Chile Forum

P - I would love to see that program, have worked off & on coming up with one. Two main reasons I'm a tax lawyer/accountant, it pays well & I hate what govt does with most of the money. Main reasons I work for myself, it pays better than W-2 & my mouth is too big for me to work for others, especially nincompoops. Sounds like you've read Blood in the Streets, Great Reckoning and/or Sovereign Individual, if not, you'd likley enjoy them. I recall a piece of recent pulp fiction that has Wyoming & Montana seceding, fun reading, really lays out the divides in thinking today, as does "Empire" by Orson Scott Card. When & if? Who knows. On a less weighty note, I do see higher tax rates in 2009 regardless of who wins election (no Republicans are running unless McCain selects a real one as VP) and some planning ideas that make less sense with comparatively low rates will make more sense again, espcially if payroll tax cap is lifted....not a good thing. I also see me scaling back the level of my personal activity & investment in growing & running my business as tax rates rise - why work to grow revenues & hire more employees if the swine (and I don't mean just the politicians) will take the lion's share? The politicians never include that in their warped calculus of revenue generation, guys like us will just work more to make up for what they are taking - NOT. I make enough to live a comfortable midwestern (or Far Southern) life as it is, more is just gravy that I'm not willing to work very hard for. I'd rather spend the time with family, reading & making tart posts.

Back to the trenches, Hyre.

El P., I was serious in stating that a good tax attorney should be able to bring your total tax burden -- state, federal, and local income, sales, and property taxes -- below forty percent. At least, he should be able to do so if he's knowledgeable about estate planning. (I work, when I'm not working pro bono, principally as an estate-planning attorney who's knowledgeable about taxes -- but you're not in my jurisdiction!)

JHyre, I hear you. May I suggest that, instead of cutting too far back on working at all, you expand your pro bono practice? It'll gain adherents to small-government philosophy among the many who'd otherwise not support it, by showing that government is not necessary for aid to the poor; and it'll feel good, even if it is at times frustrating.

RWS:

Mixed feelings on the pro-bono thing. On the one hand, "They" are stealing my time in the form of already extortionate taxes (I do not have a high threshhold, admittedly), right around what P said in toto. I am not so very willing to give, especially to "Them", since so much has already been taken. I have a special issue with "The Poor"....familiarity builds contempt, and owning low-income housing has built a great degree of familiarity with The Poor on my end.....contrary to most liberal assertions, the Poor WANT to be poor.....or at least do not want to change said status enough to do much about it (and they DO know better). I have precious little sympathy for the Poor in America, especially given that they tend to sell their votes in exchange for the taking of goodies from John and willfully & knowingly create their own problems. Giving more to that crowd helps feed the problem & sense of entitlement. I would only help The Poor on a case by case basis, dealing only with people who are well and truly willing to help themselves. Viva class warfare.

With that said, the idea of helping others is drilled into my bones, and I do give time or money to worthy causes, such as Boy Scouts. Also pro-bono represented a real estate investor in NC who was being railroaded by NC Attorney General (ex ACLU lawyer to give you an idea of where AG was coming from). We tend to choose causes on an ad-hoc basis, with a need to ensure our time/money is being used for the purpose stated and that the ultimate recipients are helping themselves. If I spend more time on pro-bono, it would almost certainly be on behalf of directly political organizations (e.g., FIRE) & other organizations that fight PC, the ACLU & universities.

BTW, I am competent on estate taxation, but income taxation of real estate is my true specialty.

John Hyre

John, giving your time in your competence to those in need -- whether individually screened poor folk (much of my pro bono), the Boy Scouts, or other organizations (the rest of mine) -- is all to the good, I believe. Showing that no good cause, whether an individual's or a group's, need be undefended, and well, shows the unnecessity of (for example) overstaffed public defenders' and legal aid offices.

My father was a criminal defense attorney / prosecutor specializing in DUI / DWI's. My father was real big on pro bono cases, especially in his later semi-retired years (even after retirement). He loved to be in court.

