jrno639

We already tax utility users based on “usage”, but the cost to provide service is more like y=mx+b with a very large b and small m. Charging based on usage is just a way to allocate the large fixed costs amongst your users. (Electricity may be the exception with higher variable costs, but still significant fixed costs.)

But even if you’re not using them, the utility services (water, power, sewer) still have to pass by the property. Power lines and poles are there, they have to be maintained, your water main can’t be leaking, etc. There are real costs to do all that.

and your second income is taxed at your marginal rate, to pay for a $1 of child care you need around $1.33 to $1.50 in income. Put another way, avoiding $1 in expenses is like earning up to $1.5 at work.

But the real issue is what the article points out, that this often leaves the stay at home parent “trapped” and dependent on the working spouse. What do you do when you’ve been out of the workforce 20+ years, kids out of the house (no child support), and you need to support yourself now?

ARM learning the hard way what “49% ownership in a joint venture” really means.

"Massive chip crisis" doesn't even begin to describe it. This would be a catastrophe worse than the great depression, on a globl scale. Every single electronic item would be rationed. Consumer appliance purchases would barely exist. You would be using the same phone/laptop/etc. for 10 years.