It's The Joe Biden Appreciation Thread!!!

[dreamon]

Simple economics says that to stimulate demand money should be in the hands of the people with the highest propensity to consume. People who earn less than 20,000 dollars a year will spend nearly all of their income whereas a person who makes a million dollars will have more than half sitting in low risk instruments. Having money in savings does not stimulate development on the supply side nor does it stimulate demand and thereby help businesses and their employees prosper.

Any sort of progressive tax system is going to be slightly re-distributive. Otherwise it would not be progressive at all. Warren Buffett said it best when he said basically that he knows not a single billionaire that has ever made a conscious decision not to develop or to invest based on a tax burden. Local tax burdens can cause a race to the bottom among competing jurisdictions, but the idea that a higher federal income rate will cause wealthy people to withhold development or investment activity is counter-intuitive.

There is simply no way to have a civilized society without some people who are at times unable to work. There is always a natural rate of unemployment, there are periods or restructuring. This is without taking into account disabilities people suffer that keep them out of the workforce in the short or long term. It would be wonderful if we could all be taught a trade and be self-sufficient, but if you think that's going to happen for 300 million people without any emergency situation ever taking a person out of the workforce temporarily or permanently you're not living on planet earth (I'm not suggesting you're an alien, a reptile or otherwise; it's an expression).

Warren Buffett doesn't make decisions based on tax burdens because he makes 95% of his income in non-taxable methods.

[broncofan]

Warren Buffett doesn't make decisions based on tax burdens because he makes 95% of his income in non-taxable methods.

I don't think that's true. I think you mean he is not taxed because he doesn't liquidate his stock positions for decades. You can't be taxed in the U.S until you have a realization event; i.e. you have sold property and received the cash with which to cover your tax burden. One of the benefits of being a long-term investor is that you are not paying taxes annually because you do not realize a gain until you sell. But I don't think his positions are non-taxable (such as municipal bonds; they are merely deferred taxes, because he holds them for long periods).

The reason he says that people are not disincentivized from working is because taxes are always assessed in marginal rates. You only pay more taxes if you make more money. And you only pay taxes on net earnings, so if it is not a matter of competing jurisdictions then you are making a decision to make no money by not investing or to make significant amounts but pay taxes. I agree that large corporations may make decisions about where to have their operations based on tax rates (again if you have competing jurisdictions), but people do not decide to work less or forego profitable ventures because they pay a higher marginal rate....because their alternative is to do nothing with their capital!

[broncofan]

Warren Buffett doesn't make decisions based on tax burdens because he makes 95% of his income in non-taxable methods.

To be brief, I think almost all of his income is taxed. My understanding is just that his massive, unliquidated holdings are not classified as income.

[AshlynCreamher]

Today is the 5th anniversary of 'let's move' this years theme is: #GimmeFive challenge

Mar. 13, 2015 6:18pm Oliver Darcy

'A million arm curls’: Watch Joe Biden respond to Michelle Obama’s #GimmeFive challenge

Vice President Joe Biden took part in a fun promotional video published Friday aimed at promoting first lady Michelle Obama’s #GimmeFive challenge.

While doing “calls with world leaders” the vice president is seen performing arm curls with a dumbbell.

“I do a million of these a day,” he said. “So just give me five.”

The #GimmeFive campaign is part of the first lady’s Let’s Move program which challenges individuals to list five ways they are living a healthy lifestyle.

Vice President Joe Biden pumps 'a million arm curls' in White House tweet:

[AshlynCreamher]

Warren Buffett doesn't make decisions based on tax burdens because he makes 95% of his income in non-taxable methods.

Buffett himself owns 33.9% of Berkshire Hathaway and pays himself a salary equivalent to his secretary there for paying less income tax while keeping his liquid assets at a lower tax rate of 30% corporate tax Vs 47% income tax saving 17% of his total earnings
Owning a corp gives you the privilege of paying yourself a salary; any salary. So technically he's not doing anything wrong


Now I'm more interested in Al Sharpton $4.5 million in unpaid taxes and penalties not including Sharpton's nonprofit, which also owes $819,000

[broncofan]

Buffett himself owns 33.9% of Berkshire Hathaway and pays himself a salary equivalent to his secretary there for paying less income tax while keeping his liquid assets at a lower tax rate of 30% corporate tax Vs 47% income tax saving 17% of his total earnings
Owning a corp gives you the privilege of paying yourself a salary; any salary. So technically he's not doing anything wrong

I think the main reason he doesn't pay himself a large salary is because he makes his money through investments. Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company...his core business is to buy companies in whole or in part and make money off of the increases in shareholder value. He's extremely critical of managers who get paid too much because he believes it erodes shareholder value and so he sets the same example in the holding company he runs as the companies he likes to purchase.

