And Donald Duck popularized them. While in this first cartoon, Donald actually shows you how to fill out your return, this next one goes "all Pink Floyd on you," as Octo remarked.
If you have time to listen to the podcast or read the transcript, please discuss in the comments. I gotta give my kid a bath so I can't ramble on about my thoughts at the moment.
4 comments:
Hope the bath goes well. My apologies for stomping down on this with my latest. It was a critical juncture of idea vs. time.
And, taxes are retarded. "Here's 1/3 of my money for a war and military-industrial complex I do not in any way support."
It was very interesting to learn in that history of taxes podcast that every time the subject of income taxes even came up, it was because of a war, starting with the War of 1812. The Supreme Court judged them unconstitutional around the time of the Civil War. And then finally they really made their debut during WWII.
They are intimitely linked with war, for sure.
But it was also interesting to learn that something I take for granted was so incredibly controversial. Makes me wonder if my kid will (I hope) take gay marriage and healthcare for granted (prolly not the 2nd one yet I guess).
I guess I don't know much about history. Perhaps some of you knew this stuff already.
I am only marginally smart about history. I did read a great piece in Harper's (my parents are subscribers) a couple of years ago about how, starting with at least specifically WWII (and maybe since our beginnings), our economy and growth are essentially addicted to war as the primary means of growth. The machinery and industrialization that dragged us out of the Great Depression became a drug, basically. Much like an alcoholic or cigarette smoker, we cannot shake the fundamental means of our prosperity, as to do so would involve painful withdrawal symptoms.
I've always fantasized about a world where, instead of whatever we're spending to fight and kill people that primarily do not want to be fought and/or killed by us us, we actually build a high-speed transcontinental rail system (bullet mag-lev monorail trains from Boston to NY, NY to DC, NY to Chicago, Chicago to all the loser cities west, etc - sorry, LA - start your own thing and meet us in Denver). Oh, and space hotels and flying cars too.
I would totally give 1/3 of what I'm supposed to earn to this sort of shit, happily. As such, I am compelled by law to do so regardless. I just HATE HATE HATE the difference in the number that appears in the "Gross Pay" section, and the number that appears in "Net Pay."
WTF.
I know there's a lot more to this issue. We still need the capability to blow the fuck out of people, but, c'mon. One less B=2 gets us a start.
Upon viewing those clips again, several thoughts:
1) WTF
2) The war-manufacturing footage is disturbingly apocalyptic, extrapolated onto today.
3) Guns, more guns, machine guns...
4) The radio looks like MCP from Tron. Nothing sinister or important there.
And taxes were what precisely created our country, and our opposition thereof.
If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go throw a teabag into a local water supply in protest.
(Which I won't, which is the problem with everything. I'll just talk about it on the internet. Copy and paste this to your status if you care! *gunning down people*)
Post a Comment