SuperSite Blog

Dell is tanking, and they don't charge exorbitant prices.

If I want Dell to stick around, I'd suggest they raise their prices.

Yaarrgghhh! Hoist ye mainsail! Ahoy me hearties! Tis I, Cap'n Scurvy, the ruggedest, swaggiest, most bootlegginous pirate to sail these high seas.

I be on a mission to capture the great white whale, Waethorn's mother! Arrghh, I have spent many a nickel and much o' me life pursuing her lubbering figure across the seven seas, and when I capture her, I will swab her blowhole. Yaarrrgghh!

I hope to lend much to the discussion o'er operatin' systems and information technology, all while providin' me own perspective as a low-down hook-handed scourge of the oceans. Arrggghh! Shiver me timbers!

You'll never catch me, Cap'n! If you want me, you'll just have to pay the full dollar or give me something shiny.

Ooh, is that tinfoil?

These trolls are getting seriously ridiculous.

Back off, Captain! She's mine, all mine! Her cold, pasty white skin inspired my minimalist approach to design.

I've got my popcorn ready, as I'm sure this one is going to be a doozy...

And I agree about the trolling.  Paul, can you do IP bans of these people?

I have had Dells in the past and I rather like them, but they really have to do better.  I used the chat facility on their website (which is about as horrible as a website can be - once I found 3 different prices for the same computer).  I was asking questions about their warranty and as I often am stationed abroad asked about international support.  In order to get that I was told that I must buy an additional extended warranty and also an international warranty.  I asked about the price and they told me that they changed every Thursday.  I asked about the price TODAY and they would not give me a response.

FWIW my Aluminium MacBook which I bought in November cost me £40 ($60) for 3 years of AppleCare and it was good for ANYWHERE in the world.  I hasten to add that this was the Higher Ed price as I am working on another degree.

Dell has to do better, a lot better.

>>Dell is tanking, and they don't charge exorbitant prices.<<

Insanely great point.

>>My guess is that Apple will lose a very small amount of market share globally and be flat in the US. Given the exorbitant prices they charge, that's not too shabby.<<

See above.

Todays news...

In the worst global recession in 40 years, sales of goods such as computers are down.

The Sun will rise and set within the same 24 hour period.

Now for some Microsoft/Windows news please go to....

www.pcworld.com/.../more_zune_hd_details_emerge.html

I agree, but I've seen a lot of old Dell's still puttering along. Just erase the hard drive, reinstall XP and some can get more mileage.

Paul you must remember that Mac's make about 1/3 of Apples current revenues. They are CE company making PC's bundled with a novelty OS that's popular among the bi-coastal US market and certain other niches.

Somehow that translates into press coverage that indicates they are a major player/alternative in the global context. 60/40 almost.

The MSFT commercials hit on it when they highlight Africans, Asians and exotic 'names' like Giampaulo where Leo Laporte doens't even want to make the effort to pronounce. God forbid it was Indian national so he could break out the Apu accent.

About 5/6 of humanity technically isn't worthy of Apple or its stores. Computing begins and ends with the a certain effette preening and distinct demographic.

Thats why these ad's are golden.

@DRWAM

I certainly don't disagree, but Dell has got to get new/repeat customers.  They seem to be going elsewhere.

@Paul - Too bad that your sites and blogs have devolved into such a joke, it used to be my favorite place for IT news. I think that there are a couple of reasons for this...first, your lack of moderation. A simple little ignore feature would go a long way. Second, your continued bashing of Apple and its fringe users. You seem to get a little pleasure each and every day by throwing little jabs in where they could be simply left out. Maybe you are fishing for clicks...maybe not...I'll keep reading and finding my own sick pleasure in the amount of entertainment that is provided, but for real Windows news, I'll go to MJF's site - blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft

By the way, mikegalos - care to define the term "teabagging" that you used this morning in your standard leftist tactic of trying to quash anybody that you disagree with? I am sure that you won't do so, at least not truthfully...just like Anderson Cooper - newsbusters.org/.../cnns-anderson-cooper-its-hard-talk-when-youre-tea-bagging

--tayme

@ weedmonk

Actually the Apple numbers are closer to 50/50 computers/consumer electronic devices

Windows fans sometimes assume that Macs are only popular in the US.  Actually they are popular in many English speaking countries and Western Europe.  The strategy has been profitable for Apple and they might expand beyond this but they don't really need to.

