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    Quasar FunkHamilton Nolan
    8/08/16 9:58am

    There is no support for this plan. Nobody wants to nip the estate tax.

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      pre-emptive sighQuasar Funk
      8/08/16 9:59am

      It should be 100% and there should be limits on gifts to children, then we can talk about bootstraps and meritocracy and all the things republicans claim make Americans exceptional.

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      greategressQuasar Funk
      8/08/16 10:00am

      My increasingly-unhinged middle class parents want to repeal the estate tax, and they’re far from alone. It is the definition of voting against your own interests, and the Republican base is dedicated to the idea in the interest of “economic fairness” (gag).

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    Rutherford B. Hayes, caretaker presidentHamilton Nolan
    8/08/16 10:07am

    Working class white Americans do not support Donald Trump because of their economic concerns. They support Donald Trump because of fear over losing their perceived hegemonic dominance.

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      Sobchak SecurityRutherford B. Hayes, caretaker president
      8/08/16 10:16am

      They support Donald Trump because of fear over losing their perceived hegemonic dominance.

      Yeah but I think most of them assume that he’ll do that economically.

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      Rutherford B. Hayes, caretaker presidentSobchak Security
      8/08/16 10:22am

      No, they believe he will accomplish it by deporting Hispanics in droves, building a wall to keep them out, banning any and all Muslims from entering, and rolling back “political correctness.”

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    Masshole JamesHamilton Nolan
    8/08/16 10:01am

    When Republican voters start taking a closer look at the economic agenda of politicians like Trump, the Republicans are gonna be in a lot of trouble! Hahahaha! Just kidding! They’ll never do that, because they’re stupid.

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      MBCockMasshole James
      8/08/16 10:03am

      BTW, this speech is ironically in Detroit.

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      1standLongMasshole James
      8/08/16 10:04am

      the only close look republicans are taking is at the fox news scroller because it’s written in 10 font.

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    JustActSurprisedHamilton Nolan
    8/08/16 10:04am

    “Trump is expected to say that civil servants whose focus is job-killing regulation should be replaced with experts who would help create jobs.”

    I don’t know why I torture myself, but does Trump know what Civil Service is? He does realize you can’t just fire civil servants, right? RIGHT?

    Sigh.

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      TheBurnersMyDestinationJustActSurprised
      8/08/16 10:14am

      I think he is appealing to the same wackos I hear on the conservative Christian radio station out here, who believe that the government bureaucracy is somehow both 1. Hugely incompetent and 2. a massive conspiracy that is actively taking away your rights every moment of the day.

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      Sobchak SecurityTheBurnersMyDestination
      8/08/16 10:23am

      That’s another dog-whistle for the super wealthy. “[C]ivil servants whose focus is job-killing regulation” is code for all the Department of Housing, the EPA, Department of Labor, et al… People he has experience with. People who actually make asshole ‘job creators’ like him follow the law.

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    ReburnsABurningReturnsHamilton Nolan
    8/08/16 10:03am

    Yeah I definitely agree that Trump’s ideas are dumb. One or two of them, like cutting corporate tax rates, might work well in conjunction with other things, such as in the case of the aforementioned corporate tax rate cuts a corresponding increase in top tax rates on capital gains and dividend income.

    So what ideas does Hamilton have though...

    GOOD IDEAS

    End the carried-interest loophole that allows hedge fund and private equity managers to pay lower taxes.

    But ... that’s not an economic idea ... that’s a tax policy one that would, at most, have a slight downward impact on economic growth. The negative impact isn’t enough to warrant not engaging in the policy but ... yeah.

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      A much sterner burner to go the distanceReburnsABurningReturns
      8/08/16 10:04am

      Has anyone ever wondered why HamNo is the econ “expert” at Gawker?

      Dude went to a HBCU (Howard) because he “liked hip hop” and majored in philosophy.

      This guy should stick to critiquing yogurt.

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      Declan HackettReburnsABurningReturns
      8/08/16 10:10am
      So what ideas does Hamilton have though...

      I think “Trump is a doodie-head” is about as far as HamNo’s agenda has got!

