Remaining holes in SLN intel

quite possibly a cat wrote: How do they know that Haven didn't do it? Haven seems like the logical suspect honestly. They were at war with the Manties and the strike essentially forced the Manties to come to even terms.

because even with the little attention they pay neo-bards they know that haven attacked the system 6/9 months ago and got absolutely hammered.

if haven thought they could sneak in and do something like the yawtwa strike they would never have tried a straight up attack.

solly's are morons. they are not 100% stupid.

Dauntless wrote:

quite possibly a cat wrote: How do they know that Haven didn't do it? Haven seems like the logical suspect honestly. They were at war with the Manties and the strike essentially forced the Manties to come to even terms.

because even with the little attention they pay neo-bards they know that haven attacked the system 6/9 months ago and got absolutely hammered.

if haven though they could sneak in and do something like the yawtwa strike they would never have tried a straight up attack.

solly are morons. they are not 100% stupid.

Fixed attribute.



At the risk of sounding like the Cat in the Hat, I didn't write that. In fact, Quite possibly a cat, wrote that. You took the words right out of my mouth, at that...

If Haven could have done that, they wouldn't have sacrificed so many ships and lives when they went to the mat. And that's a fact. And they would have been negotiating with a better poker hand, when they went to bat.

sorry. i'll fix that in my own post as well.

Dauntless wrote:
because even with the little attention they pay neo-bards they know that haven attacked the system 6/9 months ago and got absolutely hammered.

if haven though they could sneak in and do something like the yawtwa strike they would never have tried a straight up attack.

solly are morons. they are not 100% stupid.

You don't know the outcome of an op before it actually happens. There is no reason to assume the Yawtwa attacker knew the outcome. There is no reason to assume Haven knew the outcome of the Battle of Manticore.

On top of that, Haven only lost because Manticore got lucky with hyper navigation. Honor had her fleet jump out the resonance zone, which is a big risk. The Battle of Manticore could have ended up with a Haven victory. Only by taking a massive gamble did Manticore win.

Even if Haven did know about Yawtwa in advance AND the outcome of Manticore in advance, going through with the attack still could have been viewed as the right call. When they made the attack might have been the optimal time to do as much damage to the Manty fleet at least cost. Remember, the end result of both strikes was a place where they could negotiate even terms!

Michael Everett wrote:

Bluesqueak wrote:And that's the Solly Elephant In the Room that the Mesan Alignment is playing like a violin.

...the mental image of that mixed metaphor is quite... disconcerting.

I should probably have said 'playing like a bass'. But then, I don't so much mix metaphors as wrestle them to the ground and knock them for six.

ldwechsler wrote:...
Keep in mind that a lot of things are different in the Honorverse. Terekhov was able to do his taxes in a couple of minutes. And he's wealthy.

Taxes were clearly a lot lower and there had to be far fewer complications than we have. That means smaller government.

Smaller government means fewer bureaucrats.

You are forgetting that a substantial percentage of the Manticore Binary Systems GSP is Juncton Transit Fees, which go directly to the government (well, mostly... some of it is enfeoffed to members of the aristocracy (most notably one Elizabeth Winton)).

Except for the constitutional requirement that you must pay more in taxes than you receive in government support in order to be enfranchised, I suspect that the Manticore system could do just fine with no individual income taxes at all. In fact, with the Junction I am surprised that citizens do not receive a substantial check from the government every year (think of the Alaska permanent fund).

drinksmuchcoffee wrote:

ldwechsler wrote:...
Keep in mind that a lot of things are different in the Honorverse. Terekhov was able to do his taxes in a couple of minutes. And he's wealthy.

Taxes were clearly a lot lower and there had to be far fewer complications than we have. That means smaller government.

Smaller government means fewer bureaucrats.

You are forgetting that a substantial percentage of the Manticore Binary Systems GSP is Juncton Transit Fees, which go directly to the government (well, mostly... some of it is enfeoffed to members of the aristocracy (most notably one Elizabeth Winton)).

Except for the constitutional requirement that you must pay more in taxes than you receive in government support in order to be enfranchised, I suspect that the Manticore system could do just fine with no individual income taxes at all. In fact, with the Junction I am surprised that citizens do not receive a substantial check from the government every year (think of the Alaska permanent fund).

Yes. Government is very limited. There are the armed forces but health costs presumably are way down because of genetic and other improvements over the years.

Also people work far longer in a prolong world and should have more savings at the end.

drinksmuchcoffee wrote:Except for the constitutional requirement that you must pay more in taxes than you receive in government support in order to be enfranchised, I suspect that the Manticore system could do just fine with no individual income taxes at all.

What's the problem with not having taxes again? Not seeing the issue.

But seriously, that needs to be the second thing the opposition abuses the crap out of if they ever get power back. Target all taxes and government paychecks at demos that favor them. Target all fees and subsidies at demos who don't. Even better I bet if they demanded "reparations" from former Solly worlds they could eliminate essentially all taxes. I'm sure the RF factor would agree! The best part is they wouldn't even be taking bribes.

Real world note: The super complicated taxes are a political issue. We could just have the IRS send us a tax bill!

quite possibly a cat wrote:

drinksmuchcoffee wrote:Except for the constitutional requirement that you must pay more in taxes than you receive in government support in order to be enfranchised, I suspect that the Manticore system could do just fine with no individual income taxes at all.

What's the problem with not having taxes again? Not seeing the issue.

But seriously, that needs to be the second thing the opposition abuses the crap out of if they ever get power back. Target all taxes and government paychecks at demos that favor them. Target all fees and subsidies at demos who don't. Even better I bet if they demanded "reparations" from former Solly worlds they could eliminate essentially all taxes. I'm sure the RF factor would agree! The best part is they wouldn't even be taking bribes.

Real world note: The super complicated taxes are a political issue. We could just have the IRS send us a tax bill!

You are right about politics. And, actually (and I hate to bring up politics here) the new Trump tax plan is targeted at about ninety percent of the population who would be able to do the taxes simply.

Of course, the rich have their own special breaks.

It would seem that it is not the case in Manticore. Terekhov is clearly wealthy but it takes almost no time.

ldwechsler wrote:

quite possibly a cat"[quote="drinksmuchcoffee wrote:Except for the constitutional requirement that you must pay more in taxes than you receive in government support in order to be enfranchised, I suspect that the Manticore system could do just fine with no individual income taxes at all.

What's the problem with not having taxes again? Not seeing the issue.

But seriously, that needs to be the second thing the opposition abuses the crap out of if they ever get power back. Target all taxes and government paychecks at demos that favor them. Target all fees and subsidies at demos who don't. Even better I bet if they demanded "reparations" from former Solly worlds they could eliminate essentially all taxes. I'm sure the RF factor would agree! The best part is they wouldn't even be taking bribes.

Real world note: The super complicated taxes are a political issue. We could just have the IRS send us a tax bill!

You are right about politics. And, actually (and I hate to bring up politics here) the new Trump tax plan is targeted at about ninety percent of the population who would be able to do the taxes simply.

Of course, the rich have their own special breaks.

It would seem that it is not the case in Manticore. Terekhov is clearly wealthy but it takes almost no time.[/quote]


IIRC Terekhov filled out his single page E-form in 15 minutes.