2008 Presidential Election

^^ lol @ funny questions you never expect to hear.

He's a good guy, but wasn't a good president. He does a lot of humanitarian work now.

I can't imagine why you would get him as a good match for 'presidents' though :S Aside from screwing up in terms of the economic situation and energy crisis we had, he didn't accomplish much.

Why are you asking Scape and not asking Google or something?

NINJA EDIT: I ask this simply because I think it's clear that questions like that are simply so beyond the scape (tee hee) of what Scape can tell you.

Because you're my friends, and I trust my friends more than Google Anyway, if you don't want to answer me, don't post a message about it ?

Halvorc wrote:

Because you're my friends, and I trust my friends more than Google Anyway, if you don't want to answer me, don't post a message about it ?

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i dunno man googles pretty smart

ANOTHER NINJA EDIT: It might seem like I'm trolling but really I'm just trying to steer you in the direction of useful answers. *shrug*

Halvorc wrote:

Because you're my friends, and I trust my friends more than Google Anyway, if you don't want to answer me, don't post a message about it ?

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I wouldn't have thought it possible, but you've been more indiscreetly belittling here lately than I've been all this year. That's a solid sign of a necessity to lighten it up a bit. :/

@ Halvorc: Scape can help put some of the information in context for you, but really Google/Wikipedia would be more useful. I could have done research for you and given you detailed response but I, like everyone else around here, is just going to give you offhand knowledge of these things.

For me, Jimmy Carter goes like this:
Had no answer to the economic crisis, had no answer to the energy crisis, did something with reducing nuclear arms between USSR and USA (the SALT II treaty).

But I'm sure his presidency was a little more detailed than that.

Understood.

He left office in 1981. While some of us might have been alive then, I doubt any of us were old enough to remember what his presidency was like firsthand. Anything we can tell you, Google can tell you better.

I'm not sure what Jimmy Carter has to do with the upcoming election anyway.

Carter wrote an awesome book called "Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis".

I'm not sure what Jimmy Carter has to do with the upcoming election anyway.

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The relevance of Carter to this thread is obviously that he, like Dennis Kucinich, saw a UFO.

http://www.cohenufo.org/Carter/carter_abvtopsec.htm

Elec wrote:

Carter wrote an awesome book called "Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis".

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His books of poetry are dreadful.

Meanwhile, we Ron Paul revolutionaries have raised over nine million dollars toward our late December goal of twelve million. This of course includes the 4.4 million that we raised on Guy Fawkes Day, but it doesn't include the record-breaking amount that we'll raise on December 16th, the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.

We've got to work about the election in groups in school, and every group got a candidate to work more about. We got Fred Thompson.
Now, he's driving this line about Flat Taxes, am I right? I read about it on wiki and somewhere else and I tried to understand how american tax system works, but I simply don't get it.
Also, does the fair tax mean that all taxes should disappear and that there should only be taxes on things you buy? It seems incredibly stupid.. I think I must've got that wrong, so if someone could enlighten me I would be grateful.

I was shocked when I read how few people actually votes in USA... only 11% voted in the primar electins 2004!? And only 50% vote in the real election!? And that's of those who are allowed to vote.. Why can't you vote if you've been to prison? It's mad. How can the president say he represents the people, if only 50% of the people actually votes? They should do like the russians and drive out to people who are old or weak or live far away, so that it will be easier to vote.. Isn't the voting process kinda complicated? And that you have to register to a party... :/

Miruku wrote:

Also, does the fair tax mean that all taxes should disappear and that there should only be taxes on things you buy? It seems incredibly stupid.. I think I must've got that wrong, so if someone could enlighten me I would be grateful.

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I'll try to keep this to the facts and not start some off-topic debate.

You've pretty much got it right about the "fair tax" except that it's not only a tax on things you buy, but also services such as medical care etc. There would also be a monthly payment sent to each household to offset some of the tax burden. And it would replace the federal tax system only - individual states would still have whatever tax system they previously had.
By the way, the wiki article on "fair tax" is terrible - don't use it.

