Donald J Trump, your thoughts on his Presidency

[Weave]

41 minutes ago, SABRES 0311 said:

How do we stop it? Please don’t say enter the quantum realm. 

I don't know. 

Candidates at state and federal levels are hand picked so I'm not enthusiastic about real change coming from new candidates in either party.  And we're seeing now the damage that occurs when ultra-wealthy force their way in.  I know what I'd like to see, substantial change to how elections are funded that greatly reduces corporate influence.  I'd like to see gerrymandering eliminated.  I'd like to see debates, and elections in general, more inclusive of non-Republican and Democrat candidates. 

But those are all changes that the currently entrenched would have to roll out, so I don't have any hope of those things happening.

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, Weave said:

To continue the parody, we're in the end game now.  Oligarchy.

Exactly. 

1 hour ago, SABRES 0311 said:

How do we stop it? Please don’t say enter the quantum realm. 

"When a long train of abuses..." 

[SABRES 0311]

11 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Exactly. 

"When a long train of abuses..." 

I see where you are going there. It’s an interesting scenario. If it came to that I wonder what the sides would be, military response and how it would impact foreign countries.

[Weave]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Exactly. 

"When a long train of abuses..." 

 

3 hours ago, SABRES 0311 said:

I see where you are going there. It’s an interesting scenario. If it came to that I wonder what the sides would be, military response and how it would impact foreign countries.

 

Our lifestyle is way too comfortable for it to happen.  It would take a return to the conditions at the start of the Industrial Era. (it's pretty well understood that the real path to peace in the middle east is economic)

And not so coincidentally, I think it will take a new labor movement for things to change.  The things at the root of Trump's rise are things surrounding the evaporation of the working class voice.  The bitch of it is, Trump is about the worst advocate for what those voices really want.

Edited April 14, 2019 by Weave

[LGR4GM]

21 hours ago, SABRES 0311 said:

I see where you are going there. It’s an interesting scenario. If it came to that I wonder what the sides would be, military response and how it would impact foreign countries.

I wasn't suggesting the military. I was thinking of a more peaceful process. 

[SABRES 0311]

14 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I wasn't suggesting the military. I was thinking of a more peaceful process. 

If it ever comes to that point then peaceful means would have failed. Our ancestors realized this. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

[LTS]

It's deeper than labor.

We need to change education.  Our children are purposefully under educated and that's even in the best "suburb" schools.  Let's not even get started on urban school issues.

Ignorance breeds ignorance. Ignorant people are easy to control because they lack the ability to question and understand.

What passes for intellectual discussion these days was what was considered neanderthalic diatribe 20 years ago.  It's not getting worse.  It's not idiocracy, because the idiots that are put in office are not really in charge. 

Until we demand ourselves to be educated at a higher level we won't have the sufficient tools to combat the problem.

[SABRES 0311]

Agree with the above. I think the first person people need to demand better education is from themselves. That and I wouldn’t be surprised if some parents were lacking in taking an active role in their kid’s development.

Mueller Report should be out this week. I take that as new material for everyone to skew and argue about. No way it gives any definitive answer. Hope I am wrong.

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, SABRES 0311 said:

Agree with the above. I think the first person people need to demand better education is from themselves. That and I wouldn’t be surprised if some parents were lacking in taking an active role in their kid’s development.

Mueller Report should be out this week. I take that as new material for everyone to skew and argue about. No way it gives any definitive answer. Hope I am wrong.

Some parents are in jail for weak drug charges or because they can't afford bail so those kids are raising themselves too. I mean, white college kid gets caught with weed, slap on the wrist. Black guy gets caught with weed, jail. It all feeds into what you are saying. 

I agree on education. We should treat it like the Military. It is essential to the US' existence. 

[Weave]

Here is a fun one on tax day.  Twice as many coporations paying zero income taxes under the Trump tax plan

Quote

At least 60 companies reported that their 2018 federal tax rates amounted to effectively zero, or even less than zero, on income earned on U.S. operations, according to an analysis released today by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The number is more than twice as many as ITEP found roughly, per year, on average in an earlier, multi-year analysis before the new tax law went into effect.

Quote

Today's ITEP report is partly a follow-up to a multi-year analysis of profitable U.S. corporations that showed many paid zero taxes. The institute reviewed the financial filings of more than 600 corporations ranked on the Fortune 500 list between the years 2008 and 2015. On average, about 30 companies each year reported zero U.S. taxes or less. ITEP identified more than twice as many companies claiming they owed no U.S. taxes in 2018.

Some of the noteworthy names include Amazon, Netflix, Chevron, Eli Lilly, John Deere.

John Deere reported $2.15B in income and global profits of $2.37B this year and is claiming a $268M refund.

Amazon had $10.8B in US income and is claiming a $129M rebate.

IBM, $500M in US income, $8.7B in global profits, $342M refund.

