Symmetry required it: 2012 american general election thread #2

should be noted that people have other sources of income besides payroll

for instance i sell adderall and rob vending machines

Ive gotten a refund ever since I became a tax payer does that make me a dirty 47 percenter?

yes

And...never mind:

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/akin-pulls-women-site-down-after-woman-supporter-turns-out-to-be-democratic-tracker.php?ref=fpnewsfeed

Whelp, that was fast:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUQ-j2sOA7c

you would think I would have more to show for myself after suckling from the governments teat for 15 years

Meanwhile in Connecticut:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/09/mcmahon-distances-herself-from-romney-comments-135876.html

WOWW *rubs chin*

otm

Linda mcmahon is an evil viper btw

a dirty 47 percenter?

Not unless the refund was the full amount that was withheld. Amazing as it may seem, there are vast numbers of low income people in the USA who owe no income tax, thx in large part to the republican mania for tax cuts. SS and Medicare taxes are pretty hefty, though, and are not counted as income tax.

Ive gotten a refund ever since I became a tax payer does that make me a dirty 47 percenter?

Doubt it. even when i was making like 8K a year I didn't get a total refund of my Fed taxes

The fact that Romney's campaign manager also designs his ads (and is a UCLA film school grad) probably lights an extra fire under Obama's team to make the best ads possible.

When M.Bachmann started talking about half the country not having "skin in the game" in the debates I couldn't figure out they were going with it. Attacking low taxes? Seems like some real dead ender fuck the poor stuff that should never spill out of a real politician's mouth.

Video's out:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/watch-full-secret-video-private-romney-fundraiser

Amazing as it may seem, there are vast numbers of low income people in the USA who owe no income tax, thx in large part to the republican mania for tax cuts

The numbers are not nearly so vast if you exclude retirees, college students, etc.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/taxes-over-the-life-cycle/

I asked Kissinger how we are perceived and he said one word: Veak!

There's that Romney humor

One obvious tax-geek point I am forever making in these discussions: the percent of your income that payroll taxes consume goes down dramatically once you get over the taxable threshold. Up to $110,000, it's 7.65% (double that if you're self-employed). But nothing above that is taxed -- which means that if you make $250,000, your FICA bill is only 3.4% of your income, not 7.4%. If you make a million bucks, it's less than 1 percent.

I've been surprised how many people don't know this, I guess because so few people make over the threshold amount that some don't even realize there is a threshold.

(The few years I made over the threshold, there was this magical point late in the year where suddenly my paychecks got bigger because I wasn't paying FICA anymore. It was welcome, but weird. Like, "Congratulations on making money! Have some more money!")

yeah the FICA cap is kind of amazing. even with all the other tax fuckwittery in this country. oh, Medicare & SS are in trouble? ummm there's a pretty easy fix...

So, as Ezra Klein pointed out, a self-employed person who pays only payroll taxes but no income taxes is actually paying a higher percentage of his income in federal taxes than Romney himself did last year (15.3% vs. 13.9%).

so when someone says "effective" rate they are including payroll taxes, right?

yeah the FICA cap is kind of amazing. even with all the other tax fuckwittery in this country. oh, Medicare & SS are in trouble? ummm there's a pretty easy fix...

Yeah, it's an easy fix mathematically but a political landmine, because the whole idea is everyone pays in/everyone gets back, but the cap is there to prevent it from becoming a straight welfare program (rather than social insurance). If it wasn't there, TEH RICH would pay in far more than they ever got out, rather than vice versa, then they start complaining about THOSE people taking MY money blah blah blah.

(That's also why there's no means testing.)

so when someone says "effective" rate they are including payroll taxes, right?

I'm not sure, but on income of $22 million, I think the payroll taxes would basically be rounding error anyway.

Plus payroll taxes are only collected on wage/salary income, not interest income or capital gains or any of that.

Aren't they kiiiind of complaining about that all the time on every channel anyway?

I love how news outlets will stockpile different types of pictures of the candidates and then wheel them out depending on what story they want to tell. Things not going well for Romney? Let's break out one of those "oops!" photos

http://img2.wpdigital.net/rf/image_358w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/09/18/National-Enterprise/Images/romney_358_918b.jpg

Hahah I was just posting that/sending it around.

It's actually from last night, so it's not stock yet...but it's about to be.

http://cdn2.mamapop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Romney-sad.jpg

http://www.delawareliberal.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Romney.Sad_.jpg

http://888webtoday.com/articles/images/RomneySad.jpg

I like the hair; it looks worried.

Here's a whole slide show of Mitt looking sad:

http://www.motherjones.com/slideshows/2012/07/mitt-romney-sad-face/romney3-finaljpg

I meant what I said and I said what I meant
an elephant's faithful, 47%

It's actually from last night, so it's not stock yet...but it's about to be.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, September 18, 2012 3:21 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha that was nice of him to provide an appropriate facial expression

Has is been mentioned yet that Jimmy Carter's grandson helped to bring the Romney video to light?

http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/18/13938614-how-the-romney-video-leaked-for-carters-it-was-personal?lite

Meanwhile in the world outside Rom gettin' trounced in Virginee.

Weird seeing Romney standing in front of the California flag.

Like, what are you doing there in – oh, right. Money.

Rmoney's going to need his own wing in the "This Facial Expression" thread real soon.

he does live in CA tbf

#welpface

Carter being involved does bring a whole 'nother element to this since one of the less-publicized discussions Romney has with a donor is something about how Reagan showed his strength and Iran kowtowed by freeing the hostages on Election Day.

Every account I've heard about the days leading up to January 20, 1981, is Carter on the phone working and negotiating to get them free, even up to the limo ride taking him and the President-Elect up to Capitol Hill for the inauguration.

But anyway. The idea that Romney would scare the Iranians into chilling the fuck down is pretty laughable already.

Taegan Goddard ‏@politicalwire
Romney in 2007: "Running for president in the YouTube era, you realize you have to be very judicious in what you say."

The most humiliating part of the Carter episode: he was likely pwned by the Reagan administration, i.e. they had already made a deal with the Iranians.

possibly the biggest dick move Reagan ever pulled, really

lol pierce

So, as Ezra Klein pointed out, a self-employed person who pays only payroll taxes but no income taxes is actually paying a higher percentage of his income in federal taxes than Romney himself did last year (15.3% vs. 13.9%).

― o. nate, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 16:09 (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah mitt talking about taxes at all is just fucking gross, with a over-your-head-thumping-undertone of 'contributors vs leeches', the gall man.

this cavuto guy is pathetic

romney's just taking the wide-eyed NO NO THIS ISN'T NEWS AT ALL tip