Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Monday, October 12, 2020
Sunday, October 11, 2020
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Wednesday, October 07, 2020
"Steal what you can and burn the rest down on the way out."
I think there’s a decent chance Mitch McConnell suckered President Trump into canceling stimulus bill negotiations. The GOP looks to be shifting into bust out mode. McConnell and other party leaders likely see that Trump is finished and that the Senate majority probably is too. The cynical play is straightforward: pocket the Court seat and leave an incoming Biden administration in as deep a hole as possible. It even cues Republicans up to switch seamlessly back into austerity/fiscal scold mode in 2021, without their fingerprints on any more stimulus spending. Little discussed here is Trump’s assertion that leaving stimulus negotiations until after the election will clear the calendar to focus on confirming Amy Coney Barrett. Of course it will. That seems to be the point.
Normally it would be reasonable to ask whether anyone really thinks that cynically about governance. With Mitch McConnell not only do we know he thinks that cynically he actually acted this cynically under Barack Obama. We have a track record.
President Trump’s defeat already looks increasingly likely. Not only foreclosing the possibility of any additional relief but owning that decision publicly is the political equivalent of taking a hammer to your own head. Trump campaign advisors who spoke to reporters off the record last night were apoplectic. The stock market tanked. This is likely why by mid-evening Trump was back on Twitter demanding Nancy Pelosi agree to more deals and more spending.
It is no accident that we haven’t seen the President speak live on camera since his COVID diagnosis. It is hard to distinguish the President’s current state of mind from his baseline antic, mercurial nature. But much of what has happened over the last three days resembles a fairly typical manic episode and mania is a relatively common side effect of the steroid medication he was given as part of his COVID treatment. His Twitter feed is increasingly difficult to distinguish from Kanye West’s. Whatever the clinical effects of these medications, it is likely and would be unsurprising that the events of the last week – the failed debate, a life-threatening medical diagnosis and difficulty breathing – affected the President’s mental state. How could it not?
But don’t take your eyes off this broader calculus – one separate from Trump, his state of mind, one that is above all rational. Yes, everyone should give their 110%. Everybody get out to vote. The stakes for a second Trump term are too high to take anything for granted. But for those gaming out their own moves and post-January realities, Trump’s defeat is starting to look very likely. Under normal circumstances that would lead congressional Republicans to cut Trump loose and pitch their reelection as a check on the power of a Democratic President. That would be a great card to play for a number of endangered Republican Senators at the moment. But it’s all but impossible since loyalty to Trump is now the centerpiece of Republican identity. And any move away from him would trigger a fatal backlash.
So look for more signs of this bust out scenario. Steal what you can and burn the rest down on the way out.
Monday, October 05, 2020
Do you make 400k a year?
level 1
And also, people should remember that income is taxes in a bracketed fashion in the United States. This means that only your income above $400k will be subject to any higher taxation:
Example: this is oversimplification for purposes of illustration, but say all income you make up to $400,000 is taxed at a flat 20% rate. Additionally, let's say the new Biden tax plan assesses any income above that at a 30% rate.
Say Bill makes right up to the limit of $400,000/year, and his neighbor, Julie makes $500,000/year.
Bill's taxes, without any deductions, would be $80,000 leaving him $320,000 net income.
Julie's taxes would also be $80,000 for the first $400,000 she earned, and an additional $30,000 for the additional $100,000 she earned above that. Julie's taxes would be $110,000, before any deductions, leaving her with $390,000 net income.
What doesn't happen is that when a person makes a single dollar more then the limit, their entire income gets taxed at the higher rate. That would be ridiculously unfair. If Julie had to pay 30% on all $500,000 she would be taxed $150,000, leaving her with a net income of only $350,000 which is only $30,000 more than Bill despite earning a gross salary of $100,000 more than he does. No one is suggesting we switch to such a punitive tax rate.
Sunday, October 04, 2020
Saturday, October 03, 2020
All about Amy
Amy Coney Barrett belongs to a religious group called The People of Praise: "The highest office a woman can hold in the community is "woman leader" (formerly "handmaid")."
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