News Stories

[justinstrife]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35448576/ns/us_news-life

Spoiler:

Study: States must fill $1 trillion pension gap
Some may be forced to reduce benefits or raise taxes to address shortfall


HARRISBURG, Pa. - States may be forced to reduce benefits, raise taxes or slash government services to address a $1 trillion funding shortfall in public sector retirement benefits, according to a new study that warns of even more debilitating costs if immediate action isn't taken.

The Pew Center on the States released a survey Thursday of state-administered pension plans, retiree health care and other post-employment benefits in all 50 states that blamed a decade's worth of policy decisions for leaving them shortchanged.

The result for some states will be "high annual costs that come with significant unfunded liabilities, lower bond ratings, less money available for services, higher taxes and the specter of worsening problems in the future," the study said.

The cost of the trillion-dollar shortfall, which will be paid over the coming decades, is about $8,800 for each American household. The study did not include many city, county and municipal pension plans, which are thought to have similar underfunding.

"We have a significant problem now, but it's a problem that can be solved by taking relatively modest steps," said Susan K. Urahn, the center's managing director. "If they don't do anything, if they wait, eventually they will have an unmanageable crisis on their hands."

Gap may be wider
As of 2008, states had $2.4 trillion to meet $3.4 trillion in promised pension, health care and other post-retirement benefits, according to the report.

The true gap may even be wider, because the study did not account for the full impact of investment losses in late 2008, during the stock market downturn, and because many plans employ multiyear smoothing techniques to lessen the effect of a single year's losses. But more recent stock market returns could help — on Wednesday, for example, Pennsylvania's $47 billion public school pension plan reported it had earned about 12 percent on investments in the 2009 calendar year.

Pew deemed 16 states solid performers in how they fund pensions, 15 needing improvement and 19 considered to be facing serious concerns.

"Meanwhile, more and more baby boomers in state and local government are nearing retirement, and many will live longer than earlier generations — meaning that if states do not get a handle on the costs of post-employment benefits now, the problem likely will get far worse, with states facing debilitating costs," the study said.

The exploding financial burden could be a bitter pill for taxpayers, many of whom will not be collecting similar pensions or other benefits when they retire, said David Kline with the California Taxpayers' Association. About one in five private sector workers have traditional defined benefit pensions, compared with about 90 percent of public-sector employees — including some that do not get Social Security.

"Taxpayers in the future will be paying for people who worked decades before they may have even lived in the area or begun paying taxes, because the obligation for these benefits is just snowballing," Kline said.

Illinois has most troubled system
The study graded states on how well they have managed employees' retirement benefits. Florida, Idaho, New York, North Carolina and Wisconsin began the current recession with fully funded pension systems, while eight states have left more than one-third of their pension liability unfunded.

Illinois was rated the most troubled pension system during the study period, with a 54 percent funding level and a total liability of more than $54 billion.

In Pennsylvania, a series of decisions by the Legislature and governor have shielded taxpayers from much of the pain for the past decade, but costs of less than $1 billion a year now is projected to climb to about $6 billion annually in the coming three years.

The report said policy makers have exacerbated the problem by expanding benefits, relying on overly optimistic assumptions about investment returns and failing to sufficient fund the programs.

"Even though the actuaries tell the states what they should be doing, the states feel free to ignore that," said Olivia Mitchell, director of the Pension Research Council at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. "So putting some teeth behind the requirements is really the problem."

Pew calculated a $587 billion national cost for current and future retiree health care and other nonpension retirement benefits, with only about 5 percent of that amount funded as of 2008. The cost of health care and the number of retirees are both on the rise, adding to the pressure on states.

‘Pensions plan work’
The study found that 15 states made some legislative changes to their state-run systems last year, 12 did so in 2008 and 11 in 2007. About a third of states had formal efforts to study potential reforms under way last year.



"Pension plans work when they are allowed to work, and part of that dynamic is that sometimes adjustments have to be made," said Keith Brainard, research director with the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. "It's important not to take away decent retirement benefits for some of the few people that have them."