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    CharitybHamilton Nolan
    8/08/16 10:04am

    The estate tax is one of the more outsized aspects of American politics. It contributes very little to the federal coffers, it affects almost no one but the enormously wealthy (maybe 1/5th of 1% of Americans even have to think about the possibility), and even the people who are affected don’t pay that much but every politician needs to take a firm stance on it as if it was one of the most important issues in the economy today.

    I’ve met so many people who worry about estate taxation and spend time and money on stupid investment strategies like annuities to avoid estate tax even though there is basically no way that they’d ever have to pay even a penny of it.

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      benjaminalloverCharityb
      8/08/16 10:12am

      It’s effective propaganda from the right is what it is. People got all itchy about tort reform for Pete’s sake, which has absolutely nothing to do with their interests and was even more obscure and unsexy.

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      NooYawkerCharityb
      8/08/16 10:35am

      The only people really concerning themselves with the estate tax are a group of billionaires headed by Warren Buffet. I haven’t spoken to many people who care that much.

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    BulfrightHamilton Nolan
    8/08/16 10:13am

    Silver lining:

    The “repeal Dodd Frank and freeze financial regulation” move is a shameless ploy to attract Wall Street support - but most of Wall Street thinks this guy is an irrational clown. They’d rather have a predictable, loophole-ready hand at the tiller (HRC) than this guy.

    Hopefully this will just give Elizabeth Warren a bigger cudgel to pound The Donald and will serve as a wake-up call to anyone still on the fence about casting a real vote against him.

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      CharitybBulfright
      8/08/16 11:08am

      What I can't stop being amazed by is how easy it is for people to forget the financial catastrophes of the very recent past. The Great Recession has only just ended and people are already talking about peeling back the very limited regulations that were put in place to curb some of those abuses. It's really rather amazing.

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      PoodletimeBulfright
      8/08/16 11:35am

      That cheers me up! Tks.

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    PunditGuyHamilton Nolan
    8/08/16 10:02am

    Don’t forget the deduction for child care expenses. There better be a cap on that, or Donald’s buddies will all get to write off their nanny salaries — and we taxpayers don’t need to be subsidizing the Mistress Pipeline for middle-aged rich guys.

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      The Shape of Punk to ComePunditGuy
      8/08/16 10:15am

      Eh… At a time when many people need two jobs and many people don’t want to give up their careers (especially women) I don’t have beef with this.

      The rest of it is fucked. But that’s kinda okay.

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      PunditGuyThe Shape of Punk to Come
      8/08/16 10:28am

      I don’t have a problem with there being a deduction. But there’s a world of difference between helping people put their kids in day care and subsidizing a live-in nanny.

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    RodgerRodgerHamilton Nolan
    8/08/16 10:49am

    In addition to folks being blindly lead by Fox News and hoping they might somehow become uber rich, I think most people get the wrong idea on this because they know someone that took a lump sum on an inherited IRA and didn’t understand the tax ramifications of that, got burned and believe (incorrectly) they were impacted by the estate tax. Congress could probably raise the estate tax threshold, help middle class families, and eliminate the death tax spin with a base amount that's untaxed on an inherited IRA.

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      PoodletimeRodgerRodger
      8/08/16 11:38am

      That is a very good idea!

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      efcdonsRodgerRodger
      8/08/16 11:55am

      The exemption is already ~5mil per person! 10 mil for a couple! How much higher can it get!? I do not think the vast, vast, vast majority of Americans know anyone who has had to pay estate tax since at least 2001 when the exemption was $675,000 per person.

      Even at the lowest exemption in decades only around 2.5% of adult deaths in the US triggered estate taxes. The number has dropped precipitously since then as the exemption was expanded (and the tax went away, George Steinbrenner’s kids got his estate tax free).

      GIF
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    ManchuCandidateHamilton Nolan
    8/08/16 10:00am

    Erect nipples are the punctuation for “The Donald.”

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      BobbySeriousManchuCandidate
      8/08/16 10:02am

      That’s only because the air temperature drops to below freezing when you approach him.

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      TheBurnersMyDestinationBobbySerious
      8/08/16 10:12am

      If my years of watching Supernatural have taught me anything, that means he is a ghost and we need to salt and burn his hairpiece- the only thing keeping him attached to earth.

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