He had a partner that started out defending lots of radicals in the 60's and 70's. He specialized in defending AIM members and other Indian rights protesters. None of them had any money at the time. Now, he owns one of the biggest law firms in MN. All those radicals are now heads of Indian casinos and tribal chairmen, and they regularly send him off to do things like negotiate with the Las Vegas casinos for management contracts, and taking the State and Federal governments to court on cases that will have billable hours for generations of attorneys to come ( I think some of those treaty cases will out live the U.S. government ). Good karma, makes for good business.

...I think, Mglvrns, that if we didn't care about went on in the us we wouldn't be posting on whats going on....its a mix of ..WHat happened?....and when did they sell the promise out from under me....to, inevitably when will it make sense to bolt...the common idea, feeling, perception, point of view, belief is that if it were up to every regular american to decide what to to do...then we wouldn't be talking about all this...no one shits in their own living room....it seems to me that the common belief for most americans is that in the past there were those that took advantage but the overall plan of what America is, had lain un-touched and continued on....where as now, the damage that a solid few have done is leaping expotentialy over one catastrophe and then another...and is un-stoppable...its un-stoppable because it is a force that is "ginormous" and at the same time the solid few continue to feed and fuel its power, reaping every benefit for themselves and the promised few they have given the keys to our future too...


http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080320/fed_cred ... .html?.v=6

...I think most americans operate as individuals ...the cowboy, the lone sailor, the single underdog...and the effort to consolidate the beliefs of individuals and then move forward to enforce a core idea, to right a wrong to set a new course for a mass of people is...somehow un-doable...its especialy un-doable in the time we have left before its too deep to do anything about it...we are deomocraticaly shackeled to act alone and die beside what we believe ...or make do and get out...move to the new world, move west...leave the trash for the king, leave the industrial waste for the urbanized....move to fresh land...simply that is what this topic is about...it is a gauge, whose numbers mean something different to everyone that reads it and we only coment here to see where the red arm of fate sits over the numbers that mean only something to us...

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video ... arch_video

check out this video on w/buckley...look for where he says...conservatives are about being individuals...very, very very interesting...

Ps: I am in the middle of essy on the us as a third world nation....its like lately I am living the essay, we are living the essay...and its occurs to me that within all of it, there is a particle, a molecule..a small electron...that for the thinking of us is more important than a first tier us and a third world us...the more interesting fact of a single seemingly small event...I have thought about it a lot, and I believe it comes down to a moment of most likely a few seconds....the length of time for a nod, a glance a brief, extremely brief....a handshake is too long...its a pause...an erudite agreement of eyes and a sigh met with a tight lipped and grim, flat smile..shared by two citizens...in a limosine, a train car...an office...a courtroom....a sidewalk...a bar-b-que get together...the hallway of a home, at the end of a cocktail party....that launched what we all live today and what will determine how we live tomorrow and 10 years from now...everything that we are now goes back to that single, seemingly small moment...when was it?


p out

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Well said, El P.! The sad truth is that some, perhaps most of us leave or seriously contemplate leaving the United States not because we lack patriotism but because we hold a deeper patriotism: an attachment to the ideals of America that is stronger than the attachment to the beautiful, complex land.

As for that as-yet elusive moment: there were many such: the formation of the Union itself, now more than two centuries ago, contained within it that which could be turned to destruction. Was there, however, a tipping point, a moment at which the accumulated weight of abuse, even betrayal of ideals had become so great that destruction of the essence of America became inevitable? Most certainly. Just precisely when that was, though, I'm not yet convinced of, despite having pondered the question for years.

excellent, M ...and welcome...

p out


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So miguelveronos, please tell us more about yourself (not that it will be the truth). You are obviously tasked to watch us under the cover of searching for a language internship type of deal but ALL of your previous posts have NOTHING to do with Chile specifically. We are waiting.

OT:Senor eeuunikkeiexpat...?Porque usted tiene que saber? no es importante...?verdad?

Creo que eres lleno de mierda. But OK.

Carry on. I will not be getting involved in your weavadas.

Beware to others.

YMMV.

I will carry on...JHyre's post about you was right on...you're a real charmer.

I had two choices:

go to charm school or become an expat. I guess it's obvious what I chose.