Sheldon Whitehouse for President!

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AZCaesar
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Re: Sheldon Whitehouse for President!

Post by AZCaesar »

ajax18 wrote:
Out of curiosity, what do you think the fertility rate is for Latin America?
A lot higher than they are willing to pay for on their own, and a lot higher than the fertility rate amongst net taxpayers in the US. Do you realize that even if US were to reduce carbon emissions to zero, the earth would still get 0.2 degrees warmer?
Hey Analytics, as a free gift service for you, I am translating this from Racist Jackassian into English. Please enjoy.
ajax18 wrote:
Out of curiosity, what do you think the fertility rate is for Latin America?
I dunno. Look over there!
Have a great day!

ETA: Dammit to hell, Cam, you beat me to it while I was posting!
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Re: Sheldon Whitehouse for President!

Post by Gunnar »

ajax18 wrote:
Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:17 pm
If Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ran as President, with Whitehouse as VP, that would be great too!
Which do you like best? Socialist redistribution from working to nonworking people or economy killing environmentalism?
No one is asking for redistribution of wealth to people who don't work or refuse to work. The fact is that even many with full time jobs or even, in some cases, more than one job, can't afford to house and feed their families on current minimum legal wage levels. It is not uncommon nowadays for people with full time, minimum wage jobs to be homeless because there is no housing available to them that they can afford to pay for. Meanwhile, some extremely wealthy corporations and individuals are paying no taxes at all and/or getting enormous government subsidies and welfare checks they don't need, due to corruption. As I have said before, Republicans have nothing against redistribution of wealth as long as it continues in the current direction into the hands the wealthiest of the wealthy who don't need or deserve even most of what they already have, let alone yet even more wealth.

As for environmentalism, that is the best way to ultimately protect and save the economy. Nothing is ultimately more destructive to our economy than spoiling and polluting our environment. We have pointed out numerous studies, that you obstinately refuse to even read, that conlusively show that green energy technologies and policies not only do not hurt the economy, but create millions of new jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities and wealth, as well as making the world a safer, healthier and happier place to live.
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
Chap
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Re: Sheldon Whitehouse for President!

Post by Chap »

ajax18 wrote:
Mon Jun 28, 2021 4:59 pm
Me, I think it would be very good if billionaires had to pay the same tax rate as, say. ophthalmologists, so the US could have infrastructure as good as or better than, say, China, going to college did not mean a crippling debt burden, and maybe ophthalmologists paid a bit less tax than now.

Do you find anything in that idea to dislike?
There's nothing to dislike in that other than I disagree with your version of the facts. The top 1% already pay 50% of the taxes. They sure pay a higher rate than Optometrists.
Richest Americans—Including Bezos, Musk And Buffett—Paid Federal Income Taxes Equaling Just 3.4% Of $401 Billion In New Wealth, Bombshell Report Shows
ProPublica found that while the median American household earning roughly $70,000 per year paid 14% in federal taxes each year, the 25 richest Americans (by Forbes’ tally) paid a “true tax rate” of just 3.4% on wealth growth of $401 billion between 2014 and 2018.
ProPublica’s “true tax rate” is a novel and sure-to-be-controversial measure of how much taxes an individual paid each year compared to Forbes’ calculation of how much their wealth grew during the same time, meaning that ProPublica is counting unrealized capital gains, which are not taxed under the current U.S. Tax Code.

According to ProPublica’s analysis, billionaire investor Warren Buffett, an advocate of higher taxes on the rich, saw his wealth grow by more than $24 billion from 2014 to 2018 and paid a true tax rate of 0.10%—a reflection of the fact that he reported just $125 million in income during that period, makes large charitable contributions and (since he pays himself a minimal salary), most of his income comes in the form of lower-taxed capital gains.
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos paid a true tax rate of 0.98% as his wealth grew by a staggering $99 billion between 2014 and 2018; he reported just $4.22 billion in reported income during the same period.
As Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, saw his wealth balloon by $13.9 billion between 2014 and 2018, he reported $1.52 billion in income and paid a true tax rate of 3.27%.

