[no_such_reality]

[quote=AN][quote=flu][quote=AN][quote=briansd1]It’s income over $250,000, not all of it. People just don’t seem to understand the concept of marginal rates.[/quote]
Of course it’s income over $250k and it only hit 3% of the people. After that’s in the bag, what would stop them from saying, lets lower that to $150k when they need more money. That only affect a few more % of people. Those people are not middle class anyways. Then what would stop them from lowering it to $100k? That’s alost 2X the median income. It only affect another small % of people.[/quote]

AN… Talk to you wife…File for divorce. Then each of you have $200k un no-obama plan. Not to mention being a single parent gives you certain tax advantages…[/quote]
Better solution is to have my wife stay at home. Automatic income and tax reduction. I’ll use your argument from now on and just ask everyone else to pay their fair share.[/quote]

That’s funny, that’s our conclusion too. The proposed taxes all go through, my wife will basically volunteer for the next round of lay-offs.

We will then no longer need the nanny.

Net minus 2 jobs.

For us, after the tax adjustments and savings on the nanny, really a net zero to discretionary income. We lose the wifes’ additional 401K contribution, but oh well.

Our nanny, not going to be so easy on her, so I’m really hoping they hold off on this idiocy until she completes school.

[no_such_reality]

I can imagine the mandatory additional paperwork I’d have to file and mandatory contributions I’d have to make for the nanny we have employed.

That’s basically the real target, nannies, house-cleaners, etc.

Net result would be even more under the table employment of illegal labor.

Frankly, I have a proposal for them, enforce the employment laws on the books today.

[no_such_reality]

That’s a primary difference between rich and poor.

The poor, that includes basically all of us on this blog, buy a poster of a Monet or a Monet knock-off to hang on the wall.

The rich buy a Monet.

When the poor need to raise money, they sell critical assets (their $401K, stocks, etc). The rich sell the Monet.

[no_such_reality]

You all are really funny bickering over class warfare

We are overspending by a trillion, which happens to be 33% or basically 1/3rd

Taxes need to increased across the board for all people and business by a 30%

Or you can cut

California has tried the tax the rich and it fails miserably. It is why our budget revenue swings so drastically.

We can argue over Romney paying to little or the poor getting hit too hard but everyone needs to share the paIn. it’s a uniform increase or cuts across the board. The gap is too big to try goring sacred cows

[no_such_reality]

You all are really funny bickering over class warfare

We are overspending by a trillion, which happens to be 33% or basically 1/3rd

Taxes need to increased across the board for all people and business by a 30%

Or you can cut

California has tried the tax the rich and it fails miserably. It is why our budget revenue swings so drastically.

We can argue over Romney paying to little or the poor getting hit too hard but everyone needs to share the paIn. it’s a uniform increase or cuts across the board. The gap is too big to try goring sacred cows

[no_such_reality]

That’s a beautiful engineering.

This one is too.

[no_such_reality]

[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]
We, as a nation, have been subjected to two generations of outright bullshit from our supposed “leaders” and now have fewer rights, less money and less freedom, while we’re busy fighting each other over stupid shit like gay marriage. And, no, Brian, I don’t mean gay marriage is stupid, I mean it’s a contrived “issue” that is sufficiently divisive to keep our focus off what’s really happening.
[/quote]

And to bring us back to the original issue, that really happening is the squandering of $1 Trillion dollars a year on graft, wars and cronyism. Starting back with Bush and carrying through Obama.

That’s 400 Mars Curiosity Program in total each year. For 10+ years.

Wow, can you imagine if we had run 4000 Mars style programs?

[no_such_reality]

[quote=sdduuuude][quote=flu]1. How about government spending less defense
2. How about government spending less social entitlement benefits programs.
3. How about government start actually make some of the corporations that pay no taxes at all pay taxes, like somewhat reforming the expatriation corporate tax rules.[/quote]

Here, here !

I’d be glad to pay pay a higher portion of the total costs if the costs were about 20% of what they are now and I’m not even one of the “rich” ones.

The discussion of fair share only hides the real problem.[/quote]

That real problem is quite simple. If you take Bill Clinton’s last balanced budget, increase it by inflation and population growth, the budget would be $2.8 Trillion.

We’re spending $3.8 Trillion.

[no_such_reality]

More important is reserve fund balances

[no_such_reality]

Yesterday was particularly depressing in the news.

The California house rep from Long Beach Laura Richardson getting a reprimand for ethics violations. A slap on the wrist.

Another interim police chief that’s a retired double dipper hiding behind a pretense of being an independent contractor collecting $100+/hr plus the $200K+ retirement.http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2012/08/01/ex-orange-city-manager-accused-of-violating-pension-law/160085/

Bell’s ex-Police Chief sueing to get the money “owed” him.

