Guard Dog

So what? Suppose we have a 1929 style crash today and all of those gains turn into losses? The billionaire is still going to have the exact same amount of money in the bank as he did before. The only way those gains are actually gains as if he sold the stock and profited on the sale. If he didn’t do it then it’s not really a gain Think about it like this. You are in 1000 shares of Apple stock. It’s worth $100 more than you paid. But next week there is a market reversal and now it’s worth $100 less than you paid. You still have the same amount of money in your checking account and you still own 1000 shares of Apple. So really you haven’t gained or lost anything.

Not sure where you’re coming from on this one. The taxing authority of the government in the United States is pretty broad. Anyway, in the context of this one specific idea, which I will reiterate has not actually happened yet it’s just something being talked about, it’s the taxing authority itself that said it will only apply to “billionaires“. OK. What if next year they decided applies to everybody? Once again not saying that would happen. This is all a hypothetical discussion. The authority to levy tax just is what it is. The people in power get to decide who it gets applied to. There’s nothing stopping them from applying it to everybody. Actual Capital gains tax applies to pretty much everybody now. With a few exceptions based on what is actually done with the gain. The whole idea of treating unrealized gains as though they actually happened is just illogical. Again, hypothetical situation and just as a comparison: Suppose you’re going to take the family down to Florida for Disney World. You’ve made the reservations, made all your plans and suddenly you get a tax bill for the sales tax on the tickets, hotel rooms, plane tickets, meals, souvenirs, etc. Even though you haven’t bought or done any of it yet. The thinking is while you’re going to pay it anyway why not pay it now. But you have an actually done any of that yet what if you don’t go? Do you get a refund? You see what I’m getting at here? It’s one thing to levy tax on a transaction that was actually made. It’s another thing all together to do it on some thing that hasn’t even happened. To tax somebody on a gain they haven’t actually made. If you follow the logic on that it leads you into a pretty weird place.

Interesting take on an upcoming Supreme Court Case: In battle at Supreme Court over N.Y. gun law, a surprising split among conservatives This is my non-lawyer opinion. The Great Legal Barbarian of the West will, no doubt, have a much more in depth and erudite analysis if he choose to opine. 1) This whole thing is moot. NY changed the law that led to the original complaint. The case should have been dropped and the Supreme Court should not even be entertaining it now. Going shopping for cases to rule on is the kind of thing that drove everyone crazy in the 60's, '70's and 80's. Good lord don't they have enough to do already? I get that there is a real desire, especially from Thomas, Alito, & Goresuch to get a 2nd amendment case. But not this one. 2) This is an interesting situation because it's pitting (in a way) the 2nd amendment vs the 10th Amendment. But it's also not because the original complaint did not involve the prohibition of possessing firearms. This is all about how they could be carried or transported. IMO only that makes in NOT a second amendment issue. 3) The heart of this whole thing is concealed carry. Although no one wants to say that. Hey I am 100% for CC. I have a permit and I do, on occasion, practice the privilege. And it IS a privilege. The 2A does not grant CC. You state allows you to do it if you follow their rules. Other states recognize the privilege granted by other states. Some don't. That is ultimately up tp each state government and it's voters and it's MY responsibility to know them. When I drive to Wisconsin I leave my pistol at home. Not only do they not have reciprocity with my state I pass though a state that does not allow CC at all. Their state their rules. I have a real hard time with compelling on state to follow the rules or grant the privileges allowed by another beyond the scope of the basic rights all citizens enjoy. Using the 2A as a crowbar to get nationwide CC (which is what this is all about IMO) doesn't sit well with me. I am one million percent pro 2A when it comes to things like prohibiting ownership in the home or prohibiting the legal transportation of firearms under any circumstances. That this isn't what this is about.

What they can do to one citizen they can do to all of them.

