I heard the ceo of overstock.com on the radio the other day venting about efforts to tax income made on the internet. He said it is frustrating because there are a lot of people making a decent profit with networking online. if the income they receive is taxed, it won't be worth their time. Then company's like overstock will have to spend more on marketing, and the price of goods will go up. He said it becomes more cost effective to take it "offshore," and then Susie Q. down the street who used to blog about fashion and hosted a link to her favorite pair of shoes and got 7% commission on every sale through her site won't be able to make that little extra bit of profit anymore.
He also made a good point, that when taxes, which are actually prices for services provided by the government, go up, demand for those services goes down. In a way, if he is right, this could possibly lead to a major shift in how things are done, with non-profit organizations picking up the clientele that the government has failed, and private businesses going under. If that becomes the case, it will be very interesting. People whose private businesses are struggling might find ways to shelter their businesses from having to pay so much taxes if they turn to non-profit. Also, most of the funding for non-profits is government money, so instead of directly paying to care for the sick, elderly, orphaned and mentally ill, the government will pay the non-profit sector to take over those services. Then we might see some real efficiency :). Obviously I am an optimist, and this is only the best case scenario.
Let me give an example of what I consider to be outright *incompetence* in government, let alone inefficient. In case you haven't heard, California is facing a $26 BILLION budget deficit. So here's what good old Arnie does. Right now in California the state is issuing IOUs to its employees, banks will stop cashing them by end of the week. people are selling them on craigslist. Social Security and disability checks didn't go out this month. now there are a whole lot of mentally ill patients seeking food clothing and shelter in the hospitals at $3000.00/ day, courtesy of the taxpayers. Way to go governator!
What ever happened to the idea of a free nation that we used to preach about?!?
it was only ever preached about .
I am pretty sure the Governator has not been running the California Legislative Branch for the past 40 years.
Bill Maher:
Karen Bass didn't really help things out either.
"What a crazy random happenstance!"
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Read my Blog!
and LMFAO! while trying not choke as i stomach the idiocy i see all around me. may be time to move to CO soon...or Seattle....
"O, I'm sorry you took that, -I meant that for the Devil, and you have stepped in and taken the blow. Don't get between me and the Devil, brother, and the you won't get hurt." --Billy Hibbard
He has a very weak grasp on reality. I don't know what his remarks contain in this case, but fantasy worlds designed to help his own profit and net worth seem to be his habit.
If taxes go up on people that are not the same ones receiving the service demand is not reduced.
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The reason government programs are inefficient is that they lack a natural incentive to find the most efficient methods. If any for profit business can find any way to save money while providing a service to their customers they either get to put that money in their pocket, or lower their price and thereby steal customers from the competition. No one gets to keep the extra money if they do the same in a government program. In fact there is often a disincentive when they reduce your budget the next year because you didn't spend all of it.
If a government service is delivered by a non-profit, as many already are, the incentive to save money is not increased. There is some benefit if the non-profit is already delivering a similar service in not duplicating the same effort. Non-profits also benefit by using volunteers to fill some of their labor needs.
These type government services delivered by non-profits were the primary thrust of the 'faith-based initiative' of the Bush administration.
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"Social Security and disability checks didn't go out this month. now there are a whole lot of mentally ill patients seeking food clothing and shelter in the hospitals at $3000.00/ day, courtesy of the taxpayers. Way to go governator!"
1)Social Security and disability checks are issued by the federal government, not the state. Is this some Cali. based Extra SSI?
2) The only reason hospitals charge anywhere near $3,000.00/day is that nobody actually pays the full amount.
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If you find Arnie to be at fault, How would you solve the California budget problem?
"It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thing that makes the result come true."
