The Political Discussion Thread

[mad_gater]

It's never too late to change comrade.



You'll have even more fun when the Oval Office gets Comb'ed

With a young Tim Russ saying "We aint found ----?"

[SoulReaver]

With a young Tim Russ saying "We aint found ----?"

hey you my father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate by any chance? -_-

[Chaka-Z0]

Yes, Trump's hairstyle is horrible.

Wig*

[Annoyed]

LOL... I think the bald version looks better.

[aretood2]

And how many of these interventions were to benefit the people of the nation in question? Overthrow some warlord or other strongman who had taken control of the country to the detriment of its people? How many times have we had to do the same thing over in a nation because it's people kept getting taken over?

And, just because I help some old lady across the street, that doesn't mean I have to stand there and help her again when she wants to come back.

How many of these interventions were to the benefit of the people? None. None whatsoever. Not even Nicaragua. They all placed an authoritarian in power who further engendered corruption and mismanagement of the nation's resources. There was a genocide of Mayans in Guatemala, for example. And a vicious civil war in El Salvador that also had similar results. Thanks to US meddling, a communistic government rose in Nicaragua. Fidel Castro was only possible because the US held too much control over Cuban affairs and propped up a dictator, but the US was willing to let in everyone and their grandmother from Cuba so at least there's that. But this is not the case with Central America. The US not once intervened to help out the people there and each and every intervention was to their detriment. The US owns the mess in Central America, it owns the poverty, it owns the corruption. And this isn't even mentioning how the insatiable demand for Drugs here in the US and the war on Drugs is also impacting the region.

[Gatefan1976]

How many of these interventions were to the benefit of the people? None. None whatsoever. Not even Nicaragua. They all placed an authoritarian in power who further engendered corruption and mismanagement of the nation's resources. There was a genocide of Mayans in Guatemala, for example. And a vicious civil war in El Salvador that also had similar results. Thanks to US meddling, a communistic government rose in Nicaragua. Fidel Castro was only possible because the US held too much control over Cuban affairs and propped up a dictator, but the US was willing to let in everyone and their grandmother from Cuba so at least there's that. But this is not the case with Central America. The US not once intervened to help out the people there and each and every intervention was to their detriment. The US owns the mess in Central America, it owns the poverty, it owns the corruption. And this isn't even mentioning how the insatiable demand for Drugs here in the US and the war on Drugs is also impacting the region.

Once more, the facts, they hurt
If Americans only stopped taking their drug pants off...……..

[Chaka-Z0]

What about Colombia? The little that I know is that Escobar pretty much took over the country.

[Annoyed]

Ok, a little more for you anti-Trumpers out there.

As anyone who lives in the US knows, it's nearing the end of tax season here; you must file by 4/15.
So most folks have completed their returns and know the exact numbers.

I ran the numbers on my own a while back, I know my tax burden was reduced.

I've been asking friends what effect the Trump tax reform has had on their taxes.

To a man (or woman) everyone has said their federal tax bite has been reduced. These are all lower-middle class working folks. Not a one saw their fed. tax bite go up.

Just goes to show you. Don't place a lot of faith in what the biased talking heads in the media say. It's mostly BS.

[aretood2]

Ok, a little more for you anti-Trumpers out there.

As anyone who lives in the US knows, it's nearing the end of tax season here; you must file by 4/15.
So most folks have completed their returns and know the exact numbers.

I ran the numbers on my own a while back, I know my tax burden was reduced.

I've been asking friends what effect the Trump tax reform has had on their taxes.

To a man (or woman) everyone has said their federal tax bite has been reduced. These are all lower-middle class working folks. Not a one saw their fed. tax bite go up.

Just goes to show you. Don't place a lot of faith in what the biased talking heads in the media say. It's mostly BS.

The guy who does my taxes (voted for Trump btw) tells a very different story. According to him, the extra take home pay people got was higher. However, what they got in tax returns in previous years was even higher. In other words, they took a bit more money home, but the extra money they took home each week did not add up to match the returns they used to get. Most didn't get a return, many of those even had to pay a bit. For whatever reason, I got a return (enough to cover my state and local taxes, my tax guy's service, and still had a bit of change left over. However, I did have less of a return than I had in the past (a bit). As far as the math goes, The extra that I took home still fell below what I used to get in returns.

Edit: Oh wait...did you just dodge the last discussion and quickly change the subject hopping no one would notice?

[Annoyed]

The guy who does my taxes (voted for Trump btw) tells a very different story. According to him, the extra take home pay people got was higher. However, what they got in tax returns in previous years was even higher. In other words, they took a bit more money home, but the extra money they took home each week did not add up to match the returns they used to get. Most didn't get a return, many of those even had to pay a bit. For whatever reason, I got a return (enough to cover my state and local taxes, my tax guy's service, and still had a bit of change left over. However, I did have less of a return than I had in the past (a bit). As far as the math goes, The extra that I took home still fell below what I used to get in returns.

