2 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

And here I thought all our graphing resources were diverted to COVID.  

We're branching out.

 

I'll be posting graphs later on Zucchini production.

In other news... Stay-cation home improvement project complete.   New pergola installed (with retractable canopy) for more shade and a bit more of a pleasant home backyard oasis experience.  

My point on the economy is simply to refute the simple mindedness of supply side economics.

High tax rates can create distortions that lower efficiency, so do deductions and credits. Ideally, you want lower marginal rates with no deductions and credits.

Many other things effect growth, for example, the lack of universal health care discourages entrepreneurship, one thing to risk your fortune, but your children's health? So many potential entrepreneurs stay in jobs with good benefits until their children are grown.

Infrastructure, education, physical and social capital are important, investment in R&D by government, since industry tends to invest more in incremental technological research, not basic research.

A carbon tax is a great way to raise revenues, tax a "bad" to finance "goods." Since it'll be somewhat regressive, you want to return the money in a progressive fashion, whether direct payments or financing education, etc. for the bottom half of income.

I'm conservative, but not the way Americans are conservative, rather, more European, I'm a long-time Economist reader (and WSJ as well as NYT). I think our overall tax burden should be 5% higher (as a % of GDP), not just through income and wealth taxes, but also consumption taxes, to finance both a stronger safety net and the social and human capital needed for long-term growth.

I'm against barriers to growth that benefit special interests, such as silly state license requirements, but a strong believer in rational regulation, using cost/benefit analysis to optimize regulatory choices (limiting air pollution up to where the benefits justify the cost, for example). I think Antitrust should be stronger, for example, keeping Google, Facebook, etc. from buying potential competitors. I'm for public spending to build out high speed internet to make it harder to exercise monopsony power over workers. I believe in subsidizing mass transit to help poorer workers reach more potential employers.

I don't think the US will ever go as far as Germany and the Scandinavian countries, but halfway there would be a happy medium between a cruel, dog eat dog society that could descend into anarchy or autocracy if present trends continue, or just Russian style depression where half the country drinks itself to death due to hopelessness. A return to 19th/early 20th century laissez-faire would be a disaster for this country. A conservative values social stability, and to me that requires a strong safety net that compensates the losers due to "progress" from creative destruction.  Bullets are cheap - and hopeless men will use them, on themselves or others or both.

I believe we should bring back the draft, citizenship should require service, and the army/public works service is a way to mix social classes and break down social barriers. Attach to that a GI bill type subsidization for college/technical training for those completing service to their country, enough to limit the burden, not enough to encourage six year sociology majors.

19 minutes ago, MediterraneanDiet said:

I'm not an economist but I play one on the Eagles Message Board.  I think if we want to live in a beautiful country with easy access to all of it's beauty, to be able to move about it freely and easily, have clean drinkable water at our fingertips, underground sewer systems, water treatment plants, roads, school for our children, much better access to healthcare, and I could go on for a while, it costs money and each year it's gonna cost more money.  If we don't want to pony up for such an amazing life we suck.

You will fit in well with the Moderate/Centrist party. 

Are we even going to have a draft next year? I wonder what happens if we don’t get collegiate sports. Do they just let all students play another year, or do they enter the draft and we can only base decisions on games played in 2019?

 

I feel bad for all the students who may lose out on an opportunity due to this. You could have 2 years worth of students fighting for the same spots. 

31 minutes ago, MediterraneanDiet said:

I'm not an economist but I play one on the Eagles Message Board.  I think if we want to live in a beautiful country with easy access to all of it's beauty, to be able to move about it freely and easily, have clean drinkable water at our fingertips, underground sewer systems, water treatment plants, roads, school for our children, much better access to healthcare, and I could go on for a while, it costs money and each year it's gonna cost more money.  If we don't want to pony up for such an amazing life we suck.

It becomes a divisive issue when people don’t want to pony up for it; they only want whatever demographic that is financially just above them to pony up for it.  

