readyed

[readyed @read_donna]

@wodekszemberg @acoyne I am a big Israel supporter. What I cannot support is the continuation of this war. Hamas has agreed To a ceasefire on Ok terms. Is Israel (read Netanyahu) will not, he risks Israel’s future

[DKGray @TheRealDKGray]

The tragedy of the commons and the idiocy of the rich.

In economics, we describe the “tragedy of the commons” when the incentives facing individuals lead to a disaster for the community.

The first and typical example is communal grazing land for livestock.

The incentive for each farmer is to keep adding to their herds, to produce more for sale.

But with no limits on any individual, inevitably the pasture is overgrazed, no grass grows anymore, all the livestock die.

Tragedy.

Now let’s do money, because it’s the same bad outcome.

Because there is no limit on how wealthy one can be, because it is easier to make money the more money you have, and because of the effects of compound interest, all free market societies end up with a brutally unequal distribution of wealth.

This is “natural” only in the sense that these mathematical relationships always hold.

Obviously, as seen many times before, the inevitable outcome is tremendous inequality, and the concentration of wealth beyond all prosocial, moral or efficient outcomes.

Before I go further, let me define stupid and rich.

You are stupid if you hurt yourself in order to hurt other people.

You are rich if your net worth is over $100,000,000. (Welcome to the middle class. I’m concerned here with portfolios that are large enough to fund whole national programs.)

The stupid rich ruin it for everyone, including themselves, time and time and time again through history.

Every great epoch ends with incredible indulgence, where a pampered few divert all of the productive resources of the economy to their pursuit of pleasures and trophies.

Every one.

That’s the path we seem to be on at the moment. It’s 1928. The markets are up, up, up.

But the economy is struggling, ordinary people can’t make ends meet, businesses cut back, things get gradually worse until they become suddenly disastrous. (Remind me to discuss self organized criticality, sometime…)

Collectively we have forgotten those lessons again, even though last time they lead to the Great Depression and WW2.

And here we are, starving the government, the economy and regular people again to satisfy the need for financial returns to the filthy rich.

So here’s where the stupid comes in.

When an economy collapses, things go to hell for everyone.

There’s more crime, more disease, worse infrastructure. It enshitifies everything.

So by hogging all the wealth, the ultra rich hurt their own well being.

But wait, it gets worse.

There are two ways to measure wealth, relative and absolute.

Relative wealth is what we think of most often. That person has more dollars worth of assets, they are wealthier.

Objective wealth is what you can do with that wealth, and it depends on progress.

You may have heard that “a peasant today is wealthier than a King of old.”

It’s true. That old King couldn’t access penicillin. He had no cellphone. No refrigerator. No TV. Sad, really.

The benefits of research and innovation can improve everyone’s living standards, reduce diseases, extend life.

But no, let’s spend it on Bugattis and mega yachts and rent generating assets.

By blowing all the money, by diverting so much wealth away from everyone else, the greed of the filthy rich reduces their own well being and limits their lifespan.

If only we didn’t have to go through this same stupid dance again and again.

But the ultra rich never want to pay their own way, let alone anyone else’s. You don’t get ultra rich without being insanely greedy.

And tragedy comes riding in on the four horsemen of the stupidocolypse.

And the tragedy of the commons strikes again.

Tax the ultra wealthy. For their own sake.

[readyed @read_donna]

@ABDanielleSmith @DuaneBratt @Dave_Eby Looking at this photo s enough to turn me into a Canucks fan - and I love the Oilers

[readyed @read_donna]

@markusoff @wrightmary123 I get that Danielle Smith is a ‘let’s pretend there is no problem’ climate change fingers in the ears type but to actively sabotage efforts to resolve the crisis is a whole new level of irresponsibility

[readyed @read_donna]

@Aqualung0001 @StaceyMonette27 All orchestrated with the social media. Too cute by half Mr Poilievre. You have no respect for the H of C and do not deserve to sit there. Is it all just a school yard game?

[readyed @read_donna]

@BrianJeanAB Too much to expect a thank you to the rest of Canada for bankrolling it and current federal government for getting it done i suppose? Thought so

[readyed @read_donna]

@Swiftie01 And you understand that these numbers are the inclusion rate (ie the amount of your gain that actually gets taxed - the remainder being tax free to you) and not the tax rate which is your normal marginal rate

[readyed @read_donna]

@Swiftie01 Your understanding of capital gains is poor. One time payment on disposition of a capital property has gone up to 66 percent from 50 percent. If you were relying on keeping money somewhere to shelter it from taxes, then its about time to pay up like the rest of us.

[readyed @read_donna]

@AdamMacVicar @DuaneBratt As long as you start with high speed rail between Edmonton and Calgary this is your 1st good idea. Congrats

[readyed @read_donna]

@DailyHiveVan Depreciation reports will not protect strata owners unless there is also a requirement to act on them — ie to contribute sufficiently to the contingency reserve fund to fully fund the repairs and replacements within the timeline set out in the report.

[readyed @read_donna]

@gill_godwin @MaggieDBar Or better - perhaps politicians should refrain from commenting on anything that is before the courts and let the courts do their jobs

[readyed @read_donna]

@1stCrazyCanuck @AdamDav93 @IvisonJ True but increase in value will be taxed in your estate unless it goes to your spouse.

[readyed @read_donna]

@acoyne Gosh. Would you rather the gov’t send the cheques out by mail with an insert that brags about the wonderful things the gov’t is doing for you — Oh no, that was the Harper gov’t. It was more expensive than direct deposit but who cares about that if there is branding to be done

[readyed @read_donna]

@JesseBrown @mgeist This is antisemitism. This has nothing to do with the war in Gaza and everything to do with hate.

[readyed @read_donna]

@mrbadtiming @AdamDav93 @IvisonJ Except after you die. Then any increase in value is taxed as a capital gain unless it goes to your spouse. But if you leave your principal residence to your kids, the increase in value will be taxed as a capital gain. But that was the case before this budget.

[readyed @read_donna]

@AdamDav93 @IvisonJ Agreed but you also need to explain that not all of the estate will be taxed as a capital gain. For example, money in the bank - not taxed. Original cost or investment amount - not taxed. Interest income - taxed as income. Sheesh. Half an explanation is worse than none at all

[readyed @read_donna]

@SkiGuy1818 @IvisonJ Do you understand that 67% is not the tax rate? It is the percentage of your capital gain above $250k that gets taxed. The other 1/3 is tax free. The tax rate you pay is the same as you would on any other income.

[readyed @read_donna]

@JenLeeCBC @Kodakjello Wasn’t Minister LaGrange a ‘pro-life’ anti-abortion activist before she was an MLA? Does she only care about babies before they’re born?

[readyed @read_donna]

@VIAwesome Don’t love this annual mayhem. What are they protesting exactly? Marijuana is legal. They leave a huge mess on Sunset Beach and cause all kinds of other problems. For instance, we can’t use the Aquatic Centre tomorrow because the City will close it to avoid problems

[readyed @read_donna]

@stopthegaslight @markusoff @Jantafrench It would require some logistical changes like in the clerk’s office and scheduling etc but admin costs should be lower over all once it gets done and AB must pay all admin costs of both courts in any event so can’t see why they wouldn’t jump at this.