Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

"The real national emergency is my potatoes gettin' cold over here while you fuckin' take forever makin' a fuckin Swiss & ham omelet. Hurry up, asshole. And if I ever catch you makin' my omelets with the same fuckin' spatula as everyone else, your ass will be on the first plane back to San Honduras or wherever the fuck you come from. Capiche?"


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[Dr. Strangelove]

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[hack]

Could be. Dunno. I just know that your skepticism applies to some numbers and not all, which is a cardinal sin when working with data.

[hack]

And the thing is, Amazon chose NY despite the fact that the state has one of the highest tax structures in the country and the fact that several other states offered much more in incentives. In a some cases more than double what NY offered.

Besides, Cuomo's lamentations, Carolyn Maloney (D, NY) said,

And I agree with both her and Cuomo: NY lost a huge deal. It is quite the fuck-up.

I'd be careful with some of that. We have no way to know if it's a fuckup or not, and only time will tell. It's quite possible that the deal we're talking about isn't as good as the deal actually is. That's exactly what happened in the same kinda story in which Wisconsin lured Foxconn, and much of those purported benefits were never really there.

In this case, Amazon made $11bn in 2018 and paid no federal tax. It's notable that they paid no tax, but even more intresting that it only declared $11bn in profit for the whole year. Apple, by comparison, declared $14bn in the fourth quarter alone. Which is all to say that Jeff Bezos isn't the world's richest man for nothing. He wasn't going to go to New York despite getting better offers elsewhere. It's awfully difficult to know with any certainty whether this was a good deal or a bad.

Lastly, I think that the citizens of New York are not a monolith. Different people here are going to have different interests. If I own real estate nearby, I'm furious. If I rent, and want to stay for a long time or buy in that area, I'm not so mad.

[Hannibal]

whatever college gave Palin Cortez her economic degree should lose accreditation

They all pretty much have the same problem.

[Da Geezer]

Geezer, I thought you were dead.

Why...Stan the Man,...Unusual. How are ya doing anyway!

[AlabamAlum]

I'd be careful with some of that. We have no way to know if it's a fuckup or not, and only time will tell. It's quite possible that the deal we're talking about isn't as good as the deal actually is. That's exactly what happened in the same kinda story in which Wisconsin lured Foxconn, and much of those purported benefits were never really there.

The Foxconn deal is nothing like what NY offered Amazon. Wisconsin offered Foxconn a deal that is now over $4 billion, and much of it in cash. Foxconn reneged on building a factory, started using robots to replace jobs, and even if they had filled every job projected it was half the number of Amazon and about 35% of the average salary. Wisconsin's tax structure is much less progressive than NY's, as well. It's apples and oranges.

We will disagree whether this is obviously a good deal or not. With incentives tied to jobs and no cash payments NY had very little to lose except for property going up in value and pricing out some low income people with rent - which is a problem every successful city faces when it booms.

Amazon would be wildly successful. As you say, Bezos isn't the richest man in the world for nothing. And while he has sheltered his company from Federal tax, the last couple of years, he had not from state and other taxes.

But none of this matters. They aren't building HQ2 in NY. We can revist this in a few years and see what kind of impact they had in Virginia and Nashville.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Pat Caddell is dead from a stroke. Most probably know him from his appearances on Fox.. He's largely credited with being Carter's most important '76 campaign official but he had a mixed legacy of success; he was one of the writers of the infamous 'malaise' speech. He worked with McGovern, Gary Hart, and on Biden's disastrous 1988 campaign. Also helped create the marketing behind "New Coke".

In later years he pretty much abandoned the Democrats (though he still called himself one). Started appearing on Fox frequently and advising Steve Bannon.

RIP

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/16/obituaries/patrick-caddell-dead.html

[Dr. Strangelove]

It's such an emergency that no one has bothered to talk to the (Acting) Secretary of Defense or the Pentagon on what they're expected to do

[Hannibal]

Pat Caddell is dead from a stroke. Most probably know him from his appearances on Fox.. He's largely credited with being Carter's most important '76 campaign official but he had a mixed legacy of success; he was one of the writers of the infamous 'malaise' speech. He worked with McGovern, Gary Hart, and on Biden's disastrous 1988 campaign. Also helped create the marketing behind "New Coke".

In later years he pretty much abandoned the Democrats (though he still called himself one). Started appearing on Fox frequently and advising Steve Bannon.

RIP

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/16/o...dell-dead.html

LMAO this guy sounds like a bigger clown than Dave Brandon.

[Dr. Strangelove]

LMAO this guy sounds like a bigger clown than Dave Brandon.

Yeah, I tried not to be too "speak ill of the dead" but...

I started reading various obituaries and was pretty much "holy shit...this guy that people treated as an 'expert', because of one successful campaign 45 years ago, was also attached to some of the biggest flops in history"

The Malaise Speech? Gary Hart? Biden's Plagiarism-riddled campaign in '88? NEW COKE?!?!

No wonder he was a washed-up font of bitterness by the early 90's

[Dr. Strangelove]

National Emergency Declarations have overwhelmingly been used to put sanctions on hostile countries/human rights abusers. Trump's declaration is pretty unique and not like many of the others and doesn't really have the precedent he claims.

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[iam416]

Good stuff, AA.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Trump may very well win his fight for the wall by default. I think it's a stupid fight but an interesting legal battle will probably ensue that will show how Congress has repeatedly granted powers to the Executive to spend that otherwise would and should reside a legislative prerogative. Having done so in numerous other circumstances it faces a tough legal reality if they are going to rely on the courts to do Congress's job and by so doing reclaim their constitutional authority they've given away to the Executive to spend.

Congress has the authority to rescind the national emergency declaration of Trump with a vote of both chambers. The legislative branch should do so. If Congress cannot muster the votes, however, a federal judge is unlikely to do so. Simply put, the courts were not created to protect Congress from itself. Congress has been heading to hell for decades, and it is a bit late to complain about the destination.

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/430335-why-trump-will-win-the-wall-fight

[Kapture1]

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