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The Well-Mannered Politics Thread

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flynismo

Practice Squad
Well this is a big part of the problem. Wealthy people know how to skirt the law with how they do their businesses. Instead of talking about taxing and taxing and taxing its not gonna be the rich that pays. Its all about closing loopholes then you would see more money go into the coffers for things like infrastructure and they would pay their "fair share".

The top 1% already pays over 70% of the country's tax bill; I'd say that they are already paying far more than their fair share.
Also, it isn't really as simple as finding loopholes and closing them. There really isn't such a thing as a corporate tax, for example. Companies just pass those tax hikes on to the consumer, driving prices up. So we can't just say shut the loopholes and jack up their taxes. Which is a good thing. Increasing taxes rarely leads to any significant gains in government income anyway.
 

Willbacker

Ravens Ring of Honor
Yeah the loopholes gotta go. It doesn't help that we are giving them money as well. Look into how much we are paying oil and "clean beautiful coal" companies

Should they get less than renewables? Maybe they shouldn't get subsiodies either. Research, loss of capital, new equipment. Stuff like that should be writeoffs. I'm talking more about parking their money overseas.
 

Willbacker

Ravens Ring of Honor
The top 1% already pays over 70% of the country's tax bill; I'd say that they are already paying far more than their fair share.
Also, it isn't really as simple as finding loopholes and closing them. There really isn't such a thing as a corporate tax, for example. Companies just pass those tax hikes on to the consumer, driving prices up. So we can't just say shut the loopholes and jack up their taxes. Which is a good thing. Increasing taxes rarely leads to any significant gains in government income anyway.

Hey I'm all for a flat tax bro. The increments could rise a little bit but I don't believe the bottom 50% shouldn't pay a dime. As for loopholes there's some that's being abused. Even when there was a 39% tax on corporations a lot paid nothing. So somethings up. Wish I was a financial accountant so I could tell you whats really up but I cant.
 

flynismo

Practice Squad
Hey I'm all for a flat tax bro. The increments could rise a little bit but I don't believe the bottom 50% shouldn't pay a dime. As for loopholes there's some that's being abused. Even when there was a 39% tax on corporations a lot paid nothing. So somethings up. Wish I was a financial accountant so I could tell you whats really up but I cant.

I think we're fine with the progressive tax, so long as the increments between each bracket reasonable (a couple percent). I don't mind paying a little more than the next guy if I have the resources to do so.
But you're right, it irks me that the bottom 50% pays nearly nothing...and then on top of it, get thousands of dollars each year in tax refunds if they have kids, but they still have the gall to talk about "the rich" paying their fair share.

Let them abuse these so-called loopholes. Why does the government need any more of our money when they've proven to be so irresponsible with what we give them already?
 

Ellicottraven

Ravens Ring of Honor
I'm asking you. How do you know that. What are your sources. You say Breitbart isn't reliable, so I'm hoping you aren't quoting Vox or Salon or other such nonsense.
ha ha!
Seriously, don't worry about it because it's not worth it to me to debate you on what's a legitimate news organization. Do your thing and let's just talk Ravens football, the thing that brings us all together even as disparate as our life experiences and upbringing may have been.
 

flynismo

Practice Squad
ha ha!
Seriously, don't worry about it because it's not worth it to me to debate you on what's a legitimate news organization. Do your thing and let's just talk Ravens football, the thing that brings us all together even as disparate as our life experiences and upbringing may have been.

It has always fascinated me how a certain few things can make us all forget our differences and bring people together...good food, quality alcohol, good music...and sports. So no worries man, I don't look at you as Ellicottraven, my political enemy, I see Ellicottraven, my purple brethren who just has some terrible political opinions :D
I'll be at the Pats and Houston games this year. If you (or anyone else here, for that matter) happen to be attending as well, please do let me know. I'd love to kick back some beers and brats and put some faces to these names that I've known all these years.
 

