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Posted
1 hour ago, Tiberius said:

How much longer can we go before the debt/deficits are unsustainable? 

 

Let's say the Dems take both presidency and senate in 2020 and push a, say, $250 billion a year health care bill through. Let's say you were made king of taxes and expenditures, how how you go in paying for it? 

Who's your math professor, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez?

Posted
1 hour ago, Tiberius said:

How much longer can we go before the debt/deficits are unsustainable? 

 

By World Bank standards, they started being unsustainable in 2010.

Posted
46 minutes ago, GG said:

 

There was plenty of criticism of Bannon on these pages, if not specifically about his idiotic call for the 44% millionaires tax.  Good things started to happen when that faux-populist slimeball was kicked out of Trump's orbit.

 

As for your discussion with Tom about why a 90% marginal tax could work in the '50s & 60's, the main reason is that the top rate was an illusion because there were no limits to recognizing losses.  That created a huge industry of limited partnerships whose sole purpose was to generate losses.  Imagine that.  The nominal 90% rate also gave birth to the AMT, once politicians realized that nobody who would be subject to the 90% rate actually paid that rate.  But instead of blowing up the tax code, they introduced another complexity.

 

The beauty of the Reagan tax reform was to blow up all the economy sapping enterprises in return for simplifying the code and normalizing tax rates at levels that are palatable to pay instead of avoid.   Imagine that.

 

That's why most people are stupid, including the main subject of this thread.   Nobody wants to go into the details.

You must be talking about he 1986 reform, because the top rate was 50% under his original 1981 Act, which had to be re-done because of it also generated tax shelters.

Personally, I think it would be much easier to push reforms that eliminate shelters rather than try to raise rates. I would also focus on the estate tax and its shelters.

 

 

3 minutes ago, DC Tom said:

 

By World Bank standards, they started being unsustainable in 2010.

There is no general rule for a sustainable D/Y ratio.  

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Posted
8 minutes ago, TPS said:

There is no general rule for a sustainable D/Y ratio.  

 

Which is why I said "By World Bank standards" and not "Generally."

Posted

How about the government determine if something is affordable before “buying” it. The whole “let’s give people ***** and figure out how to pay for it later” is, of course, no way to run any kind of budget. Imagine if Apple built this massive campus and then went into huge debt due to construction and maintenance costs and just said “oh well, we’ll just charge people $3,000 for their iPhones going forward.”  

Posted
1 hour ago, Tiberius said:

How much longer can we go before the debt/deficits are unsustainable? 

 

Let's say the Dems take both presidency and senate in 2020 and push a, say, $250 billion a year health care bill through. Let's say you were made king of taxes and expenditures, how how you go in paying for it? 

Despite what the World Bank suggests, there is NO single rule for all countries, as it depends on so many factors; like whether or not its debt is denominated in its own currency, for example (which is why comparing Greece and the US is stupid).

 

One of the good things that AOC will help bring to light is the reality of how the US "funds" itself.  Once people understand the mechanics of fiscal policy, then the question will change from "do we have enough money to fund it?" to "do we have the physical resource capacity to enact it?"  Money is simply the unit of account used to exchange things, and the US government has a monopoly on its supply. The mechanics of fiscal policy are that the government spends first (out of its account at the Fed), then is required to sell bonds equivalent to the difference in spending minus taxes.  That is a politically imposed constraint, not an economic one.  As AOC said in the interview, no one ever asks how we fund wars. We simple appropriate the funds, and if it increases the deficit, then we sell more bonds as required.  NOte, those bonds also create a safe, liquid asset desired by the financial sector.  

 

At this stage of the economic expansion, my answer to your question is different than what I would give if unemployment were higher. If unemployment were higher, than I'd say just do what trump did: he increased spending without "paying for it"; in fact, he reduced taxes!  He increased spending and cut taxes at the same time. We didn't need to borrow those funds from somewhere, they were simply appropriated by a congressional act (the larger deficits associated with those policies require the Treasury sell more bonds).. 

 

That said, Since we are close to full employment, it is much more difficult to enact any spending plans without "funding" it by reducing current private sector claims (higher taxes), otherwise it will create inflationary pressures.  

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Posted
8 minutes ago, Chef Jim said:

 Imagine if Apple built this massive campus and then went into huge debt due to construction and maintenance costs and just said “oh well, we’ll just charge people $3,000 for their iPhones going forward.”  

 

not sure if serious or....

 

 

Posted
22 minutes ago, B-Man said:

?

 

Ocasio-Cortez rips Washington Post columnist who compared her to Sarah Palin

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/424320-ocasio-cortez-rips-washington-post-columnist-who-compared-her-to-sarah-palin?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

 

 

 

LOL.........This is an unprecedented attack on our free press, the gatekeepers of our First Amendment institutions which are so profoundly essential our republic.

 

I do respect the way she tries to stay on-message, even when I disagree with her.  

Posted

Illegal aliens are more American than Americans.

 

Great googly moogly. She's the gift that keeps giving. You'd think SOMEONE on the left would tell her to shut her piehole.

 

But no. Because the left agrees with this stupidity. How do you know?

 

Find one leftist being critical of this statement. Find one journalist asking Dems if they agree with this statement.

 

Good luck.

Posted (edited)

Apparently, fact-checking can show bias? Hmmm And if you are a "progressive" virtual signaling is more important than facts, so let it go, people!
 

 

Edited by Buffalo_Gal
  • Like (+1) 1
Posted
10 hours ago, LABillzFan said:

Illegal aliens are more American than Americans.

 

Great googly moogly. She's the gift that keeps giving. You'd think SOMEONE on the left would tell her to shut her piehole.

 

But no. Because the left agrees with this stupidity. How do you know?

 

Find one leftist being critical of this statement. Find one journalist asking Dems if they agree with this statement.

 

Good luck.

 

And I think it’s safe to say Rachel’s response was “mmhmm...mmmhmm”.  The media does not challenge anyone on the left. Has anyone asked Pelosi to explain what makes a wall immoral?  That would be my first question.  My favorite word is “why?”. Drives my wife crazy. ?

Posted
20 hours ago, LABillzFan said:

Illegal aliens are more American than Americans.

 

Great googly moogly. She's the gift that keeps giving. You'd think SOMEONE on the left would tell her to shut her piehole.

 

But no. Because the left agrees with this stupidity. How do you know?

 

Find one leftist being critical of this statement. Find one journalist asking Dems if they agree with this statement.

 

Good luck.

I actually disagree.  I think there are many who disagree, who are afraid to speak out because of her popularity with young radicalists.

Posted

Right wing garbage propaganda mouth piece slanders her with fake picture in bath tub. 

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-attacks-daily-caller-over-fake-nude-photo-2019-1

 

  • A photo of a woman's feet in a bathtub went viral earlier this week after Reddit users claimed they belonged to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
  • The rumor was quickly debunked, but The Daily Caller published a headline which was not clear that the photo was actually of another woman.
  • Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at the conservative outlet on Thursday morning, calling its publication "completely disgusting behavior."
 
 
Posted

I was going to say how can these politicians get anything done when they are constantly posting/reading Tweets. Then I thought “I’d rather that’s all they do.”  

  • Like (+1) 1
Posted
9 minutes ago, Boyst62 said:

Proven fake but there is some decent rule 34 on the wench

I know it was supposedly proven fake. It's no big deal and I was being ironical.

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