Public school systems have that covered. Participation trophies and straight A's for everyone, yet nearly none of them know:

1. When and how this country was founded
2. How to create and manage a budget (but let's get that Pythagorean theorem in there!)
3. Any relevant skills like shop, woodworking, or auto maintenance

But hey, be a YT "influencer" or social media celebrity and "make it in life", because that's really giving back to society !!!!

Ha these kids today are already taught that

As a small business owner, if the government were to tax me at a rate of 80%, it would remove all incentive to stay in business, much to the detriment of my employees and well served clientele. Next, take the case of the small family farmer. He may have inherited land that has been in his family for generations. The land itself may be valued in the millions, but the annual return on farming it may be much more modest (or in some years, even a loss). Tax the land value as an inheritance and he has to sell off the land just to pay the taxes.

Ugh. I'm torn on that one. Cover yourself in tattoos and a stupid hairstyle and make more money in a year than I will in a lifetime by making stupid videos. On one hand, more power to you for gaming the system. It's just that the system is broken.

This thread makes me want some tea.

The military itself is a waste of $, always has been, always will.

Full retirement by age 40? Who the fuck made that rule? Stop paying them to do nothing.

We may not always agree what they are used for, or how the money is spent or how much, but i wouldn't call it a waste. It is a byproduct of humanity. We tried the 'we'll stay out of it' and look how that went.

Hey-O!

You didn't earn those millions either, so by your logic why should you benefit from them?
If anyone has a claim to that money it's the person the owner of the capital willed it to...

Don't let it get you riled. Most people do not appreciate things they've never had to be concerned with. No one likes the military or police until they are needed and not there. I am of the mindset that EVERYONE should need to do some time in the military. It teaches at least some humility, and maybe even some common sense by the time they are done.

Makes me want to throw some in the harbor!

Can we get back to throwing our possessions in the trash instead of selling them because of a little paperwork please?

Always best to sell that way if you can. After 23 years of my e-commerce side business my desire to keep going is finally slipping. Fees and shipping go up every year, while the value of what I sell goes down. I may transition more to selling services instead. I have an ebay searching website that makes me a bit in commissions. I may expand my customer base there or add another similar site or two and call it a day on resale.

Nah; that's just stupid talk.
I mean; if a 1099 makes you want to vomit... then I guess taking those possessions to goodwill or salvation army for a donation receipt is out of the question. Because gawd forbid more paperwork to lessen your tax burden is a PITA.

Yeah the newer deduction threshold I could never get near.

You'll get near it when you start claiming all your allowed deductions from your new pinball-hobby-turned-business.

I will never insult those who fight for the county and put their lives at stake, so don't project.

You were only able to get a degree because of privilege - let's be honest and leave it as that.

And those "relief packages" just wind up in the pockets of local warlords or other government official's coffers. The evil that men do. It's all a scam.

No one needs more than 200k annually. There are others who need it more than you do. I love how these millionaires keep preaching about the public good, but don't pay shit for taxes and transfer zillions within estate vehicles so they keep their mansions and cars and everything else they don't need. Freaking hypocrites - all of them.

Talk about projecting...

as he sits here participating on a forum where each "toy" is a multi-thousand dollar investment... lol

I am of the mindset that EVERYONE should need to do some time in the military. It teaches at least some humility, and maybe even some common sense by the time they are done.

Wow..... That is right out of Heinlein's Starship Troopers! You can't serious....I didn't think that type of thinking still existed.

Still make more money with less hassle than if I was selling the same junk on Craigslist or at a show. Don't really mind paying the piper anyway, when I sell that stuff I'm using the postal service and the roads and the general infrastructure that makes the profit on that transaction possible today, not however many years ago when the thing I'm selling was first sold and that transaction taxed.

Wow you took that and ran the insane direction.

Something tells me either you know very little about the military (less than you think you know) or someone did something really bad to you.

Replace military with civic service and you're more in the right track. Military isn't for everyone but basic "how to live in society" training would help a lot of folks.

