MaxFly

How many european countries currently have black leaders, and how many were built and thrived on the slave trade or slavery in general? I'd probably be willing to argue that most European countries thrived on slavery. I'm excited that the first president I ever got to vote for is the one that won. Certainly not to the extent of the US, and not to the point where any of the European countries were built on the institution. Financially, many of the European countries benefited from slavery, but I wouldn't say "thrived." Historically, this is significant... from slavery, to separate but equal and jim crow just 45 years ago, to the tacit racism that still exists in many parts of the country...

How many european countries currently have black leaders, and how many were built and thrived on the slave trade or slavery in general?

Is it in spain such a big deal too? He's black ya'll, he aint from mars. is america really that racist that this is such a big deal? The US has had 43 Presidents to date; none of them were black. Until the Voting Rights Act of '65, many blacks in the US found it hard to vote. Blacks were brought to this country as slaves, and built the country with little recompense. Historically, this is a huge deal.

It's official...

Yes, this was pretty sad. One day... just one more day...

Good trade for Detroit... not so much for Denver...

If you wanna start over, let us know when.

haha. I was waiting for somebody to come say that. this shift in conversation really sparked my interest. Lol, today was probably a good day to invest... Anyway, just wanted to bump this to give Bob a chance to respond.

Oh... So who you put out on monday is who you have for the week... You can't make set who is in the lineup for each day of the week.

Is anyone having trouble rearranging their rosters?

Hey Bob, it looks like Obama will only be seeking to raise the Cap Gains tax to 20% on couples making over $250,000 and singles making over $200,000; basically, he will allow it to revert to what the rate was prior to 2003. He would also eliminate capital gains taxes on gains from investments in startup companies. It seems that he defined this more specifically when the economic crisis started. It doesn't look like an increase in the cap gains tax will affect you after all. We mentioned volatility before... here's an excert of a CNN Money article about that... http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/15/news/economy/capital_gains/

Whichever works out for you guys... Let's just try not to schedule the draft during Heroes.

Actually, we won't be allowed to draft until we have an even number of teams.

I believe that 1 team will get a bye every week.

Well I sure picked a poor day to say that it's a good time to invest in the market... :thumbdown:

A few weeks back, a US Bank, Sovereign Bank, lost about 72% of it's stock value. The next day, I think it regained 70% of that value. That would have been an excellent short term buy to turn around and sell. I agree that it's a tough time to buy... we don't know which industries are going to crash, and in truth, all of them seem pretty bad, but if you're looking to invest long term, you'll be getting in at bargain prices right now. The key is to put your money in carefully and leave it alone... While you guys are right in that when the market sucks you want to be buying, now is a tricky time for lay investors. First, with as crazy as the market's been in the past little bit, how do you know it's not going to drop another 20% next week? There's been a number of times over the past year where the market has shed a lot of points but was no where near the bottom. Second, some major institutions have been going bankrupt. If you invested in them, you weren't going to be making any money no matter how long you waited. With such strong companies going under, it's hard to know what companies are safe from bankruptcy. That's part of the reason why the credit market was so frozen, even the experts didn't know what was coming next. I'm still investing (for better or worse), but I wouldn't begrudge anyone who's staying out of it right now. I agree, nothing wrong with playing it safe. You don't know who will go bankrupt next.

A few weeks back, a US Bank, Sovereign Bank, lost about 72% of it's stock value. The next day, I think it regained 70% of that value. That would have been an excellent short term buy to turn around and sell. I agree that it's a tough time to buy... we don't know which industries are going to crash, and in truth, all of them seem pretty bad, but if you're looking to invest long term, you'll be getting in at bargain prices right now. The key is to put your money in carefully and leave it alone...

This is THE IDEAL TIME TO BUY, if you don't need your money in the next couple of years. Most people buy when the market is doing well and sell in a panic during a downturn. That results in a net loss. This is a 'bargain' market as Buffet stated earlier in the week. Unless you are a senior citizen or someone who expects to be paying large amounts of medical costs (that would sap your paycheck and insurance), this is the time to invest (buy low, sell high). It's also very advantageous for quick sellers since beta (volatility) is high. If you can time right, you can make strong profits in relatively short time (it's also quite risky). Bob's actually right. Many companies are severely undervalued right now because of the economic crisis. Now is a good time to carefully invest your money... Bob, you said something interesting about quick sellers. You do know that a reduction in the capital gains tax wouldn't be beneficial to day traders and quick sellers, right? Cap gains tax rate only kicks in after a year of owning a stock. Profits made by quick sellers are taxed at that seller's income tax rate.

