# Please stop Junior Modding Reeder's Bush threads **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 19, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236 "2004-06-19T22:14:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CLedet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b487fb/32.png) [@CLedet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CLedet)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/21 "2004-06-20T02:46:50Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > I have to disagree. We don’t all want the same thing. I would rather the couple making 30k a year get a big tax break rather that the couple making 30 million a year. I would prefer our soldiers not die in a foreign country just because the administration decides they need to. I would prefer our politicians be honest. Many here in defiance of obvious lies would prefer we return the same liars to office. You forgot about the Bushco taser incident. And FTR the couple making 30K ain’t paying hardly dick in federal income taxes. Now the couple making 30 million is having their dick stomped in the dirt. Granted they can afford it, but you can only give a substantial cut to those who are paying a substantial amount. ---
**Author:** ![Lesbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Lesbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lesbia)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/22 "2004-06-20T02:46:52Z")
> [@leander](#): > > A classy apology, IMHO. But . . . he didn’t bring junior mints. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/23 "2004-06-20T02:51:15Z")
Instead of leaving Reeder at the mercy of thread bumpers, why not simply have a limit on the number of Bush threads he can start per week? I could live with 3 or 4 per week. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/24 "2004-06-20T02:56:55Z")
> [@CLedet](#): > > You forgot about the Bushco taser incident. > > And FTR the couple making 30K ain’t paying hardly dick in federal income taxes. Now the couple making 30 million is having their dick stomped in the dirt. Granted they can afford it, but you can only give a substantial cut to those who are paying a substantial amount. Ok lets see…the couple making 30k are in the 10-15% bracket. So they pay what…3-4k in income tax. leaves them 26k to live on. The couple making 30 million are in the what…30% bracket? So they pay about 9 million in taxes leaving them 21 million to live on. Boy that’s got to be a bitch. How the hell do they make it? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/25 "2004-06-20T03:13:29Z")
**Reeder** , the couple making 30K will take various personal deductions and so forth off of that, so that by the time they reach the end of their Form 1040 their taxable income will be much less than 30K. Their taxes would be practically nil. Why do you resent a couple having 21 mil per year to live on? They are either good enough or lucky enough to have it so why shouldn’t they enjoy it? ---
**Author:** ![TVeblen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@TVeblen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVeblen)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/26 "2004-06-20T03:24:15Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I’ve no idea whether **TVeblen** ’s action was based on any more recent requests. Classy of you the take the responsibility for the bump, anyway. FTR there weren’t any complaints about it. I just noticed **Reeder’s** request to close the thread while I was doing a general housekeeping read-through. Just routine. Veb ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/27 "2004-06-20T03:29:31Z")
> [@CLedet](#): > > You forgot about the Bushco taser incident. > > And FTR the couple making 30K ain’t paying hardly dick in federal income taxes. Now the couple making 30 million is having their dick stomped in the dirt. Granted they can afford it, but you can only give a substantial cut to those who are paying a substantial amount. Accounting genius like that is what killed our surplus and sent us spiraling into a massive defecit. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/28 "2004-06-20T03:32:09Z")
> [@vanilla](#): > > I want a junior mint. > Whos’with me?! Darn you **vanilla** , now I’m totally jonesin’ for a Junior Mint, and I don’t think they’re on the market in Japan. My only hope would be to get invited onto an American military base with a commisary, and recent security measures make that unlikely. This is all Bush’s fault! I want Junior Mints! ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/29 "2004-06-20T03:34:16Z")
The power of advertising. ---
**Author:** ![CLedet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b487fb/32.png) [@CLedet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CLedet)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/30 "2004-06-20T03:40:11Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > The couple making 30 million are in the what…30% bracket? So they pay about 9 million in taxes leaving them 21 million to live on. Boy that’s got to be a bitch. How the hell do they make it? That is a bitch. The person who earned it knows how to better spend it than any gubmint I know of. And again THEY EARNED it. And IIRC depending on where the income came from that could be 40+%. Back to the couple making 30K. If they’re paying anything in federal taxes, they need a new tax advisor. If by chance they have one or more minor dependants, not only will they not pay one red cent, but they should be getting back a few thousand dollars. So what kind of tax “cut” would you give them? