Yup.
That the rich run the show. But certainly not "great for nearly everyone" and certainly Dems do a better job of social safety nets
Megabill implications for anesthesiologists
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That the rich run the show. But certainly not "great for nearly everyone" and certainly Dems do a better job of social safety nets
The rich always run the show.
You are not wrong. Presidents get too much credit and blame for the markets under their watch. bush 41 is one of the most under appreciated presidents IMO. Presided over the fall of the Berlin Wall. Yes Reagan gets much of the credit. But Bush was wise enough not to take a victory lap. Wise enough to stop where he did with Gulf War 1. Good man. Not charismatic. Solid Job. Sorry I voted against him all those years ago.
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What workaround can w2 people use?
Arguably the best president the country has in the last 50 yrs
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People living in poverty in the United States have it a million times better then living in poverty in Sudan or Bangladesh.
Food, housing, clothing. Paying little to no taxes. Healthcare is subsidized.
And the biggest thing of all: A real chance at economic mobility within a generation as long as you don't become a drug addict or have a bunch of kids before you're 18.
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None.
The SALT cap increase will help W2. But W2 earners take it in the pants in general.
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Not everyone is trying to be rich. Most physicians are strivers and aspire to be rich but we are generally just HENRYs.
Go to any lower middle class or poorer area. A decent number of people are content with their current lot in life and don't want more.
It may be a stereotype but a decent number of my medical assistants fall into this category.
Lol
So we are a great country because we are better than other 3rd world countries?
We should strive to be better than other top 1st world countries. Not happy that at least we arent Bangladesh. Clearly the system isn't working for 36 million people
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Zero sum game (no benefit or harm) in salt cap increase for people in our income tax range if w2 (because your amt exposure is less if u take the standard deduction over itemized deductions)
Those who are 1099 with salt cap workaround, it’s super complicated (because the irs is still making rulings above or below the line with the salt cap workaround) and that workaround doesn’t apply to your individual deductions (those limiting you amt exposure) and taken from ur business deduction side.
Even my two accountants I used this past year have varying interpretations of the law.
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He’s full of it, and he knows it.
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All of a sudden MAGA is all about “hope and change”, haha
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So what exactly do liberals want to help these 36 million people. Because you may argue that the system isn't working but I think it's fine.
I live in reality and know that not everyone can be saved. All we can do is give able individuals the chance to succeed (which we do better than any country) and help those are unable to help themselves due to actual disability ( and not bogus chronic pain ).
How much taxes does your typical upper middle class worker have to pay before liberals are happy? We already pay a huge amount.
I know the answer, whatever the current amount is, it's never enough.
I know I pay a $h!t load of taxes and there's a never ending barrage of increases. If you're in CA, you are well aware of them:
Federal income
State income
Property
Sales
Gas
CA sneakily uncapped the state disability tax rate a year or two ago which basically resulted in paying an extra several thousand a year
If the federal deficit increases so I can finally get a break, fine by me. I don't even care because the number is so abstract it doesn't even matter to the government at this point.
All I care about at this point is maximizing my take home pay. The federal and state government already get more than enough from me.
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And I guarantee that if he manages to run again, which is definitely possible, you will vote for him AGAIN and still brag how you love things that are “different”. Cognitive dissonance of this magnitude is almost an amazing thing to watch. I am sure anthropologists are having a field day with all the rationalization going on these days.
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Nah. Most of you guys are full of it and will stick to ur agenda no matter how wrong you are. I have yet to see any die hard democrat even hint at any admission they knew Biden had dementia and still would have voted for him regardless
At least I know trump is crazy and con artist and admit that.
Zero Dems on here admit they knew Biden had dementia and still would vote for him
That’s the difference between me and you guys.
And why you guys are full of it.
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I’m pretty sure he is fully onboard the MAGA train. I rarely believe anything he says to the contrary.