- William James
but i still found his comments interesting, especially since i am fascinated with online businesses and the opportunities it brings people.
chillbill said:
"If taxes go up on people that are not the same ones receiving the service demand is not reduced."
you have a point, however, when the services "disappear," the people dependent on them still have a need, and will seek out other suppliers. you point to another complexity in the situation. people will bleed the current system dry first though....its what they are used to. the teet used to produce milk, now they have wean off of it cold turkey, or find another teet. either way, the government is ultimately the giant teet feeding all of them, its just that the ones that the government "runs" and funds are terribly inefficient. at least by funding non-profits, the government hires knowledgable and educated people who specialize in the field of business, and who know how to do things better than the government. Politicians creating health care policy? f***king absurd! hire us some doctors and nurses please!
the non-profit business model makes provisions for the reality that good quality people require a decent livable wage, and so many who work for non-profits make more money than those doing the same jobs for private business. for instance, a non-profit behavioral health program will hire a new graduate at entry level at $16/ hour, where a private company will hire someone for the same job at $10/ hour, with or without the education. the difference is employee retention, of course. also non-profits have tougher pre-employment screenings than private (they don't want to spend the money on excessive things like drug tests or fingerprints).
non--profits do have an incentive to be efficient, staying in business. people have salary caps, but they are paid better than in private businesses. people stay. since there are caps, there is no need to be greedy. most people don't go into non-profits seeking profit, so there is generally more genuine altruism to begin with. also, to remain eligible for the grants and government funds they have to produce results, which means if they get lazy, they go out of business, and no one wants that. non-profits tend to be much more effective, especially in handling things like healthcare and behavioral health.
chillbill said:
"1)Social Security and disability checks are issued by the federal government, not the state. Is this some Cali. based Extra SSI?"
in ca we have state social security and disability, didn't know that it wasnt so everywhere, few people on these programs also receive federal support, but not many. we also have Medi-Cal (state funded/ governed health insurance for the "indigent" or needy") and again, some recipients also receive Medi Care/ Medi Caid benefits, the federal equivalent.
chillbill said:
"2) The only reason hospitals charge anywhere near $3,000.00/day is that nobody actually pays the full amount."
that is, nobody but medi-cal and medi-care. if you have insurance, your hmo will pay $5000/day, and if you have ppo, $8000/day. no wonder no one can afford health insurance on their own! regardless, $3000/day is covered by medi cal.
chillbill said:
"If you find Arnie to be at fault, How would you solve the California budget problem?"
i never said he was responsible for the problem, he didn't create it. but he is responding to it poorly and only making the problem bigger. i am not saying that i like medi-cal, or state disability, but I do think that with these things already in place, it is the last place one should seek to cut from. we are talking about just stripping a whole bunch of addicts from their drug cold turkey, not smart, because a feinding addict is a very dangerous person. take away meds from the indigent and insane? not smart at all....
instead, Arnie should do what Obama "said" he was going to do, and go through the budget line by line, and prioritize...what do people "need?" food, clothing and shelter and medicine...first. cut out the construction, cut out the crap about blueberries and pomegranite juice, cut out the stuff about everything that has nothing to do with basic human wellbeing. the cuts to schools and education have also been devastating. maybe stop giving people $8000 tax credits for buying new homes until we get this shit straightened out? how about that instead of holding the paychecks of your hard working employees? that would be illegal for a private company, why does the government get to rob people like that? there are a lot of things that could be done.
one MAJOR thing i would do is start investigating the operations of state run agencies, which are piss poor, and which waste money by the minute, not just a little bit, but a whole fucking lot!
the whole the budget is handled in the first place: $X to this...well, what happens when that project didn't cost that much? there is no provision in place for this, so the people who are hired to distribute it get real creative about ways to make it disappear, like furnishing their own homes with new computers and entertainment systems. how do i know? because i have friends who work for the state and are not shy about bragging about what they scored with their "rehabilitation fund" for vegetables who don't process fiberoptics and lcd light shows like their "research" says they do....
so in a way, its hard to feel sorry for these same friends of mine now crying about their furloughs and iOUs, but still, the system if FUCKED from head to toe and inside and out.
for more examples, feel free to read my blogs:
http://progressiveu.org/blog/52633-nurse-ratched-stark-raving-mad
and
http://progressiveu.org/blog/50977-deinstitutionalization-mentally-ill-a...
