Biden Presidential address to congress

[Plainsman]

@sesstoplem
By reading all the comments I am getting a better understanding of things in the U.S..
As I said I can only comment on what our media shows us about the world.
This is the beauty of living in the free world we can listen to other people's views to get a better understanding of the REAL world, hopefully without putting each other down but by respecting their views in a attention to understand the big picture instead of relying on the media and listening to the various views of real world people.
By doing this we can respectfully we can get A better understanding.
Bob

It's curious, but what have turned out to be among the more accurate news reporters on US politics are SkyNews Australia and the Daily Mail in England.

 

[1dirthawker]

Additionally I find the idea of increasing the capital gains tax especially odous. Someone makes a life's work of investing in whatever and then when they actually need the money and cash the investment out they have almost half of their gain taken away. That certainly provides an incentive to invest doesn't it?

completely agree.

increasing capital gains tax is going to hurt almost every one with a 401. they (democrats) have written a bill that will tax you on "UNREALIZED GAINS" meaning, if you made money due to a rise in your investment (but have not cashed out) they want to tax it annually on its increase. now what about if your 401 goes down the next year, you gonna get a rebate? i bet not.

also, this "corporate" taxing (taxing evil corporations) is going to cost everyone because corporations pass the saving on to the end product and therefore the consumer.

these tax increases are to give individuals "FREE STUFF", college, health care, tuition forgiveness, etc. the government should not be taking my money at the point of a gun (the IRS will throw you in prison) and give it to someone that has done nothing to earn it.

lastly, curtism 1234, i believe earlier in a different thread, we discussed giving up guns, ammo etc. i am wondering if you have gotten rid of yours? i thought your last post here pretty well done, although i completely disagree with your assessment of uncle joe, you gave an honest attempt to explain why you agree with him. back to the 2nd amendment, it states "the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed". how will registering guns solve a single crime? nope, it only identifies law abiding gun owners, possibly to soon become enemies of the state.

i cannot in good conscious support a president that want to take away my freedoms and constitutional rights. socialism is another way of spending other peoples money for a cause they think is right. for those that want socialism, it would appear that joe biden is your guy

 

[Newboomer]

@sesstoplem
By reading all the comments I am getting a better understanding of things in the U.S..
As I said I can only comment on what our media shows us about the world.
This is the beauty of living in the free world we can listen to other people's views to get a better understanding of the REAL world, hopefully without putting each other down but by respecting their views in a attention to understand the big picture instead of relying on the media and listening to the various views of real world people.
By doing this we can respectfully we can get A better understanding.
Bob

Bob,
I fully understand your impression of conditions here in the US. You, like so many others, are being manipulated by a severely biased left wing media. But, here on AH, you will get many varied opinions and the true picture. I read my local newspaper and take what they write with a big grain of salt. I do not listen to radio or watch tv news. It sickens me to listen to the biased lies, half truths and innuendos these people spew out. No matter the incident, every media outlet will have a completely different slant on the story. It is no longer news, it is some puke's editorial.

So, my friend, stay tuned to the real news station, AH, and get the true picture.

 

[Ike85123]

It's curious, but what have turned out to be among the more accurate news reporters on US politics are SkyNews Australia and the Daily Mail in England.

The sun,star and inquirer are more believable than most of the news now days.
Will monica have the aliens baby? Maybe not, but still more believable than the dems fixing anything !

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I think it's an old Australian sport? Ask one of the OZ boys about it.

@CoElkHunter
Never heard of pickle ball, must be a Colorado thing.
Bob

 

[BnC 04]

Badminton...

 

[WAB]

Interesting discussion for sure. The lefts lack of economic understanding is mind blowing. Those with resources will develop a plan to conserve them, sleepy Joe and his minions do not have the ability to outthink the market. Money is already moving offshore, corporately and individually (how many of you have been advised to shift investments into international growth funds?). Inflation is inevitable as is rising unemployment. So the end result of left wing policies; the poor get poorer and the rich maintain or gain. The democrats used to be the party of slavery, they still are, only now it’s economic slavery. Perhaps they’re not stupid after all!