Inqui

Pro Bowler
I wouldn't be surprised if the Federal Reserve became a talking point in the US in the next year or two, so I'll go on the record with my opinion now: NO politician should be able to influence the operations of the central bank - that is asking for bad things to happen (Venezuela would be exhibit B, albeit on the extreme end).
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1156666164732473345
..Spread is way too much as other countries say THANK YOU to clueless Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve. Germany, and many others, are playing the game! CRAZY INVERTED YIELD CURVE! We should easily be reaping big Rewards & Gains, but the Fed is holding us back. We will Win!
 

Inqui

Pro Bowler
So...about the economy....
Bill Maher's been saying for a while that the only way Trump gets voted out in 2020 is if there's a recession. The yield curve's been getting more inverted for a while so it looks like he's getting his wish.

It turns out that injecting trade volatility without any sign of a long-term strategy is bad for global growth. Who'd have thought?

I don't think the trade war itself is necessarily the cause of this impending downturn, but it's added a lot of uncertainty and brought forward whatever downturn was going to happen (in the same way that the Smoot-Hawley tariffs didn't cause the Great Depression but 100% made it worse). And with China letting the yuan dip below 7 I don't see the trade war ending without both sides losing major face in some way - which neither side is prepared to do.
 

JO_75

Hall of Famer
6 Philadelphia police officers were shot today and two are being held hostage by the shooter which is still going on.

"Gunfire erupted when a warrant was being served at the location on the 3700 block of North 15th Street around 4:30 p.m., police say. Officers were first called to the scene for narcotics activity, according to Philadelphia Police Capt. Sekou Kinebrew."
 
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52520Andrew

Pro Bowler
Should they get less than renewables? Maybe they shouldn't get subsiodies either. Research, loss of capital, new equipment. Stuff like that should be writeoffs. I'm talking more about parking their money overseas.
Why should they get equal? Oil is an established industry and shouldn't need subsidies. Renewables are still new and research should be encouraged to see how far it can go
 

52520Andrew

Pro Bowler
I think we're fine with the progressive tax, so long as the increments between each bracket reasonable (a couple percent). I don't mind paying a little more than the next guy if I have the resources to do so.
But you're right, it irks me that the bottom 50% pays nearly nothing...and then on top of it, get thousands of dollars each year in tax refunds if they have kids, but they still have the gall to talk about "the rich" paying their fair share.

Let them abuse these so-called loopholes. Why does the government need any more of our money when they've proven to be so irresponsible with what we give them already?
We had a balanced budget at one point. Bush decided to come in and cut taxes and get us into multiple wars. Obama didn't do much and the Trump cut taxes again. If we want a balanced budget again we will probably need to raise taxes AND cut spending
 

52520Andrew

Pro Bowler
Bill Maher's been saying for a while that the only way Trump gets voted out in 2020 is if there's a recession. The yield curve's been getting more inverted for a while so it looks like he's getting his wish.

It turns out that injecting trade volatility without any sign of a long-term strategy is bad for global growth. Who'd have thought?

I don't think the trade war itself is necessarily the cause of this impending downturn, but it's added a lot of uncertainty and brought forward whatever downturn was going to happen (in the same way that the Smoot-Hawley tariffs didn't cause the Great Depression but 100% made it worse). And with China letting the yuan dip below 7 I don't see the trade war ending without both sides losing major face in some way - which neither side is prepared to do.
Yeah it does seem like the recession is lurking. I still think the U.S. has a little more run in it but it is tough to say exactly when things will happen.

I think China is holding out for 2020 and it may be a while until this gets resolved. Not good for global growth and the bond market is flashing a lot of warning signs
 

Inqui

Pro Bowler
We had a balanced budget at one point. Bush decided to come in and cut taxes and get us into multiple wars. Obama didn't do much and the Trump cut taxes again. If we want a balanced budget again we will probably need to raise taxes AND cut spending
I actually think big government debt is going to become an economic staple going forward - not just in the US but in a lot of countries. I'm giving a presentation this weekend on a very related topic as part of a Masters program so I could go quite far into this but I'll try to keep my thoughts brief:

*We're looking at heading towards the "Japanification" of markets in which low growth, low rates and low inflation become the new norm. It's been heading this way since the GFC.
*Monetary policy is pretty average at stimulating growth outside asset prices. This is a whole other topic that goes into how bad the economic metrics are at saying what's going on in the economy (TL;DR: if house prices were included in inflation, rates would have been raised years ago and we'd be in a more "normal" cycle).
*Fiscal policy is a lot more direct. Building a road or investing in a healthcare system that doesn't suck balls (for example) has a bigger impact on the economy and central governments are better placed to do that. As long as they get kept away from the whole printing money side of things (the Fed's independent for a reason...).