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/31 "2004-06-20T03:41:04Z")
Maybe if I write to Ralph Nader, he’ll send me some Junior Mints. Or Michael Moore! Now there’s a man who looks like he’s enjoyed a few boxes of delicious chocolate and mint candies in his time. There must be someone willing to stand against the Bush regime on this issue! ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/32 "2004-06-20T03:54:00Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Maybe if I write to Ralph Nader, he’ll send me some Junior Mints. Don’t bother. I sent him a tie for his birthday once, and never got a thank you. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/33 "2004-06-20T04:06:17Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > Ok lets see…the couple making 30k are in the 10-15% bracket. So they pay what…3-4k in income tax. leaves them 26k to live on. Comments like this on this Board make me wonder if the person making the comment has ever in their life paid ANY income taxes, or if they are deliberately violating the Rules of the SDMB by making inflammatory statements which are easily verifiable as being untrue. Because at age 15 with my first Summer job I understood the concept of “standard personal deduction”. If a couple making $30,000 a year are paying “10-15%” without applying their personal exemption, that would indeed be an unusual situation. What’s sad is that this is so easily verifiable and common knowledge. I’ll estimate using the 1040EZ form. From here: > **[About Form 1040-EZ, Income Tax Return for Single and Joint Filers With No...](https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-1040-ez)** > > Income tax return filed by certain citizens or residents of the United States. Assume $30,000 adjusted income. Line 1. Assume Lines 2-3 are “0”. Line 4 is $30,000. Line 5 - say they are married filing jointly (I’ll assume “couple” means “married”). That’s a $15,600 exemption. Line 6 is $14,400. Assume no EIC. Skip to line 10 to find the tax. From here: [http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040ez.pdf](http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040ez.pdf) Unless I’m mis-reading, Page 25 shows their tax as being $1464. Or 4.88%. Less than the sales tax in many cities and States. They should teach this on Blue’s Clues. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/34 "2004-06-20T04:36:35Z")
Oh God, don’t expect \*\*Reeder \*\* to understand real life stuff. He lives his life thinking we should all conform to him. Hey, **Reeder** , show me where my wife and I not only paid 10-15% of our total income, but how we possibly missed the standard deductions. Go back to the crack pipe and come up with something better. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/35 "2004-06-20T04:42:22Z")
> [@John Carter of Mars](#): > > Why do you resent a couple having 21 mil per year to live on? They are either good enough or lucky enough to have it so why shouldn’t they enjoy it? Is this a “woosh,” or are you honestly suggesting that resentment is the primary motivator driving those who favour a progressive income tax? Or only in **Reeder** ’s case? ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/36 "2004-06-20T08:03:06Z")
> [@Metacom](#): > > Is this a “woosh,” or are you honestly suggesting that resentment is the primary motivator driving those who favour a progressive income tax? Or only in **Reeder** ’s case? I don’t know if **JCM** was trying to whoosh you, but I can tell you my wife and I fit right into the income bracket **Reeder** referred to. And since we did pay less in tax than last year, I think I’m allowed to defend the cuts. Now if you don’t, you are certainly free to calculate based on tax code from 1995 and send in a payment for the difference. You see, if you feel you’re not paying your fair share, you are allowed to add a little extra to your payment. How hard is this to understand? ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/37 "2004-06-20T11:21:58Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > …You see, if you feel you’re not paying your fair share, you are allowed to add a little extra to your payment. How hard is this to understand? I’ve wondered that. Can you really pay more in taxes, not as in prepaying for next year, (though I suppose you could do that until you die), but actually paying more in this years taxes? Or would you just get a check back? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/38 "2004-06-20T12:00:50Z")
> [@Una Persson](#): > > Unless I’m mis-reading, Page 25 shows their tax as being $1464. Which leaves them a piddling $28.5K to live on each year, which STILL isn’t the $21 Million that Mr. Moneybags gets to keep, so it’s still not fair!!! :smack: The problem with Reeder’s argument here (and you hear this type of argument fairly often) is that it will always be true that the rich will have more money than the poor, regardless of where new taxes or tax breaks fall. It’s an argument without an end point, all tax increases should be against the rich, all tax cuts should be for the poor. There is no suggestion of a fair and equitable distribution of taxes across the population, unless 100% taxation above a certain income is considered ‘equitable’. Similar arguments are used to justify higher pay for Policemen and Firefighters. No end point statement of what a fair wage is, just that they are _risking their lives_ and thus deserve “more” than what they get today, whatever that is. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/39 "2004-06-20T12:13:37Z")
