Binary Speaking

On a eu l’occasion enfin d’avoir à Québec un maire qui se préoccupait plus de gérer les affaires municipales, de faire au lieu de parler, et d’arête de dépenser sans compter pour flatter son égo.  Mais on risque fort ici de retomber avec un politicien professionnel (Anne Bourget) qui est probablement plus enclin à mettre en place des comités, des structures administratives, de faire des études et des experts que de faire des choses.  La plupart des politicien ne font pas, ils tentent de gérer un équilibre difficile entre gérer les remerciements, faire plaisir à l’opinion publique, gérer les prochains gains électoraux, être « politiquement correct », au lieu de faire ce qu’il y à faire, to get the job done!

Petit cours de fiscalité…3 novembre 2007

 La PresseClaude Picher

Il est présentement un document qui connaît une certaine popularité chezles internautes, et il est possible que vous en ayez déjà reçu une copiedans votre courrier électronique. Pour ma part, je l’ai reçu trois fois, de trois sources différentes: uncollègue de travail et deux lecteurs.J’ignore qui a rédigé ce texte. Paraît-il que ce serait un professeurd’université qui essaie d’expliquer le fonctionnement des impôts, mais ce n’est pas sûr.

Il est, par contre, une chose dont je suis certain: l’auteur connaît lerégime fiscal sur le bout des doigts. À quelques poussières près, les proportions et les chiffres qu’il fournit sont exacts.Les experts utilisent parfois un vocabulaire technique assez rébarbatif.

Par exemple, s’ils veulent diviser les contribuables en 10 groupes égauxselon les tranches de revenus, ils parlent de déciles.

Le Québec compte 5 779 926 contribuables; il y a donc 577 993 contribuables dans chaque décile, le premier comprenant les plus pauvres. Nulle part l’auteur ne parle de décile; dans son texte, chaque décile est remplacé par… un buveur de bière!

Je ne peux m’empêcher de vous transmettre ce bijou. C’est unchef-d’oeuvre de vulgarisation, et je lève mon chapeau au père de cettetrouvaille. Et j’insiste là-dessus: le texte que vous allez lire reflète avec précision la progressivité du régime fiscal québécois.

Chers lecteurs, je vous laisse apprécier par vous-mêmes, en gardant àl’esprit que le dixième homme, le plus riche, dans cette histoire,représente les Québécois qui gagnent 50 000$ ou plus.

Supposons que tous les jours, 10 hommes se retrouvent pour boire unebière et que l’addition se monte à 50$ (normalement, 5$ chacun).

S’ilspayaient la note de la façon que l’on paie les impôts, selon les revenusde chacun, on aurait l’exemple suivant:

Les quatre premiers, les plus pauvres, ne paieraient rien, zéro cent.

Le cinquième paierait 50 cents.

Le sixième paierait 1,50$.

Le septième paierait 3,50$.

Le huitième paierait 6$.

Le neuvième paierait 9$.

Le dernier, le plus riche, devrait payer 29,50$ à lui tout seul.

On arrive donc bien à 50$.Ils décidèrent de procéder comme décrit.

Les dix hommes se retrouvèrentchaque jour pour boire leur bière et semblèrent assez contents de leur arrangement.

Jusqu’au jour où le tenancier du bar les plaça devant un dilemme:

«Comme vous êtes de bons clients, dit-il, j’ai décidé de vousfaire une remise de 10$. Vous ne paierez donc vos dix bières que 40$.»

Le groupe décida de continuer à payer la nouvelle somme de la mêmef açon.

Les quatre premiers continuèrent à boire gratuitement. Mais comment les six autres, les clients payants, allaient-ils diviser les10$ de remise de façon équitable?

Ils réalisèrent que 10$ divisés par 6 faisaient 1,66$.

Mais s’ils soustrayaient cette somme de leur partage, alors le cinquièmeet le sixième homme allaient être payés pour boire leur bière (1,16$ et16 cents).

Le tenancier suggéra qu’il serait plus judicieux de réduire l’addition de chacun selon le même barème et fit donc les calculs. Alors?

Le cinquième homme, comme les quatre premiers, ne paya plus rien, Un pauvre de plus.

Le sixième paya 1$ au lieu de 1,50$ (33% de réduction).

Le septième paya 2,50$ au lieu de 3,50$ (28% de réduction).

Le huitième paya 4,50$ au lieu de 6$ (25% de réduction).

Le neuvième paya 7,50$ au lieu de 9$ (17% de réduction).

Le dixième paya 24,50$ au lieu de 29,50$ (16% de réduction).

On arrive bien à un total de 40$.Chacun des six clients payants paya moins qu’avant, et les quatrepremiers continuèrent à boire gratuitement.

