Bubba

Attention: Paging @MidgetTodd to the house phone...

Nice, Joe, real nice. When I bring the Dome of Hate to Cincinnati, you will feel the burn!!!

Sweet! Balance is restored to the universe.

This forum has been so wonky lately, I can't wait until winter... Oh wait...it's an election year. Now, everything is becoming clear.

@Tonik Dude, you're slipping. You're supposed to hate EVERYBODY. Is everything ephemeral? Is nothing sacred?

"Going off your avatar, you're an obvious homophobe. You fit the hater mold to a T." This is totally awesome. I have finally achieved the same level of infamy as Tonik among the OR cognoscenti. @Tonik Better watch it or I'll steal that "Dome of Hate" and bring to SW Ohio.

DPG: Sent you a PM. Got a buyer in Cinti with cash! Hit her up.

I think @ScubaCinci has finally hit on something. This is exactly what needs to happen so @Bad324 can get to ride again! ;o)

Boy howdy, you are really good at twisting words and blowing smoke out yer ass. I don't recall bragging about having "a few million"...s'matter of fact, I live pretty frugally on less money per year in retirement than I made when I was working. If you try really hard, go back and concentrate on reading my posts. Not one of them was written in a partisan tone or espousing either candidate. I was under the impression we were having an economic discussion about the future of America. Based on your emotional and disjointed responses here, you must be one of more opinionated and unintelligent posters in this thread. But you sure got a loud mouth! I'm done.

You're right. I don't believe the future is the bright sparkling jewel we all anticipated it to be. Still not quite ready to embrace the 'zombie apocalypse' vision, though...

Well, if you're talking about paying unskilled union laborers $25/hr plus benefits to package widgets in a cardboard box, you're right. I would hope there's a middle ground somewhere in between. Ultimately, I think it will be a combination of bringing the rest of the world partway up to the American standard of living while simultaneously giving back some of the advances we've made and learning to live with somewhat less. It's foolish to believe the entire earth's population can achieve the same standard of living as we have in the US and still live in an environmentally sustainable world.

We are not so far apart in our thinking, then, although the problem we have is who/where/how long to draw the line at poor/sick/helpless. Subsidizing generations of welfare families is not an acceptable line to draw, IMHO. As for my comments on a livable wage, either I stated my viewpoint poorly or you misunderstood. I'm not advocating that American workers be paid a wage that is comparable to those in China. The only way this would work is to devalue the US economy to a retroactive level of 50-75 years ago, which is obviously neither tenable nor desirable. My point about the unions is that, during the time period in the 70s and 80s that jobs first began to move to the underdeveloped countries, the unions were at their MOST POWERFUL PERIOD OF INFLUENCE, which suggests it's counterintuitive to put the blame solely on the industrial magnates. Thus, it is reasonable to theorize that the unrealistic and unattainable demands made by the strong unions during that time period had a great effect on what happened to the manufacturing industry in the US. I firmly believe that we will see a time in our not too distant future when the issues of over-promised and under-funded Social Security benefits, Medicare/Medicaid benefits, and pensions for public and government retirees will create a huge drag on the economy and taxes will need to be raised dramatically. Again, we have merely passed along the problems created by us over the last 10-20 years to our descendants. I doubt they will thank us kindly for the cluster f--k that we leave them.

@drc32-0 "The same winey ass people" It's 'whiney-ass people'... unless you're talking about the House Wives of Beverly Hills. And you've puked up the same whiney-ass and totally invalid argument about the loss of union jobs being the reason the US is in the fix it's in now. Yeah, lots of jobs were moved out of the US, but it was because of insanely high wages and benefits being paid for what was unskilled labor. Oh, let's not ignore the technology revolution that replaced human hands doing repetitive tasks with robots. The unions were useful organizations back in the early days of the industrial revolution, but have long ago ceased to be of value to the bulk of the American labor force.

Tonik: Not sure if you're just trolling, or if you're really so far west of left you can't drink beer right-handed.... You got it wrong dude, at least where I'm concerned. I'm all for making the rich pay for the easy life the US allows them. I'm also in favor of the general US population making sacrifices for the liabilities we have incurred because of the war efforts our politicians sanctioned. The nation sacrificed during WWII with rationing, war bonds, and tax rates that were set to 94% for the top earners to help make the war a success (and as high as 91% as late as 1963). http://taxfoundation.org/sites/default/files/docs/fed_individual_rate_history_nominal.pdf Other than sending off our own children to fight what seems to be a religious war in the Middle East, our/my generation hasn't been asked or required to make any sacrifices at all. And I'm in favor of a minimum wage that's livable, but by that, I don't mean livable as in high-end cell phones and cable TV and a luxury SUV in the driveway. I'm also in favor of requiring those who are unfortunate enough to need publicly-funded monetary assistance--whether temporary or permanent--to make some level of effort to give back, whether it be volunteerism in the community or some other contribution. Nor am I advocating the abandonment of poor kids. I AM opposed to sanctioning the birthing of illegitimate babies as a means to earning money. What you/we are effectively doing is penalizing our children's and our grandchildren's future security and welfare for the excesses of our lifestyle today, with no thought of what happens when the bills come due.

