Posts for: dtucker300
Apr 7, 2024 16:27:05 #
Apr 7, 2024 16:23:09 #
Apr 6, 2024 02:11:00 #
Apr 6, 2024 01:55:59 #
Apr 6, 2024 01:39:40 #
Apr 6, 2024 01:36:15 #
(Main)
dtucker300 wrote:
Enjoy.
Apr 6, 2024 01:20:17 #
Apr 6, 2024 01:15:38 #
Apr 6, 2024 01:00:23 #
(Main)
Enjoy.
Apr 6, 2024 00:43:37 #
NotMAGA wrote:
Ha! I loved that story about Franklin so much I googled it. Thanks for that. Must have missed all the stories about it when the bequest hit the 2 century mark.
For anyone else who might want to read more about it..
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/627475/200-year-old-gift-from-benjamin-franklin-to-boston-and-philadelphia
For anyone else who might want to read more about it..
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/627475/200-year-old-gift-from-benjamin-franklin-to-boston-and-philadelphia
Apr 5, 2024 23:35:04 #
NotMAGA wrote:
Are you in a state that doesn't assess real estate taxes Arch?
Where we are in upstate NY, a homeowner with a house assessed at 200,000 will pay between 4k and 6k annually for school, village, town and county taxes on the assessed value of that house. There aren't many homes in this area worth 7 figures, but taxes on one would be unbelievably high.
Where we are in upstate NY, a homeowner with a house assessed at 200,000 will pay between 4k and 6k annually for school, village, town and county taxes on the assessed value of that house. There aren't many homes in this area worth 7 figures, but taxes on one would be unbelievably high.
There's your problem. You live in the Democrat's socialist taxed dream state of NY.
Have you never heard of the standard deduction? Not everyone pays taxes. Some people do sustain losses during a year and therefore don't have taxable income. You can't judge income based on wealth and you can't judge wealth on income. For example, if you win the lottery for a huge amount and take the lump sum you pay taxes on it in the year won. Then you live off of it the rest of your life, maybe, if you are smart enough to not spend it all immediately.
Here's the real problem Government spends too much. The Federal Reserve prints too much money. Inflation hurts everyone, especially fixed incomes. Inflation is just another form of tax. Social Security isn't keeping up with Bidenflation. CA just increased fast food workers' minimum wage to $20/hour. This will cause price increases and unemployment because bleeding-heart liberals are too stupid to understand the ramifications of their stupi***tic policies. And a person on a fixed income such as SSI just lost more spending power. You can't earn enough interest to make up for your losses due to Bidenflation. You've lost money the past couple of years unless you manage to invest in some very speculative high-yield instruments that are also risky.
If you bought Gold at $1000 an ounce and later sold it for over $2000 an ounce, you didn't earn any money. An ounce of gold is an ounce of gold. It sold for more because of inflation and the Federal Reserve's manipulation of the money supply. The government considers this a capital gain even though you have not gained anything, but the government went off the gold standard, so they consider this a taxable gain.
If you bought a house, made no improvements to it whatsoever, and later sold it for more money because inflation has increased the cost of homes, why should you have to pay taxes on the gain? You paid the taxes already on the money you used to buy it with. You didn't really gain anything. The house didn't change. In fact, it should be worth less because everything is older, worn, and been used more. You have also been paying property taxes on it all along.
I don't have to spell everything out for you, do I? You are smart enough to figure some of this out, aren't you? Our tax system is inherently unfair, to both rich and poor alike. Wealth is not static.
Apr 5, 2024 22:02:28 #
(Main)
Americans Differ on Ukraine and Gaza
April 4, 2024
Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Americans overwhelmingly supported Ukraine—as they did with Israel after October 7.
No wonder: Ukraine was surprise attacked by Russia, and Israel was by Hamas.
It seemed an easy binary of good versus evil: both the attacked Ukraine and Israel are pro-Western. Both their attackers, anti-Western Russia and Hamas, are not.
Now everything is bifurcating. And the politics of the wars in America reflect incoherence.
Both Ukraine and Israel are portrayed in the media as supposedly bogging down in their counteroffensives.
More pro-Israel Republicans are troubled by Ukraine’s strategy, or lack thereof, in an increasing Somme-like stalemate.
Yet more pro-Ukrainian Democrats are turning away from Israel as it dismantles Gaza in the messy, bloody slog against Hamas. The left claims either Israel cannot or should not defeat Hamas, or at least at the present cost.
So the left pushes Israel to a ceasefire with Hamas.