Mais une fois hors du bar, chacun compara son économie.«J’ai seulement eu 50 cents sur les 10$ de remise», dit le sixième et il ajouta, montrant du doigt le dixième: «Lui, il a eu 5$!!!»«C’est vrai», s’exclama le septième. «Pourquoi il aurait eu 5$ de rabais alors que moi je n’ai eu que 1$? Le plus riche a eu la plus grosse réduction!»

«Attendez une minute, cria le premier homme. Nous quatre n’avons rien eu du tout. Le système exploite les pauvres».

Les neuf hommes cernèrent le dixième et l’insultèrent.

Le jour suivant, le dixième homme ne vint pas. Les neuf autres s’assirent et burent leur bière sans lui.

Mais quand vint le moment depayer, ils découvrirent quelque chose d’important: ils n’avaient pasassez d’argent pour payer ne serait-ce que la moitié de l’addition.

Et cela est le reflet de notre système d’imposition. Les gens qui paientle plus d’impôts tirent le plus de bénéfice d’une réduction de taxe et,c’est vrai, ils resteront plus riches. Mais si vous les taxez encoreplus fort et les condamnez à cause de leur richesse, ils risquent de neplus se montrer.

Pour ceux qui ont compris, aucune explication n’est nécessaire.

Pour ceux qui n’ont pas compris, aucune explication n’est possible.

Si j’ai bien compris, la SAAQ peut faire ce qu’elle veut, sans aucun contrôle de personne, ajouter n’importe quelle taxe, augmenter n’importe quoi, et nous les beaux caves ils ne nous reste qu’à payer.  En fait, si on se prive sur d’autre plans financiers pour se procurer un peu de luxe, parce qu’on choisi de mettre nos économies et nos efforts à cet endroit BANG on vous fourre encore….voir: http://www.saaq.gouv.qc.ca/immatriculation/luxe.html Sur je ferai pas pleurer personne, mais à force des écoeurer ils vont crisser leur camp!  Regardez mon post plus récent sur ma petite histoire sur la fiscalité…. il va vous coûter cher votre bien être! C’est une CIE d’assurance que diable, ne faîtes pas comme la RAMQ, assurer le risque et non le revenu! 

Crossing team and global boundaries

by Karen

Posted by Reza Behforooz, Software EngineerIn my first month at Google, I complained to a friend on the Gmail team about a couple of small things that I disliked about Gmail. I expected him to point me to the bug database. But he told me to fix it myself, pointing me to a document on how to bring up the Gmail development environment on my workstation. The next day my code was reviewed by Gmail engineers, and then I submitted it. A week later, my change was live. I was amazed by the freedom to work across teams, the ability to check in code to another project, the trust in engineers to work on the right thing, and the excitement and speed of getting things done for our users. Engineers across our offices (and across projects) have access to the same code; I didn’t have to ask for anyone’s permission to work on this.Since then, I’ve done my best to use my 20% time on other projects. A few weeks ago, I noticed that our engineering team in India had launched an on-screen keyboard for several Indic languages on Labs. I speak Farsi, and thought it would be useful to make one for myself and ham-zaboonam (that’s Farsi for ‘people who speak my language’). After launching my latest project for Google Maps, I emailed M. T. Raghunath, the engineer in India who built out the keyboard Gadgets, to learn how I could make one for Farsi. He had already worked with several language experts to create keyboards in 14 Indic languages and had recently included right-to-left support for Urdu and Arabic, which he created with the help of Googlers from our Hyderabad office. He was excited and pointed me to the code. After a week of iteration, you too can now use the Farsi Gadget.Google has many engineering offices around the world; I currently work in Seattle and M. T. works in Bangalore. We have a lot more engineers than a few years ago when I made the changes to Gmail, but I’m happy to relive the same magic I shared with the Gmail team with a Googler across the globe. By the way, a Kashmiri Gadget is also available, thanks to help from Sarwat Nisa, a Hyderabad-based Googler.

By Thomas Hoffman, Computerworld, 11/07/07

Like other types of workers, IT professionals can be vulnerable to committing career sabotage — sometimes without even recognizing it. (See: Careers: Inside advice)

To help IT professionals become more aware of potential career blunders, Computerworld yesterday spoke with John M. McKee, president of BusinessSuccessCoach.net, a Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based career coaching and consulting firm. McKee is the author of author of Career Wisdom: 101 Proven Strategies to Ensure Workplace Success. Here are 10 career-killers, with McKee’s advice about how to recognize and avoid them.