BEGINTRANSMIT

@Tayme - I find your insistence upon interjecting trivial carbonform political rants into the important matters of earthbound Information Technology discussed here to be a distraction. The feudal matters of your society concern me little.

To the biped known as @Paul, I suggest immediate elimination of this offender! Bring him to the Hall of Reckoning, and as Burlaq the Reasoned One dealt with Lephaceous the Chatterer, dismantle his atomic structure with micron tweezers.

ENDTRANSMIT

"Dell is tanking"

Baxter to the rescue ;)

My  Dell is on the truck for delivery (out of Port Angeles).  Unfortunately, the monitor missed the truck from Portland and is down there waiting for a ride to PA for delivery tomorrow.  Odd in that the boxes rode together from North Carolina to Portland.

Whatever Apple's numbers turn out to be, they seem good enough that the "Apple is doomed because they missed the Netbook" crowd may be thought to be off base.  At least for now.

>>I'll keep reading and finding my own sick pleasure in the amount of entertainment that is provided, but for real Windows news, I'll go to MJF's site - blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft<<

Thats cold.

Yep AVRO, I agree. My partners are ordering less Dell's and more Mac's and HP's and Sony's. I have noticed anecdotally that the HP's and Sony's don't seem to last as long as the Dell's. They seem to replace them sooner than the Dell's [and Mac's of course..duh!]

Just looking at the sales here, HP, Dell, and Acer all sell netbooks.  I don't recall Toshiba or Lenovo selling any, and Apple sure as h3ll doesn't.

What model of netbook do you normal people actually like?  Anybody like the netbooks from the top 3?

Side-question:  does ASUS/ASmobile build netbooks for the top 3?

BTW, Cap'n:  Nobody wants to see your 'Q-tip', so put it back in your pants.

Avast ye, Waethorn! If ye be referrin' to me Rock o' Gibraltar, ye'd be well-advised to not be considerin' it a mere peg boy's- it be well enough girthy to please ye mom, whom I have harpooned many a time with it. Arrrrggghhhh!!!

This blog is crumbling fast.  What is with all the weird posts, even though some are funny?

@tayme how did that tea party thing really go?  I can listen to the likes of say Hanity because he will say it was a huge success, while he spend every waking moment HATING Obama and crew.  Cant turn on MSNBC either since they will spin it as a failure, so I guess I will never know.

A few questions though, when Bush tripled our debt where were these people?  Especially when he signed in Tarp 1????

I did read that there is a major rif between the Tea party group that are/were Ron Paul followers, and the likes of Hanity/Rush.  Apparently Hanity ripped off their message.  The GOP is falling apart fast.  

Not that I am huge fan of Obama, but I am more than willing to give him at least a year to put the US back on the right path after 8 years of deregulated, warmongering greed.

I thought ASUS was the market leader in netbooks???  

I have to agree with some here, I just dont get the netbook craze.  Then again I think twitter is nothing but digital diarrhea of the mouth.  Maybe I am too old at 42.

Oh Wae, baby, you never let me have any fun. The nice captain was on shore leave, and just wanted to cork my bunghole. I swear, sometimes you're so uptight about these sorts of things!

@bettieblu - The local one that I went to was good. There were about 1000 people there. A lot has been lost in thinking that it is only about not wanting to pay taxes...that is not it at all. I agree, you can't listen to Hannity, Limbaugh, or MSNBC/CNN/mikegalos. You have to listen to the real people that were there. But, I'll leave the politics alone for this blog...

--tayme

@the whole bunch of you

I just thank God I drink coffee.

@bettieblu

Not too old, just too sensible. While I *guess* I get the netbook craze - they are cute and might fit in a car's glove box - in fact, I don't get it.

They are too small and cramped .. if you try one (and I have) they can also be terriblly slow. They are inexpensive so that might be a factor, but for just a bit more one can get a low end full laptop. For the meantime, I think I will stick with my laptop, lol.

