2020 US Presidential Election

The last thing we need is more tax. If you really want to kill any chance of a recovery or want to increase the rate at which the economy drops into a recession, then increase taxes. It will kill any last hopes of seeing any growth.

I’m tired of hearing how everything is the fault of billionaires all the time. It’s such a cop-out of an argument as it’s the top 1% that are typically the most productive and are the largest net providers to the economy. If you take the grafters out of society, then innovation would die and the creation of jobs would plummet leaving a stagnant economy where the government would have even less money for social services. We live in a free society where anybody can attempt to become successful at doing or creating something. Everybody’s living standards are raised by the pioneers that create wealth and industry, and what we are lacking right now is productivity. We need more people to be working and earning so that we no longer have to keep borrowing money to fill the budget deficits. If we as a society cannot become more productive, then we need to start cutting our budgets, and we need to learn to live within our means.

This trend of kicking the can down the road whilst constantly raising the debt ceiling needs to end. It will not end well, and it’s not fair for us to pass on such a significant debt to our children and our children’s children.

Capitalism will always have the issue of the rich getting richer whilst the poor get poorer. It’s an inherent problem that hasn’t been solved, but I strongly believe that all developed nations should have universal healthcare and other social security measures. Those who are capable of working and providing should not become accustomed to handouts, however, as this type of behaviour can often run in families. The world doesn’t owe anyone a living, so able people shouldn’t expect a comfortable life without having to make any effort.

 

Biden is the President. He doesn't make laws. Congress makes laws.

He might have expressed a desire for congress to do it. I don't see the quotes you are referring to. So who is the liar?

Remember, Republicans used to say Democrats love and want to slap higher taxes on everyone. So he must still love them.

 

I will be happy to pay the more than 50% (yes, you read well) I pay on my earnings when those billionaires pay the same percentage.

Until they pay 50% tax like me, I think proposing that their companies pay 15% is a very good deal... an excellent deal. But of course those billionaires and their companies are paying nothing, close to zero tax, and they do not want to pay 15%.

So Biden was just talking, which is cheap, free... but he is not going to deliver the 15% global corporation tax.

And people like me and many other taxpayers will continue paying 50%, or even more. They call this "fair" haha.

 

It's Biden and his team who throw headlines of a "15% global corporate tax" and then do not deliver. Who is the liar?

 

At this side of the pond, the UK is getting closer to getting rid of its own clown:

Boris Johnson faces vote of no confidence in his leadership

 

We’ve been over this before. You are comparing apples with oranges because most billionaires are asset rich and cash poor. In other words, they mostly pay themselves dividends. This is where Janet Yellen had that ridiculous idea to tax people's unrealised capital gains which would have been a disaster. People would have to sell assets in order to pay the tax on something that hasn’t even been crystallised (hasn’t happened essentially). What happens if the markets crash and you’ve taxed people who are at a huge loss? It’s complete and utter nonsense and shows how out of touch some politicians are.

This is a total misnomer. I’ve already pointed out that only the top 40%, on average, are net payers to the federal government in the US.



Once you have adjusted for transfers, a very different picture emerges of who effectively contributes.

Sure, there are plenty of tax avoiders who are wealthy (and lower down the chain, also), but there are also plenty of fraudulent claims that come out of the social security pool. There are people scamming the system at both ends, but without the top 40% there’d be nothing driving the economy, so there’d be little to tax.

If you ran a company you’d be doing exactly the same as everyone else. Are you telling me that you’d voluntarily pay a higher tax rate than necessary by following the law? This means you could reinvest your money to expand your business and provide more jobs to the local community, and you could also donate more to charity, etc.

The idea that if money isn’t going directly to the government that it’s a bad thing is silly. It depends how a company intends to use the capital as governments can be incredibly wasteful.

Don’t pay it then. Build and scale a business and then use the same rules that they do by taking dividends and loans. Your 50% contribution is peanuts compared to what some of the higher earners contribute to the economy as a whole. The fact you think you’re contributing more than Elon Musk, who you like you use as an example, is laughable to me. He recently paid the largest tax bill in history, but even without that, you’re in a totally different league.

As I stated earlier, if you were to get rid of the pioneers and just taxed everyone 50% no matter what, then the economy would become abysmal. You would essentially end up in a communist state with no growth or innovation, and many of the jobs would dry up and poverty would increase.

It’s not such a simple dynamic as taxing everyone loads so that everyone else can flourish (which is what you seem to tout a lot). I do agree that some large corporations get away with too much under the current laws and this needs to be addressed, but other than that I fundamentally disagree with you.

 

Where is the quote that you refer to? It's not like he said I promise. He didn't say "no new taxes."

You know better.

 

Did anyone catch this mistake from George W Bush recently?

George W Bush slips up and calls the Ukraine...

He continues to be a walking talking calamity, and this can be added to his extensive highlight reel.

