enough to advocate that they not buy weapons. We must take away the tools they use to acquire them. This means that we must end the Federal Reserve System, the income tax, the federal government’s social spending, its regulatory role, and its police powers. Peace will only come when the government is powerless to commit evil acts both at home and abroad. http://theinternationallibertarian.blogspot.com/2011/01/martin-luther-king-day-lockheed-martin.html
@ darrenlobo : Re. "I don't know how you missed it", lol !
I "missed it" because, So Few People in The U$A will explicitly decry WAR, Empire or The Military !!
With its 'Military Industrial Complex' and its 'Bankster & Corporation Nexus' and it's attempt at a "Cult of The Warrior" : Criticising WAR ; Warmaking ; Warmongering and 'Soldiering', is seen as 'unpatriotic' and thus The U$A seems locked into and even enamoured by, spiralling WAR and Empire !!!
I liked your post (cf WAR, The War Machine, The Fed, Money Creation etc.) and have bookmarked your blog. However, implicit in your post (to my reading) is an Utter Disappointment in and Disdain of, Democracy. I share this to a large extent and indeed term that which we have in much of 'The West' as demoCRAZY deMOCKERYcy !! However, totally and permanently opting out of True Democratic Control of Government leaves {& has left!} a dangerous and tempting vacuum, which Powerful Corporations [with Their Corporate Personhood!] and Other Vested Interests, will (& do!) fill.
My thoughts and solutions tend towards Transparency, Meritocracy, Education & Engagement and much, Much More Democracy. I'm less interested in the "size" of The Govt. and more in just who owns it and whose interests it serves !!!
No less an personage than Noam Chomsky describes himself as a 'Libertarian Socialist' and I too absolutely love the idea of Liberty and Freedom but there is the 'Freedom To Do' and an equally important (I'd argue) 'Freedom From' concept to balance and consider.
ad iudicium ...
Thanks for bookmarking my blog.
When it comes to the govt we know who owns it & whose interests it serves, the 1%. Always has & always will. That's why I'm an anarchist, govt doesn't work:
Principled Nonvoting: The Beginning of Disengaging From the State
http://theinternationallibertarian.blogspot.com/2010/09/principled-nonvoting-beginning-of.html
dl : Re. "always will." ; NO, m8 - I vehemently disagree with you there as dum spiro, spero + re. a previous thread on the matter of 'Ayn Rand', 'fyi' please also see : http://occupywallst.org/forum/think-atlas-shrugged-is-fiction-look-around/#comment-442822 . Stay well and aware & "iViva Los Indignados!"
I read this awsome article on ExtremeKardashian.com about the Eat The Rich idea..
People decide where to live for a bevy of reasons other than just cost. I live there, but I'm thinking of retiring elsewhere. The one thing that keeps coming up, however, is the fact that no other state has Southern California's weather. Other factors include neighbors and neighborhoods (i.e. Beverly Hills), association with businesses (i.e. Silicon Vally), etc. For Kim, it's probably weather and Beverly Hills.
Corporations usually charge what the market will bear up to the point they are undercut by competitors. California is far from overpriced... so far.
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