Is it even worth it?

[Mike_Young]

FOR YOUR EVENING VIEWING PLEASURE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-4gnNz0vc     

[Mike_Young]

FOR YOUR EVENING VIEWING PLEASURE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-4gnNz0vc     

Wow.

Outside of listening to Foreigner's "I wanna know what love is" in its entirety, the above may have been the most excruciating, self-serving pile of dogshit I've ever wasted 4 minutes of my life on.......

I KNEW SOME OF YOU WOULD ENJOY IT.   

[Mike_Young]

David,

Your mistake is: you start off by saying " Now seriously, Mike".....this thread is for pure instigation nothing else...especially seriousness...
Cheers.

[Anthony Butler]

FOR YOUR EVENING VIEWING PLEASURE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-4gnNz0vc    

Mmmm... Interesting,...Who knew the Koch Brothers would cast a spokesmen from a gay porno flick?

[Bryan Izatt]

More entertaining reading and watching.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC8ovJYAU3U


http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/story/2012-04-18/citigroup-executive-pay-shareholders/54377436/1


Are people getting angry and not taking it anymore?

[archie_struthers]

 

This seems far from the original thread , but might resonate .   Try to build something in this country without political cover.   It just isn't possible unless it's done behind closed doors .  

The government control of the permit process is crooked , and the bureaucracy is geared to shut you down unless you have paid your way by campaign donations or lobbying . It's just really sad to see.  When getting permits to build a deck at your house costs almost as much as the construction and materials , it's getting really dark .  It will only get worse folks unless we vote them all out of office , libs and conservatives, and make them come back and work where we do .

[Kalen Braley]

Bump!!!

How come Trump hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet?  He's one the poster child for one who has abused the system over the years.  Spend all his investors money, declare bankruptcy on the taxpayers dime, and then do it all over again.

The system is rigged.

[SL_Solow]

Unlike my friend Pat, i am not a great fan of Trump.  But Kalen, I am having difficulty understanding your post.  The only bankruptcy that I am aware of Trump being involved in relates to some of his casino investments.  I have no knowledge of taxpayer funds being involved in any of those cases.  Nor am I aware of any significant government funds involved in his other deals.  I think his business acumen is highly overrated in some quarters; particularly in his own.  But your suggestion that public funds are involved is new to me.  Care to enlighten me?

[Tim Martin]

Unlike my friend pat, i am not a great fan of Trump.  But Kalen, I am having difficulty understanding your post.  the only bankruptcy that I am aware of Trump being involved in relates to some of his casino investments.  I have no knowledge of taxpayer funds being involved in any of those cases.  Nor am I aware of any significant government funds involved in his other deals.  I think his business acumen is highly overrated in some quarters; particularly in his own.  But your suggestion that public funds are involved is new to me?  care to enlighten me?

Kalen-I am with Shelly. There is quite a difference between personal bankruptcy and a business filing and the latter is what some of Trump`s companies have been involved in. I am also missing the reference to the "taxpayer`s dime".

[Kalen Braley]

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/11/nation/la-na-trump-20110511

And while fees are paid, it only covers a smidgeon of the court costs to hold a bankruptcy case that we as taxpayers fund.

[Anthony Butler]

 ... is not supported by any economic evidence...

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/04/debunking-supply-side-dogma.html

[SL_Solow]

Kalen, None of the deals cited in the article you referenced involved Trump filing a bankruptcy petition or even using the system.  they all involved negotiated deals with various governmental authorities and allegations of misrepresentation on his part.  Again, I am not here to defend him but your suggestion that somehow the taxpayers are funding his deals through the bankruptcy system is unsupported and frankly puzzling.  Again I am prepared to be enlightened because I am always willing to learn something about an area where I have spent a little time.  But my focus is on the bankruptcy aspects; I reiterate that I am no fan of Mr. Trump.

[JR Potts]

So, to take this thread full-cycle, I guess the answer is no, it's probably not worth it. 

[Terry Lavin]

Some wise man once said that every thread that goes past ten pages has moved past it's expiration date. Just like our mom telling us nothing good happens after one in the morning.

[Bob_Huntley]

Shell.,

It is most unkind of you to use logic in this particular thread, but there it goes.

Like you, I feel the man is partularly obnoxious and nothing more than a mountebank.

Bob

[Patrick_Mucci]

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/11/nation/la-na-trump-20110511

And while fees are paid, it only covers a smidgeon of the court costs to hold a bankruptcy case that we as taxpayers fund.
Kalen,

You can't be serious.

You cite an L.A. Times article as your source.

The L.A. Times is about as liberal as you can get and Trump was in the Republican Presidential mix when the article was written.
You don't suppose there was a political agenda do you ?

Please try to obtain more reliable, objective sources in the future.

[Patrick_Mucci]

So it's that simple, just manufacture overseas and stock prices automatically go up ? 

Of course not.  Where did I say that? Do you think Apple's share price would be as high as it currently trades if it manufactured everything in the USA?
You clearly and unequivically implied that overseas manufacturing was directly related to stock prices.

Ignoring the fact that if a product isn't manufactured at lower costs, no one would buy it.

But you said "the money from offshore operations directs more into the pockets of the top of American Society" and I want to know how that "money" gets from offshore back into America ? 

Fed Ex or UPS, I imagine. 

And the moment that Fed-X or UPS package enters the U.S. it's subject to corporate taxes.

