Comments of girdsman (4)

Comment on post The Republican's tax plan...whoa:
2011-04-05T22:16:15+00:00
In general, I agree. I was shocked to hear that proposed, and think that it is a stupid idea to cut the tax rate for higher income people.

The one portion of that idea which may have merit is because for some crazy reason here in the US, corporations are also treated as individuals. I would be in favor of cutting the corporate tax rate, as I think that would actually improve the US economy and increase tax revenue.

First, most of the big corporations currently do not pay tax in the US, as they find mechanisms to move all their tax liabilities overseas, so cutting taxes on big corporations would not cause a significant loss in revenue. In fact, it could actually increase tax revenue from large corporations, as at a certain tax level it would become more profitable for them to pay the US tax rather than to spend the money finding loopholes to shift the liabilities to a foreign country when the rate difference is no longer as large.

Second, it would significantly help small businesses in the US, making small businesses more profitable (and globally competitive). Small businesses create the vast majority of new jobs; making the creation of small businesses easier and more profitable would be one of the best things we could do for the country.

On a somewhat related topic, I ran across a graph recently which highlights the trend in the US, and really shows that government spending (not taxes) needs to be cut. I forget where I originally saw it, but Google found a near match, http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/us_20th_century_chart.html. Federal, state, and local spending as a percentage of GDP is now unmatched historically with the exception of a brief spike to fund World War II. Further, the trend has been steadily upwards. Clearly, the trend is unsustainable. When looked at in terms of deficits, we clearly should be cutting spending (which can't be just from "discretionary" spending), and we shouldn't reduce tax revenue.

Comment on post stock market returns project:
2011-01-26T17:57:46+00:00
Actually, currently there are a number of ways you can invest in ETF's with no commission, which dramatically reduces the hurdle. (I'm not yet sure, but there may still be a ~$0.25 transaction fee.)

Does this include dividends and reinvestment of dividends?

Comment on post minnesota, civ 5, bridge:
2010-09-20T22:09:22+00:00
Sadly, some cities appear to have extreme segregation, such as New Orleans.

Comment on post between projects:
2006-11-06T17:18:47+00:00
Try geneweb

This software may require a little knowledge to setup, but has everything you described, and is open source (hence free). It uses a web interface, and can be set either for individual usage, or as an internet server. With minimal understanding of html, it is possible to link whatever you want (after you set up apache web server). Basically, it can be slightly challenging to get started, but once setup, trivial to use and maintain, fully featured, and free.


http://cristal.inria.fr/~ddr/GeneWeb/en/index.html

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