1. Failing to have a life plan. “This is the No. 1 biggest mistake that I run into with my clients. I work with a number of clients in IT, many of whom are in C-level roles. A life plan is a business plan, in the same way that a company leader creates an annual business plan for what the future is going to bring from a corporate perspective. Three life aspects to focus on include one’s career, personal and family, and financial goals. If someone has a good title and a satisfactory personal and family life but they’re struggling to make monthly payments, then they’re not going to be satisfied. They should look at those aspects for themselves. They should look at the competitive environment, the job marketplace and whether their skill set is current. If someone can replace them because they’re cheaper, faster or better, it’s no different than looking at your IT requirements. Most importantly, this plan should be written down. Only 14% of people do that. 86% are putting their futures in the hands of others. It’s not a good place to be in.”

2. Not keeping your skills current. “The business landscape is ever-changing and there is more demand for jobs than supply. Not staying on par with colleagues and those vying for your job will be a death knell. With individuals able to do the same work that someone is doing anywhere in the world today and the prospect that organizations will chase skill sets around the world, if you’re not up to date with your skill sets in IT, you’re significantly at risk of being replaced. This includes the need to stay up to date in technical skills, business skills and soft skills.” (See: Career tips for bloggers)

3. Failing to deliver results. “Winners in business know that it’s all about accountability. Those who harbor a sense of entitlement for simply having put forth effort, irrespective of the results of those efforts, are guaranteed to fall by the wayside. It’s very easy in a corporation to believe that becoming more efficient will translate into becoming more effective. So becoming preoccupied with creating greater efficiency may be a short-term solution to helping the bottom line, but it doesn’t help the organization to grow. I rarely see people get the big bonuses in the organization simply because they understand the policies and procedures of the company. It has to do with delivering the goods. You have to know your customers, know what your marketplace wants. Great leadership is all about asking questions.”

4. Confusing efficiency with effectiveness. “Those who think that communicating via e-mail replaces the need to actually talk with people around them fail to recognize the importance of personally connecting with others in today’s highly automated and technological environment. Communicating in person whenever possible is imperative for success-seekers.”

5. Believing that you are irreplaceable. “There is no room for divas in the workplace. As soon as you convince yourself that you and only you can do the job ‘right,’ your star will surely start to fall. In any organization, any person can have a good couple of ideas, a good couple of years and a few successes under their belts and they start to think that the company can’t do without them. They start to sit on their laurels and find themselves in greater jeopardy of losing their jobs. Comparing notes with others in the organization helps keep people grounded. It helps anyone in the organization to have different trusted advisers’ perspective on what’s going on and how their performance is being viewed.”

6. Knowing all the answers. “This old adage remains true: Knowledge is power. Professing to know it all can readily stagnate a career. Winners remain unceasingly interested in learning new ideas and approaches. Asking a lot of questions is a hallmark of great leaders and great managers. When one stops asking questions and starts believing they’ve seen it all, they are devaluing the amount of change going on in the world today.”

7. Surrounding yourself with “brown-nosers.” “Losers like having people tell them how smart they are, whether or not it’s true, while successful managers and other professionals accept and encourage intelligence and creativity in others. If you’re constantly being told by your peers that everything you’re doing is wonderful, you need a better group of advisers. If your supervisor believes that you’re doing a great job, that’s terrific — it’s probably reflecting well on him or her.”

8. Forgetting to give credit to others. “Losers inappropriately take full credit for positive events despite the help or input received by others, while winners give credit where credit is due. Losers inevitably reap what they sow. If your boss is a real pumpkinhead, you can probably get away with this a few times. But if you keep doing this, chances are your boss is going to catch on that you’re a glory hog.”

9. Failing to self-promote. “Bragging is one thing, but letting colleagues throughout your industry know of your success through case studies, promotion bulletins, or other such tools is quite another. Losers often fail to recognize the importance of letting others know about their successes, or go about it in entirely the wrong way. In today’s disconnected business world, where many people work at a distance from their supervisors, it’s important to let your boss and leadership know your contributions and that you are a valuable asset. This could be as simple as providing your supervisor with an e-mail once a week to inform him about what you’re working on and your progress. By doing that, when decisions are made for promotions or job transfers, you’re more likely to get what’s due to you.”

10. Losing perspective. “Intuitive businesspeople recognize that, despite their best attempts to do everything right, sometimes they approach roadblocks and seek the advice and perspective of a respected friend, colleague or even a business coach. Those who fail to recognize their shortcomings are destined for the unemployment line. It has everything to do with forgetting the reasons why their business exists, why they’re in this business, and what it is they intended to accomplish when they entered this industry. You need to be excited about what it is you’re doing, and you need to put more enthusiasm into what it is you’re doing. If you’re not looking forward to getting out of bed in the morning, you’re working on a downward trend — you just don’t know it yet.”

Histoire vraie d’une petite fille de 6 ans qui s’est liée d’amitié avec des gens de la construction.

La fillette répondit: “Seulement si les osties d’pourris de chez Rona nous livrent leur criss de gyproc à marde pour qu’on puisse finir la tabarnac de job.”