TheMissingBand

I think you’re on point with the property tax issue. Consumption taxes are regressive. They hit people with lower incomes/and property values much harder than those with more property value. The only discrepancy with your insurable value scenario is that I don’t see how it will work with homes on larger acreage tracts. It costs the same amount to insure a house on a half acre as it does to insure one on a hundred acres. Also, the value of homes in restricted neighborhoods is significantly different than one down a dirt road. Same age, same size, completely different market value, but the same cost to insure. But the idea isn’t a bad one, just need to tweak it, but you’re on point. My gripe is that the CADs were set up to make sure that taxes were as fair and equitable as possible. But imagine a scenario where there are four $250k homes in a row on a street in Lumberton. The first one pays $0, the next $500, the next $2000, and the last pays $4500 per year. Is that fair and equitable? Not hardly. The first one is a disabled veteran, the next is owned by an elderly couple in their seventies whose taxes were frozen ten years ago. The third is owned by a young family with a homestead exemption, and the last is also owned by a young couple the same age, but they bought a new home to live in elsewhere and are trying their hand at rental property with this one, so no exemption here. Still fair? I mean, that’s the law, but it doesn’t seem very fair or equitable. Then you hear that one of the ideas in Austin is to eliminate property taxes on any property that has a homestead. Now houses one, two, and three will pay nothing and the young couple that own the fourth home will have to pay $7000 per year to cover the revenue lost by the elimination of taxes on homesteads. Of course that’s going to pass the costs on to their renters. It’s no secret why rents seem extraordinarily high… the property tax relief giveaways that the legislature keeps passing off to homesteads are landing squarely on any type of property which doesn’t have a homestead exemption. There aren’t any easy answers, but the idea of just scrapping it all and tacking an extra 7 percent on all of the goods and services that you buy will absolutely hurt people and the economy in Texas.

Up to a point. I think abortion is wrong, but that’s based on my religious beliefs. Whether or not you have one should be between you and your creator, IMO. BUT, the problem comes in when a person can’t afford one. Should we then collectively be responsible to pay for a procedure that we believe to be immoral? That’s where the argument lost me. If the right have one means that the rest of us should foot the bill for anybody else getting one, then I’m out. And I’d love to hear your opinion on the movement to abolish all property taxes in Texas?

Same… I’ve always been conservative fiscally and socially, but feel myself recognizing more from the “other people” these days. Today “fiscally conservative” means “cut taxes and end regulation, that’ll fix everything” when it’s the not the answer. Even the successes that they point to are more like cautionary tales. There are some things that I can actually agree on from a liberal/progressive standpoint. Same-sex marriage, for one. If my wife (or I) die suddenly, there are rules for the disposition of our estate that protect the surviving spouse. Same with medical or end of life decisions. It doesn’t matter how long a same-sex couple has been together, until gay marriage was legalized, the significant other had no say in anything… that’s not right, when the only thing that would prohibit such unions were the religious beliefs of others. I’ve heard it said, but it’s true. We’re not a Christian nation, where a nation where we’re free to be a Christian. Or not. Or a Muslim, Hindu, etc… conservatives today don’t understand that basic fact of our constitution.

I’m just surprised at all of the supposed “free market, conservative” people who don’t a problem with all of the things you just described.

I have a friend that’s in management at one of the largest local credit unions. I asked her what they’d do if Trump’s plan to limit interest rates to 10% was to actually be implemented. She said that they’d still extend credit, but only to customers who deserved a 10% interest rate, dramatically limiting the credit extended to risky borrowers… typically the ones who rely upon credit the most. To your point, the proposed cap on credit card interest rates could also push the debt to income rate to even lower lows, lol. I think that it can be seen from other perspectives, too. Higher mortgage rates are keeping a lot of people in their current homes/mortgages because the cost to finance a new property is keeping them in their old home. If you’re in a 200k mortgage financed at 2.75, but the next logical upgrade is to a 350k mortgage, but at 6.00, you’re probably not going to upgrade. You could have afforded that $350k mortgage at 2.75, but not at 6.0-so they stay put. Trump’s demand to scrub 2 points off of the fed rate (and assuming there’d be a corresponding drop in mortgage rates) would move a lot of people to upgrade, but with resulting inflation that would drive prices up further. The uncomfortable truth is that low mortgage rates (too low, probably) caused problems in the system that were just now beginning to understand. Same story with vehicle debt. Tariffs cause higher prices, and high interest rates discourage purchases… end result is a lower DTI. It’s a win, I guess. The fact that mortgage delinquencies and auto loan defaults are rising is a much better indication of where we stand financially.