Japan right now has a government debt twice the size of their economy, and the Bank of Japan's been happy to "lend" the government money since the 1990s. Government debt also doesn't compound like a mortgage or credit card - once you pay the interest that's it, so as long as the government stays on top of the interest payments it's not necessarily a huge issue.

Going forward I think the conversation's less about the size of the debt and more about how well the money's being spent. Which is a whole other thing entirely.

Yeah it does seem like the recession is lurking. I still think the U.S. has a little more run in it but it is tough to say exactly when things will happen.

I think China is holding out for 2020 and it may be a while until this gets resolved. Not good for global growth and the bond market is flashing a lot of warning signs
China's been playing the long game since the Opium Wars, so they're more than happy to wait out Trump. I posted a chart a while ago showing how they're happy to live with hurting parts of their own economy, so like you say it doesn't bode well for global growth.

With that said, the Democrats aren't exactly a hugely pro free trade party themselves. Chuck Schumer quietly doesn't think Trump's trade measures go far enough (sigh). I don't see a Democrat ending the trade war themselves unless they get something big out of it. A while ago I mentioned eight or so different things Trump seems to have flagged and how his administration needs to pick one or maybe two of them to focus on for this to have been worth it. But China won't give up their preferential market status or end their IP policy if it looks like they're being beaten into it. Changing their IP policy to join an existing bloc like the TPP would have been feasible because it could look like a positive decision they took on their own merits, but the concept or face matters too much and right now I don't see how either side gets anything significant without it looking like the other side made some kind of retreat.

The path I saw out of the trade war a few months ago was a superficial deal that looked good but didn't do much (China agreeing to buy a bunch of soybeans and giving the US improved access to a market that's already crowded by established players, for example. Watch for those things in any deal that does get struck) but letting the yuan fall below a publicly significant level (ie, crossing a red line) strikes me as more of a statement than anything else.

Wars are easy to start but hard to finish, and this doesn't appear to be an exception.
 

flynismo

Practice Squad
We had a balanced budget at one point. Bush decided to come in and cut taxes and get us into multiple wars. Obama didn't do much and the Trump cut taxes again. If we want a balanced budget again we will probably need to raise taxes AND cut spending
I honestly don't think we've cared about a balanced budget for quite a long time. It's just how we operate now. And I don't think that is anywhere near as apocalyptic as a lot of people think. We just need to be smarter about the way we are spending our money.
 

gtalk12

Ravens Ring of Honor
6 Philadelphia police officers were shot today and two are being held hostage by the shooter which is still going on.

"Gunfire erupted when a warrant was being served at the location on the 3700 block of North 15th Street around 4:30 p.m., police say. Officers were first called to the scene for narcotics activity, according to Philadelphia Police Capt. Sekou Kinebrew."

I think it was a drug bust gone bad. Apparently this guy is a good shot. Hopefully the officers involved can go home after all this is settled.

I have a love hate relationship with law enforcement. Those boys and girls get disrespected left and right for simply existing at times.
 

gtalk12

Ravens Ring of Honor
In other news

Ben Shapiro "if you had to work more than one job to have a roof over your head or food on the table, you probably shouldn't have taken the job that's not paying you enough. That'd be a you problem"
 

flynismo

Practice Squad
In other news

Ben Shapiro "if you had to work more than one job to have a roof over your head or food on the table, you probably shouldn't have taken the job that's not paying you enough. That'd be a you problem"

Who's problem is it if not yours lol. Sure as heck isn't my problem...
 
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