Sunday, October 30, 2016

Losing a Billion...

As the Super Tax Genius, I feel a need to dispel a myth about Trump "losing" a billion dollars. This should not be read as a defense of his policies, personality, or honesty.
In the tax world, you lose or gain money on a tax year basis. It doesn't mean the money is gone, just that you spent more in one year than you made. This is common and typical.
When you make an investment, you want to make a better return than you could have if you had just left the money in the bank. The higher the risk, the bigger return you want.
Big businesses spend a lot of money trying to make money, and the returns often take many years to come back.
Trump "lost" money in the tax parlance, but it is a better term to say he spent it. Until he makes the money he spent back, he has no "gain" to tax. Once he makes his billion back, he pays taxes on everything above it.
The same principle works with smaller numbers. You spend $1000 bucks in your business, and if you make $100, you pay no taxes. Make $1500, and you pay taxes on $500, not $1500. It could take a while to make that $1000 back, but, until you do, you haven't made any money.
On a separate note, all those articles about the pentagon "losing" 6 billion dollars are misleading. They can't account for what they spent it on, but they know it was spent and that the very large majority at least spent correctly by law. They just didn't do the paperwork right. Messed up, but the 6 billion dollars isn't just "gone" as some would have you believe.

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Gun to the Head Post Update

Reposting this, not because it's 100% accurate, but because it's the reason I changed my Gun to the Head Clinton vs. Trump vote to: Pull the Fucking Trigger!
We have a serial misogynist vs. a rape apologist, and that's the friendliest interpretation you can make unless you are hopelessly partisan.
The two candidates and their teams that you have foisted upon us are so truly awful, so despicable in their attacks and deplorable lack of ethics that we actually have to discuss things like Rape, Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment and all manner of other disgusting things in the context of a PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION! Fuck all of you for this.
People I know and care about have been victims of sexual assault, rape and sexual harassment and now they have to live through two of the most evil and disgusting parties slinging mud and accusations back and forth, dredging up the horrors they faced,feared, and thought they might have gotten over.
I didn't need this bullshit to want to vote for Gary Johnson, and I don't care who you vote for as long as it's not the King and Queen of Awful, but this is beyond the pale.
Fuck Trump. Fuck Clinton. Fuck this Election. Fuck You if you think any of this bullshit is helping. I don't care who gets elected enough to engage in this Big Fat Bucket of Fuck.

Friday, October 14, 2016

October Surprises

We've reached that point in the election cycle where my standard of proof goes WAAAAAY up.
Anything damaging that comes up now will likely have no chance of being rebutted effectively, even if it turns out to be completely false.  (Dan Rather/George Bush Killian documents)
Campaigns have been pulling this crap for years, but have lately turned it into an artform.  And the unbelievable levels of scumminess in these 2 campaigns makes it likely to be even worse.  So here's where I am:

1. Someone claims something - not listening.
2. Someone releases evidence from non-solid sources - not listening.
3. Someone heavily partisan releases something - not listening.
4. Someone releases heavily edited or redacted "evidence" - I'm skeptical
5. Someone releases something that looks too good (bad) to be true, but is written or recorded - I'm skeptical, but checking it out
6. Someone releases evidence that might be easily forged or manipulated with no backup - I'm skeptical, but checking it out.
7. Someone releases evidence that's not easily forged or manipulated - I'm listening
8. Someone releases good evidence that's backed up by other testimony - I'm starting to think I might believe you.

Obviously, the reliability of the source and the amount of evidence matters.
Wikileaks falls into category's 5 through 7, but I give them extra credit because they have been remarkably accurate lately.

Sexual assault allegations fall in the first category, which sucks, because if they are true, the assaulter should rot in hell.  That said, if it takes allegations of sexual assault to finally get you to realize Trump is truly awful, you are willfully ignoring evidence.  (Hillary sucks too).