2016 US Presidential Race - Mod Warning in OP

Permabear

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eire4

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

It's more of a long term evolution than just the past decade or so though.

Americans of a certain age will tell you that as kids they were told two things that would happen by the time they got old.
One was that the metric system would be widely used and the second was that soccer would be the most popular sport in America.

Obviously neither have happened

Soccer as they call it may not be number 1 in American sports but in fairness it has made massive progress over the last 20 years and the MLS is well established now and a decent league. Total aside obviously:)

Black Swan

Permabear wrote: »

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These are questions that should be asked by the Republican and Democrat primary political debate moderators, rather than allow the continued superficial political platform spin, point scoring, media sound bites, and mud slinging that's been allowed too much between presidential candidates in the 2016 debates thus far.

What do you mean by "do as they please with their junior staff?" Threaten them? Assault them? Or worse? And why do we need additional legislation and laws governing civil behaviour specific to the workplace? We already have laws that govern behaviour outside work for civil conduct, and also have laws that govern contractual relationships that can be applied to the workplace. Why more laws, more regulations, more, more, more? Yes, I am for less laws and regulations, going back to a few simple laws that most citizens can understand without wasting their monies and taxes on the massive, bloated American legal system, including the extraordinary and wasteful fees that legal firms charge their clients to interpret this ridiculous quagmire of bloated American laws; and where justice is for sale to the highest, richest bidder ("Money talks and OJ walks").

Without referring to the tons and tons of needless and personal freedom-stifling legislation, regulations, enforcement, and court case rulings that perpetuate the bloated American legal system, are there not just a very few simple laws, perhaps originating from English common law, that provides sanctions for threats, assaults, or worse in all settings between all parties that can be addressed if need be by simply calling a gardai (or American cop) over to wave his or her finger "no-no" at the violator (e.g., community policing), and only if they don't listen, escalates appropriately with the guidance of those very few civil and contract laws that apply to all settings, not just workplace?

Alternatively, I had an older, bigger, stronger male awhile back cross-the-line into undesired behaviour, and I did not have to summon the cops, rather I just simply informed the coffeehouse manager, and they told him to back off or leave (like a pub bouncer), and I went back to sipping my java with friends without triggering the massive and bloated American legal machine.

oscarBravo

Permabear wrote: »

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Oh, absolutely. In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.

Similarly, I didn't claim that the U.S. doesn't have a gun violence problem. I said that the number of mass shootings that took place in 2015 depends heavily on how one defines "mass shooting." According to shootingtracker.com, there were 353 mass shootings. The Gun Violence Archive says there were 300. According to Stanford Mass Shootings there were 61, and according to Mother Jones there were 4.

Angels on the head of a pin. If the conversation is being diverted to the definition of "mass shootings", then it's no longer about the very real problem of gun violence.

Maybe it's just Too Soon to have that conversation.

K-9

Permabear wrote: »

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Why would you think somebody said it was impossible to rise from poverty or disadvantage in America. I can't fathom why somebody would interpret criticism of America in that way.

Some countries do social mobility better than others, the Nordic countries good example, Ireland isn't bad at it, the US less so. That doesn't mean I'm saying nobody, anywhere or in American history never did well for themselves.

That would be absurd!

Black Swan

Permabear wrote: »

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I would be very cautious about accepting the "Real Clear Politics poll average" of different polls by different polling organisations with different poll administrations, samples, time frames, confidence intervals, confidence levels, weighting models between landlines and mobiles, etc., etc. Rather, I would suggest that comparisons be made between polls conducted by the same polling organisation at different times leading up to the present, approximating tracking to some extent, although with some errors.

banquo

Black Swan wrote: »

I would be very cautious about accepting the "Real Clear Politics poll average" of different polls by different polling organisations with different poll administrations, samples, time frames, confidence intervals, confidence levels, weighting models between landlines and mobiles, etc., etc. Rather, I would suggest that comparisons be made between polls conducted by the same polling organisation at different times leading up to the present, approximating tracking to some extent, although with some errors.

+1, also at this particular time many of their polls are outdated – just looks at the DEM NH poll. Things change fast!

Brian?

Permabear wrote: »

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I don't think anyone said it was impossible, it's becoming more difficult every year though.

My live in nanny is from Sao Paolo, that doesn't mean ever child on a Fahvela has the chance to become a billionaire.

First Up

Permabear wrote:

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Lots of things "may" happen but we were talking about what DID happen.

Putting "recovery" in inverted commas doesn't disguise the fact that after 8 years of Bush, the economy was in the tank and after 8 years of Obama it is ticking along rather well.

Coincidence and/or all the Fed's doing?

Permabear

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my friend

Brian? wrote: »

I don't think anyone said it was impossible, it's becoming more difficult every year though.