"after 8 years of deregulated...greed"

SOX compliance was one of the biggest regulations to ever be forced on business.  And let's not forget the Community Reinvestment Act, which was yet another regulation that further sent us down a path of inflated home values, all because the government wanted to "intervene" in the free markets.    And the failed Freddie, which Rahm Emanuel was on the board of and oversaw tons of accounting irregularities, which would contribute to the downfall of the quasi-government agency.  Seems to me that government tends to cause more problems than good when it overly gets involved in the free market.  As I've said before on here, the blame for the current financial mess goes well around to everyone.  The government in general, the Fed, banks, realtors, financial pundits, and individuals hoping to flip a run down house located in a bad neighborhood and expect 100's of thousands over the real value.  The party had to end some day.

I attended a tea party yesterday.  It was refreshing, but there were also some fringe crazies there as well.  No doubt it is being reported poorly by the NY Slimes, MSNBC and CNN.  It was to be one of many protests that are being staged through a grass roots effort.  Just like the Obama campaign, so the left really has nothing to complain about.

And where were these people when Bush was spending like mad?  First, his increase in spending will be a pittance compared to Obama's.  And, what would the point be?  We already had a media and Hollywood that hated him, and protests galore.  I can't see additional protests be worthwhile.  And remember, we got a tax cut, not an increase.  And before someone says the 95% of people getting a tax cut, tell me next April what that equals.  And then tell me the increased costs of goods and services when/if cap and trade gets passed.  Then tell me whether you were better off under Obama or Bush.  

Netbook wise, ASUS is certainly a big leader, as is Acer, Dell, Lenovo and HP.  Sony too, but I don't necessarily count the P as a netbook necessarily.  If I were to buy one, a HP 2140 would be it.  Although, I'd wait for Windows 7 to be available.

I also agree that some of these brand new posters are sometimes funny, but really annoying.  Paul, you are going to have to do something about it.  It's probably just bonch using his "honey" to do this.

"And, what would the point be?  We already had a media and Hollywood that hated him, and protests galore"

Um well to me it would transcend hypocrisy.  If you felt strongly about out of control spending then you would have protested no matter your party affiliations.  Wrong is wrong.  Bush spent a fortune, and let the deregulation of wall street happen.

I read recently that when the people in charge of AIG finally realized that they were in trouble, they had no idea what was going on with the group that had created the crazy offerings that had got them in trouble.  There were so complex and never before seen that they had a hard time following what their employees had created.  It went on to further state that it was only possible because of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley banking deregulation laws of 1999.  

We need regulation, uptick rule, and massive transparency to fix this utter mess.  Sadly we need lots of money as well.  How much, I dont think anyone knows.  I think Obama and crew have seen some crazy bad news, just like Bush did, stuff that is not being given out to us, that scares the crap out of them, about financial collapse/depression and they are trying everything they can to avoid some really ugly scenario.

There is lots of blame to go around, with Barny Frank and Freddi/Fanny junk and I think its so utterly complex that no one really has the full answer.

"I thought ASUS was the market leader in netbooks???"

They are, for the most part anyway.  The rest of their systems aren't as popular though, because they market them as highly-fashionable higher-spec machines, kinda like Sony.  They don't mass produce them as low-cost machines as Dell does, and they don't have the brand recognition to market them as HP does.  ASUS does very well as an ODM for HP and Apple though.  ASUS and Acer are the two top netbook makers, with Dell pushing the Mini line close behind them.

@Avro

I'm not manufacturing that metric. Just refer yourself to their last fiscal report to glean that metric.

@saucy I have tried netbooks, and I would say they are good to lookup something quick on the internet and that is about it.

For anything else, typing a document of more than a paragraph they are too small, watching a movie to small, listening to music to big, playing a game not powerful enough and clunky.

They are cheap and I can see them being used for limited functions while mobile, when you could not bring your full size keyboard notebook, or your iPhone/Windows Mobile sucked even worse for typing on.  I am sure someone can think of a application in those constraints.

Yeah at Target they have nothing but ASUS, I think????

