Mega Thread The Random Thoughts Thread Part 1

[Janus]

You do realise that best minds/top university, education that is linked to industry, are both things that the US does, right?

You say that, but using the US again, which of these things are they not doing?

We have the opportunity to do it better because we can learn from their mistakes. The US both fails and succeeds in the strength of being a republic rather than a democracy. That gives the people certain key rights no matter what, but it also allows those rights to be abused ie gun laws.

Bullshit. Innovation predominantly comes from populations that have an ability to experiment without fear of imminent starvation, hence why so much shit comes from the West. If you want more innovation, create an environment in which as many Australians as possible have the capability to take a chance without losing everything. That starts at home.

It starts with labor pains, just like any new endeavour does. There is no magic lamp you can run so that everyone gets what they want. For example, a lot of people are against DCNS building the submarines, right? Waste of money? But what they fail to realize is that DCNS also build power stations - they just signed a MoU with a Malaysian university to build a Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion plant there. They also specialise in wave energy.

These are things that could be of benefit to Australia - and part of the renewable/clean energy industry. That's the innovation I want - not giving some snotty nosed kid a free university degree and a sense of entitlement to a high paying job because of it. There are a lot of dumb people out there with university degrees, and a lot of smart people without them. If you give everyone a free hit, you'll hit some home runs but most will strike out. It's better to focus the limited resources you have where it will be most effective first and THEN you can give everyone a go.

You want to create an environment where as many can be given a shot without losing everything...you have to be able to build that environment without losing everything first. It doesn't come out of thin air, and other countries are competing just as hard as we are to be the new Camelot.

 

[Janus]

Oh, and I'd pay for it all by taxing religious organisations. They can pay company tax like everyone else

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Then you'll get your money to fully fund Gonski and do all the social reforms that you want to do. Starting from the bottom up is a stupid idea and only perpetuates a cycle of growing debt.

The first thing we need to do is actually fix the constitution, so that if we decide to keep state governments they have to have their own decent taxing powers to do what they are supposed to do as per the constitution. Section 51 lists the State government responsibilities vs Section 96 which gives the Commonwealth power to make tied grants to States - on such terms and conditions as the Parliament thinks fit ie stick their nose in. The Australian vertical horizontal fiscal imbalance is the largest in all the OECD nations that have a 3 tiered federal/state/local government system. It means you then have to have a horizontal fiscal equalization system to try and correct things which means empires are built in the public services to protect their patch, politicians want to win votes so they stick their nose in areas they shouldn't, so you end up getting these great inefficiencies and blame shifting and the problem gets worse, not better.

If you are going to start at the top, that's where you start, because if you don't, this bullshit downward drift will continue for years if not decades.

 

[Portia]

Oh, and I'd pay for it all by taxing religious organisations. They can pay company tax like everyone else

I agree with that bit.

 

[I Dont Care]

It is hard to fathom how hated he was. Would be a rockstar now.

Would have almost god-like status

 

[I Dont Care]

When taking a global view, yes.

Here's a thought experiment for you: if you had the power to equalise every single person on the planet's financial circumstances with the press of a button, do you think your current standard of living would increase or decrease?

I'd still be broke

 

[Portia]

It starts with labor pains, just like any new endeavour does. There is no magic lamp you can run so that everyone gets what they want. For example, a lot of people are against DCNS building the submarines, right? Waste of money? But what they fail to realize is that DCNS also build power stations - they just signed a MoU with a Malaysian university to build a Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion plant there. They also specialise in wave energy.

That sounds a bit like we buy the dumb expensive thing so Malaysia gets the interesting gamechanger? Why would we not invest in the thermal energy conversion and wave energy projects directly?

These are things that could be of benefit to Australia - and part of the renewable/clean energy industry. That's the innovation I want - not giving some snotty nosed kid a free university degree and a sense of entitlement to a high paying job because of it. There are a lot of dumb people out there with university degrees, and a lot of smart people without them. If you give everyone a free hit, you'll hit some home runs but most will strike out. It's better to focus the limited resources you have where it will be most effective first and THEN you can give everyone a go.

