WarGamer
WarGamer's JournalWe already HAVE the vaccine passport system, need to expand it.
In LA county, one of the providers for vaccinations provides one with a QR code which can be saved on your phone.
When the QR code is scanned, a page pops up with your name, age, address, date of vaccination and even who gave the shot.
No silly paper card, easy to falsify... no chip in your body lol...
Let's have the CDC set up a nationwide system, email or snail mail all recipients their own QR code or directions how to access it. It can be done.
QR scanners linked to the CDC at movie theaters, airports, cruise ships, malls, etc...
Those without a phone can carry a plastic card (like a VISA) with the QR code printed on it
Corporate Taxation vs Taxing the Rich
After reading the Bernie thread, I thought this deserved it's own thread.
I think that some people are a bit confused about Corporations and Rich People.
To put it simply, a Corporation is a business whose ownership is split into millions (billions) of tiny bits called "shares".
These shares are owned by individuals, by State and private pension funds, by ETF's, Mutual Funds, Hedge Funds and more.
There is no such thing as Mr. Apple, Mr. ExxonMobil or Mr. Google.
So is Corporate Taxation the way to "get money" from a Corporation?
No, it's not.
Let me explain. Corporate Taxation is a business expense for the Corporation, just like payroll, infrastructure, maintenance, etc.
***Fiduciary Duty of Loyalty
***Officers and directors owe a duty of loyalty to a corporation and its shareholders.
The Corporation exists to make a profit for the shareholders, the OWNERS. the Corporation will compensate and adjust expenses and seek to increase revenue to make the business profitable. And it's very competitive. In the world of the Stock Market, merely "decent" companies go out of business.
When you increase the cost of doing business for the Corporation, when the cost of raw materials, payroll or taxation increases the business will cut payroll, reduce overhead AND/OR increase the price of the product.
So WHO pays for increased Corporate Taxes?
Everyone does. The VALUE of every one of those pieces of a business called SHARES drops. State pension funds, like CALPRS depend HEAVILY on income generated by the Stock Market. When the market is in a lull, the State of California is forced to kick in BILLIONS of dollars into the pension fund.
Consumers will pay higher prices. Don't listen to people who say "the free market will adjust". It won't. They will ALL increase the price of goods to take advantage of the higher tax rate.
Corporations will fire people to maintain their profit in the face of increased taxation.
Victims:
Investors
Consumers
Employees
Remember:
***Fiduciary Duty of Loyalty
***Officers and directors owe a duty of loyalty to a corporation and its shareholders.
Back to the effect of Corporate Tax increases.
So who pays?
Answer: The retired librarian pays. Jeff Bezos pays. Mark Fuckerberg pays. Your neighbor the retired fireman pays... hell your buddy at work with a Robinhood account pays.
"So yeah, WarGamer... you're onto something. Bezos and the Billionaires WILL pay more?"
Yes, but the amount they pay is reduced because a large pool of people are also "paying the price" for the Taxes.
So, now my personal editorial:
Politicians, ALL OF THEM (possible exception Elizabeth Warren) are scared shitless of billionaires because billionaires donate to campaigns and the politicians like their companies.
We NEED vastly increased taxation to fund this nation properly. It's in Bezos pocket, fucking take it.
TAX the wealthy directly. There are options:
1) The UK Commission on Wealth Tax recommends a one-time 5% Tax on all net worth above 500k GBP. Follow it up with an annual 1% tax.
2) Tax Capital Gains as Regular Income. Why should a plumber working 50 hrs a week making 100k a year pay 40% more taxes than a guy who makes 100k in a morning while riding on his golf cart?
3) A per transaction, per share Wall Street trading fee. It's progressive. If you buy ONE share, maybe it's 10 cents, 100 shares, maybe 10 bucks. Buy 500k shares and it's 50k in fees.
Example: 69 million shares of AAPL moved today. A 10 cent per share fee would have raised $6.9M towards making the country a better place. That's just today. Just one stock.
4) Raise the top Income Tax rates. Don't go from 37.0% to 39.6%... they are laughing at you. Make it 50%.
5) Estate Taxes
Now the apologists for the filthy rich will run right along and say "The Rich will just leave the country."
Well then we confiscate property. We charge their "now offshore" companies huge tariffs. We drain their accounts. We arrest their asses for tax evasion.
The free ride is OVER.
Now it's up to our politicians. And I think nothing will ever happen.
EDIT TO ADD: Don't forget, foreign individuals and countries use the US market as a Golden Egg laying Goose. A guy from Whateveristan pays NO TAXES for profiting off of American markets. Thus... the per share Wall Street fee.
Sorry for the rant... think about it, ok?
A hat tip to Eric Nelson.
Just a reminder that in our system, everyone should be afforded a defense.
It's one of our most basic principles.
Nelson was dealt a shit sandwich and worked really hard, left it all out on the field. That closing argument was a real stemwinder...
Criminal Defense Attorneys are frequently reviled but they play a critical part in the system.
I like it when the system "works"
Walter Scott, George Floyd... maybe things are changing!!
With the advent of cell phones and concerned citizens, murderers are being sent to prison.
And note the majority-white nature of protests and juries sending bad cops to prison.
