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President Obama Re-Elected - Page 195

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Hey guys! We'll be closing this thread shortly, but we will make an American politics megathread where we can continue the discussions in here.

The new thread can be found here: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=383301
natrus
Profile Joined March 2011
United States102 Posts
July 20 2012 09:54 GMT
#3881
Yup. American healthcare is more expensive for the same result. Lining pockets is more important than ethics in the good ole USA. =(
SC2 greatest RTS ever.
sunprince
Profile Joined January 2011
United States2258 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-20 10:09:16
July 20 2012 10:01 GMT
#3882
On July 20 2012 11:31 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 20 2012 08:14 sunprince wrote:

If that's the case, then there shouldn't be any problem with capital gains being a "double tax". However, since most people don't see sales taxes as a double tax, then it is fundamentally disingenous to argue that capital gains is a double tax while ignoring the massive number of other taxes that could be viewed as "double taxes" using the same argument.

The point I'm getting to is that 1% lobbyists use this "double tax" argument as a rhetorical tactic in order to convince people that capital gains taxes should be lower or non-existent. The fact is, this is bullshit, and we should follow the model you suggested of considering all taxes in order to fully understand whether people are paying their fair share.


The sales tax argument is irrelevant to whether nor not a capital gain is a double tax since any money received from the capital gain will still be subject to a sales tax if spent. "Double tax" is not something lobbyists imagined up!


It actually is. The term "double taxation" is not used in the manner you describe in any country outside of America, nor was it ever used by economists before think tanks came up with this nontraditional usage.

On July 20 2012 11:31 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
Like I said at the start it's hard to see capital gains as double taxation but do we at least agree that dividends are double taxed?


I agree that dividends are double taxed. Capital gains, however, represent growth in the company's value, something that is not necessarily taxed by corporate taxes (unlike dividends). For example, one way a corporation's value might increase is because they developed a new technology. This IP is a newly acquired asset of potentially immense value, but the company is never taxed on the increase to the company's value; only a CGT would tax this value increase.

On July 20 2012 12:06 coverpunch wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 20 2012 10:59 sunprince wrote:
Small businesses don't distribute all of their earnings to the owner either. Some of that may used for expansion, capital investment, held as cash reserves, etc.

I think the confusion is on company organization. If you're talking about a sole proprietorship, partnership, or S corp, then uh, yes, all the earnings do get distributed to owners because the income passes through to them. It doesn't matter what you do with the money, the IRS considers it your income.


Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't revenue invested into expansion considered simply another business expense rather than taxable income?
MoreFaSho
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States1427 Posts
July 20 2012 13:53 GMT
#3883
On July 20 2012 14:27 Lightwip wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 20 2012 14:22 Shady Sands wrote:
On July 20 2012 05:47 stk01001 wrote:
On July 20 2012 05:06 FabledIntegral wrote:
On July 20 2012 04:19 paralleluniverse wrote:
On July 20 2012 03:07 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
On July 20 2012 02:24 paralleluniverse wrote:
On July 20 2012 01:59 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
On July 19 2012 22:09 paralleluniverse wrote:
On July 19 2012 09:37 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
[quote]
Ok. First your blogspot article:
[quote]
That would be a misconception - though I've never heard that one before.
[quote]
Here's the problem: the taxation on the corporation does matter. If you own a small business as the sole owner as a sole proprietorship you ARE the business. The profit the business generates is your income and you pay taxes on it as your own income. The business itself pays no taxes. Corporations, on the other hand, are taxed themselves and any income that flows to the owner is taxed a second time as dividends. So two taxes on one stream of income (double taxation).

The CTJ article makes 3 arguments: my replies follow.
1) Some corporations pay no tax.
This is irrelevant! The corporation pays the taxes it is supposed to. If you don't like the 'loophole' it uses then argue to close the loophole.
2) 2/3 of dividends are paid to tax-exempt entities.
Another irrelevant argument!
3) Third, a capital gain from selling a corporate stock is not necessarily a form of corporate profit.
Yes it is. As the CTJ article correctly points out the value can come from expected future profits. Therefore, and as I said in my previous response, the capital gain can only exist if the expected profits come true. And if they do, they will be taxed!

This is a pointless semantics argument.

Why does it matter that capital gains is "double tax"? Surely, the only thing that should matter is how much tax is paid and who pays it.