SUPRISING FACT

Bezos paid no federal income tax in 2007, ProPublica found, even though he added $3.8 billion to his fortune that year. That’s because he was able to offset the $46 million in income he reported with losses from investments and deductions on debts and other expenses, according to ProPublica’s analysis. ProPublica also found that Musk paid no income tax in 2018.

BIG NUMBER

$175 billion per year. That’s how much the top 1% of taxpayers contribute to the tax gap—the difference between federal taxes legally owed and those actually collected—each year, according to a March study. The study estimated that the top 1% of taxpayers don’t pay taxes on 20% of their income. Significantly, however, ProPublica’s report does not suggest those billionaires broke the law and calculates the “true tax” not on income, but on wealth, which for the very rich is a much bigger number, since unrealized gains aren’t taxed.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

In order to pay for his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, an ambitious spending proposal designed to dramatically increase investment in education, childcare and universal family and sick leave, President Biden has proposed a series of tax hikes on the wealthiest Americans and wants to funnel more money to the IRS so it can step up enforcement and audits of the wealthy. Biden’s proposed hikes include increasing the top ordinary income tax rate from 37% to 39.6% and taxing capital gains and dividends at the higher ordinary income rate for households making more than $1 million per year. Biden also wants to eliminate the “step-up” in basis for previously untaxed capital gains passed down to heirs above $1 million for individuals or $2 million per couple—-currently, step-up means that all the unrealized capital gains that accrued to a wealthy person who has just died are never taxed.
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Re: Sheldon Whitehouse for President!

Post by Gunnar »

And ajax's response (as usual) basically amounts to sticking his fingers in his ears and saying "neener, neener, neener, I don't hear you!"
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
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Re: Sheldon Whitehouse for President!

Post by Brack »

Gunnar wrote:
Sun Jun 27, 2021 4:58 pm
It's disgraceful and tragic that leading Republicans (and let's be honest, even some Democrats, like Joe Manchin, for example) influenced by corporate donors are willfully opposing what polls show that the vast majority (in some cases, nearly 100%, as pointed out by Senator Whitehouse) clearly want. As Al Gore pointed out, it is as if much of the government leadership (especially the GOP part) is being taken over and influenced by a new kind of AI (Artificial Insanity).

It isn't fair to compare Senator Manchin to Senator Whitehouse. Senator Whitehouse represents Rhode Island, a state President Biden won by 20.78%. Senator Manchin represents West Virginia, a state former President Trump won by 38.93%. And Manchin did come out with a compromise over H.R. 1, but it was rejected by Senate Republicans.
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Re: Sheldon Whitehouse for President!

Post by ajax18 »

Gunnar wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:14 am
And ajax's response (as usual) basically amounts to sticking his fingers in his ears and saying "neener, neener, neener, I don't hear you!"
Bezos and Buffet are both Democrats. Part of why they get away with paying so little in taxes is by bowing to the woks mob and funding antiracism training from true raciapl grifters and profiteers like Ibram Kenadi.

It's the unholy union of corporate America, big government and big tech.
And when the Confederates saw Jackson standing fearless like a stonewall, the army of Northern Virginia took courage and drove the federal army off their land.
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ajax18
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Re: Sheldon Whitehouse for President!

Post by ajax18 »

Brack wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 2:44 am
Gunnar wrote:
Sun Jun 27, 2021 4:58 pm
It's disgraceful and tragic that leading Republicans (and let's be honest, even some Democrats, like Joe Manchin, for example) influenced by corporate donors are willfully opposing what polls show that the vast majority (in some cases, nearly 100%, as pointed out by Senator Whitehouse) clearly want. As Al Gore pointed out, it is as if much of the government leadership (especially the GOP part) is being taken over and influenced by a new kind of AI (Artificial Insanity).

