Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

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dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

Only thing worthwhile is making other countrys pay thier share. Iran is really going build up if Europe can't keep the agreement going. Anything is better than nothing. He has single handedly destroyed markets for our farmers an ranchers an they. Have been the backbone of this country. Other countrys are pulling away. Just as his his art of the deal with NK. there is NOTHING he can do to get them to give up thier nukes if they choose not to same with any other country. There has to be two in agreement. Less you do want war. You can't see pass his smoke screen. He is the most corrupt pres. Ever.

Wellhiem Loc: Sunny England.

I'm sure that's not why you personally give. I wasn't referring to private individuals. I was referring to the major corporate shareholders who make such a big deal about how generous they are. Here's a hypothetical example:
Three major corporate shareholders, we'll call them A, B and C, or Albert, Brian and Clive. Each set up a charitable foundation. They each kick their foundation off with a donation of say $5 million. Because they are such charitable people, they each donate $1 million to each of the three foundations every year. Albert's wife, Anne, likes to spend her spare time, and she has a lot of it, doing charitable work. So naturally, she donates some of her spare time running Albert's foundation, only claiming expenses. I've put that last bit in bold because we will be coming back to it. She also sits on the boards of the other two foundations, for which she draws a salary. Brian's wife Betty, also runs Brian's foundation, only claiming expenses, and sits on the boards of the other two foundations, for a salary. Clive's wife, Clara, does a similar thing. As you can probably see by now whatever Anne's doing, Betty and Clara are doing similar, and so I'll just deal with Anne.

The Story So Far.

Anne is now sitting on the boards of two quite successful foundations, each of which is paying her a salary. She is also running her husband's foundation,only claiming expenses, which has two board members each of which is being paid a salary. So, what does Anne do with her time that she spends on her husband's foundation? Well, most of it's spent organising fundraisers. Some of these fundraisers are held in her home in the form of garden parties or less formal dinner parties. This means that she needs to employ a staff of a cook, maids and gardeners. All claimed on expenses. Others take the form of more lavish parties held at some of the top venues in the area. She also has to attend fundraisers organised by other foundations. Of course, she could never turn up to these events in a beaten up old pickup, so she has the latest Lexus and a chauffeur, claimed on expenses. Obviously, she couldn't wear the same outfit for each event. So she has a large collection of ballgowns, all claimed on expenses. So, as you can see, quite a substantial part of Albert and Anne's lavish lifestyle, is being subsidised by this charitable foundation.

But is it really?

All of the money going to these foundations is money that would have otherwise have been paid in taxes. So, they don't have to make 101% of their investment back. Anything they can get back is a bonus compared to losing it all into the system. We all know that the government is very good at spending your money. But. Before they can spend it, they have to collect it. If they can't collect it from the big guys, then they have to collect it from the little guys. So it's the average Joe who goes to work every day and pays his taxes that's subsidising them.

Now, I know what's going to happen. You're going to say "prove it". I don't have to. You've all seen it. You've seen it with the Trump Foundation, and you've seen it with the Clinton Foundation. Democrats point at Trump and Republicans say "Well what about Clinton?". Republicans point at Clinton and Democrats say "Well what about Trump?". All of you should be condemning this no matter what side it comes from.

The point of all this, and I seem to have gone on a lot longer than intended, is that when someone says that the rich give more of their time and money to charity than the rest of us, it's bullshit.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

I don’t know how it is in England, it isn’t like that here.

Wellhiem Loc: Sunny England.

Yes it is and it's on public record. Although you may have to do a bit of digging because there are a lot more than three in the circle and all the links aren't quite so obvious.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Really, so where you are from they tax profits at 100%? If your effective tax rate is 25% that means if you are actually able to write off your donations you will only be saving 25 cents on the dollar, as the other 75 cents would have gone into your bank account. Beyond that, there are generally limitations on how much a corporation or individual can write off in charitable donations.... Libs never understood taxes, they actually think that rich people often lose money on purpose so that they can save on their taxes.... how stupid is that?

Frosty Loc: Minnesota

The stock market is not the economy. Obama inherited an economic mess from gw bush. He got the economy going again despite a hostile House and Senate, including a Senate Majority leader that did everything he could to sabotage him.

Trump on the other hand has both the House and the Senate working for him. These two situations are not comparable. Besides , the economy has only improved at a rate slightly better than it did when Obama was President. Forget the stock market. It's gambling......like betting on a horse race.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

I don't think that I was the one to bring up the stock market, I think that was Dirt, I was just calling him out on his nonsense so tell him. Obama inherited the mess of an overheated real estate market it was as much Clinton's and congress's fault as it was GW's, all three pursued policies that in the end caused the crash, that and corporate greed, but please note that it was Clinton's policies that began putting quotas on banks to make subprime loans.


Obama was not really that good at running the economy, it would have done much better if he had focused more on growth and less on costly regulations. His stimulus was more of a give away to supporters and an expansion of the entitlement state than it was a real economic stimulus.

Frosty Loc: Minnesota

Empty rhetoric? Alternative facts? He says he will release his tax forms before the election but doesn't. He says he didn't give his lawyer money to buy off Stormy. Later Giuliani says he did reimburse Cohen. The list of lies goes on and on.

Bottom line. Trump is a liar. Was he lying about silencing the press that publishes the truth about him? When can you believe him? You seem to pass off his lies like they don't matter. This liar is the President of the United States. It does matter.

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

I’ve been waiting for your fact based case ... but you don’t seem to have one?

Frosty Loc: Minnesota

I know you hate regulations but it was a lack of regulations that allowed banks to bundle sub-prime loans and sell them to unsuspecting buyers. In 1998 Brooksley E. Born, head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, warned Greenspan and others about this dangerous situation. The longer it went on the worse it got. It was a quick buck for the banks
The housing bubble really formed on GW's watch.

Clinton did not put a quota on banks to make bad loans. The bank regulators required banks to quit redling areas, areas where they wouldn't make any loans. No one required banks to make bad loans. Banks did this on their own. They didn't care if a loan was bad because they were going to bundle a bunch of loans together and get rid of them. Because they were risky loans, they bore high interest rates which made them attractive to buyers. This got out of control during GW's term.

If Brooksley Born's warning had been heeded, regulations would have been implemented and the Bush recession wouldn't have happened.

dirtpusher Loc: tulsa oklahoma

You may been trying call me out. But it was a laugh for me . But ole trump sure tried claim bammers stockmarkey. Even though repukes was fishing him. Even when it was good for the country. That why repukes need all be arrested. Screw the country w lolhile screwing bammer. That real thinking. But that your way thinking too.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Didn't bother you when Obama lied about things that mattered to the nation, who gives a crap about Stormy Daniels? I do care about my healthcare, I do care about our military facing ISIS, I do care about what really happened in Benghazi, those are just some of the blatant lies that Obama told. So you can whine all you want about Trump lying about things that don't matter at all to the American people, heck I will even buy you some cheese to go with that whine of yours.

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

I already said that it was corporate greed in the end, but you are completely wrong about Clinton and quotas, there damn well were quotas and the penalties were harsh.

Wellhiem Loc: Sunny England.

Obama, Clinton, Bush, They're all history. No-one's talking about them. The issue here is Trump.