Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Posted on 12/04/2006 6:15:19 PM PST by Pantera
While this proposal is ridiculous, the headline is very misleading. The IRS is the collection agency of Congress. The IRS does not make the rules, it simple collects the taxes that Congress wishes to be collected. The writer of the headline needs an education.
I think it really comes down to how good someone is, if he or she puts out great works consistently in whatever area of the arts, eventually the public comes around or someone of importance notices, but like you said I can imagine it is tough as hell as I would guess you would have to work at it constantly, relentlessly.
Or in the case of Bob Dylan you just get damn lucky. I read that guys book, I couldn`t believe how lucky that toad got. He literally hitchhiked to New York city then did a Woody Guthrie impersonation act, he didn`t even write his own songs back then. And after 9 months in NYC he got signed by Columbia through John Hammond without one original song of his own. I mean think about it, that`s like someone today doing a Elvis impersonation act and getting signed to a major label, it`s insane. I don`t know what the hell John Hammond saw in that guy but it paid off, he just for some reason had this talent to write one hit after another later on.
I know, look at the stock for his casinos, they`re freggin` penny stocks (last time I looked anyway).
Actually, I'm officially dead at this moment on Call of Duty. Can I collect my life insurance? Can my family collect Social Security? Can I deduct my computer and DSL as business expenses?
Nope, the oldest profession is panhandling, someone had to ask for it......
8^)
They aren't paying $1500 for something that does not exist. They are paying money to acquire something they want. Here's an example: imagine a young guy, works all day as a programmer somewhere, comes home and plays an online game two hours a night two or three nights a week. This is his hobby, like maybe reading books or watching art films is yours. in this game, you acquire "money" by killing monsters. Say it pays 100 game dollars per monster killed, and on average takes twenty minutes to kill a monster. (This is not based on any real game. Just a hypothetical).
Now say Our Hero wants to buy a sword in the game. The sword costs 2000 game dollars. At the rate we established above, it will take 20 monsters killed, or 400 minutes of play, to buy the sword. That is about as much time as Our Hero plays in the game all week. He decides that his time is worth more than that, so he buys game money off someone else at a rate of $10 per 1000 game dollars. So with $20, he's just bought his game sword. In this hypothetical, he's a fairly well-paid professional; $20 is less than most people at his office spend on Starbucks every week. But it means that this week, instead of slaying one monster after another to get his sword, he can take his sword and play some more advanced quest. To him, this is a worthwhile trade.
Does that make sense? I don't like it when people say these games are a waste of time or that people are wasting money on them. It's a leisure activity, that's all. No more or less valid than anyone else's hobby.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Hi Score Tax?
I'm not joking.
If the virtual wealth has real value, to be taxed, then it also has real value to satisfy a tax assessment. Either virtual wealth has real value, or it does not. It can't be both ways at once.
I'm guessing the IRS will defer to a bit of a double-standard there...
Great post. I don't play those games but you explained well why it is rational to pay real money for game money.
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