On 2/23/2026 at 5:42 PM, Alan Zweibel said:

I have no doubt the spending is dangerously outpacing revenue. My point has always been that these folks who claimed to be so alarmed about the national debt seem to be completely blind to the issue of taxation. I'm sure that you aren't one of them and you recognize the role that reversing tax cuts needs to play in restoring the US government's financial soundness.

The growth of the federal budget needs to be reduced. However, no one in Congress wants to make the tough decisions. Instead, they claim that any cuts will harm the elderly or cry about billionaires.

On 2/19/2026 at 8:52 PM, Wingate said:

The national budget is also falling deeper into disrepair because of the tax cuts the elite demand from self-serving politicians.

Are the current spending levels sustainable?

29 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Oh yeah, he raised corporate taxes, which consumers have to pay, which makes them regressive. Great job lefty!

Oh, and he increased the number of federal employees by ~6% and increased federal workers pay by ~10%.

32 minutes ago, Fact said:

The growth of the federal budget needs to be reduced. However, no one in Congress wants to make the tough decisions. Instead, they claim that any cuts will harm the elderly or cry about billionaires.

Good thing that Donald Trump, unlike Congress, is willing to make the tough decision. Like proposing an over 50% increase to the defense department budget

28 minutes ago, Fact said:

Are the current spending levels sustainable?

Are the current tax rates sustainable?

9 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

Fist lie

I want you to explain how paying interest on a loan is cheaper than paying long term capital gains.

Most billionaires, own businesses and draw salaries or have other forms of income

The loan you describe has a thirty-year term and is unrelated to the borrower's lifetime. There is no requirement that the borrower pay it off before they.

It would appear to me that it you that lacks understanding.

I'm not going to bite on your comment about interest on a loan vs. capital gains. We have not discussed that and I don't have the time or inclination to delve into topics we haven't discussed before with someone who appears incapable of grasping these concepts.

I'm going to give you 2 examples of billionaires who paid no tax and 1 example of a billionaire who had several years of extremely low tax, from this report...

The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax — ProPublica

Elon Musk paid no federal income tax in 2018, despite being one of the richest people in the world.

How that happened

Musk’s wealth is tied up in Tesla and SpaceX stock, which isn’t taxed until sold.

He borrowed against his shares to fund expenses, which doesn’t count as taxable income.

In 2018, deductions and credits offset his reported income, resulting in zero federal tax liability.

Other billionaires highlighted in the same report included Jeff Bezos (no federal income tax in 2007 and 2011) and Michael Bloomberg, who also had years of extremely low effective tax rates.

This illustrates the “buy, borrow, die” strategy:

• Buy/hold assets → wealth grows untaxed.

• Borrow against assets → spend without triggering taxable gains.

• Die → heirs inherit with a “step‑up in basis,” erasing unrealized gains for tax purposes

To take your second point. You said I don’t understand finance because you said no one has to pay off a loan within their lifetime. Many loans are fixed term and must be paid off at the end of the term. Clearly what you said was a lie as some loans must be paid off in the borrower's lifetime.

7 hours ago, TedG said:

One of the largest drivers of that rising debt is federal spending on major healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Such spending is projected to rise by 73 percent over the next decade and will exceed all other categories of federal spending in 2028. By 2055, spending on major healthcare programs will account for 30 percent of total federal outlays, exceeding the total amount spent on discretionary programs, such as defense and education, by 59 percent.

Let's say I believe your argument (which I don't). You'd rather blow people up than give them healthcare?!? WTF?!?

DoW and education are "discretionary"?!? Wow! Sounds like a generation of dumbasses to me...

47 minutes ago, Alan Zweibel said:

Good thing that Donald Trump, unlike Congress, is willing to make the tough decision. Like proposing an over 50% increase to the defense department budget

Yessirree Bob. Money (we don't have) well spent! /s

On 2/19/2026 at 10:22 PM, Alan Zweibel said:

Tax avoidance by the superwealthy is an economic issue as well as a political one

Data from the Federal Reserve shows that only the richest 1% of households have grown their share of overall U.S. wealth since 1990. Their share hit a record 32% in the third quarter of 2025, equivalent to $54.8 trillion.

