Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

The Saudis and UAE have been giving US military hardware to Al Qaeda and Iranian-backed Houthis as a way to curry their favor in the Yemeni War

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019...-lost-us-arms/

[iam416]

In what is truly a fascinating turn, New York state has a massive revenue shortfall: https://www.timesunion.com/news/arti...l-13587646.phphttps://buffalonews.com/2019/02/04/s...state-revenue/

The SALT deduction, of course, robs the Federal treasury of tax money for the benefit of states and, in the process, artificially price controls state tax rates. All for the benefit of the wealthy. The federal deduction still allows up to a deduction for up to $10,000 in state and local taxes paid, but that's not going to get you much above the middle class in place like NYC. And now Cuomo is bitching about having to bear more realistic costs of NY's stupid high taxes and cautioning against taxing the rich.

The Northam stuff is funny in an almost irrelevant way. The Cuomo stuff is hilarious in a much, much, much more relevant way. I really think Cuomo needs to pick Palin-Cortez's brain for the solution.

[crashcourse]

I still don't get it

blackface was extremely common in the 1980's

trading places, soulman, SNL, music videos and on and on used black face

today obviously it is immoral and bigoted

I don't know why we don't tear every statue down of any leader whoever owned a slave

the hysteria we generate as a society for every perceived wrong from the butthurt is going to neuter anybody's ability to lead

today my wife is rewriting bomb threat call sheets because somebody got butthurt over the instructions. "Does the caller sound black hispanic Caucasian or Asian?

I hate the butthurt of society. Those who insist out of making an issue that does not affect them but just want the media glare on them

[iam416]

Yeah, as I said, I'm not sure why an act from 35 years ago trumps every intervening act since, but that's the world we live in. The Progressive Socialists control that shit.

[Hannibal]

We're living right now in a Twilight Zone clown world.

Corrective action is inevitable.

[Kapture1]

I still don't get it

blackface was extremely common in the 1980's

trading places, soulman, SNL, music videos and on and on used black face

today obviously it is immoral and bigoted

I don't know why we don't tear every statue down of any leader whoever owned a slave

the hysteria we generate as a society for every perceived wrong from the butthurt is going to neuter anybody's ability to lead

today my wife is rewriting bomb threat call sheets because somebody got butthurt over the instructions. "Does the caller sound black hispanic Caucasian or Asian?

I hate the butthurt of society. Those who insist out of making an issue that does not affect them but just want the media glare on them

The left has set the standard.

They want to tear down ever statue of any leader who owned slaves. They want to tear down the Jefferson memorial. They want to take his name off of the college he founded.

And this is the big lie that the leftist media has been repeating... When Trump said there are good people on both sides, he was talking about the statue debate, not Charlottesville specifically. Media took that phrase and claimed he was referring to the nazis

[Kapture1]

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[hack]

Today's tax-policy check-in no doubt highlights the challenge. I don't know much about NY state politics other than under Cuomo that they've managed to make a hash of things in renewables in ways that most every other state got right. Re tax, well, I don't know what AOC really actually thinks but she's on a path that many others have gone down in the past ten years, trying to find the actual spot to apply pressure. It gets little to no attention, but the OECD's BEPS Process is a quiet but massive overhaul of global taxation practices, and in my opinion rightly puts the focus on the incorporated entities and not their beneficiaries. It's very easy for a person to offshore their balance sheet, and not as easy for a corporation. It's getting harder. I'm delighted that AOC has forced the issue but do agree that it's going to be a very steep learning curve for progressives on tax. The real tricks are of course buried in the driest, most-complicated processes. I don't know that eyes can be trained on the actual prize long enough, given the many opportunities for distraction. I feel confident in predicting that by primary season more progressives will know that Cory Booker is a vegan than that he's funded largely by Wall Street.

For now, though, I would be content with a debate that distills it down to the fact that economic growth was better when marginal tax rates were higher.

[Kapture1]

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[iam416]

Governor Cuomo's predicament continues to amuse:

Governor Cuomo is learning the hard lesson that taxes affect behavior. He's sure to fall out of favor with the Progressive Socialists, but I rather enjoy seeing him learning that one the hard way. Of course, at the federal level the top 1% already pay about 40% of the income taxes, but that's not going to stop the economically illiterate from pushing for 100% marginal rates to maximize growth according to their logic. Of course, when you cut top marginal rates, the top 1% pays a higher percentage of income taxes, but that's of no concern. Good times.

Set up a truly Orwellian state where, e.g., facecrimes are actually a thing and you can purge all opponents on the most trifling offense and then seize power for a technocrat government. It would seem that Palin-Cortez and her band of Progressive Socialists have studied growth curves and come away impressed with how China is doing and are rather set on following that model.

[iam416]

Ha, I didn't even see that Palin-Cortez was "honored" to talk with Jeremy Corbyn. LOL. I bet she was.

[hack]

Again, the question is what do you tax. Do you care to make a distinction between ``the rich'' and their incorporated entities? Smart tax policy surely should. Capital is mobile. Access to the financial markets of New York can only happen in New York. For Cuomo, tax policy is going to look different than for Ohio, where manufacturers have a choice when it's time for the next round of capital expenditure. Or for Texas or Nevada, where wealth is created by extraction. You can't move the Permian Basin to the Cayman Islands. I don't know how much AOC has thought about that yet. If she's serious she will be thinking about the mobility of assets at some point.

Or she could hop on the phone with Corbyn. We'll see. We know she can mobilize, set an agenda, and counterpunch in modern and relevant ways. We'll see if she can get the policy stuff right.

[iam416]

Palin-Cortez has already made it plain that taxing income at 70% is part of the "what" she wants. Perhaps she'll read up on some shit or speak with Corbyn and come up with a whole bunch of other things to tax, but it seems clear that steep income tax hikes are part of the what. So, the question is more accurately -- what ELSE do you tax?

[iam416]

BuzzFeed dumped a trove of internal Trump Org documents that show Trump was pursuing a Moscow project well after he began his run for President

Final nail in the coffin. Again.

[iam416]

Interesting non-sequitur. But, have it your way, dude.