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Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI

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On Sun, 14 Feb 2016 15:58:35 +0000
James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> wrote:

> On 14/02/2016 14:11, Rod Pemberton wrote:
> > On Sun, 14 Feb 2016 09:56:28 +0000
> > James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> wrote:  

<OT>

> >> The US Secretary of State has apparently intervened in the UK-EU
> >> debate and said he wants a strong UK to be "in a strong EU".  
> >
> > I didn't read or hear what he said.  So, I guess that he is saying
> > that he foresees the UK's future as being a state which is part
> > of a larger union.  
> 
> > It seems rational to me.  Does the UK want to be
> > a member of the "European Union" or not?  
> 
> The UK is to hold a referendum to decide, possibly as early as June
> this year. Maybe the UK will end up with its independence day a bit
> like your 4th of July!

Canada has ten provinces.  They could be the 51st through 60th US
states, if they wanted that.  Obviously, they see no need.  Personally,
I think they have roughly the same level of freedoms, but their economy
would be much stronger, if they were a part of the US.  The capital
flows would be massive, if they adopted our legal system.  The UK is
in much the same position. It can exist on it's own, but should it? ...

> > If all your neighbors are part of the EU, what benefit does
> > it have to be the odd man out?
> 
> Only some neighbours are members of the EU, not all. Those neighbours 
> who are independent of it have more opportunities to trade worldwide, 
> and apparently have been doing better economically over the past few 
> years because of that freedom. That is important because the EU's 
> influence is declining as a share of world trade.

So, the choices are 1) fix the EU or 2) abandon it.

I guess your countrymen need to decide if the EU is worth saving.
Saving it could lead to short-term negative consequences.

> The EU mandates a lot of fiscal matters. One that recently caused 
> amusement here was VAT - Value Added Tax, which might be similar to
> what you would call Sales Tax or maybe Purchase Tax.

I don't fully understand how VAT differs from a sales tax.
It seems to be a tax on the markup of products instead of
a full tax on the product.  Perhaps, this is an attempt to
avoid double taxation in the product chain?  I don't think
there is an equivalent here.

Ditto for stamp duties, although we usually get charged some
type of fee in similar instances, e.g., filing fee or processing
fee or origination fee or notary fee, etc.

Generally, sales taxes are charged for all goods sold, with the
exception of grocery store food and medications in some states.
Restaurants charge sales tax.  Under certain circumstances, some
of those taxes are refunded via tax credits on state or federal
tax forms.  I.e., consumer pays taxes, but businesses receive a
discount or refund.  Most states tax income after various credits
are applied which reduces taxable income by say 13% to 20% or so,
but some states have a gross receipts income tax which taxes all
income or revenue.  The tax rate is much lower in such states
since they're taxing all income.  I'm not sure whether the tax
rate rate in gross receipts states is effectively higher or lower
than that in other states.  The big losers in such states would
be businesses, i.e., unable to subtract expenses prior to
revenue taxation.  Citizens are taxed without being allowed to
subtract expenses.  Some states have no income taxes for
individuals and a few have no income taxes for corporations
either.  Most of these type of states have much higher sales
taxes and property taxes and are "under-developed" as compared
to other states.  I.e., they're attempting to attract business.
Federal taxes must be paid by all.  They're usually the lion's
share of taxes.

We also have a federal Alternative Minimum Tax.  This was intended
to tax wealthy people who had very little income and very large
capital gains.  Capital gains are taxed at a much lower rate
than income here.  However, the AMT wasn't adjusted for inflation
for a long time.  So, the middle class had to pay it for a while.

Of course, there are numerous ways businesses can sidestep taxes
here, like free trade zones, various free trade tax discounts,
numerous different business and legal structures, different state
laws, states without income or revenue taxes.  That doesn't even
include profit shifting monies into offshore tax havens, which
seems to work very well for large US multinationals.  Of course,
if the US was a territorial taxation system, i.e., only taxed
revenue earned within the US like other countries, then most of
this tax avoidance wouldn't be done.  The US is a global system
which taxes revenue on it's people and corporations no matter
where that income was earned.  Generally, a slight credit is
provided on the tax forms to reduce "double taxation" since
foreign revenue is also taxed by the country where it is earned.
Yes, a simple tax system is desired by many here.  Sometimes
even people who had no income have to file a full set of tax
forms just to prove they had no income.

> There are different VAT rates including zero percent for
> essential items such as food and children's clothes.

States which don't charge sales tax for food and/or medications
typically have larger quantities of retirees (AKA pensioners).
It's always a shock traveling to an expensive state to see the
high local food costs, e.g., three times as much, and then you
get hit with a very expensive sales tax for the fast food too ...