When the Feds kept raising rates, and the extra money people received ran out, they had to pull back some. That helped cool inflation as well. Where’ve you been, sir? Excellent analysis. I think the higher interest rates are keeping inflation lower, the two point reduction in the fed rate that trump is demanding with add multiple points to the inflation rate, in my estimation. It’s all relevant. Two point drop in mortgages and the housing market will take off like we haven’t seen in years. Demand will far exceed supply and prices will soar, etc… he wants the lower interest rates so that our debt payments will decrease and continuing to borrow at the federal level won’t sting so badly. But it’ll be a really rough time for those of us already struggling with high prices. I’m not a tinfoil hat kind of person, but I’m starting to wonder if these poor fiscal policies aren’t merely mismanagement, but instead pushing us towards an alternative to the dollar that his family keeps pushing.

Trump announced that he’s bumping his 10% tariff on everybody on earth he announced yesterday up to 15% today. [Hidden Content]

I plainly said Trump, then Biden contributed to the inflation that we had during Covid. Three of the justices that shut down the tariffs yesterday were conservatives. They just didn’t ignore the law in favor of what Trump wanted.

They did… supply and demand happened. Supply dropped while demand actually INCREASED because the Trump, then Biden Administrations saw fit to dump Trillions of dollars into the economy in the form of direct payments to citizens, PPP loans to business who didn’t need them, and weren’t required to pay them back, and fraud. Inflation soared, due to COVID and lax fiscal policy between 2020 and 2022. It was brought back under control during the latter part of the Biden administration, and has lingered at persistent levels since. Not good, but not horrible either. The problem is that Pedodent Trump claimed he’s lower costs on day one… you’d expect to see deflation-a lowering of prices. The only place that you’re seeing that is in the price of oil. The exact opposite of “drill baby, drill”. They’re stacking rigs all over America because OPEC is ramping up supplies and now you’ve got the flood of stolen oil from Venezuela hitting the price of oil, too. Cattle prices are insane. Grocery prices are insane. Orange juice is $7 gallon. Tbones were on sale at Brookshire’s last week for $9.99/pound. When people complain about prices, we get told “it’s a democrat hoax.” No, sir… the fact that it costs me $22-25 a day to sit down and eat lunch isn’t a hoax.

I wasn’t even posting back then.

[Hidden Content] Exxon’s ceo told Trump that Venezuela is currently “uninvestable” and Trump responded by saying that he’d keep Exxon out of Venezuela. It happened. "I didn't like Exxon's response," Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his way back to Washington on Sunday. "I'll probably be inclined to keep Exxon out. I didn't like their response. They're playing too cute."

I guess I’m disappointed in guys like TVC. He’s spent way more time studying opinions given by various courts (including the Supreme Court) than I’ll ever spend. He analyzes, understands, and can explain his opinion of the issues in a way that’s understandable. But when you have the president attacking the judiciary THAT HE APPOINTED, accusing them of being biased, unpatriotic, under foreign influence, just because they interpreted the law in a way that restrains him from using powers to which he’s not constitutionally entitled… in a manner in which a President has never behaved before, quite frankly because it’s childish, not presidential. But there’s no condemnation if trumps behavior from the right. People are silent because Trump is their guy. That’s the problem with America today. When good people decide that wrong isn’t really wrong because the guy doing it is on “their side,” we all lose.

Here’s my honest opinion. I think that the left said some things about Trump early on that sounded ludicrous. Exaggerated, fear-mongering, etc… then you had lifelong conservatives like myself that started saying… hold on a minute, this isn’t just bluster, I think this guy really thinks he can stay in power as long as he wants-genuine dictator vibes. And today during his tantrum he says “I can destroy any country that I want.” Is that how you all feel? A President has enough power at his disposal and discretion that he can just “destroy any country” that he wants? It’s okay to admit that this guy is a bad fit for the job. We made a mistake. It’s okay to say it.

