CC4: Taxes

Margaret Collins, a writer for Yahoo! News, states in her article, "Cost of Dropping Citizenship Keeps U.S. Earners From Exit," that the IRS has taxes and fees in place that essentially trap extremely wealthy people in America.

In the article, Margaret Collins says, "Exit taxes and other costs make it prohibitive for most high-income taxpayers and small-business owners to leave the U.S., though they may want to go because of higher taxes at the federal level and in states such as California." The exit taxes are designed to prevent prevent people who have a lot of money from leaving the U.S.. I am not one of those wealthy people, but this seems a little unfair to me.

Margaret Collins states in the article, "A high-income couple worth $100 million whose assets have $50 million in gains may have a $10 million tax liability if they decided to leave this year." This theoretical couple has enough money to live luxuriously anywhere in the world, even after that significant amount of money is taken. It still seems wrong to take so much money that they (theoretically) earned and essentially make them pay to a huge some of money just to leave the U.S.

Also stated by Margaret Collins in the article, "If the owner of a limited liability company establishes a foreign corporation conducting business in the U.S., it may have to pay several layers of U.S. income tax. Those include a top 35 percent corporate tax, a 30 percent so-called branch profits tax and as much as 43.4 percent tax on non-qualified dividends distributed to a shareholder, Entin said." This means that if a business is moved out of the U.S. but still conducts within the U.S., then the business will be subjected to much higher taxes than if it had simply remained within the U.S.. This discourages businesses from taking their money elsewhere.

Benjamin Franklin, one of the U.S.'s founding fathers, once said, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." This is certainly true in this case. The article even mentions that if someone who moved out of the U.S. but still has children here dies, then there are levies similar to the estate tax that the money has to go through before the children can receive the fraction of the money that will be left.

While millions of illegal immigrants receive amnesty and the benefits paid for by taxpayers, the people who pay for the majority of those benefits are stuck in the country.

Topic of Choice: Minecraft

Minecraft is a massive, magnificent multiplayer game in which the only goal is to survive by mining and crafting, as the title implies. The game takes place in a randomly generated world made up of blocks. The game is played by gathering resources to craft tools to enable the gathering of better resources to craft better tools. If that redundant circle ever gets boring, the game also has a building feature which I would consider to be much more fun.

The mining/surviving features of Minecraft are a part of what I would consider the less interesting of the two ways to play. The player starts off in a world of blocks with nothing but his or her fists to punch down trees with. After beating down his or her first tree, the player can use the wood to craft an axe to gather wood faster, or, perhaps, to craft a wooden pickaxe to gather stone and begin his or her mining adventure in the ground.

The building feature in Minecraft is extremely easy to understand and use and can be accurately described as "virtual legos." Whether it's an extravagant hut or a homely palace, it can be built with ease in Minecraft. The player's creation can be anything they can think of! Basically, if it can be thought of, it can be built if time (as well as a little effort) is put into the creation.


 Not only can players all this digging and building alone in singleplayer, but also cooperatively over the internet. They do this by connecting to servers such as StompzCraft which are hosted by a third party. After they connect, the players can then work with (or against) each other to do whatever they wish.

With nearly 10 million copies sold on the PC alone, Minecraft is one of the most well-known video games around. That said, the developers of the game have not spent a single cent in advertising the game. The game has acquired this runaway success through "word of mouth," specifically, the flood of songs and videos that the game has inspired on YouTube.

I first played Minecraft just over two years ago. Since then, I have spent quite a bit of time both digging and building. Probably a little bit too much time. Whether or not I have wasted too much time on this game is irrelevant because I enjoyed every moment spent. I and many others will likely continue to build in our little imaginary worlds for the foreseeable future.

For more information about Minecraft, visit here or here.

Alliteration
Allusion
Oxymoron

CC3: Longest Marriage

Lauren Sher, a writer for ABC News, states in her article, "Connecticut Couple Honored as 'Longest Married' in U.S.," that John and Ann Betar have been married for over 80 years, making their marriage the longest known marriage in the U.S. today.

In the article, Lauren Sher states, "John and Ann Betar of Fairfield, Conn., said "I do" on Nov. 25, 1932, and have been happily married for 80 years." These people must truly be living their American Dream. To be happily married for such a long time is quite rare and is a rather enviable position in today's age where marriages end in divorce more often than not.

Lauren Sher also states in the article, "Together they have five children, 14 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren." Not only is this couple happy in their in long-lived marriage, but they also have a family together. This pair has accomplished what many would consider to be the American Dream.

Also stated by Lauren Sher in the article, "The Betars said they delight in the newer generations of their family, and their descendants return the compliment." From this perspective, this family seems to have everything going for them. The couple has a large, happy family, something that is not seen too frequently anymore.

This couple has been happily married for a very long time. This is the opposite of most marriages in America now. A typical marriage now is a short and unhappy one, an unfortunate trend that is turning marriage into something that people take far too lightly.

The Betars are living the American Dream of a happy, lengthy marriage. This couple is an inspirational example of a successful marriage.