Pew said states should consider changes that have proven to be effective and politically viable. Among them: setting minimum contribution levels that are actuarially sound, sharing some of the investment risk with employees, cutting benefits, increasing the minimum retirement age, making employees pay more into the system and providing more robust oversight and investment rules.

Mitchell said many states have constitutional prohibitions against lowering employee pension benefits, but health care programs can more easily be altered.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Nimitz docks in Hong Kong despite China tensions.

The US seems to be following a rather mixed agenda in its dealings with China these days. On the one hand, we have the arms deal with Taiwan and today's meeting between Obama and the Dalai Lama. On the other hand, we have glimmers of detente like this event.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the coming weeks as the US tries to get China on board with sanctions against Iran. The Russians seem to have signed on, but the Chinese have stronger commercial relations with Iran, I believer.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by justinstrife

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35448576/ns/us_news-life

Spoiler:

Study: States must fill $1 trillion pension gap
Some may be forced to reduce benefits or raise taxes to address shortfall


HARRISBURG, Pa. - States may be forced to reduce benefits, raise taxes or slash government services to address a $1 trillion funding shortfall in public sector retirement benefits, according to a new study that warns of even more debilitating costs if immediate action isn't taken.

The Pew Center on the States released a survey Thursday of state-administered pension plans, retiree health care and other post-employment benefits in all 50 states that blamed a decade's worth of policy decisions for leaving them shortchanged.

The result for some states will be "high annual costs that come with significant unfunded liabilities, lower bond ratings, less money available for services, higher taxes and the specter of worsening problems in the future," the study said.

The cost of the trillion-dollar shortfall, which will be paid over the coming decades, is about $8,800 for each American household. The study did not include many city, county and municipal pension plans, which are thought to have similar underfunding.

"We have a significant problem now, but it's a problem that can be solved by taking relatively modest steps," said Susan K. Urahn, the center's managing director. "If they don't do anything, if they wait, eventually they will have an unmanageable crisis on their hands."

Gap may be wider
As of 2008, states had $2.4 trillion to meet $3.4 trillion in promised pension, health care and other post-retirement benefits, according to the report.

The true gap may even be wider, because the study did not account for the full impact of investment losses in late 2008, during the stock market downturn, and because many plans employ multiyear smoothing techniques to lessen the effect of a single year's losses. But more recent stock market returns could help — on Wednesday, for example, Pennsylvania's $47 billion public school pension plan reported it had earned about 12 percent on investments in the 2009 calendar year.

Pew deemed 16 states solid performers in how they fund pensions, 15 needing improvement and 19 considered to be facing serious concerns.

"Meanwhile, more and more baby boomers in state and local government are nearing retirement, and many will live longer than earlier generations — meaning that if states do not get a handle on the costs of post-employment benefits now, the problem likely will get far worse, with states facing debilitating costs," the study said.

The exploding financial burden could be a bitter pill for taxpayers, many of whom will not be collecting similar pensions or other benefits when they retire, said David Kline with the California Taxpayers' Association. About one in five private sector workers have traditional defined benefit pensions, compared with about 90 percent of public-sector employees — including some that do not get Social Security.

"Taxpayers in the future will be paying for people who worked decades before they may have even lived in the area or begun paying taxes, because the obligation for these benefits is just snowballing," Kline said.

Illinois has most troubled system
The study graded states on how well they have managed employees' retirement benefits. Florida, Idaho, New York, North Carolina and Wisconsin began the current recession with fully funded pension systems, while eight states have left more than one-third of their pension liability unfunded.

Illinois was rated the most troubled pension system during the study period, with a 54 percent funding level and a total liability of more than $54 billion.

In Pennsylvania, a series of decisions by the Legislature and governor have shielded taxpayers from much of the pain for the past decade, but costs of less than $1 billion a year now is projected to climb to about $6 billion annually in the coming three years.

The report said policy makers have exacerbated the problem by expanding benefits, relying on overly optimistic assumptions about investment returns and failing to sufficient fund the programs.

