Haikus, Live From Socialist Europe

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dreadnaught

Actually I used "mostly" primarily because it fit within the haiku structure.

However, because VAT taxes every level of production (and each level of subsequently more valuable and costs more, offsetting VAT refunds), some of the underlying cost of a final-sale product includes some level of taxation. So, while you may brush off a 12% or 23(!)% VAT, a larger portion of the good is also being taxed. This is part of why VAT taxes are so perfidious and harmful, especially to the poor.

This pretty obvious point may not be clear to someone whose common sense has been dulled into submission by generations of big government fiscal abuse, and instead chooses to constantly lash out. IE, you.

---

Wait what now? As EJ says, VAT is only on the added value as the name implies - there's no double taxation. There's a reason why all business pricing and contracts pretty much always are prices excl. VAT, because VAT doesn't matter to businesses until the final product (cash flow issues aside, I suppose, since it has to be paid first - you can keep whatever you collect first too, though, so I think that's only an issue if you have long times between buying supplies and selling your product).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aimless

Shh, that doesn't fit within the haiku sructure

---

I think the bigger problem is that he doesn' t understand VAT. He thinks it' s some sort of sales tax. What' s even worse is that he thinks it' s socialist in nature. Where it is the one tax that has no element of redistribution in it at all.

Except it fuels socialist impulses because you lot see it as some kind of background tax that doesn't negatively impact consumption, paperwork and business cashflow.

Meanwhile, your socialized medical systems tax you to death because you give medicine to rats: http://goo.gl/maps/uDl6K

;)

MOAR HAIKUS PLS. I will say something nice about Socialist Europe:

Schengen is so nice
Sailing across the borders
Just like the Roma

No one waits in queues.
Why be nice when the welfare
State does it for you.



The sushi craving
What would cost twenty dollars
Here costs sixty one.

61 dollar sushi
hardly sounds like socialism
locale or system off

Is this the "Dread insults our countries repeatedly" thread or what?

Could one of the actual moderators please rename it as such?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dreadnaught

No one waits in queues.
Why be nice when the welfare
State does it for you.

---

Strange. Here we get a numbered ticket and then wait for our number to come up.

Quote:

---

The sushi craving
What would cost twenty dollars
Here costs sixty one.

---

A basic sushi meal in Sweden costs around or under 20 USD, you're being overcharged both in Europe and at home :bulb: the secret Dreadnaught tax.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Khendraja'aro

Is this the "Dread insults our countries repeatedly" thread or what?

Could one of the actual moderators please rename it as such?

---

Oh relax and cheer up. :p You're welcome to make a thread of "Haikus from Rapaciously Capitalist Amerika".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aimless

Strange. Here we get a numbered ticket and then wait for our number to come up.

A basic sushi meal in Sweden costs around or under 20 USD, you're being overcharged both in Europe and at home :bulb: the secret Dreadnaught tax.

---

You get a ticket to wait in line for your welfare/rations/free sushi? :noob:

I imagine fish stuff is generally not too expensive in Swedistan -- is that correct?

Too bad I can't get a VAT refund on food once I leave to tamp-down that Dreadnaught tax...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hazir

61 dollar sushi
hardly sounds like socialism
locale or system off

---

Under socialism, most things become expensive to make politically-favored things "affordable". :o

Since I got here, I've had similarly-overpriced sushi in France and Ireland. I don't make a habit of aiming for pricey spots, so not sure what's going on. Then again my sample size is small. Though I was recently in Italy and got some pretty quality and cheap meals. Though Germany is still winning on the affordability front. :up:

Still gotta decide if I have enough money for a few more trips, but I think I am reaching my financial limit. Plus some unanticipated work-related circumstances may cut this extended trip short. :(

morcels of dead fish
slabs of greasy grind
green eyed monster looms.

Yes, that line "it's only fun" is common among trolls and bullies. Once or twice, okay. But making a thread out of it, abusing your mod status and being an asshat all-around while displaying your breathtaking ignorance... not so much "fun".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hazir

morcels of dead fish
slabs of greasy grind
green eyed monster looms.

---

:up: Yumm, grind. Though the structure generally has seven syllables in the second line.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Khendraja'aro

Yes, that line "it's only fun" is common among trolls and bullies. Once or twice, okay. But making a thread out of it, abusing your mod status and being an asshat all-around while displaying your breathtaking ignorance... not so much "fun".

---

Once again, criticism is not racism or bullying. It's also not against the rules/some kind of moderator abuse when you are allowed to make similar criticism/threads of your own. And it's not my fault "your" various governments want me to stay here for months on end to experience the grinding slow-motion failure of democratic socialism.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dreadnaught

And it's not my fault "your" various governments want me to stay here for months on end to experience the grinding slow-motion failure of democratic socialism.

---

If that is your idea of "criticism" then I weep for your brain, because clearly the part which makes up intelligence has long since absconded.

