No One Goes There Anymore • Hacker News Board

Re: No One Goes There Anymore

#111

Post by Gibbon1 » Sun, May 17, 2020, 5:36 AM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #95

rayiner wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Economists calculate taxes using the “tax wedge”—i.e. what you pay in taxes versus what you cost your employer. According to: https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-tax-calculator#WP4gh... , take home on $300,000 in California is $185,000. But including employer side payroll taxes but excluding benefits, you actually cost your employer $313,000. So your tax wedge is about 41%. Then add in the sales and property taxe…

If we are making international comparisons, I would add the cost of health insurance in california as a "tax". That's the only way to reasonably compare western countries. I had a friend try to adopt a baby from china many years ago (1990s). He was rejected. The Chinese thought he didn't earn enough to safely raise a kid. They were using a means test designed for US applicants. My friend lobbied to explain all the th…

> cost of health insurance in California as a "tax"

My company would happily hand our insurance premiums over to California in return for not having to deal with sleazy insurance dickwads.

Re: No One Goes There Anymore

#112

Post by sandworm101 » Sun, May 17, 2020, 5:40 AM UTC

amscanne wrote: post #87

drpgq wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Ontarian it is frustrating how the marginal tax rate has risen over 50% over the last decade, but ignorant people think things are the same as in the US. Of course capital gains on primary residences is taxed at 0% so it isn't really surprising that real estate and its financialization is Ontario's main industry.

I don’t think it’s just that it has risen over 50%, the increases over the last ~6 years are quite rapid. Consider BC [1]: Top income tax bracket in BC in 2013: 43.7% Top income tax bracket in BC in 2014 and 2015: 45.8% Top income tax bracket in BC in 2016 and 2017: 47.7% Top income tax bracket in BC in 2018 and 2019: 49.8% Top income tax bracket in BC starting in 2020: 53.5%. I believe that there have been similar e…

Don't forget the tax brackets:

2015 top bracket: "over $151,050"

2019 top bracket: "over $205,842"

So anyone anywhere near that bracket, despite the increased percentages, is probably paying less tax overall.

Re: No One Goes There Anymore

#113

Post by sandworm101 » Sun, May 17, 2020, 5:49 AM UTC

perl4ever wrote: post #106

sandworm101 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we are making international comparisons, I would add the cost of health insurance in california as a "tax". That's the only way to reasonably compare western countries. I had a friend try to adopt a baby from china many years ago (1990s). He was rejected. The Chinese thought he didn't earn enough to safely raise a kid. They were using a means test designed for US applicants. My friend lobbied to explain all the th…

I don't follow how this could be possible. I'd think most people in the US either would be getting health insurance from the government (Medicare, Medicaid), from an "Obamacare" exchange and subsidized, or from an employer where they don't pay cash. So where would the discrepancy in accounting between that and Canada come from? It seems unlikely that the Chinese government would assume that even Americans buy health…

>> It seems unlikely that the Chinese government would assume that even Americans buy health insurance retail.

They aren't assuming anything. They know that healthcare in the US is hit-or-miss, that it is normally for people to move between having and not having healthcare throughout a lifetime.

>> The new report highlights that 5.5% of children under the age of 19 were uninsured, largely because of a decline in public coverage.

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/09/uninsured-rat...

1 in 20 American kids are uninsured, not counting the undocumented who don't answer the census. That's ridiculous today but it was even worse in the 90s. That's why the Chinese didn't want to give kids to non-wealthy Americans. Uninsured children are almost unheard of in Canada. Only some illegal immigrant children, but even there they have systems in place.

Re: No One Goes There Anymore

#114

Post by dang » Sun, May 17, 2020, 5:58 AM UTC

cossray wrote: post #20

dang wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DoreenMichele is a well-known HN user and many of her posts have appeared here. She often makes a new domain per blog topic, but I presume readers recognize her username. The upvotes seem organic, as far as I can tell. There's no issue. You've posted three dismissive comments to this thread. Could you please stop? If you don't like this reading material, there are 29 other articles on the front page, and don't miss t…

Dang, this is irrelevant to the topic but I needed to ask it. Are you an individual or several 'users/employees/maintainers' using the same username? Your omnipresent has always been intriguing to me

Just a guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVHq4xo5wcA

To answer your question more directly: yes I'm a person, and we'd never have multiple people hide behind the same username. That corporate hologram shit makes my skin crawl. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrBPFNX23mU#t=6

Re: No One Goes There Anymore

#115

Post by tbarbugli » Sun, May 17, 2020, 6:09 AM UTC

thinkloop wrote: post #64

nerdbaggy wrote: post #42

This is a touchy subject but with my genetic condition I’m scared to have kids. It sucks having this and I don’t know if I would want to watch my kids suffer through it. But I’m glad my parents did cause life isn’t that bad in the end.

Dogs are 50% the joy at 5% the effort :p Not having kids is great too :D

dog * x = kid

x does not exist

Re: No One Goes There Anymore

#116

Post by sandworm101 » Sun, May 17, 2020, 6:13 AM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #72

malwarebytess wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, the obligate vacant comment about donating to the Federal Government when there's talk of taxes being too low on the wealthy. Get a new line. The problems in this country, including the mess that is the tax system, cannot be solved by snarky comments like "donate your money if you think taxes are too low." They require a longitudinal and deep response.

The problems in this country also cannot be solved by empty rhetoric about “taxes being too low on the wealthy.” Taxes on the wealthy in the US aren’t dramatically lower than in Europe. The top tax bracket in Germany is 45%, versus 37% + state. So if you live in any of the 9 states with a top state bracket of 8% or higher, including New York and California, the top income tax bracket is actually lower in Germany. Cap…

>> Taxes on the wealthy in the US aren’t dramatically lower than in Europe.

