tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post2651796385523906523..comments2024-03-28T08:06:43.198-04:00Comments on The Silicon Graybeard: Ooooohhh - Talk Tax Rates To Me, BabySiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-68317376743696664252018-12-30T13:12:37.491-05:002018-12-30T13:12:37.491-05:00FWIW, I think it's too simplistic to take an &...FWIW, I think it's too simplistic to take an "they're all the same" approach here, as in all of life. <br /><br />Some of them truly do want to wipe out 95% of humanity. I've been beating that horse for the life of this blog. <br /><br />Some of them just want to hurt successful people; they're so full of envy and hate that they genuinely want to hurt others. <br /><br />Some of them are incapable of learning from experience because they're so deeply in love with the ideas they can't admit those ideas fail whenever they're used. These are the ones who say, "it failed because the right people weren't in charge" and never ask themselves, "if it has failed everywhere for thousands of years, why should we think we now have people that are so much better than anyone in history?" <br /><br />Some of them don't or can't understand simple mathematics. They shouldn't be in charge of anything. <br /><br />Some of them are completely corrupt and are just trying to steal their money, and don't care at all about anyone else. <br /><br />Like Will says about California, Connecticut passed a millionaire's tax. They were depending on a tiny handful of people to pay for the state. Some of those people moved out of state and unfunded those programs. <br /><br />SiGraybeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-19514746539252315732018-12-30T11:44:28.623-05:002018-12-30T11:44:28.623-05:00I believe support of self-destructive government p...I believe support of self-destructive government policies is far more often motivated by self-loathing than psychopathy. Of course the policies fail, it's supposed to fail. The goal is to fail, and for all the humans to die off from untreated bacterial infections in caves by age 30. Liberals, who can vote for either the Democrat or Republican party, certainly learn from experience; they learn what speech they have to suppress. Government is a religion, the human brain equivalent of a computer virus, and enters through weak points of political instincts inherited from the great apes. In the 20th century some strains were too lethal and killed off the host before it could propagate.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-55128397554004413222018-12-30T09:49:35.873-05:002018-12-30T09:49:35.873-05:00If they could learn from experience, they wouldn&#...If they could learn from experience, they wouldn't be Leftists.McChuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10243337792601085456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-30493751974768340462018-12-30T08:13:02.018-05:002018-12-30T08:13:02.018-05:00What this article fails to realize is that the Rig...What this article fails to realize is that the Right People have no worry about "class-warfare" taxes, because the laws are written and enforced to not cause them problems. Or do you REALLY believe that Soros and the Koch brothers and the rest of that crowd are actually harmed by "class-warfare" taxes???Mark Matisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-13350130380283370722018-12-30T03:04:51.418-05:002018-12-30T03:04:51.418-05:00Dan, this is something that has been a huge proble...Dan, this is something that has been a huge problem at the VA. The director of our VA medical center in Roseburg, OR was earning bonuses in the range of $30k-$40k every year. One of the reasons was because he was able to significantly cut expenditures because he a) didn't spend much of his budget purchasing items the veterans needed, b) had the pharmacy use the cheapest generics to fill veterans' prescriptions - even to the point of changing suppliers from month to month, switching their meds to generics that were not even equivalent to the generics they were given the month before (i.e., different NSAIDs that were not chemically equivalent _nor_ as effective), but his biggest savings - and the biggest rip-off of our veterans - was in NOT replacing staff that were promoted (usually to soft jobs that didn't require much effort, and didn't improve service to our vets), who retired, or who left (like myself) because we couldn't stand what was being done ot the veterans in our care.<br /><br />So, lack of staff was one of the big reasons our vets went months and months without an appointment. Admin would _claim_ to schedule them for an appointment to be seen, but it was "on paper", and not really scheduled. These vets were often called _the same DAY_ of their appointment to be told it was cancelled because of one excuse or another. Many of them drove a long distance (as much as 100 miles each way for some), only to get to their clinic and find that their doctor or NP had called in sick, or was otherwise unavailable.