And it seems that you've agreed to the argument that businesses shift the cost of their taxes onto the shareholders and customers. So how is it double taxation when businesses have shifted the burden of the tax onto others? You can't have it both ways.


The cost of all taxes get shifted to some extent.

Regardless, the point of the double taxation argument is that tax rates can appear lower than they really are. Since the argument about 'fair share' often revolves around effective tax rates the double taxation argument is used to illustrate that effective tax rates do not include all the explicit and implicit taxes that a taxpayer is paying.

The same can be said about tax-exempt bonds where the tax is implicit.

How can I shift my income tax onto you? The burden of the capital gains tax ultimately falls on people. Tax rates are lower than what they historically are, and I don't see how "double taxation" should come into the argument. What is of interest is how much tax does one have to pay, how much revenue is the government making, and is it good economics to increase/decrease taxes. A discussion of these 3 points doesn't need to refer to "double taxation". I admit I haven't read far back enough to see who brought the issue up in the first place.


It is relevant to the first point "how much tax does one have to pay" because double taxation or implicit taxes make it *appear* that someone is paying a lower tax rate than the underlying economics dictate. That's the extent to which it matters.

Tax shifting occurs not when the tax itself is shifted but when the underlying economic burden of the tax is shifted from one party to another. So when your taxes go up it is not only you that suffers, but everyone you would have done business with (but can't now) as well.

How much tax you pay in this case nominally is simply 15% of your capital gains, which can be compared with previous higher capital gain tax rates. What's the use of trying to work out how much you really pay, accounting for the hard/impossible to know tax shifting effect, unless you want to see how much more money you will have if capital gains tax is abolished?

Capital gains tax isn't the only tax that has flow on effects, in fact, it's not the the only thing that has flow on effect. Basically everything has flow on effects.


It's not "normally" 15%. It's 15% if you fall into particular criteria. If you are not within the particular criteria you do not qualify for that tax rate. Why do we have it like this? Because the criteria mandates your investment be in domestic companies - thus the money is used to spur the economy. You raise the tax rate and you thusly decrease investment in the U.S. economy (not specifically responding to you, especially since you aren't apparently in the U.S.).

Almost all tax breaks or incentives exist so that investment gets pumped into the American economy rather than overseas.


Actually, all long term capital gains are taxed at 15%, the only criteria is that it meets the definition of a "capital gain". There's already natural incentive to keep investments in the US because you have to pay both foreign and US tax on foreign investments,effectively getting double taxed. There are things that help offset this, like foreign tax credits, but the rules are complex (depending on the country) and it doesn't always work out ideally. The 15% rate is really designed to just help corporations and wealthy invidivuals to maximize their profits, it's not designed as an incentive to invest only domestically. The low rate is also there to help offset the risk of making investments, in that you can just as easily lose a ton of money, so you get rewarded for taking the risk with a lower tax rate. In a lot of situations when you make money from a foreign country and take that money into the US it's considered a dividend or ordinary income so it does get taxed at a different rate, but again if it's considered a long term capital gain the rate is 15%, period.


What ends up happening is that people give up their US citizenship to avoid that double taxation, as Eduardo Saverin did when he changed himself into a Singaporean shortly before his Facebook IPO windfall.

Only a few actually do that.
Good riddance. They can just pay tariffs instead of taxes.

Also worth mentioning that if he gave up his citizenship to avoid taxes he broke the law. He won't admit to doing that so it's almost impossible to prove.
I always try to shield slam face, just to make sure it doesnt work
Shady Sands
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States4021 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-20 14:58:20
July 20 2012 14:55 GMT
#3884
On July 20 2012 14:27 Lightwip wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 20 2012 14:22 Shady Sands wrote:
On July 20 2012 05:47 stk01001 wrote:
On July 20 2012 05:06 FabledIntegral wrote:
On July 20 2012 04:19 paralleluniverse wrote:
On July 20 2012 03:07 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
On July 20 2012 02:24 paralleluniverse wrote:
On July 20 2012 01:59 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
On July 19 2012 22:09 paralleluniverse wrote:
On July 19 2012 09:37 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
[quote]
Ok. First your blogspot article:
[quote]
That would be a misconception - though I've never heard that one before.
[quote]
Here's the problem: the taxation on the corporation does matter. If you own a small business as the sole owner as a sole proprietorship you ARE the business. The profit the business generates is your income and you pay taxes on it as your own income. The business itself pays no taxes. Corporations, on the other hand, are taxed themselves and any income that flows to the owner is taxed a second time as dividends. So two taxes on one stream of income (double taxation).

