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There is a critique of the right that they demonise foreigners and immigrants and as the source of all societies troubles, but holy shit does the left think that all their problems are caused by 'rich people'. All solutions to the worlds problems can be solved by some sort of attack on the rich, and if we can just get at their money, everything will be ok. That isn't to say that the rich aren't a problem, they do not pay tax in the same way as your average citizen and it wouldn't hurt them to pay more. I am however deeply dubious about anyone claiming that any sort of wealth tax is a cure-all for society or that it will bring in anywhere near enough money to make it worth the effort. If you are going to criticise the simplistic and wrong headed arguments on the right, then it makes sense to do so to those on the left, and wealth taxes just seem like an unworkable idea that will never have the positive impacts that are claimed. I actually like Krugman, I liked Stiglitz (I think Globalization and it's discontents was one of the first economics books I bought in my 20s) but that doesn't make any of this any less dubious. What are the long term answers to capital flight? What do you do when all the wealthy people fuck off to Dubai or which ever country notices that the wealthy need an escape route and creates it in response to your wealth taxes? Rip mentions basically trapping wealth and preventing it leaving, but even if you can do that without years in court, why would anyone ever want to live and invest in your country again knowing you would do that. The reality is, every time wealth taxes are introduced, millionaires get the fuck out of dodge. How are you even calculating wealth? What is it based on? If your portfolio is changing it's valuation every day, what are you actually being taxed on? What if none of it is liquid? So you try and sell stuff to pay your taxes... what does that do to the entire system because then suddenly people will take advantage and your valuation drops anyway. What about those who only slightly wealthy, what do they need to sell to pay their taxes, is it their homes? How much time and effort is going to be spent calculating wealth and dealing with the back and forth and court cases disputing it. A bit like what I was saying in the democracy thread, I think this again is the same issue. Hugely wealthy people are not the problem itself, they are a symptom of the real problem. I suspect the real problem is a globalised financial system that is essentially built on speculation as a method of creating value, rather than production of actual value. Huge amounts of money are speculated with every day, and that leads to concentrations of wealth. We also live in a global system where countries are less powerful than many corporations and are totally beholden to them. The cat is already out of the bad on that one. That is why I suspect whatever the solution to these problems is, it will probably involve the rolling back of globalisation somehow. I guess there are other solutions to the problem of the whole system being a gambling ring, stuff like capital gains taxes, financial transactions taxes etc, but again, they all need global coordination, because any one country creating oppressive tax systems means the rich will simply avoid that and go somewhere else.

Well kl is probably a lot better for a man who loves his drinking and whores (ask robert) and his father will be less able to watch him. The trip to the north its well established tyrion has a keen interest in the outside world even being banned from travel to the free cities by tywin.

Daenerys acts like Aenys I, throughout most of ADWD, when she ought to be acting like Machiavelli’s Prince. The Prince is not, as is often supposed, a handbook to being evil, but a handbook to being pragmatic. Be cruel, when you have to be cruel, and be merciful when it’s politic to be merciful.

I agree completely with this. The story is kind of like a giant Rorschach test; the theme or message that each of us finds to be most important is a reflection of our own state of mind. For me, the message that jumps out -- I think someone already mentioned it -- is the way that everyone is caught up in their political intrigues and personal drama, while a much larger threat is looming on the horizon. It reminds me of some things I see in the news, here in the (sur)real world.

Someone at Chelsea has compromising tapes of Arteta!

I gave you a cookbook of old timey terrible Minnesota recipes, which we can largely blame on Norwegians and Germans making everything worse. How dare you Bird. I'm not mad, just disappointed.

Why is Chet even getting a close to a max deal? His stats and injuries don't warrant it all.

100% inheritance tax and minimal income tax gets us a proper meritocracy within a few generations.

No. Holmgren was eligible for the full Rose Rule escalators, but for whatever reason they were not included. Whether that was because he didn’t demand them or OKC was unwilling to offer them, who knows?

