Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy❤
No. of Recommendations: 1
Club 401K Liberals will take umbrage.........but just know when you do that, you are Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rummy , Pearle and that whole Cabal.
My Conservative friends may disagree - fine - but just know, that sort of puts us with Biden and especially Hillary.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/09/01..."Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Unravel The Warfare Machine That Is Bankrupting This Country"
"Number one, we have to unravel the warfare business, the warfare machine, that is bankrupting our country. Paul Kennedy, a Yale historian, has done this extraordinary history on the decline of empires. And every empire in the last 500 years, its death knell was overextending its military abroad. We've spent $8 trillion on war in the last 20 years, since 2002, that has gotten us nothing. It has made us less safe. The Chinese spent $8 trillion during that same period building ports, bridges, roads, schools, universities, and hospitals. And they're now the principal creditor for almost every nation in Latin America and Africa."
"Our wars have bankrupted the middle class in this country," he said. "We were told in 1992 that we were going to cut [defense spending] from $662 billion [per year], we were going to get a peace dividend... We were going to cut it to $200 billion, which would be enough money to arm ourselves to the teeth at home so we would be too expensive to ever invade, and reinvest that intellectual capital and currency capital into building an industrial base in this country and it never happened. Instead of going to $200 billion, we went to $1.3 trillion."
But hey, Trump. Hunter. Dudes in Dresses. That's what really matters.
No. of Recommendations: 5
Elective wars certainly are a problem. Iraq is a great example. The reasons for declaring war may not have been economic, but economics is a good reason for it to involve Congress and POTUS. We never declared in Korea, Vietnam, or Iraq. And the special consideration for Afghanistan was just Congress trying to dodge making a commitment. I know times have changed in 240 years, and they could not have foreseen special ops (e.g. killing Bin Laden). But we shouldn't let slide major operations without a declaration of war. Not willing to declare war? Then you can't go. (e.g. Iraq).
All that said, cutting defense spending will not bring the budget under control. You could eliminate the DoD completely, and it still won't be under control. You have to be willing to make some really unpopular cuts (i.e. SS and Medicare), or you have to raise taxes on the segment of the population that owns most of the wealth. It's really that binary. Albaby insists we would have to go beyond the top 2%, and start hitting the middle class. I don't agree. For one thing, what is to be gained by hitting a shrinking class? And, for another, when the top 2% owns about 90% of the wealth, I'm pretty sure you can get it all from there without having to molest the other 98%.**
**Though I do think cap gains should be taxed as ordinary income, so some portion of the 98% would be affected by that. Including, likely, most of us since we're all TMF refugees. Also, stepped-up basis shouldn't exist, and inheritances above a certain level should be taxed as ordinary income (no shelters or loopholes).
No. of Recommendations: 6
"Albaby insists we would have to go beyond the top 2%, and start hitting the middle class. I don't agree"
Do you think the middle class extends to the 98th percentile?
We need to start hitting the top 10% for sure, maybe the top 20%. Those folks aren't the middle class, they just think they are.
They are at least 'well off', most people would consider themselves rich at that income level.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Also, stepped-up basis shouldn't exist, and inheritances above a certain level should be taxed as ordinary income (no shelters or loopholes). - 1pg
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No problem. The wealthy simply put all their assets into a family trust. Trusts never die and no one inherits anything. What's next, outlaw trusts?
No. of Recommendations: 2
Trusts don't work like that. I'm dealing with one now after my mom died. It became irrevocable upon her death. The trust could continue in that form, but liquidating any assets (that aren't cash) would be a taxable event. And trust taxes are different...a lot of time they are higher than individual taxes. Upon her death, I had to secure a tax ID number for that trust. It will have to have a tax return filed under that number from now on (until I take it to zero, which I plan to do pretty quickly). If not for the stepped-up basis, a lot of taxes would be owed upon liquidation.
Really, a trust is mostly useful to avoid probate. It may avoid inheritance tax, but it will still generate tax from any gains of the assets.
No. of Recommendations: 0
Really, a trust is mostly useful to avoid probate. It may avoid inheritance tax, but it will still generate tax from any gains of the assets. - 1pg
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Well sure, I know that. However the trustee can meter out cash to meet the needs of the beneficiaries so so as to control the amount subject to taxation each year. Somewhat like an IRA with no RMD's. This vs distributing the entire estate all in one year and the estate paying a gigantic tax bill in that year.
No. of Recommendations: 2
This vs distributing the entire estate all in one year and the estate paying a gigantic tax bill in that year.
Yes. But whatever is metered-out is taxed. Though it might be interesting to have a payout scheme similar to RMDs. Hmmmm...not a bad idea. We'd have to work out the details. In my case, the assets will be transferred into our trust (revocable). Probably next year. Need to talk to the accountant who handled mom's trust taxes. With a stepped-up basis, we won't owe much taxes. But, realistically, we really should have been required to. The stepped-up basis is just a give-away for people that have unrealized gains on assets (i.e. mostly the more well-off folks).
No. of Recommendations: 1
"Albaby insists we would have to go beyond the top 2%, and start hitting the middle class. I don't agree"
Do you think the middle class extends to the 98th percentile?
We need to start hitting the top 10% for sure, maybe the top 20%. Those folks aren't the middle class, they just think they are.
They are at least 'well off', most people would consider themselves rich at that income level.
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Club 401K ain't buying that.
No. of Recommendations: 4
I looked it up. The middle class is typically defined in the range of 20th-60th percentiles, and constitutes about 50% of the US population (which is lower than it has been in decades). It's a bit squishy (e.g. why not 25th-65th?), but that's the consensus.
The more useful numbers are "who owns the wealth". The top 10% owns 70% of the wealth, and the top 1% own half of that (35%). The top .1% owns half of that (~16%).
So it is clear where we need to focus our tax efforts/enforcement. A minor quibble, though. You said "at that income level". These are folks who own the wealth, not necessarily who have the highest incomes. Many of them don't work at all, they just rake in dividends and cap gains. As a TMF poster used to say, the worst way to get money is to work for a paycheck. The best way is to let the money do the work, and take advantage of the privileged status that money holds in terms of tax law.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Real simple.
Let those making under $40,000 per year, decide which income level is high enough to tax.
Let them vote on if people making triple or quadruple what they do, and therefore can save more for retirement should get tax shelters and deferrals and favorable tax treatments.
Let them vote on if someone making 3 times what they do - - should be shielded from FICA taxes.
Let them vote on if someone making 3 or 4 times what they do, should be protected form high skilled immigration, while their school and hospital is jammed up.
The greedy, racist, Club 401K Liberals --- grubbing around for their SALT deductions, their $7500 new car freebies.......eventually need to face the peasants with pitchforks.
Trouble is, who will make that happen.....
Here's the bottom line: EVERYONE.....from the janitor to the CEO is gonna have to accept two things: Pay more, get less.
But luckily that isn't happening.
Debt grows.
The crash - will be more severe and violent.
Popcorn.