The CTJ article makes 3 arguments: my replies follow.
1) Some corporations pay no tax.
This is irrelevant! The corporation pays the taxes it is supposed to. If you don't like the 'loophole' it uses then argue to close the loophole.
2) 2/3 of dividends are paid to tax-exempt entities.
Another irrelevant argument!
3) Third, a capital gain from selling a corporate stock is not necessarily a form of corporate profit.
Yes it is. As the CTJ article correctly points out the value can come from expected future profits. Therefore, and as I said in my previous response, the capital gain can only exist if the expected profits come true. And if they do, they will be taxed!

This is a pointless semantics argument.

Why does it matter that capital gains is "double tax"? Surely, the only thing that should matter is how much tax is paid and who pays it.

And it seems that you've agreed to the argument that businesses shift the cost of their taxes onto the shareholders and customers. So how is it double taxation when businesses have shifted the burden of the tax onto others? You can't have it both ways.


The cost of all taxes get shifted to some extent.

Regardless, the point of the double taxation argument is that tax rates can appear lower than they really are. Since the argument about 'fair share' often revolves around effective tax rates the double taxation argument is used to illustrate that effective tax rates do not include all the explicit and implicit taxes that a taxpayer is paying.

The same can be said about tax-exempt bonds where the tax is implicit.

How can I shift my income tax onto you? The burden of the capital gains tax ultimately falls on people. Tax rates are lower than what they historically are, and I don't see how "double taxation" should come into the argument. What is of interest is how much tax does one have to pay, how much revenue is the government making, and is it good economics to increase/decrease taxes. A discussion of these 3 points doesn't need to refer to "double taxation". I admit I haven't read far back enough to see who brought the issue up in the first place.


It is relevant to the first point "how much tax does one have to pay" because double taxation or implicit taxes make it *appear* that someone is paying a lower tax rate than the underlying economics dictate. That's the extent to which it matters.

Tax shifting occurs not when the tax itself is shifted but when the underlying economic burden of the tax is shifted from one party to another. So when your taxes go up it is not only you that suffers, but everyone you would have done business with (but can't now) as well.

How much tax you pay in this case nominally is simply 15% of your capital gains, which can be compared with previous higher capital gain tax rates. What's the use of trying to work out how much you really pay, accounting for the hard/impossible to know tax shifting effect, unless you want to see how much more money you will have if capital gains tax is abolished?

Capital gains tax isn't the only tax that has flow on effects, in fact, it's not the the only thing that has flow on effect. Basically everything has flow on effects.


It's not "normally" 15%. It's 15% if you fall into particular criteria. If you are not within the particular criteria you do not qualify for that tax rate. Why do we have it like this? Because the criteria mandates your investment be in domestic companies - thus the money is used to spur the economy. You raise the tax rate and you thusly decrease investment in the U.S. economy (not specifically responding to you, especially since you aren't apparently in the U.S.).

Almost all tax breaks or incentives exist so that investment gets pumped into the American economy rather than overseas.


Actually, all long term capital gains are taxed at 15%, the only criteria is that it meets the definition of a "capital gain". There's already natural incentive to keep investments in the US because you have to pay both foreign and US tax on foreign investments,effectively getting double taxed. There are things that help offset this, like foreign tax credits, but the rules are complex (depending on the country) and it doesn't always work out ideally. The 15% rate is really designed to just help corporations and wealthy invidivuals to maximize their profits, it's not designed as an incentive to invest only domestically. The low rate is also there to help offset the risk of making investments, in that you can just as easily lose a ton of money, so you get rewarded for taking the risk with a lower tax rate. In a lot of situations when you make money from a foreign country and take that money into the US it's considered a dividend or ordinary income so it does get taxed at a different rate, but again if it's considered a long term capital gain the rate is 15%, period.


What ends up happening is that people give up their US citizenship to avoid that double taxation, as Eduardo Saverin did when he changed himself into a Singaporean shortly before his Facebook IPO windfall.

