2020 Dumpster Fire (Enter at your own risk)

[UND1983]

7 minutes ago, mikejm said:

No one is "playing" anyone: these are first-person reports from front-line healthcare professionals.
The fact is, we relaxed restrictions too soon, and idiots walking around without masks or partying like it is spring break are kicking infections into overdrive.

And according to contact tracing in Colorado, NOT ONE covid infection is the result of protests, peaceful or otherwise. 

Dude, stop.  My gawd.  

[Oxbow6]

2 hours ago, mikejm said:

A close friend of mine is head of emergency response in Texas. He told me early this week ICU beds are filling up very quickly. Some suburban Houston hospitals are already full. My SO is a regional executive with a national healthcare provider. They are very worried their Arizona ICU beds will be overwhelmed within days.

This is all because of the push to re-open. Look at the deflection points on your graph.

This is a completely false/inaccurate statement. 

[wxman91]

10 hours ago, LuvHockey said:

Listing copious mainstream media "articles" from totally biased completely anti-Trump sources does not influence my thoughts on the accuracy of your claims about the President or the responses to this virus.

Sorry, but the Pravda-like messages just are not believable.

So, how about suggesting ways to make things a better world on your idea's merits, not on how much you can accuse Trump or how well you can tear him or anyone else down?

Challenge accepted.  However, it is folly to ignore the current status of the country's leadership in relation to making a better world.  So, here's a more straightforward critique of Trump's presidency, staying clear of issues that the two sides are never going to agree upon (e.g. judicial appointments), followed by some ideas to make things better.

Foreign Policy:  Trump's foreign policy is a scattered mess. He ran as a non-interventionist, which is a good thing to drag the R side away from the neocons.  He finished what Obama's Pentagon had started with ISIS.  However, Afghanistan continues and the military budget is as big and bloated as ever.  The efforts to stop Iran and NK from their nuclear aspirations have both been failures.  He kisses up to dictators and antagonizes friends.  The flirtation with NK's Kim was embarrassing.  The defense of Saudi Arabia was disgusting.  We have a lessened world standing because nobody can trust us to follow through on agreements.  Then the kicker is Russia.  Trump's personality is that of a strongman leader, so he admires Putin.  

There are two foreign policy scandals that should have brought down his administration.

• The Russian interference scandal.  No, not exactly what you are thinking of (Flynn, Hillary's emails, etc).  There is copious evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 election process.  They wanted to sow discord in the country and most experts agree that the end result they were going for was a Trump presidency.  Maybe it worked, maybe Trump would have been elected anyway.  It doesn't matter.  Russia tried to influence our election and Trump hasn't done a thing about it because it would potentially lessen his "grand win" in some people's eyes.  He has abdicated the responsibility of the president to defend the country from foreign enemies.
• The Ukraine scandal.  Not much more to say about this one.  Trump has been impeached for abuse of power, and correctly so.  The majority in the Senate didn't think that he was innocent, just that it didn't rise to "high crimes and misdemeanors" that would necessitate removal.  

Race Relations:  Trump's background on this was already sketchy with the problems with his housing project, the Central Park Five, and the incredible pushing of the "Birther" theory. Nothing he has done during his presidency has dispelled the notion that he has little interest in bridging the gaps between the races.  He would rather use the tensions to rile up his base.

Economy:  This is supposedly Trump's strong point and it is certainly the topic where he polls best.  However, as I've detailed in my other posts, his standing on this topic is significantly due to his manipulation of the media.  By objective measures set out before his economic moves, he has fallen short.  The economy, up until COVID, operated nearly exactly as it had prior to his election.  The main impact of his tax cuts has been an acceleration of the rich-get-richer world in which we live.  For fiscally-conservative types who care about the debt, his term has been nothing short of catastrophic as he reversed any improvements in the deficit that Obama and the Rs had made.  And all of this has been prior to the botched response to COVID, which will place Trump in a low tier of presidents on the economy.

COVID-19:  What can I say?  The utter lack of leadership on this has been breathtaking (literally).  Someone in this thread, un-ironically, posted a fake quote attributed to AOC about the Election being the motivation for the Ds to keep things shut down.  Of course, this doesn't make any sense because it is the states in charge of shutting down, and they have to deal with the lowered tax receipts.  Conversely, Trump has every incentive in the world to downplay the virus, and has from the start.  If he had shown a modicum of responsibility on this maybe we wouldn't be the joke of the world.

