168 Republicans voted to raise your taxes!

[asterism]

The U. S. is a great nation because it is a socialist utopia, a society with a rational social safety net.

Perhaps.

However the current tax policy is unsustainable, the current spending levels are unsustainable, and the current system for balancing the two are fatally flawed. The well-intentioned and completely Constitutional (in my opinion) safety net is built on a very shaky foundation and the bigger it gets relative to GDP and typical benefits offered to typical people is cracking that already shaky foundation even more.

I think the U.S. is a great nation because it for the most part balances freedom with security and has a pretty good way to mitigate the competing interests. Right now we just spend too much and fund the government wrong. Again, just my opinion. Still the best place on the planet though.

 

[Lonestar_logic]

The return on the asset portfolio managed by my wealth manager has averaged 11% per year for the last 15 years.

Bullshit.

Below is the 5 highest yielding municipal bond funds in 2010

Mutual Fund SEC Yield

Lord Abbett High Yield Municipal Bond A 7.45%
Oppenheimer AMT-Free Municipals A 6.68%
Nuveen High Yield Municipal A 6.62%
Pioneer High Income Municipal A 6.58%
Waddell & Reed Municipal High Income A 5.90%

Top 5 Highest Yielding Municipal Bond Funds - Zacks.com

The portfolio in question is not all invested in tax exempt municipal bonds, dude. In fact, municipal bonds are only 10% of the total portfolio.

In order for you to make millions each year just on munies you would have to have ten of millions in bonds.

I have accumulated enormous wealth. I could lose tens of millions and still have more wealth than one person should be allowed to have.

To prove me wrong list the munies you hold.

LOL

You have just shown yourself to be a liar.

You stated " PS: I earn millions each year from municipal bonds, none of which is even subject to the federal income tax."

Living in your parents basement, recieving unemployment insurance and pretending to be a multi-millionaire is closer to the truth. Isn't it?

If you care to list the items in your alleged portfolio then you may have a chance at redemption.

 

[Synthaholic]

The U. S. is a great nation because it is a socialist utopia, a society with a rational social safety net.

Perhaps.

However the current tax policy is unsustainable, the current spending levels are unsustainable, and the current system for balancing the two are fatally flawed. The well-intentioned and completely Constitutional (in my opinion) safety net is built on a very shaky foundation and the bigger it gets relative to GDP and typical benefits offered to typical people is cracking that already shaky foundation even more.

I think the U.S. is a great nation because it for the most part balances freedom with security and has a pretty good way to mitigate the competing interests. Right now we just spend too much and fund the government wrong. Again, just my opinion. Still the best place on the planet though.

I assume you mean because you believe it's too high. Was tax policy sustainable when the top rate was 90%, under Republican Eisenhower? How about under Nixon? How about under every single president?

 

[Synthaholic]

Bullshit.

Below is the 5 highest yielding municipal bond funds in 2010

Mutual Fund SEC Yield

Lord Abbett High Yield Municipal Bond A 7.45%
Oppenheimer AMT-Free Municipals A 6.68%
Nuveen High Yield Municipal A 6.62%
Pioneer High Income Municipal A 6.58%
Waddell & Reed Municipal High Income A 5.90%

Top 5 Highest Yielding Municipal Bond Funds - Zacks.com

The portfolio in question is not all invested in tax exempt municipal bonds, dude. In fact, municipal bonds are only 10% of the total portfolio.

I have accumulated enormous wealth. I could lose tens of millions and still have more wealth than one person should be allowed to have.

To prove me wrong list the munies you hold.

LOL

You have just shown yourself to be a liar.

You stated " PS: I earn millions each year from municipal bonds, none of which is even subject to the federal income tax."

Living in your parents basement, recieving unemployment insurance and pretending to be a multi-millionaire is closer to the truth. Isn't it?

If you care to list the items in your alleged portfolio then you may have a chance at redemption.

How has he showed himself to be a liar?

 

[Meister]

Ok, that's cool, and you seem like an owner who gets it. There are too many who want to lay off people, then want the rest of the workforce to take on those jobs. Others who call for sacrifice, yet in good times hire more people and cut everyone's hours in order to have part-time help, and the financial advantages that reaps.

And I do believe that wiretapping = more government control. It has a chilling effect. I have a relative overseas, non-military, and I do not feel comfortable talking politics with him any longer, through email or phone convo. How do I discuss U.S. foreign policy without discussing al Qaeda, etc.

If you want to lump "chilling effect" in, then I'll agree with that premise. But then we have to talk about the chilling effect on small businesses during this so-called recovery and then the chilling effect on corporate investments in the wake of the government's actions regarding GM.

Last year, the Republicans wanted to be able to deduct 50% of the cost of new equipment, as opposed to the 30-something that Democrats wanted. Last month, President Obama offered to make it 100%, and couldn't get one Republican on board. What does that say about Republicans?

Obama has been extremely pro-business. The record is clear.


From FOXNEWS.com:

Obama to Propose Massive Tax Breaks for Businesses to Invest in Growth


Published September 06, 2010
| The Wall Street Journal

AP
Monday: President Obama gestures as he speaks on the economy at the Milwaukee Laborfest in Milwaukee.