It worries the hell out of me. It's not just on stock but any appreciable asset that can be sold. My stock and securities footprint is minimal. Just whatever is in my IRA. And I'm in the process of selling off a good bit of my real estate. But I have three "lottery ticket" properties that could suddenly be worth a LOT more than I paid for them if/when they are re-zoned in the future following likely growth of nearby cities. They would definitely expose me to some painful tax bills if this BS ever filtered down to my level. I'm what you call "asset rich but cash poor". It would suck in the extreme to have to sell a property at low value just to pay a capital gains tax on an arbitrary and wholly imaginary estimation of it's future or present value. Especially when there wouldn't even BE a gain. Now, none of this has happened. And it may not. In fact it probably won't. But the whole IDEA of it is just flawed. And anyway tax is theft. Not changing my mind about it.

Right now this only applies to “billionaires”. However when they don’t get as much money as they think they’re going to from that I suspect they’ll start coming after everyone else somewhere down the road. It takes Gromnir’s idea for a Smaug portfolio from a funny line on an Internet forum to a viable money management strategy. After all they can’t tax you on it if they don’t know how much you actually have.

I guess another thing they sort of have in common is kids will wind up graduating from one or the other!

Don’t worry, she will come back again. And again. And again.

First the Gromnir disclaimer. This image is being posted purely for humorous purposes no actual comparisons are being drawn between the two entities. It’s a freaking joke, laugh at it or don’t. Now then… @HurlshotI figured you’d get a chuckle from this since both are run by the state I guess it’s true what they say. When the only tool you possess as a hammer everything starts to look like a nail!

NASA's Juno spacecraft flew above Jupiter's Great Red Spot and discovered that the vortex churns up to 310 miles deep As interesting as Jupiter is the moons are it's main attracting IMO. Ditto with Saturn.

Hypothetical question. Suppose I'm a billionaire. And suppose I own stock in a huge company, we'll call it CHOAM for argument's sake. The stock is doing really, really well. It worth a LOT of money. Now, the emperor requires I pay a capital gains tax on all capital GAINS. But my stock valuation in CHOAM isn't really a GAIN because I haven't sold it for the profit. So no tax. All the previous emperors felt the same way. Now, suppose for this example, we get a new Emperor with some radically different ideas on how to run the galaxy. Now he wants to tax my CHOAM stock on it's increase in VALUE even though I haven't technically made any money on it. Now, after I've paid the tax on the value gain there is an economic downturn. Suppose there is this holy war going, weird new religious cult, space travel is being locked down, CHOAM struggles in challenging economic times and the value plummets WAY below the level I was taxed at. So, my question is can count the amount of tax I paid on the gains I didn't even earn as a capital loss on the losses I never realized? Hypothetically of course.

Getting gas and coffee (not in that order) and heading south. I took G & B out to dinner last night and it was fun. B seems to like me now so that means things are going well with G. I am quite certain of that already anyway LOL. I hate this drive. It’s only a four hour flight but you can’t go direct. you have to change planes in Minneapolis or Madison. Plus I think 11 hours driving in my truck listening to the radio is preferable to four hours in a flying can next to other humans ugh.

The WSJ gives you 5 free per month. After that it’s paywalled. I kept a e-subscription for a long time to WSJ, WaPo, and a few others. I cancelled all of it. Except National Geographic. I love that one. I’m finding as I get older I really don’t give a damn about what’s going on in the world anymore.

That is true when you’re writing for a more sophisticated audience they will see right through that trash. Someone who knows what they’re talking about will always be able to spot someone who is faking it. But if you wanted to sneak something past a harried and stressed out high school teacher or junior college professor that method definitely works

LOL no you wouldn't!

I’d bet Azdeus, Malc and the other guys from the real north get a chuckle out of me saying slightly below freezing was cold. But dammit I’m from the south I’m not acclimated to that kind of nonsense! Especially not so early in the year. Hoping I can take G & B out to dinner tonight. Have to go home tomorrow. There are some documents coming to my house via Fed Ex on Friday and I need to be there to get them. Lots of good stuff going on at once.

