I grew up with the kind of income that would qualify me as poor. However, my parents' financial discipline were off the charts for someone in their position. Both of them had a decent education for their time and knew what matters vs what doesn't. We never got anything fancy - two pairs of uniforms, one nice set of clothes, one pair of shoes and pretty ugly looking backpack for the whole school year - nothing more. Absolutely no pocket money. No movies, not even extra-curricular activities - basically anything that costed money.
What we got was good healthy food, a great education - things that ended up making a difference in the long term. There were people like us all around us who we could clearly see not appreciating the value of some of the things we valued.
I would go so far to say, it's not the money. People need education. People need discipline and self-control if they are really going to pull their weight. They need help along the way but it's not always money they need.
There are levels of poverty. Once you are low enough, you are pretty much unable to afford extra time for either education or probably even proper food. Or time to cook. I personally know a few people pulling 16h of work daily to make ends meet.
What you describe as poverty would be called middle class in quite a few countries. No frills but not really poor.
Especially if you managed to always pay all bills on time.
"The squeaky wheel gets the grease". I have heard far many times for my liking that Apple/Facebook/Twitter/Google...etc are private companies and they can do whatever they want as an argument. The same goes for products that are free. It doesn't automatically mean that we lose the right to criticize. It's necessary and healthy to raise objections and demand features that we'd like to have. It's in these companies' own best interests to listen to their customers and make decisions with their customers in mind (too). Even if these companies don't take heed, someone else would. May be another company would build something we are asking for. May be another social media company could pop up with a constitution like protection of freedom of speech.
The difference is that nobody is asking for these companies to be banned or to cease operations. They are free to do what they want and we are free to ask what we want.
The way I see it, I don't want somebody else to do the squash for me. It's my responsibility to make sure my commits are logical. I do as many rebases, fixups, squashes as necessary and provide a logical set of commits. I want the merges to preserve that as it is.
But as others have said, there are plenty of really valid reasons to alter history as one deems necessary.
I disagree. People were given a chance to express their opinion. If they cared enough, they should have voted. While that I don't necessarily agree with the ban, it's very important to note that the decision didn't happen in a closed door meeting.
It could be argued that these sort of regulations are not needed at all in the first place - as long as companies are transparent about it and people can vote with their wallets. However, there is a line. Where that line is drawn is decided by the society. I'd be happy as long as that decision is transparent.
Democracy is by no means perfect - transparency and an involved populace would make it work better. If either is found lacking, we should try to make it better.
Back when Kindle launched, it was very common to see the story of Kodak being floated around (film vs digital) to claim how Amazon is flexible. Fast forward a few years, Amazon video and music services are the worst in terms of cross platform support.
The primary reason I don't buy/rent anything from Amazon Digital is because I can't stream it to my Chromecast. Considering the adoption for Chromecast I would have expected Amazon to support. Instead they ban it from Amazon.com.
I initially thought the problem was with my network and device setup at home. So I upgraded my router to the best I could afford, got the latest Chromecast incarnation and thought I was ready to go.
I can cast any tab from Chrome to my TV without any issues with the sole exception of Amazon Video. It's the only site that stutters like mad when casting.
While the tax code should be simplified, it's possible to automate most of the rules anyway. It should be as simple as upload W2(s), link your trading accounts, answer a few questions and be done with it for most people. The software need not satisfy every usecase for everyone in the country. Are there an free/open source tax filing software?
Note that this is basically what the 1040-EZ[0] is. It has the benefit of being one page, with simple instructions and it covers a lot of people.
• Your filing status is single or married filing jointly. If you are not sure about your filing status, see instructions.
• You (and your spouse if married filing jointly) were under age 65 and not blind at the end of 2015. If you were born on
January 1, 1951, you are considered to be age 65 at the end of 2015.
• You do not claim any dependents. For information on dependents, see Pub. 501.
• Your taxable income (line 6) is less than $100,000.
• You do not claim any adjustments to income. For information on adjustments to income, use the Tax Topics listed under
Adjustments to Income at www.irs.gov/taxtopics (see instructions).
• The only tax credit you can claim is the earned income credit (EIC). The credit may give you a refund even if you do not owe
any tax. You do not need a qualifying child to claim the EIC. For information on credits, use the Tax Topics listed under Tax
Credits at www.irs.gov/taxtopics (see instructions). If you received a Form 1098-T or paid higher education expenses, you may
be eligible for a tax credit or deduction that you must claim on Form 1040A or Form 1040. For more information on tax
benefits for education, see Pub. 970. If you can claim the premium tax credit or you received any advance payment of the
premium tax credit in 2015, you must use Form 1040A or Form 1040.
• You had only wages, salaries, tips, taxable scholarship or fellowship grants, unemployment compensation, or Alaska
Permanent Fund dividends, and your taxable interest was not over $1,500. But if you earned tips, including allocated tips, that
are not included in box 5 and box 7 of your Form W-2, you may not be able to use Form 1040EZ (see instructions). If you are
planning to use Form 1040EZ for a child who received Alaska Permanent Fund dividends, see instructions.
As for free offerings, these can also be found via the IRS[1], but generally apply to lower income amounts.
Just so I can understand your argument better, can you elaborate this a bit more? How do you measure their output? How do you arrive at the dollar value?
It isn't really a matter of finding a specific dollar value but instead determining if the investment (a new worker) will result in a revenue increase that exceeds the cost of the new investment (ROI: return on investment).
This is what it means to run a business, to ask and answer that question and act upon the answer. If you answer correctly in a sufficient number of instances, your business succeeds and you are profitable. If you answer incorrectly in too many instances, your business fails.
A minimum wage puts a floor on labor costs and that will be an added constraint in the business model. For some business models, that added constraint may make the business unworkable. For others it may mean that prices need to be adjusted, or the number of workers and/or the type of worker hired needs to be changed. Perhaps it means changing the hours the business is open to manage staff costs. Maybe it means purchasing a machine to eliminate a worker because now the machine is cheaper than the worker whereas before that wasn't the case.
If you have an opportunity to talk to a small business owner that employees part-time, close to minimum wage workers, ask them what they have already done to adjust and what they intend to do. The affordable care act has already forced many employers to cut hours to their part-time workers to avoid the extra fees that kick in at 30 hours. Many employers will implement changes to their staffing long before the actual minimum wage change kicks in. This is called "running a business", which means planning ahead.
What we got was good healthy food, a great education - things that ended up making a difference in the long term. There were people like us all around us who we could clearly see not appreciating the value of some of the things we valued.
I would go so far to say, it's not the money. People need education. People need discipline and self-control if they are really going to pull their weight. They need help along the way but it's not always money they need.