English comprehension a little foggy this morning? I was commenting on your inabilities not asking you to demonstrate them...

It's early morning where I sit and I'm back to work, after eight weeks of lockdown and stay-at-home orders, so ...

I will leave you with this tune from Neil Young, off of his Prairie Wind album, recorded in Nashville. I wanted to post a link to his performance of this song at the Ryman Auditorium but couldn't find it.

Anyway, here is When God Made Me

Here is almost three hours of their music. Enjoy!

Kashtin

https://youtu.be/6SFNW5F8K9Y

Native Song

https://youtu.be/_SN1UK8ghGw

It has been quite a stressful week on top of everything.

Here is my first selection for the evening - I hope you enjoy it.

Kashtin

Give it a look, people. ROKO'S BASILISK.

As an American citizen with Italian residency, I completely agree. Italians are perhaps the most supportive, unquestioning Europeans of the United States of America - the grandchildren of those alive in WWII still express their gratitude to me for the liberation by American soldiers from Mussolini and the small gestures of kindness, like chocolate bars to the Italian children and food and clothing to the half-starved families.

That reminded me of a wonderful movie from quite a while back. I wonder if it's one of your favourites, too?

La Vita e Bella

decades of articles on the effects of big money...

And yet when pressed, you never seem to be able to link to one of these articles. Interesting that.

The battle of the bubbles is hilarious to observe but not at all productive.

How could you tell from inside your extra thick bubble of delusion?

It would be the word you put in parentheses twice in a short post...

It's good you clarified as the post you wrote comes out as to compete businesses must buy products from one another which would be silly, and I have no idea what you were trying to convey with that.

Yes, in an extremely simplified way, people did run the demise of small retail by buying from Walmart and later Amazon. What you conveniently leave out is the how, which I mentioned in my original post...

I have nod idea what that word is you claim I "fixated upon".

You evidently missed the point, not I. I'm well aware that Walmart gets blamed for the demise of the Mom 'n' Pops, but I claim that blame is illegitimate. It's the people who quit shopping with 'em that killed 'em. And then you imply (without ever saying so), that Walmart somehow coerced people to abandon the Mom 'n' pops, and that's utter nonsense. Induced, for sure, but did not coerce.

However, it does appear to be the case that 20 million people every day cast their financial votes in favor of the idea that the 99.99% of us who benefit from abandoning the Mom 'n' Pops more than offsets the hardships inflicted on the .01% who ran the Mom 'n' Pops. But hey, I'm glad to hear that you are one of the .01%, (although I'm pretty skeptical about the veracity of that claim).

So you completely ignored my post to fixate on a word you could have looked up in a dictionary while somehow living in a bubble so thick that you have missed the literally hundreds of articles over the last two decades about the effects of Walmart on small towns and the decline of retail due to Amazon? Interesting and certainly offers backup to my last sentence...

But for your information, no I don't shop at Walmart and generally avoid Amazon, especially these days with it's counterfeit products problem.

And When I Die.

Nobody "makes gazillions and pays zilch". You and Cadd don't understand accounting or economics. You need to learn to differentiate between 'income and 'wealth'. And if you are envious of the highly-productive folk's ability to influence tax legislation, try becoming highly productive!

Worst analogy I ever heard! Chips and other snack foods are the highest-priced food in the grocery store. Fresh Idaho Russets are $.29/lb, potato chips are over $6/lb.

And rich people never hoard food in amounts greater than they want to consume. Food is perishable, and not suitable to accumulate/hoard "far beyond one's needs".

And of course there's no "profit' in hoarding food, in fact there is a built-in LOSS when the stuff goes bad. There is only (potential) profit in production, not in accumulation.

Bottom line is everyone has a finer dinner together than they would have had separately.

IN CONTRAST

CAPITALISM would be like one guy trying to obtain as much of the available food as he can, far beyond his needs. And not caring if his neighbors starved because there's no profit in it.

Stuck you seem overly enamoured of our Robber Barons.

"It's simply a PREDATORY PLANET:

-- MtnCaddy

Capitalism prioritizes profit over people. Look at what's happened to our country since Reagan took power! Do you really think things are better now than back in the 50s-60s-70s?

No, the obscenely wealthy and powerful did not enjoy a smoother ride. Nor did they enjoy extra U.S. Army protection. But the highways on which Amazon merch is shipped on and the protection of the vast American market that purchases from Amazon made Jeff Bezos billions since Covid started. So one cannot say that Bezos hasn't benefitted more than you or I from said highways and military strength...

that really is horrible.

here's a preview

JL

well, for one thing they benefited the most from their ability to lobby congress for tax loopholes, making it fully legal for them to make gazillions and pay zilch. "exactly as much as the law demands" didn't get to be zero dollars by accident - it was lobbied for and written into law by the congress-critters who received campaign money from the firms doing the lobbying.

in theory, anyone could successfully lobby congress for personal tax benefits, but lobbying infrastructure has significant barriers to entry, so to speak. realistically speaking, it's a highway not every citizen can travel.

