Here we go again.. Nothing is ever done..

[WNYresident]

Mike is right. They don't take office until Jan.


I wasn't following the entire thread. How are the people who just got elected who are not in office yet voting right now to double spending? What budget is getting doubled anyways?

[NBuffaloResident]

Mike is right. They don't take office until Jan.


I wasn't following the entire thread. How are the people who just got elected who are not in office yet voting right now to double spending? What budget is getting doubled anyways?

Research is your friend.

[WNYresident]

Research is your friend.

What ever. So we have GOP'ers right now looking to double the "budget".. how about linking to where you learned this?

[Dougles]

Research is your friend.

This coming from the guy who hears one person say they want to increase spending and then says a whole party wants to??

God your a joke!

[Dougles]

What ever. So we have GOP'ers right now looking to double the "budget".. how about linking to where you learned this?

He isn't and they don't. One GOP'er said he wants to increase spending.

If we went by what one Dem said, we'd have no one making over 75K a year, you'd have to run every choice by govt before you made it, we'd have 1 world bank and no way to defend our self...

NBR why do you support such people?? Why do you want the nation to head in that direction?

[WNYresident]

He isn't and they don't. One GOP'er said he wants to increase spending.

If we went by what one Dem said, we'd have no one making over 75K a year, you'd have to run every choice by govt before you made it, we'd have 1 world bank and no way to defend our self...

NBR why do you support such people?? Why do you want the nation to head in that direction?

I just think NBR is here to jerk our chains.

[BorderBob]

Congressfolk don't have single payer health coverage. They are part of the FEHB (Federal Employee Health Benefit) program which are federal contracted commercial health providers like BCBS, Independent Health and others. They get to choose among providers for the best deal and/or the type of coverage they want to pay for.

To some extent, we already have some things included in the bill like pre-existing conditions. If I had one and want to go from BCBS to Independent Health, I can during the open season period each year with no additional paperwork or costs (which is right now I believe)



b.b.

[nogods]

Congressfolk don't have single payer health coverage. They are part of the FEHB (Federal Employee Health Benefit) program which are federal contracted commercial health providers like BCBS, Independent Health and others. They get to choose among providers for the best deal and/or the type of coverage they want to pay for.

To some extent, we already have some things included in the bill like pre-existing conditions. If I had one and want to go from BCBS to Independent Health, I can during the open season period each year with no additional paperwork or costs (which is right now I believe)



b.b.

bb, lets read carefully:

"We won't have health care reform until we have universal health coverage, which the dems could have achieved by passing a government option (like senators and congresspersons have) along with a single payer law."

we don't need single payer to have universal health coverage, but we do need single payer to have health care reform.

we can provide universal health coverage through either the senate and house version, or medicaid. But adding single payer also reforms the accounting and payment system.

[Bioguy231]

Well, to be fair, the GOP is already getting ready to double spending on the military; and cutting taxes for not only the working joe, but also the insanely wealthy.

I'll be betting they will increase spending even more, and cut taxes for the wealthy even more; while shifting the burden of taxes even more so on the working joes. Call it "intuition", or just remembering the past. Whichever you like.

Oh, and they also promised to make sure Obama is only a single-term president. So, we'll have a Monica-Bill-Starr repeat.

Let's take a look at the insanely wealthy, in fact let's take a look at the most insanely wealthy person in the entire US, Bill Gates. Bill stepped down as CEO at Microsoft in 2008 and no longer draws a salary. So, when income tax time rolls around Bill lists interest he made on his bank accounts and that's about it.

Bill owns 8% of Microsoft and if their stock goes up and Bill makes a few billion, he only pays capital gains tax on that and he only pays those taxes when he sells his Microsoft stock. Bill Gates doesn't really pay a lot of taxes at all.

A lot of people are in the same boat Bill Gates is in.

Now, let's take a look at those that the government has defined as insanely wealthy and who do pay a lot of taxes. Anyone who lists over $250,000 on their income tax return is insanely wealthy. In that category you have a lot of successful doctors, lawyers and corporate executives. These are all people who have made major sacrifices to be where they are at today and now you want to penalize them.