A Freudian slip?

 

I can't even begin to imagine all the issues taxing unrealized gains would bring to the table. It's not just stocks and bonds but also property, crypto, artwork, gold and other precious metals, anything really that can be stored as wealth. A tax on unrealized capital gains would seriously hurt the middle class investor whose wealth are held in retirement accounts as well. And I don’t think the IRS is competent enough to handle this huge endeavor. They can't even get people to reliably report all taxable transactions

Taxing the ultra rich through income is worthless. The tax code needs to be revamped somehow, but I have no idea how to go about it. Prevent loopholes is start i guess.

Holy shit, how did I miss this? It was definitely a slip up, but he follows up by saying “Iraq too” and the way he nods his head is quite telling, implying that he and Putin are not so different in their pursuit to launch an unjustified invasion.

But hey at least he’s telling the truth now... gotta respect the honesty.

 

Yep, it would be carnage.

I agree 100%, and this is what a lot of people don’t understand.

I missed it as well. A friend of mine sent me the clip and it was one of those metaphorical spit your drink out moments when I heard it.

 

Something to think about:

Rep. Billy Long, who serves Missouri, made the startling claims on Columbia radio station 93.9 The Eagle. The 66-year-old said: "It's a systemic problem. When I was growing up in Springfield, you had one or two murders a year. Now, we have two, three, four a week in Springfield, Missouri, so something has happened to our society, and I go back to abortion. When we decided it was OK to murder kids in their mother's wombs, life has no value to a lot of these folks."

Critics who support tougher gun control may argue that many other countries also legalized abortion decades ago and have not experienced a similar rise in mass shootings; countries such as the U.K., where abortion was legalized in 1967, but where it is illegal for members of the public to carry guns and gun ownership is strictly regulated.

 

Surprised to see that Bojo is still politically "alive" after the cooked no-confidence vote....

He should have let the other parties vote too!

 

Statement by President Joe Biden on Today’s Agreement of 130 Countries to Support a Global Minimum Tax for the World’s Largest Corporations

 

"We must adopt the global minimum tax, among other measures I have proposed, to make sure corporations pay their fair share. Congress should pass..."

Thanks.

 

I remember we had a discussion not too long ago pertaining to the rise of crime in San Francisco and the terrible “progressive” District Attorney, Chesa Boudin whose mostly responsible for it. Well if anyone is still wondering, the dude got destroyed in the recall vote today and will be removed from office. Election results here.

The residents living there weren’t feeling safe anymore and the recall vote is indicative of that. Boudin as a DA got rid of cash bail, stopped charging gang enhancement, released repeat offenders who went on to commit more crimes. Perpetrators of anti-Asian hate crimes got slaps on the wrists, while victims were cast aside and ignored. The DA’s office also saw an insane turnover rate since he took office and that’s clear to me that the man failed to do his job as prosecutor.

We need people with basic common sense in office and not radical loons. I want Brooke Jenkins to be the replacement. She’s awesome.

 

The SEC’s constant delay to approve a Bitcoin spot ETF and the Federal Reserve delaying the approval of Custodia’s master account just shows how rigged and corrupt the current system is.

Bitcoin Bank Custodia Sues Federal Reserve, Demanding Decision On Master Account

Canada, Australia, Europe and South America all have a Bitcoin spot ETF, but the SEC is still unnecessarily dragging its feet with no plausible explanation.

The Federal Reserve is also legally required to act within a year and it’s now been 19 months. Are they competent at doing anything?

 

Another progressive District Attorney in California, Los Angeles is George Gascon.

The campaign to recall L.A. County District Attorney George Gascon announced Thursday it requires 60,000 more signatures in order to see the initiative placed on the November ballot.

The campaign said it had collected over 500,000 signatures, or 88.2% of the goal, as of May 31, closing in on the 566,857 it needs by the July 6 deadline.

The guy who stepped on the gas aiming for a little girl and her mother wasn't prosecuted by Gascon. This is a horrifying video to watch. The person who tortured and murdered a little girl was not prosecuted by Gascon. Releasing repeat offenders to commit more dangerous crimes and murder.

The assistant District Attorney and other department public attorneys are furious.

 

So Biden has not delivered since the global minimum tax has not been approved.

 

I don't know anything about this person or the situation, but that sounds horrific. People of power need to be held accountable for their actions.

 

Victim outraged over sentence of juvenile who...

Reading up on this. Is this the story you’re referring to? News story says the mother and child thankfully weren’t killed. The prep was a juvenile and under the influence while driving, but this still doesn’t excuse the violent crime they committed. The prep should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent as an adult and held accountable for their actions. The fact that this DA did not consider the act to be a violet crime and the accused was given a much lighter sentence (youth camp!?) is nothing short of pathetic. I saw the actual footage and it looked like a hit and run. Hopefully, they’ll get the necessary signatures needed for the recall initiative before the deadline.

