Posts by bombastic bob

What's that, Skippy? You want a taste of Windows 10 19H2? Oops, too late

Re: No more testing

"and leaving it to the public FANBOIS will always be a mistake."

fixed it for ya!

Good news! Only half of Internet of Crap apps fumble encryption

Re: New???

yeah and ROT-13 if you want a symmetric "key"

ancient code methods included tattooing a secret message on a slave's head, letting his hair grow, then sending him out to deliver the message. Early invisible ink with lemon juice also. But these are both examples of steganography, not actual crypto.

The wikipedia page on History of Cryptography mentions the 'Atbash cipher' from around 2500 years ago, where you take an alphabet and map it to its reverse [rather than ROT-x]. So A becomes Z, B becomes Y, etc. until M and N swap for one another. Apparently use of this cipher even made it into the Bible, where 'sheshach' is an 'atbash' of 'Babylon' in Hebrew (other examples also exist, and some are on the wikipedia page for 'Atbash cipher').

As for military grade ROT-x, that was the 'Caesar Cipher' mentioned earlier, that according to the wikipedia page, was used by Julius Caesar in his private correspondence.

(so yeah some references for all o' this, you're welcome, a few seconds in a search engine and some entertaining reading)

small memory footprint in devices

end to end encryption in small footprint devices may be more difficult than perceived...

Unless they have ARM processors instead of microcontrollers, with significant NVRAM space for encryption libs, and so on, the libraries just won't fit on the devices, and the algorithms are likely to run too slowly anyway.

What needs to happen for this to work is some help on the silicon end, like hardware networking with built-in SSL support. There is ENC624J600 (which was around $4 on digikey's site) for ethernet, but I don't know of any wifi bolt-on systems with similar built-in SSL capability. They're obviously NOT "the cheaper solution" on the hardware end. Supporting SSL and related protocols needs quite a bit of firmware.

As for phone applications and the cloudy IoT servers, someone should be PUNISHED if NOT using proper encryption and security at THAT level... it's too obvious of a need, and too easy to integrate. NO EXCUSE!

/me points out that Android has a free library or two (probably built in, probably uses webkit and/or OpenSSL) that handles 'https' requests, and I'd bet iOS does, too. For desktops there's OpenSSL.

Intel to finally scatter remaining ashes of Itanium to the wind in 2021: Final call for doomed server CPU line

x86 arch isn't all THAT 'crap' and here's why: name a single RISC architecture chip that currently outperforms x86 _AND_ runs on desktop computers! *crickets*

CISC vs RISC is an old debate. RISC applications tend to take up more memory, as do 64-bit ones [in general]. But in the case of RISC, you're dealing with instruction fetching and pipelining too. Sometimes having one instruction instead of 2 or 3 or 4 just makes things GO FASTER. It also makes it significantly more complex on the silicon, eat more power, etc.. So RISC has significant advantages in phones and other battery operated things.

And what made AMD64 so brilliant was its obvious 'evolutionary' rather than 'revolutionary' design, including a backwards compatibility, almost like the way 16-bit went to 32-bit for x86.

Why Intel didn't do this first amazes me...

and now, /me quotes the 'Dead Parrot' sketch in its entirety, substituting 'Itanium' for 'parrot'. Thanks, El Reg, for that perfect analogy in the photo for the article link on the main page.

"Pining for the fjords" - heh

I'm a crime-fighter, says FamilyTreeDNA boss after being caught giving folks' DNA data to FBI

Re: inaccurate testing

"Ethnicity reports are poor unless you are mostly West European Origin"

what if you're 1/1024'th American Indian ?

(I'm around 1/8 and actually LOOK like it, unlike a certain politician in the USA that claimed 'Native American' on a COLLEGE APPLICATION to qualify for 'affirmative action' programs - right, 'Pocahontas' ? and I personally *DESPISE* racial quotas of ANY kind)

I have to wonder if anyone's considered scamming DNA test results to qualify for PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT... (but suggest using IQ results for head-o-the-line privs and you'll get a ship-load of backlash!)