28 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

In other news... Stay-cation home improvement project complete.   New pergola installed (with retractable canopy) for more shade and a bit more of a pleasant home backyard oasis experience.  

Id like to hear more. 

That was one idea I had for our house this summer. But...other things came up like a broken fridge and a flooded basement.

But maybe next year.

Ive been watching videos of people building their own from scratch. Ive also shopped pre-cut and pre-drilled kits. And due to our current unexpected expenditures, Im currently liking Toja Grid a lot even though it wasnt exactly my idea of a pergola initially. 

What did you do?

3 minutes ago, WentzFan11 said:

Are we even going to have a draft next year? I wonder what happens if we don’t get collegiate sports. Do they just let all students play another year, or do they enter the draft and we can only base decisions on games played in 2019?

 

I feel bad for all the students who may lose out on an opportunity due to this. You could have 2 years worth of students fighting for the same spots. 

I assume itd be a draft.

Just brainstorming I like the idea of free agency for them. They might get smaller 1-2 year deals initially. But theyd not be getting paid playing in college anyway. Then, the best players will be set up for a nice contract in short order.  If all the most talented flock to LA or Miami, or New England initially, their expiring deal in 1-2 years will quickly disperse the talent more evenly when those teams cant afford to retain all of their 1st round talents that chose them.

8 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

Id like to hear more. 

That was one idea I had for our house this summer. But...other things came up like a broken fridge and a flooded basement.

But maybe next year.

Ive been watching videos of people building their own from scratch. Ive also shopped pre-cut and pre-drilled kits. And due to our current unexpected expenditures, Im currently liking Toja Grid a lot even though it wasnt exactly my idea of a pergola initially. 

What did you do?

Got a kit.  Not a huge investment.  But, the dimensions were perfect for us.   I have an 8 x 16 foot patio I put in years ago.  But, it needs shade.  We've done the temporary pop up canopies for years, but its not great doing that, raising and lowering when the storms hit.   BUT.... this was a $400 kit from Wayfair.  Right in our budget.   

 

It fits right over the patio.  I had to remove a few bricks and put in a concrete pad in for each leg... but it worked out.  This was ~13 feet long and just a shade over 8 feet wide (for the legs).    Took about 4 hours to put it up today... and some extra hands.   Hard on the shoulders working over my head so much.

 

https://www.wayfair.com/outdoor/pdp/sol-72-outdoor-wirksworth-156-w-x-115-d-metal-pergola-with-canopy-w002435724.html

 

The draft next year may be more unusual than this one.  
 

Great time to shed the politics and resurrect the production vs workouts debate.  Assuming there is no college season,  it’s going to have to be ALL about the workouts.

The cream of the crop are usually the 3rd year juniors.  Without a season, we don’t definitely know who the best of that class really are...can’t properly evaluate them as you would a top 32 pick.  The floor will be much, much higher with the RS seniors and 4th year seniors who actually played a ton last year.  But the ceiling will be much lower than with all these unknown juniors whose talent base was not picked clean by the 2020 draft.

 

2 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

The draft next year may be more unusual than this one.  
 

Great time to shed the politics and resurrect the production vs workouts debate.  Assuming there is no college season,  it’s going to have to be ALL about the workouts.

The cream of the crop are usually the 3rd year juniors.  Without a season, we don’t definitely know who the best of that class really are...can’t properly evaluate them as you would a top 32 pick.  The floor will be much, much higher with the RS seniors and 4th year seniors who actually played a ton last year.  But the ceiling will be much lower than with all these unknown juniors whose talent base was not picked clean by the 2020 draft.

 

Ja'Marr Chase.

4 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Got a kit.  Not a huge investment.  But, the dimensions were perfect for us.   I have an 8 x 16 foot patio I put in years ago.  But, it needs shade.  We've done the temporary pop up canopies for years, but its not great doing that, raising and lowering when the storms hit.   BUT.... this was a $400 kit from Wayfair.  Right in our budget.   