These people shouldn’t be in positions of power.

 

My dad has been waiting for care at home since he left the hospital months ago, and he’s now become so ill that he’s had to go back in again which is not what he wanted, and this wasn’t a part of his treatment plan. The GP said he’d get care at home.

It's a long story, and there's plenty more to this, but today my mom was called into the hospital and was told there's only a 50/50 chance he's going to make it out. His feet have gone purple through a lack of oxygen, and his heart is severely limited and has many problems. He is near the end and I’m just broken. It’s too much to digest and I feel odd/guilty just writing this post.

He’s paid taxes his entire life and is still paying tax on his private pension to this day. He also took a retirement job in his 70s at a racecourse because he loves horse racing, and they taxed him on that as well. The government has failed him as I’m sure his tax money has helped numerous people, and in return, he has been neglected/left to rot because there’s not enough staff within the NHS to care for everyone. The NHS is on its knees and is no longer fit for purpose.

 

You are joking.

 

So sorry you're having to deal with this @Ed209. You shouldn’t feel guilty for posting this, it's good to just get it out in the first place. Stay strong.

But yeah, I’ve been seeing a lot of criticism here against NHS and how it’s become a shell of its former self. @Steph1710 and @makeyourownluck wrote about their terrible experiences with NHS as well. It’s a punch to the gut when I read this because I’ve always admired the NHS and wish we could bring something like that here(US). Not sure what to think now.

 

You’re way out of line here. If it’s about comparing how our tax dollars are spent vs the UK’s, still inappropriate in this context.

 

It seems Boris Johnson is going to try to pass a law next week to suspend the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Bojo is going to bankrup the UK, as the EU is going to retaliate if such a "law", which would break an international treaty, is approved.

 

Joking about what? My dad had his cancer surgery on February 14th and he hasn't had any follow-up or even been assessed since. He had a visit from the GP over a month ago to discuss his palliative care and was told that he’d have carers coming to the house. He has been waiting 4 months, and when my mom rang the hospital to find out what is going on (as the GP had applied) she was told by a rude nurse that my dad isn't entitled to any care because he is not end of life, and she also added that she’d have to pay for help. You don't know how mad this made me as this person didn't even know my dad's case or who he even was; she was just assuming. My mom has been showering him, changing his stoma bags, and generally caring for him all on her own without any help whatsoever, and she is 79. She hasn’t been able to cope with it all.

Two days after that call an ambulance was rung and he was taken to hospital because of how ill he now is. He was in desperate need of oxygen as his feet are purple, and he had a chest infection. The Dr who saw him couldn’t believe what the nurse told my mom on the phone about receiving care. He said it was outrageous as he wasn’t supposed to go back in as the plan that was discussed with his GP was that he was going to live his final days at home surrounded by his family. Going back in was his worst nightmare.

Now nobody can see him as only one visitor is allowed and you have to book in by getting a number by ringing a certain place within the hospital. My mom was in the queue to get one and the line cut out. When she rang back she was like 54th in the queue again. It’s shocking how badly he has been treated through negligence. He was supposed to be having monthly checks on his blood to check his kidneys (which would have found the cancer early) but they stopped them. I could write a book about all this as some wouldn’t believe everything that has happened. The lack of checks led to stage 4 kidney failure.

My dad is now severely ill and doesn’t have long left and there’s a chance I won’t see him again.

Not so long ago, my daughter had an abnormal blood test from the hospital lab so they told us she needed to go to A&E immediately as she might have leukaemia. When we got there at 6 pm they did another test and my wife and daughter had to wait all through the night, and at around 8 am the following day she finally got to see a Dr. They made my then 3-year-old daughter wait 14 hours in a hospital waiting room (without proper sleep) just to tell her that the first test result was a lab error. The NHS in its current state is not fit for purpose as there’s not enough staff.

So, tell me which part you think I’m joking about?

 

It’s only in recent times that it has become so shockingly bad. Our NHS has always been a staple of our nation and has looked after generations of people, but the government and those who are managing it have slowly ruined it.

It urgently needs more investment, but I’d still advocate that everyone should have access to a national health service rather than just a 100% private one. When I see the bills you pay in the US I find it unfathomable.

 

What I cannot comprehend is how @Paul1980 found my post funny.

 

Hi brother Ed209,

I am sorry to hear about your Pop. Praying for peace, better days, and no suffering for your dear old dad, I hope you can see him asap. Thank G-d the lab result was an error with your little girl (freaking losers at the hospital/shame on them).

Praying for you Ed.

I can't speak for @Paul1980, but I think he was laughing at the absurdity of the system i.e. that it would not take care of your dad who worked his life paying into it and supporting it. I assume that was Paul's stance.

Anyhoo, you're a good man and a shining star on this forum. Stay strong and be your best, you are already a top notch son and dad. I am proud to call you a friend!

Love you buddy,
DL