Re: Yep

"as usual the trumpLIBtards start with sad little insults,"

fixed it for ya. Seriously, I voted for and support Trump, and you can read my existing comments on this topic if you want to know what I think.

Civil liberties and 'rights of the accused' are EXTREMELY important in a free society; otherwise, you might as well be in a dictatorship. [and I'm pretty sure that Trump would agree with this, particularly in light of the current 'witch hunt' going on].

Re: Proof of ownership?

lemme 'splain...

the violation of the rights of everyone in "the system" is allowing law enforcement to LEGALLY "go on a fishing expedition" with it. A warrant should be necessary, identifying the SPECIFIC person you're trying to match it against. And to get a warrant, you'd need evidence to show to a judge to justify it. Otherwise, law enforcement "fishing expeditions" is generally a violation of privacy. We don't need THAT in our society, now do we?

Re: Proof of ownership?

"The idea that criminals have no rights is disturbing."

Exactly. If you have EVER been falsely accused of something, or in ANY way wrongly prosecuted, you'd have to agree. The important thing is that THE ACCUSED specifically has rights. Once "the accused" becomes "a criminal" in someone's minds, and it's NOW justified that "criminals have no rights", then say goodbye to any fairness in the criminal justice system.

Adversarial criminal justice in which the accused has EVERY possible advantage means that 'wrong convictions' happen least often. If it means that criminals get off without punishment, so be it. And if it means that law enforcement can't be LAZY by doing FISHING EXPEDITIONS in a DNA database, TOO BAD.

It's better to catch the ACTUAL criminal, and convict without a shadow of a doubt. Then we lock 'em up knowing the right person is in jail, and wrongly convicted people (due to prosecutorial laziness or ABUSE of power) don't end up there instead.

"the NHS in league with the plods"

If not NOW, then eventually...

Re: Shocked

how about "government run hospitals" and EVERYONE'S blood samples?

Bug-hunter faces jail for vulnerability reports, DuckDuckPwn (almost), family spied on via Nest gizmo, and more

ratted out when you report a vulnerability?

Ok here's the new procedure when you report a vulnerability:

a) find a lesser vulnerability, one that's unlikely to get cops sent to your door, and report THAT one first

b) if the cops are called on you, offer the WORSE one and threaten to actually SELL THE THING TO BLACK HATS if they DO NOT DROP THE CHARGES.

c) follow through on whichever one matters the most

See, THAT is what YOU GET when you PUNISH a WHITE HAT HACKER. You get an ANGRY GREY HAT willing to SEEK REVENGE, however long that might take...

Siri, how do you wipe that smug smile from Qualcomm's face? Apple wins patent skirmish with chip nemesis

It's a "Sue War"

a Sue War by Sue-ers. And it kinda stinks.

(too many lawyers)

Are you aware of the gravity of the situation on Mars? Why yes, say boffins: We rejigged Curiosity to measure it

or, once DID hold water. during formation [let's say], and probably not that long ago in terms of mars-a-logical history

accelerometers read 1G in the direction of gravity (combined sum of all 3 axes on typical 3 axis accel) and so you can use them to determine the orientation of things. Re-purpose to use them to measure gravity differences is pretty smart. I've done coding with the angular position in the past, in that case for a surfboard, and did an interesting "video" of xyz plots to show what was happening over time. I'm guessing they take regular measurements of the IMU, now, and extrapolate the gravity changes from it.

beer icon, of course!

A second preview of .NET Core 3? Shucks, Microsoft. You spoil us

"Fools errand."

see icon

Re: Standalone... in which context?

in 1999 there was _NO_ ".Not" nor C-pound

Re: Standalone EXEs - what futuristic sorcery is this?

I think Micro-shaft is stuck in a loop, but it's going backwards.

The UI for Windows "Ape" and Win-10-nic went all 2D FLATTY McFLATFACE FLATSO, like Windows 1.0 but uglier.

Now they BRAG about creating stand-alone EXE's ? I guess they forgot about MS-DOS!

