:: paying myself $30 plus postage ::
Barry is talking about needed reforms in the capital games tax, talking about day trading, after the capital gains period, eating your losses etc. etc.. He's a retired banker, but those around the table aren't that as financially savvy necessarily.
I think a state should expect commitment of time and energy in lieu of taxes or as a type of taxes. You get a job with the government where presumably there's value added as a result of your performance.
Barry doesn't like the corporate personhood movement, also known as Voodoo Economics whereby inanimate objects (corpses, corporations) gain personhood (souls). It's a kind of legal fiction, or science fiction that's serious enough to govern role playing in some subcultures.
A government could run hotels, rental car depots, a bunch of tourist related stuff. It does so now, in the guise of its military, but what about civilian bases, more like Disneyland than Mordor? There's no shortage of stuff for people to do, as committing some percent of their aliveness to serving the greater good.
The so-called 1% would stereotypically want to exempt itself from government service as they're wanting to party in penthouses and not maintain mountain trails. Not everyone is equally able. One could have a monetary way of playing the taxes game, but also this other way, like joining the military but the civilian correlate.
At one point I was suggesting Girl Scouts as the model, with abandoned bases in the Philippines as my backdrop. I'd been to Clark AB pre Pinatubo so knew how a base might double as a civilian campus, or be converted into one, more like a university, less like a prison. War is unfreedom to the max.
Christine is asking questions, as Barry continues talking about stocks and IPOs. Insiders can't sell their shares right away.
When people give to charity they get credit sometimes. Their profile is updated. However the government takes the glory for how taxes are spent. Were individual role playing the currency, bleeping over the importance of individuals would be harder. People complain USAers are "too individualistic". Maybe that really is not the problem.
You want to be a star, a celebrity, and how do your taxes help you achieve that? Does the government give you fifteen minutes of fame? Are you able to make movies? In some cases yes, taxes get used for that. But how many filmmakers get to serve the greater good as their way of pulling their weight? Don't we waste talent by not letting them?
Some from the art side struck up a side conversation on Zombie Jesus, another circulating comic meme. Warning: not everyone has a sense of humor where Jesus is concerned. More of a Gnostic thing maybe?
