Fairweather

well fuck, let's go and make it fair for everyone. Let's tax all the parks and particularly playgrounds for kids. After all they should help to pay the lavish infrastructure tailored for their enjoyment. Have you purchased your NPS pass, USFS demo fee pass, Discovery Pass, WSF&G permits,ORV permits,boat tags, SnoPark permits yet? Newsflash: We already pay for these things. Doesn't mean we're happy about it, but it's the way of things. Why not road bikes?

Dodge alert. I've recently read that 83% of Seattle bicycle miles are recreational. How many cars do these entitled folks really keep off the road? Jim, you seem to be pro tax for the other--why not thee?

Is there a reason bicyclists shouldn't help pay for the tailored infrastructure they now demand and enjoy?

The vast majority of folks not paying net federal taxes are poor, disabled, or retired on limited income. My earlier reference to paying for items such as infrastructure has more to do with the money we are collecting now, though the current tax structure which is the lowest in 100 years for corporations seems tilted. Why, for instance do we need to spend 55% of the Federal budget on the military (and this is with out the black box intelligence budget) - which is more than the next 18 countries combined and several times more than Russia and China. A budget is a moral choice - yea, you could argue that all those defense jobs are keeping the economy churning - but I'd say it would be more useful -- and have rippling economic effects -- it we spent it across the county on rebuilding and repairing our infrastructure. Jim, where did you get that "55% of federal spending" figure? Are you sure you're not conveniently leaving out entitlement/fixed spending?

sage or not so much, i thought old bob was a product of somebody else's edu-mucation system? carry on... ...but wait: wasn't fdr a socialist? and if he's on the currency, can he really be such a cock-sucker? FDR is on currency? Well, I guess the dime is, somehow, appropriate. As for bob, yes, blaming him on public ed was probably a low blow. To public ed, I mean. And of course I am sympathetic to the difficulties that come with being raised in a place where fathers speak both German and Russian.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125997180 "It turns out that nearly half of all Americans don't have to pay any federal income tax. In 2009, 47 percent of all filers paid nothing. It's a number that's gone up significantly in just a couple of years." "The top fifth starts a little bit above $100,000. That group makes about 56 percent of all income and pay about 70 percent of all taxes. " Again, Jim, I'll ask you just how "fair" it ought to be?

You are 100% right- They call them corporation CEO's. We have an excellent corporate welfare system. There is no single bigger freeloader in the country then Koch brothers. Behold the libtard intellect. Mission accomplished, public education!

I look at it a bit differently. Say for infrastructure - there have been numerous studies showing that our poor and ailing infrastructure is costing us in time, money, jobs, and competitiveness in world markets. That we don't allocate funds here but rather say, to a bloating military and intelligence complex, is an active decision. So it's not that folks are looking for a "free lunch" but rather that the lunch be shared a bit. The bottom 40-something percent pay no effective federal tax. How much more "fair" should it be? Transportation taxes? We should start with bicycles.

Gotta give Bernie props for honesty though. Unlike lying Democrats, Bernie presents his true beliefs. A very likeable guy.

No doubt, the free lunch has appeal among a peculiar block of voters. :[]

It's small wonder this thread became what it is. Name calling, taunting... Thankfully, you and your fellow mods didn't participate in any of it.

Gotta start offering happy endings I am not a mid level practitioner, you idiot. You are like this child, who joined a conversation among adults, and has no fucking idea, what they are talking about. The entertainment value here is OFF THE CHARTS.

Exactly. Then my mistake. I don't believe there is a "frequent" call for debt relief from loans. And as college is getting more and more limited to a elite of America, I would advocate for more support for poor students that otherwise would not be able to afford it. It is much different than from when I went to undergraduate 40 yrs ago - when you could work during the year and hold down two jobs in the summer and come out of 4 yrs of school with little debt. That just isn't possible these days. But if you borrow it - you should just pay it back. Agree. A college graduate is, ostensibly, the most able to repay debt. Still, I do hear this call frequently.

A little sensitive. I wasn't alluding to you, rather, to frequent calls from the left for debt forgiveness. Particularly student debt.

Nope. Probably the simplest strategy of all. Don't spend much and a acquire no debt -- or if you do then pay it off ASAP Finally. I would just add this: If you do accrue debt--student debt in particular--don't expect the rest of us to pick up the tab.

No doubt Jim is investing heavily in healthcare funds. Morningstar has a particularly good return rate. Anti-capitalist capitalists. Gotta love em. Just add a full cup of corruption for a serving of the Clinton orthodoxy.

Well done! Using actual words. This is real progress, SK. Now, I want to hear more about this storm that is coming. Are we talking, like, kagaroo courts with firing squads for landlords n'shit? Go big or go home!

Something tells me I wouldn't last very long in that environment. Thought about teaching at a community college--but they really don't make shit.

I just wrote a check to Pierce County in the amount of $3863. 00--for the privilege of living in my own home for another year. Last year, I paid more than twenty thousand/less than thirty thousand dollars in federal taxes--income and capital gains on trades that never placed a dime of liquidity in my hands. I make less than you and your wife. You are simply wrong, Jim.

You've already admitted that your spouse's teaching job pays well. The argument that taxes ought to be raised on the rest of us so she can be paid even more is yours to make. You haven't even come close.

Wow, talk about biases and assumptions!

Stunning libtard arrogance on display here. You have no clue re my taxes. And now teachers have the audacity to agitate for a 7.5% tax on capital gains? When it's possible to fund education without any tax increases? I think that's called "greedy math." And no, it's not about the kids. Thank God Republicans control the state Senate.

In any event, we're talking state taxes here, Jim. A crock? Try to stay on task.

Of course you're comparing federal spending to federal spending. I would be very, very surprised if combined government spending for education (state, fed, local) didn't dwarf defense outlays. Show me numbers.