US Politics: Tax Inversions are a result of Political Gridlock

[Seli]

Did you watch the ad?

It didn't even show Foley. And it wasn't "footage of an execution", it was a cropped stillshot of a jihadist that is in every newspaper.

That was a well crafted ad. "The POTUS's foreign policy is emboldening our enemies, my opponent supports the policy, vote for me for a change". Pretty basic argument.

It might help distract from the issue that what is essentially GOP policy originally created these enemies. :dunno:

[daskool]

Holy hell what a dirtbag. I felt guilty for even watching that video

Dafuq? It had a millisecond grab still of the video, with the dude in black holding the knife, confected outrage. I thought it was incredibly well produced for a political ad (which are mostly lame). Whoever made is def talented. I think it's effectiveness in depicting the golfer in chief is what's causing the real offense.

[TerraPrime]

The excuse that it didn't show Foley is rather ineffective, as the allegation is that the campaign is exploiting the tragedy for its own political advantage.

[Fragile Bird]

Too subtle there TP, too subtle.

[awesome possum]

Hey check it out, even more proof that the teanuts are a fraud. Well, let me amend that. Not the teanuts themselves, as they're mostly just poor suckers who don't know any better. One of the groups that sprung up to take money from those who would gladly call themselves teanuts are a fraud:

In February 2013, Move America Forward announced an ambitious fundraising goal. The charity, launched in part by one of the most prominent figures in the Tea Party movement, had adopted the 800 Marines in a battalion fighting in Afghanistan and wanted to send them all care packages.

“For some troops, these care packages are the only mail they will receive all year,” the group said in one email solicitation.

The charity later described the fundraising drive as a rousing success: In less than five weeks, all 800 Marines in a 1st Marine Division battalion nicknamed Geronimo were sent care packages and notes in Afghanistan, it claimed.

But that couldn’t have been true. The Marines of Geronimo weren’t even in Afghanistan during Move America Forward’s fund drive. Instead, they were deployed more than 3,000 miles away, in Okinawa, Japan.

Yet an examination of its fundraising appeals, tax records and other documents shows that Move America Forward has repeatedly misled donors and inflated its charitable accomplishments, while funneling millions of dollars in revenue to the men behind the group and their political consulting firms.

In several instances, the charity has taken images and stories from other groups and from veterans themselves without permission to use in fundraising appeals.

Last year, Move America Forward even solicited funds by claiming a partnership with Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the largest hospital for wounded service members in the country. No such partnership existed, Defense Department officials say.

The charity’s funds and other assets also appear to have been used to subsidize three conservative political action committees, records show.

...

The driving force behind Move America Forward is Sal Russo, 67, the longtime political consultant who is listed on the 10-year-old charity’s tax returns as chief strategist.

Russo is better known for helping to form the Our Country Deserves Better PAC, also known as the Tea Party Express, one of the largest Tea Party groups in the country.

What a surprise that some of these "grassroots heroes" would end up cheats.

golfer in chief

How quaint, another braindead Faux Newsism.

[Shryke]

Wait, golfer-in-chief doesn't refer to GWB?

[The Marquis de Leech]

Wait, golfer-in-chief doesn't refer to GWB?

Or Eisenhower?

[TrackerNeil]

I've got an early prediction. I think Paul Ryan is going to be the GOP nominee.

I think there are signs that he's going to run, and I think he'd be the likeliest to win if he did. He's trying to revise that "takers versus makers" language by saying it wasn't meant to offend or some BS, he's whitewashing that Atlas Shrugged is a book that not only got him into politics but he made his staffers read it, he's doing "poverty tours" where he goes and talks to poorer people while making sure that there are reporters around and stuff, and then I think he's still sort of in that space kind of like Scott Walker where he can be tolerated by the base and the establishment or what have you.

Plus, with that hair, you know many septuagenarian GOP voters will convince themselves that they see the spitting image of Ronald Reagan brought back to life in his 40's to save us from evil.

OK, I have gotten out of the sun and can comment intelligently.

