Kicktaxing: The Crazy Complexity of Paying Tax Correctly On Crowdfunding 128
eggboard writes "I thought I knew what I was doing when I budgeted for a Kickstarter campaign. I spent weeks sorting out details, set a number ($48,000) that included expenses, Kickstarter fees, and a margin of error. In the end, we raised over $56,000. But my tax planning nearly put a crimp in cash flow, and could have been real problem. It all worked out, but I've written a detailed guide for people for before and after a campaign to avoid my mistakes."
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Better than borrow and spend.
tl;dr - it's just like a business (Score:2)
WTF - you know, every other small business person thinks of this shit BEFORE they start. It's not hard, really. Quit pretending you're running a lemonade stand in your parents driveway.
Re:tl;dr - it's just like a business (Score:4, Informative)
I read the article, and he brings up some interesting points that even a business owner might find interesting about crowdfunding. Because your revenues are exponentially larger for a single quarter, your tax situation gets all screwed up and you have to be very careful on your estimated taxes. He also brings up some timing advice: since businesses are allowed to deduct the costs of doing business, you don't want kickstarter to cut your check on December 31st.
It's really the opposite of most business tax situations. Rather than paying for material, wages, and capital expenditure and then waiting for invoices to come back, you're given a huge amount of revenue and then have to try and get it off the books as fast as possible.
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I read the article as well. I also happen to run a business I started ten years ago from scratch. I'm not a business person, and even I knew that taxes mattered. This really is business 101. There are all types of businesses, and 2 hours with an accountant prior to starting any business, much less one in which you know is going to see 5-6 figures of cash flow in a very short period of time, is the first thing you should do. Mine gave me insight into basically everything in the article.
Yeah, I was an asshol
Re:tl;dr - it's just like a business (Score:4, Informative)
I spent many hours and many emails with a good accountant, and he advised me not to launch a Kickstarter late in the year! However, there was no better time, and I had to work around the cash-flow issue, as I describe.
The state taxation issue was my fault. I had, in fact, budgeted to spend *more* on tax than I actually owed. So I wouldn't have come up short. Based on my communication with the state, I expect that I would pay different rates on parts of the Kickstarter, and potentially pay up to about 5% to the state in tax. In the actual event, it was about 1.5%.
However, I should have better understand the issue of destination addresses so that I had properly collected that information from everyone. That's something that I've now heard from many other crowdfunding projects about, too.
Further, at least Washington State requires you pay in-state retail business and occupation tax plus sales tax on all sales for which you cannot account for the destination. That can be a huge tax bill.
very well done (Score:2)
Good stuff, don't listen to the losers ;)
Just a random thought
Has anyone done a Kickstarter in Idaho? I wonder how you would get around the tax issues there.
"(One more tip: my accountant says that Washington State requires that I inform customers that sales tax will either be included or added to purchases. Kickstarter doesn’t let you automatically surcharge sales tax, which varies by delivery ZIP code, in any case. I chose to include it. Other states may also have this requirement.)"
You are not allow
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Thanks, TheGavster! For me, I had sufficient cash flow and overall income from the main business relative to the size of the Kickstarter that we could have weathered it if we hadn't had a perfect alignment as we did.
I don't mean to sound totally hapless. I had put a reserve of cash away for taxes and estimated *too high* for the state taxes as it turned out. But I didn't plan as thoroughly as I should have, and I have seen this bite a lot of other people I know, too.
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He also brings up some timing advice: since businesses are allowed to deduct the costs of doing business, you don't want kickstarter to cut your check on December 31st.
Here in the UK we're allowed to claim expenses in a tax year if they relate to business conducted in that year even if the expense is paid for in a later period (see http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals... [hmrc.gov.uk]). Is this not the case in the US?
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He also brings up some timing advice: since businesses are allowed to deduct the costs of doing business, you don't want kickstarter to cut your check on December 31st.