@avro

"Actually the Apple numbers are closer to 50/50 computers/consumer electronic devices

"

Off pixie dust?

Mac's are and have been decreasing coefficient of AAPL's revenues. Which goes proportionaly against the opinion makers.

Hey Paul and Company.  Long time lurker on the site, never once logged in and said anything.

Cheap shots: those that say this blog is crumbling fast.  I enjoy the information you present...and then the commentary after from everyone and their brother...it just makes the site more fun.  Some of it serious, some of it funny, and some of it grossly off topic (You know who you all are :) )  All of it makes it more fun to read than a dry, technical website.

Of course, I'm not an IT person (which might be the reason why I like your site better)...I'm just a teacher...but  I train everyone in technology from students to my fellow teachers alike, and like to stay ahead of the curve and see what's coming.  (The Windows 7 beta is running my English computer lab at the moment...the students think it's great.)  Great...now I'm off topic too!

So in short...you're not crumbling, you're my daily slice of tech-world info, and humor all combined.  Keep it up.

@weedmonk

Sales of Mac desktops, laptops, peripherals, software and services were $4.53 billion for Q1 2009

Sales of iPods, iPhones and Music for Q1 2009 were $5.63 Billion

Source SEC filings

That puts it at 46% for computers and services and 54% for consumer electronics and music.

If you drop the music from the equation it is about 50:50 computers/consumer electronics.

FYI, at the hospital Physicans IT Committee, which was mostly by more IT staff than doctors, over 50% had netbooks. Last year, most had laptops and/or smartphones. I gotta agree with bettieblu that the netbooks are just too small for some of us, especially me. Also, I would prefer to have Win 7 on it than Linux for better compatibility for my stuff. However,  I'm sure that my kids will want one soon when they're old enough.

PS

The hospital is using ZYNX for the computer entry orders. They keep telling us that we will be seeing Microsoft's Amalga 'more and more', but I don't know to what capacity.

I could possibly see having a netbook, if I went on a vacation and I wanted to check email, and other web based stuff (directions to places), and maybe off load photos off my camera.  

The only reason would be size, if it was just as easy to bring my 13inch notebook then I would go that route.

In that vacation scenario I describe a small tablet, large iTouch type of device would be even better.  Maybe with screen the size of a netbook.

Hopefully the netbook fad will end and a rebound will occur with a new fad: Gigantic laptops. 40 - 50 inch screens, quad SLI, multiple keyboards depending on where your standing so you can reach the nearest one.

My $399 Vista laptop has a 15.6 in widescreen. Real low rez, and it weighs around 6 lbs, but it has all that I need, so carrying a few more lbs and a wider space won't make much of a difference. It's dimensions are around 10 x 15 inches, which is small compared to me ;).

"It's dimensions are around 10 x 15 inches, which is small compared to me ;). "

I see what you did there.

Yaaaawn... burp.

"Given the exorbitant prices they charge, that's not too shabby."

Does Microsoft pay per each shill? Ballmer thanks you. The cheque's in the mail.

www.youtube.com/watch

@slimshadey: Describes PC users completely. PC users will now be referred to as Homeless Frank.

www.businessweek.com/.../tc20090415_602968.htm

http://fakepaul.blogspot.com/

Gut buster

www.roughlydrafted.com/.../dan-lyons-paul-thurrott-the-fake-and-the-phony

Paul Thurrott and the Amiga.

Thurrott has lived the majority of his adult life bitter and angry about Apple. He started out his tech career as an Amiga fan. This is an important detail to consider because there was something about Commodore’s Amiga that attracted an intensely religious fervor that even Commodore’s death couldn’t extinguish.

For extremist nerds, the Amiga was Elvis, Jesus, alien abduction, heroine, the Qur’an, and the Klingon language all wrapped up into one product and branded with a name that suggested the idea of having a hot Spanish girlfriend: a life changing, unforgettable fantasy that had to be aggressively advocated until death.

@slimshady and Bobbi Jo -

You do realize that the drunk bum wanted a Mac PC, not a Windows PC, right? I'd say its a closer description of the outer fringe Mac iCabalists.

--tayme

@tayme how is the teabagging going?

