Ah, waste. Much is always made of how much can be made in savings by avoiding 'waste'. Truth is the sums more often than not turn out to be tiny.Quote:
Originally Posted by airshifter
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Ah, waste. Much is always made of how much can be made in savings by avoiding 'waste'. Truth is the sums more often than not turn out to be tiny.Quote:
Originally Posted by airshifter
Do we think such people exist in significant numbers in Europe?Quote:
Originally Posted by airshifter
I'll leave that opinion up to those of you that live there. I know here in the US there are IMO far too many people thinking that it's up to the government to "get them ahead" in life. Also far too many milking the system and working under the table, thus double dipping and screwing those of us that work for what we have and pay the taxes that provides them with such assistance.Quote:
Originally Posted by BDunnell
I can agree that on the issue of waste alone the sums are probably a drop in the bucket of a national budget. But all those drops make ripples and eventually waves. Being a private contractor working on various military installations I see constant waste in contracts, and lack of thought on daily procedures that create waste within the government workers, both military and civilian.
As an example to the above, I work on 5 different bases on a regular basis. I will have 5 different passes to work on those bases. I have one pass that my company pays for and gets me on two of the bases. For the other three I submit paperwork and wait for a background check, then go pick up their specific pass. All of the administration fees and background check fees are absorbed by the base. So when all is said and done I'm subject to background checks 4 times a year, and 3 of those times the government foots the bill.
The one pass we pay for checks just as in depth for background information, but also monitors on a month to month basis for any activity that would cause a pass to be revoked. It's a more efficient system and runs at zero cost to the particular base, but most haven't adopted it. I'm unsure of the total cost per background checks and the passes, labor involved at the pass offices, etc. But as an example on one of the bases that use the pass we pay for, the authorized list for day visitors that obtain those passes is close to 2000 pages, so likely in the neighborhood of 25,000 to 30,000 contractors they were in the past footing the bill for.
I just saw this link today on my home page. Let's just take a look at how evil all these corporations are.
The 10 most charitable companies in America
The 10 Most Charitable Companies in America - Yahoo! Finance
The Most Generous: Kroger
2010 Giving: $64,000,000
Percentage of 2009 Profits: 10.9%
2nd Most Generous: Macy's
2010 Giving: $41,226,887
Percentage of 2009 Profits: 8.1%
3rd Most Generous: Safeway
2010 Giving: $76,500,000
Percentage of 2009 Profits: 7.5%
4th Most Generous: Dow Chemical
2010 Giving: $34,237,817
Percentage of 2009 Profits: 7.3%
5th Most Generous: Morgan Stanley
2010 Giving: $55,641,610
Percentage of 2009 Profits: 5.7%
The Biggest Donor: Wal-Mart
2010 Giving: $319,454,996
2009 Giving: $288,091,839
Change: 10.9%
2nd Biggest Donor: Goldman Sachs
2010 Giving: $315,383,413
2009 Giving: $69,569,895
Change: 353.3%
3rd Biggest Donor: Wells Fargo
2010 Giving: $219,132,065
2009 Giving: $202,014,244
Change: 8.5%
4th Biggest Donor: Bank of America
2010 Giving: $207,939,857
2009 Giving: $209,116,567
Change: -0.6%
5th Biggest Donor: Exxon Mobil
2010 Giving: $198,692,197
2009 Giving: $187,121,560
Change: 6.2%
Those numbers add up fairly quick. And unlike the government, I have a choice to support or not support any business that is in turn charitable. The government just takes it and leaves me no choice in the matter.
Do you not have the choice to support or not support your political representative?Quote:
Originally Posted by airshifter
Not buying your petrol (gas!) from Mobil, for example, is hardly going to make a dent on their profits.
We have no choice when it comes to paying Taxes. We do have a choice on who we elect to decide how to spend our money but we are the victim of the whims of the populace. Every election it is getting harder and harder to win against people who vote themselves a raise.Quote:
Originally Posted by ArrowsFA1
This person's vote is equal to mine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P36x8rTb3jI
Significant? If the Europeans who post here are any judge then it is a huge majorityQuote:
Originally Posted by BDunnell
Actually the USA has one of the highest corporate taxes on the planet and there was a time when the highest Tax bracket was over 90%Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
I would have to disagree with you on that one. Public Healthcare is one Huge waste.Quote:
Originally Posted by BDunnell
I agree. It probably is in the United States. I doubt that there is the skill to run a public healthcare system in the US properly.Quote:
Originally Posted by anthonyvop