I may be dumb, but what is it about tertiary education that makes it prohibitively expensive forever, yet we seem to have a handle on high school education? If you say economies of scale, well...

You want to create an environment where as many can be given a shot without losing everything...you have to be able to build that environment without losing everything first. It doesn't come out of thin air, and other countries are competing just as hard as we are to be the new Camelot.

The thing about Camelot is that you'll be able to justify chasing that goal with excessive resources forever ("Other countries are catching up". etc); it will never become time to help the disadvantaged and provide a safety net if we don't choose to, and today is as good as any day.

 

[proman_x]

What's the point you're making here

A lower class man has raised legitimate concerns about inequality in this country and has been quickly championed by the people so the right wing media has made personal attacks on him. He has no national television timeslot like Andrew Bolt or a newspaper column in a national newspaper to defend himself. It's ******* disgusting.

My point is that the media and its masters take someone and use them as an agenda, not giving two shits about the actual issue. They will rip this guy to shreds and not even think twice about it.


As for your point about him being a lower class man and the inequality of our system. That is capitalism for you, corporations rule and it will only get worse before it gets better. Tax is only one issue, their are many more not even discussed in the main stream media.

You think these corporates have not planned for this ? What do you think free trade agreements are about ? This has been planned for decades. They pressure, threaten, bribe governments to stop things from happening or slow them down. Evading taxes has been a problem for many years, accountancy firms and lawyers have made fortunes from it.

How does a guy who doesn't pay income tax get any benefit from changing tax laws ? In effect he only pays GST as a tax? I guess we could argue that if we are getting millions or perhaps billions from corporation taxes not currently being paid, it would improve social structures via having more money for governments to put into the system and the side effects from that.

I whole heartily agree, these big companies need to start paying the taxes they should be paying. I am not holding my breath over it. We can scream and shout, maybe because its an election period they will placate us with minor changes but I doubt we will see major reform.

Look at what happened during the GFC and how trillions was basically stolen from ''the people'' how much reform in general have we seen from that ? SFA.

The puppet masters always get their way, been going on for centuries.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

Justv an fyi I have vin drinking snco this morning.

wowsers the spel correct and wow

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Russia trying to do a Ricky Martin in Eurovision.

 

[Zakk Wylde]

I like RIcky Martin

 

[Jonts]

If you tax lent money in churches and the like receive then the people giving it should be able to claim it back on tax

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Go the San Marino singing dentist with the 1950's suit.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

If you tax lent money in churches and the like receive then the people giving it should be able to claim it back on tax

See this is where you guys dont think like tax dodging accountants and lawyers. The churches would employ the lawyers and accountants that google, apple, microsoft, oracle, facebook, adobe etc who do the Double Irish, ie say their intellectual property is based in Ireland, pay a big transfer management fee for using that IP, make no profits in Oz, and then transfer monies to the Cayman Island with their holding company charging the Irish company another big fee and Irish company also also pays SFA income tax in Ireland. There are other variations. Mossack Fonseca would be able to set something up.
The catholic church argues all their spiritual IP is in the Vatican so charges the Oz branches a big fat fee, The Anglicans would use the Cayman Islands or British Virgin Islands, The protestants would probably use Switzerland, the Buddhists use Hong Kong or somewhere in Asia as their base etc.

 

[Changaneen]

 

[manureid]

Justv an fyi I have vin drinking snco this morning.

wowsers the spel correct and wow

Thanks for saving this thread somewhat.

 

[Changaneen]

 

[Changaneen]

 

[edgie]

 

[JimmyBeerCans]

I draw the line at ******* Bono content in this fred

 

[_VXV]

I draw the line at ******* Bono content in this fred

Had a girlfriend once who loved him.
Not such a fan of me calling him Bonio.

 

[CrimsonRaven]

New Doom single player looks cool as ****

 

[_VXV]

 

[StuMan]

New Doom single player looks cool as ****

Yeah it looks great. I'm hoping I can scrape enough spare coin together to grab it this weekend.

Have you had a chance to play your copy yet LukeSA ?

 

[CrimsonRaven]

I'll need to find out how many hours I can expect from the campaign as I cant see myself getting into the multiplayer. Shame its a Denuvo game.