 

It fits right over the patio.  I had to remove a few bricks and put in a concrete pad in for each leg... but it worked out.  This was ~13 feet long and just a shade over 8 feet wide (for the legs).    Took about 4 hours to put it up today... and some extra hands.   Hard on the shoulders working over my head so much.

 

https://www.wayfair.com/outdoor/pdp/sol-72-outdoor-wirksworth-156-w-x-115-d-metal-pergola-with-canopy-w002435724.html

 

thats a nice price for something that size. 

Obviously the concrete footers are sturdy, but how do you feel about the sturdiness of the rest of the structure?

We did look at a metal one actually at Big Lots pretty similar size and price. That one just didnt seem that sturdy like it was going to last for years without getting rickety and rusty. 

 

14 minutes ago, Iggles_Phan said:

Ja'Marr Chase.

He had, by far, the best year of the now 3rd year juniors.  That probably locks him into the top 10.

Just now, HazletonEagle said:

thats a nice price for something that size. 

Obviously the concrete footers are sturdy, but how do you feel about the sturdiness of the rest of the structure?

We did look at a metal one actually at Big Lots pretty similar size and price. That one just didnt seem that sturdy like it was going to last for years without getting rickety and rusty. 

 

It's rated for 40 mph winds.  The key will be to keep the canopy closed rather than open when the winds pick up... much easier than the pop-up canopies.   But, I've used those canopies for years and only ever had a problem with winds once.  I didn't get the canopy off, and it got picked up and tossed by the wind - had 5 lb. sand weights on the bottoms, which is usually fine.  But, with the canopy, it acts as a kite.  But, without it, those cheap frames don't really catch wind.   This one shouldn't catch much wind either with the canopy closed and its got a garage on one side, a shed on other and the back has 7 foot fencing backed up to it... so it's really in a protected place from the wind, so I don't see much issue with it getting beaten up in the wind.  Rarely do we ever see winds that high.   BUT... because in the case of building, I believe in a belt with suspenders... I will be tying three of the legs to nearby fencing for added strength and security.  Only one leg will be 'free', the others will be tethered at the bottom, middle and top.  So, I figure its going no where.  The big question will be about oxidation.  Its coated aluminum.  We'll see how that holds up to the elements.

I no longer trust workouts at all, you should gauge players off game film, you can measure many aspects of athleticism just analyzing film with today's technology, and that should be your check on workouts.

Problem is if there is no college football, how do you figure out who has physically and mentally progressed?

Gonna be a really tough year to draft, and one reason I'd think about stockpiling middle and late round picks and make a lot of gambles.

Just think how often the top 30 in September is completely revamped by March after a season of college football.

2 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

He had, by far, the best year of the now 3rd year juniors.  That probably locks him into the top 10.

He'd have been top 10 if he was draft eligible this past year, possibly even top 5.

1 hour ago, Iggles_Phan said:

We're branching out.

 

I'll be posting graphs later on Zucchini production.

I think my Zuch has some kind of bug or fungus. Havent picked it yet but soon,but its soft???

53 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

Id like to hear more. 

That was one idea I had for our house this summer. But...other things came up like a broken fridge and a flooded basement.

But maybe next year.

Ive been watching videos of people building their own from scratch. Ive also shopped pre-cut and pre-drilled kits. And due to our current unexpected expenditures, Im currently liking Toja Grid a lot even though it wasnt exactly my idea of a pergola initially. 

What did you do?

Weve also been mulling over building a pergola, im not very handy but my wife and i figured we could figure it out, its just a little daunting and we want to make sure its right.

4 minutes ago, Utebird said:

I think my Zuch has some kind of bug or fungus. Havent picked it yet but soon,but its soft???

Soft fruit or soft plant?   If the fruit is soft, it's likely not any good.   Could be incomplete fertilization too.  Ultimately, it's still a little early in PA for major zucchini production.   I've only gotten 4 small ones so far (on 7 plants), but I'll likely be getting over a dozen in the next week, and then even more after that.  I personally can't wait.  I could eat a zuc (or three) every day happily.  Just need my tomatoes to get ripe... and I am off and running.   My cuc plants are still in male flower only phase.  Disappointing, but I have tons of plants and they should be going nuts soon too.  I had to rebuild a new trellis for them to actually grow up and over the rest of the plants in that bed... but a little shade for some plants in the heat of summer is actually beneficial, including surprisingly to many... pepper plants.

