JoeWeber

This is nothing short of arrogant assholeishness but I have always welcomed confusion in the tax code. Some years ago I sorted out a way to distribute fully tax deferred assets into LLC's and then break them into separate parts and then bundle some bits into assets, under separate contracts, to be distributed into other LLC's so they could be used to purchase, tax deferred. other assets that, go figure, passed the IRS smell test. So yes, just like any other game if your opponent leaves an opening you are a moron if you don't take it. But I'm a small potatoes douchebag. At 50 million things should be different.

Fine. But are you willing to agree that the Super Wealthy need to be taxed a lot more? Not as a penalty to make you feel better but simply because the construct of fiat money might just fall apart when just a few people have the most of it.

Let them have their foundations and trusts and give them an extra cookie for being awesome. The problem is naming the number when the big tax increases start. My thinking is that at $100 million net worth you start paying the flat tax on top of everything else. Maybe 1%. By the time it gets to $1 Billion then it's 5%. $100 Billion then 10%. I respectfully submit that there isn't anything you want that cannot be had with $90 Billion Dollars.

Ya, well it turns out we went to different schools together. Go figure.

Especially Wing Suiters. I have a friend who knows a guy and he told me.......

You need to get it as they earn it not once they got it, yo. It's the same thing as dating JV cheerleaders, if memory serves.

I'm telling you, it's a bald faced con. Not too far back I listened to him respond to Warrens proposed wealth tax. At the $100 Billion plus level that would be 3% per annum. The thing was he turned it into a joke. Instead of addressing the merits of it right or wrong he made a funny like he couldn't do the math and if he had to figure out how much he'd be left with each year well......... I am all in favor of making bags of money through hard work or better just dumb luck. That said, hundreds of millions is a crazy amount of money in todays dollars. A billion is just insane and vastly more than it takes to provide generational wealth. 10's or 100's of Billions should be achievable but very heavily taxed. We need the money in the public coffers not in someones self aggrandizing foundation.

The bastards can't even be bothered to US Flag their Mega Yachts so as to pay some of the tax they say they should pay.

Yes, and for all we know Melinda Gates has had it with Bill's way of hoarding. They know the tax man cometh so they play the charity game. When you start at $65 Billion and I guess he's now at $150 Billion and you put $50 Billion into your foundation along the way, and in only several years, it's arguable that your tax rate is way too low.

One problem he has is that his Microsoft share sales went not into easily given away cash but, I believe it's +/- 60%, into other equities. Most home offices of the super wealthy are less aggressive at 32%. In other words he is after even more money. In that pool are +/-12 million shares of that champion of the fair wage and little guy Walmart. Interestingly, at 250,000 acres, he is also the largest private owner of farmland in the US. Farmland in quantity is a reliable safe haven away from stocks averaging 5% uptick per annum, not including federal subsidies, so it's a great bet. I bought some 6-7 years ago that has already more than doubled in value. A great hedge when your cash ain't getting jack. Regarding why he has aggressively increased his farmland investments Gates said: “My investment group chose to do this. It is not connected to climate,” he wrote. “The agriculture sector is important. With more productive seeds we can avoid deforestation and help Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face. It is unclear how cheap biofuels can be but if they are cheap it can solve the aviation and truck emissions.” To my jaded ear that sounds like a homespun raft of off the cuff self serving horse shit. I believe, like moi, he holds it for the money. Nothing he is doing is illegal, that's sure. But when you use the system and the tax code to nearly double your $65 Billion while pretending to mostly give it away in your lifetime you sort of beg the question of whether you are being undertaxed.

I keep hearing that and I also keep seeing it not working. By now everyone has noticed that the stock market is not the economy. Maybe if corporations paid more in taxes and less in shareholder benefits like buybacks or offshoring vast profits that increase share value we could afford to help out those low and middle class folks you are worried about with stuff like health care and education.

Like energy sources all competitors are not equal. Some may prize volume and thin margins to gain market share over all else. There are more possibilities, obviously.

I think we need to see if the right side of the aisle will allow meaningful change to the code that prevents the majority of tax avoidance by wealthy. Clearly, there is no doubt that the left side of the room would make the super wealthy squeal between sips of that shitty, over priced Dom Pérignon they seem to like. As far as the "corporations" go, the pricing at any business is limited by what the consumer will pay. Charge too much and in comes the competition, right? That's what the right believes, I seem to recall. Again, a little help from the right with some meaningful anti-trust legislation would assist the little guy, seems to me. I know some here think you're a troll or a fool. I think you are neither. I think you are a true believer. I think you see what you are convinced too few can see. I also think you are not looking at the writing on the wall about the future of fossil fuels. Regardless of how much fun you are having, or whether you like it or not, that party is ending sooner rather than later. Like movable type it's a success story of yesteryear. Not tomorrow.

Oh, that right wing hooray for oneself and to hell with everyone and everything else conservatism. Apparently, you aren't aware of the impact of inflation on the average American. Screw the price of milk as long as you can raise their rent, right?

Are you happy, sad, frustrated, or just trying out the new shit stirring paddle you bought on Amazon?

Yep. And that, sport fans, is why when Bill Gates pledged the bulk of his $64 Billion Dollar wealth to charity a decade ago and he now has $124 Billion you know it is bullshit and you are being conned.

Please, don't make the jumps. Instead just send half the money.

Texans without opinions? More likely 6% just told the pollster to fuck off.

I meant a metaphorical you. Probably didn't know you had one.

When the first board jumper mashed someones hand hopping to the door and wasn't murdered later.

All on the way to happily ever after when armed speech will trump free speech from sea to shining sea. In the dyslexian theory of the Constitution the number 2 always comes before number 1.

In keeping with the original intent of the Magna Carta, the Texas Senate just passed a bill allowing for the open carrying of holstered weapons without license or permit. There can be no doubt that Aristotle would approve.

Excellent. I often fear being misunderstood. As a Liberal, it always seems to me that the liberal application of US Dollars will solve any problem. Hence, a user fee seems a reasonable thing if, for no other reason, I'm not worried that Brent is posting something outrageous while I'm stuck offline.

Plantation 20 is tied with El Dorado 21 for my favorite sipping rum. Excellent stuff.

Yes. In spite of my inebriation I am happy that you can be happy with whatever life grants you. In A Gadda Da Vida, baby.