First of all, if there were more in revenue from corporate taxes the government would spend it

Why, who is the USA going to attack now?   Aren't you leaving Iran to Israel, because you have maxed out the credit card?
Spending has never been confined to the military, it's systemic.
The U.S. attacked Afghanistan immediately after 9-11 since the Taliban were harboring Al Queda.
As "W" stated, you're either with us, or with the terrorists.

Bill Clinton and other world leaders indicated that they would not tolerate Iraq using or stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.
Clinton's successor merely implemented Clinton's decree in his State of the Union Address.

Did we attack South Korea ?  I thought the North Korean's did.
Did we attack South Vietnam ?  I thought the North Vietnamese did.
I seem to recall, vis a vis SEATO, an obligation to defend those nations and I seem to recall that Australia was a signatory to that treaty and responsed with military aid as well.

not pay down the debt.

Then why don't you hold your political representatives to account, instead of moaning like a bitch? Why don't you actually employ that democracy you seem so keen on shoving on every other country?

Would you cite for me, "every other country" where the U.S. is shoving democracy down their throats.

As to holding political representatives accountable you're probably unaware, if not ignorant of the results of the 2010 elections, the tea party and other movements aimed at fiscal "accountability"

The 2010 election results have been obvious except to you.

As to "C" corporations, are their any that you are aware of that are evading taxes ?

GE. Bank of America, who received a generous $336 billion in taxpayer bailouts in 2009, then a year later, made $4.4 billion in profits, and paid no tax. Boeing, Citicorp, Exxon Mobil, Pfizer, News Corporation. Want me to go on?

GE didn't receive a dime of TARP money.

If companies paid no taxes, they did so legitimately, with NO criminal activity.
WHY would a company, that doesn't have to pay taxes, voluntarily pay taxes ?
Even Warren Buffet's Netjets avoided millions in taxes on user fees in a recent development.
This from the same man who declared that OTHERS should pay more taxes.

As to taxes, one must distinguish revenue from outside the U.S. versus revenue earned domestically.

Is it or is it not true that 18,857 US companies keep a post office box in one five-storey building in the Cayman Islands?

That's news to me.
Do you think if I open a PO Box in the Caymans that my company can avoid paying taxes ?

If public companies pay more taxes, won't they increase the price of their goods and services to the American people ?

Why should they do that?  Do they think they have a right to make a specific amount of profit regardless?   

A corporation has an obligation to perpetuate itself, profitably.
Why wouldn't they incorporate the cost of additional taxes into the products or services they vend ?
 

For a guy who doesn't live in America you sure know exactly how to fix all of our financial problems

That's because I don't think like an American. You will find that everyone else who doesn't think like an American knows just as much as I do.
Then why don't you become a consultant and render your services, services that will solve all of our problems.
Then you can make a fortune.

The truth is you don't like America.  You resent America and you're jealous of America.
Some American must have had an affair with your girlfriend/wife

Have Senators and Congressmen contacted you to solicit your advice on how to quickly solve all of our financial problems ?

No, but if you pass on my email address to the ones you meet, I will happily tell them how to fix things, free of charge.

You don't need me as an intermediary, you can access their addresses on the internet quite easily.
Everyone knows what "free" advice is worth.

Is not the corporate tax in America the second highest in all the world.

Not when no one pays it.

Now you've transitioned from just another Anti-American to a fool.
No one pays corporate taxes ?
Every company I know, that's not an S Corp, pays taxes to the State and Federal Government.
And S-Corp's taxes are borne at the State and Federal level by the stockholders, who are limited in number and nature.

In the mid 1950s, corporation tax was 30% of federal revenue.  Now it is just 6.6%.  Care to explain?

Sure, it's called "S" Corporations which didn't exist in the 50's.

How can somebody like you, so uninformed, be so arrogant ?

Amongst other reasons, did it ever occur to you that companies go overseas because the corporate tax environment in America is so hostile?

Why, because the Government actually believes that companies should contribute to the cost of education of their employees, contribute to the building of the roads, ports and other infrastructure they need to do business?  Contribute to the cost of running the security services, police, fire and other emergency services they may need?

Are you telling me that other countries with substantially lower tax rates don't feel the same way ?

You really are ignorant when it comes to corporate taxes in America.
Police, Fire and emergency services are paid for by local taxes, not federal taxes, and those taxes can't be avoided unless you're a charitable organization, which for profit corporations aren't.

The gasoline tax was specifically implemented to pay for the building of roads and infrastructure.
And, everybody pays the gasoline tax.

Ports are the domain of the local authority, a seperate entity such as the Port of Authority of NY/NJ which is responsible for all of the major airports and ports in NY/NJ area.  Other "Authority's" in other cities perform the same function.  The "fees/taxes they collect fund their enterprises, not corporate taxes.

Nasty old Government.

The "government" is nasty for several reasons.
1.   It spends other peoples money, without accountability.
2.   As someone stated, I don't trust man to look after his own affairs, why should I trust him to look after the affairs of other.

Conscientious, patriotic men and women and businesses would gladly pay more in taxes IF they knew the money was going directly to pay down the debt, rather than to be sent to the general treasury for spending at whim.

For whatever the reason, other than possible the one cited above, you dislike America.
That's your perogative.
But, before you start criticizing and fixing our problems, fix your own personal problems, your town's problems and your country's problems.
After you've accomplished those tasks, feel free to help us solve our problems.