Comments

1. Maybe that’s why Bernie and AOC were at Coachella? The 60% are probably hoping that like their college loans the Democrats will eventually transfer that debt to the taxpayers of this country.

2. Oh boy, I’m excited for what @Matt has to say about Delta this time. (It can happen to any airline.)

   On Hertz hack, and hacking generally, the recent reports of Homeland Security (purposely?) letting funding for CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) expire is going to lead to far worse cyberattacks and data breaches in the coming months and years. We are fools to allow this.

   @Coffee Please — Transfer debt to taxpayers? You mean like the bailouts for corporations and the wealthy? Keep licking those tasty boots! Carry water for those billionaires! You remind me of Fry from Futurama: “Someday I might be rich. And then people like me better watch their step.” @L737?

3. @1990. Tax all 800 or so billionaires in the USA to pay for the 340 million that live here. Yup, that will fix it.

4. If only the hackers rented from Hertz they could be thrown in jail easily.

5. Sincere thanks for letting us know Michelin is pay to play.

   Very hard to week out ulterior motives on all kinds of review sites.

6. Wow @ 60% financing their tickets

   I used to make it a point to try and visit as many Michelin starred places as possible but now it’s sometimes a reason not to go

   @1990 — “That’ll show the poor!” Also reminds me of that Bojack scene again: “Reallllly Diane? Look, don’t take it so hard…if you want to do something about it just make a billion dollars and murder me”

7. It sounds like the police arrested and jailed the wrong people in Denmark.

8. Stuff breaks and people get sick.

9. @L737 — Good one! Jeremiah Whitewhale!

   @Coffee Please — Oh, nice strawman. We don’t need a 1950s-style 91% top bracket. Instead, let’s simply enforce existing tax rates for individuals and corporations, instead of firing IRS agents and allowing loopholes for the super-rich. It’s not hard.

10. @1990. Over 30% of the US taxpayers pay zero in Federal taxes. They should have skin in the game. I am not a billionaire but this thinking of just load up in these 800 folks isn’t going to solve your revenue problems.

11. @Coffee It is considered rude in some circles to refute the notion that we can 1) greatly increase rates on the “rich” and coroprations, 2) have zero reduction in economic activity, and 3) continue to drain the wealth of the “rich” with no end in sight. It is heresy to do the math and discuss how short of a time we could support government expenditures with the wealth of billionaires.(100% of all billionaire wealth in US gets you one year, then what?l

    “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” attr. to M. Thatcher

12. @Dave W. Thank you and so true.

13. People who defend the ultra wealthy always talk about the total $ amount of taxes they paid, vs the effective tax % of income they paid. You might have paid $1million in taxes — but if you made a $1billion, that would only be 0.1% of your income. So yes, $1million of taxes is a lot, but compared to what you made, it’s nothing. And for someone making $1billion, even $10 million (1%) is a pittance, when that is more than many people would make in a lifetime. Billionaires should be paying near the top of the 37% tax bracket. A person making $10,000 a year has to pay 10% of their income. They don’t have pricy tax consultants to find loopholes, and they could really use that $1000 in taxes much more than the billionaire would miss $10million. Maybe if you research, you’ll find that many of the entities that pay little to no taxes are the very profitable companies in the US. So why don’t wealthy people or corporations just pay close to their real correct tax %? They have expensive tax people who exploit every loophole and are very creative with interpreting the tax code & finding ways to shield/hide income. Because even if you are the richest person or company in the world, there is no such thing as ‘too much money’.

14. Warren Buffet is proud of the $5 billion his company paid last year and he strongly advocates for these rich weasels to actually fork out taxes rather than screwing the society that allowed them to become rich.

15. @Coffee Please @Dave W. — Fellas, it’s cute to argue tax policy here; meanwhile, we’re on the precipice of a self-induced recession and full-blown authoritarianism in the USA.

    As far as ‘skin in the game’ and ‘socialism’ or any other boogeyman, it’s just no longer realistic concern if our Constitution is void and this administration uses whatever pretext it wishes to declare martial law.

    You want to see ‘redistribution of wealth,’ then look no further than what most dictatorships do to their people—everything you own becomes the state’s (or in this case, that of the strongman).

    Yet, in our case, we don’t even get the ‘trains to run on time’—no, just incompetence, tariffs, scapegoats, and manufactured crises, perhaps wars with neighbors and former allies.

    Not a fan of where any of this is headed. Wish we could just go back to the days of debating nominal differences in tax policy.

    This ‘discussion’ here reminds me of the Presidential debate in Futurama: Jack Johnson v. John Jackson. “Now, I respect my opponent. I think he’s a good man. But quite frankly, I agree with everything he just said.” Also: “ I say your three-cent titanium tax goes too far.” And “I say your three-cent titanium tax doesn’t go too far enough.” @L737, hope you’ve heard of that one!

16. Even the “rich” are subject to Alternative Minimum Tax. It’s not your definition of “rich” that counts, it’ is that of the IRS. ($88,100/yr is evidently considered rich)
    I agree with Dave W. and M. Thatcher

17. @Dave the pay to play is not about individual restaurants, but it’s for the areas that are covered. If a city doesn’t have listings in the Michelin guide, it’s because they didn’t pay to get coverage.

    Michelin is still very much independent. As all guides, everybody faults them, but it’s not because the restaurant paid (or not) for inclusion or a particularly favorable review.

18. @1990 Settle down, boomer boy. Platinum Pro and still expecting to be recognized by gate agents and get your Gin and Tonic PDB from flight attendants? Aren’t you precious. Entitled, much?

    The under-employed, very loud, and always opinionated 1990 fills the airwaves with noxious drivel, yet still can’t seem to reconcile the hypocrisy of his Bernie / AOC oligarchy tripe with his ‘DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?’ demands to soothe his tender ego.

    I pity the poor fool.

19. @1990 — HA yes! “It’s time someone had the courage to stand up and say ‘I’m against those things that everybody hates!'” I just rewatched the clip, classic. Fry’s expressions are priceless.

20. @Commoner. The top 1% has 20% of all income and pay 24% of all taxes. People like to pretend a large number of the rich pay little in taxes as a percentage of income (like your silly 0.1% and 1% examples). These people are uninformed or liars. Which are you? You are quite welcome to argue the marginal rate should be higher, but you can’t pretend the top 1% doesn’t pay the largest percentage of their income in taxes (at about 50% if you include federal, state, and local and about 32% at just federal).

21. @L737 — “They sound like clones…” Bah! I just wish we could elect an honorable leader… like, John Quincy Adding Machine. After all, he “struck a chord with the voters when he promised not to go on a killing spree.” But, “like most politicians, he promised more than he could deliver.” One vote can make a difference! (I doubt any of the haters here even got any of this.)

    @1990 Doth Protest Too Much — Nice name! Yup, Platinum Pro (or even Executive Platinum) doesn’t get you much these days; that’s why I’ll pay for the upgrade, if I want it and when it makes sense, and you bet I’ll order G&Ts with a please, thank-you, and smile. Why not!? Live a little.