It blasts Israeli “disproportionate” responses.
It demands that Israel avoid collateral damage.
It pressures it to form a wartime bipartisan government.
It lobbies to cut it off from American resupply.
It is terrified that Israel will expand the war by responding to aggression from Hezbollah and Iran.
Yet on Ukraine, the left oddly pivots to the very opposite agenda.
It believes Ukraine should not be forced to make peace with Russian “f*****ts.” It must become disproportionate to “win” the war.
President Zelensky deserves a pass, despite cancelling e******ns while suspending political parties.
America must step up its resupply to Kyiv with more and far deadlier weapons.
Ukraine has a perfect right to hit targets inside Russia.
Russian threats to widen the war should be considered empty and thus ignored. America should h**e Russia far more than Hamas.
By contrast, conservatives are less supportive of Ukraine’s offensives, if more than ever allied with Israel.
In their realist views, Ukraine is a smaller power, vastly outnumbered by a richer, better-armed Russia. Thus, it should negotiate while it can, rather than eventually losing everything.
Israel, however, is, in their view, defeating Hamas. If allowed to finish the job, it can soon win the war in Gaza and still handle Hezbollah and deter Iran.
Furthermore, the right is wary that Russia is a nuclear power. The Ukraine war is unfortunately creating a new, potent anti-American axis of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea and drawing in former U.S. allies like Turkey and Qatar.
Yet, in Israel’s case, the U.S. is far more powerful than Hamas’s patron, Iran, and can easily deter it should Tehran intervene.
As of now, none of Hamas’s allies have nuclear weapons. Israel, however, does, unlike Ukraine.
Many conservatives further point out that Israel is a long-time U.S. democratic ally.
Ukraine’s e******ns are currently suspended while the country remains under martial law.
In realist terms, the old idea of Russian triangulation still makes some sense. Russia should be no friendlier to China than to the U.S., and China is no more aligned with Russia than with America.
Hamas, by contrast, is a terrorist clique, as are Hezbollah and all of Iran’s terrorist appendages. Their hatred of the U.S. is long-standing, immutable, and transcends the Gaza war.
How about the public’s views in general?
With over $35 trillion in debt, still smarting over the humiliating withdrawal from Kabul, and the military short 40,000 recruits, the public does not wish to get heavily involved in either war, even as polls still show radically differing left/right attitudes toward both.
Americans once overwhelmingly supported vast aid for Ukraine. Now they decidedly believe the U.S. is providing too much to Kyiv.
They still poll strong support for Israel over Hamas, but less so for Israel’s ongoing destruction of Hamas given the collateral damage that follows.
Given there are few Russian-Americans, there are almost no demonstrations on behalf of Moscow’s war. But there are plenty of protests for Hamas since there are lots of Middle-Eastern Americans and visitors within the U.S.
What are we to conclude about these contradictory wars and American attitudes toward them?
The more democratic and defensive the power, the more Americans support it—but only up to a point.
Even more, they demand quick victory—and lose interest when the wars stagnate, costs increase, and protests grow.
When Ukraine and Israel began costly counteroffensives, the former losing thousands and the latter k*****g thousands, the American public began to be less invested in either war.
Final lessons?
Israel should do all it can to destroy Hamas as quickly as possible and end the war.
Ukraine does not have the wherewithal to defeat Russia. It should cease costly offensives against Russia’s fortified lines and seek to negotiate.
Or, put another way, fickle Americans sympathize with those who are attacked. But their continuing support seems contingent on whether the victim can remain sympathetic—and win decisively to end the war rapidly.
April 4, 2024
Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Americans overwhelmingly supported Ukraine—as they did with Israel after October 7.
No wonder: Ukraine was surprise attacked by Russia, and Israel was by Hamas.
It seemed an easy binary of good versus evil: both the attacked Ukraine and Israel are pro-Western. Both their attackers, anti-Western Russia and Hamas, are not.
Now everything is bifurcating. And the politics of the wars in America reflect incoherence.
Both Ukraine and Israel are portrayed in the media as supposedly bogging down in their counteroffensives.
More pro-Israel Republicans are troubled by Ukraine’s strategy, or lack thereof, in an increasing Somme-like stalemate.
Yet more pro-Ukrainian Democrats are turning away from Israel as it dismantles Gaza in the messy, bloody slog against Hamas. The left claims either Israel cannot or should not defeat Hamas, or at least at the present cost.
So the left pushes Israel to a ceasefire with Hamas.
It blasts Israeli “disproportionate” responses.
