>From:    [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Just a Quickie please
 
Wow a lot of things to respond to but even further off topic...
 
Jennifer Ellis was responding more to something I wrote.  It was related
to my comments about the desire for ferrets to become more rare and more
expensive.  I first used the terms about poverty.  You expressed the ideas.
 
You don't need a credit card for internet service - I don't use one for any
of my accounts.
 
Lets not play the "I got better more poor credentials" game.  Most of the
folks in the US under the poverty level have color TVs and VCRs.  (See this
past Sunday's Washington Post).  Our poor are the wealthy of other parts of
the world.  And yes I feel that even those under the poverty level deserve
ferrets.  On the whole pets are very cost effective when you consider the
emotional and entertainment benefits to the owners compared to other items
that might be considered non-essential or luxuries.
 
Subject: I didn't do it!!!
 
You most certainly did.  Perhaps through not thinking through what you
wrote.  If I were to shoot a gun at a house and it happened to strike an
occupant I would have shot the person even if I wasn't trying to.
 
>To say that $400 for a ferret from a breeder working on creating a
>healthy ferret is an amount that only "rich" people can afford
 
Nope you said $1400.  That is quite a bit different.  And being one of
those breeding ferrets on a small scale - $400 is pretty darned expensive.
Since we also have AKC registered German shepherds and pomeranians we know
more than just ferrets.  $400 is low on the scale of AKC dogs but still
much more expensive than many.  You can get good pet quality dogs from AKC
breeders for half of that.
 
The prospective owner would have to have cash on hand of $1400 dollars
which is NOT something someone who is poor could do.  That IS making
ferrets something only the rich could afford.  That $800 that you dismiss
as coming back is money that couldn't be spent on ferret supplies or the
needs of the people.
 
>If a fert sold for $1400.  ,which i made clear was just a number, $800.
>would be given back with proof fert was neutered.  This would help prevent
>females from anemia.  Yes?
 
No.  That is an idea that makes far too much work for the breeder.  The
numbers are way out of whack.  The breeder would have to open escrow
accounts that would amount to a lot of work completely away from helping
the ferrets.  The more time spent at a bank, the less time socializing
kits.  Or the less time spent on cleaning litter boxes.  You get the
point...
 
>Of the $600.  remaining:---$200.  would be tax deductible and go towards
>research and shelters.It would be your good deed, your recognition of the
>need for shelters and research.  It would be a tax write-off.
 
Tax write offs are nice but they aren't the same as not spending money.
Even in the 30% brackets which are the highest - that $200 is worth only
$60 in reduced taxes.  Uncle Sam certainly isn't gonna send you a check for
$200 because you gave that money to a ferret shelter.  OKay there might be
another $10-20 in state tax liability reduction.  If you are near the
poverty level (I was below for a few years - now I'm not) and you pay no or
close to no taxes a tax write off is worthless.  You have to still call
over a hundred dollars of that as non-recoverable expense.  Your $400
dollar ferret is some $520 for a rich person but as much as $600 for a poor
person or college student with no tax liability.
 
>According to Zen; Only "rich people" have $400?
 
No.  The number you stated is $1400.  That other thousand is like kiting a
check if you don't have it.  You can ask you friends from the soup kitchens
whether they could come up with $1400 knowing they get $800 back six months
later.  The cost to low tax liable person (or poor person) is $600 plus a
$800 loan to the breeder who doesn't want the hassles of that loan anyway.
 
>I promise you, I would not write that, think it, or dream it.
 
But you did "dream" it.  Perhaps through not understanding what you were
actually proposing but you definitely wrote it.  I just pointed out what I
saw as a few of the more serious flaws in the proposal.
 
-bill
--
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
http://www.zenferret.com/
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[Posted in FML issue 2692]