@Connie14 I think you actually meant "with impunity" Sorry. Occasional grammar Nazi here. Your point about the government spending every dime we give them plus a couple more we haven't yet is well taken. The folks who are on the "free medical" and the "free college education" bandwagon are either the ones who don't pay any income tax or they're so clueless that they don't understand the government doesn't actually HAVE any money other than what the citizens give them in the way of taxes...or that they print out of thin air with no monetary value basis. Check out the National Debt clock and pay particular attention to the far lower right corner, where the current dollar-to-gold value is nearly $8000/oz. Current market value on gold is approximately $1350/oz. http://www.usdebtclock.org/

@Lawrence1 I had to respond to your post, altho I know it's a loser's game to debate shit like this on the internet...but hey, it's icky out and I'm not riding today, so... Almost all of the "rich people ploys" you've listed above are available to average folks as well, and may even benefit them to a larger percentage basis since there are income caps that phase out some of the more well-known tax dodges like IRA/401-K contributions. I'm old and have been retired for 10 years, but I worked for 37 years and used most of the above tools to get where I am today. Now, lest you lump me in with the 1%--which maybe I am based on total net worth--I worked at an average hourly wage my entire career. Started out making $88/week--that's gross, not take home--in 1969 and was making about $60K gross when I retired in 2006. A decent salary, no doubt, but nowhere near the stuff of an investment banker. I started putting money into the stock market in 1971 and have contributed to a retirement account ever since, expanding to both a traditional and a Roth IRA when the opportunity was given by the IRS. I've bought and sold 5 houses over the years, making money on each one and reinvesting the value in the next one. With the exception of incorporating or moving money off-shore, I've done something of the kind in nearly everyone of your numbered list. 1) Doesn't matter whether you sell common or preferred stock, you pay taxes--either ST or LT capital gain--on the difference between cost basis and market value at the time of sale. I happen to live on the dividends from my stock investments and pay both federal and state tax on the amount yearly. 2) Didn't do this, although I have vacationed in the Bahamas once or twice... 3) Never got stock options either, but you can damn well be sure I would have taken advantage of them if offered. 4) The few obscenely rich folks who may take advantage of this unusual and obscure ploy typically get nailed to the wall sooner or later. We're talking Securities and Exchange Commission stuff here. 5) Everyone who has ever sold a house and rolled the gains into their next abode have used this dodge. The gain is eventually taxed when the appreciated property is sold, with the exception of a primary residence. 6) Anyone can do this. Use the equity in your house to purchase stocks and use the dividends to pay the second mortgage. This is actually pretty damn hard to do if you think about it, and risky as hell, but more power to you if you want to walk that line. 7) Ordinary folks do this everyday. Become a landlord and buy rental property. It's a lot of work and headache, but pretty damn profitable over the long haul. 8) I did the exact same thing every year when I redirected a percentage of my earnings to a 401-K or IRA and paid zero tax on the contribution amount. 9) I gift my kids money every year. They're in their 30s and 40s and have their own kids and mortgages and are busting their asses to make it. The money is tax-free to them BECAUSE I'VE ALREADY PAID TAX ON IT. Not sure how this is dodge. When I donate to a charity, I do gift the highly appreciated stock and get a write-off for the full market amount. I bought the stock decades ago and paid far less per share, but money was "more valuable" then. You know, inflation and all that. See how that works? 10) This is available to everyone. You don't have to be rich to get this deduction. I had a crappy old river cruiser that I paid $10K for. It had a galley and a cabin and a potty. It would have qualified for the second home mortgage deduction if I had taken out a loan to buy it. The fact that neither you nor I can afford a yacht or a vacation home in Aspen isn't a sign that those who can afford these things are tax cheats. Your whine sounds a bunch like sour grapes. Get over it--life isn't fair.

So...definition of auto-eroticism?

Unfortunately, you don't live anywhere me. I'd be more than happy to offer up my '98 CBR600F3 for you to ride. Mostly sits in the garage collecting dust--less than 3200 miles on the ODO. Yes, I know that's a federal crime. Just went thru and replaced the battery and tires, rebuilt the carbs and flushed the brake fluid, so it's not a beater. You wanna figure out a way to get here, you can take it on the Fall Epic Ride and roll out with the SW OH crew. ...but no, it's not a gift. And yes, you have to bring it back. And no, I don't want a pool table.

I just posted a bike for Bad on the CL Rant thread. Shouldn't need much...

@Bad324 If you're serious about buying a bike, Brian Mullins (Kanatuna on AFJ) just posted an ad here in Cinti on the CCR FB page for a '98 Superhawk with OH title for $2100. Not a creampuff, but prolly a good deal. And since this thread isn't a For Sale thread, I don't consider this shitting in someone's FS advert...IJS.

