Let us take the bull by the tail and look the matter squarely in the face.


/not mine

MrBallou: If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards

Checkmate

Well, good thing they kept the multi-million dollar estate tax exemption.

Hydra: /seriously, though, we're farked

Uh huh.  And who did you vote into the House in 2010?

Don't count all your eggs before you get two birds in the bush.

I was surprised I didn't need to use this during the last election cycle. Wasn't that bad. Not like the days of being in tanks or thrown under buses.

You Americans call it a fiscal cliff, I call it a fiscal bukkake

/mostly because it's fun watching fox and CNN lackeys go apeshiat over it
//way I read and understood it, it's no big deal, get over it and part your debts America

FTFA: Those who find the accounts (Flexible spending accounts) most valuable are those with the greatest health needs - parents of special needs children, people who have had organ transplants and who must take maintenance drugs, and others facing major medical expenses.

I'm having trouble believing this part. The people most likely to blow through their FSA find the FSA most valuable? Or is this just because an FSA is cheaper than insurance for an organ transplant or a special needs child?

Hydra: Looks like they just kicked the can down the road into the perfect storm of black swans.

/seriously, though, we're farked

We are getting the ass farking we asked for in the voting booth and may we be ever so grateful for it.

Next time you "independents" start thinking about voting strictly on basis of your liberal social issues, remember this day and smack yourself. There's bigger issues to worry about than whether or not your cousin's friend who has a brother who thinks he might have found the right guy to settle down with can get married. I think they should be able to, but I also think that serious budget deficits matter more, and Barry isn't the guy to fix them.

A tax code so simple, a 10 year old child can understand it. Fetch me a 10 year old child!

So I should just quit my job now so as to avoid paying all this extra money to Obama?

Pointy Tail of Satan: A tax code so simple, a 10 year old child can understand it. Fetch me a 10 year old child!

Grover Norquist already has that method patented and copyrighted.

I'd like to see her sources. There's been a cap on my HSA for the past 2 years that I've had it. I'm gonna guess the rest of the article is also full of crap.

Lie still, little bottle, and shake my shaky hand
Black coffee's not enough for me, I need a better friend
One pill at the bottom is singing my favorite song
I know I must investigate; I hope that I can sing along

"Well there's no time for metaphor," cried the little pill to me
He said, "Life is a placebo, masquerading as a simile."
Well I knew that pill was lying; too gregarious, too nice
And as he walked I had to sing this twice:

Lie still, little bottle; don't twist, it ain't twistin' time
With every move you make you just disintegrate my ever-troubled mind

And in the chaos that follows millions will scurrying about like chickens with their legs cut off, while others will be as disoriented as a drunken clown in a cement mixer.

None of these "tiny" medical device companies even sell devices anymore, as soon as they develop and prove out something worthwhile, they get bought out. When it takes $100M to get a device to market, "tiny" companies aren't going solo for long.

hdhale: Hydra: Looks like they just kicked the can down the road into the perfect storm of black swans.

/seriously, though, we're farked

We are getting the ass farking we asked for in the voting booth and may we be ever so grateful for it.

Next time you "independents" start thinking about voting strictly on basis of your liberal social issues, remember this day and smack yourself. There's bigger issues to worry about than whether or not your cousin's friend who has a brother who thinks he might have found the right guy to settle down with can get married. I think they should be able to, but I also think that serious budget deficits matter more, and Barry isn't the guy to fix them.

Yeah sorry about that, but if Barry is not the guy to fix them then who? I'm really going to have to go with the Democrats being the party of fiscal responsibility, because ever since Reagan they are the only party that has ever come close to balancing the budget.

The borrow and spent Republicans are so bad at being fiscally responsible the last guy we elected for that party added what 4 trillion to the debt and created the Great Recession.

The sad fact of life is we need a top marginal rate of 60% and a a bottom rate of 20% of income if we are ever going to come close to balancing the budget. Let alone paying off the debt.

Pointy Tail of Satan: A tax code so simple, a 10 year old child can understand it. Fetch me a 10 year old child!

3 minutes to read over the bill? Why even have a Senate?

Sergeant Grumbles: I'm having trouble believing this part. The people most likely to blow through their FSA find the FSA most valuable? Or is this just because an FSA is cheaper than insurance for an organ transplant or a special needs child?

The point of an FSA is to blow through it since there is a limit to how long money can sit in there.

Obamacare: You can't polish a turd.

I especially love how Americans have to pay US income tax even if living in another country, and getting paid by a non-US employer.

The GOP is more frustrated than a three legged cat trying to bury a turd on a frozen pond.

They will watch movies whenever they feel like it, no need for invitations or an "evening of remembrance" lol!

The author's bio at that page:

Grace-Marie Turner
Contributor
I'm president of the Galen Institute, a non-profit research organization that focuses on market-driven health policy, and a co-author of Why ObamaCare Is Wrong for America.

LOL.

hdhale: I think they should be able to, but I also think that serious budget deficits matter more, and Barry isn't the guy to fix them

Damn right! The guy that wanted to build more warships and that was itching to go to war with Iran was most definitely the guy that would have balanced the budget! Just like how the last Republican brought down the deficit by granting a huge tax cut AND had two wars. Nothing like blowing up crap in the desert to make the long term numbers look good!

Sticky Hands: Igor Jakovsky: Obamacare: You can't polish a turd.

You can if you freeze it first.

No, because the polishing will cause friction. I'm thinking you mean you can paint a turd, to a high gloss.

Summer Glau's Love Slave: And in the chaos that follows millions will scurrying about like chickens with their legs cut off, while others will be as disoriented as a drunken clown in a cement mixer I will take over the world!.

/still feeling effects of the Pinky and the Brain thread

BUSHES FAULT

FTA:

The most controversial of the latest ObamaCare taxes is the Medical Device Tax that hits entrepreneurial firms making equipment such as heart valves and hip replacement parts. They face a 2.3% profit on gross sales - a tax they must pay even if they have no profit at all. Many firms say this tax - slated to collect $29 billion over 10 years - will soak up virtually all of their research budgets.

This tax is stupid, regardless of how real the claim of destroyed research budgets is. The best part about America's medical industry has always been the innovation. For decades the best answer to "why is medical care in America so expensive?" was "because they're fixing my cancer with tiny robots" (yes I'm exagerrating, but you get the point).

Why tax the innovative parts of your industry to "improve" the industry? It just makes no sense.

One of the biggest complaints about the medical device industry is stagnant prices on devices that are long since past their period of innovation. Why aren't medical crutches imported from China for $.20 per pair? Why are wheelchairs $3000 a piece for something that's essentially a baby-stroller for adults? Hearing aids cost 3-5 thousand dollars a pair for technology that you can find on the shelves of the bargain portable stereo bin at Walmart. The only difference is the packaging. Micro audio amplifiers are very old, yet the companies selling them charge absurd amounts. I haven't researched exactly why all this is, but I suspect the reason is because of medicare coverage. They charge this because people will pay it, and people will pay it because they don't pay it, the government does. "Not my money, why do I care?"

Well, it turns out it's your grandkids money and they get stuck with the interest payments too, thanks grandpa.

/The USA will be Greece in 10 years. The boomers control of federal spending is so absurdly strong that social services for the aging/sick are only increasing, not decreasing when we need to be cutting spending.

Pointy Tail of Satan: I especially love how Americans have to pay US income tax even if living in another country, and getting paid by a non-US employer.

I have a US friend here in Canada he doesn't pay taxes to the US but he has to fill the form though (after I told him to because he didn't check that). Failure to comply can cause problems entering the US and fines so you should check on that if you have family still down there.