I like taxes. With them I buy civilization.

That means roads, healthcare, libraries, education, and a whole host of other things.

I think the most idiotic report I've seen recently was one with redtop-style headlines that 90% of people 'blow most of their monthly income in the first week of getting it". Duh. That's when your rent, utility bills, and every other expense, goes out your bank account. What would be more interesting than chastising the entire western world for mismanaging their money to sell some financial service, would be calculating what percentage of income was genuinely discretionary spending.

The money trick is a thing of wonder - until it is your pension fund invested in an Enron and a stroke of a pen destroys the imaginary money you're supposed to live on in retirement.

Brian McNeil / talk22:45, 20 April 2011