Let the flame war begin:
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.
Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.
Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.
One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.
The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.
But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.
The words do not have to be perfect.
They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.
American history and black history cannot be separated.
The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.
Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.
Books are my comfort food!
Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.
No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.
This chaos was totally avoidable.
It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.
If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.
Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.
Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.
🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵
They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.
Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.
These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.
I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.
Keith
Government revenues must match expenditures over the medium term. Otherwise our dollar will continue to slide and our economy will suffer. Our dollar is worth much less today since Pres. Bush was elected. It costs 29% today more to buy a Euro, 21% for a British pound,6% for a Yen, 26% for a Canadian dollar and 61% for an ounce of gold. Foreign investors are abandoning our economy. We have to increase taxes, close tax loopholes AND reduce spending. It is totally irresponsible to continue to run these high deficits.
Rick
Outstanding post, John! ;)
Cordially…
P.S. I think Lucky Duckies are close kin to Chickenhawks. Not so close to prothonotary warblers, though: damn lefties.
BinkyBoy
“…whose reward for doing the right thing in society is a higher tax bill.”
Judgemental prick. This one statement shows where the author leans and makes his entire argument and the supporting facts suspect.
We also need to start making it profitable to run a business out of America. The shrinking value of our dollar is an unfortunate boon for that, but its not enough. Begin heavily taxing companies that move operations off-shore, as well as start reviewing the contractual work status.
Setting up standards for health-care insurance would also be a huge boon to American businesses that are awash in insurance premiums for their workers. The status of insurance/healthcare in America is disgusting and really should be more of a front issue than the latest missing blonde woman.
JG
The government is already doing that. They support Wal Mart which has run a lot of businesses out of the country. Straight to China.
Rick
We also need to start making it profitable to run a business out of America…. Begin heavily taxing companies that move operations off-shore, as well as start reviewing the contractual work status.
Unfortunate formulation of that first bit, but never mind. Companies moving operations off shore do so both for the lower labor costs, AND for relief from ‘Murika’s high corporate tax rate. What you propose will drive domestic corporations away entirely.
Why not offer tax incentives to remain? That way, we’d actually *capture* some tax money.
Cordially…
BinkyBoy
Because even with tax assistance from the Federal Government, businesses will still move offshore, the savings just can’t be beat with subsidies.
Yeah, I formulated the sentence incorrectly, needed an extra comma in there to make sure it was understood correctly. Stream of thought and all that.
Murika doesn’t have that high of a tax rate, most companies are taking headcounts overseas for the simple fact they don’t have to pay for health insurance or they do the Wal-mart thing and reduce working hours to avoid supplying Health Insurance.
Its not a simple problem of taxes, its how much it costs each business per head to operate in the US. Right now insurance premiums are excesive and are being ignored by the Fed as a reason businesses are moving overseas.
Then you have the hardcore Right wing that blames America for it – poor education, lazy American’s, whatever hot button they can push on the issue at that time.
Rick
Binky,
Oh, the U.S. corporate tax rate is “up there,” ameliorated mainly by our (thankfully) lack of a VAT.
What kind of insurance premiums are you referring to? Health insurance? Because those are deductible to businesses (one of the reasons bidness got pushed into the health insurance morass in the first place).
From the hardcore Right wing, I am cordially…
MC
That corporate tax argument is a tough sell, with China at 33%, India @ 35-40% and Canada & Mexico @ 32-40%. These are the big offshore destinations, and the US is well within that range at 35%. Sure, over billions of dollars, a percent or two is real money, but let’s face facts, the exponential savings is in human resources. Even if you lowered the corporate tax rate 5%, you still can’t beat those labour prices. Period. Quite honestly, short of a 50-75% tax decrease, you could even come close to leveling out labour costs.
The other question – how many companies here benefit from public or quasi-private infrastructure? Airports, highways, electric transmission, etc…my Indian colleagues tell me when you build in some parts of the country, you need to perform small construction in power generation, sewage treatment – things that aren’t there locally or will be too overburdened when you open a new 1,000+ person office complex with computers buzzing and toilets flushing all the time.
Rick
I was looking with envy at Eastern Europe’s low rates.
“Labour?” Get out, you durn furriner!
Cordially…
MC
At some level though, you have to wonder if taxation is too low, it has a negative impact on infrastructure. The IITs are government-sponsored entities and among the best engineering schools in the world (maybe the best…how’s that for public education!?!) and if they didn’t spend 280,000 rupees per student, they wouldn’t be in the situation they are today. The Chinese government is investing loads of money in English education which maybe a great strategic investment.
Clearly it just isn’t enough to have low taxes…no one is talking about Latvia’s emergence as offshore opportunity/threat (Well, very few…a former client had an office there). There’s a “sweet spot” where a nation is collecting enough revenues and investing it in infrastructure (human and/or physical) to attract business development.
The answer may lie in a combination of things. Some corporate tax reduction, but a way to shift to HR costs off employers, probably through the use of public funds. Industry, not government, has basically funded physical infrastructure development in much of the developing world to take advantage of low cost labour while the smart developing countries used public funds to funds to focus on human asset development. Could the same approach work in the US?
Kimmitt
You can also enjoy Eastern Europe’s low level of services!
Rick
Kimmitt,
Services started low because of all the wonderful Five Year Plans–services out the ying-yang– they were forced to endure.
Let’s check back in 10-20 years. I expect “New Europe” will be eating “Old Europe’s” (subsidized) lunch. European Tigers and all that.
Cordially…
Sojourner
Depends on how you define eating their lunch. If they follow the U.S.’s lead, they, too, can have lower quality of life than other European countries. Something they definitely should aspire to.
scs
Sojourner – what do you mean by lower quality of life exactly? If you mean aesthetically, I guess, yes. If you mean economically, I’m not so sure. I have lots of European cousins in Germany and Italy. All I hear from them is how hard it is to make it over there, good pensions and benefits not withstanding, they are still not enough to make up for the lack of good jobs and unaffordable housing. When they retire, they still have to pay rent. When we retire, most of us have a paid-off house to show for it.