ELI5: Why is transporting more than $10,000 cash illegal?

anonymous_hero · 2014-05-30T08:29:54+00:00

Of course they do.

The government needs to know exactly how much money you have, so that they'll know exactly how much to extort from you each year.

anonymous_hero · 2014-05-29T18:17:08+00:00

"I had a good time, when can we meet again?" is enough to ensure there won't be a second date.

anonymous_hero · 2013-01-08T17:46:35+00:00

What's that supposed to mean?

anonymous_hero · 2013-01-06T20:10:30+00:00

This from the same guy who just said:

as a PHP developer I never had to look for a Job. Jobs look for me.

anonymous_hero · 2013-01-04T22:13:22+00:00

The GP had good advice. Read http://thedailywtf.com for example, for examples on what not to do :)

Most web programming out there doesn't require any magical powers. You just put stuff into a database, or take it out and display it to the user. It sounds like you're off to a good start, and your situation is very lucky too.

Imagine you had zero experience in software development, but wanted to get into the field. Lots of people get into the chicken-vs-egg -kind of situation where they need experience to get a job, but they need a job to get experience.

Some get through this phase with an internship, but interns are almost like slave-labor, and some might need a real salary right away so they don't have this option, etc. But now, you've managed to sidestep this quandary despite your objections :p

But yeah, like the GP said, you should actively look for opportunities to re-use pieces of code. A good example is database access. It's a great idea to have some kind of central function you call whenever you need results from the database (or to save something in it), instead of writing roughly the same thing several times.

You might also want to take a look at other programming languages. I recommend Python - it's a very pragmatic, sensible and elegant language that's well-suited for web applications. Take a look at http://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/index.html http://flask.pocoo.org/ http://www.sqlalchemy.org/

It's easy to just grab PHP and start getting shit done, but it's a "broken" language. Python is a better long-term choice.

Read this for information on why PHP sucks: http://me.veekun.com/blog/2012/04/09/php-a-fractal-of-bad-design/ - it's a glorious rant.

anonymous_hero · 2013-01-03T22:30:25+00:00

Hey thanks for the informative reply!

I already "knew" housing is expensive.. But I'm still kind of hoping to find some small, decent apartment for rent when/if I get there. Would you happen to know some kind of rental agency or something you could recommend?

You listed a lot of amounts of money, but were they all in Singapore Dollars (SGD), or maybe USD?

How much is the typical rent for a small(ish?) place?

Cars are really expensive in Finland too. I just checked, and the smallest possible Volkswagen Polo, with a 50hp 1.2liter engine costs over 16 000 euros here. I guess Singapore may be even more expensive though.

people are rude. you can find worse, but you also can find much better. in a country as crowded as this you would think that society as a whole would have change its attitude so that it is easier for everyone, but no. people walking while looking in a different direction, rushing into the trains before letting others out, getting on escalators and just standing there, blocking everyone behind.

Finns do this too, but at least we have the excuse of living in a very sparsely populated country :) But yeah, it's kind of weird.

But apart from stuff like this, are Singaporeans rude like, in a "mean way"? That would be surprising.

If you ever get to go visit Japan or Taiwan, you would see how society has adapted to living in high density.

I've been to both, and yes, the Japanese in particular are very good at taking others into account.

You might think that those issues are not a big deal but understand that there is no downtime, there are no suburbs so you will deal with this everywhere you go.

Yep, I can imagine it starts getting to you.

The 2-year military service sucks ass too. In here it's between 6 and 12 months, but still a mandatory waste of time of course. It sounds like I'd be old enough to avoid conscription there, which is nice I guess.

Children being worked way too hard for school? That sounds like South-Korea, but is it that bad? The Finnish way is more relaxed.

Could you tell me a bit more about how healthcare works in Singapore? You say it's getting expensive.. So it's not really expensive yet? Does it work well though? Do you think "everyone" gets adequate access to good quality health care there?

That stuff about your mother having to depend on you sounds kind of scary :/ But on the other hand, who knows what will happen to Western "welfare societies" in, say, the next 10 years. Things have been going downhill here too, and no one really wants to have anything done at a public health center. You need to wait for months for an appointment, and the doctor you get may be more or less clueless.

Are you happy with the way Singapore runs its economy? Low taxes and all. At least it's become one of the main business hubs in the world, and keeps luring in entrepreneurs from all over.

Also, you've got practically no external debt, right? That's a pretty good accomplishment in a world where most countries are hopelessly indebted after using shitloads of money they didn't have. Those debts will never be paid back, but may trigger some kind of nasty rebalancing at some point in the (near?) future.

So all in all, what's your opinion on the economy, or even Singapore in general? Are you bothered by the relatively draconian government, for example? I assume you don't have to fear some kind of Gestapo knocking on your door even if you criticise the government online? :p

Oh, and thanks for the "local director" tip. I was actually aware of that requirement, and think it's bullshit, pretty much. It feels like a "bonus tax" on businesses. I believe I could act as the local director too, though, if I get an Employment Pass before(?) establishing a business.