And, while it's true that those people don't really create jobs, you also have a lot of business owners that fall into the insanely wealthy category. Those are people who create jobs and every penny you take from them in taxes is a penny they won't be paying their employees. And, what's listed on a business owner's tax return as income isn't money they are putting in the bank. Income does not equal cash, profit does not equal cash, and as everyone knows, cash is king.

Remember Joe the Plumber from the McCain Obama campaign? Joe was a plumber whose boss wanted to sell the plumbing business. Joe wanted to buy the business but Joe had to borrow the money to do that. Joe figured that the business was profitable enough to pay off the loans. But Joe realized that once he bought the business he would have to pay taxes on those profits and pay the loans off with whatever was left over.

Joe also realized that if his tax rate went up too much, he wouldn't have enough money left to pay the loans.

In Joe's situation, he would be considered insanely wealthy if the business generated over $250,000 in profit per year because that's what Joe would have to list on his tax returns as income. But if the money left over after Joe paid his taxes was barely enough, or not enough, to pay off the loans, Joe would be one very poor person and maybe even one very bankrupt person. But poor, maybe bankrupt Joe is considered insanely wealthy.

Joe stepped forward at an Obama campaign event to raise this issue when Obama was telling everyone "I'm going to raise the taxes on the wealthy".

McCain immediately saw Joe's plight and tried to make it into a national issue.

But, unfortunately, no one but McCain and a few others were smart enough to understand Joe's plight.

It's certain Obama wasn't smart enough to understand.

[nogods]

Let's take a look at the insanely wealthy, in fact let's take a look at the most insanely wealthy person in the entire US, Bill Gates. Bill stepped down as CEO at Microsoft in 2008 and no longer draws a salary. So, when income tax time rolls around Bill lists interest he made on his bank accounts and that's about it.

Bill owns 8% of Microsoft and if their stock goes up and Bill makes a few billion, he only pays capital gains tax on that and he only pays those taxes when he sells his Microsoft stock. Bill Gates doesn't really pay a lot of taxes at all.

A lot of people are in the same boat Bill Gates is in.

Now, let's take a look at those that the government has defined as insanely wealthy and who do pay a lot of taxes. Anyone who lists over $250,000 on their income tax return is insanely wealthy. In that category you have a lot of successful doctors, lawyers and corporate executives. These are all people who have made major sacrifices to be where they are at today and now you want to penalize them.

And, while it's true that those people don't really create jobs, you also have a lot of business owners that fall into the insanely wealthy category. Those are people who create jobs and every penny you take from them in taxes is a penny they won't be paying their employees. And, what's listed on a business owner's tax return as income isn't money they are putting in the bank. Income does not equal cash, profit does not equal cash, and as everyone knows, cash is king.

Remember Joe the Plumber from the McCain Obama campaign? Joe was a plumber whose boss wanted to sell the plumbing business. Joe wanted to buy the business but Joe had to borrow the money to do that. Joe figured that the business was profitable enough to pay off the loans. But Joe realized that once he bought the business he would have to pay taxes on those profits and pay the loans off with whatever was left over.

Joe also realized that if his tax rate went up too much, he wouldn't have enough money left to pay the loans.

In Joe's situation, he would be considered insanely wealthy if the business generated over $250,000 in profit per year because that's what Joe would have to list on his tax returns as income. But if the money left over after Joe paid his taxes was barely enough, or not enough, to pay off the loans, Joe would be one very poor person and maybe even one very bankrupt person. But poor, maybe bankrupt Joe is considered insanely wealthy.

Joe stepped forward at an Obama campaign event to raise this issue when Obama was telling everyone "I'm going to raise the taxes on the wealthy".

McCain immediately saw Joe's plight and tried to make it into a national issue.

But, unfortunately, no one but McCain and a few others were smart enough to understand Joe's plight.

It's certain Obama wasn't smart enough to understand.

You have obviously never had more than $250,000 of taxable income if you believe such malarky

[Bailey]

You have obviously never had more than $250,000 of taxable income if you believe such malarky

Which part do you believe is malarky?

BioGuy, slight correction. Gates would be paying quite a bit of taxes on the interest income on his investments. His money just isn't in bank accounts. In this market, figure anywhere from 3% - 5% min. income from his portfolio which is substantial.

[nogods]

Which part do you believe is malarky?

