Do depreciation expenses take into account inflation? I'm not sure, but if they do not, if I possessed a ten or twenty year asset, I would not rather take a depreciation expense and end up getting back 1.5% less every year or so.

but the time value of money says you'd rather depreciate an item in its entirety up front than over time. And no assets are depreciated over that length of time, 7 years is the longest for equipment.

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JMS gets another English lesson:

Quote:

there is no "mostly unique;" thats like saying "sometimes always," its an oxymoron - its either one or the other.

The result:

Quote:

By the mid-19th century unique had developed a wider meaning, “not typical, unusual,” and it is in this wider sense that it is compared. The comparison of so-called absolutes in senses that are not absolute is standard in all varieties of speech and writing.

But the government needs our interest free loans.

the tax plan that I advocate would make me a lot poorer. It isn't hard for a business owner to write off expenses, travel, vehicles and a lot of things that are only partially related to the business. People do not get rich earning an hourly wage, no matter how many hours per day they labor. Mr. Mcguire of United Health Group lives a 24 hr. day like the rest of us but earned 1.6 B in compensation. Find some evidence that he works harder than others,evidence that he is a genious, has created lots of jobs. ? Becoming very wealthy rarely has anything to do with extraordinary hard work or job creation . It is its own peculiar talent. Persuade those pals on the board of directors to provide generously regardless of job performance... that is obviously key.

Anybody, and I mean anybody, in the United States can retire a millionaire by using compounding interest. It just takes the discipline of saving a small amount over a long period of time. Our nation just sucks at saving, and that is a pathetic shame. I can fully encourage anyone to read "The Millionaire Next Door", it will give you great insight on the power of saving and astound you on how many millionaires live right next door to you.

And you are very mistaken by those you say don't work hard being self employed. I have done very well working for myself for 35 years and only working half days. I just chose what half day I want to work, the first 12 hours or the second 12 hours.

People work 40 hours a week in this country just to stay even, and that is a shame.

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Cheney is the second executive officer to shoot someone in the face and chest. Clinton was the first.

As I said before, until you get to really high levels of income, are TOTAL taxes (Federal) are amazingly flat.

Income taxes are progressive; heck, about 30-40% don't even pay significant income taxes.

But payroll taxes are very regressive. I'd like to see someone explain that away.

Now once you get past $90K income (approx) you pay no more Social Security tax. However, you still pay Medicare and your marginal tax rate on income will continue to climb.

For the vast majority of taxpayers, the overall tax system is pretty flat when you factor in payroll taxes and income taxes together.

From a societal standpoint, our system has a lot of merit. Those who are blessed with talent and can prosper under our system SHOULD rightly pay on a progressive basis for that.

Looking at it another way, a society will pay for its ills one way or another. As Jesus said, The poor will always be with us. We can take care of them using our resources, or they will take care of themselves through criminal activity or other ways which will benefit them or society.

People often complained about exec salaries years ago, those salaries were replaced by incentive pay using options and there are still complaints. If they are making money off options because of company performance then they are doing a good job. Jack Welch made as much as he did because of options and he deserved every penny. It is indisputable that he turned the company around, enhanced sotckholder value as well as made GE a better and more stable place for employees.

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JMS gets another English lesson:

Quote:

there is no "mostly unique;" thats like saying "sometimes always," its an oxymoron - its either one or the other.

The result:

Quote:

By the mid-19th century unique had developed a wider meaning, “not typical, unusual,” and it is in this wider sense that it is compared. The comparison of so-called absolutes in senses that are not absolute is standard in all varieties of speech and writing.

because regardless of how the income is earned CEO's earning 1,431 times what line employees when wages for those line employees are essentially not growing is not considered a good thing by most Americans. Welch made much of his profits by throwing workers out of jobs or cutting their wages, the corporate dowsizing movement. Most Americans also dont approve of that, its a value call of course. Japanese and European executives commonly do as well as US firms operationally at a tiny fraction of what US executives are making. Indeed Pffefer, one of the best respected organizational writers of the last thirty years who consults with many firms, found in an extensive analysis recently that there is almost no correlation at all between corporate CEO pay/stock options and business profits over the long run.

No they are different concepts. Depriciation reflects the need to replace equipment and is not usually based on inflation adjusted numbers. The way it exist in the US tax system has little to do commonly with the true cost of purchasing a replacement item. Its a pretty artificial system.

Welch made his money by doing what needed to be done which, at the time, was cutting bloated payrolls. And of course that lead to a huge expansion in GE not just from a profit perspective, but to one in terms of number of employees and wages. Which is why GE has added over 100K jobs since Welch took over and while they are one of the largest companies by any measure. And why French supported companies like Bull have gone down the tubes. And why GE wages have grown, 20% AFTER inflation in the Commercial Finance group of GE. Because as history has shown, capitalism works and socialism is a failure.

And depreciation is not meant to measure the cost to replace an asset. It is meant to reflect the cost of an asset as it is actually used over time. It may not be accurate in all cases, but it is not artificial either.

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JMS gets another English lesson:

Quote:

there is no "mostly unique;" thats like saying "sometimes always," its an oxymoron - its either one or the other.

The result:

Quote:

By the mid-19th century unique had developed a wider meaning, “not typical, unusual,” and it is in this wider sense that it is compared. The comparison of so-called absolutes in senses that are not absolute is standard in all varieties of speech and writing.

made his money gutting the standard of living of thousands of hard working Americans. He increased returns to a small handful of elites, IF you think that is a good thing then you do. I dont. Smaller stock profit margins, higher wages for workers is a much better thing to me. And I suspect these days to the overwhelming number of Americans.

try looking sometimes at the increase in real wages for line employees before welch took over and in the years after he took over. Wages went up faster before he took over than after. He traded worker well being for higher profits.