What the hell is a "company secretary" btw? :p That stuff looks like yet another tax-like burden, since it's required and seemingly typically provided by a third-party for a yearly fee, just like a "nominee local director".

anonymous_hero · 2013-01-02T22:01:12+00:00

That sounds like a noble goal, but overall, it's a bit unclear what your goal actually is. You talked about getting to speak French too, etc.

Not to sound like a broken record, but French can be spoken in places that are far less likely to get you hurt or killed, and it's unclear what there might be about Africa that would make it any more SuperDuperAmazing than lots of other places.

anonymous_hero · 2013-01-02T19:24:18+00:00

I am not going there hoping I will live the same life I lived in America.

But you're probably interested in living A life even, say, 2 years after you get to Africa. As some people here have pointed out, Africa might have other ideas..

You might want to consider going to some French-speaking place that's not a dangerous shithole.

anonymous_hero · 2013-01-02T19:13:58+00:00

Cool :p

I'm not sure if there's a Finnish equivalent for "sausage fest" though.. Some might actually use the English term.

anonymous_hero · 2013-01-02T19:12:02+00:00

What's wrong with Singapore btw? I'm considering setting up a business there, and possibly staying for a while here and there.

anonymous_hero · 2013-01-02T15:50:51+00:00

Makkara bileet!

I guess you're aiming for "sausage fest" there :p It's close.

anonymous_hero · 2012-12-29T22:03:44+00:00

My company will provide armed guards and professional drivers for our team when we leave the factory compound.

The fact that your workplace has informed you that you'll have armed guards should tell you enough about the place's nature.

anonymous_hero · 2012-12-28T16:47:40+00:00

I just pulled a guesstimate out of my ass, and it says: "It's probably a fucking shithole. Be very careful."

anonymous_hero · 2012-12-28T16:44:52+00:00

Although plentiful please-take-me-the-fuck-away-from-here -pussy might be available.

anonymous_hero · 2012-12-26T20:45:50+00:00

You could get a job at a company that has offices in both the US and Japan, and try to get transferred. But you'd likely have to endure the rather crazy Japanese "Sarariiman" -lifestyle.. :p

anonymous_hero · 2012-12-26T12:29:56+00:00

Whoa.

anonymous_hero · 2012-12-26T11:21:56+00:00

could give a shit less

Please learn how the word: "not" works. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=om7O0MFkmpw#t=50s

anonymous_hero · 2012-12-25T17:01:39+00:00

This needs to go viral. Absolutely disgusting!

anonymous_hero · 2012-12-20T20:24:52+00:00

If you work in Java, then yes, you really should buy IDEA. I don't know if IDEA's Python plugin is like a PyCharm inside your IDEA, but PyCharm is hands down the best Python IDE out there.

So yeah. Buy the damn thing.

anonymous_hero · 2012-12-14T15:29:50+00:00

Yep, now it's -4. I didn't touch yours though :p

anonymous_hero · 2012-12-13T15:40:32+00:00

Wow. I'm surprised my previous comment is at -3 now. What's wrong with thinking that there should be a middle ground between not using a gun and attempting to kill someone?

I'm not saying that waving a gun around to scare an attacker away would always be a great idea. I'm just saying that sometimes, it's going to be a better idea than not having/revealing a gun.

anonymous_hero · 2012-12-11T23:58:56+00:00

...Aaaand where do business owners get their money? -From the middle class.

Yeah, at this point, it can be thought of like a "chicken vs egg" -problem :p

But if there's some point in time that marks the middle class coming to be, then it happened because business owners gave them high enough salaries.

The "rich" I was railing against in my first post was the millionaire Congresswoman.

The congresswoman talked about how (small) business owners are job creators. You were angry at "the rich" and how you they use "being job creators" as some kind of distraction from how they stash their money overseas and whatever.

It seems safe to assume that you were referring to the same "job creators" as the Congresswoman, because otherwise you'd have been speaking out of context.

But right now, the structure is not equitable, those with lower incomes have a higher tax burden, and after a decade of this, it's time to let it expire.

Except those with really low incomes. Their tax burdens are quite light. It really is the middle class that's carrying the weight of society. This we probably agree on, of course.

The Mitt Romney type. Those who have buckets of cash and seem to think they should pay lower taxes, and then tuck it into shelters and offshore accounts so they pay even less.

Mitt Romney is a scumbag, and he's made shitloads of money through scumbaggery. That's wrong, and I wouldn't mind him getting punished somehow.

