This study was performed in Scandinavia and shows the ultra-wealthy don't pay 30% of all the taxes they owe. Makes you wonder what that number is in other countries.
What do you think? Here a picture showing the federal revenue lost to tax evasion:
Think of this again when you hear someone complain of the 'tens of dollars a month' someone on footstamps 'steals' by cheating on the system.
Want to read (more of) my short stories?
My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00K4007NG
'Yeah, but some Jews protested violently against the Nazi's so both sides are to blame for all the violence in Nazi Germany', is basically what an American president said when a white supremacist in Charlottesville ran over peaceful counter-protestors with his car, injuring 19 people and killing one.
32 Year old Heather Heyer is to blame for her own death, according to 'the most powerful man in the world'. Should she have idly stood by, watching neo-nazi's take over het beloved country?
Donald Trump could have honoured her memory by blaming her killer and not her. In stead he chose to insult her and others like her by allowing hatred filled idiots to ruin life for actual peaceloving patriotic Americans.
Want to read (more of) my short stories?
My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00K4007NG
For some reason we have polluted our planet for years and years. As if we didn't care what happened to it. But it's starting to look like we do. And maybe, just maybe it's not too late to do something to make this planet a better place for our children's children. I think we owe it to them. We made a mess and we should clean it up.
Cleaning up oil spills is one thing but how about stop polluting our environment? All we have to do is not do it. Are you in?
I find it hard to imagine there are people who would like to see other people being 'put away' simply because those other people are different. If I'd think they could read texts containing more than 140 characters I would urge them to read the story of the now 92 years old Ed Mosberg, who keeps the memory of the concentration camps very much alive:
The people who want to get rid of other people don't seem to be disturbed by facts and figures: what they read on Facebook gets into their heads and simply becomes their believes. The problem with believes is that it's virtually impossible to make people think their believes are not right.
Don't believe me? Try convincing an Apple addict that in many ways the operating system Android is superior. Good luck!
Reading this via Facebook? Click this link (click) for a better lay out and to see all pictures.
Some people argue only foreigners commit crimes and therefore walls and fences should be erected to keep out every single foreigner. That tactic won't work. See, we all are foreigners to people from other countries so basically we should shut out ourselves. Which is quit impossible. Hungary may try. But I predict putting up more and higher border walls will not make the people from Hungary feel more secure. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-14/hungary-unveils-new-electrified-border-wall-watch-towers-and-guards-machine-guns
Think about it: they don't want the Sharia in Hungary, meaning they really hate the idea of every citizen being watched and tracked and angry heavily armed men on every streetcorner. And how do they come about preventing that scary scenario from becoming reality? By putting up security camera's, tapping phonelines, checking random emails and...putting angry heavily armed men on every streetcorner.
Feel safer already?
'Daddy, why is there a fence surrounding our town?'
-'To protect us from people who want to lock us up, son!'
When you say you want 'more democracy', what exactly do you mean? Do you want a system in which elected people compare notes, take into consideration wishes from every corner of the country and from every group of people living in it? Or do you want 'the voice of the people' to be heard at every 'important' decision by way of referenda? If so, who decides what's 'important'?
In other words: do you prefer the current (imperfect) system or a dictatorship of the majority, considering you belong to a minority?
Curious to know what you choose and why. Let me know in the comments section!
Originally the planet (and all of its resources) belonged to all of us. One day a few people decided they were entitled to owe more than others. Until this day nobody knows why. From that day people had to work harder than others, just so they could have a little piece of what someone else had. Simply put: we used to work four ours a day to pick some fruit and catch a rabbit. Now we had to work for eight hours, picking fruit and catching rabbits for someone else, just so we could buy the same amount of fruit and rabbits.
This system lead to where we are today: a lot of fruit gets and rabbits get thrown away because there are not enough people with enough money to buy that fruit and those rabbits and people are starving because somebody picked all their fruit and caught all their rabbits. This system is called 'capitalism' and it's not working. Except for the one percent that owns all the fruit and rabbits. But within a few decades there will be nobody left to pick the fruit and catch the rabbits for them and the one percent will have to come down from their ivory towers and pick their own fruit and catch their own rabbits again. And the whole cycle starts anew.
I can think of only one solution to break through this cycle: remove all borders so no one own anything anymore and have politicians, historians, scientists, farmers and economists come together to come up with a new system to evenly divide the earth's resources. A hopeful way is called Ubuntu. Here's more on that:
So, what are your thoughts on the subject? Let me know in the comments section.
