patrick.net

tatupu70 says

You demand higher expected returns. Did you skip finance class? With interest rates this low, there is no way an increase in the tax rate would kill any good pojects.

we are talking about government policies which encourage/discourage investments .. individual risk tolerance is a different matter. its the taxing policies which dictate how long your holding period must be .. the longer you hold any investment/asset, you can have a higher systemic risk.

thomaswong.1986 says

we are talking about government policies which encourage/discourage investments

Yes, and so am I. Government policies only influence investing on the very marginal projects. I'd even argue that most companies don't factor tax rate into the capital decisons at all.

thomaswong.1986 says

individual risk tolerance is a different matter. its the taxing policies which dictate how long your holding period must be

Who's talking about individuals? Where did that come from?

krusty says

The weirdest thing to me is that most Republicans don't even have enough investment income to benefit from the dumb system they have supported. Why would someone do that to himself?

Out of short-sighted hate for "liberals", gays, blacks, and pretty much everyone who can spell.

Poor Republicans are little hate machines with easily pushed buttons. If you're extremely rich and want save billions, just push their hate buttons and watch them pay your taxes for you!

They never question why every Congressman who votes to ban gay marriage also happens to vote for ultra-low taxes on unearned investment income.

Rich Republicans know exactly what they're doing, and they push those buttons well.

lostand confused says

LOl so true. On one hand Obama-who seems out of his depth with the economy. He does seem to have good intentions and does seem to care and seems to be following Japan's path .

We don't want to eat our peas, which means we go Japan, or try to at least

What happens late this year and next is going to be an interesting evolution.

Extending the Bush tax cuts on everyone is a bad idea, fiscally speaking, but coming to any agreement on their replacement is impossible in our ideologically-riven society.

The Republicans have thrown their marker on tax-cut Lafferism.

The Democrats have pussied around with incremental tax rises on the top 5%.

Neither are serious about instituting the tax rates and structures we need to pay for our $6T/yr government expense, nor about tangential issues like energy independence, manufacturing jobs, and the $600B/yr trade deficit that is linked to both of those issues.

Nobody I see even has a handle on what the problems actually are.

Japan actually has a less difficult situation to fix. Their baby boom is tiny compared to ours, they have much fewer economically helpless people, and their trade situation is mostly in balance, and they have the capital position of 30+ years of past trade surpluses -- $3T -- to fall back on.

Japan has a low tax-to-GDP burden like us so they can theoretically switch over their system from low-tax/high-savings to moderate-tax/moderate-savings.

We have a low-tax/zero-savings system (for the bottom 90% at least). We're boned this century.

Rich Republicans know exactly what they're doing, and they push those buttons well.

Yes sir. It's not just the US, but all over the world.

My favorite is the Sovereignity crap. We can't join the International Criminal Court, that would put our sovereignity at risk. But then, why are we in the World Bank, IMF, GATT/WTO, etc?

thunderlips11 says

My favorite is the Sovereignity crap. We can't join the International Criminal Court, that would put our sovereignity at risk. But then, why are we in the World Bank, IMF, GATT/WTO, etc?

So true. But if America did join the International Criminal Court it would have to answer for the genocide of Native Americans. That's the whole reason the U.S. hasn't supported the International Criminal Court and anti-genocide laws. Everyone knows our country is as guilty as Germany, Rwanda, Darfur, Armenia, and the Sudan.

Ruki says

Where's the body or proof otherwise?

Damn, you sound like Shrek. Oh wait, you are Shrek.

Do you really think that there are many Americans who don't believe that bin Laden was killed by Seal Team 6 under Obama's orders?

By the way, I'm not even saying Obama made the right call. I think he should have captured Osama alive and brought him to stand trial in New York City in an open, fair court. Then again, unlike Bush and Obama and the Tea Party, I believe in rule of law, although not necessarily those who carry it out.

Ruki says

Oh and, the voters don't care about Bin Laden anymore.

Tell that to anyone living in NYC. You're just saying that because Obama got the credit for killing Osama. Had a republican president like Bush done it, you and your colleagues would be reminding us of that every day.

The fact is that Obama has implemented the Republican agenda far more effectively than any Republican including Bush. That's why you hate him, and that's also why I hate him, although for different reasons.

Ruki says

Dan8267 says

Given that Obama killed bin Laden when Bush failed and Romney said he would not go into Pakistan to kill bin Laden, it seems really stupid to make the comparison the Tea Party just did. Killing bin Laden is going to be Obama's "Mission Accomplished" campaign point.

Where's the body or proof otherwise?

Whereas, when Bush nailed Saddam's sicko sons, he made sure photos of their bodies were freely distributed so there would be no doubt that they were dead.

no proof = another Obama lie.

I didn't make these rules, but that is how the world works.

Give HRHMedia access to patrick.net...and he'll masturbate with it.

How can you even compare the strategic significance of eliminating uday/qusay with OBL?

Ruki says

Whereas, when Bush nailed Saddam's sicko sons, he made sure photos of their bodies were freely distributed so there would be no doubt that they were dead.

How many Americans did Saddam's sons kill prior to the Invasion?

dublin hillz says

How can you even compare the strategic significance of eliminating uday/qusay with OBL?

Word.