JL

The last few weeks have been tough for many of us Canadians. First, there was the discovery of the unmarked graves of 215 Aboriginal children on the site of a residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. They had gone "missing" from their families for many decades.

Residential schools were devised by Canadian governments as a way to destroy Aboriginal culture. Non-aboriginal governments thought they could rid themselves of First Nations and all of their inherent rights by forcibly taking Aboriginal children from their families to live at these schools and then punish the kids for speaking their own languages and for being who they were.

These schools began the genocide as early as the 1620s and the last of them closed only in the seventies, the 1970s. Sadly, there are undoubtedly many more of these unmarked graves on the sites of former residential schools across Canada and now investigations will be soon underway to find them all, at long last.

And, then, one week ago tomorrow, a Muslim family - extended family - were out for a walk on a beautiful Sunday evening in London, Ontario, not far from Kitchener, where I live. They had stopped at a red light, waiting to cross the street when a black truck jumped the curve where they were standing and mowed them all down - a grandmother, a mother and father and their 15 year-old daughter and 9 year-old son. It was a tragic accident, or so we all thought until the police reported the next day that the attack was a pre-planned, premeditated targeted Islamophobic assault on a family simply because they were visibly Islamic, dressed traditionally. I hope the 20 year old man, now arrested and in jail, never sees the light of day again.

The nine-year old boy is the only survivor and remains in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

So, I'm crying while writing all of this and I'd like the theme this Sunday night to be 'spiritual tunes'. That's a pretty broad category of music and so I hope everyone will post their favourites. Because, music is a powerful healing force.

What was it those "at the top" benefitted from? Did they drive on better roads than you and I? Did the military protect them more than they protected you and me? I doubt it.

An alternative description for "benefitted the most" might be 'Produced the most' or perhaps 'Were the most productive', right?

Of course, 'Should pay the most' doesn't follow those alternative descriptions quite so naturally, does it.

No, I did not refuse the "stimulus checks".

Why it's "fair" is that those at the top have by definition benefitted the most. So they should pay the most.

You "Flat Taxers" don't understand that when you cut taxes on the rich all of the rest of us either have to make up the difference or go without things like, you know, safe bridges.

Do you really want to pay more taxes just to give some rich a tax break? Really?

Did you refuse any of your Stimulus checks because it's Socialism?

There's a reason Warren's wealth tax addresses only net worths above $50 million, and Biden can confidently promise not to raise taxes on incomes of people earning less than $400,000, knowing he's just reassured 98.2% of Americans he won't raise their taxes. The remaining 1.8% earn 25% of the national income, and own about 40% of the entire nation's personal wealth, and can presumably pay higher taxes without the slightest complaint of hardship, deprivation, unfairness, etc.

OK, the Reps have indeed "reduced the taxes on the wealthiest among us" since the end of WWII, but a quick perusal of the IRS website reveals that the top half of American earners pay 97$ of all the taxes they collect, while the bottom half pays the other 3%.

Why is that fair? I'd say Evidently they haven't reduced them enough yet, right?

Re Walton and Bezos "decimating retail". What the hell does that mean? Those guys never did any business with the Mom'n'Pops in the first place. The people who put the Mom 'n' pops out of business were the people who quit doing business with them, right??? So, are you still buying from "small stores" yourself, or are you one of the people who "decimated" them? Fess up, OK!!

What does that mean, " . .levering the infrastructure of the country that the taxpayers pay for . . "? You can try to fault Bezos for not paying enough/any income tax (in spite of the fact that he pays exactly as much as the law demands), but the main infrastructure he "leverages" (highways) is paid for by fuel taxes, and I damn well guarantee you he pays, directly or indirectly, his full share of fuel taxes and likely much more.

And regarding his "avoiding" taxes, do you voluntarily pay any taxes in excess of what is legally demanded of you, or do you "avoid" them???

THE REPUBLICANS since Reagan have been reducing the taxes of the wealthiest among us. In 40 years the American Dream has been strangled by this "Shrink it to the size that it can fit into a bathtub -- and DROWN it" greed. Our roads, our schools and the economic outlook for all but the top 10% of us have deteriorated. Do you collect Social Security, Stuck? That's horrible and awful "Big Government," Baby, and Repugs wanted to force everyone to invest it with their friends on Wall Street. Here's another item: If the Federal Minimum Wage had just kept with inflation since the late 60s it'd be $26/hour today.

Anyways, all these problems aren't going to be solved for free. So where do we get the money, Stuck? Do you think maybe we could get it back from the only folks who have money to spare? Or would you like to pay more taxes on your Retirement income?

It would be interesting to see the total tax picture of Walmart or Amazon, that is all the income tax of all the employees, total sales tax, basically all tax paid in one form or another related to a company. Then compare that same tax accounting to what would have been if Walmart and Amazon had not decimated retail.

Is Walmart "wonderful" or is it the only choice because through the abuse of economies of scale destroyed the competition? Would all those small stores who were run out of businesses have a sizable percentage of their employees on food stamps like Walmart?