> Well, I gather the EU decided that tampons were not essential items
> and could not have zero percent VAT. That triggered some girls to
> comment on how they liked nothing more than to treat themselves to a
> tampon, and similar.

There is a continuing ruckus here about a "pink tax" from females.
That's their term, not mine, if you think it's slightly suggestive ...
Apparently, consumer product companies charge more for products
marketed to women than they do to men.  Women earn less than men.

> IIRC the EU also rules on what is a biscuit (AmE: cookie) and what is
> a cake, for example, because that affects the rate of VAT that has to
> be applied. The minutiae of EU regulations is stifling.

Yes, various US food producers run into issues of using "common" names
for food items, only to find that such terms are restricted by a set
of rules which appear to be arbitrary and capricious to those who
support free trade in the US, e.g., names for wines or cheeses can
only be used if the food product originated from certain regions.

> > I'd guess it's really a matter of trust, commonality of people, and
> > acceptance of each other and their ways.  In the US, in many areas,
> > this is a good thing. E.g., common currency, common national
> > defense, and also localized regional laws for each state and
> > incorporated city which serve the daily lives of the people better,
> > etc.  Everyone is simply not going to agree on everything.  Having
> > slightly different laws in different areas allows people to choose
> > different alternatives.  
> 
> The UK has something slightly similar, though on a much smaller
> scale. The countries of the UK: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern
> Ireland each have devolved governing assemblies with powers over
> their own countries.

Well, four is big enough for a country, right?  Perfect size ...  ;-)
The US only started with thirteen.  Maybe, the UK should start it's
own club and attract the countries which aren't currently part of
the EU.  That would provide extra bargaining power.  Wait a minute,
the UK has crown dependencies (3), overseas territories (14), and
the commonwealth realm (16).  I think the UK has plenty to work with.

> > When has the US  *NOT*  been involved in affairs of their friends?

s/their/our/

> I meant that countries don't normally try to
> influence elections in other countries.

Ok.  I didn't take what you said that way.  Maybe, he was meddling ...
If so, he was probably "protecting" something he considered to be
important to the US, perhaps free trade or military issues.  Good
luck finding out whatever that is.

> All EU states have to allow free movement of people between
> themselves. That is a problem here because economic and social
> conditions in the different states are too divergent and that cause
> flows of people that nations struggle to deal with.

Populations shift in the US, but rather slowly, except for Mexican
migrations into western US.  As stated previously, our state borders
are open, but monitored by both state and federal police for illegal
or "suspicious" activity.  National borders are "closed" with both
state and federal border protection requiring proof of identity or
other valid legal reasons to cross at legal crossings, e.g., job,
travel, asylum.  The national border is closed at non-legal entry
points.  The Canadian border was basically fully open prior to 9/11
as long as you crossed at the legal crossings, with only minimal
checks in both directions.  Crossing elsewhere is closed.  Exiting
the US to Mexico was fully open via legal exit points until recently,
with absolutely no checks by the US or Mexico.  You could just
walk through a turnstile from the US to Mexico.  Entering the US from
Mexico has had strong checks for years.  Planes now, of course, require
federal TSA screening before boarding.  I'm not sure about screening
for rail or subways nowadays, not being on either in over a decade.
Subways and short line railroads would fall under state laws and not
the TSA, but inter-state rails could fall under TSA jurisdiction.

> For example, as the UK has free healthcare people come here from 
> elsewhere in Europe to get medical help.

Nobody likes a freeloader, but can anyone deny someone sick and
in need of medical attention? ...  This issue is a problem anywhere
where the government offers free or subsidized medical coverage.
It's part of the reason why so many people in the US don't want a
"single payer" medical system, i.e., US government controlled.
A "single payer" system shouldn't be confused with individual payer
system.  I suspect that misunderstood use of that term helped to
support Obamacare.  The politicians were discussing one thing, but
people took it to mean something else.  We want people to work to
pay for what they need and earn what they have.

> That may sound OK but the free healthcare system is on its knees.

Nobody here listened when Canada or the UK or other countries with
massive healthcare driven debt were cited as reasons to not pass
Obamacare.  The majority and younger people in the US now see
healthcare as a fundamental right, i.e., socialist shift.  Personally,
I believe this to be unfortunate.  The entire younger generation of
"millenials" here seem to be a bunch of freeloaders.  First, they
wanted free healthcare.  Now, they want amnesty for their college
loans.  Nobody is taking responsibility anymore.  Capitalism is
the only solution, but it seems that it is being rejected.