I guess Paul could be the nominee, sure, although he's going to have some trouble with his policy positions. He's spent so much time proposing to screw the poor in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich that he'll have to work hard to make people forget that. Still, if the Father of the Massachusetts Mandate can secure the nomination, I guess anyone can.

Although I would like to say, for the record, that Paul Ryan is good-looking only by Washington standards. Seriously. And, yes, I've seen his workout pics, and the man has chicken legs. Aaron Schock is way cuter than Big Chief Chicken Legs, although he really needs to come out of the closet.

[awesome possum]

Need further proof that our Congress has completely sold out? Look no further than Eric Cantor

Eric Cantor, the Republican House Majority Leader until 31 days ago, is now the Vice Chairman of Moelis & Company, a global investment bank. This is how Moelis & Company was formed.

“[Ken] Moelis, Head of Banking at the UBS LA office, left to form his own firm,

Moelis & Company

. And he brought many of his stars with him, including Navid Mahmoodzadegan.”

In 2009, UBS was fined $780 million for, according to the Department of Justice, “helping United States taxpayers open new UBS accounts in the names of sham entities… then transferring [their assets] to newly created accounts, as to which the U.S. taxpayer would not be identified as a beneficiary.”

In the same month, Eric Cantor took $10,000 from UBS in campaign money.

The fine came—with no exaggeration—exactly one day before he complained about AIG’s “stunning lack of accountability to the taxpayers” in the financial crisis.

Again, one day after UBS pled guilty to helping Americans dodge taxes, here was Cantor: “Rewarding senior executives who created this mess is nothing short of an outrage.”

One month ago, Eric Cantor was the highest ranking member of the House of Representatives. Now, Eric Cantor is one of those senior executives he railed against, who "created this mess" that is our broken economy and corrupt Congress.

....

Eric Cantor’s assets were worth an estimated $3.6 million at the start of his third term in 2004. He is now worth a reported $9.3 million.

The American Dream is still alive and well, if you can manage to get voted into Congress and sell out to the highest bidder.

[The Fallen]

Sad, but true. There aren't too many things worse than a career politician.

[ThinkerX]

check it out, even more proof that the teanuts are a fraud. Well, let me amend that. Not the teanuts themselves, as they're mostly just poor suckers who don't know any better. One of the groups that sprung up to take money from those who would gladly call themselves teanuts are a fraud:

Reminds me of a local scam we had in my area a few years ago - 'Boxes for Heroes', a sort 'care package for the troops' type deal. I'd see their people at the local malls and in front of grocery stores asking for donations. Lots of people hereabouts have friends and relatives in the military, so lots of them gave. Turned out the groups founder lied to everybody, including his own employees. The vast bulk of the money went to support his lifestyle. I remember reading about former employees and investigators finding piles upon piles of goodies meant for the troops in storage.

[Wise Fool]

Dafuq? It had a millisecond grab still of the video, with the dude in black holding the knife, confected outrage. I thought it was incredibly well produced for a political ad (which are mostly lame). Whoever made is def talented. I think it's effectiveness in depicting the golfer in chief is what's causing the real offense.

Well-produced? Sure. So was A Serbian Film. And your argument is like saying that that film was only offensive because it effectively portrays the Serbian sociopolitical climate. (An argument that some defenders of that film have actually made. The real offensiveness is in the sleazy exploitation of violence, whether real or (in the case of the movie) fictional.)

[The Fallen]

Reminds me of a local scam we had in my area a few years ago - 'Boxes for Heroes', a sort 'care package for the troops' type deal. I'd see their people at the local malls and in front of grocery stores asking for donations. Lots of people hereabouts have friends and relatives in the military, so lots of them gave. Turned out the groups founder lied to everybody, including his own employees. The vast bulk of the money went to support his lifestyle. I remember reading about former employees and investigators finding piles upon piles of goodies meant for the troops in storage.