Here in the UK we're allowed to claim expenses in a tax year if they relate to business conducted in that year even if the expense is paid for in a later period (see http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals... [hmrc.gov.uk]). Is this not the case in the US?
Plus it's also irrelevant when kickstarter pay you: you pay the tax on the money you receive in the tax bill for the period in which you earn it, which for preorders (which is what kickstarter finance effectively is in most cases) is the period in which the product is dispatched, not the period you receive the money.
Re:tl;dr - it's just like a business (Score:5, Funny)
Memorandum to the guy who wrote the original story:
Almost everyone on Slashdot in 2014 is a raging, gangrene-infected, pus-spewing asshole. I don't think there's ever been a more sour, mouth-running bunch of twaddle-shoveling fucks in the same place in human history.
You posted a good article with some good information for reasonable people who are doing something productive. The people here are only interested in their bong, porn, Xbox and wandering through their mom's kitchen occasionally to grab a handful of potato salad and wipe their ass on the dishtowel.
Keep writing. The people around here would shit on an orphan's birthday cake.
Re:tl;dr - it's just like a business (Score:4, Insightful)
Thanks, much! Really, I wrote the article in part as a public service, not to be full of myself, because so many people I know have these questions. I have some answers, lots of questions, and lots of places to point people for planning. The commenters here can be awful at times (some are great, thanks!), but they're dwarfed by the number of people who are reading the article.
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As a relative old timer here, let me say I rather enjoyed the article for its great detail and information. You gave what looked to be an honest account of someone with a fair amount of experience doing something new and learning from the experience. Instead of hoarding that knowledge you attempted to share it. Just wanted to let you know it is appreciated. This is exactly the thing I come to Slashdot hoping to find.
Re:tl;dr - it's just like a business (Score:5, Insightful)
Bullshit.
A lot of the folks running Kickstarters have "business plans" that amount to "distribute sweaters to homeless kittens". Should they realize that has tax implications? Well, perhaps, insofar as you can't fart without the IRS taking a sniff. But to blame people who seriously have a business plan of clothing cats, for not understanding cash-vs-accrual accounting? Seriously, go fuck yourself with your framed MBA, dude.
We wonder what has gone "wrong" with this country? TFA gives a pretty damned good example. Have a good idea? Have adequate funding? Ready to ship and create one of those new Small Businesses the talking heads always praise? Oops, FOAD friend! You forgot about your quarterly withholding on money that no sane entity would consider anything but a production expense - Silly bear, considering our government "sane"! What will you think of next?
For anyone seriously wanting to know the "right" answer to this issue - Move to one of America's few remaining unorganized territories (Maine, Florida, and Alaska have a ton of them); that relieves of you 99% of the "bullshit" burden, which rests solely with your most local taxing authority (the city/town/county), and reduces your nightmare to just the state and federal levels. Most states just want a cut of your AGI, so if you have no profit, nothing to report. The feds just want a schedule C and SE, and couldn't care less how else you officially organize your activities.
Now, if you happen to live in a hellhole like NYC where everyone from the city through your Block Captain to your Landlord to your old roommate from 1976 get to fuck you with taxes - Move, or abandon your dream. Seriously.
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Huh? Nobody expects small-scale entrepeneurs to understand the tax laws. That's why they need to talk to somebody who does, and find out the consequences in their particular situation.
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It's more like the lottery.
That's what government's for... (Score:2)
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Deferred Revenue? (Score:2)
If you use accrual basis you can then (in theory) report the kickstarter funds as deferred revenues and also defer the tax until goods/services are delivered. Only a cash based business would need to pay tax prior.
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I researched this and discussed it with my accountant. My accountant said that switching cash-basis business to accrual for the sole purpose of deferring taxes for something that isn't part of its routine business could be met with scrutiny and penalties —and be disallowed.