1 hour ago, eagle45 said:

It becomes a divisive issue when people don’t want to pony up for it; they only want whatever demographic that is financially just above them to pony up for it.  

Agreed

the problem is too many parasites ponying up nothing

1 hour ago, MediterraneanDiet said:

I'm not an economist but I play one on the Eagles Message Board.  I think if we want to live in a beautiful country with easy access to all of it's beauty, to be able to move about it freely and easily, have clean drinkable water at our fingertips, underground sewer systems, water treatment plants, roads, school for our children, much better access to healthcare, and I could go on for a while, it costs money and each year it's gonna cost more money.  If we don't want to pony up for such an amazing life we suck.

But again, at least at the the federal level, it’s not the rich who aren’t ponying up — it’s the poor and middle class.

1 hour ago, austinfan said:

No, overall we don't have much of a progressive tax system when you look at overall taxes, Federal, State and Local. And we have low taxes compared to other OECD countries.

In the US, we shift much of the tax burden to the states, most of whom are financed through regressive taxation.

And because the "safety net" is primarily left to the states (i.e. medicare and social security, while progressive spending is mostly limited to the 65 and older group), it's not surprising the Economist finds this result:

"This strange amalgam of views manifests itself in fiscal policy. The federal government has no qualms about making the rich pay the country’s bills; it has perhaps the most progressive tax system in the rich world, according to one study from 2009. But it pulls off only half of Robin Hood’s trick, because it funnels very little of the money it raises towards the poor."

And state and local spending is regressive, just look at per capita spending on education, etc.

Globalization raised overall wealth, but all that gain and more went to the top 5% or so, all the transactions costs went to displaced workers.

The irony is the victims of globalization choose Trump as their savior, a man who despises the poor and working classes (see how he treated his workers and subcontractors over the years).

 

 

 

So now you are pivoting from your original argument of nominal federal tax rates to state and local tax rates because you were caught in a misleading argument (some might call it a lie, even, considering that you are or claim to be a published economist/lawyer extraordinaire)...

Yes, much of the tax burden in the US is shifted to the states or municipalities. That’s a feature, not a bug. We, by design, live in a country where states and even localities are granted a great deal of autonomy to govern in a way that better suits the local population. Want to live in a progressive utopia? Go to California. Want to live in a zero income tax state? Florida is there for you. Unfortunately, none of this has anything to do with your claims about federal nominal tax rates. Just admit you were either ignorant of this or deliberately misleading and be done with it.

Oh, and sure, the majority of the wealth created by globalization went to the rich and the developing economies that received the trade surplus. But the real irony of the situation is that Trump, the wunna-be-elitist, actually rejected elitist trade doctrine and imposed tariffs and protectionism in general. The fact is that the bumbling fool was right (at least in spirit, never in the details) on the trade dynamics of China.

Anyway, the real issue with globalization is that the main counter party is China. In any rational world, they would produce widgets at lower costs and have a growing labor market while rich western countries would finance the expansion. In this way the Chinese economy grows, the Chinese elite get a massive home market, the Chinese people get a higher standard of living, western consumers get cheaper products/a higher standard of living, and rich westerners get ROI on developing China. 

The problem is that the flow of funds runs in the opposite direction because of China’s policies: China financed the US with the trade surplus in dollars they receive and imposed capital controls to prevent foreign investment. A generous man might say this was inadvertent. A realist recognizes this as a power play exploiting neo-liberalism in a new Cold War.

 

And it begins. 

I read that there were 9600 cases reported in Florida in one day? WTF is going on over there, and why does the governor and every big city mayor there still have a job?

23 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

 

For the love....I hope they have to cancel the season.