Gains made by the billionaire class, the very top 0.1% of households and a subset of the 1%, have eclipsed the merely extremely rich. This group’s share of U.S. net wealth has risen nearly 6 percentage points to 14.4% since 1990.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/billionaires-low-taxes-are-becoming-a-problem-for-the-economy/ar-AA1WzNOA?ocid=finance-verthp-feeds

Funny. The Fed free money machine blaming wealth destruction on anyone except themselves.

9 hours ago, Alan Zweibel said:

Actually, as economists noted, companies have been holding back on passing along all the costs imposed by tariffs. ANd where did I write that "companies can't pass their income taxes on to the consumers." This is a typical distortion from you.

As for your crocodile tears about consumers, what effects will tariffs have on the prices they pay? After all, about 50% of imported goods by value are intermediate inputs that are used by domestic manufacturers. Of course the effect isn't as severe on domestic manufacturers as it is on businesses that ship whole goods to the United States. But of course, that differential, allows domestic companies to charge consumers more than they otherwise would.

I am generally against both tariffs and corporate income taxes, and have been clear about that.

1 hour ago, JBChiangRai said:

I'm not going to bite on your comment about interest on a loan vs. capital gains. We have not discussed that and I don't have the time or inclination to delve into topics we haven't discussed before with someone who appears incapable of grasping these concepts.

I'm going to give you 2 examples of billionaires who paid no tax and 1 example of a billionaire who had several years of extremely low tax, from this report...

The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax — ProPublica

Elon Musk paid no federal income tax in 2018, despite being one of the richest people in the world.

How that happened

Musk’s wealth is tied up in Tesla and SpaceX stock, which isn’t taxed until sold.

He borrowed against his shares to fund expenses, which doesn’t count as taxable income

In 2018, deductions and credits offset his reported income, resulting in zero federal tax liability.

Other billionaires highlighted in the same report included Jeff Bezos (no federal income tax in 2007 and 2011) and Michael Bloomberg, who also had years of extremely low effective tax rates.

This illustrates the “buy, borrow, die” strategy:

• Buy/hold assets → wealth grows untaxed.

• Borrow against assets → spend without triggering taxable gains.

• Die → heirs inherit with a “step‑up in basis,” erasing unrealized gains for tax purposes

To take your second point. You said I don’t understand finance because you said no one has to pay off a loan within their lifetime. Many loans are fixed term and must be paid off at the end of the term. Clearly what you said was a lie as some loans must be paid off in the borrower's lifetime.

You're not going to "bite" on it, because you don't understand it. You read a few lines of an article and now you're an expert.

If you borrow money, the bank charges interest. Again, I see nothing wrong borrowing money against assets, nor do I see anything wrong with legally avoiding taxes, nor do I see anything wrong with kids not having to pay capital gains on their family home when their mother dies to keep it.

You cherry-pick a few years that a few billionaires paid no personal federal income taxes, say they paid NO taxes, and think it proves that the over 900 billionaires in the US all pay very little in taxes. It does not.

How much state, local and federal tax revenue did Tesla and Amazon generate?

The top 1% of earners in the US pay ~40% of all federal income taxes

The top 10% of earners in the US pay over 70% of all federal income taxes

The bottom half of taxpayers in the US pay almost nothing in federal income taxes.

Would you rather have 1% of a billion, or 90% of a million?

30 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

How much state, local and federal tax revenue did Tesla and Amazon generate?

Would you rather have 1% of a billion, or 90% of a million?

12 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

I want you to explain how paying interest on a loan is cheaper than paying long term capital gains.

It's like debating with a goldfish. You're attention span drifts and you deflect into the "whataboutery" especially when confronted with facts that disprove your nonsensical statements like nobody has to pay off their loan within their lifetime.

1 minute ago, JBChiangRai said:

It's like debating with a goldfish. You're attention span drifts and you deflect into the "whataboutery" especially when confronted with facts that disprove your nonsensical statements like nobody has to pay off their loan within their lifetime.

Of course, it's my fault you are unable support your claims, so you clip my post and insult me. Typical.

18 hours ago, Schoggibueb said:

@Yellowtail

You are on my ignore list. I don't feed trolls.

Just knock it off.

Me too. Not worth it. He lives online (nothing else to do.)

1 hour ago, Issan girl said:

Me too. Not worth it. He lives online (nothing else to do.)

I'm always amused when people that are online attempt to insult others by claiming they are online.