Rent control into retirement

[+ stevenkesslar]

Aaahhh Mr. Kessler what am I going to do with you?

 

Um, hire me? Pay me money?

 

The statue my good man is in Belgium.

 

And now on top of everything else you expect me to know about culture?

 

Perhaps you could get Mr. Draker to show you. The statue that is, not about water sports...

 

Gotcha, BVB. I'll say it one more time, then let it rest. NO FUCKING HELP WHATSOEVER.

 

Monsieur Draker, s'il vous plait.....Can you bail me out of this fucking mess? Or now are you gonna be all, "Desole. Je suis a Paris."

[+ stevenkesslar]

Public sector unions are also doing well because they often can't strike and if they do they and their members are subject to hefty fines.

 

Globalization is impossible to prevent and can be said to do good for less developed countries because business is driven there. Once there's enough demand, there may be pressure to raise wages. But as long as there's a significant gap between wages and living standards, work will flow away from the countries with the highest wages and living standards toward the countries with the lowest wages and living standards that can reasonably produce the goods or services needed.

 

No need to lower corporate taxes to zero. Any corporation subject to them that hasn't already figured out how to lower its taxes to zero needs to fire its tax advisors. Back in the Pleistocene era, my tax professor said as much but in different words and I have no reason to think anything has changed in the meantime.

 

Edited to add: Whoops, almost forgot to add a link to an article about Bernie Sanders' campaign that mentions that Apple and GE pay zero in taxes. Here you go.

 

Corporations need to be considered on par with people unless you wish to deny them access to the constitutional rights provided by the Bill of Rights. (As it is, they don't enjoy the right not to incriminate themselves.) Personally, I think the government should have to get a warrant to see corporate records just as it would if it wanted to see yours or mine.

 

What's wrong is ignoring the fact that the average corporation, which exists solely to accumulate wealth (their big advantages are eternal life, unlike partnerships, which dissolve when a partner dies or leaves, and limited liability), is able to outspend the average individual. When it comes to political contributions, that is a recipe for disaster because money amplifies a corporation's voice and ability to effect change (and possibility of corruption).

 

But I agree with you about raising the marginal rate applied to the wealthiest taxpayers. I'd also like to see studies as to whether the differential between the tax on capital gains and ordinary income has helped investment because if it hasn't, it should be done away with.

 

Finally, you have heard of strap-ons, right?

 

It is an article of faith among Republicans that lowering capital gains rates increases investment and creates jobs. There's little to prove that correct, unless you like to massively fudge reality, which I guess works fine for a lot of Republicans (and Democrats).

 

Carter - you know, the most fucked up President before Obama who almost ruined the economy - started the reduction in capital gains rates. How many Republicans mention that? You can argue Carter lowering capital gains rates worked .... About 5 years later, like in 1983. Reagan lowered them more and then shortly after the stock market tanked in 1987. Kinda hard to prove any correlation if you look at when rates went up or down and when the economy grew or went into recession.

 

In Paris we met a Clintonista couple from NYC. She liked going to Hillary's fundraisers and he was a well to do real estate tax attorney. The guy's advice was raise cap gain rates back to the same as marginal income tax rates, cap them all at 28 % or so, the rich would pay more, and the government would end up with more money. Sounds like he and you are in the ballpark of a good policy ... If we get the right Prez. Bill did something like that in the 90's and the economy flourished.

[+ stevenkesslar]

By the way, you are right about globalization. It has been the best poverty reduction strategy ever. I feel almost anti-American saying this, but its left us with maybe 1 billion less people starving and dying, mostly Chinese. I wouldn't say that if I were running for dog catcher, but its true.

[+ quoththeraven]

It is an article of faith among Republicans that lowering capital gains rates increases investment and creates jobs. There's little to prove that correct, unless you like to massively fudge reality, which I guess works fine for a lot of Republicans (and Democrats).

 

Carter - you know, the most fucked up President before Obama who almost ruined the economy - started the reduction in capital gains rates. How many Republicans mention that? You can argue Carter lowering capital gains rates worked .... About 5 years later, like in 1983. Reagan lowered them more and then shortly after the stock market tanked in 1987. Kinda hard to prove any correlation if you look at when rates went up or down and when the economy grew or went into recession.

 

In Paris we met a Clintonista couple from NYC. She liked going to Hillary's fundraisers and he was a well to do real estate tax attorney. The guy's advice was raise cap gain rates back to the same as marginal income tax rates, cap them all at 28 % or so, the rich would pay more, and the government would end up with more money. Sounds like he and you are in the ballpark of a good policy ... If we get the right Prez. Bill did something like that in the 90's and the economy flourished.

 

I wouldn't exactly call Carter or Obama fucked up presidents, but their abilities as de facto leader of the free world left/leave something to be desired.

