Things Noticeable this week

[bloke57]

Originally Posted by rupertramjet

As for the artist, who???

The only lido I know is in Ruislip.

[Roubignol]

Originally Posted by Devius

Sadly I don't see the rules changing, because those who make the rules are also avoiding tax themselves....

That's all the problem. They probably avoid AND are paid to create and allow tax heaven for rich people and big companies. In 2008 they could have done something, but they didn't. They could TODAY, but they still don't.

If we forget the case of the few very rich people, in our democracies we (low and middle class people) vote for these politicians. A lot of the middle class people invest their money in portfolio and want to receive dividendes at the end of the year. Pension funds of future retirees invest in the companies that make more profits. To make more profits, big companies went abroad to pay less taxes.

We don't have to cry. We commit our own suicide. All the system sucks.

Originally Posted by Puhbear69

This post and a couple of the same posts before is leading me to a question:

Who is writing the actual -our- tax laws ? Our politicians ? Obviously not !

If you look at the results of the democratic referendums in Switzerland, you often would be surprised to see how unfair the common citizen vote.

It's difficult to know the real reason, but there probably are at least two.

1) If they vote to make a more social system, according to the economical parties, the country and the society will not be anymore competitive compared to "rotten" countries.

2) People are lazy and love confort (that's quite logical) and are afraid to change and prefer an unfair system that worked quite well since 60 years...

That's always surprising how elderly people are ready to indirectly take money from the job of their children for their own old days.

We probably one of the rare species that "more or less" consciously "exploit" their children.

[DTravel]

Headlines catching my eye this morning:

Germany to recognize third gender for intersex people
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41912754
()

Pope Francis: Mass is for prayers not mobile phones
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41918906
(Does this mean Appleites are more devout than Catholics?)

Python found in trousers of drunk man in Germany
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41914261
(Is this somehow related to the first item? And just what the hell is going on in Germany these days?)

[CARLTON BROWN]

Originally Posted by Brecht

The actual scandal here is that these people are above any law. If you're rich, you don't have to break the law because it's made to serve your interests. Paying taxes is for idiots and the riffraff obviously. Take corporations. The entire infractructure they require to function was built with taxes. They're getting subsidies for research or to create jobs. When their businesses fail, they're bailed out by the taxpayer. Not good enough for them, so let's avoid paying taxes. It's funny how a lot of middle-class people are rooting for these crooks, hoping they'll become millionaires themselves. So much hate is directed at war refugees while these tax refugees are defended and idolized, although they cause so much damage to our economies.

Generally, most governments can never collect enough in taxes and cannot be trusted to spend the money sensibly or fairly. Banks tend to act like shadow governments and major multinationals are a law to themselves. However, the main topic is wealthy individuals isn't it?

If there is no legal requirement to pay more tax than the law requires, then are you supposed to top this up with what amounts to a charitable donation to the government? That would be stupid, wouldn't it?

And on the matter of hiding things away, what's so wrong about keeping your affairs private from people you neither trust or respect? Should you automatically be branded dishonest for doing so? And by whom?

And I'm sorry if you hate the middle classes, who generally work hard, keep things running in most industrialised countries and make a very large contribution to society. That's perhaps why they are middle class?

[Devius]

Priti Patel resigns as UK international development secretary after row about meeting Israeli politicians.

Details:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41923007

[Nobody1]

Originally Posted by Rogerbh

All-in-all, don't expect the rich to bear the brunt of any new tax increases. The shrinking middle class will be taking it up the ass again. And when I say middle class I mean the 20K to 400K income families who pay the bulk of taxes in the US.

'Stockholm syndrome is a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity. These feelings, resulting from a bond formed between captor and captives during intimate time spent together, are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims. Generally speaking, Stockholm syndrome consists of strong emotional ties that develop between two persons where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other.'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

An oppressive system ceases to exist when its people cease to live on their knees.

[haroldeye]

Like when they cast off the oppressive yoke of commisars.

[Devius]

Originally Posted by Nobody1

An oppressive system ceases to exist when its people cease to live on their knees.

Originally Posted by haroldeye

Like when they cast off the oppressive yoke of commisars.

Unfortunately I think our masses are more concerned with today's "bread and circuses"...

[tsunamiSD]

I got my new National Geographic some days ago - it included an article on the 'happiest' places on the earth. I was surprised that a version of it is available on line. Unfortunately, you have to log in to read it. The three countries that the article talks about are Costa Rica, Denmark, and Singapore - each being happy for a different reason. The order that they list countries in is a bit different from what I found at another site:

World Happiness report 2017 talks about some of the findings.

The actual full report HR 17 has statistics and charts, including one showing the rankings for the period 2014-2016 (on page 20).

The Scandanavian countries, Switzerland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand make up the top 10; Israel (!) is 11th, Costa Rica is 12th, Singapore 26th.

[otokonomidori]

Originally Posted by tsunamiSD

I got my new National Geographic some days ago - it included an article on the 'happiest' places on the earth. I was surprised that a version of it is available on line. Unfortunately, you have to log in to read it. The three countries that the article talks about are Costa Rica, Denmark, and Singapore - each being happy for a different reason. The order that they list countries in is a bit different from what I found at another site:

World Happiness report 2017 talks about some of the findings.

The actual full report HR 17 has statistics and charts, including one showing the rankings for the period 2014-2016 (on page 20).

The Scandanavian countries, Switzerland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand make up the top 10; Israel (!) is 11th, Costa Rica is 12th, Singapore 26th.

It says the UK is 19th. I reckon happiness is more a personal circumstance thing - even if you did live in Norway you'd still be a miserable bastard if you were poor, lonely and had prolapsed haemorrhoids .