It isn't fair to compare Senator Manchin to Senator Whitehouse. Senator Whitehouse represents Rhode Island, a state President Biden won by 20.78%. Senator Manchin represents West Virginia, a state former President Trump won by 38.93%. And Manchin did come out with a compromise over H.R. 1, but it was rejected by Senate Republicans.
And yet somehow Mitt Romney felt the need to get swindled into providing a veil of bipartisanship for Biden ramming through his latest big welfare bill while reppresenting a very red state in UT. What a disgrace Mitt Romney is. His kids won't be even be able to recover their family honor at this point. And yet if it were Mitt running for president the media would say he's worse than Trump.
And when the Confederates saw Jackson standing fearless like a stonewall, the army of Northern Virginia took courage and drove the federal army off their land.
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Re: Sheldon Whitehouse for President!

Post by Gunnar »

Brack wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 2:44 am
It isn't fair to compare Senator Manchin to Senator Whitehouse. Senator Whitehouse represents Rhode Island, a state President Biden won by 20.78%. Senator Manchin represents West Virginia, a state former President Trump won by 38.93%. And Manchin did come out with a compromise over H.R. 1, but it was rejected by Senate Republicans.
Considering those numbers alone, you may well have a valid point, yet Senator Manchin might actually have done even better in WV had he been a bit more progressive and a bit less conservative. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psyKZ9mBnTc
Rachel Maddow shares details from a new poll that shows West Virginia voters of all political stripes are very supportive of the For The People Act to protect voting rights, which makes it all the more odd that Senator Joe Manchin, who represents West Virginia, does not.
Even 76% of Republicans in WV expressed support for the For The People Act to protect voting rights.

This was as of June 7th, but things may have changed a bit since then.
Last edited by Gunnar on Tue Jun 29, 2021 4:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Sheldon Whitehouse for President!

Post by Gunnar »

ajax18 wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 3:51 am

And yet somehow Mitt Romney felt the need to get swindled into providing a veil of bipartisanship for Biden ramming through his latest big welfare bill while reppresenting[sic] a very red state in UT. What a disgrace Mitt Romney is. His kids won't be even be able to recover their family honor at this point. And yet if it were Mitt running for president the media would say he's worse than Trump.
On the contrary, Mitt Romney is one of the very few current Republican Senators with any integrity left and who still refuses to buy into the Trump's gargantuan lie that the election was somehow stolen from him, that even William Barr now acknowledges is pure bovine excrement. This is the main reason he has no chance of ever being being the Republican nominee for President again, and will probably fail to be reelected when his current term as Senator ends. The fact that he knows that, and is still stoutly maintaining the real truth about the election, to his own obvious detriment, reveals that whatever faults he may have, he has a great deal of courage. He is one of the very few Republicans that any truly reasonable and honest person should even begin to consider voting for!

And you are still sticking your fingers in your ears and shouting "neener neener, I don't hear you!"
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
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Re: Sheldon Whitehouse for President!

Post by Chap »

ajax18 wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 3:45 am
Gunnar wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:14 am
And ajax's response (as usual) basically amounts to sticking his fingers in his ears and saying "neener, neener, neener, I don't hear you!"
Bezos and Buffet are both Democrats. Part of why they get away with paying so little in taxes is by bowing to the woks mob and funding antiracism training from true raciapl grifters and profiteers like Ibram Kenadi.

It's the unholy union of corporate America, big government and big tech.
Oh, so it's only Democrat billionaires who don't pay taxes at the same rate as normal working US citizens like ophthalmologists?

Trump, of course, is not a Democrat, and I doubt that he has been "bowing to the woks* mob and funding antiracism training from true raciapl grifters and profiteers like Ibram Kenadi". So surely we can assume that he is an example of a billionaire who pays his fair share of tax,

Remind me please: how much did Trump pay in Federal income taxes in the year he was elected and in his first year in office? I know it began with $75, but how many zeroes came after that?

(https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/202 ... taxes.html)

*'the woks mob" sounds an interesting new anti-Chinese slur. But let it pass.
Maksutov:
That's the problem with this supernatural stuff, it doesn't really solve anything. It's a placeholder for ignorance.
Mayan Elephant:
Not only have I denounced the Big Lie, I have denounced the Big lie big lie.
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