Quote

Gardner said the new tax law has left most of the old tax breaks intact while cutting the rate by almost half, resulting in a "continued decline in our already low corporate revenues." Revenues from the corporate tax fell by 31 percent in 2018 to $204 billion from $297 billion. "This was a more precipitous decline than in any year of normal economic growth in U.S. history," he wrote.

 

If Trump and Trumpians were really worried about the deep state they'd be worried about corporate America pulling the government's strings, not some mid level bureaucrat.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Weave

[SABRES 0311]

48 minutes ago, Weave said:

Here is a fun one on tax day.  Twice as many coporations paying zero income taxes under the Trump tax plan

Some of the noteworthy names include Amazon, Netflix, Chevron, Eli Lilly, John Deere.

John Deere reported $2.15B in income and global profits of $2.37B this year and is claiming a $268M refund.

Amazon had $10.8B in US income and is claiming a $129M rebate.

IBM, $500M in US income, $8.7B in global profits, $342M refund.

 

If Trump and Trumpians were really worried about the deep state they'd be worried about corporate America pulling the government's strings, not some mid level bureaucrat.

Is this the new deplorables? Is the mid-level bureaucrat Rep Omar? As to the taxes I will not try to defend him on something I cannot speak to as well as I can other things. I do think if I am paying income tax so should corporations making a little more than me.  

[Weave]

1 hour ago, SABRES 0311 said:

Is this the new deplorables? Is the mid-level bureaucrat Rep Omar? As to the taxes I will not try to defend him on something I cannot speak to as well as I can other things. I do think if I am paying income tax so should corporations making a little more than me.  

I would not use the word deplorable.  People near to me support Trump.  I don't find them deplorable.  I wouldn't think supporters of President Trump would find Trumpian any more offensive than Reagan supporters found Reaganite offensive.

As for mid level bureaucrat, think whoever it was that was taking paperwork off Trump's desk so he couldn't sign it.  Cries of deep state when the real deep state is the power pulling the strings.

[SABRES 0311]

5 minutes ago, Weave said:

I would not use the word deplorable.  People near to me support Trump.  I don't find them deplorable.  I wouldn't think supporters of President Trump would find Trumpian any more offensive than Reagan supporters found Reaganite offensive.

As for mid level bureaucrat, think whoever it was that was taking paperwork off Trump's desk so he couldn't sign it.  Cries of deep state when the real deep state is the power pulling the strings.

I don't know who it was that took paperwork off his desk. Hence why I am asking who you are talking about.

[Weave]

4 minutes ago, SABRES 0311 said:

I don't know who it was that took paperwork off his desk. Hence why I am asking who you are talking about.

I don't remember who it was, or if they were ever identified by name.  It was someone in the inner circle obviously as they had access to CIC desk.  It was a deal maybe halfway through year one. 

[Weave]

Quick Google search and I think this is the incident I remember.  https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/404933-woodward-gary-cohn-pulled-letters-off-trumps-desk-withdrawing-us-from

[SABRES 0311]

15 minutes ago, Weave said:

Quick Google search and I think this is the incident I remember.  https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/404933-woodward-gary-cohn-pulled-letters-off-trumps-desk-withdrawing-us-from

If true Cohn is a scumbag. If you don't agree with the President's decisions then quit, vote him out next election, make a case for impeachment if necessary (substantiated), or call on Congress to review the situation. Keeping documents from him to affect national and international policy is not how this is supposed to work. I am actually pissed off after reading this.

[Samson's Flow]

18 hours ago, Weave said:

Here is a fun one on tax day.  Twice as many coporations paying zero income taxes under the Trump tax plan

Some of the noteworthy names include Amazon, Netflix, Chevron, Eli Lilly, John Deere.

John Deere reported $2.15B in income and global profits of $2.37B this year and is claiming a $268M refund.

Amazon had $10.8B in US income and is claiming a $129M rebate.

IBM, $500M in US income, $8.7B in global profits, $342M refund.

 

If Trump and Trumpians were really worried about the deep state they'd be worried about corporate America pulling the government's strings, not some mid level bureaucrat.

As a financial professional, the second the new tax law was put into effect I knew this headline or something similar to it would be coming out post 4/15. What is most amazing to me is how Trump has managed to convince a large majority of people in the U.S. that he is working to help the middle and working class, when his actual fiscal/taxation policies are some of the most pro-corporation benefit that we have seen in a long time.

My personal slant is the amount of money the government could make in enforcing a real corporate tax policy without the million loopholes that currently exist would allow all sorts of reductions in personal income taxes and still come out ahead.

[LTS]

1 hour ago, Samson's Flow said:

As a financial professional, the second the new tax law was put into effect I knew this headline or something similar to it would be coming out post 4/15. What is most amazing to me is how Trump has managed to convince a large majority of people in the U.S. that he is working to help the middle and working class, when his actual fiscal/taxation policies are some of the most pro-corporation benefit that we have seen in a long time.

My personal slant is the amount of money the government could make in enforcing a real corporate tax policy without the million loopholes that currently exist would allow all sorts of reductions in personal income taxes and still come out ahead.