SEIU Union leader getting charge for theft and tax violations. (at least he’s not publically elected).

Riverside county gives pay raises to top level managers in Sheriff’s department. The reason, so they’ll make more than the people they manage…http://www.pe.com/local-news/politics/politics-headlines-index/20120731-riverside-county-raises-given-to-top-level-managers.ece

Stockton revolving door or police chiefs collecting $200K pensions (something like 4 of them)

LA City CIO sends an email to city employees asking them to quit watching the olympics because they’re close to crashing their network. Now lots of companies have challenges with this too, it’s just funny, aggravating and pathetic all at the same time. Because the workers are Olympic surfing, the City is going broke and their network likely is so cruddy and old that it does have a problem with streaming video.

There was more, but I don’t remember them. The disgusting part is the collusion to make these things happen. In the Rudat issue, who in the city is approving this veil rule skirting arrangement?

That is the corruption.

[no_such_reality]

Are problems are actually best summed from for a Harvard Business Review case study from the late 80s.

I cannot find a free link on the net, so I’ll summarize.

It was about Vlasic Foods. Makers of Vlasic Pickles.

And about growth.

Vlasic, like most good companies wanted to grow. Provide a product and be profitable.

One day, they entered a supply agreement with WalMart (If I remember correctly).

As is Walmart’s typical practice, they pushed vlasic on the price. In fact, they pushed to the point that Vlasic was providing a giant jar of pickles (gallon I think) for a retail sale price of $3 (I think)

So along came the problems. Vlasic wasn’t geared to providing gallon jars of pickles by bazillion.

Vlasic supply chain wasn’t geared to providing pickles by the bazillion gallon either.

Walmart customers loved the cheap gallon super deal. Bought them by the droves. In fact, it was considered something that pulled customers into the store. You could only get the gallon vlasic at the stores.

Vlasic was bursting the seems and going broke. Their margins were thinner then ever, less per jar than the original jars but they were pumping out massively more product. Massively more labor. Massively more distribution costs, processing cost, etc. And the pain rolled down through the supply chain.

Then Vlasic figured something out. The customer’s loved the gallon jar. But didn’t eat more pickles. The pickles literally rotted in the fridge.

But the customers still wanted the pickles and stores still wanted the big jars…

So we have Vlasic, Walmart, the suppliers and consumers. Who is driving the situation and for what?

Similarly, we have Government, Public Employee Unions, Tax Payers and service consumers (both the public and developers).

So who matches up to whom?

[no_such_reality]

[quote=The-Shoveler]No I was not referring to you BG, just the Idea about not wanting the great unwashed (under-educated) masses to feed the sprawl .
I guess we could put up a several hundred high rise condo’s in downtown SD area,
There’s room for that LOL.

Same kind of Idea in the 30’s, this was what the grapes of wrath was about.[/quote]

It’s not the growth that causes the spending. It’s the government mindset that rationalizes any growth and increases into a mandatory need for more government. Double digit revenue growth is met by even larger double digit expenditures.

Same basic mindset as with LAFD that requires a fire truck team to be dispatched on every call even though 98% are medical only calls.

A city that isn’t growing and rejuvenating is a stagnant and dead city.

[no_such_reality]

BG, that’s nice data however, it really highlights why you don’t want to live in the IE, not why they went broke.

Again, peak actual revenues, $133M, 2011-2012 revenues, $118m.

You are all missing the forest for the trees

(the forest)
A 10-15% revenue drop and the government is unable to adjust over a four year period.
(/the forest)

The rest is noise.

[no_such_reality]

[quote=CA renter][quote=no_such_reality]It’s not revenue drops.

San Bernardino’s total revenue is down 11.2% from peak.

That’s all. The property tax drop, sales tax drop, VLF transfer etc, UUT, etc are down a total of about $11 million.

They have not lost half of their property tax base.[/quote]

Yes, it’s revenue drops.

Charts:

http://www.ci.san-bernardino.ca.us/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=10033

Think they’d need to file for BK if their revenues hadn’t dropped so precipitously?[/quote]

Can’t you read your own links? Total revenues have decreased 11.2%. Chart 45.

Total budget peak $133M, total budget today $118.
http://www.ci.san-bernardino.ca.us/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=13895

Yes, they would BK, they’ve been overspending for years BEFORE the drops.

Read page 3. Then read page 13, then page 14. The charts should clear it up for you.
http://www.ci.san-bernardino.ca.us/civica/filebank/blobdload.asp?BlobID=13760

[no_such_reality]

[quote=sdduuuude]This is really the only comment I could think of:

I got yer Made in USA Plumbing Hardware right here, pal.[/quote]

That’s what’s great about the USA, we’ve mastered miniaturization.

We actively look for and attempt to buy made in the USA too. It’s sad how difficult it is.

[Author]

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