I have a brilliant idea: STOP using ".Not" in the _FIRST_ place, don't use C-pound, write in C or C++.

Any takers? We'll "party like it's 1999" writing code that does NOT need ".Not".

/me points out that if you have not already been doing 'static link' and ZERO ".Not" dependencies, you should be... in which case, stand-alone EXE's have been "getting done" since, like, forever.

Furious Apple revokes Facebook's enty app cert after Zuck's crew abused it to slurp private data

Re: Promise to do better

could not say this better.

Even Windows 10 can't save the PC market as chip shortages, Brexit uncertainties bite

Re: One word...

the last PC I bought was a reconditioned Lenovo - with Win 7 on it - because I still could and didn't want to lose the opportunity to get pre-installed 7.

Re: Windows 10 can't save the PC market

"Most of the things that a home user did on their PC, they now do on their phone"

that was the perception from SALES data... but people who buy a smart phone don't throw away their PCs, they just don't buy NEW ones. Same with slabs. That misinterpretation of the market drove Micro-shaft to do what they did in 8 and Win-10-nic - the "one windows, everywhere" nonsense, in particular. The spectacular failure of THAT market thrust should prove my point. [admittedly 8's tile screen works for a fondle-slab, but NOT on a PC and 8.0 was a MAJOR failure, too]

You're right about a few people I would have to admit. But from my own perception, I'd say that the vast majority of people still use PCs for what PCs do better for, and just don't buy new ones.

Give people a REASON to get a new PC, though, and they will, if for no other reason than to replace the aging hardware that's increasingly difficult to find repair parts for [or have security concerns that Intel won't fix]. Windows 10, of course, stands in the way of that.

Windows 10 can't save the PC market

From title: "Even Windows 10 can't save the PC market"

Fixed it. You're welcome. After all, windows 8 and 10 *BROKE* the PC market!!! Well, that _and_ the lack of Moore's Law causing next year's model to be *PERCEPTABLY* faster by 25% every year.

Now... a re-release of Windows 7, or even XP, complete with 'new hardware' updates and any additional kernel+driver fixes from Win-10-nic, *WOULD* save the PC market, if Micro-shaft even DARED to admit their YUGE mistakes with 8 and 10...

but they're too busy slapping lipstick onto the non-oinky end of THAT boar!!!

/me wonders how many Win-10-nic users would GLADLY *PURCHASE* Windows 7 to replace 10 with... as long as it was being maintained, updated to run on the hardware, and so on [or even if it were NOT]

Say what?! An AI system can decode brain signals into speech

Ghost in the Shell

waiting for my brain augment... [just don't hack my ghost]

Worried about Brexit food shortages? North Korean haute couture has just the thing

Re: "Are people _really_ saying that 'supermarket shelves will be empty"

"customs checks for goods arriving from the EU take no more than about 30 seconds to process, this is a benefit of free movement of goods within the EU."

It's my understanding that there are no serious problems at either the Canadian nor the Mexico border in the U.S. as far as commercial vehicles go (and I also know someone who's a U.S. Customs officer). Sure you may go from a 30 second to a 30 minute wait [let's say] but I doubt it will be long enough to spoil produce.

In any case, trade agreements can help to streamline this process, and you could (in theory) have inspectors working on the "foreign" side. If UK Customs has such bottlenecks that it takes weeks for a container to be cleared, it reflects an inefficiency in the system that needs to be corrected (or a serious problem with that one country trying to get things in).

So maybe a simple trade agreement with the EU, in which a similar process (as it is now) continues to happen, might be a good idea.

Re: How I explain Brexit to children

"he wants to leave and take just the blue bricks with him."

But (it seems to me) many of his blue bricks were re-painted and given to others without his consent. And the ones 'in charge' are doing what THEY want without regards to what HE wants. [it's how I see Brexit from across the pond]. The simplistic analogy falls apart in the face of what _really_ happens.

and edible clothing... gives new meaning to "eat my shorts"

I studied hard, I trained for years. Yay, now I'm an astronaut in space. Argggh, leukemia!

