460 posts shown.
It’s going to be tough for small business owners to pay fair wages with these tax rates. Most end up paying people under the table just to keep their heads above water. If they would just scrap progressive income taxes and have the state and local governments cut back on spending, things might actually look up...
Some people on the team are working under the table, while others just refuse to work at all—they'd much rather spend their time begging their grandma, grandpa, mom, or dad for help. Honestly, if you’ve already put in five days of combat service, you’re better off spending your time gathering paperwork for disability benefits through a well-connected doctor than working some dead-end job for $3$1.25a
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Ugh, check out this garbage
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Rachel Cooper3 said:
The machines are running fine. ☕
Well, he really broke through the ice after that interview with the guest from DC ☕
That was an intense match and a huge win for Jones... just finished watching the replay today 🙏
loneseal said:Big thanks to the likes of Clinton and Pelosi.
Rest easy, General.
You forgot who actually handed him over; everyone’s just buying into that narrative, especially after those protests down by the waterfront...
Well, even if all those courts are set up perfectly, it just shows how much they messed up with Wells Fargo during that big legal battle in New York...
Amanda Evans2 said:So, what exactly is supposed to be the dominant symbol of masculinity?
I'm just dying to know so I can prepare myself for when I finally grow up
A big car. That's why bus drivers should just pick everyone up...
nimbleranger17 said:Well, funny enough, the guy you're quoting is rocking exactly that kind of beard—the very one you're claiming isn't normal. 😁
here's what I call an insane beard
but hey, if that's your style, go for it...
Amanda Evans2 said:I haven't even touched a razor in at least three years, and frankly, I don't see the issue. I actually spend less on beard maintenance than most women do on their pre-wash hair routine—especially when they're out here slathering coconut oil on as a primer before they even hit the shower.
When I head to the barbershop, my stylist just tidies up the beard along with my haircut and that’s the end of it.
You wash it just like you wash your hair, maybe use a specific shampoo, and that's it. There really isn't some grand philosophy behind it...
And look, a classic, old-school beard is totally fine, but those overly manicured "metro" beards? Seriously, they aren't normal...
Patrick Martin said:You're kind of tripping there. Honestly, almost every small business owner buys EVERYTHING—and I mean everything—tax-free and uses it for their own personal stuff. How they justify that as "business expenses" to stay legal? Beats me.🤷
This country is basically El Dorado for business owners, yet everyone acts like they're struggling.🤔
That’s not what I meant. I was talking about when they buy bread, furniture, and all that personal stuff—they pay sales tax on those things. Business owners don't get out of paying tax on everything; someone always ends up footing the bill
Amanda Evans2 said:What, is yours not growing?
It feels a bit too "metrosexual" watching these guys walking around with perfectly groomed beards. Is it really normal for a guy to spend more time brushing his beard than some girl spends on her hair? Between the oils and the tiny combs, it's quite something...
Patrick Martin said:Look, taxes are a totally normal and necessary part of running a civilized country, but the whole thing only works if everyone plays by the rules—everyone pays up on time, instead of giving some people a free pass while squeezing everyone else dry.
The government’s one actual job should be collecting those taxes consistently, especially from the big shots and the shady characters trying to dodge their responsibilities. I swear, the underground economy is still thriving in this country. Despite having all these inspections and agencies crawling everywhere, we still can't seem to get our act together even today.
A few years back, the IRS actually had the nerve to publish a "list of shame" featuring tax delinquents, but honestly, BTJ, that's just an embarrassment for the agency itself. It's basically just a public scoreboard showing how much they've failed at their jobs.🙄
I mean, seriously, the level of absurdity we deal with in this country is something the rest of the world hasn't even dreamed of.🙏
Just look at how much Toda has pulled from the government through unpaid loans, state subsidies, tax evasion, and companies handed over for basically nothing. That's a much bigger issue than the gray economy, which honestly just helps people scrape by...
Besides those who are clearly on the edge of the state, obviously...
Honestly, what’s even the point? Even if the shadow economy starts paying taxes again, everything you spend money on already has sales tax baked in. Plus, if you just keep your cash in the bank, the government takes a cut of your interest anyway. There's really no way to outrun it...
Paul Sanders5 said:Get outta here, Satan! ☕
😁
Please bring back the mustaches ☕
Back in 1705, Peter the Great actually introduced a tax on beards. Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing something like that happen today...
The situation is pretty much the same in most places, except maybe in some of the more polished democracies in Western Europe. The tactics used to control a society are universally identical: first, you artificially create or blow out of proportion a potential enemy (in our case, the old communist types, the Masons, etc.), and then you mobilize the entire country to fight against them. Naomi Klein wrote about similar patterns years ago in her introduction to the shock doctrine:
"This is how the shock doctrine works—the initial catastrophe: a coup d'état, a terrorist attack, a market crash, war, a tsunami, a hurricane—throws the entire population into a state of collective shock. Bombs, terror attacks, or even windstorms serve to soften up societies as a whole, just as loud music and blows in interrogation rooms soften up prisoners. Much like a terrorized prisoner who gives up his friends' names and renounces his faith, shocked societies often abandon what they would otherwise defend to the death..."
"...While everyone was preoccupied with the new and deadly culture wars, the Bush administration seized the opportunity to achieve what they could only dream of before September 11th—conducting privatized wars while simultaneously building a corporate security complex back home..."
"...The goal of the 'softening' phase is to trigger a hurricane within the human consciousness—prisoners become so broken and terrified that they are no longer capable of rational thought or defending their own interests. In such a state of shock, most prisoners give their interrogators everything they want—data, confessions, the abandonment of their own beliefs..."
Now, just draw the parallels to what we're seeing here
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ambertinker41 said:I have to admit, I don't actually know most of the people you just listed. I have no clue who they are or what they do, and honestly, I wouldn't even recognize their faces on a magazine cover if I saw them.
You’re out here talking about mental scraps; once you cut those characters out of your life and grab a glass of Shiraz, everything starts looking a whole lot better. There aren't many of them, and they certainly aren't important—my mood is shaped way more by trivial stuff like soccer or hitting the gym than by some random guys whose entire aesthetic relies on having a mustache.
And honestly, on some people, they look great...
Amanda Evans2 said:Good grief, you're here today and gone tomorrow...
just like the late Whitney Houston used to sing
Learning to Love yourself IT is The Greatest Love of All
It is the greatest love of all
ambertinker41 said:Are they washing cats on the side?
🤣
It’s actually pretty funny because those kinds of groups really did exist, especially hanging out by cars parked off to the side where all the romance would happen...
Anyway, like people say around here, most Americans are more or less the same...
Paul Chase95 said:See, I noticed here on Reddit that you cover an insane amount of ground. Politics, economics, KC, sports, movies, culture, TV shows... Just tell me you also run marathons and play competitive chess while you're at it. ☕
As much as I might not be able to stand one particular forum user when it comes to politics, I have to admit the guy covers literally everything and is incredibly sharp—he's a real powerhouse. He can be irritating and downright rude in private messages, sure, but there isn't a single topic he doesn't know inside out, and he always finds a way to twist it to suit his own argument.
I'm more into other sports than running, though I've occasionally hit the riverwalk path when I wasn't working on my cardio elsewhere. Running gets pretty monotonous, especially when you're out there by yourself...
The last time I played chess was against a computer about a year ago; I'm definitely no grandmaster... 😁