My live in nanny is from Sao Paolo, that doesn't mean ever child on a Fahvela has the chance to become a billionaire.

We are still waiting for your response to tax rates posted earlier in the thread.

Permabear

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Permabear

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Manach

There does seem to be release of films that reference political events. In the Sander's thread, "The Big Short" on Wall Street was mentioned, while there is a new film out "13 Hours" on Benghazi. While the audience demographic is unlikely to be exactly the same, should be interesting to see both.

Brian?

my friend wrote: »

We are still waiting for your response to tax rates posted earlier in the thread.

Remind me?

Brian?

my friend wrote: »

As a matter of interest were you working while in the USA?

If you were you do realise you paid local, state and federal taxes?

Did you ever look at your effective tax rate or ask your 'friend' what their ETR was?

My tax affairs while I worked in the USA are still a mystery to me. I have no idea what taxes I paid, my company did all that in the background while I was paid exactly the same as at home. I'm not trying to be evasive, that'd what happened.

My 'friend' was actually a number of friends, no quotation marks needed.

Can you get to your point? The effective tax rate is 51% here. What is it in Arizona?

First Up

Permabear wrote:

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Clinton left office with the economy in the black. He also found time to end the Bosnian war and sort out Northern Ireland.

Bush left office with the US in massive debt, the financial system in chaos and mired in unjustified and unwinnable wars.

Permabear wrote:

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Yes, oil and China are spooking the markets but thanks to sensible interventions and oversight, the system is not going to collapse this time.

Permabear

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Permabear

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First Up

Permabear wrote:

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A jittery market caused by external factors isn't a downturn.

Bush inherited a strong economy and over eight years proceeded to drive it off the rails. Obama has spent the last seven (on to go) repairing the damage.

Permabear wrote:

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Pots and kettles etc. I point to indisputable facts, you talk about what "may" happen.

Permabear

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First Up

Permabear wrote:

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Yes, and he made a great job of that, didn't he?

Permabear wrote:

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There are no guarantees of anything but I can understand why you prefer to talk about a hypothetical future than a past or present that doesn't match your narrative.

Brian?

Permabear wrote: »

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I'm not sure it really matters for this discussion. I'm a bit bamboozled by what point he/she is trying to make about effective tax rates.

ancapailldorcha

Can we move the discussion away from Brian?'s tax affairs please?

K-9

Permabear wrote: »

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€32,000 would have total Paye/Prsi and Usc here of about €5,500, an effective rate of 17% against 26% in Arizona.

Alan Greenspan's tenure as chairman of the Fed from 1987 to 2006 spanned the presidencies of Reagan, Clinton, and Bush. In the era of rate-cutting, Greenspan was reappointed in 2000 by Clinton, with bipartisan approval. Ben Bernanke, who implemented many of the policies credited with contributing to the recovery, was appointed by Bush and reappointed by Obama.

Are you saying the Fed has more influence over economic performance than any Government?

Brian?

K-9 wrote: »

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32,000 would have total Paye/Prsi and Usc here of about 5,500, an effective rate of 17% against 26% in Arizona. [/quote]

Add your reply here.

Sales tax was only 8% AFAIK though. Makes a huge difference

Lockstep

K-9 wrote: »

€32,000 would have total Paye/Prsi and Usc here of about €5,500, an effective rate of 17% against 26% in Arizona.

Indeed. $35k would be €32k, and they'd be paying a 17% tax rate.
Even if you made it €35k, they'd be paying under 19% in taxes: 11% in tax, 4% in PRSI and 3.5% in USC.

Remember, the highest rate of tax (40%) only applies on money earned over €33800 (for a single person with no kids). Anything below this is taxed at 20%, aside from USC and PRSI. Also, we have €3300 in tax credits, lowering the rate even further.

Manach

Of course this increase of taxes when the top rate kicks in means a disincentive to progress much further up the employment value chain as well as the items that are called taxes (levies, charges, liecences etc) which act as de facto revenue gathering implements of the state. My reading from book "Taxes in America", by Burman.

K-9

Manach wrote: »

Of course this increase of taxes when the top rate kicks in means a disincentive to progress much further up the employment value chain as well as the items that are called taxes (levies, charges, liecences etc) which act as de facto revenue gathering implements of the state. My reading from book "Taxes in America", by Burman.

Yeah, the marginal rate kicks in at a low level, the balance to that is the lower paid pay little or no tax or National Insurance.

20Cent

Republicans and the 1% constantly try to conflate the bloke making a few trades and with hedge funds etc very different animals. Even Trump things the hedge funds are getting away with murder tax wise. Also multi nationals, large financial institutions who are freeloading on the society built up by regular Americans.

Wall Street definitely needs sorting out Bernie is probably the only one who can do it before there is another crash.