Okay, that works. I was lumping it into the 'basic training' years/public service portions. Not the let's go kill all those <insert current baddie here> stuff.

On a side note, I once was evacuating a town from a flood in the south central states in the middle of the night and was continuously greeted with shotguns to the face and 'no, we won't go' feet stamping. No one needs that. Then they complained that we didn't do enough. Felt bad for them even though they didn't seem to appreciate it. While I may not agree with everything the military is tasked to do, it does indeed teach you some things.

edit: left off a portion.

What has happened to this once great community? Remember the days where we banded together to make fun of overpriced machines on EBay?

Look at us now… EBay is tearing us apart…

Nations in Europe have very robust "benefits" because the United States does all the heavy military lifting and spending.

n/m don't want to push people over the edge

Let's get everyone together at the same basic level of wealth, whatever that is, than we can talk about pinball machines. The inequity in this country continues to be the worst in the world. At least times are changing, and so is the tax code and wealth distribution. It gets more fair every year.

We just have to get this dipshit politicians to overpower their rich donors and get real change in place.

So Elon’s $11b in taxes is hypocritical?

You are right no one needs $200k. In fact millions of people in the US live on a fraction of that. Billions in the world live on less that 10% of that.

But all of the conveniences you have an most of the necessities you have were produced because someone wanted more than $200k.

You’ve never been to India or China have you.

Methos should give half of his pinballs to the local boys home.

More like nations in Europe have robust benefits because they have higher taxes, and also because they lack the lobbyists and corruption our government has, so much of their taxes actually go to college education, infrastructure, healthcare, etc instead of being wasted.

The European system works well when people are honest and not terribly greedy.

If you think European politicians are more honest than American ones.. I have a bridge to sell you!

They are all vipers who will sell you out in a second.

If your kid ends up with a poor work ethic, I'm not sure I'd blame the government. Can we get some of the parenting experts from the Pinball Hall of Fame thread over here?

Wait. Is this guy saying that there is wasted money in the military sector? Does this mean that the military is maybe something we shouldn't just blindly throw money at cause' 'merica? Not sure the OP is going to like this brazen insult. But...this guy was also in the military...this is getting so complicated.

Well, at least the private sector funds the military, right? Oh, wait, taxes. But I don't want to pay taxes. But soldiers gotta get paid...but...wait...aghhhhh

This is why parenting needs to be taken away from the parents, but that is another topic altogether.

Back to Ebay - just pay your fair share ok? Once physical $ is phased out, you won't have a choice as everything will be tracked and taxed. Might as well get used to it now.

I think everyone knows the military wastes money and it could be more smartly spent. Just like all public spending. That is NOT what Methos' comment was about.

So it seems like you've benefitted from a combination of hard work, industriousness, and the leg up that a tax payer funded military offers to those who serve. So I'm not sure why it seems like such a sacrifice to pay into the system from which you have personally benefitted. Yes, there is waste. No one is saying there isn't. And no one is saying that's a good thing. But if you've benefitted from the system we have, I'm not sure why you would balk at contributing your share.

Why deny others the opportunity to partake in the system that gave you the things it did, and that you served to protect? If you want things to be different, that's cool, work to change them. But in the meantime, you gotta play by rules, especially since it seems they funded the opportunities that helped get you where you are.

Some impressive holes being dug indeed.

In Before The Lock....

Since you apparently dont enjoy the capitalistic principles the USA was founded on, perhaps you should investigate relocating to Cuba. I'm sure you can find a nice little hut where you and all your neighbors can be equal and you wont have to worry about other peoples' relative success compared to you.

Yeah this is the problem, not tax itself. Forcing people to either track their hobbies like a business or pay extra taxes they shouldn't have to pay just sucks.

And remember, this is NOT a result of that recent legislation, this is basic tax code that's been around a while. Voting out Dems (or Reps) won't fix it, you have to get rid of people in BOTH parties and replace them with folks who are willing to work for you, instead of just enriching themselves.