Only a few actually do that.
Good riddance. They can just pay tariffs instead of taxes.


Tariffs on what? The US is a net importer of goods, and most of our exports are heavy industrial equipment and agricultural products. The last I checked Saverin didn't need a new Boeing 787 or half a million tons of soybeans.

The real issue with having a skewed tax rate like this is that it encourages certain types of capital to stay in the US while encouraging other types of capital to leave the US. Think about it--the largest investment sponge in the US is Treasury Bills to finance an enormous (and very capital-inefficient) government budget that is three-quarters entitlement spending and defense.

Put more bluntly, the way the US tax structure is set up, is that it encourages the dumb money or the scared money to stay here, while pushing smart money or risky money out. This is not the way to encourage economic growth. Imagine if you set up your labor immigration policy to encourage only retirees and low-skilled parents with young children to come to America, while excluding PhDs and entrepreneurs. That's essentially what the US policies do for capital.

EDIT: Put even more bluntly, from 1973 onwards, the US has created an economy that encourages rich people to spend money and live here (thanks to rule of law and a stable government), but encourages them to invest their money somewhere else.
Что?
Lightwip
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States5497 Posts
July 20 2012 15:01 GMT
#3885
Sorry, but I'm pretty convinced you have no idea what you're talking about.
The US tax rate for the wealthy is one of the lowest it's ever been, especially for capital gains.

The expatriated wealthy will still have to pay for their investments in the US. And if they don't do that and leave over taxes, then good riddance.
If you are not Bisu, chances are I hate you.
spilledmilk
Profile Joined July 2012
Canada40 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-20 15:17:44
July 20 2012 15:15 GMT
#3886
Man Ron Paul is going to be dead before the US gets to vote for him.

Well I hope Barry takes it down, Romney just comes off as a rich white dude who wants to get his rich white friends richer. But I am Canadian, so I don't really care too much I lived through GB and GB Jr. I could take 4 years of Romney. But Obama has been so good for our economy up here. Id like to see that stay the same.

Please Vote for Barry my American friends. For the sake of Canadian prosperity =D PLZ.


(hopefully the Dems can get the house back and keep the senate too. Poor Barry got stonewalled, and you guys really need to get your HC system fixed. Spending twice as much as my country per person even with Private insurance...~7K vs ~3.5K its sad to read stories like "I had a baby and had to sell my house".)
SayGen
Profile Joined May 2010
United States1209 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-20 15:42:13
July 20 2012 15:41 GMT
#3887
"When big brother is offering you a helping hand up, you gotta watch his other hand that is taking ur wallet."

Less government, less regulation. Let the market solve its own problems.

Doctors can't set prices for care, cause they have to go through the goverment for everything. doctors can't be competetive, so prices will never drop. You could flood the market with a supply of Doctors and prices would not fall.

Goverment is the problem not the solution.
We Live to Die
Lightwip
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States5497 Posts
July 20 2012 15:49 GMT
#3888
The market sure solved itself into the current economic downturn.
If you are not Bisu, chances are I hate you.
SayGen
Profile Joined May 2010
United States1209 Posts
July 20 2012 15:56 GMT
#3889
On July 21 2012 00:49 Lightwip wrote:
The market sure solved itself into the current economic downturn.


Do some research about the business cycle and how it works.
Things get built, destroyed, and rebuilt stronger. The market works- but don't ever expect cloud free days everyday.
It has to rain for grass to grow.

Nice try though
We Live to Die
SayGen
Profile Joined May 2010
United States1209 Posts
July 20 2012 15:57 GMT
#3890
On July 21 2012 00:15 spilledmilk wrote:
Man Ron Paul is going to be dead before the US gets to vote for him.


I believe he said he won't run again, though he has a son who is leading my state, Kentucky.
He isn't a real libertarian though he is more of a conservative,GOPer.
We Live to Die
Epocalypse
Profile Joined December 2011
Canada319 Posts
July 20 2012 16:06 GMT
#3891
Link to BO's text

The context is Obama’s full presidency. He is a socialist. The content of his speech is filled with “you didn’t do it on your own” for the reason that if you accept this notion, then you owe everyone else something, you have an unquantifiable debt to society. It’s a call to loot those who have produced by their own effort. Bridges, roads, teachers, sunlight. That’s all given, the same stuff that everyone has access to and not something you choose. But one person can choose not to apply his mind and become a bum while another person can apply his mind and be successful. Each of those people, earned what they got, and it is thanks to their own effort.