And the IRS rules make it clear that you can't simply align revenue and expenses. It has a number of examples in which it's clear that in a Kickstarter, the revenue couldn't all be deferred, although the expenses might be allowed to
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I would argue you should have started a new corp just for the kickstarter campaign, the cost is pretty low even if you have someone do the paperwork for you. I think the more important point to be made is planning on many levels is essential.
What country are we talking about? (Score:1)
Fixed that for ya. Remember guys, the internet is WORLDWIDE.
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Microsoft, Apple, Google, IBM, Citigroup, Exxon Mobil, ....
"Only the little people pay taxes." - L. Helmsley
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They all pay US income taxes. In 2012:
Microsoft: $2.4 billion [marketwatch.com]
Apple: $8.4 billion [marketwatch.com]
Google: $2.5 billion [marketwatch.com]
IBM: $1.5 billion [marketwatch.com]
CItigroup: $229 million [marketwatch.com]
ExxonMobil: $2.5 billion [marketwatch.com]
Seems to me that they all pay income taxes - and quite a bit of it. It's a common fallacy that big companies don't pay taxes. Just take a look at the facts for yourself and find out that they do, in fact, pay income taxes - and a lot of them at that.
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The GP asserted that corporations didn't pay tax. I think we can both agree they did. Now you want to discuss how much they pay; OK, fine. How much should they pay? And how much should the average person pay? Because the vast majority of US citizens pay less than 10% federal income tax [taxfoundation.org]. And it's the bottom 80% who pay that rate; the top 20% tend to pay way above 10%.
So how much would you want the corporations to pay, since we agree they ARE paying? How much should the average US taxpayer pay? And h
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Very many people pay more FICA than the more narrowly defined "income" tax, particularly if you include the impact of the deceptively named employer's share. That nullifies a lot of the benefits of the progressiveness of the income tax.
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Because I have revenue of $150K/year and, except for a few deductions the IRS allows* me to take, I pay taxes on the rest of it. I'd love to take my food, housing, medical, transportation and other costs of living off the top and pay taxes on the remainder.
*Essentially, the IRS determines a 'poverty level' of sustenance and bases the allowance on that. So why don't they tell Google that a brand new corporate HQ isn't an allowable expense? They could easily set up card tables in an abandoned Safeway and run
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Everybody is allowed to deduct the costs directly involved in making money. They are not allowed to deduct consumption spending, which of course applies much more to individuals than corporations.
If you made money like these businesses, you'd buy stuff, do stuff, and sell stuff, and you'd file a Schedule D. That allows you to deduct the expenses involved in your business. (It also makes you feel the full weight of FICA, but I digress.)
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Everybody is allowed to deduct the costs directly involved in making money.
I've got to feed myself or I won't have the strength to make it to work. And then there's clothing and housing myself. Medical and dental expenses, transportation, etc. And all of the vacation and entertainment necessary to maintain my mental health and work productivity.
Like I said elsewhere, nobody seems to question a corporation spending hundreds of millions on granite and glass corporate headquarters when card tables in an unfinished warehouse space will do just fine.
The IRS has determined that the an
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Yeah, but you have to feed yourself whether you're in business or not. A corporation doesn't need a headquarters if it goes out of business. Your food is personal consumption (if it's directly business-related, it's deductible). A corporation needs some sort of headquarters only to make money.
The tax laws do not require somebody to spend the minimum possible money on deductible expenses. If you have medical expenses high enough to be deductible, nobody at the IRS is going to ask whether you really ne
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...Paying Tax Correctly for USA citizens on Crowdfunding
Fixed that for ya. Remember guys, the internet is WORLDWIDE.
The USA manages to stick its tax fingers into a whole lot more than just USA citizens. I suspect that if you use any USA based service (such as Kickstarter or any number of payment systems) you may run afoul of USA tax requirements. Hopefully you won't get hit with a net bill (as there are tax agreements between the USA and a lot of other countries that mostly prevent double taxation), but you can still be hit with non-reporting penalties and the like.