Gun sport? She was competing in air rifle! Since when did BB guns become lethal weapons?

@Idiot From the sounds of your response, that makes you a social liberal and a fiscal conservative. Not a bad thing, but somewhat difficult to find a tenable position from which to act. The problem I see is that nearly everyone in the country--voters on both sides--are looking to the federal government for a fix. Problem is that whenever you try to go for "The Big Fix" it entails creating, maintaining, and growing an ever larger, more powerful and expensive bureaucracy to accomplish the desired goal. And of course, it's funded with your money, and rarely improves the quality of your life directly. I think the only feasible solution lies with greater funding at the local level and smaller funding of the central efforts. We should look to our central governments at the federal and state level to take care of the big things: funding and maintaining an army for the stability and defense of the nation, creation and adjudication of the laws, building and maintaining public infra-structure (roads, water, sewer, power grids), and ensuring a stable economic central monetary policy. Nearly everything else, and primarily our social needs and problems, should be funded at the local level which results in a much smaller government entity and greater effectiveness at flowing money to the necessary areas. This philosophy used to be what the core of the Republican party was built around, but their vision was lost decades ago and now, the two-party system...isn't: voting Democrat or Republican basically accomplishes the same thing--your money will be spent on growing a central power bureaucracy whose main aim is ensure it's own ever-expanding existence. On that note, I'm heading to the garage to do an oil change on my KTM...

@Idiot I'm not necessarily espousing Clarke's rhetoric, merely quoting it. In truth, it's no more or less inflammatory than the rhetoric put out by BLM and other liberal media outlets. Does language like this lead to a more productive conversation about finding a solution? Don't know, but I'm in my mid-60s and I've seen the the cold war fear of nuclear destruction on my parents' faces as a kid in the 50s, race riots of the 60s, the peace protests during the 'Nam war era, the emergence and justification of rabid extremism in politics and religion, and we don't seem to have crawled very far out of the sewer yet.

Speaking of a media circus, anyone see the editorial by Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke? Strong words from a public figure. Quoted: "The Milwaukee riots should be the last time the policies of liberal Democrats are held up as anything other than misery-inducing, divisive, exploitative and racist manipulation of the urban populations. Unfortunately they won’t. As Sheriff of Milwaukee County, I am furious that the progressive left has put my citizens in harm’s way and that I had to send my officers into cauldrons of anarchy and hatred that were created by the left. As an elected public servant I am livid that Milwaukee’s pathetic, kowtowing city officials and aldermen take this opportunity to abandon their citizens and preen before the Black Lives Matter-enabling media. As a leader who understands that freedom and earned success are the pathways out of the ghetto, I’m disappointed, too, in any Republican that feels they need to tiptoe around the patently obvious issue at-hand: we are folding our society of freedom ensured through law-and- order over to bullies of the left. The politicians and talking heads on both sides of the aisle who offer little resistance and total cowardice." "The failed progressive urban policy causes anger and resentment in people that simmers below the surface. The officer-involved-shooting was simply a catalyst that ignited the already volatile mixture of inescapable poverty, failing K-12 public schools, dysfunctional lifestyle choices like father absent homes, gang involvement, drug/alcohol abuse and massive unemployment. Here are the facts: Milwaukee is run by progressive Democrats. Their decades-long Democrat regime has done nothing to reduce these urban pathologies, in fact, their strategies have exacerbated the situation by expanding the welfare state. That things have not improved and in fact worsened in the American ghetto after eight years of Barack Obama is remarkable only to those who have not been paying attention to our nation’s cities." "There’s only one answer, which is for the citizens of America to expose and heap scorn on this lying and dangerous triad of big government, liberal mainstream media, and the lost souls of the urban ghettos both these institutions feed upon for their power. A self-examination and self-criticism by the underclass is in order as well - as is an admission by Progressive Democrats that they have failed Milwaukee would be the first step in reversing this urban decay and reversing the growth of the underclass and their accompanying cultural rot. What happened Saturday night and again Sunday night had little to do with police use of force – it was a collapse of the social order where tribal behavior leads to reacting to circumstances instead of waiting for facts to emerge. The law of the jungle replaced the rule of law in Milwaukee Saturday night over an armed career criminal suspect who confronted police. Four other people were murdered in Milwaukee in separate incidents before the cop shooting and no riots ensued." "The actions were the manifestation of a population with no hope, no stake in the American dream that could provide advancement and purpose and pride of self. They are the ones lied to, exploited by and ultimately manipulated by the Democrats who claim to care. They are victims of the left, but they are not without blame. It’s time for them to remember their own humanity, their own dignity, and to fight for that return to the American Dream that the left would withhold from them." http://www.thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/crime/291435-sheriff-david-clarke-liberal-politics-and-media-fueled-milwaukee Waiting for instructions from the electorate as to how much I need to send as reparation for being self-supporting and independent. And in case you hadn't noticed, our money isn't buying much in the way of quality roads. IJS...