Some comments about fairness, what taxes are best, that rely on some rationalization or justification, something easy to find from an expert that says otherwise. I did a few bong hits in State and passionately defended all sorts of things I no longer believe. I just want to know, considering that politicians do what donors suggest they do and what lobbyists want, what policies work best for me so that I can live comfortably with my family away from poor criminals and enjoy life at home and in my community and travel largely when I want to. Also, what public policies are gonna make me happy? That's what I'll support. Just let me know. I'll invent some selfless rationalization to claim it's what's best for America or something and say it'll make State baseball win more games.
OT: Economy - Since SPS is the best place to learn about economics. Thoughts?
- Thread starter horshack.sixpack
- Start date
- Status
Did a middle class person ever give you a job? BTW, I did cut grass a few times for someone who was poor and got paid a little bit for it so for me a poor person did give me a job. Plus, I had a govt job that worked with poor people so, at least indirectly, I got paid for working with and because of poor people. Anyway, did any non-billionaire ever give you a job? I do like the self-interested aspect of it. I tend to support policies that benefit me and my family without worrying whether they're good for America. BTW, I was once poor and qualified for food stamps. Those days are long gone, fortunately. I don't hate billionaires but America is a great place for a billionaire and a great place to become a billionaire. If they pay a little bit more in taxes, they'll still be billionaires.
Last edited:
Without putting more thought into it than I have to this point I think I can for sure get on board with fewer loopholes that allow corporations to skate.
Last edited:
I don't understand the proposal well enough. At first blush, it doesn't make sense to me.
Is it a constantly assessed tax, so whenever unrealized gains increase, the gains are taxed? Is it only taxed at specific gained intervals, like 5%, 10%, etc? Is there a credit when the gains disappear? Is the tax only determined at one or multiple specific dates?...so quarterly for example?
I have no idea how it would work because I haven't bothered to read about it. It seems messy to figure out.
I posted it because based on experience, it seems many on here who have others on ignore still read the posts.
Human behavior is odd.
Also, I posted it for the reason I said in the last sentence. Discussion can still take place around someone standing in the middle of the room with their hands over their ears. And discussion about that person as it pertains to the topic can also happen
^^^^This^^^^
How about we stop stupid sh@t first like sending Billions of cash to the Ukraine?
Here’s a novel idea.
spend less 17ing money.
We have an irs system that could be reduced to 25% of what it cost today very easily. You can’t do that in year 1 but you could easily reduce it by 5 to 10% yearly over the course of 6 to 13 years to alleviate the hit on the economy.
There is zero reason we should have a system where many people from $0 to $200,000 ish in working income need a damn accountant.
Get rid of deductions. It’s a simple percentage. If you make X, you pay Y.
you can still have auditors to enforce that but wouldn’t need nearly as many.
The only person/people who need an accountant should be business owners and possibly people who only work but make a 17 ton of money.
And don’t get me started on the 17 show that is USPS.
I said it doesn't make sense to me based on what little I know.
How is that response not good enough? Why would you want me to comment on something I say I dont understand?...that seems pretty dumb.
It doesn't seem to make sense and it seems like it would be messy to enforce.
I don't understand it and haven't bothered to read about it because it seems to far fetched that it isn't worth the research.
Sucks that an honest answer isn't good enough for you.
I didn’t read your “honest” answer until after I posted, but I’d bet a lot you wouldn’t be so “honest” if the roles were reversed and you didn’t understand the opposite parties idea.
But let me be clear, it’s a 17ing terrible idea.
In the spirit of the thread, I have no idea how it can ever be fixed , but the way our healthcare system is funded and bills it's "customers" is now the most 17'd up thing I could imagine an advanced society creating.
The average cost of simply being admitted to an ER in the USA is apparently now about $1,200. That's the charge before they do a thing to you. It's almost like the devil created this system.
I understand some of the reasons for it, and I'm sure I don't understand at all many of the reasons for it. But the prices for basic medical care are completely ridiculous, and that tells me there's a major problem in the system.
The average cost of simply being admitted to an ER in the USA is apparently now about $1,200. That's the charge before they do a thing to you. It's almost like the devil created this system.
I understand some of the reasons for it, and I'm sure I don't understand at all many of the reasons for it. But the prices for basic medical care are completely ridiculous, and that tells me there's a major problem in the system.
Just get on Medicare and have some secondary policy. Buddy's father-in-law has been in the hospital 6 months and racked up millions in healthcare costs. Went home briefly and had to be airlifted back to the hospital. But, he's not gonna have to pay anything or just a tiny amount. Kids aren't losing their inheritance to pay these medical bills.
Hmmm, the same "adults" who orchestrated the cluster17 of an exit from Afghanistan where American Servicemen lost their lives? Or the "adults" that passed the Inflation Reduction Act that did the exact opposite? Or was it the "adults" that are sending hundreds of billions of our dollars to Ukraine with no end in sight? Or is it the "adults" who want to get rid of our gas stoves? Or maybe it's the "adults" who are enabling human trafficking and importation of drugs by declaring our southern border "Open for Business"? I could go on.
Yeah, 17 your "adults"!
But I don't understand the other party's idea on this and still hold the view I gave.
Since I am unsure if it's a good idea(presumably Democrat), I also am unsure if it's a bad idea(presumably Republican).
Once agin, you assume stuff and then get all bent out of shape over the result of your own assumption.
I have said my peace/piece on this dumb back and forth I allowed myself to be pulled into. It's way off of what hasso far been an interesting thread. I'll only post moving forward if it has to do with the thread topic.