"Even though the actuaries tell the states what they should be doing, the states feel free to ignore that," said Olivia Mitchell, director of the Pension Research Council at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. "So putting some teeth behind the requirements is really the problem."

Pew calculated a $587 billion national cost for current and future retiree health care and other nonpension retirement benefits, with only about 5 percent of that amount funded as of 2008. The cost of health care and the number of retirees are both on the rise, adding to the pressure on states.

‘Pensions plan work’
The study found that 15 states made some legislative changes to their state-run systems last year, 12 did so in 2008 and 11 in 2007. About a third of states had formal efforts to study potential reforms under way last year.



"Pension plans work when they are allowed to work, and part of that dynamic is that sometimes adjustments have to be made," said Keith Brainard, research director with the National Association of State Retirement Administrators. "It's important not to take away decent retirement benefits for some of the few people that have them."

Pew said states should consider changes that have proven to be effective and politically viable. Among them: setting minimum contribution levels that are actuarially sound, sharing some of the investment risk with employees, cutting benefits, increasing the minimum retirement age, making employees pay more into the system and providing more robust oversight and investment rules.

Mitchell said many states have constitutional prohibitions against lowering employee pension benefits, but health care programs can more easily be altered.

Yeah... there are politicians in all 50 states who probably need to be in jail for playing their shell games with retirement mechanisms (be they pensions or Social Security). Those were always convenient piles to borrow from or skip funding rather than make the tough choices. This train has been coming for quite a while but both voter and politician have been "la la la la" on the train tracks.

[SaintessHeart]

Talking about China....

China's Growth Slowed Ahead of Government Tightening

At least they are finally clamping down on excess.....they build and produce so much, saturate the market, then devalue most of the physical stocks. It is bad for the market and highly anti-competitive, because undervaluing the good sold means underpaying the workers who make the goods and slows the R&D, eventually damaging quality of the goods in long run.

Originally Posted by Vexx

Yeah... there are politicians in all 50 states who probably need to be in jail for playing their shell games with retirement mechanisms (be they pensions or Social Security). Those were always convenient piles to borrow from or skip funding rather than make the tough choices. This train has been coming for quite a while but both voter and politician have been "la la la la" on the train tracks.

I suspect that you are worried about yours. Am I right?

P.S No offense intended. Just asking out of curio.

[mg1942]

Pilot Crashes Into Texas Building in Apparent Anti-IRS Suicide

A pilot furious with the Internal Revenue Service crashed his small plane into an Austin, Texas, office building where nearly 200 federal tax employees work on Thursday, ignited a raging fire that sent massive plumes of thick, black smoke rising from the seven-story structure.

Troubling Portrait Emerges of Pilot Who Crashed Into Texas Building

Andrew Joseph Stack III, the 53-year-old software engineer who crashed his small plane into an office building in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, detailed his frustration with the federal government — and particularly the Internal Revenue Service — in a manifesto he posted online.

RAW DATA: Joseph Andrew Stack Suicide Manifesto

Spoiler for If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?:

If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?”

The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken. Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example after example if I would let it. I find the process of writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.

While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.

Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.

And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!

How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing is.

How did I get here?

My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to be done.

The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living. However, this is where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.

That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.

Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.

On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very young age.

The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All she had was social security to live on.

In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own future and myself.

Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer… and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.

For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report (http://www.synergistech.com/1706.sht...ommitteeReport) regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion here (http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).

SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.

(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:

(d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.

Note:

“another person” is the client in the traditional job-shop relationship.

“taxpayer” is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.

“individual”, “employee”, or “worker” is you.

Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.

During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.

After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended effect.

Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle. If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked back.

Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement.

Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.

By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.

To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.

So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.

When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.

This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.

I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.

As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.

I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.

I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.

I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.

The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.

Joe Stack (1956-2010)

02/18/2010

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

I suspect that you are worried about yours. Am I right?

P.S No offense intended. Just asking out of curio.

