U.S. Politics 2016: From Russia With Love

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

2 minutes ago, Notone said:

Ah, while we are at it. Now follows my declaration of war on Christmas.

Happy Holidays everyone.

 

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For those who didn't get it. Cheer up, it was joke, and still Happy Holidays.

 

Back atcha! Happy Holidays, Westeros! Winter is here and so is a large bottle of McCarthy's Scotch and a few growlers of Pliny the Elder. Tis the Season to be Foggy! 

[DunderMifflin]

On 12/24/2016 at 1:43 PM, TheKitttenGuard said:

The Rockettes cultural relevance is decades past but it's a definitive New York institution.  

I agree the tweet is overblown.  It is just another example of Trump's pettiness and we have more than enough of those.

My guess is there was this thing some celebs were on where they were going to make a big statement by not going to it then he just squashed it by saying it's his choice to not invite anybody.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

4 minutes ago, DunderMifflin said:

My guess is there was this thing some celebs were on where they were going to make a big statement by not going to it then he just squashed it by saying it's his choice to not invite anybody.

Some of that sure, but it's mostly just another bald-faced lie on his part. They have tried signing stars and failed. Andrea Bocelli was signed to sing then backed out due to pressure from peers and others.

http://www.lifezette.com/popzette/bullying-andrea-bocelli/

 

So no, he didn't decide to "make it about the people" until it became clear that he couldn't attract A-list entertainment.

 

[TrueMetis]

On 2016-12-24 at 10:15 AM, Tempra said:

Stop with the fake news.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38427583

I don't think you understand what fake news is mate. The performers where clearly under the impression they had to do it, so at worse it was a misunderstanding. Not fake. Though given the email, that you can read yourself, that's an incredibly charitable reading of the situation, and given the "clarification" the company is pretty obviously backing off its position. I have a feeling however that when a person or organization changes it's stance after it does something stupid many people will be shouting about how the previous stance was "fake news". A term that's going to become an annoying buzzword real quick.

[TheKitttenGuard]

1 hour ago, DunderMifflin said:

My guess is there was this thing some celebs were on where they were going to make a big statement by not going to it then he just squashed it by saying it's his choice to not invite anybody.

Your are free to believe it.

For me it is someone who is saying I do not want you to come to someone who says they are not coming.  For that is the kind of person he is and it is well documented.

[OldGimletEye]

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/20/how-a-controversial-gop-plan-could-boost-the-taxes-on-a-sweater-from-175-to-17.html

A little on Paul Ryan’s “A More Horseshit Way”. Now there is a lot here, but I wanted to concentrate on this:

Quote

Second, it allows for the immediate expense of business investments, instead of over time as it is now. That's part is likely OK with many, too. 

Okay from what I remember or understand, this effectively changes the Corporate Tax to Corporate Cash Flow tax because basically business get to immediately expense new capital purchases rather than depreciating them over time.

The key idea, I believe, is that Cash Flow tax doesn’t tax the normal returns on corporate investments, a result I believe was first derived in 1948 by E Carey Brown, if I recall correctly. It is supposed to, however, tax Economic Rents, which aren’t considered good things.

It works like this:

Suppose a company decides to buy a new piece of machinery for $100,000. Lets say the tax is 20%. Also lets say the Company’s cost of capital is 10%.

So the company gets to remove 100,000 from its taxable income saving it 20,000. Now, to make things simple, let’s say the machinery generates a bunch a profits in the next year and then the machine is used up and is worthless.

Let’s say the machine generates 110,000 over the next year.

So a simple Present Value Calculation of the taxes would be

PV = 110,000/1.10 * %20 = 20,000.00

In short, the current taxes and the present value of future taxes are a wash. There is no taxation of normal profits.

But not lets say instead of 110,000, the company earns 130,000. In short, it is earning more than it’s user cost of capital and earning an economic rent.

The Present Value of Taxes of the 130,000 would be:

PVT = 130000/1.10 * 20% = $23636.0

In short the government would collect about 3600.00 in taxes, over the 20000, in present value terms. This represents a tax on economic rents. Normal profits aren’t taxed in this case.