Twice today I heard supposed Iraq war veterans asking for change. First in the subway, taking the shuttle from Times Square to Grand Central and then on 14th St and 7th Ave. The second guy looked more like a Vietnam War veteran than Iraq. Definitely looked like he was on drugs. I gave him a buck anyway. I didn't get a good luck at the first two guys so I can't say whether they were lying or not.

[Ramsay Gimp]

Dafuq? It had a millisecond grab still of the video, with the dude in black holding the knife, confected outrage. I thought it was incredibly well produced for a political ad (which are mostly lame). Whoever made is def talented. I think it's effectiveness in depicting the golfer in chief is what's causing the real offense.

I confess I didn't watch the ad, I took the post and the headline for granted. my mistake - hyperbole and lies on both sides, apparently

[daskool]

Well-produced? Sure. So was A Serbian Film. And your argument is like saying that that film was only offensive because it effectively portrays the Serbian sociopolitical climate. (An argument that some defenders of that film have actually made. The real offensiveness is in the sleazy exploitation of violence, whether real or (in the case of the movie) fictional.)

Yeah OK, you have an ax to grind.

The ad was condemning Obama's propensity for frequent rounds of golf whilst the middle east burns. That's the point it was making, now you might disagree with that, which is fine, but to condemn as some kind of sleazy snuff flick is taking a step beyond partisan la la land IMO. How would the director be expected to show the middle east crisis? Clips from Disney's Aladdin perhaps?

[Wise Fool]

Yeah OK, you have an ax to grind.

The ad was condemning Obama's propensity for frequent rounds of golf whilst the middle east burns. That's the point it was making, now you might disagree with that, which is fine, but to condemn as some kind of sleazy snuff flick is taking a step beyond partisan la la land IMO. How would the director be expected to show the middle east crisis? Clips from Disney's Aladdin perhaps?

Ah but that's the thing. A Serbian Film isn't a sleazy snuff film. It's art. Great art! How else could the director portray the twisted social and political turmoil of post-Cold War era Serbia, I ask you? How else? With clips from Disney's Aladdin, lololol?

I'm sure it's the same with the political campaign. I mean you ask a great question. There really is no other way to depict Middle East violence than by using imagery taken from the execution of a particular man. And if that man's family begs the campaign makers not to do that, well, they probably just have axes to grind.

[daskool]

Ah but that's the thing. A Serbian Film isn't a sleazy snuff film. It's art. Great art! How else could the director portray the twisted social and political turmoil of post-Cold War era Serbia, I ask you? How else? With clips from Disney's Aladdin, lololol?

I'm sure it's the same with the political campaign. I mean you ask a great question. There really is no other way to depict Middle East violence than by using imagery taken from the execution of a particular man. And if that man's family begs the campaign makers not to do that, well, they probably just have axes to grind.

So there's no legitimate use for depictions of war in political ads? I'm not really sure what you're arguing, that this was distasteful? Well they didn't show anything at all of either the victim or the execution, so no it really wasn't. Because they didn't get the permission of the family? Sure OK, especially as it was a recent event and they're grieving they should have refrained from using the still. But the overwhelming thrust of the ad was to depict Obama as being lazy and disinterested while chaos reigns, a far cry from a sleazy depiction of violence to sell a message.

[awesome possum]

But the overwhelming thrust of the ad was to depict Obama as being lazy and disinterested while chaos reigns, a far cry from a sleazy depiction of violence to sell a message.

You're right, it's not a sleazy depiction of violence. It's just sleazy.

[Balefont]

I don't think you know what "fiduciary duty" means. Costco doesn't (and couldn't) have a fiduciary duty to their employees.

Right. Maybe "fiduciary duty" isn't best term but you can have a duty to both parties. In the trust world, a fiducairy has the duty of impartiality and must consider the income beneficiaries vs. the remainder beneficiaries; these are technically competing interests.

[NestorMakhnosLovechild]

Louisiana momentarily halts the trend towards total marriage equality in the United States as a state ban on same-sex marriages is upheld by a federal judge.

Curious to see how it will be handled on appeal.