Politics

Apple Prefers Debt Over Taxes

Apple Prefers Debt Over Taxes

According to an article on Slate, Apple avoids taxes by accumulating debt (emphasis mine):

On the earnings call, Apple’s leadership did more to explain why they’re going to start borrowing money and it turns out to be pretty uninteresting: Tax avoidance. [...] But by hook or by crook, the upshot is that a very large share of Apple’s cash is located “offshore” and in order to use it for share repurchases or dividends, Apple would need to “repatriate” it and pay corporate income tax. The statutory corporate income tax rate is quite high—35 percent—so it turns out to be cheaper to borrow the money and pay interest than to repatriate cash and pay taxes.

Ironic, is it not? It’s better to be in debt than to pay taxes to the government. This remains true even if you have $145 billion sitting in the bank which could go toward share repurchases and dividends but because of the high corporate income tax, it can be done more efficiently by accumulating debt. In other words, the government rewards debt and kills with taxes. Knowing that companies operate like this, how in the world can we expect taxing the rich to work? The higher the taxes, the more likely companies are motivated to avoid them. Even small time investors like myself get charged these ridiculous income tax rates. Is it any wonder that companies don’t want to pay them?

Sexual Insanity: Morning After Pill, Sex Ed & Bathrooms

Sexual Insanity: Morning After Pill, Sex Ed & Bathrooms

According to a recent article by the AP:

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday had lowered the age at which people can buy the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill without a prescription to 15 – younger than the current limit of 17. The FDA decided that the pill could be sold on drugstore shelves near condoms, instead of locked behind pharmacy counters.

Sex today has become an immediate commodity, something that you can conveniently “separate” from its procreative functions in order to trade non-committed pleasure with someone at your leisure. Any commitment that a person does have is completely incidental and emotional now, it has no objective reason for being pursued. A committed partner is just as good as say a friend with benefits; it’s just a matter of what works best for you. So it is no surprise then that we find sex increasing with the youth because it’s easy, takes no responsibility, and it is relatively painless. The FDA sees that there’s more demand for this with younger ages, so they’re naturally going to cater to that. Pills are for treating sicknesses, which fertility apparently is since it gets in the way of sexual pleasure. There’s a sickness alright, but it’s a sickness that’s in the depraved heart of men.

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Obama: God Bless Planned Parenthood

Obama: God Bless Planned Parenthood

President Obama is the first sitting president to publicly speak on Planned Parenthood:

“When politicians try to turn Planned Parenthood into a punching bag, they’re not just talking about you,” he said. “They’re talking about the millions of women who you serve.”

“The fact is, after decades of progress, there’s still those who want to turn back the clock to policies more suited to the 1950s than the 21st Century,” Obama said. “And they’ve been involved in an orchestrated and historic effort to roll back basic rights when it comes to women’s health.”

“Thank you Planned Parenthood. God bless you. God bless you,” Obama concluded.

I shouldn’t say this is particularly surprising as this is coming from a man that has supported infanticide if the woman so chooses. Pro-lifers have pointed out the implications of abortion for some time now, but it was simply dismissed as a slippery slope. First, I think it should be obvious to anyone that a distinct human being is inside that woman’s womb (it’s not the woman’s body) and it has all the capacities for reasoning and willing in its nature or else it could never develop its capacities into what we see in adults. Second, even if that is not granted, you are senselessly taking away the future hopes and dreams of that life. Lastly, you were once a fetus and that is all you need to know to see that abortion is wrong. If you were not identical to that fetus, then it was not you because you could never exist without first being a fetus. If one was to go back in time and take your life then, it would be just as wrong as killing you now.

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The Infertility Argument For Same-Sex Marriage

The Maverick Philosopher has a superb blog post refuting the infertility argument that is often used in support of SSM. The essential argument goes like this: If infertile couples can get married, then so can homosexual couples because there is no relative difference. I just love how he wastes no time with emotional appeals or ad hominems but instead makes an excellent logical response. He is clearly a much more refined thinker than I am, that alone should earn him some respect even if you disagree with his position. He’s not even a Christian and he holds to the same principles as I do.

