Trump's tax forms revealed.

[Clara Tea]

Even before he was elected, it has been well known that Trump's many bankruptcies put Trump's debts on the American taxpayer (bailout), but proponents still hail him as a financial genius for using loopholes and bankruptcy laws to retain his millionaire status,and had hoped that he could use that same savvy to cheat other nations and boost the US. Trump's skill sets include insults (beating Jeb Bush). Does insulting incoming hurricanes repel them, or is that a skill that doesn't work well once one obtains the presidency? Does insulting and getting tough on trade work well with Canada? (They just cut off trade with the US, stranding Alaska with empty shelves and no trade, while making trade deals with Europe). Trump said that he'd make Mexico pay for the border wall, but instead, citing the need for national security and his position as Commander-In-Chief, re-allocated Congress's defense spending for the wall, rather than projects authorized by Congress (dictatorship, taking the power of funding from Congress). Apparently European Whites do belong in America, but Native Americans and Mexicans (who are part Native American) don't belong in America.

CANCELED OBAMA'S BIOTERRORISM PROGRAM:

The head of the program shocked the nation with the revelation that her program was scrapped by Trump. Yet, not mentioned, was the merger Obama's bioterrorism program with other groups (according to the new head of the the bioterrorism program). The purpose of the merger was to utilize expertise outside of the original department, with talent needed from other disciplines (works better with new organization and new experts with diverse backgrounds). So, it wasn't fair to blame Trump for improving the bioterrorism department.

GETTING TOUGH WITH CHINA:

Concerned that the Wuhan Institute of Virology wrote a research paper in 2015 about their hybrid SARS/bat coronavirus that attacks HeLa lung cells in a petri dish (source: Wikipedia article on the Wuhan Institute of Virology), Trump demanded an investigation. Trump noted that China had a forced lock-down of its own people, but allowed carriers of COVID to spread the disease around the world while forcing retractions from two different doctors and a group of teens in a hospital to hush up the COVID plague. Trump had asked China to clean up its act (wet markets, virus laden duck ponds next to pig styes where viruses could leap from one animal to another), but China told him to mind his own business. Then China took back Hong Kong (from Britain, which was due to revert 20 years from now), Taiwan (again, not due to revert yet), and the China Sea (where China had repelled other nation's merchant ships. Trump dispatched aircraft carriers to the China Sea, only to have China intentionally miss them with mach 10 missiles (too fast for the US to stop if there was a nuke war). Russia allied with China, sending in Russian ships as a further threat to the US. China is far tougher, economically, and with manufacturing. The US would be in an awkward spot asking China to make more weapons for the US to use to attack China.

SUMMARY:

The tough rhetoric and insults of Trump are inadequate to deal with the precarious economic and impotent political power of the US, and his savvy to declare bankruptcy to get others to pay his financial obligations, falls short of fixing the woes of the US (COVID, debt, trade, and environment).

 

[Cooky]

Whether or not one pays taxes is unlike the choice of whether to give money to a homeless person.

Taxes are the price we pay for service in a society which is a cooperative endeavor. Taking the benefits from that effort while not paying for them is the equivalent of stealing. It's a moral issue, a matter of conscience. It feels wrong.

The U.S. spends 50 billion dollars in foreign aid every year. They can deduct their losses from that, and still fund their domestic federal agencies.

Personally, I find it more compelling to give to the needy homeless man at the gas station than the beaurocrats in the federal government. That's my personal moral perspective.

With that being said, there are some taxes worth paying IMO, especially at the state level.

 

[joe1776]

The U.S. spends 50 billion dollars in foreign aid every year. They can deduct their losses from that, and still fund their domestic federal agencies.

How does your point relate to the issue of an individual ducking a fair share of taxes?

 

[Twilight Hue]

Yes, the government feels entitled to my hard earned blood-money. But those were my blood and tears.

Its why tax and spend , the centerpiece of political ideology is a cancer on society.

Democrats and even Republicans spend recklessly like drunken sailors on shore leave next to a bar and brothel.

If people only knew where their taxes really go.....

 

[Cooky]

How does your point relate to the issue of an individual ducking a fair share of taxes?

I'm only offering you an ethical reason for why one *might* not feel morally obligated.

 

[Twilight Hue]

The U.S. spends 50 billion dollars in foreign aid every year. They can deduct their losses from that, and still fund their domestic federal agencies.

Personally, I find it more compelling to give to the needy homeless man at the gas station than the beaurocrats in the federal government. That's my personal moral perspective.

With that being said, there are some taxes worth paying IMO, especially at the state level.

I'd also rather contribute to a homeless man than a slimy political hack any day of the week.