That roughly drafted article is hysterical.

Does the author truly believe that his opinion is balanced and level-headed?

Really?

"Does the author truly believe that his opinion is balanced and level-headed?"

It is dam funny.  To your point, who knows or cares.  You question could be asked about the author of this blog as well.

@slimshady - The Tea Parties were good...how goes trying to be black?

--tayme

Oh dam tayme did you bring your white hood to the Hanity love fest?  You should change that name to 'grand master" tayme.

@slimshady - That coming from a deacon at the Westboro Baptist Church??? Who'da thunk it?

--tayme

@tayme: "You do realize that the drunk bum wanted a Mac PC, not a Windows PC, right?"

Do you realise that a drunk bum has more taste than you? Is more intelligent thus able to realise what a piece of crap a PC is? That he knows that Windows is a piece of crap as well.

@Bobbi Jo - Sorry - I am typing this on a MBP and may go use the G5 iMac soon...guess again. Or are you saying that I chose these Macs due to having bad taste?

--tayme

An article about the Microsoft tax paid by millions.

www.businessweek.com/.../tc20090415_602968_page_2.htm

"Yes, $699 beats the $2,800 you'd pay for a Mac with a 17-in. screen. But when it comes to PCs, there's still a great deal more to buy."

"First, there's security software. The PC in question comes with a 60-day trial Norton Internet Security 2009 from Symantec (SYMC). After the trial runs out you'll pay Symantec $50 a year to protect your PC (and up to two others in your home) from all the nasty viruses, worms, and other malware lurking on the Internet. That's $150 over the three years Lauren is likely to hold on to her PC. No need for antivirus on the Mac.

Next, let's say something goes wrong on the computer once the warranty expires and that it requires the intervention of a third party. Geek Squad will charge you $129 just for a diagnosis. A diagnosis from the Genius Bar in Apple's retail stores? Free."

There's an enormous tax you pay when you buy a PC. Don't be mistaken, PC stands for "Piece of Crap"

@tayme: But you use Windows. Homeless Frank is smarter than to use Windows.

@GrandMaster Tayme, I dont get your comment?  Are you saying you belong to the Klan and you go to that church?  Mama is proud I am sure.

100th!

It's a joke guys. :) Geesh.

I just love it when little Bobbi Jo brings friends along to the party. It makes it that much funner! Thanks, Bobbi and Real!!!

--tayme

tayme,

"By the way, mikegalos - care to define the term "teabagging" that you used this morning in your standard leftist tactic of trying to quash anybody that you disagree with? "

Hmm, hard to see how you're being quashed by anybody. You see, people actually are allowed to disagree with you in this country. At least now that Bush is out of office.

As for defining Teabagging, there are several definitions and I'll let you figure out which is appropriate to you and your astroturfing friends, after all, it was you and your corporate lobbyist sponsors who decided to use the term.

@mikegalos - You are wrong again. You really should be careful, since you are the official voice of Microsoft on this site. The term was TEA Party. TEA is for Taxed Enough Already. That makes you wrong on several levels. Note the word ENOUGH....that doesn't mean I want a tax cut...But, that is par for the course with you; too arrogant to admit that you are wrong and too scared to give a straight answer when asked a question. You should run off and play with little Bobbi Jo and Real now...You can usually run circles around the kids. Have fun, now.

--tayme

Paul, what's the deal with all these spammers on your site? There's just too much garbage now. Earlier it was just robertsjoe and ocean. Now you have random people coming in and saying random stuff. robertsjoe's delirium is getting worse, by the way. I hope his teachers help him out at school. The poor kid's sick.

I don't really care too much about politics, but why raise taxes on the upper class. I never understood why everyone that isn't upper class looks at them to be snobs and people that don't work hard. The news reports the bad apples and everyone likes to think it applies to everyone.

Ya Obama cut taxes, but also increased spending. Bring on the inflation! Oh and good thing our country will be a lot more dependent on the government now. Sounds stupid to me.

hamiltonstallings

It isn't a matter of raising the taxes on the upper class, it's about rolling back a single one of dozens of tax cuts the upper, upper, upper class have been given in the last few decades.