So, my question is this: Why lower the corporate tax in this case? If we are only going to tax economic profits and not normal profits, then why lower the corporate tax to 20%? Maybe it would make sense under the the old way of depreciating capital, but under the this new proposal not so much.

Thinking about this.

[LongRider]

3 hours ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

Some of that sure, but it's mostly just another bald-faced lie on his part. They have tried signing stars and failed. Andrea Bocelli was signed to sing then backed out due to pressure from peers and others.

http://www.lifezette.com/popzette/bullying-andrea-bocelli/

Glad this article wasn't in the least bit biased. /s

I think running my anti-malware program now would be a good idea too.

[OldGimletEye]

Just now, LongRider said:

Glad this article wasn't in the least bit biased. /s

I think running my anti-malware program now would be a good idea too.

LOL.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

35 minutes ago, LongRider said:

Glad this article wasn't in the least bit biased. /s

I think running my anti-malware program now would be a good idea too.

It was the first article I came across about this particular story. I think it's not a bad idea to look at what the other side is saying about this stuff. On top of that I don't think it's a totally unfair assessment. He initially accepted the invitation, so it seems pretty likely that some outside pressures were put on him. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

6 hours ago, TheKitttenGuard said:

Your are free to believe it.

For me it is someone who is saying I do not want you to come to someone who says they are not coming.  For that is the kind of person he is and it is well documented.

On the bright side. Fat Mike voluntereed to play for free with his band. 

 

Now somebody just has to convince him, this would be like the best idea ever. 

[TheKitttenGuard]

1 hour ago, Notone said:

On the bright side. Fat Mike voluntereed to play for free with his band. 

 

Now somebody just has to convince him, this would be like the best idea ever. 

I wanted Alec Baldwin singing "Highway to Hell".

[Commodore]

Why is the left suddenly ok with people refusing service?

[Dr. Pepper]

4 minutes ago, Commodore said:

Why is the left suddenly ok with people refusing service?

Why is the right so simple-minded?

There are different types of refusing service.  Someone walks in and calls all the Mexican patrons rapists and criminals, that's called behavior and is worthy of service refusal.  Someone walks in and is simply Mexican, that's called who they are and not worthy of refusing service.  I'm not quite sure why these concepts are so very difficult to understand for the average conservative, but I assure you they are both different issues entirely.  Trump's behavior is worthy of refusing service.  

[Commodore]

13 minutes ago, Dr. Pepper said:

Trump's behavior is worthy of refusing service.  

But when should the service provider have the freedom to make that determination?

[OldGimletEye]

 

4 hours ago, Commodore said:

But why should the service provider have the freedom to make that determination?

Is this the part where you rail against the 1964 Civil Rights Bill?

[Dr. Pepper]

4 minutes ago, OldGimletEye said:

 

Is this part where you rail against the 1964 Civil Rights Bill?

He'll likely try to use coded language and then pretend that's not what he's doing.  He'll think he's being so clever.  

[OldGimletEye]

47 minutes ago, Dr. Pepper said:

He'll likely try to use coded language and then pretend that's not what he's doing.  He'll think he's being so clever.  

It's the case of when libertarians think they're slick, but they really aren't. Or at least not slick enough.

[SkynJay]

30 minutes ago, Commodore said:

Why is the left suddenly ok with people refusing service?

When has Trump been refused service in a public establishment?  Or by a government employee? 

[butterbumps!]

15 minutes ago, Dr. Pepper said:

He'll likely try to use coded language and then pretend that's not what he's doing.  He'll think he's being so clever.  

 

14 minutes ago, OldGimletEye said:

It's the case of when libertarians think their slick, but they really aren't. Or at least not slick enough.

yea, this is incredibly stupid.   People are turned away from businesses/ services all the damn time for reasons of inappropriate behavior, inappropriate dress, incompatible messaging, etc.   

[LongRider]

If the Rockettes do perform at the Inauguration, I hope they have written into their contract that Trump is not allowed in their dressing room to ogle the dancers, as that behavior is not just rude, but unpresidented.