Well said. But when the oil companies didn’t pledge to invest down there immediately, Trump promised to punish them.

How is ICE going to deal with the extraterrestrials? That’s what I’m wondering.

In other breaking News, the Dallas Cowboys home is in Arlington since they moved the team from Irving.

Everywhere. Go to a car dealership. The grocery store. Any restaurant. You can’t rely on the government statistics anymore since posting numbers that don’t fit Trump’s narrative will get you fired. Here’s the thing. Year to year (1/25 to 1/26) is a modest 2.4%… not good, but not bad. UNFORTUNATELY, Pedodent Trump promised that he’d bring prices back down “on day one.” A better question is why have prices done everything except come back down, and more importantly, is it your opinion that he lied, or that he’s failed, in your opinion?

Bingo. On a side note, I appreciate your approach. There are several people here who can’t stand Trump or pretty much anything that he does, but on the other hand there are several who support anything Trump does, whether it’s illegal, immoral, stupid, or just plain wrong… they support it. I don’t like him, but I only complain when he’s wrong. Unfortunately, he’s wrong most of the time in my opinion. But good for you for just stating the obvious.

Tariffs have a place… but understand that it takes careful thought and planning to effectively administer them, fully understanding all of the potential outcomes. BUT, if you put a unilateral tariff on a foreign country from which your citizens seek to purchase goods, you’re simply forcing your own citizens to pay more for the things that they want and need. Secondly, your tariffs WILL result in a reciprocation from your target, quite simply put, they’ll stick one right back on the things we’re trying to sell to them, tamping down demand for the products that we export. It’s not a surprise to people that understand micro and macro economics that our trade deficit last year was the third highest ever recorded. The tariffs raised the cost of imported goods that Americans wanted, while simultaneously chilling the demand for American products abroad because other countries simply slapped tariffs on goods we’d like to export. It’s not a secret that the last president who took us down the tariff rabbit hole was named Herbert Hoover. [Hidden Content]

The fact is this. The Supreme Court just said that a president doesn’t have the authority to just slam tariffs however, whenever he wants. So Trump promises an additional 10% tariff on every other country out there to show how displeased that he is with the Supreme Court. And you’re trying to defend it. He’s literally punishing the American Consumer (or foreign countries, if you’re dumb enough to believe that the costs aren’t being borne by American consumers) because the Supreme Court shut down his lawless behavior. And you’re proud of it.

Of course he does…. That’s why he’s raging at the Supreme Court.

This why no president should have the unilateral power to levy tariffs. [Hidden Content] From the article. President Trump said Tuesday he raised tariffs on Switzerland after a phone call with the country’s former president, saying he did not approve of “the way she talked.” We’ve officially reached the whacky dictator stage.

Does this mean I’m not getting my tariff rebate check after all?

I’m curious if Trump’s apparent defiance of the Supreme Court will lead us into a constitutional crisis? Congress COULD convene and cede all power to levy tariffs to the President, but I doubt they’d do that because the next Dem president will do the same thing to other people. I expect calls from the right to pack the Supreme Court any minute now. The Trump admin is a failure by any reasonable standard.

I don’t have a problem with tariffs…: I have a problem with Trump’s haphazard, punitive, ill-advised, with not strategy version of tariffs. “That lady was rude on a phone call… 20% tariff on them! Stuff like that. Announce a tariff, then repeal it. American businesses can’t plan because his polices change every day. It’s no way to run a country. The crazy part is IF the money is refunded, it’ll work like this. The tariffs were collected. The costs were passed on to the American consumer in the form of higher costs. If the money is eventually returned (and I don’t see that happening) those funds will just be sent back to the other countries. In effect, Trump’s tariffs would have simply taken hundreds of billions of EXTRA dollars from American consumers who purchased for made goods and sent them to other countries. It’s the ultimate self-own. It’s all so dumb.