It’s also ludicrous to think that given the choice, people wouldn’t freely build all those things, as if we need government to run our schools, to build our roads. This notion is false and flies in the face of history. But Obama knows that, he just wants you to forget it, he wants to reinforce that we need a parent state.

Clearly Obama is consistent with the sentiment that “you didn’t get there on your own” because of the rhetoric he uses, instead of mentioning what it takes to be successful, he tells you, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t do it on your own. Here’s a bit about what businessmen risk: Having a dream and working to actualize it, working long hard hours not knowing what will come of them, taking all the risks in funding, in family, in friendship, dedicating time to a potential flop. Saying something like this would be acknowledging the heroism of businessmen, BO does none of that.

But also remember, businesses and businessmen already pay taxes, and the more successful, the more they pay. Yet BO does not make mention of that, rather he says "We then ask that the wealthy pay a little more". Even more than they already pay? And by “ask” he means “force”.

More context: the crowd. “You didn’t get there on your own,” crowd yells in agreement “That’s right”
“it must be because I was just so smart.” The crowd mocked that with laughter. They are basically mocking success; Obama knows it, as it was his intended goal. He is speaking to the envy of success in those people, and it’s loudly responding. Now these people will be happier to loot the rich and successful.

Then, after focusing on bashing success and businessmen at length he throws in this “The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.” To mask the vileness of what he had said before.

Obama doesn’t hate business owners, he needs them to loot. He just wants you to hate them so that when he does loot them, you won’t create a fuss.

Quote from Atlas Shrugged - touches on what BO is trying to cash in on.
“He didn’t invent iron ore and blast furnaces, did he?”

“Who?”

“Rearden. He didn’t invent smelting and chemistry and air compression. He couldn’t have invented his Metal but for thousands and thousands of other people. His Metal! Why does he think it’s his? Why does he think it’s his invention? Everybody uses the work of everybody else. Nobody ever invents anything.”

She said, puzzled, “But the iron ore and all those other things were there all the time. Why didn’t anybody else make that Metal, but Mr. Rearden did?”

- Atlas Shrugged, P1C9

bw4life
Gorsameth
Profile Joined April 2010
Netherlands21633 Posts
July 20 2012 16:07 GMT
#3892
On July 21 2012 00:56 SayGen wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 21 2012 00:49 Lightwip wrote:
The market sure solved itself into the current economic downturn.


Do some research about the business cycle and how it works.
Things get built, destroyed, and rebuilt stronger. The market works- but don't ever expect cloud free days everyday.
It has to rain for grass to grow.

Nice try though


Is that why recessions are happening faster and faster and more severe? Sure is getting stronger.
It ignores such insignificant forces as time, entropy, and death
Mohdoo
Profile Joined August 2007
United States15646 Posts
July 20 2012 16:26 GMT
#3893
On July 21 2012 01:06 Epocalypse wrote:
Link to BO's text

The context is Obama’s full presidency. He is a socialist. The content of his speech is filled with “you didn’t do it on your own” for the reason that if you accept this notion, then you owe everyone else something, you have an unquantifiable debt to society. It’s a call to loot those who have produced by their own effort. Bridges, roads, teachers, sunlight. That’s all given, the same stuff that everyone has access to and not something you choose. But one person can choose not to apply his mind and become a bum while another person can apply his mind and be successful. Each of those people, earned what they got, and it is thanks to their own effort.

It’s also ludicrous to think that given the choice, people wouldn’t freely build all those things, as if we need government to run our schools, to build our roads. This notion is false and flies in the face of history. But Obama knows that, he just wants you to forget it, he wants to reinforce that we need a parent state.

Clearly Obama is consistent with the sentiment that “you didn’t get there on your own” because of the rhetoric he uses, instead of mentioning what it takes to be successful, he tells you, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t do it on your own. Here’s a bit about what businessmen risk: Having a dream and working to actualize it, working long hard hours not knowing what will come of them, taking all the risks in funding, in family, in friendship, dedicating time to a potential flop. Saying something like this would be acknowledging the heroism of businessmen, BO does none of that.