It demands that Israel avoid collateral damage.
It pressures it to form a wartime bipartisan government.
It lobbies to cut it off from American resupply.
It is terrified that Israel will expand the war by responding to aggression from Hezbollah and Iran.
Yet on Ukraine, the left oddly pivots to the very opposite agenda.
It believes Ukraine should not be forced to make peace with Russian “f*****ts.” It must become disproportionate to “win” the war.
President Zelensky deserves a pass, despite cancelling e******ns while suspending political parties.
America must step up its resupply to Kyiv with more and far deadlier weapons.
Ukraine has a perfect right to hit targets inside Russia.
Russian threats to widen the war should be considered empty and thus ignored. America should h**e Russia far more than Hamas.
By contrast, conservatives are less supportive of Ukraine’s offensives, if more than ever allied with Israel.
In their realist views, Ukraine is a smaller power, vastly outnumbered by a richer, better-armed Russia. Thus, it should negotiate while it can, rather than eventually losing everything.
Israel, however, is, in their view, defeating Hamas. If allowed to finish the job, it can soon win the war in Gaza and still handle Hezbollah and deter Iran.
Furthermore, the right is wary that Russia is a nuclear power. The Ukraine war is unfortunately creating a new, potent anti-American axis of Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea and drawing in former U.S. allies like Turkey and Qatar.
Yet, in Israel’s case, the U.S. is far more powerful than Hamas’s patron, Iran, and can easily deter it should Tehran intervene.
As of now, none of Hamas’s allies have nuclear weapons. Israel, however, does, unlike Ukraine.
Many conservatives further point out that Israel is a long-time U.S. democratic ally.
Ukraine’s e******ns are currently suspended while the country remains under martial law.
In realist terms, the old idea of Russian triangulation still makes some sense. Russia should be no friendlier to China than to the U.S., and China is no more aligned with Russia than with America.
Hamas, by contrast, is a terrorist clique, as are Hezbollah and all of Iran’s terrorist appendages. Their hatred of the U.S. is long-standing, immutable, and transcends the Gaza war.
How about the public’s views in general?
With over $35 trillion in debt, still smarting over the humiliating withdrawal from Kabul, and the military short 40,000 recruits, the public does not wish to get heavily involved in either war, even as polls still show radically differing left/right attitudes toward both.
Americans once overwhelmingly supported vast aid for Ukraine. Now they decidedly believe the U.S. is providing too much to Kyiv.
They still poll strong support for Israel over Hamas, but less so for Israel’s ongoing destruction of Hamas given the collateral damage that follows.
Given there are few Russian-Americans, there are almost no demonstrations on behalf of Moscow’s war. But there are plenty of protests for Hamas since there are lots of Middle-Eastern Americans and visitors within the U.S.
What are we to conclude about these contradictory wars and American attitudes toward them?
The more democratic and defensive the power, the more Americans support it—but only up to a point.
Even more, they demand quick victory—and lose interest when the wars stagnate, costs increase, and protests grow.
When Ukraine and Israel began costly counteroffensives, the former losing thousands and the latter k*****g thousands, the American public began to be less invested in either war.
Final lessons?
Israel should do all it can to destroy Hamas as quickly as possible and end the war.
Ukraine does not have the wherewithal to defeat Russia. It should cease costly offensives against Russia’s fortified lines and seek to negotiate.
Or, put another way, fickle Americans sympathize with those who are attacked. But their continuing support seems contingent on whether the victim can remain sympathetic—and win decisively to end the war rapidly.
Apr 5, 2024 21:55:22 #
federally indicted mattoid wrote:
Wonder if donny would take your pearls of wisdom about reading books...
Just kidding. He doesn't read books.
Just kidding. He doesn't read books.
Probably not. Neither does Joe.
Apr 5, 2024 21:40:09 #
federally indicted mattoid wrote:
Maybe dtuck is John Barron, lol
“Seldom do people think things through foolishly. More often, they do not bother to think things through at all, so that even highly intelligent individuals can reach untenable conclusions because their brainpower means little if it is not deployed and applied.”
– Thomas Sowell
In other words, engage brain before putting mouth in gear.
This is why we bought you books and sent you to school. What do you do with your education? You treat it as if it is frivolous.
Apr 4, 2024 20:53:38 #
dwp66 wrote:
How does a rich person "have no income"?... (show quote)
One non sequitur after another. Get real Mr. Dumass. A lot of i***tic assumptions on your part that don't dignify a response. I love it when you trolls are willing to expose your ignorance for the whole world to see.