It is not pretty, and it is not limited to USA citizens
Re:Business with non-calendar tax year? (Score:4, Informative)
He mentions that you can set up a fiscal year which deviates from the calendar year. He was unable to do this because he was already operating under an LLC and changing your fiscal year after you've set it is non-trivial.
Too complex (Score:4, Insightful)
As a small business owner, I can say that the US tax system really needs to be simplified. I started my business 3 years ago, and had to learn the accounting and tax side myself (I couldn't afford a CPA or book keeper at the time). For a nation that claims to be built on small businesses, it sure is crazy trying to figure out what's needed to run start or run one.
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It's definitely costly to business, and that's one added expense no one (government nor business nor employees) really benefits from having.
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For a nation that claims to be built on small businesses, it sure is crazy trying to figure out what's needed to run start or run one
The US Federal tax code now tops 80,000 pages or about 8+ times the length of War and Peace. If you don't think that's nuts then you're probably either a tax attorney or a Washington lobbyist. The politicians like to talk about good paying jobs, but they're killing the very small businesses that might create those jobs with over taxation and regulation. There was a time in the United States when people with a grade school education could start a business and be successful without having to worry about the g
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Thats because its become a system of kickbacks. Congress doesn't want to raise the corporate tax, so they create newer, more specific ones that hit everyone through sheer quantity. But heres the kicker, Congress also knows that corporations (and its largest owners) are their biggest donors, so they give huge subsidies and write-offs to corporations... that can afford accountants/lawyers smart/able/with enough time to find, understand and file all the necessary paperwork before the deadlines.
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It's not like you have to read every page though, or at least that is the theory. Only a small part is supposed to apply to a particular small business. My point is that the overall size of the code isn't necessarily the issue.
We could probably cut it down a lot with a "no bullshit" rule. I bet 75% is trying to close loopholes that people found to dodge tax.
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The problem is that every time a politician agrees with you about simplifying the tax code, and tries to do something about it, it just gets more complicated. The only solution is to throw the whole tax code out and start over. But that will never ever happen.
Cash vs accrual accounting (Score:5, Interesting)
He got into these problems with revenue matching because he is running his business on cash basis accounting. In general only very small businesses can be run on cash basis accounting almost all manufacturing oriented businesses use accrual accounting. With accrual accounting you would book the Kickstarter money as a customer deposit and then recognize it as income when the product ships.
http://www.investopedia.com/te... [investopedia.com]
Re:Cash vs accrual accounting (Score:4, Informative)
Absolutely correct in one regard, but some very large business also run on cash if don't make stuff that's inventoried.
I did research it (and mention it in the article) and discuss it with my accountant. Because the publication doesn't really qualify for accrual accounting, it would have invited scrutiny (or worse) had I switched to accrual to get advantageous accounting rules for a specific project.
Long story short (Score:2)
Guy ended up with more revenue than he spent, so he had to pay taxes.
He didn't think to consult an accountant which would have been able to make the balance sheet negative without any issue.
OR (Score:1)
Don't forget self-employment tax! (Score:1)
For many, self-employment tax is another really good reason to try to steady things and avoid "bouncing revenue", if there's the chance that you could end up taking a loss the next year. Big profit one year? Pay big tax! Loss next year? Sorry, bud, no refund!
I confess to getting first-hand experience with this, as I'm accounting on an accrual basis, and just paid taxes for a rather large amount of work done that may eventually have to be written off as bad debt, or at the least is going to cost me to coll
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They let people run multiuser blogs, with really terrible ajaxy UIs. So, clickbait is the natural use.
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Re:Medium (Score:5, Informative)
It's difficult to claim "clickbait" when there are no ads!
I wrote the article in this link, and edit a publication called The Magazine. Medium pays us to write new content and post archived material from our publication to their site while they learn about what people read. They're looking at a lot of data (which anyone who uses the site, even as a blog platform, can see in the stats page) to figure out whether people read entire articles, etc.
