I have no doubt Bush bashing mania is about to reach an all time peak as people try to label McCain as Bush part III, as if anything be farther from the truth(I happily pulled the lever for Bush... TWICE, but don't want to pull the lever for McCain). As I am sure the many good things Bush has done for the U.S. will be ignored in the frenzy of election negativity, I thought I'd share my tax filing experience yesterday.

As I was painfully rolling through many screens of turbotax, waiting for the "Prison Love" feeling you get when you see the final number, I extremely surprised by how low the number was. So surprised, in fact, I had to go back through again to make sure I hadn't made a mistake. Still not believing what I was seeing, I went online to check the current tax rate for Capital gains and found out it is 5% for families earning less than $150k. 5%!!!!!

Now I knew the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 had lowered capital gains, but in all honesty, after watching CNN, I had thought that it was tax relief for only the rich in America, leaving the tax rate around 20% on investments. It turns out the Bush tax cuts lowered investment taxes for the rich(if you can call earning over $150k per year per family rich) by 25%, while lowering them 100% for the middle class and the poor.

What is also interesting is that this particular tax cut motivates people to save and invest, rather than the stimulus, which supposedly motivates people to spend. Anyway, in a year where money was tight for my family, I just wanted to take time out to send a shout out to Dubya and say thanks for cutting my taxes in half. You did me a solid. If the idiots in congress manage to make the cuts permanent, I'd be very interested in investing more money in U.S. property or companies, rather than selling off most of what I have invested over the next three years before the tax benefits go away.

So, do tell me, cbwm, what to you is the difference between a tax-and-spend Democrat and a borrow-and-spend Republican? When the FDIC can't cover but a handful of the accounts it's charged with insuring, people are already making runs on banks, what good is the tax break going to do us when the value of the dollar is about as much as what you wipe your a** with? And I can tell you that's the opinion of both my wife and myself, a Republican and Democrat respectively.

tim

Originally Posted by serandfae

So, do tell me, cbwm, what to you is the difference between a tax-and-spend Democrat and a borrow-and-spend Republican?

With the tax and spend Democrat, you pay the bill. With a borrow and spend Republican, your children do.

Originally Posted by serandfae

what good is the tax break going to do us when the value of the dollar is about as much as what you wipe your a** with?

I'll buy land. Its really cheap right now, its always worth something, and people always need a place to live.

You present a valid issue with the spending. My friend George seems to have some Democrat blood in his veins with the way he spends money, and I'm not just talking about the war, though that is a very large part of the budget.

Regarding the overall appearance that the economy is about to be flushed down the toilet, its got a 50/50 shot, though that has a lot more to do with sub-prime lenders than the tax breaks Bush gave out. Lets also not forget that if we sink, so do our creditors and pretty much most of the rest of the world. In the meantime, it wouldn't be a bad idea to start stockpiling weapons, ammunition, gold coins, and putting up good fencing around your land, just incase.

Oh please. You make it sound like the subprime mess is the only thing wrong with our economy.

Guess what -- our woes aren't because of subprime lenders OR because of George Bush. Our woes started in 1913 with the creation of the Federal Reserve, got really bad once the limits to fiat currency were removed by Nixon in 1971, and have since been in a downward spiral.

The dollar today is worth three cents of what it was when the Federal Reserve took charge in 1913 -- but yeah, the economy is only on the brink of collapse because of those **** subprime lenders.

I predict that Obama will win the presidency, and there will be great rejoicing because the people will think they have won, then in a few years everyone will realize that nothing still has changed. Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same thing, both elitist groups who owe their allegiance to corporate lobbyists more than they do their constituents.

Fair enough, though I did use the words "More to do with" rather than "The only thing wrong with". Other than that, I like your post. The doomsday folks are saying 5000$ an ounce for gold within a year. You agree?

Originally Posted by cbwm

5000$ an ounce for gold within a year. You agree?

Impossible.

Never say Never. Here is something you might find interesting. Apparently the strong Euro isn't all its cracked up to be and may be doing "permanent" damage to Europe's economy. Now there is talk of a Fed like entity to run the currency in an effort to both promote economic growth and restrain inflation. The world is a crazy place.

Originally Posted by cbwm

Never say Never. Here is something you might find interesting. Apparently the strong Euro isn't all its cracked up to be and may be doing "permanent" damage to Europe's economy. Now there is talk of a Fed like entity to run the currency in an effort to both promote economic growth and restrain inflation. The world is a crazy place.

The Pound has remained very strong in recent years yet the economy has generally done alright regardless of this. Exports have certainly taken a knock as importing from the UK is effectively much more expensive than importing from another country due to the high Pound-Dollar exchange rate. I don't see a major issue with the Euro though - Europe is a very big place and countries are still joining up to the new currency helping to steady it.

The size of Europe and it's diversity mean that if an individual country's economy suffers, the overall European economy will remain stable.

Finally, a bit of Bush bashing to release some anger:

Bush is a Republican remtard who can't speak English properly and doesn't care about the average American citezen (his interests are in big corporations and unsuccessful, uncalled-for wars in the Middle East)

Originally Posted by whym

Finally, a bit of Bush bashing to release some anger:

Bush is a Republican remtard who can't speak English properly and doesn't care about the average American citezen (his interests are in big corporations and unsuccessful, uncalled-for wars in the Middle East)

Well at least your honest about it. ++talkupation.