President Obama, in one of his most dramatic gestures to business, will propose that companies be allowed to write off 100 percent of their new investment in plant and equipment through 2011, a plan that White House economists say would cut business taxes by nearly $200 billion over two years.


The proposal, to be laid out Wednesday in a speech in Cleveland, tops a raft of announcements, from a proposed expansion of the research and experimentation tax credit to $50 billion in additional spending on roads, railways and runways. But unlike those two ideas, both familiar from Obama's 2008 campaign, the investment incentive would embrace a long-held wish by conservative economists that had never won support from either Republican or Democratic administrations.


"Temporary investment incentives like this can have big effects because they really pull investment forward," R. Glenn Hubbard, dean of the Columbia University School of Business and a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush. "This could have a big stimulative effect."


But the response Monday from business lobbyists hinted at uncertain political prospects for the idea: Many said a higher priority for their members remains extension of the Bush income-tax rates for higher earners that are set to expire at the end of 2010. Obama and many congressional Democrats want to let those breaks expire.




Read more: Obama to Propose Massive Tax Breaks for Businesses to Invest in Growth - FoxNews.com​

​

Any complaints from the fringe-Right about Obama being anti-business is just outright lies and distortions.

The distortions is with the "Massive Tax Breaks". Read the details of these tax breaks then get back to me.

 

[Synthaholic]

If you want to lump "chilling effect" in, then I'll agree with that premise. But then we have to talk about the chilling effect on small businesses during this so-called recovery and then the chilling effect on corporate investments in the wake of the government's actions regarding GM.

Last year, the Republicans wanted to be able to deduct 50% of the cost of new equipment, as opposed to the 30-something that Democrats wanted. Last month, President Obama offered to make it 100%, and couldn't get one Republican on board. What does that say about Republicans?

Obama has been extremely pro-business. The record is clear.


From FOXNEWS.com:

Obama to Propose Massive Tax Breaks for Businesses to Invest in Growth


Published September 06, 2010
| The Wall Street Journal

AP
Monday: President Obama gestures as he speaks on the economy at the Milwaukee Laborfest in Milwaukee.




President Obama, in one of his most dramatic gestures to business, will propose that companies be allowed to write off 100 percent of their new investment in plant and equipment through 2011, a plan that White House economists say would cut business taxes by nearly $200 billion over two years.


The proposal, to be laid out Wednesday in a speech in Cleveland, tops a raft of announcements, from a proposed expansion of the research and experimentation tax credit to $50 billion in additional spending on roads, railways and runways. But unlike those two ideas, both familiar from Obama's 2008 campaign, the investment incentive would embrace a long-held wish by conservative economists that had never won support from either Republican or Democratic administrations.


"Temporary investment incentives like this can have big effects because they really pull investment forward," R. Glenn Hubbard, dean of the Columbia University School of Business and a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush. "This could have a big stimulative effect."


But the response Monday from business lobbyists hinted at uncertain political prospects for the idea: Many said a higher priority for their members remains extension of the Bush income-tax rates for higher earners that are set to expire at the end of 2010. Obama and many congressional Democrats want to let those breaks expire.




Read more: Obama to Propose Massive Tax Breaks for Businesses to Invest in Growth - FoxNews.com​

​

Any complaints from the fringe-Right about Obama being anti-business is just outright lies and distortions.

The distortions is with the "Massive Tax Breaks". Read the details of these tax breaks then get back to me.

That's from FOXNEWS and The Wall Street Journal. Are you saying that they are distorting in order to make the President look better?

 

[asterism]

The U. S. is a great nation because it is a socialist utopia, a society with a rational social safety net.

Perhaps.

However the current tax policy is unsustainable, the current spending levels are unsustainable, and the current system for balancing the two are fatally flawed. The well-intentioned and completely Constitutional (in my opinion) safety net is built on a very shaky foundation and the bigger it gets relative to GDP and typical benefits offered to typical people is cracking that already shaky foundation even more.

I think the U.S. is a great nation because it for the most part balances freedom with security and has a pretty good way to mitigate the competing interests. Right now we just spend too much and fund the government wrong. Again, just my opinion. Still the best place on the planet though.

I assume you mean because you believe it's too high.

Not necessarily as a structural flaw. I do think the tax rate is too high, but the rate isn't the reason it's unsustainable. It's unsustainable because it's a hybrid of revenue generation for the government and social engineering. It can't go on being a little of both, it has to be primarily one or the other to survive in my opinion.

Was tax policy sustainable when the top rate was 90%, under Republican Eisenhower?

Yes because that 90% was on taxable income only and there were all sorts of ways to shield income if one was building wealth especially for the moderately affluent. Those options don't exist anymore and one of the significant measures used to correct the loopholes was the Alternative Minimum Tax. That was a workable solution to the problem, but now it targets upper middle class almost exclusively. Once a solution to a problem of the super rich dealing unfairly, now it's a barrier to anyone but the super rich to even get into a decent financial situation to open a McDonald's franchise.

How about under Nixon? How about under every single president?

