IRS Buttwipes Tackle the Poor

[Thorfinn]

I agree with you that there is a huge advantage to connecting the machines together, but an advantage for whom?

My first job out of college was with Control Data, and most of the big firms out there had absolutely no interest in selling excess computing power to their competitors. Yes, the engineers thought it was cool and all, but the suits all realized that there was a huge competitive advantage to having computing power while all your competition had to do everything by hand, or with outdated systems. It was better to let the system sit idle than to let your competitors use your machine to become more efficient. And, of course, no company was too fired up about having their data in their competitor's computer room.

While I agree that there were advantages to sharing unused computing resources, those advantages would have negated the reason the suits bought the computer in the first place -- to have a leg up on the competition.

There would be no big advantage to inter-connectivity until enough end-use consumers had computers to make it worthwhile to market to their demands.

[Night Stalker]

[img]graemlins/whackya.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/whackya.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/whackya.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/whackya.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/whackya.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/whackya.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/whackya.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/whackya.gif[/img]

Insinuating that Al Gore invented the 'Net is blasphemous!

[Night Stalker]

You're still a little focused on inter company connectivity. Share computing resources still drives computing costs down - whether you open them up to the public or not. And suits tend to be a little less than visionary outside of the tech industry.

[Pyrius]

This is a blatant example of massive stupidity and avarice in the American government. The earned income credit I recieved last year payed for my surgery. To think that if I had injured myself and not have had the money is flat out ridiculous. It is manipulating the poor in a way more befitting of a tyrannical government than a democratic one. I swear, the government keeps up thier shit Im moving to a different country....any suggestions?

[Pyrius]

sorry for the swearing...Im quite worked up over this///

[The Hierophant]

Originally posted by MagiK: I don't have any answers but if it is that bad, then something will break. It always does....and revolution will roll around...one way or t'other

Sounds intriguing.
Which side of the revolution do you plan on being on?

[Thorfinn]

Originally posted by Pyrius: This is a blatant example of massive stupidity and avarice in the American government. The earned income credit I recieved last year payed for my surgery.

You're welcome.

And I disagree. The avarice in the government is most obvious in the roughly 25% of your paycheck they steal before you ever see it, whether through Social Security tax, Medicare tax, unemployment insurance, worker's comp, and the dozens of other federal and state mandates that your employer dutifully deducts, so that you hopefully never realize the full extent of the amount the government is taking from you. (This does not count the greed reflected in their levying of income tax, property tax, sales tax, exise tax, franchise fees, user fees, etc.)

Just a wild guess, here, but if you had just that extra 25% in your paycheck, that would have paid for your surgery, too, and you wouldn't have to feel vulnerable depending on the whims of government to give you a handout. Or more to the point, depending on them to give you back some of your own money...

[Timber Loftis]

Originally posted by Thorfinn: You're welcome.

[img]graemlins/whackya.gif[/img] That was rude.

[Thorfinn]

I gave him the benefit of the doubt and interpreted his post as a kind of a backhanded thank-you. After all, the government didn't create that money out of thin air. We all lived a little more frugally so that he could have his surgery. If it was not a thank-you, then I would suggest that I was not the one being rude.

[Timber Loftis]

I think it was a complaint about the government holding our money hostage, Thorfinn. But, no matter what it was, the fact that it was our tax money makes your statement TRUE - but still rude.

Next time I see that potato farmer planting spuds, I'll tell him he's welcome. The amount of interest I have in his land as a member of society living in the same environment is at least as great as the amount of YOUR money represented in his EITC.