I wrote 4,000 words from months of dealing with tax and business issues related to Kickstarter. I didn't realize that would be considered *thrilling clickbait headlines*. Instead, I though Slashdot readers, among others, would be a likely audience working in and around crowdfunding, and might like to get some information before launching one about the tax and accounting side of things.
The "multiuser blog" is a collection of related articles, some of them run by publications like mine.
Context (Score:3)
You can write the most insightful/thrilling/useful article ever in the history of mankind, but if you place it on a site where people get a lot of ads they will still accuse you of treachery.
As you say it's not so in this case, but it gives the appearance of being so just because Medium.com has started popping up all over like mushrooms after a rainstorm - so it seems like yet another linkbait site just from the context of where the links to medium are all found, around links to all the sites people have le
Re:Context (Score:4, Informative)
I completely understand that! But it's difficult to say "clickbait" if you haven't visited the site.
Medium is no panacea, and this is a period when they're spending money to figure stuff out before they plug in a revenue pipe (see public statements by Ev Williams). However, you're seeing a ton of links to Medium because it's got a great front-end for writing and publishing. I've been working with Web-based content-management systems (CMSes) and sadly wrote a few myself for nearly 18 years, since the first formal ones arose. And Medium is pretty fantastic for writers and publishers.
I think it's very good for readers, because it doesn't have cruft. It's words, no ads, photos/video well presented. So people have raced to write there if they don't want to use blogging software because it's just the story.
Yes, there are a lot of SEO marketing types writing stuff at Medium. But there's a lot of good work (not tooting my own horn as I'm about 0.001% of the content of Medium) that's there, too.
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It's words, no ads
The entire page itself is an advertisement trying to get people to sign up for a subscription to a different site.
For those who don't want to believe me, make sure you have your script and tracking cookie blockers active, then scroll down to the bottom.
I'm not even complaining about Medium (Score:2)
I didn't mean to come off complaining about Medium - I don't mind reading it.
I just wanted to point out why people might think it was click bait, not discourage you or anyone else from using it.
I think it's very good for readers, because it doesn't have cruft. It's words, no ads, photos/video well presented.
Generally I agree but I have two problems with it:
1) Too large/spread out, I prefer denser text. Perhaps I can use the browser font settings to correct for that, hmm...
2) The exact same format of giant
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You can write the most insightful/thrilling/useful article ever in the history of mankind, but if you place it on a site where people get a lot of ads they will still accuse you of treachery.
Read the first line of the post you are responding to "It's difficult to claim "clickbait" when there are no ads!
"
ADD much? (Score:2)
You may want to read the VERY NEXT FUCKING SENTENCE of my post.
Damn!
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You may want to read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. It's pretty good.
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I'll admit I first thought "well duh" as I have my own small business (nothing as large as most Kickstarter campaigns, but I've hired a CPA or two in my time). But the points you bring up are really important ones and can quickly derail a project if there's not enough advance planning. Along with all of the technical and logistical aspects of a successful campaign, there's also the financial ones.
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I wrote the article in this link, and edit a publication called The Magazine.
And regardless of your motives, the fact that you both wrote and submitted the article can open you up to accusations of self-aggrandizement, of which the Slashthink is very very suspicious.
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If it's interesting and useful, and I submit it under my name, and it gets posted to the home page by people with full awareness, it seems like you're engaging in meta-moderation within a thread.
I don't post B.S. to Slashdot; I've been using it since it started (not under this ID at the very beginning). The moderators and other tools prevent useless stuff from rising to the top.
So.
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For what it's worth, I thought it was a good article and very informative on a rather confusing topic. Yes, you link to some of your other work at the bottom *the horror!*, but it's well placed and non-intrusive. The article itself doesn't come across as trying to sell anything, merely informative. I think there's just a bunch of angry people out there that need to go rub one out real quick, they'll feel better.
Self Submission (Score:2)
The moderators and other tools prevent useless stuff from rising to the top.
Sometimes.
