The death of small businesses

POSTED BY: SignyM
UPDATED: Monday, August 10, 2026 21:52
VIEWED: 4646
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CITIZEN

Friday, March 20, 2009 6:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Hey, they did it to Ma Bell and Microsoft, right?

If by that you mean "make a big show of reigning in Microsoft, but in the end do fuck all" then yes.

I was reading in the paper today about this dwarf that got pickpocketed. How could anyone stoop so low?

SERGEANTX

Friday, March 20, 2009 6:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
Quote:
but the state is in turn bound by the federal.
Not sure this is always the case. SCOTUS seems to draw a wobbly line. For example, while the Constitution prohibits the Federal government from establishing a religion, I'm not sure the states are similarly bound. They happen to have similar clauses in their respective constitutions, but....

I'm going to study up a bit on how the "equal protection" clause is usually interpreted. We might need a new amendment after all. But I do think it needs to be at the national level. There's just no incentive for state and local governments to "go first", otherwise they'd be sacrificing their own well-being on principle.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

CITIZEN

Friday, March 20, 2009 7:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SergeantX:
I'm going to study up a bit on how the "equal protection" clause is usually interpreted. We might need a new amendment after all. But I do think it needs to be at the national level. There's just no incentive for state and local governments to "go first", otherwise they'd be sacrificing their own well-being on principle.

I'm pretty sure the US Constitution applies only to the Federal Government. I'm certain some individual states did actually have official Churches.

I was reading in the paper today about this dwarf that got pickpocketed. How could anyone stoop so low?

SERGEANTX

Friday, March 20, 2009 7:14 PM

Quote:
According to Wikipedia:
The Equal Protection Clause, part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, provides that "no state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws".[1] The Equal Protection Clause can be seen as an attempt to secure the promise of the United States' professed commitment to the proposition that "all men are created equal"[2] by empowering the judiciary to enforce that principle against the states.

FWIW...

This was written and generally used for issues of racial discrimination. I'm not sure if it applies to things like tax policy, though I sure think it should. Anyway, I have inquiries registered on the topic. More soon.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

RUE

Friday, March 20, 2009 7:17 PM

"Well, you'd have to go through the state first ..."

No, they meant you could NOT bring the case before the SCOTUS. It's part of the whole 'the Constitution only applies to the federal government' agenda of the right. You know, like how the framers meant it to be before the activist judges of the 60's got involved. I meant 1960's - not 1860's of course.

***************************************************************

Silence is consent.

SERGEANTX

Friday, March 20, 2009 10:16 PM

So, I just talked with my girlfriends sister, who's a tax attorney, and she didn't give me much hope. To sum up, nixing preferential taxing with the equal protection clause would cut into the whole concept of using the tax code to manipulate society, which our leaders are particularly fond of. So it's highly unlikely we could prevent the governmental whoring with that stipulation.

That leaves pursuing the issue as a constitutional amendment, but it would still run up against the same problem. It would threaten the power that such tactics grant government - something they'll not give up lightly.

Government wins. Wal-Mart wins. We lose.

SergeantX

"Dream a little dream or you can live a little dream. I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase but never get it." Aesop Rock

JAYNEZTOWN

Sunday, December 14, 2025 10:01 PM

Maybe Trump and Republicans are done being mad at index funds

https://www.reuters.com/markets/funds/maybe-trump-republicans-are-done
-being-mad-index-funds-2025-12-10/

JAYNEZTOWN

Monday, August 10, 2026 9:52 PM

one big music, gamer, tv, pop concert, movie type media machine is coming?

Judge Sets Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Trial for March
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/business/media/paramount-warner-bro
s-trial-march.html

Warner Bros. Sues Amazon Over HBO Poaching, Revealing How Little Leverage It Has Left
https://www.martincid.com/business/warner-bros-sues-amazon-hbo-poachin
g/

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