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Off-Topic Stock Market & Crypto Discussion

wspcane said:
I guess my question is two fold. One is generally, adding taxes in times like this can be viewed as a negative, as it is adding an expense where there was none before. But if the tax is essentially voluntary based on the decision to repatriate, does it raise the same issues.

The second is if the US moved to tax worldwide income annually (e.g. removed the ability to keep income abroad and untaxed), possibly at a lower annual rate, what impact would that have on equities in the current climate?
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Taxes were brought up with regard to inflation. It’s not really about what helps people, it’s about removing money from circulation. Controlling and reducing inflation would not only keep prices from rising but reduce the Fed need to raise interest rates.

Honestly, if everyone wants to claim poor mouth, we could all use the extra cash we have to wiping out personal debt instead of buying so many stocks and personal items. That too would remove money from circulation.
 
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SpikeUM said:
I mentioned this is another post, the Boards of many institutions are poor to atrocious. Running a charity does not qualify you to be on a for profit board. Shareholders need to vote no much more often.

As an investor, do you want to be politically correct or make money? If its the latter, avoid companies with high ESG/DEI focus. Could be great causes, but they dont add to the bottom line, actually just the opposite, these banks going under are great examples.
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Smarter investors than all of us were heavily invested in bank stocks.
 
JD08 said:
Go to a country with VAT and tell me it works.

A flat tax takes 35% of both the rich and poor = inherently fair. A poor person spends 100% of their income, a rich person spends a fraction of it.
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We are the only major economy without a vat tax, but we actually have something, kind of like a vat tax, as some cities, counties and most States have a sales tax.
 
mr.h said:
We are the only major economy without a vat tax, but we actually have something like a vat tax, as some cities, counties and most States have a sales tax.
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We're also the strongest economy. That says something about the impact of a VAT.

Have you been to a country with VAT?
 
JD08 said:
We're also the strongest economy. That says something about the impact of a VAT.

Have you been to a country with VAT?
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Yes and we have much lower prices.
With that being said, we all agree that our country has a serious debt problem, and we were kicking around some ideas for additional income.
 
mr.h said:
Yes and we have much lower prices.
With that being said, we all agree that our country has a serious debt problem, and we were kicking around some ideas for additional income.
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Yes, but not by hurting the middle class and poor and providing yet another opportunity for more handouts to buy votes.
 
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Just checked my portfolio. Largest holdings are in div yielding pharmaceuticals.
 
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wspcane said:
I guess my question is two fold. One is generally, adding taxes in times like this can be viewed as a negative, as it is adding an expense where there was none before. But if the tax is essentially voluntary based on the decision to repatriate, does it raise the same issues.

The second is if the US moved to tax worldwide income annually (e.g. removed the ability to keep income abroad and untaxed), possibly at a lower annual rate, what impact would that have on equities in the current climate?
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Q1 - consumers are pulling back as we speak, banks will be afraid to lend, companies will be afraid to invest, etc etc., all which will put tremendous on the economy. Another tax will be take away even more liquidity from the system and guarantee the recession will sharper than it has to be.

Q2 - Good question, best guess is yes it would.
 
mr.h said:
Jobless claims..192k vs 205k
jobs…jobs..jobs
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If we were in a "normal" environment, a 200K jobless number would still be hot. My guess is that the Fed will pause, BUT that doesnt rule out hikes later in the year.
 
I don't see a path forward for the FED hiking right now without a complete meltdown of the banks. BOFA alone has $100B of MTM losses on the books. Raising rates just increases those paper losses for all banks. It also dries up the credit markets as banks will pull back lines of credit, increase their spreads, and set higher standards for any type of credit. Wells Fargo has already gone to the FED window to convert losses to cash. The list of banks lowering or canceling lines of credit for organizations/people I know is wide enough that it involves 4 of the 7 banks I use: Navy Fed, USAA, Wells, and AMEX.
If the FED keeps hiking, it will soon impact the banks' ability to buy treasuries which then impact the treasury's ability to sell enough treasuries to fund the government. Compound that with higher interest payments by the treasury for debt payments. Compound that with a big discussion on the debt ceiling. Compound that with tighter financials for companies leading to more layoffs, and lower profits.... The downward cycle has hit and if the FED doesn't pause it will only speed up the cycle which MAY mean a faster pivot to lower rates but much bigger short-term pain along with a quick return to even higher inflation!
 
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