Health Care:  A bad bill was not passed by a single vote in the senate.  Instead of working on a better bill, the administration gave up and has petitioned the Supreme Court to strike down the ACA with no backup plan. 

So, I hope this comes across as a more reasoned argument than "orange man bad".

 

It is easy to criticize, so what would I do instead?  I feel like most of the choices are obvious.  Partner with our allies, encourage people to follow medical guidance, don't stoke racial tensions.  So, to my economic plan:

Job growth traditionally comes from new businesses.  Right now there are a handful of major obstacles to new business formation that have nothing to do with government regulations.

- Health Care:  This is the elephant in the room.  We have to get away from employer-sponsored care.  It limits employee movement and complicates business development.  I think that in the long run single-payer is the way to go, but I propose a different solution for now.  The federal gov't is the nation's largest employer and has negotiated good rates and benefits for its employees because of its buying clout.  In my plan, everyone would be able to buy into this system.  Cost would be on a sliding scale with income.  The gov't would make up the difference.  No convoluted tax incentives, no vouchers.  If people still wanted to use other insurance providers, they would be free to do so.

- Student Loans:  The fact that we allow 17 year-olds, who can't even serve in the military, to sign up for hundreds of thousands of dollars of loans is insanity.  However, I am not currently on board with wiping out student debt or free college like some on the Bernie side are.  What I do recommend is that the government steps in, buys all loans, and resets the period at the borrower's choice up to 30 years at the federal funds rate.  So, if you managed to get $200k in the hole on a 6%, 15 year loan, you could lower your payment from ~$1700 to ~$560/month.  You want an economic jolt - get money into the hands of younger folks who can spend it!

- Corporate Taxes:  Get rid of them.  I'm serious.  I'm a lefty lib, but the best tax rates for businesses is 0%.  Less than 10% of tax receipts are from businesses as it is, and the accounting/lawyer/lobbyist overhead that goes into gaming the system is insane.  The best part - a limit on buying politicians.

How do I pay for this?

- Tax capital gains at the personal tax rate.  The double-taxation penalty no longer applies in my world.  If Jeff Bezos cashes out on a billion dollars worth of stock, he is paying 35% rather than 15%.  I do not plan to increase any tax rates because of the next item.

- Remove the cap on entitlement tax rates.  Right now every dollar above $130k or so is not subject to FICA taxes.  Remove it.  These dollars can be used for the health care assistance and shoring up Social Security.
 

[SiouxForever]

On 6/30/2020 at 6:55 PM, wxman91 said:

You have no idea what their circumstances are.  Maybe they are making a short trip and don’t find the mask uncomfortable.  Maybe they are being extra cautious because they have a severe underlying condition and they don’t want to touch their face more than they have to.
 

Are you mad at Pence now for telling people to wear masks?
 

This goes beyond “judgey”.  Criticizing people for taking precautions to keep themselves healthy is truly pathetic.  

You should be required to wear a mask to enter this thread/forum topic and discussion. #Progress All masks aren’t the same, so let’s try and create some standardization here. 

[Cratter]

"Protester covid" spiked while the normal people were working and staying home to avoid getting hurt which counteracted the spikes in covid from the peaceful rioters. 

[mikejm]

3 hours ago, Oxbow6 said:

This is a completely false/inaccurate statement. 

Read from what I'm sure is one of your favorite publications, one that could hardly be considered a left-leaning propaganda source.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/07/01/research-determines-protests-did-not-cause-spike-in-coronavirus-cases/#2bdc5f9d7dac

[Cratter]

Quote

The study’s lead author, Dhaval Dave of Bentley University, said, “In many cities, the protests actually seemed to lead to a net increase in social distancing, as more people who did not protest decided to stay off the streets.”

As I was saying. The peaceful rioters spread covid but was offset by people staying home in those cities. Mainly because a lot of them had citywide curfews.

[SiouxBoys]

36 minutes ago, mikejm said:

Read from what I'm sure is one of your favorite publications, one that could hardly be considered a left-leaning propaganda source.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/07/01/research-determines-protests-did-not-cause-spike-in-coronavirus-cases/#2bdc5f9d7dac

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/24/us/coronavirus-cases-protests-black-lives-matter-trnd/index.html

As Cratter stated, people staying home to avoid the protest offset the spread among protesters. I don't think the virus is going around and only affecting people who aren't standing up for social justice.

[Frozen4sioux]

What happened to blaming 5G?