Same for them also, but the creeping AMT problem combined with the tax code changes that have allowed people to avoid it if they are rich enough while also trapping more and more middle class people is a gradual problem that's nobody's fault specifically while it's every President's fault for not doing anything about it.

However, that in itself does not make the current method of funding the government unsustainable. The process by which the government controls behavior to the detriment of the very people it relies on to fund it is the problem. The super rich are never going to acquiesce to paying more of their current money to the government, the only thing they might do is pay a greater portion of their future income. But they will demand that everyone lower on the economic scale pay also, and right now that currency is opportunity.

They figured this one out, which is why there is such an emphasis by them to set some new rules about what up and comers like me have to do. The problem in the first place was a group of people not in control decided to get control and incrementally have done so. It's not a conspiracy, it's a perspective and an ideological power struggle.

 

[asterism]

Why aren't you paying your fair share of taxes?

Because the Republicans believe that the solution to every problem is to cut my income taxes.

Ok, so you think we should pay more and you think the federal government is a worthwhile cause to support beyond your current level but you won't do it voluntarily why?

 

[Spoonman]

Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2010, Part III ?

No, that was today's vote on extending the Bush Tax Cuts. The Regressive Party overwhelmingly voted against continuing the tax cuts.

They voted to raise everyone's taxes.

Uhm, they voted to extend the tax cuts.

 

[Synthaholic]

Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2010, Part III ?

No, that was today's vote on extending the Bush Tax Cuts. The Regressive Party overwhelmingly voted against continuing the tax cuts.

They voted to raise everyone's taxes.

Uhm, they voted to extend the tax cuts.

I see that you are chronologically impaired.

 

[Meister]

Last year, the Republicans wanted to be able to deduct 50% of the cost of new equipment, as opposed to the 30-something that Democrats wanted. Last month, President Obama offered to make it 100%, and couldn't get one Republican on board. What does that say about Republicans?

Obama has been extremely pro-business. The record is clear.


From FOXNEWS.com:

Obama to Propose Massive Tax Breaks for Businesses to Invest in Growth


Published September 06, 2010
| The Wall Street Journal

AP
Monday: President Obama gestures as he speaks on the economy at the Milwaukee Laborfest in Milwaukee.




President Obama, in one of his most dramatic gestures to business, will propose that companies be allowed to write off 100 percent of their new investment in plant and equipment through 2011, a plan that White House economists say would cut business taxes by nearly $200 billion over two years.


The proposal, to be laid out Wednesday in a speech in Cleveland, tops a raft of announcements, from a proposed expansion of the research and experimentation tax credit to $50 billion in additional spending on roads, railways and runways. But unlike those two ideas, both familiar from Obama's 2008 campaign, the investment incentive would embrace a long-held wish by conservative economists that had never won support from either Republican or Democratic administrations.


"Temporary investment incentives like this can have big effects because they really pull investment forward," R. Glenn Hubbard, dean of the Columbia University School of Business and a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush. "This could have a big stimulative effect."


But the response Monday from business lobbyists hinted at uncertain political prospects for the idea: Many said a higher priority for their members remains extension of the Bush income-tax rates for higher earners that are set to expire at the end of 2010. Obama and many congressional Democrats want to let those breaks expire.




Read more: Obama to Propose Massive Tax Breaks for Businesses to Invest in Growth - FoxNews.com​

​

Any complaints from the fringe-Right about Obama being anti-business is just outright lies and distortions.

The distortions is with the "Massive Tax Breaks". Read the details of these tax breaks then get back to me.

That's from FOXNEWS and The Wall Street Journal. Are you saying that they are distorting in order to make the President look better?

I'm saying that the businesses need to jump through hoops to get their tax breaks. Plant equipment investments? WTF? Like all small businesses need plant equipment.

 

[DiveCon]

No, that was today's vote on extending the Bush Tax Cuts. The Regressive Party overwhelmingly voted against continuing the tax cuts.

They voted to raise everyone's taxes.

Uhm, they voted to extend the tax cuts.

I see that you are chronologically impaired.

no, you are the impared one, they voted in a way to get ALL of the tax cuts continued
they SHOULD be made permanent

 

[Meister]

How long do tax cuts have to be around before it just becomes a tax increase when raised?

I really don't hear about Kennedy's tax cuts.

 

[asterism]

The distortions is with the "Massive Tax Breaks". Read the details of these tax breaks then get back to me.

That's from FOXNEWS and The Wall Street Journal. Are you saying that they are distorting in order to make the President look better?

I'm saying that the businesses need to jump through hoops to get their tax breaks. Plant equipment investments? WTF? Like all small businesses need plant equipment.

Nobody has been able to present hard numbers on how much money businesses saved in the stimulus tax breaks, much less present a company that actually received any of them to the extent that it was an actual tax break. It's like the AMT combined with Bush's tax cuts. The nominal rate was cut, but AMT increased by a larger amount so I actually got a tax hike in 2003.

 

[Samson]

No, that was today's vote on extending the Bush Tax Cuts. The Regressive Party overwhelmingly voted against continuing the tax cuts.

They voted to raise everyone's taxes.

Uhm, they voted to extend the tax cuts.

I see that you are chronologically impaired.

All of us are.