Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

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Re: Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

I posted this on FB yesterday. Freaking hilarious. Lol

This was my favorite Daily Show clip this week.

Re: Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

Awesome video. I will post on Facebook too. Frkn hillarious

Re: Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

Never mind I can't get the link from my phone

Re: Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

He was doing well until he tried to equate government hand outs and Investor tax breaks.

Re: Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

I dont see how they cant relate. Yes they are different, but if u look at it a tax break is almost like the gov't is giving money back. It is not the same, but a hand out is a hand out whether u consider it as giving away money or giving away privileges. Either way a hand out is a hand out...the only difference is what is being handed out. Gov't tax breaks are not a god given right.

Re: Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

ok, here's how it works....Capital gain tax (as opposed to ordinary income tax) is a lower tax bracket given to high risk investments. Basically, the government is saying ''since you are gambling with your money on 'x' venture, we understand it may not be a sure thing like a steady pay check from an employer, and for that we won't penalize you as much''. They're not giving money to companies, they're just taking a lesser percentage then regular folk.

Now this is a pretty cool thing cuz then investors can pump money into your publicly traded company by buying stocks, or futures, or options, or bonds, or whatever.

Same deal with a business....the government is saying, since you had the balls to try this thing which may have gone belly up, but is instead creating jobs, we'll tax you at capital gain, cuz even though it's making millions, it could've cost you millions just the same. This way you can expand it even more and hopefully hire more ppl.

Even though there are some companies that were built on dreams and aspirations (thinking disney here); the truth is that you gotta reward initiative in order to have any. Nobody takes a gamble if the odds are the same as the sure thing (like a paycheck).

Equating a food stamp to what I just described is patronizing and quite frankly a little insulting. Stewart is making the same mistake as republicans make when they call healthcare a 'handout'.

Honestly, instead of hating on Capital Gain, ppl should figure out how to get in on the game....but then again ppl are just jealous haters.

Re: Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

I think he was equating tax breaks to tax breaks

Re: Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

You're one of the very few people that understand this. I've almost stopped trying to explain this concept. THANK YOU!

Re: Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

Does the gov't have to give a tax break to the investor class is all im asking? I understand well that it is a reward, but a reward is still something that is being given is it not?

Re: Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

of course. Would you take a gamble at the races if it always paid 1 to 1? What the left doesn't understand is that rich people are not stupid (at least when it comes to making money)....you take away their tax breaks and all you end up with is a stagnant economy.

You take away their reason for investing in new companies and they'll just move the money abroad where the climate isn't hostile and they'll wait out whichever administration is in power.

The investor tax break rewards bold initiative on high risk investments, why should we expect a high risk job (cops, diving welders, miners, etc...) to have a low salary for example?

What kills me is that both parties tell lies, the Republicans tell a heck of a lot of them (big and small) so it's easy to call them out on their bs. The democrats tell a whole lot of truth and then throw a big lie in there from time to time....people then believe that the truth is that simple because they trust the source. I almost feel they play a more dangerous game.

It's like the whole Romney thing when he said 'corporations are people too'....The left ran with it, but failed to mention that in the IRS eyes, a corporation is a new entity created out of thin air, and is treated for all intents and purposes, as a physical person.

So cliffnotes:
Government handouts (in the form of aid of any sort): Taxed revenue being given out.
Tax break: We'll take less tax revenue from certain folk.

On the surface, that seems unfair since those 'certain folk' are paying a smaller percentage of their income; that is until you realize that the top 5% are responsible for 59% of income tax revenue.

Re: Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

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Re: Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

Dividend tax rates are set to increase next year and what that will do is cause a lot of money to pour out of dividend focused funds, and every component of the Dow 30. Are they going to fail? no. Most likely they'll figure out new ways to redistribute earnings back to the investors. Stock buybacks are all the rage now.

But I agree with Ali. You shouldn't tax capital gains at the same rate as income. Investment is what fuels savings AND growth. Look at FRED data charting savings rates v. investment rates. It's almost a perfect correlation. With less lucrative investments to be found (because of the higher taxes), banks are going to be less willing to pay a handsome interest rate on your savings account. The result means you save less. Why place so much money in a savings account that's earning next to nothing when you can presumably attain more utility from consuming now. The end game is a low national savings rates which tend to coincide with deeper troughs. You're more likely to suffer a lot more if you have no savings during a recession.

Re: Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

No the race doesn't always end up 1 to 1. 21.6 million taxed at 7.56 million isn't 1 to 1. Again im not debating what the tax break is for, but again im saying that such a break is not a god given right. The same way food stamps are given by the government is the same way tax breaks/loopholes are given by the government.

U can't condemn one and not the other is all im saying. The republicans praise the ground the investors walk on, and spit on everyone else that takes anything from the government. That's where my argument lies. U cannot say ALL people who take from the government is lazy and feel like their entitled and say that giving tax breaks to investors is fine. Getting benefits from the government is taking benefits, end of story.

Also saying i will take less money from u is essentially the same as saying im "giving u this money back." I dont get how u dont understand where im coming from. Believe me, i understand what ur saying.

Re: Chaos on Bullshit Mountain
 

^^i get what you mean....essentially I see 'handouts' as the bigger evil (economically speaking) since there's only individual benefit from them (or family involved), unlike a tax break that essentially benefits a company along w/the investors; hence my beef w/equating them.