[homer]

3 hours ago, wxman91 said:

Challenge accepted.  However, it is folly to ignore the current status of the country's leadership in relation to making a better world.  So, here's a more straightforward critique of Trump's presidency, staying clear of issues that the two sides are never going to agree upon (e.g. judicial appointments), followed by some ideas to make things better.

Foreign Policy:  Trump's foreign policy is a scattered mess. He ran as a non-interventionist, which is a good thing to drag the R side away from the neocons.  He finished what Obama's Pentagon had started with ISIS.  However, Afghanistan continues and the military budget is as big and bloated as ever.  The efforts to stop Iran and NK from their nuclear aspirations have both been failures.  He kisses up to dictators and antagonizes friends.  The flirtation with NK's Kim was embarrassing.  The defense of Saudi Arabia was disgusting.  We have a lessened world standing because nobody can trust us to follow through on agreements.  Then the kicker is Russia.  Trump's personality is that of a strongman leader, so he admires Putin.  

There are two foreign policy scandals that should have brought down his administration.

• The Russian interference scandal.  No, not exactly what you are thinking of (Flynn, Hillary's emails, etc).  There is copious evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 election process.  They wanted to sow discord in the country and most experts agree that the end result they were going for was a Trump presidency.  Maybe it worked, maybe Trump would have been elected anyway.  It doesn't matter.  Russia tried to influence our election and Trump hasn't done a thing about it because it would potentially lessen his "grand win" in some people's eyes.  He has abdicated the responsibility of the president to defend the country from foreign enemies.
• The Ukraine scandal.  Not much more to say about this one.  Trump has been impeached for abuse of power, and correctly so.  The majority in the Senate didn't think that he was innocent, just that it didn't rise to "high crimes and misdemeanors" that would necessitate removal.  

Race Relations:  Trump's background on this was already sketchy with the problems with his housing project, the Central Park Five, and the incredible pushing of the "Birther" theory. Nothing he has done during his presidency has dispelled the notion that he has little interest in bridging the gaps between the races.  He would rather use the tensions to rile up his base.

Economy:  This is supposedly Trump's strong point and it is certainly the topic where he polls best.  However, as I've detailed in my other posts, his standing on this topic is significantly due to his manipulation of the media.  By objective measures set out before his economic moves, he has fallen short.  The economy, up until COVID, operated nearly exactly as it had prior to his election.  The main impact of his tax cuts has been an acceleration of the rich-get-richer world in which we live.  For fiscally-conservative types who care about the debt, his term has been nothing short of catastrophic as he reversed any improvements in the deficit that Obama and the Rs had made.  And all of this has been prior to the botched response to COVID, which will place Trump in a low tier of presidents on the economy.

COVID-19:  What can I say?  The utter lack of leadership on this has been breathtaking (literally).  Someone in this thread, un-ironically, posted a fake quote attributed to AOC about the Election being the motivation for the Ds to keep things shut down.  Of course, this doesn't make any sense because it is the states in charge of shutting down, and they have to deal with the lowered tax receipts.  Conversely, Trump has every incentive in the world to downplay the virus, and has from the start.  If he had shown a modicum of responsibility on this maybe we wouldn't be the joke of the world.

Health Care:  A bad bill was not passed by a single vote in the senate.  Instead of working on a better bill, the administration gave up and has petitioned the Supreme Court to strike down the ACA with no backup plan. 

So, I hope this comes across as a more reasoned argument than "orange man bad".

 

It is easy to criticize, so what would I do instead?  I feel like most of the choices are obvious.  Partner with our allies, encourage people to follow medical guidance, don't stoke racial tensions.  So, to my economic plan:

Job growth traditionally comes from new businesses.  Right now there are a handful of major obstacles to new business formation that have nothing to do with government regulations.

- Health Care:  This is the elephant in the room.  We have to get away from employer-sponsored care.  It limits employee movement and complicates business development.  I think that in the long run single-payer is the way to go, but I propose a different solution for now.  The federal gov't is the nation's largest employer and has negotiated good rates and benefits for its employees because of its buying clout.  In my plan, everyone would be able to buy into this system.  Cost would be on a sliding scale with income.  The gov't would make up the difference.  No convoluted tax incentives, no vouchers.  If people still wanted to use other insurance providers, they would be free to do so.

