Economy

There you go again

The Democrats are proposing a new tax (what else is new?) and are lying about who will pay it. (again) They are claiming that billionaires are using this magic method to avoid paying capital gains taxes. What is the magic method?

They don’t pay capital gains tax until they actually have capital gains to tax.

When you buy an asset and sell it for more than you paid, the difference is called a capital gain. There are two types of capital gains: long term, and short term. A short term capital gain is one where the asset was held for less than a year. Short term gains are taxed the same as income. A long term capital gain is for an asset held longer than a year, and is taxed at a lower rate than is ordinary income.

As anyone who has ever bought and sold anything should know, the value of anything you own will fluctuate with the market. If I own a classic car, say a 1965 Mustang, it could have a “value” that changes from year to year. That value is purely theoretical until I actually sell it. If I look up my car and see the profit I could make on that car, that profit is called an unrealized gain, and it only exists on paper. Once I sell and actually make money on the car, it becomes a realized gain.

What the Democrats want to do, is tax people on the unrealized gains that they have on assets that they own. They claim that people who own assets that have increased in value, but haven’t paid capital gains taxes on, is some kind tax dodge. They are ignoring the fact that an asset may be worth less one year than it was the year before. They are also trying to claim that only billionaires do this.

“No nurse or firefighter or teacher in America can play those games,” said Wyden. “They pay their taxes with every paycheck and are rightfully outraged when they read about the wealthiest few paying so little while they are working hard to make ends meet.”

This is the big lie. My wife bought the house we live in twelve years ago. The purchase price was about half what Zillow says it is worth now. If we were to sell it, the profit would be a capital gain. The democrat proposal would have us pay taxes on that “profit” every year- even if we didn’t sell. The fact that we don’t do that now isn’t some dodge that only billionaires use- every homeowner in America is going to get hit by this proposed tax.

By Divemedic, ago

No credit scores

Something that missed my eye when it came out back in May was this story. It says that banks are going to be issuing credit cards to those in the US without credit scores. The claim here is that there are as many as 50 million people in America who do not have a credit score. Who in America has no credit score? That would mainly be people with no Social Security number, or those who deal only in cash.

Illegal immigrants? Criminals? This strikes me as a two fold policy:

  1. Allow illegals to get access to credit cards.
  2. Bring those who deal in cash, and are thus largely untraceable, into the full view of the government.

This will also give a large amount of short term spending cash to those who don’t otherwise have credit. Where did this idea come from? The Biden administration. They call it “Project REACh.”

REACh stands for Roundtable for Economic Access and Change and brings together leaders from the banking industry, national civil rights organizations, business, and technology to identify and reduce barriers that prevent full, equal, and fair participation in the nation’s economy.

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

Who were the people that the administration brought together to come up with this idea? Representatives from the National Black Farmers’ Association, US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the NAACP, Credit Karma, and the National Diversity Coalition, among others.

Fundamental transformation, great reset, and all of that. Minorities will think this is a great idea. It isn’t- not for them, not for investors, and not for the economy. This is another way for banks to get more people owing them more money. It will also increase consumer spending, which will increase inflationary pressure by injecting more money into the economy.

By Divemedic, ago

No savings

This editorial talks about the costs of a miles driven tax versus a fuel tax. If I have learned anything about taxes and government in my time on Earth, it is this: A miles driven tax will not be *instead* of a fuel tax, it will be *in addition* to a fuel tax.

So using the writer’s numbers, a truck driver will go from paying $1,582 a year to $2,685a year, a cost that will be passed on in other ways.

Likewise, your average car owner will see their tax burden go from $306 to $1,359.

Like Reagan said: tax and spend.

By Divemedic, ago

F*ck Maxine Waters

Why? Let me quote her:

“Yes, the small landlords are at a disadvantage, but guess what, they know how to go to the bank, they know how to get a loan”

Maxine Waters, on the eviction moratorium impact on small business

The Democrats claim to be for the little guy, but that is bullshit. They care about their rich friends, and that’s it.

By Divemedic, ago

Gangs funded by govt

An investigation by the state of Florida AG has found that street gangs fraudulently obtained funding from the Paycheck Protection Program and other COVID relief to buy drugs and guns.

At least six people created limited liability companies, or LLCs, solicited people through social media and in some cases stole identities to apply for PPP and SBA loans, then using the funds obtained to fund criminal enterprises. This included guns and drugs picked up from a marijuana farm in California and flown back to Orlando.