<br /><br />The lack of staff meant many of our veterans did not receive the care they required, and made their stay in our facility unsafe (I worked in Acute Psychiatry, with veteran patients who often had to be kept from hurting themselves or another, with only three of us on duty - when hospital policy was to do "takedowns" with no less than five staff. <br /><br />The bean counters at Headquarters (DC) though the director was doing an excellent job, providing services for our veterans and _still_ managing to save money from the budget. They didn't listen to those of us RNs and other staff complained about the veterans who hadn't been seen in 6 months to a year, or who got short-changed for a variety of reasons.<br /><br />It sucked so badly that I quit six months short of being able to retire (had to wait another five years before I was able to begin collecting my pittance of a FERS retirement (~$300/mo after working there almost ten years). The ability of staff to give proper care was so inadequate, thanks to understaffing the various units, that not long after I left they closed the ICU and CCU, and also decided it would be OK to let the veterans on the Substance Abuse unit TO HOLD AND ADMINISTER THEIR OWN MEDICATIONS, INCLUDING CONTROLLED MEDICATIONS (E.G. NARCOTICS). That way the unit could be run without a med nurse, since they didn't have anyone available to be a med nurse for that unit. ALL of us RNs and our LPNs told Admin that it was insane to allow those veterans to handle their own meds, but they did it anyway. I left before I was required to participate in that disaster.<br /><br />It was sick. My stress level dropped so significantly after I quit that I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I felt bad for my co-workers, though, because things got even worse after I left.Reg Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14099612693763932005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-2156567565508617782018-12-30T00:42:28.445-05:002018-12-30T00:42:28.445-05:00I wonder if that deadzone might also be labeled &q...I wonder if that deadzone might also be labeled "unintended consequences". The actor that played "Columbo" on tv worked for one of the NorthEast states (CT?), and was directly responsible for creating that state's tax on boats. The result was a lot of yachts got moved to the next state, which caused job losses and other money flow effects for the state. The states (all of them) never bother to calculate the true costs involved of raising taxes, they just look at their bottom line for that tax, and call it a win (mostly).<br />Other examples: CA levied a 10% surcharge on millionaire incomes during the dotcom era. 18k people in this income category. 1/3 of them bailed, taking their money and businesses out of CA. The state claimed they "broke even". Yeah, right. They recently passed another 3% on the diminished remainder. Another 800+ bailed. Obviously, Leftist politicians are unable to learn from example. (there may have been additional taxes in the interim, that I missed)Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00722792638246578812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-45227437525603086152018-12-29T23:36:20.220-05:002018-12-29T23:36:20.220-05:00This phenomenon doesn't just occur in the real...This phenomenon doesn't just occur in the realm of taxes. It's a very real issue in many sectors of the economy. It's something seen in healthcare and it's very hard to quantify. I know Radiology....it's what I've done for 40+ years. When the beancounters from on high decree staffing cuts all they see is the increase in the bottom line from having to pay out LESS in wages. But they struggle to understand why they also see a decrease in billable exams performed. You try and explain that there is a certain staffing level below which it becomes impossible to perform ALL of the necessary work in a timely manner. And where the work gets "put off" is invariably scheduled outpatients as the department struggles to keep up with the flow of Inpatient and ER Exams. So all those outpatients ( and outpatients are PAYING PATIENTS as opposed to many ER patients who are seen essentially for free) GO ELSEWHERE where they don't have to wait. And it's virtually impossible to keep an accurate numerical track of all the patients and exams you DON'T perform as their is no images to count and no billing to quantify. I've seen this phenomenon TIME AFTER TIME over the decades and yet it's seems to still be impossible for the bean counters who don't actually do any useful work to grasp. So the "dead zone" of mysteriously lost revenue is real, and it occurs in a lot of different venues.Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-48359414282628787592018-12-29T23:26:00.911-05:002018-12-29T23:26:00.911-05:00What I really would like to know is this: How can ...What I really would like to know is this: How can anyone put together an insightful article about economics (like this one) and then toddle off with the old ball and chain to see a Marvel comix film that's almost guaranteed to be a real stinker-roo and actually write about it. I sense some chicanery here.<br />Mad Jackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06190137186843630543noreply@blogger.com