This may be the last transmission out of California before it goes silent

[jonsonite]

Mark Steyn on the Stimulus, via the Orange County Register.

This whole situation is starting to sound more and more like Atlas Shrugged. I think I read that book at the right time--to be freaked out by the current situation!

Comments

[bayashi314]

Are you Jo(h)n Galt?

[jonsonite]

No, but I think I might know him.

[ursako]

Sorry, but that's a total hack job. Blah blah blah government jobs blah blah why should the poor get free tax assistance? blah blah Tim Geithner never paid his taxes! blah blah.

[jonsonite]

There's plenty of blah blah blah in there, but the core sentiments are correct--among them, why the heck do we have a tax system so complex that people have to hire someone to help them? We spend billions a year on that. Especially if you're poor, the income tax should be something like "% of income, -X per dependent".

[carb]

If you're poor you're likely taking the standard deduction which is a "% of income, -X per dependent." That percentage just happens to be less than if you're rich.

so complex that people have to hire someone to help them?

Tax preparation software and I believe accountants are tax deductible.

[jonsonite]

If it's tax deductable, that just means you aren't paying income tax on the money you spent, not that you don't have to spend it. Right?

[boopsce]

Am I allowed to use the same standards that produced that piece in criticizing it? Because, if so, my response is "standard right wing propaganda with more than a hint of C-SPAN caller-esque frothing."

[jonsonite]

You can always use the same standards--turnabout is fair play!

[jonsonite]

Though in fairness, I should note that he made substantive points, while you just criticize style. Just because it's sensational doesn't make it not true.

[carb]

So the amazing free energy machine is up and running somewhere?

BtAF's Classic Literature sequels: Atlas Shrugged 2: One Hour Later

[jonsonite]

It'd be nice, but I don't think so.

Besides, I don't think our central problem right now is the cost of electricity.

[zabrahl]

Nice.

[zabrahl]

As much as I loathe everything that is to do with bureaucracy (an almost 3x 4-letter-word in my book) is this guy new

[sonofzeal]

Depends on if we can keep the population under control.

[zabrahl]

It sounds like you think adding to the bureaucracy to create jobs is helpful to the economy. The nice thing about stimulus checks is that you can stop sending them. Once somebody has a job from the government, they'll get themselves lobbyists to keep it. These jobs will outlast the current economic downturn--they'll never go away, and they aren't designed to do anything useful.

[jonsonite]

That was me.