Politics Thread

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Originally Posted by Masterofreality

George Papadopoulos’ day: Wakes up to US president calling him a liar, dismissing him as a nobody; ex-professor says he’s ‘a bit simple’.
Dude with no resume to speak of joins a campaign, claims influence far greater than he actually has, gets more than he bargained for.

This guy is a small fish red herring with nothing. Meh.

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I agree unless Mueller had him wearing a wire for a while.

I'm pretty impressed by the tax package. I think they've done a good job on it and have gone about it in the right way. The property tax write-off is going to be a huge battle though, as it should be.

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Originally Posted by Caf

I'm pretty impressed by the tax package. I think they've done a good job on it and have gone about it in the right way. The property tax write-off is going to be a huge battle though, as it should be.

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So will getting rid of the state and local tax deductions.

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Originally Posted by Caf

I'm pretty impressed by the tax package. I think they've done a good job on it and have gone about it in the right way. The property tax write-off is going to be a huge battle though, as it should be.

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Originally Posted by X-man

So will getting rid of the state and local tax deductions.

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I suppose it depends how the new tax brackets fall. If your bracket is significantly lower than your previous one, the deductions are moot.

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Originally Posted by Caf

I'm pretty impressed by the tax package. I think they've done a good job on it and have gone about it in the right way. The property tax write-off is going to be a huge battle though, as it should be.

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I'm in the process of combing through the details, but so far it seems reasonable. Many media outlets are sensationalizing it, but quite a few of the 'scary' things get less scary when you dig into the details.

For example:
Talking Point: "Tax plan eliminates mortgage interest deduction"
Reality: "Tax plan eliminates mortgage interest deduction on mortgage amounts over $500K

I still worry about the deficit and National debt though. Specifically, the plan seems to rely on some robust assumptions on the amount of growth that the tax cuts will generate. If those assumptions are significantly overblown we will end up with a major tax cut that adds significantly to the national debt, but will also be extremely difficult / impossible to roll back.

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Originally Posted by Masterofreality

Not making anything up. See Obama was a master of deception. He avoided calling his actions "Executive Orders". That allowed him to appear more restrained. What he did more than any President though was issue "Executive Memorandums", which are basically the same thing but allowed him to avoid some criticism. You need to count ALL of his "Executive Actions" which were more than almost all Presidents- and many of which skirted,or were in fact, a violation of the law.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...anda/20590037/

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Thanks for the clarification. I did not realize that executive memoranda were functionally the same as EO's, and it certainly does paint a different picture when you look at total executive actions. I still disagree with your premise, but I do want to take the time to acknowledge this post as it appears I was misinformed.

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Originally Posted by Caf

Are we as a nation really so stupid that we are incapable of being concerned about BOTH Trump and Clinton's dealings with Russia? Does everyone really care about one of these scumbags more than our country? They both suck.

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Originally Posted by SemajParlor

Yes.

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F*ck, yes. Apparently. This is making me exponentially more cynical about America's future. If we can't agree as a country that we would at least like to know if our President, or his campaign, colluded with Russia to influence the election I'm not really sure what we are going to agree on. I understand not voting for Hillary Clinton. I understand voting for Donald Trump because you think he is a better option than Hillary Clinton. I do not understand deifying Donald Trump because you voted for him. We are basically treating our political party like our sports teams, and putting about as much thought into it.

The Boehner article linked to in this thread pretty much sums up my feelings on the political state of this country.

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Originally Posted by boozehound

Specifically, the plan seems to rely on some robust assumptions on the amount of growth that the tax cuts will generate. If those assumptions are significantly overblown we will end up with a major tax cut that adds significantly to the national debt, but will also be extremely difficult / impossible to roll back.

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See Reagan and Bush tax cuts. At least Reagan woke up and roll some of them back. We are all slow learners.

I think they actually have this pretty close to right, honestly. Individual income taxes only need some modest tweaking. I don't know if what they're tweaking is the right stuff to tweak, but it didn't need to be overhauled anyway.

Corporate taxes need to be slashed, and that seems to be the main focus. If they take the corporate rate down to 20%, it's going to be a good plan almost irregardless of whatever else they do.

Busy weekend, what with the Texas shooting (which Drew thought was hilarious) and Rand Paul getting attacked by his liberal neighbor. Crazy world we live in.