Taxing my brain
Slow news day. It looks like the Democrats are committed to ending Bush era tax breaks for the rich and are hoping to use it to pummel the GOPers with in November. That is except for the usual attention whores Blue Dogs.
I'm sure you'll be shocked to learn somebody figured out the Roberts Court is the most conservative, ever. Actually the shock is someone said it out loud. Round-up of what passes for news today at that link. Most interesting item is speculation that Chelsea Clinton's wedding could cost $2 million. I'd be more impressed if they fooled everybody and secretly eloped.
And I hate to jump on the crazy con bandwagon here but this does seem to be tone deaf. I understand why John Kerry would berth his brand new $7mil yacht in Newport, RI instead of Massachusetts, over and beyond the tax dodge, especially if he charters it out. But it surely is more than a little rude for him to have bought it from New Zealand boatbuilders instead of using an American company. Great way to turn New England boatbuilders into teapot Republicans.
I'm sure you'll be shocked to learn somebody figured out the Roberts Court is the most conservative, ever. Actually the shock is someone said it out loud. Round-up of what passes for news today at that link. Most interesting item is speculation that Chelsea Clinton's wedding could cost $2 million. I'd be more impressed if they fooled everybody and secretly eloped.
And I hate to jump on the crazy con bandwagon here but this does seem to be tone deaf. I understand why John Kerry would berth his brand new $7mil yacht in Newport, RI instead of Massachusetts, over and beyond the tax dodge, especially if he charters it out. But it surely is more than a little rude for him to have bought it from New Zealand boatbuilders instead of using an American company. Great way to turn New England boatbuilders into teapot Republicans.
posted by Libby Spencer at 1:23 PM
9 Comments:
Libby, I would like to see conservatives apply the 'Buy American' complaint to their own...just once. I bet they could find plenty of similar gotchas among Republican senators if they wanted to look for them.
For that matter, I still remember when Republican Richard Nixon shut down the Newport naval base, the oldest in the nation, in a fit of malice directed against RI voters after the 1972 election. And then there was the Bush administration's bizarre attempt to close Groton. Two examples of supreme recklessness with critical NE defense facilities. Republicans aren't entirely innocent of throwing people out of work in New England ports.
Smintheus! Long time no see. I'm sure the GOPers are just as guilty of this sort of thing. I expect they all are on both sides of the fence. Thinking the real lesson here is how removed the Village is from the concerns of regular working class people in general.
Yes, Florida doesn't tax you for owning a boat, but other states do and you'll see the boats that would have been elsewhere here in Florida for that reason. Boats cost a lot more money than people think they do and of course the purchase price is only a down payment. Maintenance and dockage and all the rest cost a fortune. Ask the man who owns one.
But seven million for a boat that size? Especially a sailing yacht! Must use gold bars for ballast.
You know, if the Democrats didn't select gigabuck patrician candidates, they might have had a better chance against those microbrain "men of the people" the Republicans keep putting up.
Yes, I ought to stop to comment more often Libby. The word verification thing on Blogger acts up so much that usually I have to keep at it for a while until a comment takes.
Hey Fogg, beyond the tax issue, I think it does make more sense to dock in Newport if he's chartering it simply because there will be more people wanting to charter from there.
Smintheus, yeah the word verify is drag. I can't even leave a comment without going through it twice. Tried dropping it but I was overrun with spammers. The only other option is moderation, but I think that's worse.
I'm sure that's a factor, but as to the "Buy American" thing, it's a delight to listen to the Toyota drivers saying it. It's also a delight to observe the strange duplicity with which we despise the rich and yet impoverish ourselves for their benefit.
Yes it is very strange. And I was wondering about why that little boat cost so much too. I think it may have to do with the engineering. As I recall they said it was so new system that doesn't require a crew to sail it. Which I guess may explain why he had to go to New Zealand to get it built.
As far as I know, most yachts of that caliber are built offshore, but this is Kerry, so we act like it's a big deal. You see names like Nordhavn and conjure up visions of skandanavian shipyards, but it's built in China.
These days most sailing vessels use electric motors and don't require all those people running up and down hoisting and trimming sails.
Why are most of them built outside of America? The article said there were boatbuilders in Maine that could have done it, so I assumed we had an industry here that needed help.
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