I vote for democrats you know. Unlike you guys are likely straight party democrats for all house and us senate and president. Just admit it.
As long as there isn’t a rigged unelected Kamela Harris type of first party on the ticket who didn’t win a single primary vote. I will not vote for trump the fourth time. Someone who actual gets some primary votes on the democratic ticket. I like AOC. I’m just not sure the elite democrats will give her a chance in 2028. She scares the dickens out of the super rich. And the super rich support anyone they can control like the elite democrats. I like Bernie and the elite democrats destroyed him.
We now have had 2020 and 2024 as the weirdest presidential election
Im not sure the public can handle another weird election to be honest.
Explain to me what maga train I support? I am anti gun. I am pro abortion. I don’t really care about church. I want to everyone rich and poor to pay some taxes
I’m not big on this nationalist movement.
I do support trump’s immigration policy and foreign policy.
I was ok with what he said on the campaign trail on immigration. But going after people that are working in farms, restaurants etc.. is crazy. No longer support that. I am ok with him closing the southern border and send all the criminals back home (not to El Salvador).
I think there have been quite a few people on this forum that have already noticed that most of your posts tend to jump all over the place, often make no sense or are seemingly make statements that are counter to other statements you made earlier.
So you could take the attitude that everyone rlse is crazy, or perhaps try some introspection
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Fascinating how he thinks he gets away with it.
You voted for him 3 times. Thats full maga
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Honestly, the audaciousness of him is what makes me continue to read on in absolute horror;
which then makes me speculate that we are interacting with an experimental AI, haha.
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Its easy.
Balance the budget. Reduce defense spending. Increase medicare age slowly. Increase safety nets (free insurance for kids, free childcare, free school meals, etc)
Increase taxes for the wealthy. Reduce or stable taxes for middle class. Little taxes for poor.
There are enough loop holes where the rich dont pay nearly enough taxes and the middle class pay too much. Bad for society and bad for the economy.
What is rich? Pick an income level and asset level. 1 million, 10 million, 100million..
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That is an ignorant statement par excellence. Merci beau coup.
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Would you say yours is the average MAGA mindset, that deficits actually don’t matter anymore?
It matters only when a democrat is in the white house. People fall for it ALL the time.
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At this point, it’s just obviously typical that they really do not even attempt to hide their lack of good faith. It’s built in.
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You are not admitting a thing, and you know that.
Admit what? That I voted for trump despite knowing who he is? I already admired that
You guys are the ones who refuse to admit you voted for Biden despite knowing who he is
People will vote for whoever they want despite their candidates known negatives. My point.
And you guys refuse to admit it. Lines are drawn and you would have voted for Biden (or any democrat) no matter what. The truth.
10 million (13-14 million) is the top 1% now.
1. As for your ideology on taxes. You are halfway there. If you look at other progressive societies like Denmark with free (or close to free) social services like higher than after high school or healthcare Everyone including the poor pay more in taxes as a portion of their income compare to the USA
Even for adjusting for USA social security taxes the poor pay in the USA. The danish poor still pay more in taxes. It’s a shared responsibility. And of course the wealthy in the Denmark pay more in national federal Denmark taxes than the wealthy in the USA.
Im just using Denmark as an extreme example how everyone pays for socials services.
I would propose raising capital gains taxes again in the USA Becuase that’s where many of the wealthy in the USA make their money. But I’m not sure that’s the answer. While the Northern European countries capital gains rates are as high as 42% in Denmark. Many European countries have 0% long term capitals gains like
“
A number of European countries do not levy capital gains taxes on the sale of long-held shares. These include Belgium, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Turkey. Of the countries that do levy a capital gains tax, Greece and Hungary have the lowest rates, at 15 percent.
On average, the European countries covered tax capital gains arising from the sale of listed shares at 19.55 percent.”