I know supporting Ukraine is the thing that some are now supposed to oppose instead of spending and a tax system that's put us over $30 trillion in debt. But, and this isn't the first time I've seen this, why is this phrase is somehow enlightening: "A poor man never gave me a job." Who expects poor people to give them jobs? They're poor and likely not all that entrepreneurial. I've also heard people say the poor don't pay taxes like that's some revelation. Yeah, they're poor. They don't have much money which is why they're poor. Still, I'd rather not be poor.
I have insurance, but that doesn't make the system reasonable.
There's no way a hospital should receive the money they receive for what is often basic care. And yes, other countries do it much better.
And yes, yes I do expect to be the reason the thread gets locked.
Adults got us in Afghanistan and kept us there for 20 years and spent trillions in the process. They could have just given everyone who served there $1 million instead. Our govt doesn't treat veterans all that well. Inflation Reduction Act was a bit of a waste but what party doesn't waste taxpayer money? Adults aren't coming for your gas stoves. Stop the paranoia. We've had prostitution and human trafficking for a long time and it's not one party's fault. A lot of people are committed to putting human traffickers in prison. Our pharmaceutical industry is America's version of drug cartels. The Sackler's made billions off of oxy and were once celebrated as entrepreneurs. We should do something about illegal immigration. I wish Republicans had when they had opportunities to do so but the cheap labor lobby likes cheap labor. Hell, you can't even get Republicans to ban affirmative action in the South.
Last edited:
Whole lot of unintended consequences of us tying healthcare to employment. My understanding was that really started in a labor competition for female employees during WWII. If not the only, we are one of the few countries to do it this way. I don’t know if there’s a right answer to move us off of this but something needs to change.
Update to my prior comment. Billionaires own two-thirds more wealth than the bottom 50% of Americans. That doesn't strike me as a healthy distribution that leads to domestic stability. The Trump-signed Cares Act, $2.2 Trillion, was $1 Trillion more than the Biden-signed Inflation Reduction Act. Bipartisan spending of American taxpayer money. FYI, not a Dem. Biden has cognitive deficits, spent a career lying about as much as Trump. Kamala seem clueless and about as intelligent as MGT. I lean right. Instead of our gerontocracy, let some young people rule for a bit.
When did we stop valuing protecting democracy around the world by at least helping, if not actively participating, when sovereign nations are attacked by dictatorial/authoritarian governments? Even more so when the authoritarian is an ex KGB guy who’s wants to reconstitute the USSR. We’ve come a long way for “Mr Gorbachev, tear down that wall.” I don’t understand what I’m seeing from the new right.
Ukraine is not a member of NATO, and the US isn't the World's police. At least that's what the Democrats told us when Bush went into Iraq and Afghanistan. The US presence in Ukraine is nothing more than protecting corrupt interests
I don’t follow the “corrupt interests” statement. I know Trump withheld funding for Ukraine in an attempt to blackmail their president and their president balked and thus got no funding from him, but I’m not aware of any current interests. I may be missing something. I try pretty hard to only read centrist news.
Supporting piolicies that are good for you and not good for the country is why many of the founding fathers supported restricting voting to those who had the means to be disintrested in thier own future. Source: The Federalist Papers. People like you are a threat to the republic.
We are relegating the biggest threat to economic stability in the world, other than China, to the dustbin of history for pennies on the dollar and no loss of American life. The last time we got a bargain like this from Russia, we bought Alaska.
Well since it's being claimed that the US helping out Ukraine is somehow bad/why we are in debt/not how the US should operate and that somehow then hurts our economy, I'll opine.
We stopped valuing democracy and wanting to get involved in foreign affairs right about the time Trump negotiated a transfer of power with Taliban leaders and then was dragged away from office kicking and screaming.
Seriously- right then. That was the point when it stopped.
Biden's administration then poorly executed an exit plan which was destined to be bad no matter who it, but they certainly bungled it, and Taliban leaders took over, only faster than expected.
That shatshow showed just how completely wasteful and irresponsible nation building has been. Saving a nation from being taken over is apparently close enough to nation building, so it too is now not supportable.
That's how some see it.
Others see Biden supporting something so they refuse to also support it, even though they absolutely would have supported it in the past under other administrations.
Support the troops. If you see not with us, you are against us. Etc etc.
But the FJB mentality is too strong to overcome and so people will argue against the very things they supported in years past.
Some will recognize the inconsistency and claim their opinion has changed. Others will not even be able to see the inconsistency thru their blind hate and rage.
I am confident that if you just put someone else in power and the same decisions were made, most everyone would suddenly approve and walk around telling others to support the troops and not question the mission because that gives aid to the enemy.
Oh well. We all have very little control in life- rather than try and shine the light in inconsistent and illogical positions, it's better to spend time with family.
3 foot world, control what you see and don't worry what may come up later, I guess
The Ukraine government is just slightly better than the Russians.
We've had periods in this country where a very loud minority flirts with authoritarianism. It's another one of those cycles. Why does it happen? People are *** holes or just plain stupid. That's all I got.
i guess you missed Hunter Biden getting appointed to the board of an oil company in Ukraine while Joe was VP and the main liaison to Ukraine for the USA, when Hunter had zero experience in the oil industry and zero experience with anything in Ukraine. and I guess you missed this video.
Of all the money wasted by our government over the years, I find it hard to complain if we spend 1% of it to 17 Russia... In fact, I say we double it and spend another 1% 17ing China right up the poop shoot too. We can find plenty of stuff at home quit wasting money to more than offset that.
All for smaller government and spending, but I am more for 17ing China, Iran, N. Korea, Russia... And the Dutch!
You don’t have to be part of either party to realize taxing unrealized gains is dumb.
that’s the problem.
it’s just dumb. That’s the fact. It’s dumb.
- Status
Latest posts
Get unlimited access today.