US politics general thread

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[GOP Rep] Vern Buchanan bought yacht after voting for House version of GOP tax bill

A recently filed financial disclosure shows U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan celebrated passing the House version of the Republican tax bill in quite the lavish way.

According to the disclosure, Buchanan spent between $1 million and $5 million purchasing an Ocean Alexander yacht on Nov. 16, 2017, the same day he joined 226 other Republicans and no Democrats in voting for the first draft of the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.”

The final tax bill passed Congress on Dec. 20 and was signed into law by President Donald Trump two days later.

While the tax plan was pitched as helping the middle class, it does so only minimally and temporarily if at all. For the nation’s highest earners and for corporations, however, it was a magnanimous change in policy.

Count Buchanan among those benefitting bigly.
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https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-11/alt-left-melts-down-over-unmasking-antifa-act

It seems the new "Unmasking Antifa Act" has ruffled a few feathers among the alt-left.Introduced in*the House last month by Rep Dan Donovan (R-NY), H.R. 6054*is a response to a spate of*violent attacks provoked by masked members of Antifa, and would punish anyone wearing a mask who*"injures, oppresses, threatens or intimidates" a person "in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege" with a fine and up to 15 years in prison.
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OrbitalDawn said:
https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/201...e-disputes-messy-brexit-and-a-bag-of-sliders/



¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Paywall'd

The actual quote...
To put the above results in perspective, note that a number of macroeconomic forecasters expect the TCJA to boost 2018 GDP growth by around a percentage point. The literature discussed above suggests the true boost is more likely to be well below that, as small as zero according to some studies.
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https://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2018/july/procyclical-fiscal-policy-tax-cuts-jobs-act/


I don't really buy it though given the evidence...

The latest monthly budget report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office finds that revenues from federal income taxes were $76 billion higher in the first half of this year, compared with the first half of 2017. That's a 9% jump, even though the lower income tax withholding schedules went into effect in February.

The CBO says the gain "largely reflects increases in wages and salaries."
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https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/income-tax-revenues-trump-tax-cuts-economic-growth/

RONALD DRUMPF!!!!!!
 
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konfab said:
Paywall'd

The actual quote...

https://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2018/july/procyclical-fiscal-policy-tax-cuts-jobs-act/



https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/income-tax-revenues-trump-tax-cuts-economic-growth/

RONALD DRUMPF!!!!!!
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Seems they made those numbers up, since they're not in the report and he (curiously) didn't actually link to it.

The actual report, and some important info the non-bylined piece (for some mysterious reason) didn't deem fit to include, including actual figures:

http://cbo.gov/publication/54156

The federal budget deficit was $607 billion for the first nine months of fiscal year 2018, the Congressional Budget Office estimates, $84 billion more than the shortfall recorded during the same period last year. Revenues and outlays were 1 percent and 4 percent higher, respectively, than in the same period in fiscal year 2017.

In its most recent budget projections, CBO estimated that the deficit for fiscal year 2018 (which ends on September 30, 2018) would total $793 billion, about $127 billion more than the 2017 shortfall.
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So $84 billion higher deficit than last year already, with a forecasted $127 billion for the year as a whole, and spending 4% up, in exchange for 1% increase in revenue, and a $1 trillion deficit by 2020.

Conservative economics at its finest. :crylaugh:
 
Randhir said:
Officials admit they may have separated family – who might be US citizens – for up to a year

I wonder how our lefty libertarians will spin this into a positive thing. I'm sure there's a chapter in Daddy Peterson's book that will show why this is perfectly alright :whistle:
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erm ...

reunification was not currently feasible, including one “because the parent’s location has been unknown for more than a year
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That's not specific enough, but that can as easily fall under the Obama era as the Trump era, we're only 1.5 years into Trump's presidency after all.

Also, lefty libertarian is an oxymoron, just like far-right fascist.
 
Cray said:
That's the privilege of being in power, do you think the conservatives here where all quiet and meek about criticizing Obama?
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I actually don’t recall a specific thread for US politics at that time? Can you point me to it?

The problem is this thread is called US politics but it’s all about conservatives, no balance at all and speak volumes of the agendas people are pushing.
 
OrbitalDawn said:
Seems they made those numbers up, since they're not in the report and he (curiously) didn't actually link to it.

The actual report, and some important info the non-bylined piece (for some mysterious reason) didn't deem fit to include, including actual figures:

http://cbo.gov/publication/54156

Conservative economics at its finest. :crylaugh:
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You miss out on comprehension or something?
CBO estimates that the federal government realized a deficit of $75 billion in June 2018—$15 billion smaller than the shortfall in June 2017. As was the case last year, this year’s June outlays were affected by shifts in the timing of certain payments that otherwise would have been due on a weekend. If not for thoseshifts, outlays and the deficit in June would have been smaller, by roughly $40 billion, both this year and last year—but the month-to-month changes would not have been very different.
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That is 16.6% smaller from last year. In what you disparagingly call "conservative economics", this is called getting the budget under control.
 
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crackersa said:
Good. Antifa is scum. Just as bad as the neo nazis
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How are they as bad? Who have Antifa killed?

https://qz.com/1182778/the-far-right-was-responsible-for-the-majority-of-extremist-killings-in-2017/

White supremacists and other far-right extremists were responsible for 59% of all extremist-related fatalities in the US in 2017.

...

Over the last decade, 71% of domestic extremist related killings in the US were linked to right-wing extremists.
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Do you think it's a good thing that people can get locked up for 15 years for wearing a mask at a protest?

Note, I dislike Antifa, too.
 
konfab said:
You miss out on comprehension or something?
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Did you? Why are you quoting a completely different thing? :erm:


konfab said:
That is 16.6% smaller from last year. In what you disparagingly call "conservative economics", this is called getting the budget under control.
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Yes, if you delete and ignore all the stuff that shows this to be complete BS, it could seem that way.

But even from that part:

CBO estimates that receipts in June 2018 totaled $314 billion—$25 billion (or 7 percent) less than those in the same month last year. Individual income and payroll taxes dropped by $4 billion (or 2 percent), on net.

Corporate revenues declined by $20 billion (or 35 percent), reflecting lower quarterly payments of estimated taxes for the 2018 tax year.
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i.e. the exact opposite of what the apparently made up figures you posted said.

:crylaugh:
 
crackersa said:
Good. Antifa is scum. Just as bad as the neo nazis
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That's absolute nonsense. Antifa are extremists but there's a moral chasm between them and neo-nazis.

Put it this way: if Antifa had their way what would happen? Neo-nazis and white supremacists would be disenfranchised and wouldn't be able to hold marches without fear of retaliation. I don't support that, because I believe in freedom of expression.
If neo-nazis had their way what would happen? Blacks, Jews, gays and other minorities would be exterminated or segregated.

You cannot compare them in degrees of scummery.
 
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