Should Aemond's alleged son by Alys be added to the pretenders section of the Kings and Queens of Westeros since Aegon's Conquest tab?

Slenderman tax.

Welp, it's begun. A lawsuit's been filed against Krafton. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-subnautica-2-saga-gets-nastier-with-ousted-leaders-confirming-theyll-sue-krafton-it-continues-to-be-an-explosive-and-surreal-time/

Why is Holmgren only getting up to $250m while Banchero and Williams can get $280m? Does that first year of not playing count against him or something?

Huh, thought it was Charlie, Max and Cory. Who is Ted and what happened to Cory? Anyway, if we take Krafton at face value, I'm shocked that Moonbreaker wasn't pushed by them. Didn't think UWE would have developed a microtransaction game by themselves considering how resistant they were to DLC, to the point of trying crowdfunding after release before finally relenting to skin packs. This was at a time when other games like Battlefield were gatekeeping maps behind expansions too.

Nuts that it's be proven the best way to deal with Trump is basically to keep kicking him in the nuts (metaphorically unfortunately) and people still think attempting to reason with him will work.

Aha! Just computing that the shitty showrunner of Fear The Walking Dead, Ian Goldberg, isn't taking over this show until Season 4. So I can watch Season 3 afterall! Now all the rave reviews are making sense. It looks like Goyer left half way through this season, but it's not clear who took over as showrunner then. Maybe they pulled a Marvel and had no showrunner, just letting a director have the reins. It sounds that maybe it was Goyer's directing that Apple had a problem with, because they did keep him on as writer for the whole season. Goyer apparently had a plan to account for 4, 6 or 8 seasons, so it might be season 4 will be the last.

I wonder what Lucho has done at Liverpool to be the subject of trade negotiations. It must surely be that Slot thinks that the left wing is Cody's to own and operate, right? Because Lucho seems to be hard-working and likeable, and although he has to be one of the most one-legged footballers I have ever watched, he is nevertheless effective. Why sell him for what seems like a relatively low fee? The numbers rumored for Nunez are higher than that for him, which seems odd given their relative levels of success in the past year. Or maybe it is just a sort of shell-shock for me as a fan. Losing Mane and Bobby Firm was sad, and then not playing Elliott and Nunez was disappointing, and now Jota's death. All of these were good guys, big personalities and quality players, and the impact of their exits seems larger than usual.

For a candidate who constantly talked about eliminating waste, the Trump administration sure farts away our tax dollars on frivolous nonsense at a terrific rate of speed.

I feel a lot of resentment for FEAST and DANCE. In my view, those were the books that killed ASOIAF and destroyed the chances of Martin finishing the books, and now 14 years later, it's pretty clear that the introduction of so many new characters and POVs made the conclusion impossible. The books are disorganized, have a weird pace, main characters like Arya, Bran and Sansa were sidelined to open space for Martells and Greyjoys, which I dislike profoundly. DANCE no even have a proper ending with many battles and character arcs left open. It's one of the most bizarre books I have read in my life. Tyrion chapters literally finish without an ending. I keep hoping WINDS will be much better and finally guide the story back to an ending sight, but again, after 14 years, I have lost much hope.

Let’s not even mention a 35% tariff on your 2nd biggest trading partner. And I’m happy to boycott Wisconsin as well!

OK, third date, Psychiatrist texted "I wanted to say that I do like you, but I don't think the chemistry is there. I wish it was because you are super nice and cool. But I wanted to tell you rather than just wait." Uuuuugh, I felt that it might be going that way. F M L. Ok, thank u, next. Opera Singer is coming to see me on Saturday at 7.

Golan-Globus?

Why? WHY??? I'd say straight to DVD, but we all stream now and the likes of Apple, Amazon, and Netflix can make genuine good looking movies. So who made this movie?

I like the ‘Please delete’ title better than the ‘Forest fires ruining summer’. Smoke in summer just means it’s smoke season, just like every other summer these days. cough cough