The existing American federal tax system taxes you on all forms of income you receive. The first several thousand dollars of income you get is untaxed. Then there are a series of "brackets" - the next $8000 or so is taxed at 10%, the next $25000 after that at 15%, etc. up to the current highest rate of 35%. The exact numbers depend on if you're married or single, how many dependents you have, etc. There are also various things you can subtract from your taxable income, called "deductions". For example if you made a charitable donation of $1000 you can make a deduction of $1000 from your taxable income.

EDIT: and as for the other, you don't HAVE to belong to a party here. But in most places, you can only vote in a party's primary if you belong to that party.

Oh ok. So instead of having taxes on the money you get, you have tax on the money you spend? And when you get your paycheck, the tax is drawn from the person who gives you your pay (sorry don't know the word) before you get it, instead that they pay you money that then gets taxed... Right? So basically, the government gets as much money as before, because it's the same amount of money that gets taxed, but in a different way...

And right now, is there only tax on your income, or do you also pay tax when you buy things or services?

((sorry, this is confusing to me.. In sweden, we have about 30% tax on the income (as lowest, it increases with income, but I don't know how much), and 25% tax on all things and services you buy... A very large amount of taxes.))

Thank you for the answers! It is really helpful.

Miruku wrote:

So basically, the government gets as much money as before, because it's the same amount of money that gets taxed, but in a different way...

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It's not the same amount of money being taxed. Currently individuals are taxed on all their income, minus deductions. That is usually not the same as the amount they spend in a year. The "fair tax" is also intended to replace other federal taxes besides the income tax, such as payroll taxes, estate tax, etc.
There is a debate about how much the sales tax rate would have to be to bring in the same amount of money as all current federal taxes, and how this kind of tax would affect people at different income levels.

And right now, is there only tax on your income, or do you also pay tax when you buy things or services?

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There is no federal sales tax, but many states and some counties and cities have sales taxes. As I mentioned above there are also some other kinds of federal taxes.

flowersofnight wrote:

Miruku wrote:

So basically, the government gets as much money as before, because it's the same amount of money that gets taxed, but in a different way...

Click to expand...

It's not the same amount of money being taxed. Currently individuals are taxed on all their income, minus deductions. That is usually not the same as the amount they spend in a year. The "fair tax" is also intended to replace other federal taxes besides the income tax, such as payroll taxes, estate tax, etc.
There is a debate about how much the sales tax rate would have to be to bring in the same amount of money as all current federal taxes, and how this kind of tax would affect people at different income levels.

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Yes, but you said you pay the tax when paying for services too, and when a company employs people, then they have to pay them, and the money they pay them would get taxed, because they pay for a "service", kinda... Or what's the difference between that and medical care?

And right now, is there only tax on your income, or do you also pay tax when you buy things or services?

Click to expand...

There is no federal sales tax, but many states and some counties and cities have sales taxes. As I mentioned above there are also some other kinds of federal taxes.

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Ah ok, I think I understand. It's complicated >.>

Miruku wrote:

Yes, but you said you pay the tax when paying for services too, and when a company employs people, then they have to pay them, and the money they pay them would get taxed, because they pay for a "service", kinda...

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The "fair tax" proposal wouldn't tax wages though, or intermediate steps in the manufacturing process - it's intended to be applied only once, when a consumer buys a product for the first time or pays for service.
We also currently pay taxes on things we didn't buy. We have to pay into Social Security and Medicare even if we don't use those services, we pay taxes on gifts and inheritances, we pay capital gains tax when the value of stocks we own goes up, etc.
Whether or not it all "evens out" somewhere else in the economy, I don't know. My guess is that it's not equivalent though, and it's just a different way of raising revenue.

I think I get it, thank you very much for explaining it!