- Student Loans:  The fact that we allow 17 year-olds, who can't even serve in the military, to sign up for hundreds of thousands of dollars of loans is insanity.  However, I am not currently on board with wiping out student debt or free college like some on the Bernie side are.  What I do recommend is that the government steps in, buys all loans, and resets the period at the borrower's choice up to 30 years at the federal funds rate.  So, if you managed to get $200k in the hole on a 6%, 15 year loan, you could lower your payment from ~$1700 to ~$560/month.  You want an economic jolt - get money into the hands of younger folks who can spend it!

- Corporate Taxes:  Get rid of them.  I'm serious.  I'm a lefty lib, but the best tax rates for businesses is 0%.  Less than 10% of tax receipts are from businesses as it is, and the accounting/lawyer/lobbyist overhead that goes into gaming the system is insane.  The best part - a limit on buying politicians.

How do I pay for this?

- Tax capital gains at the personal tax rate.  The double-taxation penalty no longer applies in my world.  If Jeff Bezos cashes out on a billion dollars worth of stock, he is paying 35% rather than 15%.  I do not plan to increase any tax rates because of the next item.

- Remove the cap on entitlement tax rates.  Right now every dollar above $130k or so is not subject to FICA taxes.  Remove it.  These dollars can be used for the health care assistance and shoring up Social Security.
 

If Russia interferes with this election and Biden wins will that than be Biden’s fault.   Asking for a friend.  I stopped reading after that

[Cratter]

Detroit health care study shows taking Hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus can save your life.

Quote

Officials with the Michigan health system said the study found the drug “significantly” decreased the death rate of patients involved in the analysis.

 

[Cratter]

Fauci will be just as giddy tomorrow about $20 HCQ like he was earlier about $3,000 Remdesivir right?

[wxman91]

6 hours ago, homer said:

If Russia interferes with this election and Biden wins will that than be Biden’s fault.   Asking for a friend.  I stopped reading after that

If he doesn’t do anything about it as president?  Yes.

[Oxbow6]

14 hours ago, mikejm said:

A close friend of mine is head of emergency response in Texas. He told me early this week ICU beds are filling up very quickly. Some suburban Houston hospitals are already full. My SO is a regional executive with a national healthcare provider. They are very worried their Arizona ICU beds will be overwhelmed within days.

This is all because of the push to re-open. Look at the deflection points on your graph.

I'll quote this garbage again. The country was locked down for a couple months. People put off medical care. Now that people are back to seeking medical care here are a few reasons people wind up in the ICU....

Infections.......sepsis alone puts over a million in ICU beds every year.

Close patient monitoring due to operations, accidents and head injuries.

Cardiac issues.....which covers a broad range of issues.

Lung issues.....which COVID is a part of but of course not all of.

 

When people know they are sick and put off care for weeks because "experts" told them they would die by just leaving their homes and then they decide to seek care around the same time who is surprised ICU and hospital beds are filling up quickly....as they sat empty for months waiting for "the surge". A vast majority of hospital admissions in the past few weeks nationwide have zero to due with COVID due to re-opening.

[Oxbow6]

...and on cue Walz asks Trump/Feds for a disaster declaration to cover the $500M in damages due to the Floyd riots.

[Redneksioux]

34 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

...and on cue Walz asks Trump/Feds for a disaster declaration to cover the $500M in damages due to the Floyd riots.

And if I’m reading correctly that covers the police station that was destroyed and other public property. Doesn’t even address the private property that was destroyed. If Frey made the call to abandon precinct 3 they should just let him figure out how to pay for the repairs. I’d start with holding those responsible that they’ve identified. 

[yzerman19]

Regarding ICU bed pressure at specific facilities; In my experience, some facilities in metro areas are being designated for Covid specifically.  The capacity of all facilities in the immediate area must be considered then in determining if there is a risk. I haven’t seen this macro lens presented for Houston.  If the designated facilities reach capacity, you designate more facilities.  This approach creates centers of excellence for treatment and studies while also helping contain the virus.  Hospitals work on a flexing model of capacity as well.  You don’t staff beds without patient demand.  If you did that you’d waste money.  

Regarding those calling for single payor and healthcare being such an economic problem.  First and foremost, aside from a transfer of power, what do you believe that would accomplish?