But also remember, businesses and businessmen already pay taxes, and the more successful, the more they pay. Yet BO does not make mention of that, rather he says "We then ask that the wealthy pay a little more". Even more than they already pay? And by “ask” he means “force”.

More context: the crowd. “You didn’t get there on your own,” crowd yells in agreement “That’s right”
“it must be because I was just so smart.” The crowd mocked that with laughter. They are basically mocking success; Obama knows it, as it was his intended goal. He is speaking to the envy of success in those people, and it’s loudly responding. Now these people will be happier to loot the rich and successful.

Then, after focusing on bashing success and businessmen at length he throws in this “The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.” To mask the vileness of what he had said before.

Obama doesn’t hate business owners, he needs them to loot. He just wants you to hate them so that when he does loot them, you won’t create a fuss.

Quote from Atlas Shrugged - touches on what BO is trying to cash in on.
Show nested quote +
“He didn’t invent iron ore and blast furnaces, did he?”

“Who?”

“Rearden. He didn’t invent smelting and chemistry and air compression. He couldn’t have invented his Metal but for thousands and thousands of other people. His Metal! Why does he think it’s his? Why does he think it’s his invention? Everybody uses the work of everybody else. Nobody ever invents anything.”

She said, puzzled, “But the iron ore and all those other things were there all the time. Why didn’t anybody else make that Metal, but Mr. Rearden did?”

- Atlas Shrugged, P1C9



I think the point he was actually making was that while people build their own success, the things that people take for granted, like not having to hire a small band of guards to defend your shop from looters, is something that doesn't just magically exist. Police, army, etc are certainly something that don't come free and its not something that any business could survive without. A society and government are not a god-given right and its important that people remember just how much those things make possible.

It just seems like businesses try to pretend that their brilliance and their brilliance alone were all that made their success possible. But that's not even close to being the case, as governments are the only reason its possible to begin with.
Lightwip
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States5497 Posts
July 20 2012 16:28 GMT
#3894
On July 21 2012 00:56 SayGen wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 21 2012 00:49 Lightwip wrote:
The market sure solved itself into the current economic downturn.


Do some research about the business cycle and how it works.
Things get built, destroyed, and rebuilt stronger. The market works- but don't ever expect cloud free days everyday.
It has to rain for grass to grow.

Nice try though

We sure fixed our way out of the Great Depression without government help.
If you are not Bisu, chances are I hate you.
Defacer
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada5052 Posts
July 20 2012 16:31 GMT
#3895
On July 21 2012 01:06 Epocalypse wrote:
Link to BO's text

The context is Obama’s full presidency. He is a socialist. The content of his speech is filled with “you didn’t do it on your own” for the reason that if you accept this notion, then you owe everyone else something, you have an unquantifiable debt to society. It’s a call to loot those who have produced by their own effort. Bridges, roads, teachers, sunlight. That’s all given, the same stuff that everyone has access to and not something you choose. But one person can choose not to apply his mind and become a bum while another person can apply his mind and be successful. Each of those people, earned what they got, and it is thanks to their own effort.

It’s also ludicrous to think that given the choice, people wouldn’t freely build all those things, as if we need government to run our schools, to build our roads. This notion is false and flies in the face of history. But Obama knows that, he just wants you to forget it, he wants to reinforce that we need a parent state.

Clearly Obama is consistent with the sentiment that “you didn’t get there on your own” because of the rhetoric he uses, instead of mentioning what it takes to be successful, he tells you, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t do it on your own. Here’s a bit about what businessmen risk: Having a dream and working to actualize it, working long hard hours not knowing what will come of them, taking all the risks in funding, in family, in friendship, dedicating time to a potential flop. Saying something like this would be acknowledging the heroism of businessmen, BO does none of that.

But also remember, businesses and businessmen already pay taxes, and the more successful, the more they pay. Yet BO does not make mention of that, rather he says "We then ask that the wealthy pay a little more". Even more than they already pay? And by “ask” he means “force”.

More context: the crowd. “You didn’t get there on your own,” crowd yells in agreement “That’s right”
“it must be because I was just so smart.” The crowd mocked that with laughter. They are basically mocking success; Obama knows it, as it was his intended goal. He is speaking to the envy of success in those people, and it’s loudly responding. Now these people will be happier to loot the rich and successful.

Then, after focusing on bashing success and businessmen at length he throws in this “The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.” To mask the vileness of what he had said before.