> [@CLedet](#): > > That is a bitch. The person who earned it knows how to better spend it than any gubmint I know of. And again THEY EARNED it. And IIRC depending on where the income came from that could be 40+%. If they (and you) begrudge paying taxes, then I suggest that they (and you) reject all the benefits you receive from the government–no financial aid for your kids’ education, no hospitals, no roads, no bridges, no public transit, no libraries, no Medicare, no Medicaid, no Social Security, no safety inspection of food, no military, no police, no firemen, no national defense at all, no national parks, no clean air standards, no clean water standards, to name just a small proportion of the things your taxes pay for. Want to make sure that the hamburgers you eat aren’t crawling with _E. coli_? You gotta pay for meat inspectors. You want to keep terrorists out of the country? You got to pay for national security. Want to make sure that companies aren’t dumping crap into the local water supply? You gotta pay for that as well. I’m amazed that people who apporve of huge government military expenditures seem to not want to pay for it? Sorry, but soldiers and their ammo and weapons also have to be paid for. > [@](#): > > Back to the couple making 30K. If they’re paying anything in federal taxes, they need a new tax advisor. If by chance they have one or more minor dependants, not only will they not pay one red cent, but they should be getting back a few thousand dollars. So what kind of tax “cut” would you give them? Breaks on the property taxes and sales taxes. There are other taxes beside income, you know. If you want to cut government waste, then how about the billions in [corporate welfare](http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa225.html) handed out each year by Congress to their fat cat buddies in industries that want to stamp out budding competition or to maintain artificially high prices for their products? > [@](#): > > Through Sematech, a consortium of very large U.S. computer microchip producers, the Pentagon provides nearly $100 million a year of support to the industry. But of the more than 200 chipmakers in the United States, only the 14 largest, including Intel and National Semiconductor, receive federal support from Sematech.Originally designed to help U.S. firms compete against foreign competition, Sematech now subsidizes the largest producers to help fend off smaller domestic competition. > An estimated 40 percent of the $1.4 billion sugar price support program benefits the largest 1 percent of sugar farms. The 33 largest sugar cane plantations each receive more than $1 million. > Through the Rural Electrification Administration and the federal power marketing administrations, the federal government provides some $2 billion in subsidies each year to large and profitable electric utility cooperatives, such as ALLTEL, which had sales of $2.3 billion last year.Federally subsidized electricity holds down the costs of running ski resorts in Aspen, Colorado, five-star hotels in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and gambling casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada. > Last year the Forest Service spent $140 million building roads in national forests, thus subsidizing the removal of timber from federal lands by multi-million-dollar timber companies. Over the past 20 years the Forest Service has built 340,000 miles of roads – more than eight times the length of the interstate highway system – primarily for the benefit of logging companies. > The Department of Agriculture Market Promotion Program spends $110 million per year underwriting the cost of advertising American products abroad. In 1991 American taxpayers spent $2.9 million advertising Pillsbury muffins and pies, $10 million promoting Sunkist oranges, $465,000 advertising McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets, $1.2 million boosting the international sales of American Legend mink coats, and $2.5 million extolling the virtues of Dole pineapples, nuts, and prunes. > Last year a House of Representatives investigative team discovered that federal environmental cleanup and defense contractors had been milking federal taxpayers for millions of dollars in entertainment, recreation, and party expenses.Martin Marietta Corporation charged the Pentagon $263,000 for a Smokey Robinson concert, $20,000 for the purchase of golf balls, and $7,500 for a 1993 office Christmas party. Ecology and Environment, Inc., of Lancaster, New York, spent $243,000 of funds designated for environmental cleanup on “employee morale” and $37,000 on tennis lessons, bike races, golf tournaments, and other entertainment. Such activities give new meaning to the term "corporate welfare. You want to be a good citizen and help maintain our way of life? Pay your damn taxes! ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236/40 "2004-06-20T14:00:51Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > I’ve wondered that. Can you really pay more in taxes, not as in prepaying for next year, (though I suppose you could do that until you die), but actually paying more in this years taxes? Or would you just get a check back? You wouldn’t send extra with your tax payment. That would most likely just be returned. To make a [payment](http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa101500b.htm) to reduce the public debt, > [@](#): > > 1. Make check payable to the “Bureau of the Public Debt” > 2. In the memo section of the check, make sure you write “Gift to reduce the Public Debt” > 3. Mail check to… > > ATTN DEPT G > BUREAU OF THE PUBLIC DEBT > PO BOX 2188 > PARKERSBURG, WV 26106-2188 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-stop-junior-modding-reeders-bush-threads/251236.md?page=3)