(July 6, 2017 at 8:12 pm)Court Jester Wrote:(July 6, 2017 at 7:56 pm)Brian37 Wrote: What the hell does making donations have anything to do with that? I do too, but if you want to now stupidly say "I make donations" if you take a tax deduction for that, guess what, you are NOT giving that money, or object away for free. THAT is a real donation, when you don't get anything back in return. The problem with taking a tax deduction when you do that is someone else has to compensate for what you get back, or don't get taxed on.
I did take tax deductions for donations when I was younger, but I will never do it again because SOMEONE ELSE will have to pay more in taxes to compensate for what I don't pay, or for what I get back.
Giving is when you don't expect anything back in return.
The type of religious and big business charities do is counter productive. While they certainly DO provide to those in need, the best charity would be livable wages, and pay more in taxes so that MORE people are less dependent on government. Charity as it stands now is not a last resort. An ethical charity should seek to go out of business, not create more dependency.
I went recently to a county charity resale shop, donated a geriatric Lazy Boy type chair designed to help a elderly person stand up, and an electric mobile chair, both worth thousand. I could have sold them and made money off of them. But I took them to the resale county charity place, and they asked me if I wanted the paperwork for a tax deduction, and I told them the same thing I told you just now.
"Why would I ask for any favors if I am giving something away?" Anything less than a gift is really in reality a loan or a partial loan to which you get some money back. To me that is not charity.
Because you posted this
"And another thing you tunnel vision jackass, NOBODY sane is or should begrudge you for starting a business. But here is what I can do that you cant seem to do. I got left a nice egg from my mom. I looked at my next years taxes and they will be big. But I am NOT complaining about that. Unlike you I know there are far more many who will never in their entire lives get that close."
And I didn't quote both.
Keep up with the conversation big guy.
I could care less.
If anyone in this thread, not just you, thinks life is only about winning, it isn't success they might lack, it is empathy for others.
If life is only about winning then worship Stalin. If life is only about winning then worship the Castro Family, oh and FYI Castro had a personal net wealth of $800,000,000 dollars. If life is only about winning, then worship Gaddaffi, he was a BILLIONAIRE who owned stock in General Electric. Or even the Kim family, if you stupidly think they are poor or don't have investments in the global market, you are a fool and an idiot.
How you win is just as important if not more important than simply winning.
Humans are competitive nobody should deny that. But in evolution, even outside our own species, life does not care if compassion or cruelty win. The good thing about our species is that WE CAN when we CHOSE is to select which path we take.
I am not trying to piss on your parade at all. But if you support Trump then you should know that he was raised by a very verbally abusive father. He was so abusive that when Trump's brother told their dad he wanted to be a pilot, Trump's dad equated that to a "glorified bus driver". To Trump's brother's credit, he cut ties to the family. Now, a decent human being, a decent parent, will not belittle you for the path you want to take.
That upbringing is why Trump is literally he is literally the asshole he is today. Now, his kind of sociopath behavior is mostly harmless for most. But Stalin also had a very abusive father and so did Hitler.
Most people can and do outgrow that and can go on to NOT do that. Trump is displaying the baggage he never resolved with his father, unlike his brother who RIGHTFULLY cut ties with the family.
Now while my own mother wished I had grown up to do "bigger things" the one thing she never did was belittle me if I told her I wanted to do this, or that for a job. The only thing she wanted me to do was my best, and to be happy. Far too many parents project their wishes on to their kids thinking they are copies of them, when the reality is they are their own individuals. Trump was used to seeing everyone be afraid of his father, so he wanted to please his dad, and falsely grew up thinking it is better for people to fear you, just like his dad did to him.
Trump's brother to me is a far bigger success, and I am sure, unlike Trump, his brother learned from the abuse of their dad.