Apples and oranges comparison. The US government is fundamentally different concept of national government. Between healthcare and the military, US per-citizen spending it far beyond, as European examples, Germany (more than double). In short, the US has to tax more because its government is so much bigger. Add to that the greater wealth disparities in the US, taxes on US rich need to be higher if the US ever wants to climb into the black.

Germany: 399 billion / 83 million people = ~$5,000/person/year

US: 3.8 Trillion / 328 million people = ~$12,000/person/year

Re: No One Goes There Anymore

#117

Post by ryandrake » Sun, May 17, 2020, 6:16 AM UTC

imjustsaying wrote: post #69

ccktlmazeltov wrote: post #40

Genuine question: what is the point made in the post? I feel like I'm missing something.

I was wondering this as well. I couldn't find the thesis and for a moment I wondered if this was posted as an example of an AI-generated post.

I read the whole thing and can’t figure it out either. Maybe there isn’t supposed to be a point. Just stream-of-consciousness words on a blog. Performance art?

When the first thing someone tells me upon meeting me is that they have a medical condition, I think “uh oh, heeeere we go.” First of all, it’s none of my business. Second, why do you want me to know this? What am I supposed to do with that information? Is this what we are going to be talking about? And if not, why the need to share this fact? Such a confusing way to start out a conversation or blog.

It’s like saying, “First of all, I really like pancakes. Now here’s my post about programming in Python.”

Re: No One Goes There Anymore

#118

Post by MetalGuru » Sun, May 17, 2020, 6:33 AM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #95

rayiner wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Economists calculate taxes using the “tax wedge”—i.e. what you pay in taxes versus what you cost your employer. According to: https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-tax-calculator#WP4gh... , take home on $300,000 in California is $185,000. But including employer side payroll taxes but excluding benefits, you actually cost your employer $313,000. So your tax wedge is about 41%. Then add in the sales and property taxe…

If we are making international comparisons, I would add the cost of health insurance in california as a "tax". That's the only way to reasonably compare western countries. I had a friend try to adopt a baby from china many years ago (1990s). He was rejected. The Chinese thought he didn't earn enough to safely raise a kid. They were using a means test designed for US applicants. My friend lobbied to explain all the th…

I like that analogy. But it falls apart in the catastrophic cases where having to pay your own medical bills can bankrupt you, no?

Re: No One Goes There Anymore

#119

Post by TheOtherHobbes » Sun, May 17, 2020, 6:53 AM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #104

lifeformed wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why you say hundreds of billions of dollars isn't worth taking about, compared to trillions. $150B is 15% of $1T, a sizable chunk. And the total income of US billionaires being just $130B doesn't quite capture the complete picture, when their combined wealth is in the trillions, and their assets keep growing.

>> when their combined wealth is in the trillions, and their assets keep growing. Because capital gains, ironically, do not apply to gains in capital assets. They have to "realize" the gains as "income", usually by selling the asset. So a millionaire (stockholder) can become a billionaire without ever paying a cent in capital gains tax. Only when they sell the stock is it subject to taxation. This allows them to pay…

Indeed. Wealth tax != Income tax.

You can grow your wealth without virtually no taxable income. It's real wealth - you can buy houses and yachts with it - but you don't need to pay tax unless you choose to.

In reality most money at this level is made by speculation, and speculation is spectacularly under-taxed.

For example Forex trading in the City of London moves $6.6 trillion of money around, every single day. A Tobin Tax of 0.1% on that would raise $2.5tn a year - which would almost instantly wipe out the UK's entire national debt.

Of course you'd lose some transaction volume - you might earn "only" $500bn - but the principle remains. A lot of economic activity isn't taxed at all, mostly to the benefit of the rich. This has huge effects on the quality of life of most of the population.

There's a principle you won't find in econ books, which is that in an industrial economy basic maintenance spending isn't optional.

If you don't pay for good education, you pay for it in lost economic activity. Likewise for infrastructure. And health care.

The idea that these are somehow nice extras that the population shouldn't expect because they're "too expensive" is so wrong it's borderline insane.

Everyone pays anyway. You may as well organise this properly so the work gets done and prosperity increases, because the alternative is instability, loss of opportunity, and ultimately a real risk of complete social and economic collapse.

Re: No One Goes There Anymore

#120

Post by vxNsr » Sun, May 17, 2020, 6:55 AM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #116

rayiner wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problems in this country also cannot be solved by empty rhetoric about “taxes being too low on the wealthy.” Taxes on the wealthy in the US aren’t dramatically lower than in Europe. The top tax bracket in Germany is 45%, versus 37% + state. So if you live in any of the 9 states with a top state bracket of 8% or higher, including New York and California, the top income tax bracket is actually lower in Germany. Cap…

>> Taxes on the wealthy in the US aren’t dramatically lower than in Europe. Apples and oranges comparison. The US government is fundamentally different concept of national government. Between healthcare and the military, US per-citizen spending it far beyond, as European examples, Germany (more than double). In short, the US has to tax more because its government is so much bigger. Add to that the greater wealth disp…

>Germany: 399 billion / 83 million people = ~$5,000/person/year

>US: 3.8 Trillion / 328 million people = ~$12,000/person/year

Apples and oranges comparison. The US subsidies most EU militaries. NATO spending is a great example. US is the only member who actually fulfills their obligations.

Basically GP is more right than you