At this point I don’t even really care about the season. Everything is just so weird. I’m at a point where I just want the 2021 season to be normal. 

Reagor & Wallace were the 2 most important rookies for on-field 2020 performance.

2 hours ago, ToastJenkins said:

None are as capitalist as we are. They tax the ish out of everyone. Are you going to support everyone paying at least 20% income tax and most paying north of 40? Closed border laws etc? They are centrally planned socialist economies, with small populations and geographies. Those things dont scale as has been shown by consistent failure of the concepts

Taxes have nothing (well almost nothing, one can imagine taxation that is totally confiscatory) to do with whether a country is capitalist. Same with redistribution.

Germany et al have about the same proportion of the economy owned by the private sector as the US, redistribution of income doesn't change % of ownership and control.

Capitalism:  "an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state."

We used to have a marginal tax rate of 70%, during which time we also had the highest economic growth rate in the country's history (no, Trump rode the Obama recovery to a pretty mundane real growth rate before the virus deep sixed it). What drives economic growth seems to be more about technology waves than tax policy. See Robert Gordon.

21 minutes ago, NCiggles said:

I'm all for cutting out bs entitlements. I mean why should we be subsidizing farms to the tune of $25 billion dollars a year.  I mean there are about $100 billion a year spent in Federal corporate subsidies and that doesn't include things like bank and airline bailouts.  The education system is too heavily invested in standardized testing based standards.  In large part, education interest groups have pushed this type of spending.  It does not lead to jobs and better trained students.  

 

We agree on all those points. 

39 minutes ago, NCiggles said:

I think your idea of what is wasting a resource and mine are not the same.  

Obviously one of us is thinking at a macro level and the other at the micro level

1 hour ago, Diehardfan said:

Go live there then. 

I almost did. My company had a downturn, and I decided to go get my Ph.D. (helped that I was offered a free ride, well, other than having to work 20 hours a week throughout my time in graduate school). Two years later they rebound and open an office in Sweden. So I probably would have gone, fallen in love with a beautiful Swedish girl . . .

13 minutes ago, austinfan said:

I almost did. My company had a downturn, and I decided to go get my Ph.D. (helped that I was offered a free ride, well, other than having to work 20 hours a week throughout my time in graduate school). Two years later they rebound and open an office in Sweden. So I probably would have gone, fallen in love with a beautiful Swedish girl . . .

Can't blame you for that one. Though Austin isn't bad in that department either. 

16 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Taxes have nothing (well almost nothing, one can imagine taxation that is totally confiscatory) to do with whether a country is capitalist. Same with redistribution.

Germany et al have about the same proportion of the economy owned by the private sector as the US, redistribution of income doesn't change % of ownership and control.

Capitalism:  "an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state."

We used to have a marginal tax rate of 70%, during which time we also had the highest economic growth rate in the country's history (no, Trump rode the Obama recovery to a pretty mundane real growth rate before the virus deep sixed it). What drives economic growth seems to be more about technology waves than tax policy. See Robert Gordon.

redistribution is completely contrary to capitalism (property rights) and taxes have everything to do with it depending on the rationale and how the capital is deployed

i am all for efficiency, which is really at the core of capitalism. spend less on military, farm subsidies, sure, but none of that moves the needle on entitlements. those are what have to go.

 

3 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Life is about choices.  Ignore or add fuel.  

You can turn the wheel to avoid something or floor it and run over crap. I tend to be the latter. Why I love a lot of your posts cause you do the same. 

15 minutes ago, austinfan said:

I almost did. My company had a downturn, and I decided to go get my Ph.D. (helped that I was offered a free ride, well, other than having to work 20 hours a week throughout my time in graduate school). Two years later they rebound and open an office in Sweden. So I probably would have gone, fallen in love with a beautiful Swedish girl . . .

I worked within corps that had sites all over the world and saw them from the inside. Its nowhere near the idealistic nonsense the american left thinks it is.

had chances to relo to both the UK and Switzerland but the taxes alone were a non-starter

I thought the John Birch Society was passe...

6 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Algae in my pool is relentless.   It’s become an obsession.  

That's the one thing I don't miss about pools. Pain in the *** to keep clean. 

7 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Algae in my pool is relentless.   It’s become an obsession.  

I never understood why people up north got pools. You have 3 months to use it. I view pools like boats. Find a friend who has one. 

I'm not a pool guy but this summer has been hot,hot,hot, up here.

37 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Life is about choices.  Ignore or add fuel.  

31 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Algae in my pool is relentless.   It’s become an obsession.  

My parents had that problem like 5 years ago. They completely drained the pool and called a pool company to do a thorough cleaning when it was empty. Was fine the rest of the summer. Had to do that again like last year. Not sure if it’ll work for you. Just know it did for them for a couple of years. 

 

 

3 hours ago, NCiggles said:

Good lord - you act as if no one has a grasp on reality but you.  Should we move back to a system of private toll roads or was the investment in public highways good for the country.  Let's end public transportation.  Every scientific study shows the long-term benefit of a strong and early public education system but yeah it's expensive. God forbid we pay teachers too much.  Should police and fire departments be pay as you go too.  I mean why even have a fire department. It just costs my money and I have never had a fire at my house.  

 

Mine is an all volunteer fire department.  While the borough contributes, that contribution is voluntary.  The borough must pay their workers compensation premium. 

Arguably, the services you listed are somewhat voluntary except education.  In PA, the state constitution provides for public education being available. 

2 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

 

Aka no one wants to deal with that headcase  

I find this a little funny. He signed a half billion dollar contract and he’s acting like he took a team friendly deal to help out Chris Jones. 

 

Just now, WentzFan11 said:

I find this a little funny. He signed a half billion dollar contract and he’s acting like he took a team friendly deal to help out Chris Jones. 

He did. 

6 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Aka no one wants to deal with that headcase  

I'd bet there are some teams that would wallow in the mud with him. They just don't want to give him any guarantees or enough money.

No rookie contract drama is always a plus.