Neo

Well, now. I feel better every minute! I don’t think one “pays taxes responsibly”. One pays them statutorily. Tax revenue is used responsibly, or not. Paying responsibly is one of those phrases, like fair share, used to virtue signal when confiscating. “Now Doris, he says we’re not payin’ responsibly! Is that right? Well, bless his heart ....”. Perhaps this will encourage my blue friends to recognize the irresponsibility of it all! Looks like 11 states are net payers, and 39 net recipients. I’m still not sure how “age and location” dynamic come into play. Nor am I aware of how a progressive tax schedule affects the calculation. You know, we might be so poor here in Florida that our status as a net recipient is a progressive’s dream. Must be, right? We tax the rich and transfer funds to the needy. “Hey, rich New York. No state NEEDS that much money. Pay your fair share. We have programs for the poor in Florida. Privileged bastards.” I’ve seen that construct, before. “Governor, I can’t believe you’re raising taxes on the poorest”! That’s really the point, isn’t it? I’m making it in the longest way. Just like there are no federal dollars, there are no states that are net recipients or payers. Daniel Patrick was one smart dude, but I’ve had giggled at him. People are payers or recipients. More recipients live in some zip codes than others. If you see “this state owes that state”, you miss the picture entirely. I am a Buffalo guy, though. I will begin to socialize the concept that we in the south need to pay more in recognition of New York’s largesse. While I’m at it, I’m also going to point out that some individuals paying less than me begin to pay more. I mean, that’s the logic, right? Fair share and responsible, and all, right? I’ll explain that I pay more than I get. I’m not sure what traction I’ll get, but I’m on it. This net payer / recipient thing makes my day!

https://www.businessinsider.com/federal-taxes-federal-services-difference-by-state-2019-1#rhode-island-39 I can’t speak for the math or accuracy. Great article with a reasonable approach that supports Eleven’s hunch. NY pays $1,300 per person TO the Feds MORE than they get FROM the Feds. Floridians RECEIVE $3,000 more than they pay. Not sure how social security and medicare / medicaid weigh in. There is always timing for vehicles like this. For instance, a retiree paid TO Washington when she lived and worked up north, and is now getting BACK while she retires and lives down south. I have no clue how you capture that. In any event, even armed with this data, I’d leave the motor runnin’.

Well, I was pointing out the actual source, not suggesting an actual phone call. In other words, there is no such thing as a federal dollar. I twitch when politicians of any stripe refer to federal dollars. Federal dollars live in my wallet. My only point, in fact. I know the proposed recipient has no trouble with the ask. The challenge is always the donor. Florida doesn’t share your conclusion. Fun three day weekend .. walk into working class taverns from Texas to Florida to North Carolina to Tennessee to Alabama Mississippi Louisiana and suggest they “owe” New York some money. That’d be fun to watch. I’d leave the car with its motor runnin’ in the parking lot. I share your hurricane point. I’ve never understood why the US subsidizes stupid building. Well, I know why they do ... I also think this is a pandemic and not a rainy day. I am “pro” a lot of “federal stuff” i’m not normally inclined to support. Print, borrow, spend. Imagine NYC taxing Buffalo for COVID19. That’s kind of what we’re talking about, right? Or Erie, PA? I listened to the complaints for years about upstate dollars going to downstate projects. Hell, there was a mini riot when NYC wanted hospital beds. Maybe someone knows ... what are the balance of payments between feds and states? Is there a state ranking? I’ll look. Which states are net importers and exporters of federal funds ?

I liked Barnaby, I grew tired of him, and later in life I became sympathetic. He was a perp and a victim.

Now, THESE are my boys, and every poster who picks someone other than who I chose is going to change my mind. I went with hockey players who could also mix it up. Robbie Ray is on my all time favorite list, but didn’t make my cut. Varada gives me more than the other choices in his group. He got dirty and under the skin of others. I felt he became a victim of his own reputation player. Playfair was a top four defenseman who could play. His mere presence discouraged “liberties”. Brad May won fights. Larry Playfair prevented them.

Just to be respectful to the groups I named, strange refers not to either one of them. Strange refers to their common cause assembly. Electricians, bankers, IT Techs, landscapers, engineers, brick layers, sovereign citizens, libertarians ... The thoughts are coming ... 1). Tough time to be a governor. The Governor of New York has been smart and competent, for the most part. No shock there. His theory of government isn’t mine, but he can govern. He’s asking for Federal money. He’s really asking for money from 49 other states. How would that sound bite play? 2). I’d get PPP, Part Deux, announced before Monday. I’ll let everyone imagine the small business owners’ phone calls to lenders on Thursday when the money ran out. They’ve been closed for a month. They don’t have 90 days cash. You can argue they should. I’d argue they shouldn’t. We’d both be wasting time. They don’t. These are the firm’s that employ 95% of us. Tick tock, tick tock. 3). When this is in the rear view mirror, the list of re-prioritized institutions, projects, roles, delivery and funding will be longer than the Nile. You will see America 2.0, if only to deal with the hole creates by resources committed. I want to read more of Mark Cuban’s vision. I won’t say he was the first with the idea, or that he coined the term, but he is Mark Cuban. 4). The bill. Little we’re doing is investment. This is current period spending so that there IS a subsequent period. Think of PPP as a colossal family medical bill. $350 thousand to keep Papa alive. It’s good that he is alive, and he can continue to work after he’s well, but he owes someone $350 thousand. He is us. When he pays it, it’s with dollars that could’ve bought food and cars and homes and dinners out and cable tv. There’s no transfer from this guy to that. It’s real, and it’s gone. 5). Bar stool I’d love to sit on: One between our President, our Fed Chairman and Jamie Diamond. I’d ask ... “Could we charge the Chinese for the pandemic by defaulting on the US debt THEY hold, not defaulting on our other debt, and retain our status as the world’s safe haven for funds and the dollar as the global currency?” The answer, of course, is “no”. You are a defaulter if you default. Creditors don’t give you style points for summoning moral justifications (a consideration for another kind of debt, by the way, but I’ll not digress). This is a fever dream, but I like to imagine Xi in the same bar, over by the Juke Box, straining to hear us. Entanglements.

