BILLIONAIRES

[HighStepper]

From the Video
Mark Cuban explained the tech billionaires support of Trump. "Watch what happens in Silicon Valley, it's insane. It's not so much as a support Trump thing, it more like a takeover thing. Trying to put themselves in a position to have as much control as possible. They want Trump to be the CEO of America with them as the board of directors that make him listen to them."

From News Article
Mark Cuban says former President Donald Trump's fans in Silicon Valley don't just want him to be president again — they want him to be the "CEO of the United States of America," with them as his board of directors.

"Watching what's happening in Silicon Valley is insane," Cuban said Monday in an interview with "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart. "It's not so much a support thing. It's more like a takeover thing, trying to put themselves in a position to have as much control as possible."   Link

[Hobby]

How fucking ridiculous!  He currently has thousands of people employed!

No his corporation has people employed.  Just because a person gives jobs doesn't excuse committing crime.

[Hobby]

Surely there's a happy medium somewhere between "the American dream" and accumulating billions.

So how about this: You can have all the millions you want, up to a thousand of them. At that point, maybe it's time to tax you a bit more so some of it is sent back to the little people who made it all possible.

It's not crazy.

This is how I feel about it...

[Blkfyre]

You liberals are always out for a free hand out... pure socialism! Top 50% of taxpayers pay over 97.7% of all income taxes while the bottom 50% income earners pay only 2.3%. Does that sound like a fair system? Maybe everyone should pay so they have skin in the game.

Gotta love it when conservatives use "socialism" as a dirty word. As if they aren't collecting on socialism their entire lives

Products of socialism:

Social Security
Minimum Wage
Child labor laws
Medicare

[Danno]

fire dept, police

[Oldranger]

This is a old story that was told in the 60's

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for lunch and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes (including GST on purchases), it would go something like this:

    The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
    The fifth would pay $1.
    The sixth would pay $3.
    The seventh would pay $7.
    The eighth would pay $12.
    The ninth would pay $18.
    The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men ate lunch in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily lunch by $20.00." So lunch for the ten men would now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six men? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to eat his lunch.

So the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.

     And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% off).
    The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% off).
    The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% off).
    The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% off).
    The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% off).
    The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% off).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat lunch for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare the amount they got off.

The sixth man said, "I only got $1 off out of the $20 while the tenth man got $10 off!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only got $1 off, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!"

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 off, when I got only $2?  The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "we didn't get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and told him they were angry that he got so much off while they each got very little.

The next day the tenth man didn't show up for lunch, so the nine sat down and had their lunches without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money amongst all of them for even half of the bill!

And that is how our tax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes should naturally get the largest benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start eating overseas (& there are a million and one instruments to avoid taxes), where the atmosphere is somewhat different (there is no such thing as a fair tax system)!

Socialist ideals only works to provide for the bottom rung of Maslow's hierarchy of needs! Anything above that, everybody suffers making everybody poorer!...and most importantly kill innovation! examples abound from Cuba to China so unless you want be that, you've got to think harder about what you want!

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.

For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

[bats]

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.

For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

And for those who think this "analogy" works on any level, please go back to school or something.

[Fathernature69]

And for those who think this "analogy" works on any level, please go back to school or something.

 One item Old Ranger message pointed out is bthe billionaire may quit showing up. 

In 2022 Elon Musk left for Texas.  In 2021 he paid 2 billion in taxes.  Who going to make that up in California?

Not the poor!  My guess is everyone on this thread.

In 2022 California ran a surplus in revenues.  In 2024 we run a deficit.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-29/how-much-tax-does-elon-musk-save-by-moving-to-texas-and-selling-tesla-stock?embedded-checkout=true

https://calmatters.org/commentary/2024/05/california-budget-surplus-became-deficit/

[bats]

One item Old Ranger message pointed out is bthe billionaire may quit showing up. 

In 2022 Elon Musk left for Texas.  In 2021 he paid 2 billion in taxes.  Who going to make that up in California?

Musk saved having to pay CA state income taxes, but not because of anything in that old tale about the men going out to eat. He just moved to a state with no income tax. That's a different issue. 

[Romanticlover]

Chevron has been in Cali for over 140 years and they just moved their HQ to Texas saving them a lot on state taxes.
I've said this before: "Who's going to pay for your social utopia when all the rich people and corporations leave California??

[Hobby]

This is a old story that was told in the 60's

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for lunch and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes (including GST on purchases), it would go something like this:

    The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
    The fifth would pay $1.
    The sixth would pay $3.
    The seventh would pay $7.
    The eighth would pay $12.
    The ninth would pay $18.
    The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men ate lunch in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily lunch by $20.00." So lunch for the ten men would now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six men? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his fair share?

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to eat his lunch.

So the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by a higher percentage the poorer he was, to follow the principle of the tax system they had been using, and he proceeded to work out the amounts he suggested that each should now pay.

     And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% off).
    The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% off).
    The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% off).
    The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% off).
    The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% off).
    The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% off).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat lunch for free. But, once outside the bar, the men began to compare the amount they got off.

The sixth man said, "I only got $1 off out of the $20 while the tenth man got $10 off!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only got $1 off, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more benefit than me!"

"That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 off, when I got only $2?  The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "we didn't get anything at all. This new tax system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and told him they were angry that he got so much off while they each got very little.

The next day the tenth man didn't show up for lunch, so the nine sat down and had their lunches without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money amongst all of them for even half of the bill!

And that is how our tax system works. The people who already pay the highest taxes should naturally get the largest benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start eating overseas (& there are a million and one instruments to avoid taxes), where the atmosphere is somewhat different (there is no such thing as a fair tax system)!

Socialist ideals only works to provide for the bottom rung of Maslow's hierarchy of needs! Anything above that, everybody suffers making everybody poorer!...and most importantly kill innovation! examples abound from Cuba to China so unless you want be that, you've got to think harder about what you want!

For those who understand, no explanation is needed.

For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Sounds to me the owner was over charging to begin with. And the rich guy could afford to buy everyone their meal.  What is the point having personal income of 1 million dollars when they don't need that much money to live.  People should not hoard money. 

[Hobby]

When I was young and working sure I wanted to make more. It didn't bother me then how much people had.  But now I am 70 I can't work because of disability. I am on a retirement from state of California and social security.  There is no American Dream for me.  I now realize now what poor people are saying.  Some people don't have what it takes to become a millionaire they survive on what they have.  When cost go up poor people get hit hardest.  They buy things that profit the rich but the rich don't help them so that's why I agree the government needs to step in to make rich people pay their fair share.  Rich people don't think or care about inflation, medical cost etc they can afford it. Children of poor families don't have the money to pay tuition at top rated colleges. 

[bats]

Chevron has been in Cali for over 140 years and they just moved their HQ to Texas saving them a lot on state taxes.
I've said this before: "Who's going to pay for your social utopia when all the rich people and corporations leave California??

I don't believe the OP was talking about California's billionaires. State by state differences in taxation are a separate issue.

[HighStepper]

Mahatma Gandhi said, "The Earth has enough resources to meet the needs of all but not enough to satisfy the greed of even one person."

SUMMARY OF PROPUBLICA'S REPORT ON BILLIONAIRE TAX DODGERS
3 page report

[Romanticlover]

I don't believe the OP was talking about California's billionaires. State by state differences in taxation are a separate issue.

You keep saying that bats but the richest man in the world use to live in California, he still has a Tesla plant in Fremont. I think talking about state taxes is germane to the topic.