Did not know that. Soon it will reach the point you can’t get away with anything anymore LOL

Exactly why I liked those the best! The longer, more vague, and more dissembling the answer.the less scrutiny it received from the teachers. Teachers are busy folks they don’t have time to read five paragraph essay answers. As long as you were somewhere in the vicinity of the correct answer and they see the words they’re looking for I found they didn’t read everything Word for Word. Like they say if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance you could always baffle them with BS!

She’s at work now. I’m being a bum watching TV on her couch. But she will be home shortly I’ll have lunch ready and some creative ideas on how we spend our time this afternoon!

I’m not home. I’m in WI. Hurlshot was right!

Me too! Actually that’s true of just about everything I know about the Civil War. Most of what I learned through books are actually visiting historical sites. One of the best books I read about the border war was “three years with Quantrill“. It was an eyewitness account. It’s only telling one side obviously and it’s heavily slanted towards that point of you. Some of the events recounted I am pretty sure it did not happen. But the descriptions of the fighting, conditions, thoughts and motivations of the people make it worth reading.

HOLY F--K it is COLD here. Below freezing in October? Not used to THAT!

The US Civil war was a lot more recent. There are people alive today whose parents and grandparents actually KNEW people alive during the war. So the history is not so far removed as the middle ages. One other note on atrocities. Very often the acts were retribution for previous acts. The Border War between Kansas & Missouri was the worst outside of Sherman's Army of Tennessee. In Sherman's defense they were fighting militia, armed citizens, and regular army most of the way. The worst acts of the Border War were against civilians. The Lawrence Massacre is a commonly held up example. But what people tend to forget is one of the things that led to that was the death of female civilians held as prisoners of war. The military commander of the Kansas forces ordered the arrest and imprisonment of women who were "aiding" Missouri guerillas. The women they imprisoned were wives/family of suspect guerilla fighters. There are numerous and credible eye witness accounts of rape and other abuse of the prisoners by Ewing's soldiers. Ewing was not a military man and had little real control over his troops. It's widely speculated the collapse of the building where the women were held was deliberate to cover up what had happened. I think that is possible and may be likely. Ewing was a politician and a personal friend of the President. There was also Doc Jennison and his "red legs" and their raids into western Missouri. In fact this was depicted in the into to the movie "The Outlaw Josey Wales". And all of that was in response to a three year period where Missouri slave owners tries to "take over" as much of Kansas as possible to prevent it from being admitted as a free state. Bad act followed bad act. No one one in that war had clean hands.

I have given a lot of thought so why the “lost cause“ narrative of the confederacy and the Civil War has taken such deep root. Most of the people who believe it are not bad people. They are not racist nor are they discriminatory. Whatever you might think of their voting habits and the political “team“ that they cheer for they are just regular folks. Because of that it’s uncomfortable to reckon with the fact that their ancestors we’re not good people by our standards. 99% of people are not comfortable with the fact that slavery was a thing. And because of that it’s hard to imagine that your ancestors actually took up arms to keep it being a thing. So they look for reasons and explanations that just sugarcoat the actual history. That makes the actions and the heritage of the time easier to bear or even something to be proud of. And that’s actually what makes it so pernicious. you guys of heard me say this 100 times. Well here’s 101. History should never be buried nor should it be softened. It shouldn’t be explained. It should be presented as a fact. The stories and the narratives that grow up around it to make it more entertaining or easier to deal with should be dismissed. There is a great Internet meme that is misquoting Carl Sagan. But the quote is good so I’m using it here. If something can be destroyed by the truth then it should be.

With regard to war crimes and war criminals in the US Civil War, there was absolutely no shortage of both on either side. there’s no such thing as a clean war but that one was particularly brutal and nasty by Western standards. That was more so true at the end than it was in the beginning. For a couple of reasons. In the first two years of the war both armies were very well led and disciplined by professional and experienced officers. By the third and fourth year of the war a great many of the professional officers and real leaders in both armies had been killed off or otherwise removed from the battlefield. In the last two years it was clear the south had lost and the desperation of fighting on home soil cranked up the bad acts to an all-time high. Neither army thought twice about flying the black flag. And yes US army “atrocities “ against southern civilians were both common, documented, and rarely punished.