 

You'd need to look at more granular information than how the economy did to fully study the effect of lowering capital gains rates, which I don't think reached their nadir until Bush 43. But I don't think anyone's bothered. Which is not to say it would be easy to do.

 

I prefer a somewhat more progressive tax structure than that, but if it works, great! I guess we should leave tax policy up to Clinton-leaning tax attorneys. Since my former area of specialty is generally considered a subset of tax law, I'm applying that description to me as well.

[+ stevenkesslar]

I wouldn't exactly call Carter or Obama fucked up presidents, but their abilities as de facto leader of the free world left/leave something to be desired.

 

You'd need to look at more granular information than how the economy did to fully study the effect of lowering capital gains rates, which I don't think reached their nadir until Bush 43. But I don't think anyone's bothered. Which is not to say it would be easy to do.

 

I prefer a somewhat more progressive tax structure than that, but if it works, great! I guess we should leave tax policy up to Clinton-leaning tax attorneys. Since my former area of specialty is generally considered a subset of tax law, I'm applying that description to me as well.

 

For the record, I was in sarcasm mode when I called Carter the most fucked up President ever before Obama.

 

My point is the Republicans love to bash Carter and Obama as train wrecks. It's easier to make that case with Carter, but he in fact gave us "Reagan Lite" for several years before we got Reagan. Such as cuts in capital gains. So the Republicans want to argue Carter sucked and Reagan restored the economy by cutting capital gains taxes, which requires them to dismiss the fact that Carter actually started that train in motion. You either have to give Carter credit, or argue its a pretty ineffective policy because it may work, if you can wait out 5 years of misery first.

 

The way they treat Obama is even more amazing. Unemployment has gone down almost every month since he was elected, the deficit has gone down, and the economy has gotten stronger. And yet somehow all this shows how fucked up a leader Obama is because things simply should be better. My guess is if people really believed this, Jeb Bush would be riding his brother's coat tails to victory. Instead, he seems to be sinking fast.

 

It's a good thing I'm not running for President. Apart from the fact that I'm a lying, conniving whore- which means I'd fit right in with the pack - nobody can tell when I'm being serious, and when I'm being sarcastic.

[+ quoththeraven]

For the record, I was in sarcasm mode when I called Carter the most fucked up President ever before Obama.

....

 

It's a good thing I'm not running for President. Apart from the fact that I'm a lying, conniving whore- which means I'd fit right in with the pack - nobody can tell when I'm being serious, and when I'm being sarcastic.

 

I made this suggestion to Marylander1940 and he's on an extended timeout (then again, he never took advantage of it), so take this for what it's worth, but one way to indicate sarcasm (assuming you're interested in conveying that you're being sarcastic) is to end with "/sarcasm" or "/end sarcasm". Another is to use an appropriate emoji.

 

Just a suggestion ...

[AdamSmith]

but one way to indicate sarcasm (assuming you're interested in conveying that you're being sarcastic) is to end with "/sarcasm" or "/end sarcasm". Another is to use an appropriate emoji.

 

Then again, part of the pleasure sometimes is leaving the recipient in some uncertainty.

http://emojipedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/72x72x1f608-microsoft-windows.png.pagespeed.ic.vgOjZP_0uE.png

[+ stevenkesslar]

I made this suggestion to Marylander1940 and he's on an extended timeout (then again, he never took advantage of it), so take this for what it's worth, but one way to indicate sarcasm (assuming you're interested in conveying that you're being sarcastic) is to end with "/sarcasm" or "/end sarcasm". Another is to use an appropriate emoji.

 

Just a suggestion ...

 

Can't I just end by saying "I'm an ignorant fucking whore." That should explain almost anything I say, unless it's just gonna be seen as stating the obvious.

 

P.S. Which is the appropriate emoji for sarcasm?

[AdamSmith]

P.S. Which is the appropriate emoji for sarcasm?

 

I like this one.

 

[+ stevenkesslar]

Right, then. Lovely. I'll go with that.

 

For future reference, and to avoid misunderstandings, here are my new personal emojis.

 

1. "Yes, it's true. I'm really a fucking Queen. But I am still being sarcastic as shit."

 

 

2. "Ich fuhle Angst. Hilf mir!"

 

http://cdn1.spiegel.de/images/image-186610-panoV9free-uihp.jpg

 

3. "Fuck you, BVB. You are really in deep shit now."

 

 

4. "Yes, I really am a lying, conniving whore. If you don't like it, go fuck yourself!"

 

http://www.livetradingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Hillary-Clinton.jpg

[+ stevenkesslar]

Oops! Almost forgot. Don't want to seem like I am forgetting the weaker sex.

 

5. "Huh?"

 

http://darkcornernews.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/bush_confused.jpg