The MOST that happens (and then only to people with income over $250,000/year -  about 1% of the population) is that the rate they pay on money over that amount goes back to what it was 4 years ago. That's only a change of 2%. That's still lower than it had been at any time since before World War II. In fact it's about 1/3 of what it would have been under Eisenhower.

For those saying this make the Obama Administration Socialists, I guess they must thing Reagan was Lenin and Nixon was Karl Marx since they had a MUCH higher tax rate for the rich.

In the same time, by the way, the average person in the US has seen their pay cut by 1/3rd and the minimum wage in real dollars has dropped to lless than 1/2 of what it was.

Apparently cutting the income of the working poor by 50% and cutting the average income of the average person by a third is just fine but rolling back one relatively tiny gift out of dozens given to the richest of the rich is "class warfare".

Does that explain it for you?

hamiltonstallings

Oh, and as to increased spending, you may not be aware but if the previous Administration had left the Clinton budget alone and not grown government size over and over again, we'd have $8 Trillion more in the Treasury. We'd be on track to have the national debt paid off in 2012.

Instead, they borrowed 8 Trillion dollars over 8 years to cover their spending and tax cuts and increased the national debt to $10,000,000,000,000.

That's not only money we and our children and grandchildren have to pay back with interest, it's money not available for home loans and small business loans and that stagnates the economy as the loan pool dries up to cover money needed to pay for government loans rather than for investments.

But, hey, they gave most households a $300 annual "gift" to distract them from noticing that the Bush Administration borrowed $27,000 in each member of their family's credit card.

FYI: A bit of trivia for you, the size of the government shrank so much during the Clinton years that at the end of the Clinton Administration the US Government was as small as it had been in 1957.

(oops - typo - the tax rate of the horrible "tax increase" to the richest 1% is going back to what it was 8 years ago not 4)

Yaaaarrrggghhhh!!!!

Sorry, had to be said.

Warren Buffet recently said on TV when asked if he was going to not like the tax increases from Obama on the rich....

"Under Bush the top 400 earners in America paid only 17% tax because of tax breaks and loopholes"

I say tax the crap out of the rich.  My income hovering just under or at the 6 figure mark during Bush was taxed at 28% or more.  I can see Obama's tax cut already to the tune of about $60 a month.  Not much but it will pay for my cable bill.

"At least now that Bush is out of office."

Do you actually believe that claptrap?  I take that back, I know you believe it.  But tell me when people weren't allowed to express their opinion over the last 8 years?  The way I see is that rabble rousers like Chris Matthews are still here doing what they do.  If what you say was true, we wouldn't have the constant borage of Bush bashing.  Heck, the movie W was literally a 90 minute campaign ad for Obama.  Yeah, it seemed like the left was really put out.  LOL.

Conversely, tell me when people say something negative about Lord Obama, where is the mainstream media giving, or trying to give a somewhat balanced report on it?  Or is it buried and not mentioned?  I"m not worried, nor have been worried about our lack of free speech rights.  However, I am worried for the media which should be doing a better job.  Their vetting of Obama was like watching a teen girl watching a Britney Spears concert.  Hey Chris, that thrill up your leg may be a heart attack, I'd have it check out.

"I say tax the crap out of the rich."

On the outset, this sounds like a good or great idea.  Except, it doesn't account for the long term consequences of such an action.  I can almost assume, unless we are all self employed, that some rich person signs your paycheck.  Now, imagine if we increase the taxes on the rich to obscene levels.  At some point, something has to give.  The industry that my company is in is somewhat tied to rich people buying expensive goods and services that they don't necessarily need to survive.  My company has already been hit hard.  If those "evil" rich people are taxed more, what is going to happen at my company and many others like mine, when their income is squeezed?  Well, they will spend less, which doesn't help anyone.  And where is there incentive to invest in the economy when/if they know that they are going to be taxed at super high levels?  The free market works so well because it gives the people an economic incentive to do a good job and innovate.  Conversely, a government controlled/run job gives people no incentive to innovate.  Hence, a socialist mecca country like France has 10%+ unemployment in "good" times, and outside of wine, has virtually no industry to speak of.