 The cost of health insurance is driven by the cost of care delivery.  Fully insured products spend 85% of the premium on doctors, hospitals, and drugs.  Another 7-10% on commissions, taxes, and fees; leaving 5-8% for reinvestment or profit.  Also, there is no guarantee of surplus earnings, so in order to remain viable as a payor, they must maintain a risk-based capital requirement.  This being able to honor their obligations even when the claims payments are greater than premium revenues.  Self-insured employers pay nothing but claims costs and a 1-2% administrative fee.  Also, government sponsored care is already the largest payor in the country, and commercial insurers are subsidizing them.  If you want to lower costs more than marginally, then you have to bark up the care delivery tree. Which means less money for staff, equipment, technology.  What a people spend money on is a sign of what they value. I contend there is no more valuable industry than one focused on improving health and saving lives.  If you want to lower commercial premiums, you either reduce the dollars paid to care delivery or you increase payments from Medicaid and Medicare (aka raise taxes).

Many arguments on healthcare costs in the US ignore some cost drivers that improve care too, such as having more facilities capable of more things in more locations.  Smaller countries (for example) have little more than a physician‘a home office for basic care and all more complicated procedures and inpatient admissions are funneled into a handful of huge city hospitals.  Imagine having to go to Minneapolis for any kind of care beyond office visits.

Regarding quality outcomes.  The stats are often misleading, because the US is bi-modal in this regard.  Much is based on geography and on individual attributes of patients.  On one mode, we have the greatest outcomes the world has ever seen.  On the other mode we aren’t much better than average.  So when blended we land in a place often criticized and quoted.  The issue is not about quality, the issue is about disparity.  That disparity is often driven by patient choices in lifestyle and attention to their health.

 

 

[yzerman19]

Oh, and check this out.  Physicians in the US earn good money.  In other countries...who the hell would spend all that money on training sand postpone getting paid until you’re in your 30’s for this???  source is medscape.
 

[yzerman19]

Last comment.  Current healthcare model allows for local decision making done in the interest of community business and welfare.  Would you rather have those decisions made by bureaucrats and lobbyists in DC?  How much healthcare investment federally do you think would land in the Midwest as opposed to say NY and CA? 

[CMSioux]

1 hour ago, yzerman19 said:

Oh, and check this out.  Physicians in the US earn good money.  In other countries...who the hell would spend all that money on training sand postpone getting paid until you’re in your 30’s for this???  source is medscape.
 

There are at least 20 countries where higher education is free.

[The Sicatoka]

21 hours ago, Redneksioux said:

Can you point us to a reliable media source reporting that once you have coronavirus you cannot become infected again?

No, I can’t; hence use of a form of the word assumption.

But if there’s not gained immunity we’re screwed. 

[The Sicatoka]

17 hours ago, mikejm said:

No one is "playing" anyone: these are first-person reports from front-line healthcare professionals.
The fact is, we relaxed restrictions too soon, and idiots walking around without masks or partying like it is spring break are kicking infections into overdrive.

And according to contact tracing in Colorado, NOT ONE covid infection is the result of protests, peaceful or otherwise. 

The chief of police in Miami (sick cops) and the mayor of Los Angeles disagree and point to the riots as spike sources. 

[Cratter]

 

[Nodak78]

15 hours ago, wxman91 said:

Challenge accepted.  However, it is folly to ignore the current status of the country's leadership in relation to making a better world.  So, here's a more straightforward critique of Trump's presidency, staying clear of issues that the two sides are never going to agree upon (e.g. judicial appointments), followed by some ideas to make things better.

Foreign Policy:  Trump's foreign policy is a scattered mess. He ran as a non-interventionist, which is a good thing to drag the R side away from the neocons.  He finished what Obama's Pentagon had started with ISIS.  However, Afghanistan continues and the military budget is as big and bloated as ever.  The efforts to stop Iran and NK from their nuclear aspirations have both been failures.  He kisses up to dictators and antagonizes friends.  The flirtation with NK's Kim was embarrassing.  The defense of Saudi Arabia was disgusting.  We have a lessened world standing because nobody can trust us to follow through on agreements.  Then the kicker is Russia.  Trump's personality is that of a strongman leader, so he admires Putin.  

There are two foreign policy scandals that should have brought down his administration.

• The Russian interference scandal.  No, not exactly what you are thinking of (Flynn, Hillary's emails, etc).  There is copious evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 election process.  They wanted to sow discord in the country and most experts agree that the end result they were going for was a Trump presidency.  Maybe it worked, maybe Trump would have been elected anyway.  It doesn't matter.  Russia tried to influence our election and Trump hasn't done a thing about it because it would potentially lessen his "grand win" in some people's eyes.  He has abdicated the responsibility of the president to defend the country from foreign enemies.
• The Ukraine scandal.  Not much more to say about this one.  Trump has been impeached for abuse of power, and correctly so.  The majority in the Senate didn't think that he was innocent, just that it didn't rise to "high crimes and misdemeanors" that would necessitate removal.  