Just like moving between states, what prevents corporations from changing their structures to become non-US based entities and avoiding much of the tax concerns?  I've always seen it as a balancing act.  You have to find the right amount.  Unfortunately, government seems unable to do so.

[Samson's Flow]

1 hour ago, LTS said:

Just like moving between states, what prevents corporations from changing their structures to become non-US based entities and avoiding much of the tax concerns?  I've always seen it as a balancing act.  You have to find the right amount.  Unfortunately, government seems unable to do so.

Oh no doubt, you can't make it so punitive that all the corporations move to Canada or somewhere in the Caribbean, but the policies have been trending very pro-corporation for as long as I can remember. There's a better balancing act available.

I'm a big proponent of simplifying the tax code to the point where its very easy to calculate everyone tax liabilities. The amount of industry or cause specific tax exemptions that exist in our code that only came about as a result of special interest lobbying make it very easy for the big corporations to end up with minimal taxation on huge revenues.

[Weave]

1 hour ago, Samson's Flow said:

Oh no doubt, you can't make it so punitive that all the corporations move to Canada or somewhere in the Caribbean, but the policies have been trending very pro-corporation for as long as I can remember. There's a better balancing act available.

I'm a big proponent of simplifying the tax code to the point where its very easy to calculate everyone tax liabilities. The amount of industry or cause specific tax exemptions that exist in our code that only came about as a result of special interest lobbying make it very easy for the big corporations to end up with minimal taxation on huge revenues.

The link I posted touches on that.  In theory, the US has the highest corporate tax rate in the world, but there are so may exeptions that the real tax rate is much, much lower.  In some of those examples very profitable corporations were qualifying for refunds.

 

There is the real fourth estate.

[LTS]

16 hours ago, Samson's Flow said:

Oh no doubt, you can't make it so punitive that all the corporations move to Canada or somewhere in the Caribbean, but the policies have been trending very pro-corporation for as long as I can remember. There's a better balancing act available.

I'm a big proponent of simplifying the tax code to the point where its very easy to calculate everyone tax liabilities. The amount of industry or cause specific tax exemptions that exist in our code that only came about as a result of special interest lobbying make it very easy for the big corporations to end up with minimal taxation on huge revenues.

I would suspect that as the tax burden increases on corporations they will find the next loophole.  I applaud the simple tax initiative, but even then, doesn't this ultimately end up in a higher cost of living for everyone as corporations are forced to improve revenues to overcome their tax burdens?  

Exemptions are bad.  Even in personal taxes.  They are usually some kind of band-aid attempt to something that was already broken thus resulting in an even more complex situation that remains broken.

14 hours ago, Weave said:

The link I posted touches on that.  In theory, the US has the highest corporate tax rate in the world, but there are so may exeptions that the real tax rate is much, much lower.  In some of those examples very profitable corporations were qualifying for refunds.

 

There is the real fourth estate.

Just like my $300 jacket that is always on sale for $45 and with discounts can be had for $30.  But it's okay because it only cost $3.50 to make.  ?

[Weave]

41 minutes ago, LTS said:

I would suspect that as the tax burden increases on corporations they will find the next loophole.  I applaud the simple tax initiative, but even then, doesn't this ultimately end up in a higher cost of living for everyone as corporations are forced to improve revenues to overcome their tax burdens? 

Ultimately, the market will determine pricing so I'm not convinced that it would lead to inflationary pressures.  And the simpler tax rate could be set at the equivalent of what most corporations see now.  The data is certainly there to calculate it.

[SABRES 0311]

The Mueller Report looks thicker than Cardi B. We should be able read the whole thing by the Tricentennial.

Skimmed through the first 35 of over 400 pages. Heavy redactions as soon as the report delves into the structure and activities of the Russian IRA. Makes sense why that is. The Executive Summary starts on page seven and looks like we get to see what it says. 

Edited April 18, 2019 by SABRES 0311

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, SABRES 0311 said:

The Mueller Report looks thicker than Cardi B. We should be able read the whole thing by the Tricentennial.

Skimmed through the first 35 of over 400 pages. Heavy redactions as soon as the report delves into the structure and activities of the Russian IRA. Makes sense why that is. The Executive Summary starts on page seven and looks like we get to see what it says. 

My initial understanding is that the president attempted to obstruct justice but was stopped because people under him refused to comply with his demands. It seems many of those people lost their jobs. 

[Eleven]

3 hours ago, SABRES 0311 said:

The Mueller Report looks thicker than Cardi B. We should be able read the whole thing by the Tricentennial.

Skimmed through the first 35 of over 400 pages. Heavy redactions as soon as the report delves into the structure and activities of the Russian IRA. Makes sense why that is. The Executive Summary starts on page seven and looks like we get to see what it says. 

The juicy stuff is in Volume II, from what I can tell, so I started there.

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

My initial understanding is that the president attempted to obstruct justice but was stopped because people under him refused to comply with his demands. It seems many of those people lost their jobs. 

Yeah, that's pretty much what it's looking like so far.