(Sorry, couldn't help myself)
And regardless of your motives, the fact that you both wrote and submitted the article can open you up to accusations of self-aggrandizement, of which the Slashthink is very very suspicious.
If this is a warning about what others might think, meant as a courtesy, then it's not well worded. If it's a request not to self-submit, then it's a worthless statement. Slashdot is about conversation. If the topic is worthy of conversation among nerds, geeks, techies, etc, then somebody needs to submit it. It doesn't do any good to tell people that they ought to be bashful.
I, for one, welcome your submission.
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"aaaaand I'm guessing your compensation is at least partially based on clicks.": Our compensation is based on producing new content that people want to read; clickbait doesn't get us anywhere, because it doesn't turn into people reading the articles, but clicking and leaving. It also earns us anger, which doesn't help foster regular readers. Also, a 4,000-word article about tax issues is usually *not* traditional clickbait under any reasonable definition...
"That's nice, but you're not a lawyer or a tax atto
Text size (Score:3)
That website is disgusting and the text is ridiculously huge. I'm not reading that.
Dude, "Ctrl -". How do you survive on the Internet?
Re:stay out of business until 2017 (Score:5, Insightful)
Who do you think is responsible for setting tax policy and spending tax revenues? Hint- it's not Obama. Did you sleep through 9th grade Social Studies? Or have you not gotten to 9th grade yet?
Isn't it a weird coincidence that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has doubled since "anti-business" Obama took office?
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Seeing as Wall Street gave a majority of their contributions to Obama (probably shock number one for you), he made sure to pay them back. That is why he had Bernake print around $3.5 Trillion (not a misprint) and dump it into Wall Street to make sure his donors were taken care of.
Also Solendra owners donated hundreds of thousands to his campaign.
He also invested in Brazil oil with 2 Billion because his buddy Soros was involved.
It goes on and on, but every time Obama has been given a pot of money you can di
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That is why he had Bernake print around $3.5 Trillion (not a misprint) and dump it into Wall Street to make sure his donors were taken care of.
Oh, and as a small byproduct of that, it kept the US economy functioning.
Re:stay out of business until 2017 (Score:4, Insightful)
I think we could debate the fact that the $3.5 Trillion could have done more for "My economy" had it been spent in public works projects and landed in my pocket.
Bernanke kept "his economy" going -- and that's stocks and record profits. That's 400 families who have more wealth than over 150 million Americans combined.
I'm not some moron who can't understand that we need some bank liquidity to keep paychecks going -- but it would be much better to let a few banks go bankrupt and to redistribute this wealth. It's too depressing to look at the lack of any increase in standard of living since the 70's for the vast majority. And rich people trading paper isn't going to create "demand".
Re:stay out of business until 2017 (Score:4, Insightful)
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I think we could debate the fact that the $3.5 Trillion could have done more for "My economy" had it been spent in public works projects and landed in my
Obama proposed doing that, with like $750B. Congress rejected it immediately. So Obama did what he has the authority to do without needing Congress's approval- quantitative easing.
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Instead of giving $3.5 trillion to the banks, he should have given it directly to the people that got screwed in this catastrophe. Obama has rewarded the banks for failing.
Of course, that mess was directly caused by the Clinton Administration's removal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G... [wikipedia.org]
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Of course, that mess was directly caused by the Clinton Administration's removal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933.
You mean the Republican Congress's passing of the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act (named for 3 promenent Republicans)? Funny how Congress is at fault for everything bad when the president is Republican, and the "administration" is at fault when Congress is majority Republican.
9/11 would never have happened if Nancy Pelosi wasn't elected, right?
And the Republicans who passed it at the time stated it couldn't cause the problems it was later blamed for by other Republicans. So where they lying then, o
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I'm not blaming either side for anything, the entire system is nearly completely corrupt. There is no government, just enforcers. I want people to stop telling themselves that the 90's were a good time under Clinton. He was just as bad as every other president. They're all bad.