What would the result be if he paid himself a higher salary? He would not just be eroding the value of his 33% stake but would actually be subsidizing his own income with the stake of the other 67%. So even if he would pay a higher rate as personal income, he would be aggrandizing enough from other shareholders to make up the difference in rates.

There is also the issue of corporations being subjected to double tax. Let's say he buys coca cola with Berkshire. Berkshire would pay a corporate tax rate for coca cola when he sells it. But if he wanted to then distribute the liquid profits to himself and others as a dividend, he would also pay personal income tax. But a salary paid to himself as CEO would be an expense/deduction for the corporation and would be taxed once for him. So I don't think the low salary is a smart tax move.

[AshlynCreamher]

COLIN CAMPBELL MAR. 30, 2015, 1:17 PM

Watch Ted Cruz tell a nasty joke about Joe Biden

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has a snarky joke about Vice President Joe Biden incorporated into his presidential campaign's stump speech.

It goes like this: "Joe Biden." That's it.

Cruz explained the zinger while speaking before a conservative New Hampshire group last Friday. Video of his speech was posted over the weekend by the right-leaning blog Granite Grok.

"Vice President Joe Biden," Cruz said, pausing. "You know the nice thing? You don't need a punchline."

Cruz urged his audience to try his joke for themselves at a social gathering.

"The next time you go to a party, just walk up to somebody. Say, 'Vice President Joe Biden.' And close your mouth. They will crack up laughing," he promised.

Biden, who says he's looking at his own 2016 presidential bid, is well known for his gaffes and social faux pas. Last month, he drew headlines by suggesting his friendship with Wilmington, Delaware, cab drivers was symbolic of his great relationship with the broader Somali-American community.

However, Cruz decided to needle Biden for suggesting warning shots from a shotgun are an effective way to defend one's home.

"Vice President Joe Biden said, 'If anyone attacks your house, just go outside with a double-barreled shotgun and fire both barrels in the air. Now, that is very, very good advice," Cruz said, again pausing for effect, "if it so happens that you're being attacked by a flock of geese."

Update (1:54 p.m.): A Biden source told Business Insider that Cruz is already breaking his own promise to avoid negative campaigning. The source pointed to Cruz's Sunday appearance on CNN. "There may be other candidates who choose to throw rocks in my direction," Cruz said in the interview, according to Politico. "I'm not going to engage in the personal mudslinging."

Watch Cruz's full speech below. (His Biden jokes begin about 15 minutes in.)

SEE ALSO: Joe Biden has a strange but amazing Valentine's Day message

[trish]

You hear the one where Ted Cruz was sneaking up onto Joe Biden's porch?

His plan was to leave a flaming bag of shit at Biden's front door.
But there was one problem. Ted brought matches and a paper bag, but he forgot the shit.

Joe shows up at the door with his shotgun...BOOM... fires it into the air and...

problem solved.

[Stavros]

Am I right in thinking that Mr Biden has a month in which to make an announcement on whether or not he going to run [sic] for the White House?

[AshlynCreamher]

By Nick Gass 3/30/15 12:08 PM EDT Updated 3/30/15 5:15 PM EDT

Joe Biden remembers Teddy Kennedy with locker-room anecdote

Vice President Joe Biden paid tribute to the late Sen. Ted Kennedy on Monday, recounting how the Massachusetts Democrat treated him “like a little brother” and became his tutor and guide when Biden arrived in the Senate.

That came with some embarrassing moments in the upper chamber’s locker room, the veep said.

Biden, speaking in Boston at the dedication of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, mentioned how Kennedy would take him into the Senate gymnasium’s locker room to meet senators, and “like in a YMCA, the men walk around the shower and the stalls with nothing on.”