No, actually I don't have any sort of "pension". I just know that both governments and corporations have *failed* their moral and financial duties with pension funds in many, many cases - and that the individual executives and politicians involved should have to pay the piper - perhaps out of their amazing bonuses they get for doing a terrible job.


As for the pilot software engineer's kamikaze run as posted by mg1942 ..... this is why its often a Bad Idea to piss off your intellectual classes, inventors, craftsmen, etc.... they can do *amazing* damage if they get pushed into the 'nothing left to lose' zone. He's just one guy doing a suicide-protest. Imagine a thousand.... who might start working together.

[JMvS]

Originally Posted by Vexx

As for the pilot software engineer's kamikaze run as posted by mg1942 ..... this is why its often a Bad Idea to piss off your intellectual classes, inventors, craftsmen, etc.... they can do *amazing* damage if they get pushed into the 'nothing left to lose' zone. He's just one guy doing a suicide-protest. Imagine a thousand.... who might start working together.

Certainly do not want some of them to go The White Plague like...

[ClockWorkAngel]

I'm quite amazed by the man's act. I find it ironic that America was once viewed and to a lesser degree still viewed as the land of possibilities. But hey, who am I to say if his actions are right and wrong; I simply haven't gotten to my point of life to be able to feasibly understand his level of frustration and suffering.

It's an interesting story and alot of conflicting views will turn up.

[Xion Valkyrie]

Man, schools are getting ridiculous nowadays.

http://gizmodo.com/5474614/school-sp...laptop-cameras

[LynnieS]

Originally Posted by ClockWorkAngel

I'm quite amazed by the man's act. I find it ironic that America was once viewed and to a lesser degree still viewed as the land of possibilities. But hey, who am I to say if his actions are right and wrong; I simply haven't gotten to my point of life to be able to feasibly understand his level of frustration and suffering.

It's an interesting story and alot of conflicting views will turn up.

Conflicting views are, as you might imagine, already appearing. Some of those making comments elsewhere were calling Andrew Stack a Tea Partier; others think of him as a Leftist. Reading through the text of his "suicide note", I can't really understand why people are calling it a manifesto. It's more of a "Here is my life" and a "What happened to drive me to do this" type of a last will/testament.

The man is biased toward his own perceptions - obviously, being the writer himself. Nonetheless and IMHO, it's an interesting read on how Andrew Stack, after a number of painful defeats, lost hope.

Unfortunately, I doubt people will take away the right lesson from his act, and will likely just brand him as a "nutjob" instead of a man pushed too far.

[mg1942]

I read his so called 'Manifesto'

He sounds like a Libertarian half the time and a Commie and then a Tea Bagging Tax protester the rest. His politics are all over the chart. The man was only hurting in his own head. He describes trying some kinda tax dodge that goes wrong as starting this whole mess. I don't like Glenn Beck but this guy isn't his baby.

[LynnieS]

Originally Posted by mg1942

I read his so called 'Manifesto'

He sounds like a Libertarian half the time and a Commie and then a Tea Bagging Tax protester the rest. His politics are all over the chart. The man was only hurting in his own head. He describes trying some kinda tax dodge that goes wrong as starting this whole mess. I don't like Glenn Beck but this guy isn't his baby.

That's why I didn't understand why people were calling the document a manifesto. Reading through the document, IMHO, it does not come across as political - outside of bits where he talked about things like different rules apply to different people (paraphrasing), and people have been ranting about that, in one form or another, for centuries.

If you strip out the personal bias within it, the document reads like a list of the "potholes" in Andrew Stack's life with the most recent incident where he was audited (and wasn't told by his accountant of needing to take into account his new wife's undeclared income till right then) being the straw that broke the camel's back. Andrew Stack did not come across as a man trusting of government being "for the people", and if the anecdotes in his story are true (biased toward him or not), I can't blame him for that lack of trust.

The only thing at the moment that I can blame him for was his looking to cause harm to other people who may not have been responsible. Why not attack his accountant (not that I'm saying he should, but the man did not come across as on Stack's side)? By doing so, IMHO, Andrew Stack came across less as a man driven to commit his act than someone simply lashing out at the most obvious (to him perhaps) cause of his problems.

