Videos Today

Explicit:

Need to watch:

Tyranny/authoritarianism increasing.

Circles, patterns, connections (we should move towards a circular economy):

Update 3/25/21:

This video might be site worthy:

Looking up Biden's infrastructure and tax increases https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/03/23/biden-taxes-rich-companies/

"The key measures under discussion include raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent; increasing the global minimum tax paid from about 13 percent to 21 percent; ending federal subsidies for fossil fuel companies; and forcing multinational corporations to pay the U.S. tax rate rather than the lower rates paid by their foreign subsidiaries, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters not yet public."

My take: Adding to the deficit, not ideal. Infrastructure and jobs - good. Upping the corporate tax rate - good. Increasing the global minimum tax, not good. Ending subsidies for fossil fuels - very good! forcing multinationals to pay - Very good.

"The part of the legislation focused on other domestic priorities, by contrast, is expected to be funded by taxes on rich people and investors. Those measures, according to officials, include increasing the highest income tax rate from 37 percent to 39.6 percent; significantly increasing taxes on wealthy investors; and limiting deductions that rich taxpayers can claim annually, among other measures, the officials said.

There would be two parts to the higher taxes on investors. Biden’s plan would tax gains on capital income — such as stocks and dividends — as normal income for those earning more than $1 million. Currently, the maximum tax on capital gains is slightly more than 20 percent, far below the nearly 40 percent top rate Biden is seeking. The plan is also likely to include a Biden campaign pledge to increase taxes on assets passed down to heirs, the officials said.

Both sets of tax increases mirror what Biden proposed in 2020 as a presidential candidate. Administration officials also are considering paying for the package in part through a plan that would lower the cost of prescription drugs. That would allow the government to spend less on public health programs such as Medicare. Similar measures have been estimated to save the government $500 billion over 10 years, the officials said."

Very good! Some common sense, decency and sanity.

"Rep. Kevin Brady (Tex.), the top-ranking Republican on the tax-focused House Ways and Means Committee, also blasted the prospect of “partisan tax hikes” and slammed the emerging infrastructure proposal as one that would “fleece American workers, families and Main Street businesses.”

The plan also is set to exclude measures pushed by some liberals, particularly the annual tax on wealth pushed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), among others. Biden’s proposal is also expected to leave out a Democratic push to reverse the GOP tax law’s limit on state and local tax deductions, a priority of Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), the officials said. Many tax experts said that measure would primarily benefit high-income earners.

An annual tax on wealth does seem kind of "un-American" and un-democractic. Especially when the government changes in legislative and executive power back and forth between Republican and Democrat as does Government spending (change - a bit, not much though seems like). Leaving out the limit on local tax deductions - if the tax experts are right, then that's good in my opinion. High-income earners have enough money and power - affluence, (think about it) that limits on tax deductions should be in place.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in an interview that he is working on “a number of proposals” on targeted tax changes, including one timed for shortly after a scheduled Thursday hearing on multinational companies that seek to shield their profits using tax havens and other complicated schemes abroad."

Nice, about time.