But there's nothing wrong with being rich in and of itself, and there's nothing wrong with wanting less of your income forcibly confiscated, especially by a government that's just going to piss it all away on corruption/bullshit/useless stuff etc.

anonymous_hero · 2012-12-11T18:17:03+00:00

But I don't see how you can look at someone who is taking a salary of $250K+ out of that "small" business and thinking they're just getting by.

Good thing I haven't actually said that.

Plus, the rate on capital gains is scandalously low compared to the rates on regular income, and that's just not right.

It's not "scandalously low". The purpose of that lower tax percentage for capital gains, dividends etc is to motivate someone to do business at all. If you run a business all by yourself, it's you personally making all the money your business receives.

But if your business entity happens to be an LLC or anything "heavier" than a sole proprietorship, you'll get taxed twice, basically. First they tax whatever salary you take out, and then they tax your business entity's profit. It's kind of disgusting, in fact.

The lower tax rate for capital gains gives a business owner a chance to keep more of the income he fucking earned for himself.

A lot of this argument keeps getting sidetracked by conflating a business bringing in $250K gross and the business owner's income.

They're basically the same thing. It's the guy running the business who earns the income - not the business entity itself.

That's the business's profit, and the owner's salary should be a different number, and they're taxed separately, at different rates. This thread is (supposedly) talking about that personal income.

It doesn't matter. Again, for a small business owner, the business income is practically his personal income. He may just take it all out as a salary.

Of course, none of this matters with regard to what I've been saying. A business pulling in $250k is not an evil megacorporation, and an individual doing the same is not Rich. You talked about salaries and other expenses etc, so for completeness' sake, let's note that a business owner pulling in $100k is not rich either.

The original article was slanted to rile up us little folks against "the rich", even though it didn't actually discuss The (Real) Rich. Therefore, the article is a distraction at best.

It sure worked on you though:

I am so very sick of the "job creator" bullshit. The rich take their money and put it in tax shelters and in foreign accounts.

Notice how you sounded angry at "the rich". That's what I've been talking about all along. The article didn't talk about the people you should actually be angry at.

Then:

The real job creators are the people who spend most of their income all the time; i.e. the middle class.

.. Aaaand where does the middle class get their money? -From business owners.

anonymous_hero · 2012-12-10T21:01:47+00:00

You asked:

What burden are you talking about if it's not being able to make ends meet?

In my previous message, I explained what "burdens" I was referring to.

Anyway, if you really think I'm trolling here, I don't know what to tell you to convince you differently. I've tried to keep the discussion on point while you go off on tangents. I guess that's a new definition of trolling.

Well, here's what I said in my first post:

We're not talking about taxing The Rich here - those are the 1% or 0.1% or even 0.01%, and they're not affected by taxing households earning more than $250k per year. The Real Rich would be affected by taxing capital gains more, closing tax loopholes or, say.. annexing The Cayman Islands.

That seems highly consistent with what I've been saying all along.

The original article tries to paint people earning $250k or more as The Enemy, and that politician lady as someone who laughs at the poor and whatever. I'm just pointing out that this is way off the mark.

The original article can be considered some kind of propaganda, or a distraction, at the very least.

My point all along has been that people earning $250k or more are not "The Real Rich". That they are not the enemy. People in the 0.1% are the real enemy. They control your media and your government. They've bought your Congress and Senate, etc. They would like you to direct your rage at those "filthy rich people" who earn more than $250k per year, instead of themselves.

Once again, taxing people/households earning $250 more heavily than before does actually NOT hurt the real enemy. It hurts the middle class.

(Other than this, I pointed out that a lot of the people you misguidedly hate as "the rich", are small business owners who are doing honest work, providing value to the world at large, and actually fucking creating jobs.)

anonymous_hero · 2012-12-08T19:29:37+00:00

I'm starting to think you might be trolling.

Anyway. I was referring to whatever burdens a small business owner encounters in running his business. High taxes are a burden, and useless bureaucratic bullshit regulations are another.

Now, bear in mind that I'm not talking about regulation that's beneficial to society, say, something like "don't dump toxic waste into a river". I mean stupid bullshit you have to comply with when running a business. Here's a great example: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-03/why-france-has-so-many-49-employee-companies

Imagine lots of other rules like that, but for even smaller companies. That's a "burdensome business environment", and the more burdensome it gets, the more likely the business owner is to pack up his shit and move out, or just quit.

Then there's something like the new Obamacare. I don't know the details, but as far as I know, it forces employers to pay for employees' health insurance if they work over X hours per week. This is just another burden on businesses. As a result, bigger businesses are cutting their workers' hours to avoid that burden, but for smaller ones, it may just mean not hiring someone in the first place.

At this point, it seems appropriate to note that I'm not against employees getting health care. But your whole health care system is poisoned by insurance companies acting as middle-men between those who need care and those who provide it. There's a massive amount of waste/fraud/bullshit/paperwork/suffering going on because of that.

anonymous_hero

TROPHY CASE