Re: magnetics

well, it kinda works like this:

For high energy gamma, 1 inch of lead or 2 inches of steel is an approximat "tenth thickness"; that is, with that much material between you and a source of radiation, on the shielded side the dose rate is about 1/10 of what it is on the unshielded side. For water, it's 3 feet if I remember correctly. I think concrete and dirt is 1 foot.

For neutrons the numbers change. Lead and steel don't do diddly squat for neutrons, and water and plastic have a tenth thickness of around 1 foot. If you include neutron absorbing material you can reduce it significantly, though - however, the shielding would deplete over time and become less effective the more it's exposed to neutron flux.

The idea of having a double-hull with water in between isn't bad. Plastic or oil might actually work better, though [but cost more]. I guess a returning space ship could deliver its extra shield water to a space station, to be used for 'whatever'. But the extra mass would be a heavy penalty in fuel. And now you could probably calculate how thick it would all need to be...

Re: Radiation effects methinks

"Just wondering if we could create an artifitial magnetic field arround our interstellar spacecraft to mitigate the radiation issues"

That would help against charged particles, but not neutrons nor gamma. For it to work against those, you'd need a lot of other particles trapped in there, too. That happens to be the case with the Van Allen belts, though.

Neutrons are particularly bad in that they case things to _become_ radioactive, or change the atom into something else (even if temporarily, like Nitrogen 16 from Oxygen in water that is exposed to a high neutron flux, as in a nuclear reactor, which after a few seconds, turns back into Oxygen 16, but you can easily measure the additional radioactivity just from the decay of N-16 to O-16).

High energy gamma radiation can disassociate chemical bonds, effectively 'cracking' them, or cause oddball recombinations of chemicals that would otherwise not form [this is, I believe, the mechanism by how radiation kills a living cell]. Anything that's considered "ionizing" will do this, more or less.

The best way to shield against gamma radiation is mass. Gamma interacts with atoms of high mass by ionizing the electrons, 'exciting' them, and they either absorb it [heating] or spit out lower energy gammas [scattering]. Other particles like free electrons, protons, and alpha, will be shielded by relatively thin layers of material, so you won't need a magnetic field at all - just need a decent hull on a ship, or a suit made of some kind of thick material for those.

Neutron shielding needs to scatter the neutrons and possibly absorb them. Materials that absorb neutrons are well known, boron and hafnium being two of them [used in nuclear reactors to control reactions, for example]. These materials deplete as they absorb neutrons, though, so they have finite life. And you might have to 'scatter' neutrons to bring the energy level to the right point to be absorbed. This means hydrogenous material to maximize the energy decrement per collision with a neutron.

Anyway, the magnetic idea isn't bad when you consider the Van Allen belts, but it's the ions they trap that are doing the shielding, and not the actual magnetic field. Actually, though, if a nuclear rocket had water as a propellant, and you could keep it from freezing, the water would be really good radiation shielding from the sun [and the rocket engine itself] - just keep it oriented 'that way' while coasting. actually liquid H2 would work the same way more or less for neutrons, but you would need something a bit denser to help shield gamma.

Well, exposure to ionizing radiation is _known_ to have various effects on blood, and that's the most likely candidate. HOWEVER, if the effect of 'first time' stress is HIGHER than that of radiation, it would make an appropriate study VERY interesting... (and perhaps demand a series of shorter trips before the long one, to improve astronaut health).

Ionizing radiation [as well as certain kinds of infections, poisonous substances, etc.] more easily kill cells that multiply rapidly. This is why radiation has been used to treat cancer, because cancer cells will die with somewhat lower exposure levels than regular cells. The villi in the intestines, certain kinds of connective tissue in skin, and immune cells are all candidates for radiation susceptibility. So typical symptoms of radiation exposure include "NVD" (Nausea, Vomiting, Diarrhea), skin edema [due to breakdown of connective tissues, fluid buildup in the skin), and blood chemistry changes.

Re: Summing it up

Canned monkey as a space food - tastes like chicken?