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I scrupulously avoid political debates, so I'm not going argue for or against the President's proposed tax plan. But I've spent much of today trying to digest the affect the capital gains rules are going to have on various asset classes, and specifically the affect on the generational transfer of large undeveloped property holdings here in Texas, and elsewhere. Assuming a property value in excess of the estate tax exemption, you are going to see huge tax bills (46%) coming due on the death of the current owner. I foresee a lot of the large ranches being broken up and sold off to pay taxes.

@Plainsman
We have a capital gains tax in Australia but it only affects your 2nd or subsequent properties. Your house, farm ranch as long as it was your primary residence is excluded. Australia is the most taxed country in the world. If you have a second job to make ends meet you are taxed 48% of your second wage.
Bob

 

[BnC 04]

I didn't watch the conference but had enough phone calls afterwards to feel like I did watch it.
I still twitch when folks tell me "just wait and see it wouldn't be that bad". Well, here I am patiently waiting and all I see is a sh*t storm of events which have become the new standard in life.
At what length of time do folks expect anything positive to begin taking place before they realize we are in serious no BS trouble?

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Bob,
I fully understand your impression of conditions here in the US. You, like so many others, are being manipulated by a severely biased left wing media. But, here on AH, you will get many varied opinions and the true picture. I read my local newspaper and take what they write with a big grain of salt. I do not listen to radio or watch tv news. It sickens me to listen to the biased lies, half truths and innuendos these people spew out. No matter the incident, every media outlet will have a completely different slant on the story. It is no longer news, it is some puke's editorial.

So, my friend, stay tuned to the real news station, AH, and get the true picture.

@Newboomer
Thank you for understanding. Yes we only get the shit they want us to hear NOT THE FULL TRUTH. Big business and media run countries not politics.
This is why I am enjoying this discussion as I am getting the bigger picture from BOTH sides by REAL PEOPLE and not the media. To me it's educational and gives me a real world view of how things are and not what the media is telling us.
As i tell my son don't worry about what politicians are telling you, worry about what they are not saying.
Bob

 

[spike.t]

One of the oz news stations doesn't hold back...

 

[TTundra]

Not much to add to what is already known.

For those curious as to the repercussions pertinent to our industry often overlooked. You will see cost increases on items in the hunting category this fall do to this administrations callous decisions. This of course will be in addition to the continuous strain to back fill and the price gouging. Smaller brands that were setup at the corporate rate and already signalling additional price increases from the Biden tax plan. His spending plan is also no help to the US dollar which continues to hurt any foreign manufacturing, which like it or not, is needed in our economy. Even my US manufactures whom source raw materials are being hit hard still. We avoided this under Trumps Tariffs fairly easily. However, Biden seems to want to win a certain demographic over in lieu of the economy. Seems his constituents prefer a handful of shiny pennies to a folded up ten dollar bill.

Id like to say it amazes me how people cant see the forest thru the trees, then a thread likes this pops up, and reminds me that it really isn't that amazing. Thankfully his time in office will pass, and hopefully any ability to do more harm at the midterm, and then the next President will get the ship back on course

 

[NE 7x57]

With regard to the proposed gun control measures. Many of us on this board benefit from the ability to purchase ammo and firearms online. The Biden administration has said they plan to do away with both. How in the hell does limiting my ability to find some 7x57 ammo or someone else's ability to find some 7.7 Jap factory loadings take a bite out of crime? It doesn't, the issue isn't guns and ammunition, this issue is and always has been one of control.

Those on the anti gun side are pushing their agenda because they are unwilling to address the actual causes of gun violence. They don't want to address them because if they do they'll have to acknowledge some really ugly facts, that the highest per capita rate of gun homicides occur in major urban areas and within specific areas within those cities. This country has a problem, but penalizing the law abiding isn't going to solve it.

 

[Tundra Tiger]

Spike.t ... Thank you for sharing that. It made me laugh. It made me want to cry a lot. I shared it on my FB page.

 

[Red Leg]

I am at work and don't have time for a 30 minute post, but I will touch.

