ca_prophet

August 25th, 2020 at 8:36 PM ^

In the 1950s, the top marginal income tax rate was 91/92%.

What the effective tax rates were is a matter of some debate - tax loopholes are likely as old as taxes - but the take-home point is that we used to tax something like 1% of the country's income at 90+%.  These days the income falling into that bracket has increased by a factor of ~20, but the tax rates have been cut in half or more, as part of the transfer of wealth from the middle class to the super-rich.

 

Joined: 09/07/2010

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BeatOSU52

August 25th, 2020 at 9:26 AM ^

 Raising taxes to pay down debt I conpletely support, raising taxes to create more soending in a dsficit environment is unwise to say the least. Demovrats pushed fiscal responsibility liong ago...days long gone.

 

Seriously?  Have you seen the spending and national debt spending by every Republican president since Reagan? But this is what made you switch from Democrat to Republican is being fiscal responsible?

 

Joined: 11/13/2011

MGoPoints: 14554

WestQuad

August 25th, 2020 at 9:14 AM ^

I'm sure everyone has seen this by now, but from having licensed news for a large audience and  being a news junkie myself, I find this chart generally accurate.  I watch many of the Sunday morning shows and This Week on ABC is pretty center. Chris Christie and Rahm Emanuel make could foils. Margaret Brennan on CBS is petty even handed.  She's mean to everyone and I sort of like it.  Chuck Todd on NBC is obviously biased, but the show covers the events in a factual manner.  Chris Wallace is interesting.  His whole show is set up and orchestrated around a far right agenda, but Wallace himself asks pretty good questions and seems even handed. I don't watch CNN, but the last time I saw it, it was very very biased.  MSNBC is similar to CNN in that it covers the facts, but is so biased that it is nearly unwatchable.

The further problem is that unbiased or moderate these days is weird. I'm not a "both sides" guy, but the extremes are getting more extreme and many in the middle are moving to either side.  We no longer actually debate issues hoping for the best result, but just pick a side.

I miss the Mclaughlin Group.   RIP John.

Joined: 07/22/2011

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WestQuad

August 25th, 2020 at 11:58 AM ^

I believe this is still the case, but HuffPost used to be set up like wikipedia where almost anyone could submit an article.  They had some sort of moderation/filtering, but whack-a-doodles were able to publish stories.  I'm assuming there is a distinction in this between the HuffPost staff and the HuffPost contributors.   Forbes is the same way.  It's by invite only, but most any business person can be a Forbes contributor.  Once again there is a distinction between their staff reporters and their "contributors" or whatever they call them.  (I've been invited several times...)

Joined: 07/22/2011

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Durham Blue

August 25th, 2020 at 10:53 PM ^

The more extreme the left or right gets, the more afraid I am to jump in either ship.  I have voted Republican about as much as I have voted Democrat in my life.  But I fear that the current administration is drifting farther and farther to batshit crazy right territory.  When will we ever have a true moderate run for president?

Joined: 10/09/2008

MGoPoints: 30114

shoes

August 25th, 2020 at 8:26 AM ^

In reality, Walter Cronkite (CBS), David Brinkley and Chet Huntley, (NBC) and Peter Jennings (ABC) were all Democrats and liberals (for their day), but you didn't notice it, nor did most realize it. That's because it did not show through in their reporting, and the line between reporting and commentary was observed. Now it is not.

Joined: 07/01/2008

MGoPoints: 9660

TIMMMAAY

August 25th, 2020 at 1:29 PM ^

It was observed because that was the law, then. Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine, which is what led to news becoming "infotainment", rather than real, honest news. It needs to be brought back into law, and applied to cable news as well. The other huge problem is the fact that the editorial became the financial engine of "news" corporations, and then we just slid right on down the hill. Now what? 

Joined: 09/08/2008

MGoPoints: 56336

BeatOSU52

August 25th, 2020 at 9:17 AM ^

Not in my lifetime. But it used to be that even cbs and abc had anchors on their national shows who were politically moderate. I don't remember watching nbc. News showed used to give the news. Now they're so far off the left side of the spectrum they're dragging moderates to what would have been considered radical 20 years ago. 

I can't say I agree with this. If you look at some of the media bias charts (which I know can be subjective itself ) the 6:30 news from ABC and CBS actually is pretty close to being moderate and is also high up there in the accuracy rating.  And from watching them, I think they do a good job.  ...alright, I will say David Muir can sometimes talk in what some may call a "fear mongering" type voice if you want to nitpick that, but I think that's just the way he delivers the news .

 

And honestly, there's so much turmoil that comes out of The White House the last 4 years, it may appear they're being bias I can understand, but it'd be irresponsible to just ignore all of it.

 

Joined: 11/13/2011

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1VaBlue1

August 25th, 2020 at 8:34 AM ^

BTW, just to clarify, the self-ID'ing thing is handled within the app using a generated code that the app tracks between phones via bluetooth.  Both Google and Apple say that ID number is not linked to any PII or geolocation data.  The Virginia app, COVIDWISE, uses this functionality.  The IC agency I work with has inspected that app, including a pretty good security review, and confirms what the state, Apple, and Google say about it - that it does not appear to use any PII.  You also have to manually enable the self-reporting feature that uses the ID.

With all of that information, the CISSP in me says to proceed with some caution.  In order to tell you that you've been around someone who reported positive, that ID has to know what phone to get in touch with - what phone it's associated with.  So while there is no PII or geolocation data included, it knows what phone you have.  If someone knows what phone you have, they can easily find it and identify you.

On the 'who cares' side - if someone wanted to find you badly enough to go through all that crap to do it, there are plenty of easier methods.  So my reco is to download the app and enable the ID and reporting feature.  People can find you and your phone in far easier ways than through this app.

Joined: 01/31/2016

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Phaedrus

August 24th, 2020 at 11:00 PM ^

My alma mater was supposed to start classes today and they had to go online at the last minute because all the kids moved in and immediately partied last week. Now there is a horrible outbreak and the contact tracing is busted because they were all drunk and don't even know who they came in contact with.

The problem with bringing school back is that it only works if a bunch of college kids are responsible. I don't know how anyone thought that would work.

Joined: 09/02/2019

MGoPoints: 6704

TATEisGREATyo

August 24th, 2020 at 8:31 PM ^

And yet every single one of them will probably survive and their life goes on.  Yet this entire board thinks it's a death sentence and masks work.  So laughable.

Joined: 09/05/2009

MGoPoints: 558