I think what you are suggesting a "head tax" (everyone pays the same dollar amount) rather than a "flat tax" (everyone pays the same percentage). We would think that it is odd if we went to the store and bread cost more if our income was more. Is it fair that we all pay the same price for bread regardless of our income? Would it be fair if I had to pay more for bread because my income was higher than the next person in line? Why are taxes any different?

How is paying a worker less than the value of what worker produced cheating him? If I can pick thirty baskets of apples a day (or $x worth of a product a day), why would an employer hire me if my wage was thirty baskets of apples? How would there be any benefit to the employer? The employer doesn't exist just to be benevolent.

Dh called my mom in the middle of the night and she asked "Are you going to the hospital?" The answer was "No, dd is born." But she was born 48 minutes after we arrived at the hospital--so there was not time for anything. My mom had said "I will NOT go to the hospital when you are in labor--BTDT three times and I don't want any part of it." The first time it wasn't an issue; when ds was born, my mom went to watch dd, but took her to preschool and then came to the hospital. I wasn't happy about that because she increased the stress and worry level which wasn't helpful, especially since we were dealing with a lot of complications. In-laws and other family who lived out of town were called with the second because of all of the complications.

1/3 of a pound of ground meat per person should be plenty; I would consider what else is being served at what time of day it is being served. I am always afraid of running out of food, however, and taco meat freezes easily for a quick future meal; so, making more and having leftovers might be a good idea.

If you are looking for someone who started with nothing: Loretta Lynn

The Only Investment Guide You Will Ever Need by Andrew Tobias is a good starting place. The last edition was published about 10 years ago, but the basics are still the same. http://www.amazon.com/Only-Investment-Guide-Youll-Ever/dp/0547447256/ref=pd_sim_b7#_ Some websites to check out are: motley fool: http://www.fool.com/ www.marketwatch.com www.finance.yahoo.com Marketwatch and Yahoo!Finance will give you lots of the past data. Motley fool has more educational information.

We started hs our ds toward the end of 5th grade. He had mixed feelings about it. I had heard others talk about the need for a transition period when a child has had a bad experience with teachers or school. I was surprised at how true this was and how long the transition period was. I was excited about the possibilities and ready to go headstrong; I had to realize that he wasn't at the same place.

What are you most interested in learning? For example, do you want to know more about picking particular stocks? Or, are you interested in learning about mutual funds? One free source with reliable (but basic) information on the internet is http://www.econedlink.org/.

We have visited Switzerland; it is lovely. We have stayed in Austria for four to five weeks a number of times. We enjoy Austria more than Switzerland and find it much cheaper.

Does he want to stop? My dd sucked her thumb until she was 12. She didn't care if other kids called her a baby because of it--her response was "But, it is so ME!" Ds was not a thumbsucker; if he got fussy she say to him in exasperation "Why don't you just suck your thumb?" Dh had a beard when she was 11. She didn't like it. He made a deal with her--stop sucking your thumb and I will shave off my beard. That helped, but we would still find her sucking her thumb in her sleep. The orthodontist made an appliance that fit in the top of her mouth with spikes that made sucking her thumb uncomfortable.

I was surprised when I got out the dictionary for my son to look up a word. Yes, he knew the words were in alphabetical order and what that meant. He understood. However, he was so slow. I realized he would go through the alphabet until he got to "f" and then start over again in his mind and got to "r" and then start over again and go to "e", etc. to look up "freedom". He needed practice working with words in alphabetical order, not just an understanding that words in the dictionary were in alphabetical order. I also think that a paper dictionary is better for exploration of words. It also helps build spelling skills when you have to spell the word to some degree to look it up rather than have it pop up on the screen when you get close.

Museum of American Finance and the Wall Street Bull

Owners of C-corporations face double taxation--corporate tax rates at the corporate level and personal income taxes on dividends. Sole proprietors are only taxed on personal income.

I think this is a cultural thing. When dd was about 3 months old, I had her in public in a pink lace dress. A stranger commented "What a cute little boy." I said that she was a girl and the stranger replied, "Well, how was I supposed to know that; her ears aren't pierced!"

As a college professor, I think that late hours are the norm on most campuses. I think the amount of partying and drinking can vary from campus to campus and dorm to dorm, but the late hours are very much the norm. Most of the emails I receive from students are sent in the middle of the night; this is also when they often submit their online homework. We have classes that meet untill 10:00pm on our campus. Then, students have study groups and group projects to work on. Club meetings might start at 9:00 or 10:00pm. I would suggest, if possible, you try to have your daughter draw a distinction between problems caused by sleep schedules that tend to be different than those around her and problems caused by her discomfort and annoyance with rowdy, drunken behavior.

If the citizens aren't enjoying the national income of GDP, who is?

DH has an account with USAA. We did have trouble when we were in Korea a few years ago and we were unable to get his ATM or debit card to work. When we contacted USAA, we had trouble getting them to help us; they could not locate any ATMs in "Soul, South Korea" in their system. Once we spoke to someone who could spell correctly, we were able to get the situation resolved. We were surprised with their global military constituency that we had so much trouble resolving this situation.

I would not want my child's orthodontist or dentist to have a "no parents" policy. However, I find dental visits so unpleasant (I don't like the sound, smell, etc.) that I do not want to go back. I couldn't even look when my children wanted to show me their wiggly teeth! I would prefer not to experience that myself, but, more importantly, I try to keep from passing on my fear of the dentist to my children. I think I can do that better by not being nearby. I can see how dentists and orthodontists find that some children do better without some parents in the room; I would have no problem with a dentist suggesting that based on x, y, and z, it might be better for me not to go back--but not leaving the final decision up to the parent is always a red flag for me.

Z is feeling only "kinda silly"? What is she willing to do to resolve the problem she created?

Both of my children went to ps for elementary. While they only had recess and lunch "breaks" they did have a lot of transitioning activities that broke up the day. They went to PE, wallked to the music room, walked to the art room, walked to the library, and walked to the computer room. Even within the classroom the day was broken up by sitting in circle for book time, moving to the calendar for announcements, moving to desks for seat work. DS had an especially active first grade teacher, and I would go crazy in her room because the students never seemed to be on one task more than a few minutes. So, while the breaks may look different at home, I am not sure that the total break time is different.

There appears to be a lot of talk of inflation and rising prices. The inflation rate in the US has only been about 1.4% over the past three years; this is far below historical averages. It is also below the inflation rate in most countries of the world. Of course, the national inflation rate can mask costs to particular individuals who do not buy the "average" market basket. However, I am wondering why such a perception of inflation exists.

Yes, but those $99 Red Sox tickets are sold out, also. Thus, basic economics would say that these tickets are not overpriced.

What signs would you look for to describe an economy as "strong"? Which criteria would be important to you before you would say that the economy has recovered? It would be interesting if you could provide a description of what you mean by "low" or "high." For example, does low unemployment mean below 3%, below 5%, etc.

How do you determine one country is more prosperous than another? Canada has a lower per capita GDP than the US. Canada has also had a higher inflation rate and a higher national debt relative to GDP than the US in the past year.

Yes, Americans are working longer hours and get far less vacation than equivalent workers in countries like Greece, but I wouldn't trade their economy for ours.