"I can see Obama's tax cut already to the tune of about $60 a month."

Wait till cap and trade.  Hyperinflation, remember that word.

"standard leftist tactic of trying to quash anybody that you disagree with?"

BWAHAHAHAHA

The right-wing nutjobs in this country that redefined AM Radio as "non-guested talk" practically invented that technique.

"By the way, mikegalos - care to define the term "teabagging" that you used this morning in your standard leftist tactic of trying to quash anybody that you disagree with?"

I can take that on:

- Tea parties are for little girls

- It takes ba11s to be a teabagger.

I'm sure you can see the difference. As to how you choose to define yourself...well, that's entirely up to you.

Bottom line: The original Tea Party was allegedly about taxation without representation. Today, we have taxation WITH representation. IIRC, Obama said exactly what he would do if he were elected (raise taxes apx. 3% for a small portion of the population) and he did exactly that when people voted for him...as he promised. As you knew he would. The people spoke, and his opponents decided to wave their teabags in each others faces.

"I can almost assume, unless we are all self employed, that some rich person signs your paycheck."  

Oh he is rich with out a doubt, 20mill a year I think is what our CEO gets, maybe less and he does not own the company.  Yeah I am sure he is worth more than me, smarter, faster, hung like a horse, dance better, or whatever, but 200 times my pay and then to pay less taxes????  WTF over?

Its a very common right wing believe that if you tax a rich company owner less they will create more jobs.  I say BS, they will create a few more jobs, as in setup a new department called "out sourcing" so they can cut more costs by out sourcing jobs out of this country and make more money.  Middle class republicans have been punked by this and fear tactics for years by the republican party.

You ever wonder why the rich business owning republicans never want to get real on closing our border?  It would kill their source of cheap labor in this country.  I mean if Bush and his crew were so worried about security of this country why did they not lock down our wide open southern border?  It would have stopped the flow of cheap labor to his contributors that is why.

" Hence, a socialist mecca country like France has 10%+ unemployment in "good" times, and outside of wine, has virtually no industry to speak of."

??????

online.wsj.com/.../BT-CO-20090331-703549.html

Hmmm probably better than the US will see in 2009.

redmeatblog.com/.../boycott_french.html

Yeah no industry to speak of, try real hard not buy a French product this week.

slimshady

I'll start believing the myth that "the rich will take their tax cuts and create jobs" when they actually support a bill that gives companies a tax break for every additional US job created.

Funny how that's seen as "government meddling in business" but just giving them the cash to spend however they want is seen as a "jobs creation" program even when it costs jobs.

Dipsh

Let's compare and contrast:

1957

Highest marginal tax rate on the hyper rich: 91% on their highest earnings

Minimum wage: $11.06/hr (in current dollars)

Business is highly regulated to protect the consumer

US is the world's dominent economic and manufacturing power and will be for decades

Now

Highest marginal tax rate on the hyper rich: 35% on their highest earnings

Minimum wage: $6.55/hr (in current dollars)

Consumer protection regulations have been removed consistently for 28 years

US is near economic collapse, manufacturing jobs almost nonexistant

Now, why this is the case is up for debate but I think even you'd have to admit the simplistic matra of "the more you tax the rich the less jobs they'll create" is ludicrous.

Oh, and that should be mantra and not matra in that last post. I wouldn't want to bring in a French aerospace company into the discussion.

Oh, and for the "flat tax"ers out there

1957

24 tax brackets with the top only kicking in at the equivalent of $2.4 Million per year in today's dollars

2009

6 tax brackets with the top rate at $372,950 and flat above that value

Oh, and 15 of those tax brackets in 1957 that were flattened were for people making over the equivalent of today's top rate. We've been giving a flat tax to the hyper rich for years.

@Waethorn

" I don't recall Toshiba or Lenovo selling any, and Apple sure as h3ll doesn't."

Both Toshiba and Lenovo do sell netbooks but apparently not in U.S.A.

Lenovo ideapad s10  for example.

www.pc.ibm.com/.../sseries.html

And Toshiba NB-100

fr.computers.toshiba-europe.com/.../1058021