Oh please. He got pissed off and decided to personally attack me.  Other people dogpiled on him because nothing annoys other people more than someone trying to hide their pettiness behind some sort of lame justification.

Nobody cares what his intent was.  He had an emotional response.  The existence of people like me offends some people. 

I like capitalism. I believe it creates a better world. I make no apologies for being rich and materialistic. I don't feel shame for driving a nice car or having a big house because the wealth I have I arrived through the voluntary purchases of other people.

And I know that it just gets under the skins over guys like Sodaiho. But just as I try to stick to the issues, I expect others to do the same.  

Sodaiho's response had nothing to do with the topic. He was pissed off and wanted to find a cheap, easy way to try "bring me down a notch".  

I don't really care what people think of me. But I do expect people using my stuff to at least show some level of respect.

Or put another way, if somone is intentioally going to try to antagonize me, I'll make them go away. Always have. It's not a new phenomenon.  I'm pretty consistent about that.

A clarification...

I do believe some sort of national priority list for tax revenue should be established.  It is ridiculous in this day and age that our infrastructure is crumbling...and getting worse.

Pretty much.

Little-whip, this is neither "ass-kissing" or "brown nosing", it is a simple matter of finding it dispicable to act like a total jerk and even hide it behind a veneer of enlightment. How about making an actual argument rather than just flinging mud at peoples credibility with comments about people flinging testosterone and brown nosing. (last I checked the two were mutally exclusive; or are you saying I am showing my testosterone by brown-nosing?).

PPS. he wasn't even dogpiled, it was what, 3 people rushing to his defense while 4-5 tearing down his poorly constructed veneer of enlighment to reveal the ugliness underneath?

Hooray for socialism!

There is a reason it's never worked before.

So you're not looking to maximise your profit then, but rather have inserted some charitable elements into it (hiring people who lose you money) if I'm reading that right? Just that I can't see any other way for you to maintain your salary at it's current level after a tax rise by firing people (all else equal), since the tax will be on a % of your profits, and hence firing someone who was making a profit before the tax rise would mean firing someone who was making a profit for you (just not as much of it) after the tax rise.

Even if true (a fairly big if), so what? If the government sends you a letter saying that they may well give you $10k, would you say no, or would you take the money as soon as you can? Most people would take the money (assuming there weren't strings attached that didn't make it worthwhile) because ultimately people are selfish and will do what's in there best interests - there are very few people therefore who would have such a high 'charitable coefficient' coupled with a possible feeling of guilt (since they wouldn't have felt they've 'earnt' the money) who would reject the offer of $10k, especially if dressed up (e.g. 'as a thank you for all the taxes you've paid, we've decided to give you $10k to help you cope').

For example, if I was a car manufacturer I'd think it stupid that the government would be prepared to bail me+others out (from the government/society's perspective), but from my own perspective I'd be desperate for the money and be happy to take it in spite of that.

A sadly narrow minded perspective IMO. Take galactic civilizations 2 for example - yes, it's about violence (you can invade other planets, kill the entire population, and be generally evil), but it's also educational, and not all about violence (instead of invading and being evil you can look to create world peace and win via promoting your culture). It will do wonders for your maths skills for example, since the entire game is based on numbers, and to do 'the best' at it you need to get an understanding of how they work. So for example you can learn that you can borrow money now to get something quickly, at the expense of paying back 10 times it's cost over many years, helping educate you as to the time value of money, and about prudent levels of debt, etc. etc.; Contrast that to your typical first person shooter game, where you're given a gun, and have to go around shooting people, and do better based on your reflexes - i.e. very little thinking is required. In fact as a genre, strategy games are probably the most educational due to the significant beneficial impact they'll have on your grasp of mathematics (stardock tends to make strategy games btw in case you're wondering why I'm highlighting them).

O come on research into wooden arrows is always money well spent!@

I have been blogging here for over four years and constantly complaining "America needs to stop sending money to countries that hate us and start fixing our infrastructure" Our dams and bridges are in terrible shape, our roadways stink, our elictrical grids are over worked and out of date, we have homeless combat vets in the richest country on the planet, this is criminal in my opinion.

Need I go on?

the answer is deceptively obvious. a percentage of that 2 mil will go to useless wasteful stuff, a percentage will go to paying for good government programs.

Government waste of taxpayers money has become an art form for both parties, it's like some kind of game where they both get to stick "earmarks" on important bills at the last second so almost no one knows about it. Billions are wasted on Earmarks for bullshit to make politicians more electable. When all is said and done politicians look out for themselves first and foremost with an eye on continued suckling at the public tit, then looking out for their allies, then they if they have time they look out for their constituents which make up a very small percentage of the population.

A business is one form of investment. 

Like anyone else, if my available capital is limited more than I anticipate, I will cut my spending in various areas like discretionary spending, long-term investment, etc.

When a business owner hires employees or builds out their building, that is part of a long-term investment. It isn't charity.  I'm not going to sell my house or liquidate my assets in order to invest in long-term investments anymore than someone else is going to sell their house to purchase a CD (bank CD).

In fact, from the taxes, I liquidated a few of my investments early to help pay for them even though those investments would generate a long-term profit.

So no, it has nothing to do with charity. It has to do with managing capital, timing, and investments.

For the first year, then the money will run out cause the economy collapsed, and they will be left to deteriorate to dust.

California is the Fifth largest economy in the world, and it's highways system is the crappiest I have ever seen, pot holes abound, every year there is a fight over the budget for the state, I keep wondering where all the tax money goes as there is always a shortage when it comes to schools, levees and highway repair. But the state legislature never has a problem voting themselves raises, and Caltrans which does most of the government work looks like this, one guy working, one guy sitting in a piece of heavy machinery, and 4 guys scratching their balls doing nothing.