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Have you seen Japan's GDP growth over the past 20 years? That would be an optimistic scenario for the US if we hadn't printed all of that money.
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So I'm guessing you are a shill that approves of NSA spying, drone strikes, and keeping Gitmo open along with all the other things Obama does, since you are coming here and making up stories to try and cover for the most corrupt presdent the US has ever had.
You got me. I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids.
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Well, to be fair, if GOP Governors were not firing so many workers -- we'd have about 6% unemployment right now.
But yes, it seems like the Dems and Republicans have done a great job keeping down wages, job growth and killing the economy with Austerity. They are STILL printing lots of money -- it's just not going to the people at the bottom so it isn't spurring real growth that might offset the deficit.
If we had higher taxes at the top, that would force capital investment rather than profit taking -- and it
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All the experts are saying it kept the economy down.
All of them? Every single one? When you make a blanket statement like that, you're either lieing or you are personally deciding who is an expert and who isn't. We would have been a lot better off if that cash had gone straight to the citizenry. I could have paid down all of my debt and be ready to actually spend serious money.
Re:stay out of business until 2017 (Score:4, Insightful)
Isn't it a weird coincidence that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has doubled since "anti-business" Obama took office?
Not really, when you consider literally $4 trillion in new dollars (stimulus and QE 1/2/3) pumped into the economy, mainly via Wall Street. That $4 trillion has to go somewhere, and it ended up in the stock market.
Factor out this extra Governmental spending, and our GDP has barely budged over the last 5 years. The stock market is up because there's a lot more free/easy money to throw/invest, not because the GDP is roaring away.
Re:stay out of business until 2017 (Score:4, Insightful)
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Yeah. So why was every Democrat screaming in 2009 about how high stock values were a sign that the middle class was being shredded by big business?
The DJIA dropped by 50% between 2007 and 2009. Please cite anyone complaining about "high stock values".
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lack confidence because of Obama
I lack confidence because I'm making about as much now, as I was a decade ago. Same for everyone else whose wages haven't kept up with inflation for the last 30 or so years. But hey, that's all Obama's fault retroactively back through Reagan's (blessed be his name) administration. Couldn't possibly be because the CEOs collectively dicked themselves in the ass to pad out their quarterly reports and award themselves giant bonuses while letting the question of "where will nex
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Automation (sometimes via robots) and new technologies and labor strategies are altering the employment landscape.
This is bigger than any single person, and it will get worse. McDonald's, for example, is pursuing automation strategies.
Automation and global cheap labor are the new realities --- and with this comes institutional unemployment (fixed unemployment that is difficult o
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Automation and global cheap labour have existed for centuries. The pace of change, it's scope, and the impact of communication and shipping technologies are greater than before.
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Disagreeing with what I said by agreeing with it too? Different. But it's cool. I can roll with that.
But the European Union would like assess a VAT on your post --- you know, a value added tax.
And those pesky Europeans are having trouble assessing a tax, because you didn't really add much "value".
To plead your case, you must
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McDonald's, for example, is pursuing automation strategies.
McDonald's is way behind on this front. Burger King has been using an automated broiler for decades, eliminating the grill cook completely.
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Small business owners are waiting for Obama to go away because their customers aren't willing to spend until Obama goes away.
So how has the GDP been growing steadily since Obama took office?
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Just don't even bother trying to do any business until after 2017 at the earliest. You don't need to pay any taxes to the corrupt Obama regime if you don't make any money.
What kind of idiotic business would just give up until 2017? How the hell am I supposed to eat for the next 3 years? Oh, I suppose that $900 a month should be enough to cover my rent, school loans, utilities, and food. Why I wouldn't even need to give up my caviar!
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The article does talk about gifts not being taxable. The problem arises when you start giving rewards in exchange for those gifts. If you can run a Kickstarter in which people give you money and you don't give them anything back, then you're fine.
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You may get a lower amount of donations but how much less tax would you pay and how much less work would that involve?