United States Biden administration policies and actions - megathread

Battlegrinder

Someday we will win, no matter what it takes.
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Obozny
Sales taxes come out of the income you already pay income tax on. Property taxes ditto, except you also already paid property taxes last year on the same damn property, and will again next year! This is much worse on the double taxation angle than the estate tax IMO. Not to mention, again, that the step up in basis exists explicitly in defiance of the double taxation complaint.

Property taxes are a bit easier to justify on a practical basis, funding for local governments has to come from somewhere and charging residents within that government's jurisdiction an annual fee is probably the most reasonable solution. If you don't like city taxes you can just move out to an unincorporated area without any of the benefits of city services.

I agree with you on sales taxes, however.

I suspect we just disagree at a conceptual level about what is "equal burden". Is it 30% of your money? Or 30% of the money you didn't spend on bare survival? What is bare survival anyway? These are hard questions to fully answer, maybe even impossible, but it seems evident to me that after accounting for health care, living space, transportation, and food the pie is a lot smaller compared to how it started on one side than the other.

I'm not really seeing how this is confusing, the concept of a flat tax rate is extremely simple. It's understandable to exempt some people from it because they're below the poverty threshold, but past that point the concept is simple enough.
 

strunkenwhite

Well-known member
But at the federal level, I'd prefer for it all to be consolidated into a single sales tax, or otherwise simplified. We spend hundreds of millions every year either on tax compliance or avoidance, it'd be a heck of a lot easier if your own taxation was something you could do with a third grade education.
Yes, I'm all for simplification, but that has little to do with the basic form of the tax (sale vs. income, flat vs. progressive, et cetera).
I'm all for something like the Fair Tax which just removes all taxes (throw out all 70,000+ pages of tax law) for a single consumption tax.
Oh my god here we go. The complexity of the tax code is not due to the basic structure of the form of the tax. You could write a progressive income tax on one page. I see no reason to believe a sales tax would be immune to the carveouts that bedevil our tax system. And high sales taxes are especially tempting pinch points for fraud, which the FairTax would not be exempt from.
I want the individual to be able to decide how they get taxed by how they spend.
So, instead of an estate tax, an inheritance tax? (Basing it on how the deceased chose to "spend" their wealth at the point of death distribution-wise.)
 

The Whispering Monk

Well-known member
Osaul
Yes, I'm all for simplification, but that has little to do with the basic form of the tax (sale vs. income, flat vs. progressive, et cetera).

Oh my god here we go. The complexity of the tax code is not due to the basic structure of the form of the tax. You could write a progressive income tax on one page. I see no reason to believe a sales tax would be immune to the carveouts that bedevil our tax system. And high sales taxes are especially tempting pinch points for fraud, which the FairTax would not be exempt from.

So, instead of an estate tax, an inheritance tax? (Basing it on how the deceased chose to "spend" their wealth at the point of death distribution-wise.)

In our case, the complexity of our tax system is a direct result of our many various taxes and the corporate efforts to ensure ways to 'game the system' as well as political efforts to buy votes. It needs to go away, all of it.

No system will be free from abuse. However, it's a million times easier to FIND the abusers when there's only 1 technique for gathering taxes. So your contention that abuse might happen is not a relevant criticism.

Nope, no estate tax and NO inheritance tax. That money is not being spent to purchase anything. It's being given. So no gift tax either.
 

Captain X

Well-known member
Osaul
Both of you stop that. Did the LtCol break UCMJ by speaking like this? According to the laws of the US military, yes, and he is getting his day in military tribunal for that. Is the reason for why this is happening likely reprehensible? Also yes. It is the catch 22 of any military member. You can break UCMJ, or you can remain silent on the inadequacies of your peers or superiors. We saw something similar happen with Captain Crozier last year with the "leak" from his ship regarding the lack of medical assistance. There is no good option here, especially as the laws against speaking out in the first place are nominally in place to prevent politicians from forcing soldiers to do things for their agendas. That they have been perverted to force people who object to bad ideas into silence is the flaw with any kind of law, that it will be twisted to the point of the spirit being broken, while remaining within the letter.
You might recall that Captain Crozier was let off the hook after the massive backlash their attempt to punish him generated in the public.
 

VicSage

Carpenter, Cobbler, Chirugeon, Dataminer.
I do. It took a massive amount of public backlash, that only occurred because everyone thought that Coronavirus was going to be much more deadly than it turned out to be, and they demanded the ship get help.
 

Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
The point being that it became widely known in the public and that people could see the injustice of it. I see no reason why this would be any different, and you can bet this is the reason that this is being kept quiet.
Yep.

Public outcry is the only reason the brass ever pardoned Capt. McViegh of the Indianapolis after his death, and frankly public outcry is the only reason the military doesn't sweep any issues under the rug to save careers, pride, and budgets.
 

Zachowon

The Army Life for me! The POG life for me!
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Yes and no.
Because public out cry can also cause us to try and save someone who deserted, losing more lives in the process.
It can lead to misconceptions about people that others thinks re heros
 

DarthOne

☦️
CrXQEUnz.jpeg
 

bintananth

behind a desk
Yep.