Obama doesn’t hate business owners, he needs them to loot. He just wants you to hate them so that when he does loot them, you won’t create a fuss.

Quote from Atlas Shrugged - touches on what BO is trying to cash in on.
Show nested quote +
“He didn’t invent iron ore and blast furnaces, did he?”

“Who?”

“Rearden. He didn’t invent smelting and chemistry and air compression. He couldn’t have invented his Metal but for thousands and thousands of other people. His Metal! Why does he think it’s his? Why does he think it’s his invention? Everybody uses the work of everybody else. Nobody ever invents anything.”

She said, puzzled, “But the iron ore and all those other things were there all the time. Why didn’t anybody else make that Metal, but Mr. Rearden did?”

- Atlas Shrugged, P1C9



I'm guess you're maybe in your early 20's or in college. Maybe you're aspiring to run your own business one day.

Wait another ten years. You see a lot of your friends rise and fall. Some will start their own business, bust their ass and not make it. Some will get a lucky break and run into the right person at the right time. Some will be lazy but it won't matter, because their primary lenders are their parents and they're get by on borrowing money. Or most of their clients are friends or family friends they've had already for a very long time.

It takes a lot of hard work to be a successful entrepreneur, but any honest entrepreneur would admit it takes a little bit of luck.

Think about how lucky you are, just to be born or living in Canada, and how much more hardship you'd have to endure in a second or third world country.


SayGen
Profile Joined May 2010
United States1209 Posts
July 20 2012 16:34 GMT
#3896
The Great depression would of ended without the goverments help as well.

You didn't do the research on the Business cycle yet did you.

As a people (could be anyone not just Americans) grow more prosperious they become more luxerious. Business shift to luxery/entertainment (like SC2! yay). When times get tough Americans have to stick to the basics. Food/Shelter/Taxes.
This results in a big fall. When a large section of the economy collapses it can have a LARGE ripple effect.
This effect is tempory. An economy can never compltly shut down unless every single member of the group is self reliant.
Farmers will always sell crops. Bankers will always bank. Builders will always build.
Once the foundation of the economy is refound it is built up again and the cycle repeats.

Some falls hurt more and when the goverment gets involved to delay the fall it just makes the fall worse. (see housing crisis).

We Live to Die
Falling
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Canada11349 Posts
July 20 2012 16:43 GMT
#3897
On July 21 2012 01:34 SayGen wrote:
The Great depression would of ended without the goverments help as well.

You didn't do the research on the Business cycle yet did you.

As a people (could be anyone not just Americans) grow more prosperious they become more luxerious. Business shift to luxery/entertainment (like SC2! yay). When times get tough Americans have to stick to the basics. Food/Shelter/Taxes.
This results in a big fall. When a large section of the economy collapses it can have a LARGE ripple effect.
This effect is tempory. An economy can never compltly shut down unless every single member of the group is self reliant.
Farmers will always sell crops. Bankers will always bank. Builders will always build.
Once the foundation of the economy is refound it is built up again and the cycle repeats.

Some falls hurt more and when the goverment gets involved to delay the fall it just makes the fall worse. (see housing crisis).


No probably no-one did because it's been argued in circles multiple times in this thread and it's previous incarnation. Everytime a new Austrian Economists jumps on here they just want to argue the same thing that was argued before a hundred times
Moderator"In Trump We Trust," says the Golden Goat of Mars Lago. Have faith and believe! Trump moves in mysterious ways. Like the wind he blows where he pleases...
Lightwip
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States5497 Posts
July 20 2012 16:44 GMT
#3898
On July 21 2012 01:34 SayGen wrote:
The Great depression would of ended without the goverments help as well.

You didn't do the research on the Business cycle yet did you.

As a people (could be anyone not just Americans) grow more prosperious they become more luxerious. Business shift to luxery/entertainment (like SC2! yay). When times get tough Americans have to stick to the basics. Food/Shelter/Taxes.
This results in a big fall. When a large section of the economy collapses it can have a LARGE ripple effect.
This effect is tempory. An economy can never compltly shut down unless every single member of the group is self reliant.
Farmers will always sell crops. Bankers will always bank. Builders will always build.
Once the foundation of the economy is refound it is built up again and the cycle repeats.

