Well since our dear, dear Vanadia started, I couldn't resist.

Don't worry about your taxes on your side of the big A, my friends. They're not so bad. Trust me.

My income tax is at the moment 32%, in addition to which I pay around 5.5% of compulsory pension plan and insurance. I make something like 60% of what a senior unix admin would in USA. Our value added tax on everything I buy is 22%, gas is $2.2 per litre which is about $8.4/gallon, right? Tax on capital (if that's the correct word) ie. selling shares, houses, etc. is 29%

And if one of my relatives would die and leave me hefty sum of money, I probably would have to take another loan to be able to pay the taxes for the money before being able to accept it. Sick huh?

And of course the purchasing power parity per capita is way lower than USA due to our high prices. So we don't have big houses and fancy cars (normal people that is). Actually most Finnish families have only 1 car I think and the average car in Finland is the oldest of all European Union, including the poor Eastern European countries.

There! Try to beat that!

Heh - don't bait me, Darth Bobbo! Ever since you Floridians rigged the 2004 election ...

As for you for-ee-ners, your tax lament is borne upon socialist dictatorships! lol

Now that my taxes are taken care of (for now), I have other problems. It appears that my water heater was leaking last week, seeping into the ceiling of the people below me. Well, As soon as I get a plumber to fix the leak and clean up the mess, the old woman downstairs comes up and wants to know what I'm going to do about her damages.

I say, "hmm, I am liable, of course. What does your insurance say? I'll be glad to pay your deductable, since we are both victims of this, and buy you guys paint for your walls. Heck, I'll even paint it for you1"

This woman responds, "Is that all?"

I ask her what else does she want.

Her: "Well, I thought you would pay more than that."

Me: "Not likely. That's why we have insurance. Get me an itemized list of damages, and I'll work on getting you just compensation. I'm *not* going to give you guys a blank check just because you want to take advantage of a situation and try to garner a free paycheck."

She sniffs and tells me she'll call her insurance company. I tell her fine. Time is ticking ....

People in America are so greedy.

You think we screwed up last time... wait until this year, the Democrats are thinking of having a non-state-sanctioned revote by mail completely funded by the party.

What a disaster.