Public outcry is the only reason the brass ever pardoned Capt. McViegh of the Indianapolis after his death, and frankly public outcry is the only reason the military doesn't sweep any issues under the rug to save careers, pride, and budgets.
He shouldn't have been court martialed in the first place.

"A lone heavy cruiser without sonar or hydrophones got torpedoed by an enemy submarine using wakeless torpedoes 15 minutes after midnight and capsized 12 minutes later."

The only way Indianapolis was avoiding that fate is if the sub's periscope was spotted by radar or a lucky lookout.

If anyone deserved to be court martialed for her sinking it would be the flag officer who sent her out without an ASW escort.
 

Bacle

When the effort is no longer profitable...
Founder
He shouldn't have been court martialed in the first place.

"A lone heavy cruiser without sonar or hydrophones got torpedoed by an enemy submarine using wakeless torpedoes 15 minutes after midnight and capsized 12 minutes later."

The only way Indianapolis was avoiding that fate is if the sub's periscope was spotted by radar or a lucky lookout.

If anyone deserved to be court martialed for her sinking it would be the flag officer who sent her out without an ASW escort.
Ah, but that's not how it works; flag ranks are political positions more than military ranks and always have been.

The lower ranks have no real way to hold their superiors accountable when they fuck up, except via public outcry and going outside military channels to people like the media and Congresscritters.

It was the same story with Agent Orange, and with many, many other military fuck-ups or misdeeds that would have been swept under the rug if soldiers didn't get people outside the military involved.

A soldiers superior's can always file complaints away, or bury misdeeds under 'OpSec' headings, and IG's do not have the power to bring charges. However when things get out to the media and public, then the brass cannot hide things, and have to face the music; we can never let the US military get to the point it feels it answers to itself and DC, and not the public of the nation it serves.
 

strunkenwhite

Well-known member
Okay, who are they and why should we care about it?
The senior (2018) Democratic senator from AZ, who along with Manchin (D-WV) is credited with holding up the reconciliation bill Democrats (other than them) want to pass alongside the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

As for what the significance is, my best guess offhand is "if she's not in DC, she's probably not negotiating with the rest of the Democrats and this might be bad for attempts to pass the bills."

I've been hearing that House progressives are willing to torpedo the bipartisan bill if they can't get the reconciliation bill, assuming that House Republicans are a solid no (otherwise Pelosi could use their votes to counteract the progressive rebellion).
 

Zachowon

The Army Life for me! The POG life for me!
Founder
Because the people above him won't charge him with anything.
He can be investigated by IG, but unless someone above him or enough high ranking generals come together.
Milley is there until next year. Then he is a lot less free to not get court martialed. Because you can get court martialed for something years and years ago.
Ah, but that's not how it works; flag ranks are political positions more than military ranks and always have been.

The lower ranks have no real way to hold their superiors accountable when they fuck up, except via public outcry and going outside military channels to people like the media and Congresscritters.

It was the same story with Agent Orange, and with many, many other military fuck-ups or misdeeds that would have been swept under the rug if soldiers didn't get people outside the military involved.

A soldiers superior's can always file complaints away, or bury misdeeds under 'OpSec' headings, and IG's do not have the power to bring charges. However when things get out to the media and public, then the brass cannot hide things, and have to face the music; we can never let the US military get to the point it feels it answers to itself and DC, and not the public of the nation it serves.
The thing you seem to think is "Public outcry helps".
When in fact, it hurts. Because, you can help get someone who demands accountability, be considered for treason if enough back him, as ir would seem like a coup.

The thing is, IG in the military is separate from IG outside. Military IG will work with JAG to charge if what the investigation shows is in violation if the UCMJ.
Almost like we are not in the civilian world.
The thing is, charges have to be from someone equal or above. Which isn't really possible with Milley.
Though, once he is no long CJCS, he is free game as any 4 star ir equivalent position (rank doesn't always denote higher position) could push for it if there is enough of a reason.

Stop thinking the military is doomed because all you see if the military working through misguided lenses.
 

bintananth

behind a desk
Ah, but that's not how it works; flag ranks are political positions more than military ranks and always have been.
The Navy needed a scapegoat for screwing the pooch after she sank because the search-and-rescue was botched too.

Indianapolis was halfway between Leyte Gulf and Guam when she went down in a part of the Pacific Japanese surface ships weren't going to be in and Japanese aircraft couldn't get to at that time, so there would have been no reason for her radar to be turned on. If the Japanese sub had been spotted it would have been perfectly reasonable for the watch officer to think it was a US sub transiting to/from a pair of somewheres.

Note: Capt. McViegh was the only USN officer to be court-martialed for losing a ship during WWII. The CO of the Japanese sub which sank his ship testified in his defense at his trial and basically said that the Indianapolis was doomed the moment he spotted it.
 

Arch Dornan

Oh, lovely. They've sent me a mo-ron.

It's not going so well for their pork.
 

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