By Divemedic, ago

Inflation and shortages

All sorts of excuses are being made, but inflation seems to be hovering around 20 percent. There seem to be all sorts of shortages.

When I was on my lobster trip to South Florida, we ate at Frigates in West Palm Beach. They were out of hogfish and lobster. Seafood restaurants all over the country are reporting shortages and higher prices.

My wife and I went to Longhorn steakhouse on Friday. They were out of strip steaks and lava cake.

Welcome to socialism.

By Divemedic, ago

Rents and inflation

For months I have been posting about how the eviction moratorium is killing landlords. Many landlords are leaving the business, on top of that, there is inflation to deal with. The increased costs, increased risk, increased demand, and falling supply has combined with record inflation to put a lot of pressure on rental prices.

So now Orlando area residential rents are seeing the highest rate increases in history. In the last year, rent in the Orlando market has increased nearly 14%. I know that we have seen increases in our costs: insurance, taxes, lawn maintenance, and other expenses have increased. This means that we will be increasing rent on our properties, I just don’t know by how much yet. The increase will be at least four percent, maybe as much as ten. I will know more in the fall. Our next lease renews right before Thanksgiving, so I will know by mid October.

By Divemedic, ago

NJ socializes property

The New Jersey governor just signed a law which extends the state’s eviction moratorium to January of 2022. This means that owners of residential rental property in New Jersey have not collected rent in nearly two years. At what point is this an unconstitutional taking of private property for public use?

The only way out for these property owners is either bankruptcy, which means the state gets the property, or a mysterious fire, which gets the owner an insurance check.

By Divemedic, ago

Sue them

I have been talking about evictions and how landlords are being blamed for the problems caused through government malfeasance.

Landlords all over are saying that they are being put out of business because they are not being permitted to remove non paying tenants from their property. The government claims to offer rental assistance, but it is a sham. A year of rent free living often means that tenants owe tens of thousands of dollars in back rent. These rental assistance plans often require that landlords sign an agreement which states that they agree to accept whatever the government sends as full and final payment for all past due rent. So the landlord is expected to accept pennies on the dollar.

Instead, some landlords in New Jersey have found a better way. After fourteen months of watching their money go out without a dime in rent being paid, they have had enough. They can’t evict- but they can sue. They go to court, sue the tenant, and get a judgement for the past due rent.

Such lawsuits do not violate the governor’s eviction moratorium. That has the communists going apoplectic.

“I don’t think it’s in the spirit of the moratorium,” Albert added.

The claimed “Spirit” and legal basis for the moratorium was that people who have been evicted pose a risk for spreading COVID. It is supposedly an infection control measure. Of course, we all know the truth: the eviction moratorium is just another giveaway program- one paid for by property owners.

Communism, isn’t it great?

By Divemedic, ago

Employee trouble

My post of this afternoon centered around employees feeling like they are owed something, simply because they had been employees for a long time, even if those employees hadn’t done anything to improve themselves for (in some cases) decades. There is a reason for that post.

I was hired into a management position at a hospital. When I was hired, I got a lot of pushback. It seems that the employees of the department who had been there for a long time were upset that someone was brought in from the outside, and felt that the position should have gone to them, because they had been there for a long time. One employee told me that she felt like her 17 years there meant nothing and that I got that promotion simply because “I rode around in a truck for a few years.” I told her that it wasn’t just my time on an ambulance that mattered. It was my certifications, my four college degrees, my years of experience as a supervisor that landed me that position. I advised her that she should take advantage of our employer’s tuition reimbursement program, so she could be more qualified the next time a promotion became available. She quit a week later.

Other employees told me that they felt like our employer should pay more. I listened and went to management, who told me that they won’t pay more unless the employees gain a skill. I went back to my employees with a deal: I would help them learn the material to take an exam to earn a certification pertinent to our job, and if they passed the exam, our employer would give them a 20% raise. The cost of the exam is $200. I was willing to teach them on my own time.

The employees refused, saying that they would only take the class if they were on the clock, and refused to pay for the exam fees out of their own pocket. So to sum it up, they want a raise, more training, more certifications, and they want their employer to pay for it all. Why would any employer do all of that? It makes no economic sense. It would be cheaper to let you quit and hire more qualified employees.

If employees refuse to make themselves more valuable, how can they expect to make more money?

By Divemedic, ago