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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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Home away from home
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Me too, but it's undeniable that the Greek government has mismanaged their finances for decades. Until that changes, Greece is always going to be in tough shape. That being said, I do support a debt re-structuring because they simply cannot make the payments as-is.
Posted on: 2015/7/15 18:45
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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I?m an advocate for any nation that?s home to so many unemployed, disenfranchised young adult males because unemployed, disenfranchised young adult males are the world?s most dangerous creatures.
Posted on: 2015/7/15 17:32
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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No, that's not what happened. You should pay more attention to the situation. I'm not a Greek advocate, but Tspiras did submit a proposal with austerity. Anyways, back to the original point, I'm not the only one who says Greece's debt is unsustainable. The IMF said the same. And the IMF is notorious for giving our bad loans to countries who can pay it back - so if even they think Greece's debt is too much to pay back, what does that say?
Posted on: 2015/7/15 16:43
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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now the greeks are calling for solidarity, compromise, sympathy.. roflmfao. didn't they reject austerity? did tsipas walk out of negotiations?
Posted on: 2015/7/13 1:28
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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no. greece is gonna face reality. they will be forced to institute reforms that they had promised 5 years ago....where is tsipras now?
Posted on: 2015/7/12 11:07
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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Can't get blood from a stone
Posted on: 2015/7/12 5:09
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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If you are replying to ^ post, please hit reply instead of quote.
Seems like we are setting the record for most quote boxes.
Posted on: 2015/7/12 3:38
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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Home away from home
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Posted on: 2015/7/12 2:44
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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If the debt was sustainable/payable, then PR bonds wouldn't have junk status.
Posted on: 2015/7/12 0:19
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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Posted on: 2015/7/10 23:58
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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Home away from home
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2014/3/4 22:31 Last Login : 2019/8/30 19:03 From Downtown Jersey City
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That is what happens when people are generally overtaxed, especially in places where people are happy to bypass the government and not exactly law and order types. I wouldn't read too much into this with respect to how a "flat tax + VAT" (present in several E. European countries, and they actually collect the taxes) system would fare against a "progressive tax + lower sales tax" system. By the way, I'm personally unconvinced that pure flat tax + higher sales tax is a good idea (our economy runs on consumption). But PR isn't an argument either way.
Posted on: 2015/7/10 17:13
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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Flat tax =/= sales tax/VAT
Posted on: 2015/7/10 15:06
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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You have your facts and numbers all wrong. The previous rate was 7% (which was the combination of a 6% "state" sales tax and a 1% "city" tax) and they just approved a raise in the sales tax to 11.5% (not 13%) which went into effect a week ago on July 1st. Is your observation that this "dramatic rate increase flushed products into the black market and overall expected increase in tax revenue did not quite pan out" based on 8 days of data? The issue of an "underground" economy has been a major problem in PR for many, many years and it wasn't a result of a sales tax creation. That only incentivized more people to get creative about how to hide sales and such from the government. For those who really want to know and understand the root cause of the issues of Puerto Rico, you need not go far, or get too technical. The economy is in the shitter because Puerto Ricans are overly proud, to the point of arrogance. Trust me, I grew up there. Ask any PUerto Rican and they will tell you that it isn't just an island, it is the BEST island in the world. It doesn't just grow coffee, it grows the best tasting coffee in the world, it has the most beautiful beaches in the world, the best food, the most beautiful women (ok, this one is pretty close to truth...) and on it goes. As part of that unbridled arrogance, comes the phenomenon of "keeping up with the joneses" to a degree I doubt any of you can actually fathom. Down in PR, "keeping up with the joneses" is not a concept, it's a way of life, and people live way beyond their means to a ridiculous level. It's not at all uncommon for people to carry massive debt loads. So, of course, the government reflects those attitudes: and it has been on a spending spree for the past several decades. It wasn't sustainable, never was, but they figured someone, somewhere along the line, would figure it out. It is the proverbial "kick the can down the road" philosophy. Guess what? The chickens came home to roost, with a vengeance. I am sure some liberals will shift the blame to hedge funds for lending them money or the markets for making it too easy. I guess you could argue that is partly true, just like some believe that enablers are partly at fault for the problems of junkies. Actually, you could view the situation in Puerto Rico as you would view a junkie: an obsession/weakness that is almost insurmountable for things they can't afford, and the markets were willing to give them the money. But, what about personal responsibility?