[iLney]

Originally Posted by mg1942

I read his so called 'Manifesto'

He sounds like a Libertarian half the time and a Commie and then a Tea Bagging Tax protester the rest. His politics are all over the chart. The man was only hurting in his own head. He describes trying some kinda tax dodge that goes wrong as starting this whole mess. I don't like Glenn Beck but this guy isn't his baby.

Aren't you describing an "independent"?

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

The US seems to be following a rather mixed agenda in its dealings with China these days. On the one hand, we have the arms deal with Taiwan and today's meeting between Obama and the Dalai Lama. On the other hand, we have glimmers of detente like this event.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the coming weeks as the US tries to get China on board with sanctions against Iran. The Russians seem to have signed on, but the Chinese have stronger commercial relations with Iran, I believer.

I believe you're far more astute a political observer than me, and with greater experience to boot. In my opinion, a lot of the bluster between the United States and China is just that — bluster. The US cannot afford to look weak in the Asia-Pacific, and the Chinese Communist Party cannot afford to look weak in front of its increasingly nationalistic people. So, in public, both sides put on a sabre-rattling show while, in private, face-saving deals were probably already in place to keep the money flowing.

The simple fact, at the moment, is that the US and China are already joined at the hip economically. China needs a healthy US consumer market in order for its own export-driven economy to grow, while the US corporations see the burgeoning Chinese market as a source of new customers. I highly doubt that either side would want to upset this lucrative relationship, whatever their political and ideological differences.

Meanwhile:

Scientists create matter at 4 trillion deg C

Washington (Feb 18): American physicists have created matter at around 4 trillion deg C, the hottest temperature ever reached in a laboratory, simulating a "quark soup" scientists believe existed at the universe's birth.

The Department of Energy laboratory where the record-breaking temperature was reached said the effect was achieved by slamming together gold ions travelling at nearly the speed of light inside the Brookhaven National Laboratory's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) — an "atom smasher" with a 3.8km (2.4-mile) circumference.

The ultra-high temperature is higher than what is needed to melt protons and neutrons into a plasma of quarks and gluons, the substance that filled the universe a few microseconds after it came into existence 13.7 billion years ago, Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) said on Monday.

The research programme will be complemented by studies soon to get under way at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a 27.4km circumference particle accelerator buried underground on the French-Swiss border near Geneva, the BNL added.

"The LHC will devote a month each year to colliding heavy nuclei at energies much higher than RHIC's — extending the exploration of matter one step farther back in time towards the birth of the universe," BNL said.

- AFP

[justsomeguy]

Regarding Joe Stack, the man was a tax cheat trying to paint himself in a favorable light even in his suicide manifesto.
The guy's trouble started when he as an individual attempted to take advantage of deductions intended to be used by institutions, and got caught and fined.
Stack started businesses multiple times, and got his licenses suspended multiple times for not paying taxes.
He withdrew money from an IRA (tax-deferred, not tax-exempt) and did not file a return that year.
He tried to hide $12700 in income, and got caught, audited, and fined, and tried to blame this on his accountant.
I agree that parts of the tax code are unfair or nonsensical, but Joe Stack brought his problems upon himself by actively trying to dodge taxes to make a political statement, ending up having to pay fines and losing hidden income as well as his efforts, and landing himself on the IRS's shit list.

[Zu Ra]

* Russian museum honors US WWII vet

[mg1942]

Under Obama, more targeted killings than captures in counterterrorism efforts

.......

Bush Official Criticizes Obama For Killing Too Many Terrorists

[cors8]

Originally Posted by mg1942

Under Obama, more targeted killings than captures in counterterrorism efforts

.......

Bush Official Criticizes Obama For Killing Too Many Terrorists

That lawyer should be put on the frontlines in Afghanistan/Pakistan to look for and capture these terrorists. He obviously knows something the military, intelligence agencies, and the president doesn't.