> If you go to a hospital's Accident and Emergency department there
> is a target for you to be seen in four hours. Yes, you could be
> waiting there for that long and it be considered acceptable. If
> that's not bad enough, the four-hour target is not always met.
> The demands are too great.

We _knew_ about similar problems with Canada prior to Obamacare.
It still happened anyway.


Rod Pemberton

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Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-02 11:42 +0100
  Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Bernhard Schornak <schornak@web.de> - 2015-10-02 20:43 +0200
    Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-04 15:23 +0100
      Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Bernhard Schornak <schornak@web.de> - 2015-10-05 17:38 +0200
  Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "Rod Pemberton" <boo@fasdfrewar.cdm> - 2015-10-02 17:17 -0400
    Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-04 16:36 +0100
      Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "Rod Pemberton" <boo@fasdfrewar.cdm> - 2015-10-04 21:27 -0400
        Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-05 15:01 +0100
          Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "Rod Pemberton" <boo@fasdfrewar.cdm> - 2015-10-05 21:57 -0400
            Re: halting Adobe Flash videos with Mozilla Firefox, was [Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI] "Rod Pemberton" <boo@fasdfrewar.cdm> - 2015-10-26 04:35 -0400
            Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-12-27 12:40 +0000
              Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "Rod Pemberton" <boo@fasdfrewar.cdm> - 2015-12-27 15:51 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-01-03 12:08 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-01-03 14:55 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-01-13 17:58 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-01-15 11:32 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-01-16 03:29 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-01-16 13:44 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-01-16 12:55 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-01-16 19:55 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-01-18 07:39 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-01-18 22:45 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-01-19 22:28 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-01-27 13:27 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-01-27 17:20 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-01-28 11:03 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-01-22 17:43 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-01-23 13:17 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-01-27 13:42 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-04-08 09:14 +0100
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-02-14 09:56 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-02-14 09:11 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-02-14 15:58 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-02-15 05:55 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-02-15 15:57 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-02-16 05:33 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-02-24 06:16 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-02-24 18:03 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-02-28 06:25 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "Alexei A. Frounze" <alexfrunews@gmail.com> - 2016-02-28 00:21 -0800
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-02-28 08:45 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-02-28 20:40 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-03-02 14:49 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-03-02 21:50 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-03-05 06:09 +0000
                OT politics was Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "Kerr Mudd-John" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2016-03-05 12:40 +0000
                Re: OT politics was Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-03-05 20:11 -0500
                Re: OT politics, was [Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI] Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-03-05 20:11 -0500
                Re: OT politics, was [Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI] James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-03-17 16:35 +0000
                Re: OT politics, was [Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI] Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-03-17 21:02 -0400
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-02-24 20:09 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-02-25 14:55 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "Alexei A. Frounze" <alexfrunews@gmail.com> - 2016-02-16 03:56 -0800
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-02-17 04:21 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "Alexei A. Frounze" <alexfrunews@gmail.com> - 2016-02-24 02:12 -0800
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-02-24 18:03 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "Alexei A. Frounze" <alexfrunews@gmail.com> - 2016-02-28 02:53 -0800
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-02-28 20:15 -0500
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "Alexei A. Frounze" <alexfrunews@gmail.com> - 2016-03-27 20:37 -0700
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI Rod Pemberton <NoHaveNotOne@bcczxcfre.cmm> - 2016-03-28 18:23 -0400
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "Alexei A. Frounze" <alexfrunews@gmail.com> - 2016-03-27 21:10 -0700
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-01-15 14:34 +0000
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2016-01-15 15:10 +0000
        Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-05 15:39 +0100
  Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "wolfgang kern" <nowhere@never.at> - 2015-10-03 12:48 +0200
    Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-04 17:00 +0100
      Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "wolfgang kern" <nowhere@never.at> - 2015-10-04 23:32 +0200
        Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-05 14:05 +0100
          Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-05 15:17 +0100
            Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "wolfgang kern" <nowhere@never.at> - 2015-10-06 10:35 +0200
              Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-06 16:28 +0100
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "wolfgang kern" <nowhere@never.at> - 2015-10-06 19:14 +0200
                Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-06 20:02 +0100
          Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "wolfgang kern" <nowhere@never.at> - 2015-10-06 10:46 +0200
            Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "Rod Pemberton" <boo@fasdfrewar.cdm> - 2015-10-07 01:16 -0400
            Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-12-27 12:50 +0000
              Re: Flow of keystroke messages in a UI "wolfgang kern" <nowhere@never.at> - 2015-12-27 23:22 +0100

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