Some falls hurt more and when the goverment gets involved to delay the fall it just makes the fall worse. (see housing crisis).


I'm well aware of the business cycle. But I think you need to do some research on proper grammar.

Not to mention you have no idea what you're talking about. The Great Depression wouldn't have solved itself any time soon without massive government expenditures.

Farmers will always sell crops. Bankers will always bank. Builders will always build.

This is entirely false. They stop as soon as there is no incentive to do so.
If you are not Bisu, chances are I hate you.
Kaitlin
Profile Joined December 2010
United States2958 Posts
July 20 2012 17:21 GMT
#3899
On July 20 2012 19:01 sunprince wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 20 2012 11:31 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
On July 20 2012 08:14 sunprince wrote:

If that's the case, then there shouldn't be any problem with capital gains being a "double tax". However, since most people don't see sales taxes as a double tax, then it is fundamentally disingenous to argue that capital gains is a double tax while ignoring the massive number of other taxes that could be viewed as "double taxes" using the same argument.

The point I'm getting to is that 1% lobbyists use this "double tax" argument as a rhetorical tactic in order to convince people that capital gains taxes should be lower or non-existent. The fact is, this is bullshit, and we should follow the model you suggested of considering all taxes in order to fully understand whether people are paying their fair share.


The sales tax argument is irrelevant to whether nor not a capital gain is a double tax since any money received from the capital gain will still be subject to a sales tax if spent. "Double tax" is not something lobbyists imagined up!


It actually is. The term "double taxation" is not used in the manner you describe in any country outside of America, nor was it ever used by economists before think tanks came up with this nontraditional usage.

Show nested quote +
On July 20 2012 11:31 JonnyBNoHo wrote:
Like I said at the start it's hard to see capital gains as double taxation but do we at least agree that dividends are double taxed?


I agree that dividends are double taxed. Capital gains, however, represent growth in the company's value, something that is not necessarily taxed by corporate taxes (unlike dividends). For example, one way a corporation's value might increase is because they developed a new technology. This IP is a newly acquired asset of potentially immense value, but the company is never taxed on the increase to the company's value; only a CGT would tax this value increase.

Show nested quote +
On July 20 2012 12:06 coverpunch wrote:
On July 20 2012 10:59 sunprince wrote:
Small businesses don't distribute all of their earnings to the owner either. Some of that may used for expansion, capital investment, held as cash reserves, etc.

I think the confusion is on company organization. If you're talking about a sole proprietorship, partnership, or S corp, then uh, yes, all the earnings do get distributed to owners because the income passes through to them. It doesn't matter what you do with the money, the IRS considers it your income.


Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't revenue invested into expansion considered simply another business expense rather than taxable income?


Ok, I'll correct you. Investments into expansion are capitalized, not expensed, and therefore not deducted from income, therefore such investments are done with 'after-tax' income and the amount available for businesses to invest is reduced by higher taxes.

For the confusion about capital gains not being double taxed, earnings of a business (corporation, specifically) can either be distributed in the form of dividends or not. When dividends are distributed, they reduce the capital (equity) of the business and the share price drops accordingly. When dividends are not paid out, there is obviously no such decrease in the price of the stock. So, one can conclude that the stock price, whatever it is, has been increased by undistributed earnings. When the stock is sold, it is higher than it would have been had all earnings been paid out as dividends, by the amount of earnings that have not been paid out as dividends. So, instead of being taxed as dividends, that difference is a capital gain. If dividends are double taxed, then it's not really valid to argue that capital gains are not. One (or "the") reason that capital gains are given preferential tax treatment is because our system wants to encourage reinvestment instead of distribution of those earnings. I hope that helps.
JonnyBNoHo
Profile Joined July 2011
United States6277 Posts
July 20 2012 17:29 GMT
#3900
On July 21 2012 01:07 Gorsameth wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 21 2012 00:56 SayGen wrote:
On July 21 2012 00:49 Lightwip wrote:
The market sure solved itself into the current economic downturn.


Do some research about the business cycle and how it works.
Things get built, destroyed, and rebuilt stronger. The market works- but don't ever expect cloud free days everyday.
It has to rain for grass to grow.

Nice try though


Is that why recessions are happening faster and faster and more severe? Sure is getting stronger.


THIS recession is more severe. But post WW2 the trend was for recessions to be less frequent and less severe.
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