Re: How does this compare?

I think the comparison between veterans and rookies is compelling enough to suggest that it's not being in space, but dealing with the stress-related effects on the immune system, and YES compare this to other high stress professions like the military, police, fire, ambulance, and trial lawyers. Yeah, no kidding!

This is the kind of study that would make an _outstanding_ doctoral thesis for med students. The effects of stress and inexperience in a high stress occupation, not just space itself, on blood chemistry and the immune system, and *IS* space *REALLY* a factor?

Q. What do you call an IT admin for 20-plus young children? A. A teacher

correct horse battery staple

what could be so difficult?

Re: It's horrendous out there in local Ed IT

well it sounds to me like there needs to be some kind of RFID as the 'second factor' in a 2 factor method.

Back when i was a kid, they had these dog tags that parents usually bought for us (it was a school program as I recall, take home the ad and mom/dad mailed it in), that had a kids' name + address on it, maybe other info [I forget exactly], some kind of emblem or catholic saint or haiku or something on the otehr side.

So if a kid wears a dog tag, just make sure it has an RFID in it that can be used as the 'second factor' for 2-factor authentication. Or a QR code. Or bar code. Or whatever.

At least that way, the device would have to be within a certain distance of the RFID to work. Or the device would visually scan the QR code or bar code on it, same idea.

Anyway, it's something that kids would get used to really fast, "wear the key". And maybe a teacher override for occasional "I forgot it" usage.

I helped catch Silk Road boss Ross Ulbricht: Undercover agent tells all

Re: Tax avoidance

actually true, if you have ill-gotten gains you're supposed to declare it as "other income" or something like it. Well, in the USA, anyway. Otherwise, you'll end up getting 'tax evasion' charges like Al Capone.

Re: Life without parole

"A vicious and grossly disproportionate sentence."

It is likely that a chain of individual crimes, for which a jail sentence of 1 month would be appropriate, could add up to "one big sentence" worth of them, ya know? so someone who's guilty of 1200 petty crimes with a month sentence each could get 100 years... or I say, SHOULD get 100 years!

in any case, if they needed to lock him up for longer, the cops would find more crimes for him to be tried on and rack up the sentence. But this way, with 'life without parole', everyone's done with it.

Keep in mind that a sentence like this is *designed* to STOP OTHERS from TRYING what he did. 'Intimidation factor' among other things.

Re: So the moral here is

something _I_ have considered many times: never underestimate the ability of forensic teams to discover new ways of gathering evidence in a manner that nobody could have conceived of at the time a crime was committed, and so there's no way to know how to prevent such evidence from being collected and used against you. When fingerprints were first used to prove that someone committed a crime, nobody EVAR thought such a thing was possible. Same with DNA. What's next?

yeah, I don't like the idea of staying at the 'Iron Bar Hotel', so it's better if I stay honest instead.

Re: More Questions

ack on "bought it through amazon' - and if THAT is the case, computer vendors might have some additional info about the computer so they can verify it for warranty reasons... such as CPU IDs and default MAC addresses.

it's not that hard to subpoena information once you have enough evidence to get a judge on board for investigative warrants. I expect that your average vendor would have no trouble handing information over if the word 'search warrant' appears at the top of something signed by a judge...

Re: More Questions

"How did they find the server in Iceland" "How did they find connections from San Francisco to the server?"

yeah, pretty impressive, I say! Some of this was actually in the article, as I recall, though I don't really wanna re-read it to glean for details. But you have to allow for the fact that the cops don't wanna spill the beans on all of their secret tactics, so the bad guys can't take countermeasures.

Re: Interesting postscript to this long running tale.

so here's what you do... while the agent is describing what he wants, actually FILM the thing; while he's doing narration, you see "it" happening in the background.

The snark factor alone would be worth it.

You could also have fun with the blind man yelling at the Dutch cops that he won't open the door. Maybe add "I fart in your general direction" to the exchange... well, maybe not THAT, but still.