I have followed Joe Biden's career, and he is certainly a different man than he was 30-40 years ago. He was a young arrogant lawyer who no doubt was on the wrong side of history on key issues (as where most of his peers); and he has said that. You can't change the past, but you can learn from it and move forward. If he had not learned from his mistakes, SC Rep Clyburn would not have endorsed him (which is what made the difference in democratic primary last year).

As he aged, he transitioned into a much more softer gentler man. Gaffs, oh yes; but that is also what makes Joe Crazy Uncle Joe (like it or hate it). He is a man who consoles those who need him. Last election cycle I shared a video of Biden hugging an emotionally distraught disabled child bawling in him arms. The counter to that was Donald Trump who only referred to disabled people by flailing his hands in the air and barking like a seal. I would have liked to have made that up, but sadly that happened...

The 2008 primary he was about 66 years old and still had quite a bit of spunk in him. 12 years later of playing 2nd fiddle and the loss of his son certainly slowed him down and aged him, what is he 77 or 78. To say he is senile is an inaccuracy. Is he slipping, sure, he is almost 80 - plus his life long stutter. Ronald Reagan had Alzheimers his last couple years of office; this is not Joe Biden's present situation as some of my friends on the right say. He would not have been able to campaign, debate, interview, or perform that speech last night. He wouldn't have been able to defeat Donald Trump when others couldn't. Donald Trump from the start saw Joe Biden as his biggest threat, and that's what got him impeached (you know...the first time...).

We live in a deep partisan divide. As the President said last night, we have to determine if democracies are going to lead the world in the 21st century. This administration would prefer to work in a bi-partisan manner because that is who Joe Biden fundamentally is. If it can't be done, he will not hesitate to issue executive orders or use Senate Reconciliation (since no republicans were willing to pass a bill they passed 2x before). The Senate is broken and this can not continue, but that is a different topic.

Joe Biden is not the perfect president and he very well may choose to serve one term. He's not going to be transformative. He is going to be transitional though. Whether the next President of the United States is a Republican or Democrat, they are going to inherent what Joe Biden gives them. Joe was elected to ensure the federal government functions again, see the nation through a pandemic, an associated economic collapse, and to save us from each other. He intends on doing that; he is doing that; and I believe history will look very favorably on his presidency.

I have no doubt you believe what you are saying, and I recognize the courage it takes to type what you did when an opinion is unpopular. I sense that you believe in the basic goodness of this country and its institutions. I believe that Joe Biden did at one point as well. But the man who is President now is anything but the non-partisan independent thinker he once was.

He has done nothing to curb the outrageous racist reinvention of our country's history by the more radical elements of your party. He seemingly has embraced every radical element that has been crammed into both HR1 and the Covid relief measures which will result in among other catastrophes, the largest tax increases in this country since the fifties. These measures are anti-small business, anti-capitalist, and stunningly, when combined with rampant immigration, anti-labor. No Republican will support such a revolutionary reordering of our country with such obvious detrimental generational impact.

You can "believe" anything you want to to the exclusion of any facts you wish to ignore. But I would interested to see you marshal your thoughts and explain to those of us who have studied the history of this country, who have created and/or run businesses large and small, just how the measures he is proposing are positive, and how those measures will not be economically detrimental to the country and to people just like you.

The capital gains issue is a particularly insidious one. Most Americans now will be dependent upon their 401K savings when they retire. Twenty years ago when such savings plans were displacing defined retirement programs, a million dollars seemed like a lot of money - now, not so much. And that devaluation occurred over a period of very low inflation. Think how much money your children and grandchildren are really going to need. Assuming they are frugal and diligent in their savings, they will be upon retirement, by the democratic definition of the term, "wealthy." Wonder how that tax rate which dad or grandpa supported will seem to them then?

More insidiously, it will also cause investors to look for other investment options than traditional stocks and bonds. Profitable corporations are the economic backbone of this country. They sell shares in order to generate capital to grow and become more prosperous. Apparently, lots of uneducated people believe that "prosperity" goes into the CEO's pocket. I assume you understand that is nonsense - though your party continues to espouse such idiocy when justifying increasing the corporate tax rate. That capital, instead, grows the business, creates jobs, retires debt, and is deployed in a host of other economically positive ways. Raising the capital gains taxes does nothing but sharply diminish that access to investor capital.