It's like the terrorists in Afghanistan/Pakistan are holding big signs saying "Capture me here!" and it takes no time for Spec. Ops to plan successful operations and transportation.

[LynnieS]

Obama: Social Security fix would be simple

Spoiler for To save space. The entire (original) short article posted here:

HENDERSON, Nev. – President Barack Obama says Social Security is slowly running out of money but that it can exist well into the future with a slight fix.

The system is funded with a tax on earnings, up to $109,000 a year. Obama says lifting that cap to tax a larger share of income would be one way to extend the system of monthly payments for retirees. It also would be unpopular with some.

Without an adjustment, Obama said Social Security will start to run out of money in about 20 years as more people begin collecting benefits. Obama spoke Friday at a town-hall meeting in Henderson, Nev., the home state of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Republicans are targeting Reid for defeat in November's midterm elections.

Wow. While I have to applaud Barack Obama's guts for suggesting this in public, I also have to wonder if he has now given up on re-election in 2012. If all of the estimates and projections done in the past were right, Social Security does need to be fixed, and short of increasing the population of workers contributing to the fund, you have to either (1) tax more heavily, (2) tax more of the population - i.e., include those who were not contributing in the past - or (3) decrease benefits in the future. The 4th choice being the stopping of Social Security completely.

Increasing the number of workers should already be on people's minds now, but the odds of the U3 number going below 10% anytime soon are not too good. Decreasing benefits or canceling Social Security outright will get the retirees in a tizzy, and this group is probably the most vocal and the most willing to go to the election booths in the U.S.

That means more taxes look more likely for the future instead. Risky, but short of certain actions - like stripping away pork projects (and that will not happen) - it's likely to happen.

[Urzu 7]

Originally Posted by ClockWorkAngel

I'm quite amazed by the man's act. I find it ironic that America was once viewed and to a lesser degree still viewed as the land of possibilities. But hey, who am I to say if his actions are right and wrong; I simply haven't gotten to my point of life to be able to feasibly understand his level of frustration and suffering.

It's an interesting story and alot of conflicting views will turn up.

Disclaimer: I just wrote a rant below and then added this disclaimer. ClockWorkAngel, just to be clear, the angry tone and attitude I have it not directed to you at all. It is just anger at this Joe Stack guy. So please don't interpret anything as negativity towards you.

It is bullshit what he did. "To understand his level of frustration and suffering". Many people experience great suffering and immense frustration in their life. Most of them don't end up doing a kamikaze stunt that kills some people, critically injures 2, and hurts a dozen other people. I don't care what his issues were with the IRS, you don't kill innocent IRS employees. Think about it, the man who died in the IRS building had a life, friends and family. The two people who were critically injured have loved ones and all those other things. That Joe Stack schmuck did a murder suicide because "Waaah, the IRS ruined my life!". The man was keeping him down. It got in the way of his life. Ruined his financial plans. So what is the solution? To truly destroy the life of others? Really? God, I'm just getting sick of people like him. He could have coped with his financial problems. The person he killed is gone from Earth for good. The 2 people who are critically injured are still in danger of losing their lives and may be permanently injured. I don't care what Joe Stack's bad experiences were with the IRS and his frustration. I rant and rave because the man writes his manifesto and acts like he was to do a righteous act. He probably envisioned his act to be something like martyrdom or something. Really, I just see him as a hateful man who was ready to give up on life and decided to take out some IRS employees while he was at it.

Sorry for the rant, but it bothers me that there are people as low as him in this world. I didn't read the manifesto, but I read in a news article that he said "Violence is the only answer". God, I'm sick of psychos hurting and killing others because they can't handle their problems in life, you know? I felt the need to rant to get some things off my chest.

Edit: Just read this post: http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...postcount=6155 . God, that Joe Stack guy is an even bigger douche now. He had IRS problems that he brought upon himself and acts like they are bad and that anarchy was the answer to the "bad, bad government people". Ugh, well, at least I know now that the IRS wasn't in the slightest too strict to him; like I said, he brought upon the IRS problems he faced.