Microsoft decides Internet Explorer 10 has had its fun: Termination set for January 2020

Re: Browsers

At least, stop advertising that uses SCRIPTING... or any OTHER means of tracking people.

That "bloated feature creep" in browsers seems to be a universal problem, as well as the 2D FLATTY McFLATFACE FLATSO so-called "modern" [vomit] "the Metro"-like UI and its Chrome-clones.

FTC gets back to work: Now, where were we? Break up Facebook and fine it $2bn, you say?

Re: Three companies that need to be broken up...

I'm not so sure a breakup is needed. Just some anti-trust action to prevent them from owning/controlling everything from the manufacturing to the deliver (in Amazon's case), or having too much control over search results (in Google's case) and ad-based revenue (in the case o shadow-banned youtube videos), or "just about everything" in FB's case.

anti-competitive monopolistic policies/actions and politically motivated manipulation has got to go.

100 years ago, Standard Oil controlled way too much of the oil production and distribution, and was the target of government action. Also there was U.S. Steel, railroads, and the banking industry, as I recall, the "Robber Barons".

Just apply similar regulations and whatnot to Facebook, Google, and Amazon, and everything should be ok. And a big $2billion fine for FB, assuming they deserve it.

FTC hadn't imposed a single fine against Facebook since it handed down its consent decree in 2011

lessee, WHO was president in 2011? Heh.

(but yeah I'm sure Zuck had the best politicians money could buy, at the time)

Agreed that FTC needed to look at FB back then, even earlier in fact.

A probe into Google would be nice, too. We can start with "shadow bans" and search engine result tweeking...

Microsoft delivers a second preview of Visual Studio 2019 (a Redmond thing we actually like)

Re: Still using Visual Studio?

I only use the 2010 version for C++ on windows these days. And I _REFUSE_ to use C-pound. Yuck. Just Yuck.

I'm moderately satisfied with MFC on windows for a couple of reasons, assuming that it's statically linked (runtime AND MFC) and has _NO_ ".Not" dependencies. one is that I'm familiar with it, and the coding stuff I was doing in the 90's still works with it, more or less. The other is that wxWidgets can be [with some difficulty] ported from an MFC applicationt to run cross-platform.

Re: On my wish list

My list is pretty long...

For starters, I'd like them to stop it with the 2D FLATTY McFLATFACE, the VB-style "properties" stuff for class wizard and dialog editing that they've done since 2000-ish [which requires removing my mouse hand from the keyboard WAY too often], LESS centricity on C-pound, and _ALSO_ fix MFC so it's not so bloaty when you static link. Too many un-needed "features" are linked in ALL of the time, last I checked. And it seemed to be very difficult to remove it with compile options. I tried, yeah.

And it should be easier to do these things:

a) COMPLETELY exclude ".Not" from your project

b) static link runtime

c) static link class libraries

I don't like flipping all of the parameters on and off for EVERY STINKING PROJECT and so a pre-set "these are my project defaults" would be nice. Maybe it exists already, I dunno, just want to see something more reasonable than having to spend 10+ minutes "fixing" it, EVERY time.

What I've disliked about VS started with the 'The Metro' stuff. I've used the 2010 version for ALL windows development for quite a while now. It's "not changing" which is better than 'change for the sake of change' every time. I do NOT like the 2D FLATTY and am *NOT* going to do any stupid "the Metro" or "UWP" [CR]app. So the _OLDER_ one is superior as far as THAT goes.

In any case, I'm not pleased if I can't easily turn my project into a 'Makefile' version, and build without any special IDE nonsense. It's getting harder and harder to do that with Microsoft's tools.

Typescript, PostgreSQL and Visual Studio Code all get slathered with a little Microsoft lovin'

Re: Decepticons, move out.

I'd rather say 'benefit of the doubt' on this one, and assume they're trying to bring people who use PGSQL into their cloudy platform as potential new customers.

[forcing them into using SQL Server or some OTHER 'approved/supported' database has apparently NOT worked very well]

Kudos for the PostgreSQL love

I'm glad to see Azure cloud servers working better with PG. I like PG. A recent client was using PG with their system, and the 'psql' utility made it easy to admin the thing at a low level so that I could fix Django-related problems and get things up and running properly.

