Business, Economics & Tax Policy 5.0: Can a blind nut find a squirrel?

[alfablue]

Will this finally end the BS about how someone is “socially liberal but fiscally conservative” but vote R BS? The republicans haven’t been but are now blatantly fiscally and morally reprehensible.

No way. Too scared of a single item to do that. Guns, abortion, god, etc. mindless fear will always make people vote against their self interest that really matters.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Business, Economics & Tax Policy 5.0: Can a blind nut find a squirrel?

No way. Too scared of a single item to do that. Guns, abortion, god, etc. mindless fear will always make people vote against their self interest that really matters.

That's how the right gets its votes. They fish for one fear and then reel that group in, then go to the next fear. As long as enough people are fundamentally motivated by fear they win.

If we ever evolve to where they aren't getting enough votes they'll simply end democracy.

We never left the Middle Ages. The industrial revolution and the capitalist revolution only changed us from agrarian serfs to consumer serfs. We still have to work for them and we still live our lives in debt. In fact analyses of the middle ages maintain the working class actually worked fewer days for the lords than we do for our rulers.

 

[Deutsche Gopher Fan]

No way. Too scared of a single item to do that. Guns, abortion, god, etc. mindless fear will always make people vote against their self interest that really matters.

Oh they’ll still vote r because they’re racist or hate women or sleep with their guns, but they can’t use the whole fiscally conservative Excuse

 

[alfablue]

Oh they’ll still vote r because they’re racist or hate women or sleep with their guns, but they can’t use the whole fiscally conservative Excuse

IMHO, there is a 100% chance that drew never votes D because of fear. In spite of the evidence that they match better as a whole.

 

[Drew S.]

Re: Business, Economics & Tax Policy 5.0: Can a blind nut find a squirrel?

IMHO, there is a 100% chance that drew never votes D because of fear. In spite of the evidence that they match better as a whole.

Fear of what? I think in the short term the dems coming to power could be a very good thing. The tax bill is one of the worst pieces of legislation ever and is completely irresponsible given the countries financial state. Long term I don't see them as the answer though. Maybe its different in other places, but in Massachusetts they are horrible at managing the state's affairs. We have high taxes(not talking just income) and what is basically a third world infrastructure system. I'm still convinced our only hope long term is a new political party emerging.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Business, Economics & Tax Policy 5.0: Can a blind nut find a squirrel?

This thread is a joke cause US business and tax policy is a joke.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Business, Economics & Tax Policy 5.0: Can a blind nut find a squirrel?

I ran across this today on a different tangent. It explains everything in just a few paragraphs.

Capitalism and democracy had long been considered adversaries, until the postwar settlement seemed to have accomplished their reconciliation. Well into the twentieth century, owners of capital had been afraid of democratic majorities abolishing private property, while workers and their organizations expected capitalists to finance a return to authoritarian rule in defence of their privileges. Only in the Cold War world did capitalism and democracy seem to become aligned with one another, as economic progress made it possible for working-class majorities to accept a free-market, private-property regime, in turn making it appear that democratic freedom was inseparable from, and indeed depended on, the freedom of markets and profit-making. Today, however, doubts about the compatibility of a capitalist economy with a democratic polity have powerfully returned. Among ordinary people, there is now a pervasive sense that politics can no longer make a difference in their lives, as reflected in common perceptions of deadlock, incompetence and corruption among what seems an increasingly self-contained and self-serving political class, united in their claim that ‘there is no alternative’ to them and their policies. One result is declining electoral turnout combined with high voter volatility, producing ever greater electoral fragmentation, due to the rise of ‘populist’ protest parties, and pervasive government instability. [7]

The legitimacy of postwar democracy was based on the premise that states had a capacity to intervene in markets and correct their outcomes in the interest of citizens. Decades of rising inequality have cast doubt on this, as has the impotence of governments before, during and after the crisis of 2008. In response to their growing irrelevance in a global market economy, governments and political parties in OECD democracies more or less happily looked on as the ‘democratic class struggle’ turned into post-democratic politainment. [8] In the meantime, the transformation of the capitalist political economy from postwar Keynesianism to neoliberal Hayekianism progressed smoothly: from a political formula for economic growth through redistribution from the top to the bottom, to one expecting growth through redistribution from the bottom to the top. Egalitarian democracy, regarded under Keynesianism as economically productive, is considered a drag on efficiency under contemporary Hayekianism, where growth is to derive from insulation of markets—and of the cumulative advantage they entail—against redistributive political distortions.

A central topic of current anti-democratic rhetoric is the fiscal crisis of the contemporary state, as reflected in the astonishing increase in public debt since the 1970s (Figure 4, below). Growing public indebtedness is put down to electoral majorities living beyond their means by exploiting their societies’ ‘common pool’, and to opportunistic politicians buying the support of myopic voters with money they do not have. [9] However, that the fiscal crisis was unlikely to have been caused by an excess of redistributive democracy can be seen from the fact that the buildup of government debt coincided with a decline in electoral participation, especially at the lower end of the income scale, and marched in lockstep with shrinking unionization, the disappearance of strikes, welfare-state cutbacks and exploding income inequality. What the deterioration of public finances was related to was declining overall levels of taxation (Figure 5) and the increasingly regressive character of tax systems, as a result of ‘reforms’ of top income and corporate tax rates (Figure 6). Moreover, by replacing tax revenue with debt, governments contributed further to inequality, in that they offered secure investment opportunities to those whose money they would or could no longer confiscate and had to borrow instead. Unlike taxpayers, buyers of government bonds continue to own what they pay to the state, and in fact collect interest on it, typically paid out of ever less progressive taxation; they can also pass it on to their children. Moreover, rising public debt can be and is being utilized politically to argue for cutbacks in state spending and for privatization of public services, further constraining redistributive democratic intervention in the capitalist economy.