I’m watching the protestors in Annapolis. I see pick-up trucks, construction vehicles, SUVs and mini vans. I look forward to the interviews and what I expect will be strange bedfellows. Is this an assembly of the American worker and the constitutional nerd?

I look forward to the re-opening of America. Who don’t? I am especially interested in the Fed vs State dialogue and action. I have no prediction, yet. I do think the States will lead. They have to. This pandemic is 3,141 epidemics in the US, alone, each different. The risk of not re-opening fast enough is approaching the risk of opening too soon. No one will get this right. Some may get this “not so bad as to harm more, if differently”. The latter is enough for me. I want to point out where our collective goalposts were established before it starts. We went on lock down to bend the curve below rates where our health care system could handle the illness, recognizing that “handle” means more infections, more admissions, and more deaths. The object is to live with the illness while we strive for a cure. We will return to a risky world where people get sick and die. This result is the result we should expect IF the lockdown and re-opening is a success. If the dialogue leading to re-opening turns to guaranteeing safety, assuring no new cases, or testing everyone, we’ll have moved the goalposts to another spot on the field. This won’t be helpful. This won’t make sense. This won’t be honest. Be vigilant, and remember the goalposts. There aren’t better ones in terms of the outcome while decisions are made. There shouldn’t be different ones when you exercise hindsight.

If you find a way, let me know. I’ll do the same. The Aud ... sigh.

Guilty as charged. I typed the name that summoned the Valkyries.

And the contagion spreads ...

True? I had no idea ....

Looks like I just escaped by the skin of my teeth! You must be so frustrated. You had me, I’m certain of it! I feared a laser guided missile. I am grateful it was just another scud.

Well then, I am forced to change my answer to I have no idea.

Well, I had to Google. I’ve been watching the Sopranos. Tyson Foods. Do you have a point I’m missing, or is this just an opportunity to have fun and connect me to pandemic deaths?

I don’t know why, but I liked what Brent brought, night after night. I chose him over Gaustad, certainly a “like value” guy. I think Paul suffers a little from Andreychuk syndrome. That is, he was big but didn’t pummel, jar, pound, or beat you to a pulp. Gaustad left me wanting more. His fight with Lucic, next game, was a Sabres low point for me. “OK, if I have to ....”

I am going to pour and drain a bourbon and come back to read this thread, again ....

Gerry was good, in my opinion. Unfortunately, he had to be nearly as good as Bernie Parent when it mattered most to Buffalo. I recall him as a solid starter, top half of the league in a 1 - 18 way.

Agree. Crozier was a great goaltender, but Miller reached his high level and sustained it longer. Crozier did it with an expansion team and Miller did it with high level vets. That “favors” Crozier who always appeared under siege! I agree with the second tier. Edwards and Sauve were our best one/two, I believe. Memorable: 1). Dave Dryden playing against his brother Ken in The Aud. Their family (Mom and Dad) was there. Dave played well. Montreal won (like they always did, against anybody!) 2). Joe Daley, our last unmasked guy. He’d play a period of hockey and leave for the dressing room with his hair all a mess, of course, and then return for the next period with a perfect side part, slicked. I was 10 or so years old, and always imagined him combing his hair perfectly between periods for a look that lasted two minutes. 3) Desjardins and Crozier ... two good goaltenders and semingly good guys standing opposite Bernie Parent in the playoffs, feet ahuffling during the national anthems. Must’ve been like so many goalies staring down Hasek in the same situation. Crozier’d been ill all year. Bromley, I believe, was playoff series injured. 4) Tom Barrasso with AW on his mask, for all world. A brash you g goalie from RPI shows up and puts AU on his mask.

Fine with me, of course ... but if it heads to politics, it becomes flotsam and jetsam to me.

Great read for a layman! Thank you. I went top to bottom. Worth mentioning, because this is expert analysis that provides insight in a direction contrary to one I'd put forward as an amateur, is that the author sees the wet market as the source with no mention of the germ lab. The original source matters little to me when I'm looking at government culpability, but it's VERY important in terms of learning what happened and making sure it doesn't happen again.

If I were President Trump, I’d ask The WHO to promise me .... “we won’t get fooled, again” ... before I resumed funding. icrackmeup ...

Fried!

And now, because my motor’s running, I’ll continue .. The next big story, after Chinese negligence and malfeasance become commonly understood and accepted, is this. What do you do with a country that screwed up, lied, caused deaths, and tanked the global economy .... when it owns $1.1 Trillion of your debt? What do you do with a country that screwed up, lied, caused deaths, and tanked the global economy .... when it is a $600 Billion trade partner? 1). You talk about it amongst yourselves without accusing one another of being xenophobes. 2). You recognize China is a rival, not a partner. 3). You formulate and execute a vision for a century that articulates your values, goals and objectives. You do not stray. 1 and 2 are easy. Well, they should be. 3 is brutal resolve.