In any case, PG is like the 'de facto' standard in SQL implementation, as far as I can tell. 'MySQL' and probably 'MariaDB' both have issues, improper handling of embedded quote marks in strings being one of them. Last I tried it, even ODBC calls had to use '\"' instead of '""' to indicate embedded quotes in a double-quoted string. That was a while back, though, so maybe it's been fixed? Yeah, probably not. But ODBC calls shouldn't have to assume that embedded ANYTHING in a string buffer should have to deal with embedded quotes like that...

Anyway, Microsoft, Good job.

Should the super-rich pay 70% tax rate above $10m? Here's Michael Dell's hot take for Davos

Re: Rich Tax Paradox

lies, damn lies, and statistics. Most of Obaka's "unemployment" numbers were being 'cooked' to exclude those who had (literally) STOPPED LOOKING FOR WORK.

Also many positions became part time in lieu of full time so that employers wouldn't have to scrape up non-existent funds for Obaka-"Care", especially in places like restaurants that hire most of their people at or near 'minimum wage'. Increases in THAT have caused businesses to close, or put surcharges on standard menu items, and so on.

Yeah, and so on, and on, and on. THAT kind of socialistic activity (under Obaka) nearly KILLED the U.S. economy, which has more than just recovered since Trump took office. Try ACTUAL WAGE IMPROVEMENT for starters, and not some mandated minimum wage crap. THAT is the best indicator yet. Recent statistics have been published showing there are more jobs available than people to filll them. That _NEVER_ happened under Obaka.

So yeah you can use lies, damn lies, and statistics to skew the numbers to fit your model, by excluding information that more importantly shows how "your numbers" really don't tell the whole story...

Re: Also England

Beatles lyrics for 'Tax Man': "One for you, Nineteen for me"

yeah, John Lennon may have also been a closet fan of Ronald Reagan in 1980, or so at least SOME information dictates [the source may not be reliable though, so this is a 'for what it's worth' at best].

In any case, once he BECAME "the rich" he obviously did not like this kind of wealth confiscation for the purpose of keeping the NON-rich "in their place". If he earns money, he should keep it, regardless of how much money he earns. I agree 100%.

I wonder if he came to the USA for tax reasons...

It's sorta like you never understand business fully until you are the one who signs the FRONT of the checks.,. and has to write apology letters to debtors and vendors because you had to make payroll, instead. And the highest earning person on the payroll is 'not you'.

Re: Ocasio is nuts

"Uhhm, income tax is on income, not worth."

Yes. It puts a ROADBLOCK for those trying to *BECOME* rich. You know, like us 'riff raff' in the middle and upper middle class, "the rich" do not WANT *us* in their 'rich boy' club, and neither do their puppet politicians. "The Rich" already _HAVE_ their wealth. And they'll just DEFER income, shift it around, etc. for as long as it takes to avoid heavy taxation. A decent accountant would cost LESS than the tax bill. So guess where the money will go?

And a BIG THUMBS UP for saying it, despite the obvious socialism bias in some of the comments.

Re: Super rich don't pay salaries either

"tax rates in the US used to be even higher than 70% and they worked just fine then."

No. they did NOT. JFK knew this back in 1962 and before things got bad during HIS presidency, he insisted on TAX CUTS (which were later passed, after his death, creating an economic growth period in the mid 1960's).

Further, they came with a ship-load of LOOPHOLES and TAX SHELTER opportunities to "encourage" people to invest in less profitable stuff that the gummint wanted investment in [for whatever reason]. So for good or ill, rich people used those loopholes and shelters to avoid the taxation. And NEARLY ALL of them are GONE.

One that remains (for good or ill), "charitable deductions", is typically exploited by people like GEORGE SOROS to fund his political influence all over the USA ('media matters' and 'moveonorg' and whatnot). So taxpayers are LITERALLY paying for HIS politics...