You seem to require an over simplification of economics in order to make your points...

don't imply they accumulated their wealth by being 'greedy' as most Dems/Libs are wont to do, and claiming they are undertaxed.

why on earth not? some wealth is accumulated by creating wonderful things, some is created by being greedy and undertaxed. is there something anathema to your existence in the concept, "all of the above?"

JL

Yeah, I get all that, but I'd point out that especially within the context of current events, the phrase "The people who make a shit-ton of money . . " are the very people who do wonderful things that make their fellow Americans so damn happy and so much better off that we cannot stop ourselves from throwing our money at them!!

Think the Sam Walton's, the Jeff Bezos', the Elon MUsk's, etc. Go ahead and envy their successes, but don't imply they accumulated their wealth by being 'greedy' as most Dems/Libs are wont to do, and claiming they are undertaxed.

matt gaetz pulled her what!!!???

'Ms. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, has won backing from President Biden — something President Barack Obama never openly gave — and numerous colleagues who voted against the bill the last time it came to the floor, a rare turn of events in a deeply divided body.

But now she is running up against a final hurdle: opposition from the leaders of her chamber’s Armed Services Committee, Senators Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, and James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma.
...
Mr. Reed, balking at a remarkable rebuke from a committee member of his own party, moved with Mr. Inhofe to stop senators from trying to advance the bill outside of the committee, where it can be amended to his liking.

“I commit to ensuring that every idea and amendment brought by our committee members is given due consideration,” Mr. Reed said. He has said he finds Ms. Gillibrand’s bill too broad and overreaching.'
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/03/us/politics/gillibrand-military-sexual-assault.html

As an American citizen with Italian residency, I completely agree. Italians are perhaps the most supportive, unquestioning Europeans of the United States of America - the grandchildren of those alive in WWII still express their gratitude to me for the liberation by American soldiers from Mussolini and the small gestures of kindness, like chocolate bars to the Italian children and food and clothing to the half-starved families. But during the past 4 years, even they began to question whether American democracy is an example that their chaotic government should emulate.

Another important indicator of the start contrast between Presidential visits to the Continent is the news coverage. Before, during, and after the 'Former Guy' set foot in London or Warsaw, I dreaded the tsunami of articles about Trump's misbehavior; there was little of substance in ANY of his trips.

Meanwhile, POLITICO.EU has a dedicated page to Biden's arrival in Cornwall:
https://www.politico.eu/tag/biden-in-europe/

it's not necessarily that we're all too dumb to understand the difference between income and wealth, nor even the difference between income and realized capital gains. it's just that creative accounting and gaping loopholes have intentionally made it possible for people who make a sh*t-ton of money to pay practically nothing in taxes. which is extremely unfair to people who make a lot less money in more traditional ways.

at least in theory, i don't think corporations should have to pay tax any more than they should be allowed to engage in political speech, because they're not people. but the people who make money by investing in those corporations should absolutely have to pay taxes on anything they acquire as a result of owning. and the people who own the corporation should have limits placed on their ability to use the corporation's money to engage in politics.

limited liability is great. zero taxes (or even significantly lower tax rates) for those fortunate enough to make zillions of dollars in realized gains and dividends, is insane. and it places the rest of the gainfully employed on the hook for everything the nation provides.

including pie.

JL

You're right that most people don't get the difference or understand the ins and outs of taxing wealth vs. income for the super-wealthy.

But for the record, Warren's proposal starts at $50 million, so all those humble minimum wage clerks who happen to live in $2.5 million houses - a large class of Americans, of course - would not be affected.

Bezos is not the best example to wring out our pity because his company is successful. As the richest guy in the world, there isn't a tax proposal in the universe that he couldn't pay without noticing it. As you admitted, when you switched your argument to a guy on minimum wage.

When a Jeff Bezos creates a fantastically successful business by making it possible for us to buy everything we need and have it delivered to our door without the need to go shopping and get exposed to the virus, the price of his shares in the company he created goes up like crazy, but that is not income until such time as he chooses to sell some of his stock.

What you guys all really want is NOT an income tax, it's a, wealth tax, but only Fauxcahontas actually comes right out and advocates for that.

But a wealth tax wouldn't just snare Bezos. The clerk in the Whole Foods store in San Jose who lives in a modest shack that he bought for $15,000 45 yrs ago will now be billed for a wealth tax on his $2.5 million shack!

It’s not just the Democrats that really want the super-rich to pay their fair share in taxes; it is the majority of Republican voters as well!

WORSE: Finding out they also pulled your teenager’s iPhone’s data

WORST: Finding out that pulling THAT data was the idea of Matt Gaetz!!!

Also a nice touch that judges can see what, it seems, a lot of people in the press and national security establishment don't want to see: that the former prez and his people are pushing (or is it putsching?) as hard as they can to promote continued insurrection and/or a coup d'etat to make him dictator-for-life.

Of course, Trump will use that to his advantage in his re-election campaign to say all that it means is that America is no longer feared and countries can't wait to start taking advantage of us all over again.

It might even work. ;)