2023 Capital Gains Tax Rates in Europe
In many countries, investment income, such as dividends and capital gains, is taxed at a different rate than wage income. Denmark levies the highest top capital gains tax of all countries covered, at a rate of 42 percent. Norway levies the second-highest top capital gains tax at 37.8 percent...
taxfoundation.org
The answer for raising tax revenue to support social services is so complicated to try to accomplish that in the USA as our population is 5-6x the size as most European countries. There is no easy solution.
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I’m not really a democrat or a republican but I will admit Biden was completely demented and a figure head at least toward the end of his presidency. I don’t think Trump won the last election as much as the democrats completely screwed the pooch. They should’ve spent bidens four years grooming someone and giving them “wins.” Trump is a bully con man. I’ll call it like I see it.
The fixes are so easy in concept but so hard to implement. Cracking down on immigration is a great idea…but raiding workplaces is stupid. The main issue with these people is they don’t pay taxes - All this is fixed with a national sales tax. Every dollar earned however is spent.
We also need to hold Americans more accountable for their ****ty behaviors. People on disability for morbid obesity is ridiculous. People still smoking is ridiculous. People doing illicit drugs is ridiculous. There needs to be lots more consequences for these people. They are too large a percentage of our population. I’m all for work requirements - idle hands do the devils work. I wish we could deny care to people caught positive for cocaine (for example) - maybe they’d stop doing drugs, maybe they wouldn’t - either way problem solved 🤷♀️
I’m pro-choice, want my taxes lowered, don’t like Trump or his authoritarian regime, like doge in theory but not execution, want a decent path to citizenship for people who want to come and work in this country…. Love the idea of a national sales tax (and import tax if you decide to buy that Mercedes in Germany and bring it here) but these tariff wars because we buy more from Vietnam then they buy from us is stupid.
Idk does that make me a republican or a democrat 🤷♀️ so hard to tell anymore - they both seem to not fix the right things
The fixes are so easy in concept but so hard to implement. Cracking down on immigration is a great idea…but raiding workplaces is stupid. The main issue with these people is they don’t pay taxes - All this is fixed with a national sales tax. Every dollar earned however is spent.
We also need to hold Americans more accountable for their ****ty behaviors. People on disability for morbid obesity is ridiculous. People still smoking is ridiculous. People doing illicit drugs is ridiculous. There needs to be lots more consequences for these people. They are too large a percentage of our population. I’m all for work requirements - idle hands do the devils work. I wish we could deny care to people caught positive for cocaine (for example) - maybe they’d stop doing drugs, maybe they wouldn’t - either way problem solved 🤷♀️
I’m pro-choice, want my taxes lowered, don’t like Trump or his authoritarian regime, like doge in theory but not execution, want a decent path to citizenship for people who want to come and work in this country…. Love the idea of a national sales tax (and import tax if you decide to buy that Mercedes in Germany and bring it here) but these tariff wars because we buy more from Vietnam then they buy from us is stupid.
Idk does that make me a republican or a democrat 🤷♀️ so hard to tell anymore - they both seem to not fix the right things
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I think there is a large unrepresented middle that has very similar views.
Our two party system along with extensive gerrymandering means that in many cases, whoever survives the primary is certain to win office. These are often the most extreme candidates that pass the purity tests demanded by the primary voters. This has gotten worse over time as algorithmic news feeds serve up only the reality that reinforces people’s opinions rather than valuable information that could call them into question. Unrestricted campaign contributions from ideologue mega donors adds fuel to the fire.
This is fertile ground for demagogues to hijack our political parties and subsequently our government. Just look at the way Trump uses the threat of primary challenge to keep the GOP in line. And don’t think that can’t happen to the Democrats.
In fact, the duopoly held by the D’s and R’s is the reason we were stuck with this terrible choice between Trump or Biden/Harris. It’s not that there weren’t better options. We just have a system that made these the only viable ones.
“Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.”