C'est tout.

 

[alfablue]

Fear of what? I think in the short term the dems coming to power could be a very good thing. The tax bill is one of the worst pieces of legislation ever and is completely irresponsible given the countries financial state. Long term I don't see them as the answer though. Maybe its different in other places, but in Massachusetts they are horrible at managing the state's affairs. We have high taxes(not talking just income) and what is basically a third world infrastructure system. I'm still convinced our only hope long term is a new political party emerging.

Yet you still have not voted that way. Shocking.

It’s not as if nobody predicted this.

Btw, you should visit a 3rd world country some day. You have it light years better.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: Business, Economics & Tax Policy 5.0: Can a blind nut find a squirrel?

Yet you still have not voted that way. Shocking.

It’s not as if nobody predicted this.

Btw, you should visit a 3rd world country some day. You have it light years better.

And yet, you want to turn this one into third world...

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Business, Economics & Tax Policy 5.0: Can a blind nut find a squirrel?

Just for the record. The Banana Republic United States is happening now. And it's Trump, Ryan, and Turtle Boy bringing it.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Business, Economics & Tax Policy 5.0: Can a blind nut find a squirrel?

The rich try to turn us into an authoritarian state from time to time. So far we have stopped them. We'll see what happens this time.

Here's the thing, though. America is enormous and rebellious. If they ever succeed it will last for a while but it will end very badly for them.

There are more lampposts than bankers.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: Business, Economics & Tax Policy 5.0: Can a blind nut find a squirrel?

The rich try to turn us into an authoritarian state from time to time. So far we have stopped them. We'll see what happens this time.

Here's the thing, though. America is enormous and rebellious. If they ever succeed it will last for a while but it will end very badly for them.

There are more lampposts than bankers.

And yet, your anti-Trump rhetoric would seem to suggest that you support the authoritarian state. Guess that's what happens when you side with the swamp.

 

[Drew S.]

The rich try to turn us into an authoritarian state from time to time. So far we have stopped them. We'll see what happens this time.

Here's the thing, though. America is enormous and rebellious. If they ever succeed it will last for a while but it will end very badly for them.

There are more lampposts than bankers.

Is trump changing your perspective a bit on the second amendment?

 

[Drew S.]

Yet you still have not voted that way. Shocking.

It’s not as if nobody predicted this.

Btw, you should visit a 3rd world country some day. You have it light years better.

As talented as I am even I’m not able to vote in the future. My rep and both senators are Dems anyway.

That is something I am planning on doing at some point. Assuming I could go and not get in trouble I think it would be fascinating to visit North Korea right now.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Business, Economics & Tax Policy 5.0: Can a blind nut find a squirrel?

As talented as I am even I’m not able to vote in the future. My rep and both senators are Dems anyway.

That is something I am planning on doing at some point. Assuming I could go and not get in trouble I think it would be fascinating to visit North Korea right now.

Don’t you live in Maine?

Also, rule of thumb: Don’t visit North Korea.

 

[Drew S.]

Don’t you live in Maine?

Also, rule of thumb: Don’t visit North Korea.

No, I’m from Maine but was foolish enough to marry someone from here(meaning Mass) and am now stuck in this liberal ****hole. In all seriousness, it’s not that bad here but there are things that could be much better(roads and housing being the two most obvious.)

 

[Kepler]

Re: Business, Economics & Tax Policy 5.0: Can a blind nut find a squirrel?

No, I’m from Maine but was foolish enough to marry someone from here(meaning Mass) and am now stuck in this liberal ****hole. In all seriousness, it’s not that bad here but there are things that could be much better(roads and housing being the two most obvious.)

Massachusetts is indeed a sh-thole, but it's not because of liberals. It's because the local population has the manners of New Yorkers and the intellect of Alabamans.

 

[mookie1995]

Re: Business, Economics & Tax Policy 5.0: Can a blind nut find a squirrel?

Massachusetts is indeed a sh-thole, but it's not because of liberals. It's because the local population has the manners of New Yorkers and the intellect of Alabamans.

knew there was a reason mookie moved.

(but that is a mean thing to say about rover [even if somewhat accurate ])

 

[Kepler]

Re: Business, Economics & Tax Policy 5.0: Can a blind nut find a squirrel?

knew there was a reason mookie moved.

(but that is a mean thing to say about rover [even if somewhat accurate ])

Rover may be okay. M-ssholistan doesn't exactly coincide with the Massachusetts state borders. It's a rectangle that extends in latitude from Manchester NH to Warwick RI and in longitude from Worcester MA to Scituate MA.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Business, Economics & Tax Policy 5.0: Can a blind nut find a squirrel?

In a Nov. 29 interview, Grassley was adamant about the need for change, even if farmers and small business owners represent a tiny minority of estate tax payers. The reason, he said, is as much philosophical as practical.

An estate tax effectively and unfairly taxes a person’s earnings twice, he argued: first when they earn it and again when they die. And, he added, it penalizes savers without touching spenders.

“I think not having the estate tax recognizes the people that are investing,” Grassley said, “as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”

Have I indicated how angry I am about this, yet?