Finally, I don't like being played. Last night the few people in the room were all vaccinated. According to the CDC's own guidance, they did not need to be masked. But the democrat leadership demanded it as part of television theater. They need to keep as many people in the country as possible afraid. They clearly have determined that collective fear offers them the best chance of ramming through an agenda that would never have reached the floor for debate at any other time in our history. I am not sure which is worse - the gullibility of so many of the electorate or the cold blooded calculated hypocrisy of the their leadership.

I could go on and on. That isn't what I merely believe. A host of businessmen and economists are out there shouting the same warnings right now.

 

[Thumper Mcgee]

Respectfully, I could not disagree more. This is a man who commands the room both in a carasmatic and humbling way (unlike the previous 2 presidents). When he speaks, he speaks to Joe Sixpack because that (despite his law degree and millionaire status) is fundamentally who he is. There is a lot to debate about; and we can have that debate. However,, he is a man who cares about America, and he deeply cares about the people of this country whether they voted for him or not.

Regardless - as anchor Brian Williams just said, "no one shouted 'you lie' and no one ripped up the speech, so we will take that as a win in the past 20 years"

respectfully id like to disagree with you. Biden has done nothing for this country he has caused a humanitarian crisis at the border and is keeping children in the very cages he criticized trump for. he has destroyed millions of jobs in his first 100 days and continues to lie and not keep the very promises he ran on. he is dependent on the protection from the media to cover his ass. his "infrastructure plan" is a cover up to line the pockets of his benefactors, the same can be said about his covid relief bill, which included such retarded brainless things like gardening and landscaping in the pacific islands. its one thing to be soft spoken and another to be a bumbling Buffon that takes fake press conferences and cant even walk up the stairs or string together a sentence.

bidens polices do nothing but harm middle and lower class america

 

[spike.t]

Spike.t ... Thank you for sharing that. It made me laugh. It made me want to cry a lot. I shared it on my FB page.

They have a few presenter/reporters on that channel that are definitely not fans of the Democrats or any left wing government and politicians in any country.....if you look on YouTube you will find

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

To those who think a gun registry is the answer here’s a little food for thought. In 1998 Canadians were forced to register their guns. The records show 7.1 million on record in the country. The arms manufacturer Cooey whom made various models of inexpensive single shot shotguns and a few varieties of .22 rifles predominantly for the Canadian market produced more firearms than the total amount registered in Canada. That’s only one region arms manufacturer.

 

[lwaters]

I'm not an investment advisor, but I note that a potential problem with TIPS is that the issuer has the ability to define and redefine what constitutes inflation. Recall that many years ago, when it suite the narrative, energy and food were removed from core inflation calculations. Housing costs comprise about 40% of the current inflation calculation, and they unequivocally are going through the roof everywhere but a few urban areas; however, the posted inflation rates remain very low. hmmm. That's why I have avoided TIPS.

That's true food and energy are not figured. But when they rise they definitely will cause other products to rise in costs especially energy costs. Right now I feel there a better investment than regular treasuries. It takes a while for inflation to show in the data. Last year I was sweating some corporate bonds i owned but the fed came in and bought corporate debt for I think the first time ever.

 

[curtism1234]

I have a very hard time seeing history recording anything other than a husk of a former politician who for the last part of his life made the office look weak, and called 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue home. Again though, I am grateful for your articulate response in supporting your views.

That or it caps off the life of Biden as one of the most decorated (in a non-military sense) Presidents in US history with nearly 40 years in the Senate, 8 years as VP, and up to 8 years as President. He probably isn't going to be taught in schools 300 years from now, but he could be the focal point in the 21st century

I concede it will probably be one or the other and not so much in the middle. Likely it will depend on what the virus does and his own personal health. However, George W Bush didn't know what he was waking up to on Sept 11th 2001.