Thursday, February 5, 2015

How the Law May Be Used to Cheat Most of Us

This is no longer, if it ever was, a capitalist society, it is a society of privilege for some and none for the rest of us. People wish to believe that we have an even playing ground and anyone can make it; but, the reality is that the game is rigged and has been for as long as I am aware. I hate to bring reality into history; but, the Pilgrims did not believe in religious freedom, they came to the United States so that they could practice their beliefs and stopped others in their community from doing anything less. The Constitution did not attempt to give everyone the same rights, blacks and women could not vote, slavery was legal and the Constitutional congress seriously considered limiting voting to property owners.

Most of the people that I know read my blog tend to be either moderates or conservative in their political beliefs even if liberal in their social beliefs. I myself have traditionally been a fiscal conservative. I believe Nixon had some great ideas about protecting the middle and working classes from being taken advantage of by the privileged classes. The first President I voted for was Reagan. After Bush number one, I could not vote for Bush number 2.

Too many laws are written today to benefit those who have already succeeded and keep others from doing the same. Other laws allow certain privileges and tax deductions to some and not others, this sort of spits in the face of the intent of the constitution. I would like to give some examples.

The New York Times - The Food-Truck Business Stinks. As I live in the Southern California area near Los Angeles, one thing I noticed a few years back was the explosion of gourmet and specialty food trucks. Rather than the 1 to 2 million dollars it can cost to buy a franchise such as McDonalds, one can start a food truck for around $100,000. This however is not true in all places, many treat food trucks differently that restaurants in buildings to prevent them from competing with people renting property for a restaurant. The linked article explains some of the problems that they faced in New York and New York is known for food carts that sell pizza and bad hot dogs.

The New York Times - When Company Is Fined, Taxpayers Often Share Bill. Now corporations asked to be given the same rights as natural born people and I am in favor of that. We treat corporations as people because the corporation needs to be able to make contracts as an entity that will be existence even if the stockholders or workers change. Continuity in contracting is critical to a functioning society. As a consequence corporations should also be subject to criminal punishments if the people running the decisions of the company violate criminal laws, in that case all the decision makers should go to jail unless they can prove they were tricked by management. Instead, corporations can deduct the cost of punitive damages from their taxes. I cannot deduct punitive damages when I am sued from my taxes. Can you? Why should a company be allowed to pay less in taxes for violating criminal or civil laws, I thought fines were supposed to be a punishment.

Yahoo - Are E-Cigarettes Heroes Or Harmful? A Look At The Science. First of all, I smoke real cigarettes. The ones I buy have almost no tar and nicotine, are not sold at most places and cost me 50% more than regular cigarettes. Still, I smoke real cigarettes. One of my cousins heart about e-cigarettes and actually bought me one, I stopped using it after I read an article on how they contained arsenic, I think I wrote about this before. Anyways, e-cigarettes are neither tobacco or smoke, they vaporize liquid, we could call them steamed nicotine. Vaping is more addictive than the cigarettes I smoke because they have nicotine and that is the addictive part of smoking, that and the Pavlovian habit. There is no such thing as second hand vapor with e-cigarettes.

Just examples of how we are lied to for the benefit of others interests.