These things would NEVER happen 20 years ago.
Average Minnesota time in Prison for Murder 2... 12.5 years.
Prosecutors to seek enhancements for a longer sentence.
Prosecutors will make their argument in front of the Judge, not a jury.
No criminal record, could be less than 10 years.
For those confused about sentence:
If Chauvin is convicted on any of the charges, he faces maximum sentences of up to 10 years or up to 40 years in prison. If he is convicted on multiple counts, he will not serve consecutive sentences on them. Instead, he will be sentenced on the most serious of the counts, Moran said.
https://www.minnpost.com/metro/2021/04/explaining-the-possible-outcomes-of-jury-deliberations-in-the-derek-chauvin-trial/#:~:text=Possible%20penalties,of%20the%20counts%2C%20Moran%20said.
Will there be protests in the street tonight?
Would guilty on all 3 put the protests to rest?
Would NG on ANY of the counts produce more protests?
Holy Crap. India is getting clobbered.
275,000 new cases yesterday with 1625 deaths.
Damn... all the vaccine mfg need to quadruple production like TOMORROW... we need to get shots in arms, worldwide.
Look at these numbers:
From yesterday
France, 30k new cases and 140 deaths
Turkey 56k new cases and 318 deaths
Germany 13k new cases and 65 deaths
Brazil 43k new cases and 1583 deaths
Mexico 4k new cases but 535 deaths
This thing is headed in the wrong damn direction in some parts of the world...
The next time you're on vacation and your airplane lands successfully, thank Bill Clinton.
So yeah... let me start by saying, as a borderline Boomer/X'er I have an affinity for Bill Clinton.
The 1990's were awesome. My parents were making bank. I successfully started my career, received another Degree, got married, got divorced, had a son, dated a stripper...
Awesome. Love the 90's.
Clinton is underappreciated by many but I'm going to call him the Best POTUS of my lifetime.
The numbers don't lie... economy, unemployment, deficit... A++
Anyway about this Post. Noticed how ZERO US Commercial Airliners have fallen out of the sky in the last TWELVE years? Wonder how that came about?
Look back to TWA Flight 800 off of Long Island. President Clinton formed the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security.
The Commission suggested REAL changes and was risky... many were afraid of blowback from Airline unions, the Airplane mfg and shareholders. But they were implemented and BOY were they successful.
Within 10 years the fatality rate had dropped by 80%, beating a goal set by the commission.
"The magnitude of the improvement has far exceeded my expectations"
---Randy Babbit, head of the FAA from 2009-2011
So take that trip. Jump on that 777-300ER to Japan or a shiny new 787-9 to Europe on United, American or Delta... you'll make it there in one piece.
Europe set to pass a grim milestone, 1,000,000 COVID-19 DEATHS.
Some don't seem to realize how C19 has savaged the European Continent.
973K deaths and counting.
In Deaths/1M population, the top 10 worst countries in the world are all in Europe. 16/20 of the World's worst are in Europe.
13 European countries have worse Deaths/1M population numbers than the USA
If you balance for population, Western Europe has more Deaths than the USA. (meaning add the populations of some hard hit WE countries until = approx US population)
Some European countries are struggling mightily.
France currently has the most daily cases in Europe, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland are particularly struggling...
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
So what's the SOLUTION to gun violence?
I see people here and all over the spectrum blaming ALL KINDS of things.
Some come up with solutions that are unworkable or just impossible.
So... seriously, what are REAL solutions that will stop the kind of violence we've seen in the last few years?
Just a few I can think of (some not so possible)
1) Amend the Constitution. Abolish the 2A and go to a system that allows limited hunting rifles kept in State facilities and checked out then checked back in again.
Guns would have to be REQUIRED to be turned in. Door to door searches? Police searching vehicles during stops?
2) Eliminate ALL background check loopholes. No personal transfers, not even within families.
3) Since an AWB is unlikely and the current SCOTUS might find it unconstitutional... how about requiring a tax stamp and DEEP background check for a Semi-Auto Rifle purchase, similar to pre-86 NFA weapons?
4) Dissolution of the Union and a new country with Aussie/EU-like gun laws?
5) Institute a 25 year old minimum for purchases? Fuck the NRA, they've sued for that one before.
You know WHY you don't see many Mossberg 12 gauges with sawed off barrels? Because every gun owner knows that the mere possession of one will put you in jail.
Maybe we just need more laws and enforce them more rigidly? Automatic 10 year sentence for felon in possession?
So what are YOUR favorite ideas?
Keeping in mind that many of the common ones will NEVER happen?
One more note: The RW'ers often say "Laws only affect the law-abiding not criminals."
But let's look at mass shootings. Other than the inner city mass shootings (and there are many) the most pulicized mass shootings happened because someone without a public record was able to buy a gun. Make the gun harder to obtain and you name the mass shooting over the last 20 years and most wouldn't have happened.
Thoughts?
A great resource of workable (and not so workable) solutions.
https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/
Profile Information
Name: JGender: Male
Hometown: SoCal
Home country: USA
Current location: Socal
Member since: Mon Feb 1, 2021, 09:27 PM
Number of posts: 12,488