BioGuy, slight correction. Gates would be paying quite a bit of taxes on the interest income on his investments. His money just isn't in bank accounts. In this market, figure anywhere from 3% - 5% min. income from his portfolio which is substantial.

for starters, this part:

"Those are people who create jobs and every penny you take from them in taxes is a penny they won't be paying their employees."

Do you really think that the first year Bill gates had $251,000 of taxable income he said "wow, I'm going to spend every penny of that extra $1,000 on my employees!?


And the sad sack joe the plumber story - be real - they guy was a putz. He didn't fail in business because of high taxes, he failed because he couldn't figure out how to pay his taxes.


Regarding his statement to Barack Obama about intending to buy the plumbing firm that employed him, Wurzelbacher later said that the idea of buying the company was discussed during his job interview six years prior.

According to MSNBC and Fox News, court records show that Wurzelbacher made $40,000 in 2006. Dun & Bradstreet's report estimated that A. W. Newell Corporation, the full corporate name, had $510,000 in annual sales and eight employees.

As part of the background on McCain's use of "Joe the Plumber," several media outlets researched his professional plumbing credentials. One Toledo Blade article stated, "Mr. Wurzelbacher said he works under Al Newell’s license, but according to Ohio building regulations, he must maintain his own license to do plumbing work. He is also not registered to operate as a plumber in Ohio, which means he’s not a plumber." "Mr. Joseph [business manager of the local union] said Mr. Wurzelbacher could only legally work in the townships, but not in any municipality in Lucas County or elsewhere in the country." Wurzelbacher has since stated that he is no longer employed at Newell.

ABC News reported on October 16, 2008, that there was a judgment lien against Wurzelbacher for non-payment of $1,182 in owed Ohio state income taxes dating to January 2007

On February 13, 2010 Wurzelbacher attended a political event for Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Sam Rohrer. Speaking to a reporter afterwards, Wurzelbacher said that "McCain was trying to use [him]", and accused McCain of having "really screwed [Wurzelbacher's] life up"

[PickOranges]

My point on this thread was Obama made the mistake of trying to tackle healthcare reform.

He should of started with jobs. Now, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Cantor right away state they are going to tackle heath care. They don't have the votes. They can't change crap with out help from the Democrats.

They should both concentrate on jobs and the economy..but "no".. They still want to play politics..

Lets talk about the deficit.. Isn't that what the American People WANT to lower or get rid of? They have to raise the ceiling in the coming weeks or default.. So if you let Bush-era tax cuts expire, it would cut the federal budget deficit $4 trillion over 10 years. This is the Tea Party platform.. The Republicans want to continue the tax breaks for the rich..

There is no one on this board that makes $250,000.. You wouldn't waste your time posting here that for SURE.. So let say you made $251,000 like nogods said, you would be tax on the extra $1000. So what is that? $10, $20, $30

Everybody acts like they are giving up the $1000 and if they made $500,000, You act like they will be giving the gov't the extra $250,000.

Penalize.. No way.. Some of these guys make millions ripping people off..

[ILOVEDNY]

When Obama won, the Democrats had both house and passed the heathcare.

Now.. The Republican want to waste time and produce nothing.. No jobs no economic development.

So when the new congress passes a bill.
Then the senate goes along and sends the bill to POTUS.
Then POTUS vetos it.
I'll expect to see you on here whinning about President NO.

[Bioguy231]

Which part do you believe is malarky?

BioGuy, slight correction. Gates would be paying quite a bit of taxes on the interest income on his investments. His money just isn't in bank accounts. In this market, figure anywhere from 3% - 5% min. income from his portfolio which is substantial.

The stock markets work differently from banks with respect to taxes. Interest you make from a bank account is considered simple income and you pay income taxes on it.

Money you make in the stock market is a capital gain and you only pay capital gains taxes on that gain when you sell the stock. It's like owning a house. If you own a house or property that doubles in value you don't pay capital gains taxes on that increase until you sell your house or property.

In the case of Bill Gates, he owns roughly 8% of Microsoft and has for a long time. If Microsoft stock values double, Bill pays no taxes on that until he decides to sell some of the stock.

With regard to capital gains, if you own a house, property, stock or any capital asset for more than one year, when you sell it you pay 15% on the capital gain. If you own for less than a year, the tax you pay is much higher, similar to what you pay on simple income.