EOY 2019 - Part 1

Politics

The group around the "Median Party" line, including the US Democratic party, are not really left, but socially liberal Corporate-Capitalists. As you add religion, nationalism, or racism you move to the right. 

Link Here

2020

MISH: Trump Will Easily Be Defeated in 2020, Perhaps a Landslide -

I agree with a lot of this, Trump is a dick and people, including a lot of the Rs, don't really like him.
He did get lucky in 2016. The Ds are more prepared this time. For all the talk about Russia, i think the Comey move is what really pushed him over the top.

I would add that in 2016 the Rs were way ahead of the D's in the social-media misinformation war. Again the Ds are more prepared this time.

So the Ds should do better this time but I think it will be close and Trump should still be considered the favorite.

The Ds have a lot of issues....

It depends on who the D's nominate.

Bernie and Warren are at a disadvantage. The Corporate Ds hate Trump but they also hate the left. I could see a lot of them talking Bernie or Warren but pulling the handle for Trump.The Corporate media hate them too so they will get bad press. "Socialism" or "socialist" will be the bad-guy label of 2020. It will be an uphill battle for either of them

Biden and the oligarchs might beat Trump but how does that help? Fix Social Security and medicare by cutting it? Cut taxes to spur growth? More corporate pro-business policies that haven't worked for years? Spending zillions on the military instead of the people? Keep bombing brown, non-Christians around the world? Fuck that, it just pushes the revolution down the road and allows the Rs to catch their breath.

Actually, Biden is god-awful and could easily lose to Trump. The worst of Obama and HRC combined. An old, rich, out of touch, corporate D with hints of corruption. Yeah, that'll get the progressive to the polls!?

Also, never underestimate the ability of the R's to play dirty and Trump's crew is dirtier than any R group has ever been. We could see anything this cycle. Mass propaganda and misinformation, terrorist attacks, war, riots in the streets.

Fox News, Conservative Radio and Facebook trolls will have their misinformation campaigns turned up to eleven.

2020 will be a wild ride.

David Horsey on 2020 - Horsey is always good but I think 2020 will be worse than just "Trolls, Bots, and Russian Hackers.

Taxes

Mish whining about taxes that mostly affect rich people. - Tax Man Cometh With Hidden Tax Increases for 2020

• Home Ownership: Once, home buyers could deduct the interest on any amount of mortgage debt. In 1987, Congress limited this break to deductions on up to $1 million of debt used to buy up to two homes, unindexed for inflation. If this limit had been adjusted, it would have been more than $2 million by 2017’s tax overhaul.
• In 2017 Instead of adjusting the home ownership limit upward, the overhaul pared it to $750,000, again unindexed for inflation.
• State and Local Tax Writeoffs: Lawmakers capped write-offs for state and local property and income or sales taxes, or SALT, at $10,000 per return, with no inflation adjustment.
• Profit on a Sale of a Home: A popular exemption of up to $500,000 per married couple of profit on the sale of a house ($250,000 for single filers) enacted in 1997 also isn’t adjusted for inflation.
• Social Security: The income thresholds for including Social Security payments in taxable income haven’t changed since they were enacted in the ‘80s and ‘90s. The income thresholds requiring filers to report 85% of payments on their tax return have been $44,000 for married couples and $34,000 for singles since 1994. They would be about $77,000 for couples and $60,000 for singles in 2020.
• Capital Losses: Since 1978, the tax code has allowed investors to deduct only $3,000 of net long-term investment losses against ordinary income like wages. Adjusted for inflation, that deduction would be more than $12,000.
• Marriage Penalty: The $3,000 deduction applies to both single and married filers. To fix that, the threshold should arguably be $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married filers.

Yes, the people who pay these taxes would pay less if they were indexed for inflation but I only see two that affect the working man, Social Security and the marriage penalty. The rest are giveaways to the wealthy and are minor issues in the grand scheme of things.  The rich need to pay more not less. Inequality is a problem.