[OPINION] What's Wrong with America!

The judge isn't going to care.

 

I'm glad you think you know tax policy more so than my tax accountant.

 

I know that you can't deduct housing rental costs that you don't even pay...

I assume that your accountant is aware of that as well and was either misinformed by you or is crooked. Either way, you should be careful since in the long run it could cost you a fortune just to save that couple of hundred dollars.

 

I 'pay' for it in credits. So technically, I 'pay' for it. I choose an off-campus, university owned place, the university looks up the price, gives me 'housing credits' and then I sign for the year.

They pay me to pay them, so I suppose I do indeed pay.

 

Maybe I've misunderstood what you've said. Tell me where I am incorrect.

• You have finished your degree.
  
• You are now working for the University.
  
• You use your home rental costs as a tax deduction.

And two questions:

• Are you conducting a business from your home?
  
• Did you claim your housing credits as personal income?

 

All true in the first. As for the questions:

No, as that's against policy.

No idea.

 

PM me with your accountant or enrolled agent's name. There's bound to be a reward out there for him.

You are deducting personal expenses. The only possible way it could colorably be lawful is if the US/Japanese Tax Treaty permits it. And I've never heard of such nonsense.

 

Just get rid of religion and you'll be fine.

 

Granny says there's too many lefty lib'rals tryin to influence things...

... an' muck ever'thin' up...

... she says if things was like dey was in the 50's...

... it'd be a lot better country.

 

Yep, the Soviet Union really got it together after they did that!

 

One of the things about schools, especially public schools is that no one can stand out in any way. It's not allowed. I'm personally a fan of British education -- those who are brightest and do well on aptitude tests in HS (the A-levels) get to go to college, the rest go to trade schools. I think it works better for most people. First off, it encourages hard work, studying, and so on -- if you slack off senior year, you might not pass A-levels. Secondly, it provides a reasonable job for those who really don't belong in college. In America, the default is that "everyone must go to a 4-year college" even though aptitudinally maybe 30% of kids really belong there.

Our HS system as it stands is exactly why we have such a funged up college system. The lib-arts kids are kids that a generation or two ago would have become tech-school grads. Mechanics, welders, nurse assistants, teacher aides, construction people. Stuff like that. Once the barriers to college came down, the parents of said students decided that lil' Susy should get a 4-year degree because it "gaurenteed a middle class existence". Well, what they didn't get back then is that college meant a middle class existence BECAUSE only the best of the best had them. Going to college in 1950 was a big deal, and most people seeing that diploma would know that the holder of such a diploma knew a lot of stuff. Today, everybody goes to college, and it doesn't mean much more than staying awake in class and occasionally reading the summery at the end of your assigned readings. Because college is no longer rare and no longer represents accomplishment, it's not going to get you anywhere. It's a piece of paper that you essentially buy. I'm sure you've probably seen them, but if you want a look at how stupid our system is, look at the student evaluations of profs. They generally want an entertainer who grades easy. And the questions are stupid.

The schools dumbed down some coursework for the idiots who shouldn't be there for the gravy train -- free government and parent monies for warehousing students for a few years. That's what the lib-arts are -- warehouses. And when those kids graduate from the warehouse, they are actually worse off than they would have been had they never gone. They've been taught to believe that they are "special" or "elite" so they shun the jobs they're actually qualified for. They don't have any tech skills, so decent jobs like auto repair or construction are not available. And of course since "4-year schools mean middle class" they most likely took out $100K in loans to pay for having a 4-year diploma.

 

There were many reasons for the fall of the Soviet Union, and religion was not one of them.

Of course, I'm not saying you should force people to leave religion, but the American government should never try to endorse it.

I know for a fact that most American presidents were non-religious, but they pretended to be Christians to get enough votes to win. You can't live a lie forever and think that everything will be fine.

 

I would agree that would work better, and in fact that's the way high school was in the US 50 years ago; not in that sort of strict formal test but in those days high schools didn't bother trying to route every single student into college prep. They just tossed them in shop and trade classes.

Now of course, it would be impossible to impose a European type system. Standardized testing is controversial in the US (that was one of the most controversial aspects of the "No Child Left Behind" school reform) due to disparate impact on racial minorities.

Unless the minorities are Asian.

So if we can't even agree on such a simple concept as standardized testing, not much else we do to reform education is going to make much difference.

 

My point was, getting "rid of religion" isn't going to make much difference, one way or the other. I can't see religion as being much of an issue.

 

There are two visions of America's future which are completely incompatible. Compromise isn't possible. Democracies throughout history generally end up committing suicide. In this sense America is no exception.

 

Many people share this view, no hope.

 

I especially liked the reverse discrimination part.

It really is sad that political correctness is hamstringing your choice of students and help.

In the pursuit of supposed equal opportunity, we've literally created racism in the opposite direction from the past.

It's also unfair to Asians that we essentially punish them for being successful.

 

Well generally the cause of the demise of most societies is essentially that they get to the point where people no longer are willing to work hard. The reason that no one wants to work on cars is that it's manual labor. It's "beneath" most native born americna citizens so parents would be disappointed in their kids if they became one. They demand better and better lifestyles for less and less effort, and eventually the house of cards collapses under the weight of supporting a beareucrat class and a welfare class on a system that designs and makes nothing useful.

 

Somehow, the majority of people on earth must devise a better system for distribution of basic resources. This does not have to be Socialism, or Collectivism, or Capitalism separately. It has to be a more democratic system that at its core limits the percentage of world resources that any single individual can control. How we get there, is another question.

 

You silly boy, you.

You fly in the face of thousands of years of peasanthood much cherished and adored by modern-day Robbing Hoods.

What preserves you (I assume you are an American flying a false flag) is that you are still relatively well off.

This seduces you into compliance with your masters - until, of course, they foreclose on your home.

Then you remember there is an American dream and vote Republican anyway.

 

A bulldog who serfs, and rides skateboards, could be considered a very dangerous dog by the traditional bulldog pedigree association. Which is why they passed the NDAA (National Dog Asshol Alliance) bill just in case the serfboard rider needs to be arrested.