I don’t know how to break free from this situation as the two parties have a strong incentive to maintain the status quo, but I would like to see the parties fracture in such a way that one becomes more moderate (or better yet, a viable 3 party system with one moderate party flanked by two more extreme parties). Maybe the significant ongoing demographic shifts coupled with Trump doing something wild or just dying will be enough, but either way, I think our whole political system needs a serious overhaul.
Let me ask u this straight up
U voted for Biden in 2020.
U would have voted for Biden in 2024 regardless
Yes or no?
I have a feeling the “work requirements” will never actually be implemented. The states don’t want it and the executive branch dosent want it. It was written into the bill to pass the bill but the execution is dependent on the executive branch who has no interest in enforcing. Will be a lot of “self certification” working hours or “disability”.
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We have medi-cal for all in California. Newsom slowly expanded it over the years.
Guess what? It's busting the budget because they didn't anticipate the extra cost. Any mor*n could have predicted that if you offer free health care for anyone, including illegals, the cost will spiral.
Cost of undocumented healthcare in California is billions over estimates, pressuring Democrats to consider cuts
In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats in the state Legislature are under pressure to scale back the expansion of state-sponsored healthcare coverage for undocumented immigrants with the cost of the program more the $3 billion over budget.
www.latimes.com
You can have an open border or a welfare state. You can't have both.
We do free school breakfast and lunch.
I have kids in elementary and middle school and they've told me about how kids throw away trays of food
Tons of food is wasted daily. It's really shameful the amount of food that is literally trashed except maybe one thing on the plate.
The kids are completely divorced from the cost of a meal so of course they don't care if they trash a meal.
How about we have their parents pony up a bit so they realize their is a cost to the food?
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I think it's the mind set of most people. If you want to call me MAGA , go for it, even though I don't identify as such
The deficit is just an abstract number that at this point has no bearing on our lives.
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if rates rise and mortgages cost more, it will have bearing on many lives.
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Ask and ye shall receive…. Musk starting third party?
Will have to wait and see
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Let me ask you this, have you voted Republican most of your life would you say?
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It took $16,000 to buy your soul?
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This ability to change one’s previously held position with any change in the political winds must be a fundamental aspect of conservative voters. What Dick Cheney Really Thinks About Deficits
can’t answer for anon
But how about you answer your own question. Are you a straight party line voter?
I’ve been basically 50/50 dem/republican with house/senate races the last 4 elections.
As for presidents. I’m 6 for republicans and 2 for democrats the last 8 elections (I skipped 2000)
Funny many dems here won’t admit they are straight party voters for all congress and house and presidential for all democrats. Just admit it.
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In 2016, voted Clinton
In 2020, voted Trump
In 2024, voted Trump
For local elections, I vote for whoever will keep homelessness in check, be strong on crime, and maintain a good quality of life for their constituents, while also keeping taxes under control. Those are not Democrat or Republican issues so I don't care what letter is next to their name.
While that all sounds good. The abuse/fraud angle is a very small fraction of the costs and large distraction.
The main culprit is the massive tax advantages of the wealthy. A billionaire can take loans against his real estate and stocks...pay no income tax. Then die and hand it down to his kids and they get a step up in cost basis.
Any inheritance tax is massively decreased by tax avoidance and fraud strategies employed prior to death.
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At some point it has to come down to what are you willing to compromise on in order to maintain the foundational principles of the country. If the midterms roll around and the newly weaponized ICE is terrorizing and intimidating voters and/or they concoct some bull**** excuse to invalidate electoral results in their favor is that enough of a dealbreaker for you to become a single issue voter? For some that line has already been crossed when they started rounding up people and putting them in to concentration camps and making a joke out of it like Alligator Alcatraz regardless of what crimes they committed.
There are docs here who also openly admit using the same real estate tax deduction as the billionaire guys. But on a smaller scale.
They are all equal opportunities loopholes except for richer u are. The bigger the tax advantages.
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That’s very curious. Did you vote for Obama or Bush?