"O, I'm sorry you took that, -I meant that for the Devil, and you have stepped in and taken the blow. Don't get between me and the Devil, brother, and the you won't get hurt." --Billy Hibbard
"the system is FUCKED from head to toe and inside and out."
"Give them an inch, they take a yard;
Give them a yard, they take a mile (ooh);
Once a man and twice a child
And everything is just for a while.
It seems like: total destruction the only solution,
And there ain't no use: no one can stop them now"
- Real Situation- Uprising- Bob Marley and The Wailers
REAL SITUATION
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California is a victim of referendum conundrum. When the masses realize that they can vote themselves bread and circuses, as they did in the Roman republic, collapse through excess public debt is just around the corner.
"It is only by risking our persons from one hour to another that we live at all. And often enough our faith beforehand in an uncertified result is the only thing that makes the result come true."
- William James
and "Here, Here!" i have said it before chillbill, I think you are one of those who "gets it!" unfortunately, due to the factors of mass confusion and global distortion, there has been some static and "silent noise" between us. But ultimately, I see us as eye to eye all too much, much more than "coincidence" would account for...
the *only*n difference between myself and the self-proclaimed "capitalists" in the U.S. of A. today is that i am burdened with the understanding of the suffering of the human species on this planet today. While people tried to keep me sheltered, I bore my way out of that bubble all on my own, and all around me I see devastation and deprivation:
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=120837963572&h=vWGkU&u=tUcL9&r...
and what i want to say is:
http://www.last.fm/music/Bj%C3%B6rk/+videos/5485751
and if you find contradictions in my message, then would you please have this dance?
"O, I'm sorry you took that, -I meant that for the Devil, and you have stepped in and taken the blow. Don't get between me and the Devil, brother, and the you won't get hurt." --Billy Hibbard
People who run internet 'businesses' that get commission from actual businesses for sponsoring links do pay taxes on that money. Well, they're supposed to, anyway. You have to report additional income like that on your tax return, and it can raise your taxes, depending on how much you make. Then, of course, you pay taxes whenever you purchase a product (somewhere down the line, if not directly). So all exchanges result in some sort of taxes being paid. To say otherwise is silly.
~C
Check out the latest entry in the Between The Lines column!
Want the highest rated list to change? RATE those blogs, then!
that the issue in question was not about taxing internet income, but *increasing* the tax on internet income...sorry for the confusion. CA is trying to get crazy, looking for all kinds of ways to save itself. letters have gone out to all of their vendors asking for 15% cuts in their prices. for many vendors, they are already only making 2-3% profit, so this is just absurd. what's wrong with cutting their consumption by 15% instead?
another day, another dollar:
a friend of mine, a nurse who works at the state developmental center told me even more absurdities:
she works 11.5 days a month and is furloughed 1.5 days, but because they can't get people to work, they call her in for mandated overtime anyway. basically, she works for free on her furlough days...meanwhile, her days at work have consisted of taking her clients, who are cognitively unresponsive, to the movies one day, the zoo the next, and to doctor's appointments. all of these "outings" are very expensive, since they have to rent a handicapped bus with amenities for wheelchairs. the clients don't even process the movie, or the animals, but the state pays for their admission, and the staff's anyway. ridiculous....
the doctor's appointments are routine 6 month checkups that take about 10 minutes. rather than have a doctor come to the place, they have to rent the handicap bus and pay staff to escort the patient to UCI. with the number of patient's there, this translates to one appointment per week.
"O, I'm sorry you took that, -I meant that for the Devil, and you have stepped in and taken the blow. Don't get between me and the Devil, brother, and the you won't get hurt." --Billy Hibbard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkiXTj0h0hU&feature=related
"O, I'm sorry you took that, -I meant that for the Devil, and you have stepped in and taken the blow. Don't get between me and the Devil, brother, and the you won't get hurt." --Billy Hibbard