Re: Rich Tax Paradox

@phuzz

back in the 1950's when the highest marginal tax rate EVAR was legislated, it was to SLOW DOWN the U.S. economy and allow war-torn Europe to 'catch up'.

However, these uber-high tax rates included "loopholes" and "tax shelters" that were literally designed to 'encourage' investment into them so that the money wouldn't be "just taken away".

So what has changed? The loopholes are *GONE*, that's what!

Re: Rich Tax Paradox

"The 70% tax on the rich is fine with me. And up the corporate tax rate as well."

until it kills your job, and future opportunities for a different one. think "the previous 8 years before Trump"

Think of it this way: why only SEVENTY PERCENT? Why not ONE HUNDRED PERCENT?

You know that could only happen once. THEN all income earners will simply STOP EARNING because it would be FUTILE. They'll find "some other way" to get their income. And 70% taxation (let alone, 100% taxation) means that it justifies ONE HELL OF A LOT of effort!

John F. Kennedy once spoke to the Economic Club of New York in 1962 regarding high marginal tax rates, which at THAT time were as high as 90% for "certain income" [as I recall]. The purpose of THOSE tax rates were literally to STIFLE the U.S. economy so post-WW2 Europe could "catch up" after all of the war damage, and came with a boatload of 'loopholes' that 'the rich' could use to 'shelter' their income from high taxation [practically NONE of which still exist today]. But I digress...

JFK said " This can be the most important step we could take to prevent another recession. That is the right kind of a tax cut, both for your family budget and the national budget, resulting from a permanent basic reform and reduction in our rate structure, a creative tax cut creating more jobs and income and eventually more revenue. Every dollar released from taxation that is spent or invested will help create a new job and a new salary. And these new jobs and new salaries can create other jobs and other salaries."

So JFK was _FOR_ tax CUTS, and *NOT* tax INCREASES! He is probably the LAST Demo[n,c][R,r]at to do so. And JFK was _RIGHT_ about that!

So if tax CUTS stimulate the economy [as evidenced by the last 2 years], why do YOU want to RAISE taxes on corporations and high income earners? because they ARE NOT *YOU* ???

Envy. Pure *ENVY*. That's why!

"When you are filthy rich you can set up a charity and then benefit from it - like paying for a portrait and then "donating" it to your golf club..."

Or setting up a PAC and "donating" to your favorite candidates and/or causes (ones that benefit you PERSONALLY, *right* Mr. Soros???)

The super-rich ALREADY have their money. Taxing their income WILL! NOT! MAKE! A! DIFFERENCE! [they'll shift it into something else, like capital gains or charities or a trust or whatever, thus being EXEMPT]

What a 'marginal' tax rate does is tax those who are *TRYING* *TO* ***BECOME*** *THE* *RICH*!!!

In other words, it's a "keep the RIFF RAFF in their place" tax. It's a STUMBLING BLOCK for small business and entrepreneurs and professionals. THESE are the people who DRIVE THE ENGINE of innovation, new job creation, and TECHNOLOGY.

So, you want to put a TAX in place to HOLD BACK those who make society GROW? That's REALLY FORNICATING STUPID!!!

That socialist [insert profanity here] congressman from New York City needs to GET A FEELING CLUE. *MARXISM* *FAILS* *EVERY* *TIME* *IT* *IS* *TRIED* !!!

"from those according to their means, to those according to their needs". Except for those MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS. She obviously did NOT read 'Animal Farm' in high school. Or maybe she *did*, and wants to become "one of the elite" to CONTROL EVERYONE ELSE???

When it comes to people like THAT, Orwell was an OPTIMIST. Reality could be FAR WORSE than his dystopian novels. And icon, obvious.

note: I say 'congressMAN' because the suffix 'man' is a generic for either a man OR a woman. I realize that [insert profane version of her name], the congressman from New York City, is a woman, and ALSO that she'd be VERY irritated being called 'congressman'. So yeah, I did it DELIBERATELY, and it's GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT. Phhhttthhhhhh.