Something like taxes for education for example is reasonable. Paying tax money for school union teachers to get unlimited free boob jobs and facelifts through negotiated union contracts isn't.

No doubt morality and ethics is truly lays in the eyes of the beholder.

 

[Revoltingest]

Yes, the government feels entitled to my hard earned blood-money. But those were my blood and tears.

Some people believe that a debt imposed by government
is always moral. I disagree. One should judge whether
the debt is fair & to be used for good. If not, then we don't
owe them our honor.
Of course, one should consider the consequences, & take
precautions, lest one get its boot on one's neck.

 

[Cooky]

Its why tax and spend , the centerpiece of political ideology is a cancer on society.

Democrats and even Republicans spend recklessly like drunken sailors on shore leave next to a bar and brothel.

If people only knew where their taxes really go.....

This is why I see paying taxes as less of a "moral" issue than it is a prudential judgement. And with legal loopholes, the willing have the ability to apply the law in accordance with their view.

 

[Twilight Hue]

How does your point relate to the issue of an individual ducking a fair share of taxes?

I'd like to know just how 'fair share' is quantified and then justified.

 

[joe1776]

I'd like to know just how 'fair share' is quantified and then justified.

The tax code quantifies it. Congress justifies it. We citizens are free to ***** about what constitutes a fair share. It's a lousy system, but that's what we have to deal with at the moment.

 

[Revoltingest]

Even before he was elected, it has been well known that Trump's many bankruptcies put Trump's debts on the American taxpayer (bailout)....

Bankruptcies cause losses to creditors.
What evidence do you have for a loss to taxpayers?

....but proponents still hail him as a financial genius for using loopholes and bankruptcy laws to retain his millionaire status,and had hoped that he could use that same savvy to cheat other nations and boost the US.

What many non-investors don't realize is that investments are
typically owned by corporations & limited liability partnerships.
Unless an investor is a personal guarantor, the bankruptcy
won't cause a liability to the investor. Trump's name on a project
doesn't mean that he's the owner, or even has a majority share.

There is much about Trump that is criticism-worthy,
but we should take care to understand & be accurate.
Check out Dan Alexander's new book about some of
his misdeeds.

 

[Twilight Hue]

The tax code quantifies it. Congress justifies it. We citizens are free to ***** about what constitutes a fair share. It's a lousy system, but that's what we have to deal with at the moment.

Well it stands to reason we are certainly doing our fair shair to meet the high standards of keeping the wealthy and elite in top form so they don't have to do it themselves.

 

[Twilight Hue]

The U.S. spends 50 billion dollars in foreign aid every year. They can deduct their losses from that, and still fund their domestic federal agencies.

Personally, I find it more compelling to give to the needy homeless man at the gas station than the beaurocrats in the federal government. That's my personal moral perspective.

With that being said, there are some taxes worth paying IMO, especially at the state level.

The foreign aid alone is a stark indicator of overseas incompetence.

 

[joe1776]

The foreign aid alone is a stark indicator of overseas incompetence.

Right. I understand. If citizens doesn't approve of the way the money is spent, they are justified in dodging taxes and shifting the burden to other taxpaying fools..

 

[Twilight Hue]

Right. I understand. If citizens doesn't approve of the way the money is spent, they are justified in dodging taxes and shifting the burden to other taxpaying fools..

Therin lay the problem. The people who control it all don't want anything to change, and they will never let that happen.

 

[joe1776]

Therin lay the problem. The people who control it all don't want anything to change, and they will never let that happen.

That's why we progressives aim to take the power away from the oligarchs.

 

[Twilight Hue]

That's why we progressives aim to take the power away from the oligarchs.

Givin the oligarchs are the ones in charge who love it the way it is , that will be quite a tall order.

 

[joe1776]

Givin the oligarchs are the ones in charge who love it the way it is , that will be quite a tall order.

It's only a matter of time. I'm an old progressive, like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, but the younger generation of progressives are making their move now. They will inherit a mess to clean up, but they won't be stopped.

 

[Twilight Hue]

It's only a matter of time. I'm an old progressive, like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, but the younger generation of progressives are making their move now. They will inherit a mess to clean up, but they won't be stopped.

Thats what was essentially said in the 70s. The flower children. Look at them now.

I figure it all depends on who joins the ranks of the new generation of oligarchs that might like things as they were alongside the old generation of oligarchs.

 

[Revoltingest]

It's only a matter of time. I'm an old progressive, like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, but the younger generation of progressives are making their move now. They will inherit a mess to clean up, but they won't be stopped.

The old oligarchs will be replaced by new oligarchs, eh.
It doesn't sound like fundamental change.