Edit: Oh wait...did you just dodge the last discussion and quickly change the subject hopping no one would notice?

How many times? It's not the size of the refund that matters, it's the total tax liability, which has gone down. The size of the refund id dependent upon how accurately you have your withholding adjusted. I actually got a small refund this year for the first time in more than a decade.

As for the last argument, I don't accept your premise that just because we overthrow some tinpot dictator that we are responsible for that country forever.

[Gatefan1976]

How many times? It's not the size of the refund that matters, it's the total tax liability, which has gone down. The size of the refund id dependent upon how accurately you have your withholding adjusted. I actually got a small refund this year for the first time in more than a decade.

As for the last argument, I don't accept your premise that just because we overthrow some tinpot dictator that we are responsible for that country forever.

Shoulda kept your Imperialist pant's on.
No time now for "late term abortion."

[Chaka-Z0]

How many times? It's not the size of the refund that matters, it's the total tax liability, which has gone down. The size of the refund id dependent upon how accurately you have your withholding adjusted. I actually got a small refund this year for the first time in more than a decade.

Utter and complete baboon-****tery non-sense. You still don't understand.

Withholding means you paid your taxes in advances, dumbo, you got a refund because you paid it already. Basically what you're saying is ''Well it's the fault of those that didn't pay it in advance, they should've paid it in advance''. Ultimately it doesn't change anything other than for planning purposes.

The refunded amount in proportion of the annual revenues or the paid amount is the only thing that matters, and that is the reason why deductions are in place for the people the Government wants to help, from either a social point of a view or economics point of view.

If I want people to have more kids, I give deductions for families in order to augment population growth. Normally you'd pay 1k to the fisc, but I gave you a 1k deduction per kid so you pay nothing.

If I want safer banks, I give deductions to those that lock some money in an investment. Tax free saving accounts, for those that lend their money.

Economic policies of an administration are used to steer the people towards a certain direction for a predetermined goal, growth of the economy, protectionism, exportations, etc. etc.

[Annoyed]

Utter and complete baboon-****tery non-sense. You still don't understand.

Withholding means you paid your taxes in advances, dumbo, you got a refund because you paid it already. Basically what you're saying is ''Well it's the fault of those that didn't pay it in advance, they should've paid it in advance''. Ultimately it doesn't change anything other than for planning purposes.

The refunded amount in proportion of the annual revenues or the paid amount is the only thing that matters, and that is the reason why deductions are in place for the people the Government wants to help, from either a social point of a view or economics point of view.

If I want people to have more kids, I give deductions for families in order to augment population growth. Normally you'd pay 1k to the fisc, but I gave you a 1k deduction per kid so you pay nothing.

If I want safer banks, I give deductions to those that lock some money in an investment. Tax free saving accounts, for those that lend their money.

Economic policies of an administration are used to steer the people towards a certain direction for a predetermined goal, growth of the economy, protectionism, exportations, etc. etc.

That's an unrelated smokescreen.
As far as refunds go, which the mass media has portrayed as shrinking in response to tax reform, is solely related to your withholding.

The only thing that matters is line 15 on this year's 1040; Total tax. That is the amount of tax you owe. And that has gone down for myself and many others.

[Chaka-Z0]

That's an unrelated smokescreen.
As far as refunds go, which the mass media has portrayed as shrinking in response to tax reform, is solely related to your withholding.

The only thing that matters is line 15 on this year's 1040; Total tax. That is the amount of tax you owe. And that has gone down for myself and many others.

Lies.

Say you owe 10k taxes, but you get 4k deduc that's 6k you owe.

Trump's reform is you owe 8k, nice less taxes. Still more than the previous model.

[aretood2]

How many times? It's not the size of the refund that matters, it's the total tax liability, which has gone down. The size of the refund id dependent upon how accurately you have your withholding adjusted. I actually got a small refund this year for the first time in more than a decade.

You don't get it. Let's say last year I paid (just to pull numbers out of thin air) $3,000 in taxes and got a $900 refund, thus effectively I paid $2,100 in taxes. This year I paid $2,500 but only got a $100 refund, I effectively paid $2,200 in taxes. This is related in the loss of tax credits. So while I took home more money throughout this year versus last year, I actually still paid more in taxes this year than last year.

As for the last argument, I don't accept your premise that just because we overthrow some tinpot dictator that we are responsible for that country forever.

Tinpot dictator? You seem to be confused. The US installed several tinpot dictators and propped up others in Central American throughout the 20th century (That's 100 years btw). The US overthrow democratically elected governments and helped suppress democratic movements that attempted to overthrow tinpot dictators. This is why there's corruption and poverty and ineffective rule of law in much of Central America. This isn't a premise. It is a clear cut cause and effect.

Quite frankly this just boils down to you not wanting to be wrong and the fact that this undercuts your "why is it our responsibility" argument. The facts are pretty clear and demonstrable here.