Race Relations:  Trump's background on this was already sketchy with the problems with his housing project, the Central Park Five, and the incredible pushing of the "Birther" theory. Nothing he has done during his presidency has dispelled the notion that he has little interest in bridging the gaps between the races.  He would rather use the tensions to rile up his base.

Economy:  This is supposedly Trump's strong point and it is certainly the topic where he polls best.  However, as I've detailed in my other posts, his standing on this topic is significantly due to his manipulation of the media.  By objective measures set out before his economic moves, he has fallen short.  The economy, up until COVID, operated nearly exactly as it had prior to his election.  The main impact of his tax cuts has been an acceleration of the rich-get-richer world in which we live.  For fiscally-conservative types who care about the debt, his term has been nothing short of catastrophic as he reversed any improvements in the deficit that Obama and the Rs had made.  And all of this has been prior to the botched response to COVID, which will place Trump in a low tier of presidents on the economy.

COVID-19:  What can I say?  The utter lack of leadership on this has been breathtaking (literally).  Someone in this thread, un-ironically, posted a fake quote attributed to AOC about the Election being the motivation for the Ds to keep things shut down.  Of course, this doesn't make any sense because it is the states in charge of shutting down, and they have to deal with the lowered tax receipts.  Conversely, Trump has every incentive in the world to downplay the virus, and has from the start.  If he had shown a modicum of responsibility on this maybe we wouldn't be the joke of the world.

Health Care:  A bad bill was not passed by a single vote in the senate.  Instead of working on a better bill, the administration gave up and has petitioned the Supreme Court to strike down the ACA with no backup plan. 

So, I hope this comes across as a more reasoned argument than "orange man bad".

 

It is easy to criticize, so what would I do instead?  I feel like most of the choices are obvious.  Partner with our allies, encourage people to follow medical guidance, don't stoke racial tensions.  So, to my economic plan:

Job growth traditionally comes from new businesses.  Right now there are a handful of major obstacles to new business formation that have nothing to do with government regulations.

- Health Care:  This is the elephant in the room.  We have to get away from employer-sponsored care.  It limits employee movement and complicates business development.  I think that in the long run single-payer is the way to go, but I propose a different solution for now.  The federal gov't is the nation's largest employer and has negotiated good rates and benefits for its employees because of its buying clout.  In my plan, everyone would be able to buy into this system.  Cost would be on a sliding scale with income.  The gov't would make up the difference.  No convoluted tax incentives, no vouchers.  If people still wanted to use other insurance providers, they would be free to do so.

- Student Loans:  The fact that we allow 17 year-olds, who can't even serve in the military, to sign up for hundreds of thousands of dollars of loans is insanity.  However, I am not currently on board with wiping out student debt or free college like some on the Bernie side are.  What I do recommend is that the government steps in, buys all loans, and resets the period at the borrower's choice up to 30 years at the federal funds rate.  So, if you managed to get $200k in the hole on a 6%, 15 year loan, you could lower your payment from ~$1700 to ~$560/month.  You want an economic jolt - get money into the hands of younger folks who can spend it!

- Corporate Taxes:  Get rid of them.  I'm serious.  I'm a lefty lib, but the best tax rates for businesses is 0%.  Less than 10% of tax receipts are from businesses as it is, and the accounting/lawyer/lobbyist overhead that goes into gaming the system is insane.  The best part - a limit on buying politicians.

How do I pay for this?

- Tax capital gains at the personal tax rate.  The double-taxation penalty no longer applies in my world.  If Jeff Bezos cashes out on a billion dollars worth of stock, he is paying 35% rather than 15%.  I do not plan to increase any tax rates because of the next item.

- Remove the cap on entitlement tax rates.  Right now every dollar above $130k or so is not subject to FICA taxes.  Remove it.  These dollars can be used for the health care assistance and shoring up Social Security.
 

"There are two foreign Domestic policy scandals that should have brought down his administration."

(1) Obama Admin spying on Trump Campaign and (2) failed Coup attempt by Obama team and other Dems still ongoing.

[Oxbow6]

10 states have a current unemployment  rate higher than 15%. Any guesses what they all have in common?