Fyi, that is a criticism of your thought process.

Heh, you clearly have a very two dimensional view of...well, a lot of things, now that I think about it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dreadnaught

...And it's not my fault "your" various governments want me to stay here for months on end to experience the grinding slow-motion failure of democratic socialism.

---

If you're on a business trip from America, you might want to reconsider whose at fault --or whom to thank-- for your paid international jaunts and enjoyable pursuits. Next thing we know, you'll be demanding "hazard pay" for your suffering sacrifices. :popcorn:

Or

$60 dollar sushi
the value added taxed
cheaper fish for all

Ah, I forgot the GGT trope that I'm some kind of ungrateful cheap billionaire.

And Hazir is partly right-- I probably should have clarified that this was a meal for two.

€28,50 all you can eat Sushi in Amsterdam by the way. Comes with all you can drink non-alcoholic beverages. For two that makes €57,- plus tip. Which for that type of amount would be €5 or €6 in Amsterdam. To be honest, that doesn't strike me as very expensive at all. If you paid that amount in dollars, it would be even on the cheapish side for a sit-down place in my part of town.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Khendraja'aro

Yes, that line "it's only fun" is common among trolls and bullies. Once or twice, okay. But making a thread out of it, abusing your mod status and being an asshat all-around while displaying your breathtaking ignorance... not so much "fun".

---

Is making fun of countries against the rules? This forum isn't based in Britain. :noob:

Don't know about the continent, but I did notice that fast food in Britain is almost across-the-board 50% more expensive than in the US (the only exceptions are American franchises). Even the stores that had a US equivalent tended to cost as much in pounds as that store did in dollars (1 pound = $1.60).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dreadnaught

Oh relax and cheer up. :p You're welcome to make a thread of "Haikus from Rapaciously Capitalist Amerikan".

---

Fat American
Travels civilized countries
Complains all the way

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dreadnaught

You get a ticket to wait in line for your welfare/rations/free sushi? :noob:

---

Well, not sushi, but almost everywhere else ;)

Quote:

---

Under socialism, most things become expensive to make politically-favored things "affordable". :o

Since I got here, I've had similarly-overpriced sushi in France and Ireland. I don't make a habit of aiming for pricey spots, so not sure what's going on. Then again my sample size is small. Though I was recently in Italy and got some pretty quality and cheap meals. Though Germany is still winning on the affordability front. :up:

---

Over here, all you can eat sushi, with decent quality, is generally between 15 and 20 euros p.p. here. In general restaurants are more expensive than in most countries here I think.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Khendraja'aro

Yes, that line "it's only fun" is common among trolls and bullies. Once or twice, okay. But making a thread out of it, abusing your mod status and being an asshat all-around while displaying your breathtaking ignorance... not so much "fun".

---

I find it amusing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Loki

Don't know about the continent, but I did notice that fast food everything in Britain is almost across-the-board 50% more expensive than in the US.

---

Fixed that for you
Everything here costs and costs
Value added tax?

~

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Flixy

I find it amusing.

---

I do too
Khen should pen funny Haikus
In withering retort

The VAT is only ~11% higher than the sales tax in NY and Illinois. True about the rest. One thing in particular I don't understand is why soda costs 50-100% more in the UK...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ziggy Stardust

Fat American
Travels civilized countries
Complains all the way

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Timbuk2

Fixed that for you
Everything here costs and costs
Value added tax?

~


I do too
Khen should pen funny Haikus
In withering retort

---

That's the spirit. :up:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Loki

The VAT is only ~11% higher than the sales tax in NY and Illinois. True about the rest. One thing in particular I don't understand is why soda costs 50-100% more in the UK...

---

The same reason cheap-ass ramen noodles cost 400% more. VAT + other regulations/taxes reverberate down the whole production/distribution chain as added costs of business.

American is robbed
On the Streets of London
Calls it being taxed

Anglo radio
Neverending stories of
Stabbing. That is all.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dreadnaught

The same reason cheap-ass ramen noodles cost 400% more. VAT + other regulations/taxes reverberate down the whole production/distribution chain as added costs of business.

---

How do McDonald's and KFC manage to retain American prices? :noob: And surely if Coke really did cost twice as much to produce in Britain, it would make sense to just import it from the US?

Transit costs + import duties (if any) + VAT + currency fluctuations would still probably muck it up. This is why I rage against VAT so much. It screws up cashflow and business operations so much that it raises costs.

That's utter nonsense, VAT is less disruptive than any other tax. For most businesses it stays outside of cash flow alltogether. Only at the final point of sale that is different, and that also happens to be the point where the consumer actually provides the VAT due.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Loki

Is making fun of countries against the rules? This forum isn't based in Britain. :noob:

---

Y'know, the thing about making fun: It's actually supposed to be funny. This here is below even the infamous German humor.

We don't judge. :o