And some years back I envisioned an Income Tax form that included a section called, "Ok, that's what you owe... now Where Do You Want It Allocated?"

You'd fill in dollar- or percentage-numbers to allocate your "fair" tax dollars to any and all 'eligible programs'.... and if any Program got below some minimum threshold number of dollars or percentage, they'd become ineligible to be on the list for several years!

Talk about "transparency" in taxation and spending? :)))))))

That is true, but if every new spending program caused W/H tables to change the following week, there would be much less political support gov't programs. As soon as a politician started saying, "we must do something about ISIS," "we must help people pay for college," "we need longer prison sentences for criminals,", "we could live millions of children out of poverty by expanding nutrition programs," people would immediately thing, okay, how much is this gonna cost me from my paycheck next week.

I don't know how it's practical, but I also think employees should receive all their pay and then have to hand it someone to be delivered to the gov't. Imagine if a typical worker received $1000 for a week's work and then had to hand over $250 for various taxes.

I try to not confuse negotiating skills with intelligence. Bright and Clever have two different connotations for me.

There was God Complex at Apple, too... I have a friend who worked there collecting customer feedback data and critiques. She quit after the "management" she was collecting the data for started to discard the results because they did not jibe with what they wanted to hear.

They're 'just humans,' too. And from DOS 1.0 on, MS brought some good things to MY life, too. I didn't see the cost/benefit differential being worth the switch from MS to Apple and still don't.

But Android isn't MS in my view and experience, and Apple's phone products seem to do a much better job, both in hardware and software, and wife and I are probably Going to make that switch this year.

An Android "OS update" last year that took an hour or two to download and install, and in the process, deleted major lists of 'favorites' like weather reports and stocks I tracked put some of the final nails in the coffin. Between my (MS) PC, cable company and land line, they meet most of my needs and wants.

But that's me, not you.

Robert! True! Did anyone ask Gates how he's going to create a successful World Government when Europe can't even do that for the relatively small number of countries There?!

Gates, for all his wealth, keeps appearing to me to be dumber and dumber every time he floats one of his 'new ideas.'

Love it Dean! And one of my Laws/observations reflects back on Gates' idea...

Wait for Revision 3.0, because the first two Revs won't work worth shit.

So, BG... what changes do you have planned for V 2.0? How long will Support last?

:)

No... Balanced Budget Amendment merely means that taxes can be raised to equal expenditures, even if expenditures are ineffective, wasteful or stupid!

Think about THAT "unintended consequence" of such an Amendment!

Quoted and cross-posted to my FaceBook page.
Beautiful!

Nobody ever asks morons like Gates any follow-up questions after Pronouncements like his...

Sad.

OK, so he's not a moron.
I just liked the juxtaposition of the word, Gates = Moron. Yes, he has intellectual capacity, but he didn't need to go to the Darkside. Actually, you must admit, he was already there. What he sponsors, what he supports and what he donates shows a man who has never used his intelligence to understand the difference between feeling good and doing good.

The thought of a OWG doesn't really make me wretch with the thoughts of socialism. However overarching it may seem, I have to ask the question, “If it were able to allow those who "can", create ways for those who "can't", to live a life without fear of oppression and denigration for their chosen way of life, and be productive and happy, according to their capability -- would it be that horrific? ”, I could run with that.

Governments must be subordinate to a culture of governance where social norms prevail over desire for individual control. Problems arise from the idea that those who “can” must retain some control over what those who “can't” are allowed to do in order to produce what is necessary.

In order to have a OWG it would take a complete re-think of what really is government. If you look at it from a rational and objective view, what could it be?

You got it down: for the self-proclaimed "elite" it's ALWAYS about POWER and CONTROL. 100%

Life for whom would be easier under one world government? For one world socialists rulers, that's who. Gates wants to decrease the population, he buys all these commie UN schemes. He has all the money he could ever spend, but he wants to be recognized, and have power. He wants control to assure it continues. He thinks if he links arms with the UN, Prince Phillip and Soros, and promotes Ayers education, they can control the thinking of every child on the planet - the ultimate puppet masters.

A one-world government based on Objectivist principles? I'm all for it. Don't think that is what he means though.

Not sure I'm familiar with that one. Can you elaborate?

good start
and a Regulatory Bill of Rights

I never liked Bill Gates or Microsoft. I just got the feeling they just wanted power and money. Apple, on the other hand I am sure wanted money too, but they seemed genuinely interested in getting me stuff that helped my life.

The ORIGINAL one. Get rid of several of the Amendments including:

12th. Can you imagine how our elections would change if the runner up to the Presidential race became the Vice-President?
14th. Citizenship applies only to natural-born citizens of citizens the United States - not children born of illegals.
16th. Eliminate the personal income tax (which also eliminates corporate income taxes).
17th. Senators should be elected by their State Representatives as a check on Federal powers.

And add a balanced budget amendment.

Talk to winterwind about that.

He was anything but a moron. He dropped out of Harvard to co-write the BASIC computer language, and then had the business savvy to talk IBM into _licensing_ MS-DOS instead of buying it outright, by which he made his millions which he then parlayed into his billions.

Was he a copycat? Yes. Did his company use shady business tactics on their dealers to sell only Microsoft and dump their competitors? Yes. Did he benefit from IBM's disaster known as OS/2 Warp and Novell's failed strategy to compete with Microsoft on the desktop? Yes and yes.

But Gates also had the market savvy to buy out several other software companies such as FoxPro, Great Plains, and many others, incorporating their products into Microsoft's offerings.

I don't like the guy or his tactics or ethics, but I can't quite label him an intellectual lightweight.

Precisely. For a great movie on this, see "Pirates of the Silicon Valley". It goes after both Microsoft and Apple for copying inventions of Xerox PARC.

Copied, really. Or bought.

A one world government has been the dream of socialists since the end of the 19th century. Guess who will be running it?

Bill Gates is a moron who fell into a money honey hole. If it weren't for his tech-savvy partner and others, he'd still be fooling around in the garage. I will eat my words if anyone can point out anything he said that was accurate or rational.

I would agree with Mr Gates - IF that world government was based upon the principles of the US Constitution.

Pretty near-sighted comment for such a far-sighted entrepreneur.