So basically, the argument is that some would refuse to take part in an investment where they see the potential to make around 5000 in pre tax profit and about 4250 after a 15% capital gains tax because they'd only make 3600 after a 28% capital gains tax. Would you really forego a good investment because taxes on the profits are a little higher? The extra 13% in taxes on your profits (and were are talking about the maximum Obama would even consider raising the cap gains tax, it's far more likely that he will only raise it to 23%) isn't significant enough to be a big deterrent for serious traders or even people just starting off. As I said, I have money in the stock market myself.. I don't really want the capital gains tax increased, but if it helps the country, I have to think about more than just my profits. Here's an example... The Massachusetts state income tax is 5% right now. There is a ballot inititive this year that calls for the reduction of the state tax next year, and the abolition of the tax by 2010. I guarantee you there are people who think this is a great thing; that's 5% more of their money they get to keep. What they don't realize is that the abolition of the state tax will negatively affect schools, police departments, fire departments and other state funded organizations. Moreover, much of that money will be recouped in the form of higher taxes on consumer goods and land and real estate. We have to start looking at the big picture. I'd like not to have to pay state taxes, but not if it adversely affects the state's economy, our schools, etc... because eventually, that will trickle down to me.

I don't think McCain's plan will be helpful to you in the long term or the short term... it will only be helpful for as long as the 7.5% rate is in effect. The key here is that regardless of the 7.5% rate or the 15% rate, you'll be buying and selling stock any way. The 7.5% rate isn't going to convince you to buy more stock, it's just going to make you more money. This will be the same for a lot of other investors.

So you want to vote for the guy who'll make your tax rate 7.5% with no social security taken out while other folks kick in like 40% all told? That's just a wee bit self serving. Schnazz, can you imagine what would have happened if partial privatization of social security had gone through. SS is already broken, but with the way the stock market has collapsed of late, think of what would have happened to people's savings that were diverted from SS into the market. :shakehead:

What do you consider a long term investment? If the 7.5% tax rate kicks in next March for instance and will be instituted for the short term... let's say a year... whatever investments you make between now and March are the only investments that will possibly have that 7.5% capital gains tax rate. If you sell before a year, those gains will be taxed at your income rate, if you sell after the 7.5% rate expires in March on 2010, you'll be taxed at the 15 or whatever percentage it reverts too. It won't be very advantageous. If your plan is to be a day trader, it won't be advantageous at all. And yes, volatility would increase. If people are given the option of selling early at a lower tax liability, many will. They'd want to secure as much of their money as possible before the tax rate reverts to what it was. The overall goal of the measure is to provide people an impetus to invest, but what McCain isn't taking into account is that there are many people who will pull out a lot of their money in order to take advantage of the lower tax rate. The measure also encourages people to sell. I have a few investments through an online broker that I would certainly sell if given a chance to at a lower tax rate. I'd expect that many who own shares of those same companies would do the same. I'd sell my shares, wait for the worth of the company stock to plummet and then stabalize as others do the same, and then rebuy at a lower price.

The key question here is how many average americans have money invested in the stock market outside of structured savings programs. We already know that Obama won't raise taxes on 401Ks, mutual funds, and other savings accounts... Another important issue to note... The 15% tax rate only kicks in after you have owned a stock for more than a year. If you buy and sell a stock within a year, whatever capital gain you have is taxed at your income rate. Also, a reduction in the capital gains tax rate to 7.5% will likely have both positive and negative effects on the markets. It would likely offer a temporary boost in investments, but it would also introduce a great deal of volatility to the market, with large upswings and down swings because of a great deal of activity.

Somehow, we're supposed to believe that increasing the personal taxes of the CEO's of companies like AIG and Lehman Brothers who are pulling in millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars, will stunt the economy because they will limit hiring and/or limit the incomes of the small guy to recoup those wages. Isn't this also an argument against closing the tax loopholes that many of these same CEOs take advantage of? Closing those tax loopholes would amount to a tax increase on many people. Should we be against closing tax loopholes as well? I think the notion that increasing the personal taxes on the rich will hurt the economy is overblown. If a CEO limits hiring because of personal wages, it's very likely he will hurt the productivity of his company, and can ultimately hurt his company in the end. On the other hand, giving average Americans more purchasing power can strengthen the ecomony by allowing them to infuse money in these very same companies from the consumer side, bolstering confidence in the economy.

Incidentally, I think Sarah Palin is a prime example of how non-supporters can coalesce behind, or at the very least, tolerate a candidate that belongs to their party. Prior to Sarah Palin becoming the republican VP nominee, conservative pundits such as Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan summarily dismissed her as a possible VP, saying that she wasn't ready to be VP and lacked the requisite knowlegde base. Now they can't help but praise her. And who can forget this tidbit with Karl Rove... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMH0PoRybAI...feature=related There are many Democrats who have done the same thing... They blasted Obama in the primaries, but they are now magically his biggest supporters in the general.