Search results for query: *

Farmer Mike I have always understood it is best to spread your investments, and buying small, gold jewellery can be a good investment. You must however be very wary. If you bought a diamond ring for lets say £1000 ($15000) today, I can assure you that you could not get anything like that back if...

Even if every adult of working age did work though, they would still have to pay taxes in order to finance the country. Whether it is taken out of earnings or as a purchase tax, it still has to be collected by the government.

The difficulty of such a large country as the US is that any system can become unworkable. It would appear that each state has the autonomy to set the level of purchase tax and local taxes. This could lead to disparity between both prosperity and standards of living around the country. I can't...

Yes I can see the logic of that system, but don't you pay tax on purchases anyway? We pay about 20% VAT on purchases (that's Value Added Tax). Some items are zero rated such as food, but not processed food, and children's clothes and shoes. Household gas and electricity is rated at 5%. We also...

How can any country do away with income tax though. Doesn't it fund the running of the country? How would you pay for services such as education? What about building and maintaining the superstructure of the country such as roads etc.? What about defence and the armed services? Surely income tax...

You are quite right. The brand of communism we see is light years away from it's original ideals! But then again, what isn't. Originally the Labour party here was founded to get a fair deal for the working man and to represent those who historically had never had representation. Then over the...

Not at all, I didn't read any disrespect into that, I thought it was a very witty and humerous thing for you to say. You are right that people do and say daft things and it was just an illustration of how a simple event can be misinterpreted, and when that happens, some people just run with it...

Always good to have a sense of humour. You are right not to take things too seriously young or old. We have a saying: Nothing matters very much, and most things don't matter at all! A very relaxed way to live life I think.

I hope you're being facetious WooingWyandotte?

Just a little story for page 101. It is not meant to be a criticism, but I think illustrates the dangers of letting our imaginations run away with us, and also opens the debate, 'How accurate are national characteristics?' My son-in-law was serving with the RAF in Afghanistan at Camp Bastion...

Farmer Mike S might be talking about anywhere in the western world, certainly anywhere in Europe. I remember when the technical schools were closed in the UK, and the politicians talked importantly about the need to prepare the next generations for our 'post industrial' world. How wrong they...

My heart goes out to you Ewesheep, as you would not have to find the money for any of that treatment here. Of course nothing in this life is free. It is paid for along with taxes. Some say our taxes are higher than yours, this I can't answer? What I do know is that nobody is too poor to receive...

I know it is really hard for people to get to grips with what you call socialised medicine and we call a national health service, but I do urge you to give it a chance. It is unfathomable to me that a retired person has to struggle to afford the medical insurance for himself and his wife who has...

If this is really true, how has it happened? Why are more people not aware of it? I don't believe the Americans are a complacent, or indeed necessarily a compliant people. They would not let this happen within their own country and do nothing. History has shown us what happens when a nation...

You are right about the few ruining it for the many. I have lived amonst muslims who I would trust with my life. Conversely I have met what I regard as extremist Christians. Extremism in any form, whether it be political, social or religious is a bad thing I think. I believe you should use your...

I feel that many people truly know very little of the world outside their own country. Many have never even visited anywhere else. Their view of the world is shaped by what are often frankly biased, incomplete and sometimes patently untrue news broadcasts and media reports. Do you believe your...

Has anyone heard the expression, 'Careless talk costs lives.'? It was a government slogan in WW11 used to discourage the sort of gossip and 'tittle tattle' that could give the enemy the advantage. I think it is vital at this time to present a united and inclusive front and to stand together...

You are a very intelligent young person Fierlin1182, please hang on to your ideals they do you and your upbringing credit. If there is a recession in the US in 2016 they will have talked themselves into it IMO.

I would be very interested to know what other people's answer to these problems are? In any society there are those children whose needs are so complex that they cannot be met in what we term 'mainstream schools.' For those very few children, specially adapted schools that follow a much reduced...

Diversity, I think is a good thing. If we grow up among children from a diverse range of backgrounds and ethnicities, we learn to appreciate both the similarities and the differences. We learn mutual respect and trust, all of which, in time may lead to a happier safer world. We should have the...