Posted on: 2015/7/10 14:19
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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Hell I do it too, every time I go to visit my family in the South I find myself talking with more of an accent after a couple days.
Posted on: 2015/7/10 14:13
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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2013/3/29 21:43 Last Login : 2023/9/5 18:27 From Bergen Hill
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I lived in St. Kitts. It isn't that hard to cheat...
Posted on: 2015/7/10 13:56
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Dos A Cero
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If you ever lived somewhere with a VAT tax, you would know that its regularly collected and funds services like public healthcare. Not that you probably bothered to read up on what VAT tax is or how it works or why it works before maligning it, but VATs are very difficult to cheat, and when there are tax cheats, its a very small portion of the tax. Because Value Added Tax is added incrementally along the supply chain, no single tax cheat can deprive the state of a large amount of revenue. Also, because each collected tax is very small, the impact of a single tax cheat along the supply chain is very limited and there is much less of a competitive advantage to cheating the system.
Posted on: 2015/7/10 13:52
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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2013/3/29 21:43 Last Login : 2023/9/5 18:27 From Bergen Hill
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Should and Will are words with vastly different definitions. If you've ever lived somewhere with a flat tax or very high sales tax, you'll know that it doesn't actually work very well.
Posted on: 2015/7/10 13:37
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Dos A Cero
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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Posted on: 2015/7/10 13:32
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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2013/3/29 21:43 Last Login : 2023/9/5 18:27 From Bergen Hill
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They don't. However, they pretty much went from a 3% rate to an 13% rate. The dramatic rate increase flushed products into the black market and overall expected increase in tax revenue did not quite pan out.
Posted on: 2015/7/10 13:13
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Dos A Cero
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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What are you talking about!? Puerto Rico does not solely rely on sales tax.
Posted on: 2015/7/10 6:29
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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2013/3/29 21:43 Last Login : 2023/9/5 18:27 From Bergen Hill
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While it is certainly feasible to point out that Bernie's policy thoughts go a bit far, he's not exactly Greece. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico is demonstrating why the flat taxers are wrong. Of course, this goes without saying since St. Kitts and Nevis prove flat taxers wrong as well as every single other place place on the planet that has tried to implement the sales tax only policy. Such facts should remove just about every Republican from being considered for president, yet...
Posted on: 2015/7/9 17:36
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Dos A Cero
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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It's more likely that Puerto Rican pensioners will get their life savings wiped out by a debt haircut. Hedge funds if they're still invested will have their risk "hedged". It's what they do.
Posted on: 2015/7/9 16:02
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2014/3/4 22:31 Last Login : 2019/8/30 19:03 From Downtown Jersey City
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Thanks for the laugh.
Posted on: 2015/7/9 15:51
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Posted on: 2015/7/9 2:04
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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Go Bernie! Go Greece! BTW, has anyone commented on Eric Holder's new job?
Posted on: 2015/7/9 1:52
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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Yes, you would have thought that Democrats have learned something, like an unregulated bank industry leads to financial chaos. Something like big banks are not going looking out for the best interests of people. Something like there is a place for government to regulate large corporations that control vast amounts of wealth. Fortunately, there is a candidate running for the Democratic nomination who claims to be interested in limiting the power and size of banks and putting people ahead of corporations. That candidate isn't Hilary Clinton.
Posted on: 2015/7/9 0:59
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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Posted on: 2015/7/9 0:25
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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Newbie
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Puerto Rico is a colony of the United States and has been so recognized as such by the United Nations for decades while the independence movement in Puerto Rico has always been a target of U.S. government repression. The people of Puerto Rico are owed reparations for the ecological and social devastation they have suffered since the first U.S. troops came ashore on July 25, 1898. And the vulture hedge funds that want to take over the island should not be paid anything.
Posted on: 2015/7/8 22:15
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Re: Greece, Puerto Rico and Democrats
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pr is almost like greece - wanting another debt haircut (#3) before they institute reforms. It should reform first and then get any debt haircut that are needed
Posted on: 2015/7/8 18:00
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