That’s one thing that annoys me about some of the people I have debated this issue on. With the exception of my friend Robert, they just cannot discuss this issue without putting you down as some “homophobe’ or without being high minded and incredibly dismissive. They have told me that  they are glad that I am losing this battle in America or dismiss my reasoning as just “pseudo-rationalism” or some other nonsense. Honestly, it’s best not to debate issues with someone that you know is going to be that way. On the other hand, you can only hope that they can at least show some respect to thinkers like Maverick (or Bill).

Why I Hate Guns

This about sums up the kind of reasoning that most liberals tend to have in a hilariously satirical way. How anyone in their right mind could think that guns are the problem (and not people) or that banning guns will somehow result in a safer society is just nonsense.

Bill O’Reilly Angrily Explodes at Colmes

This is hilarious, but of course not surprising for those who know what Bill is like. Got to hand it to Colmes for being surprisingly cool headed about it, though he did get rightly bothered by the “liar” comment. He’s dead wrong about Obama, however. Any cuts that he does do are just cuts on projected increases in spending, which is in fact not really a cut at all. The amount of spending far outweighs any cuts as the CBO projects that we will see an increase of 6.4 trillion dollars of debt in the next couple of years. Epic fail, Mr President.

Police Chaplain Forced Out For Rejecting SSM

From an article at the UK Telegraph that WK linked to:

Excerpt:

A police chaplain says he was forced out of his post after criticising the Government’s plans for gay marriage on his personal website, MPs have been told.

Rev Brian Ross said he was summoned to a meeting with a senior officer and told that postings on his blog on the subject of marriage did not fit with the force’s equality and diversity policies.

Who said legalizing SSM won’t produce any effects on society again? This is precisely what you’d expect would happen when you treat SSM like racism. If you portray homosexuals as the oppressed and you permit their activity, then you will promote their lifestyle to make amends for the previous ills. Unfortunately this isn’t just some remote firing from a business either, it is a direct result of the government’s intervention. Nor is this some rare occurrence, many others have been fired as a result of their opposition. This is not freedom, this is oppression in the name of progressivism, tolerance, and love.

Those who rail against profits and “greed” seldom stop to think through what they are saying, much less go check the facts. Most of the great American fortunes– Rockefeller, Ford, Carnegie, etc. — came from finding more efficient ways to produce a product or service at a lower cost, so that it could be sold at a lower price and attract more customers. If making a fortune represents greed, then greed is what drives prices down.

— Thomas Sowell

The Case for Conjugal Marriage

The Case for Conjugal Marriage

This is a beautiful chart by no one other than the controversial Tim Hsiao. There will be more charts like this at Flowchart Philosophy. I’ll be posting some of my own on WC. Like all charts, only so much can be said. The intention of these charts is to combat our sound bite culture with something pleasing to read and look at. If you’re looking for more comprehensive arguments for this position, just do a search on our site here or look at the related posts at the bottom of this post.

The Economic Titanic

The Economic Titanic

According to a poll at ABC News / Washington post, 60% of America think raising the taxes on the rich is the best method of avoiding the fiscal cliff. As this article graphically demonstrates, this shows a profound lack of understanding of the issues. It just proves to show how liberals and the mainstream media have brainwashed people into buying this class warfare nonsense. They think taxing the rich will help us avoid the fiscal cliff? That’s as stupid as throwing the rich people out of the Titanic to save it from sinking. The way the Titanic should have ended (liberal edition):

*titanic slams into iceberg*
Man: Honey! Why not throw out the rich to save this boat from sinking?
Woman: What, why?
Man: Don’t be play dumb, we all know the rich are to blame for this.
Woman: But I’m rich… and I’m not to blame for this.
Man: You’re a freakin republican, aren’t you?!
Woman: What if I am?
Man: Wow. I can’t believe I ever loved you. Well that does it, I’m throwing you off this boat.
Woman: How dare you!
Man: No, how dare you! If you cared about the poor, you’d throw yourself out. Time to pay your fair sacrifice. [throws her off the edge of the boat]. Hallelujah, salvation is near!

Can you guess the end?

Spoiler Alert: He still dies.

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