Travis

The short term market is very emotional and wonky. This is part of my dad's frustration as a financial planner. You have to constantly remind people that the day to day of it... it isn't that it's irrelevant, but it's not really indicative of much in the big picture. You have to take a step back and look at a wide scope. 

Also, while on the topic I hate that Trump basically views the economy through the market almost exclusively. This is only a piece of the puzzle, and the piece that really affects the people at the higher end of the spectrum (wonder why Trump loves the metric so much). He has been INCREDIBLY pro business so no real surprise that the market has rewarded him for it. It doesn't mean stuff is truly getting better for those of us with little to no portfolio. He points to the jobs report, but it should also be noted that as much as he loves to tout that he has "the greatest job numbers in history" if he is beating Obama at Obama's peak in that department, it isn't by much. Also, are those jobs the best jobs they could be? Wages have remained more or less flat (with inflation cancelling growth out and then a hair more (as of August)). Oh yeah, and he bought all of that corporate growth by basically writing a trillion + dollar check from our future. So sure, the market does like Trump quite a bit, but at what cost?

cdrive said:

Driving from Columbus to Cincy

Farewell Transmission - Songs: Ohia 

Aw shit! You know that's right. Not so much the last couple of weeks but I have been doing a whole lot of Didn't It Rain and The Lioness in recent months. Man, they were so good.
*pours one out for Jason Molina*

I mean, I totally agree. What can I say? You're right. It just doesn't feel that simple to me. I know it should be and I know the Fox crowd is a lost cause, but they're just so good at running that BS narrative and it's so seductive. Also, most journalists I doubt are given the freedom to go about it the way someone like Cuomo does who basically spent 10 minutes with KAC arguing about 1 sentence and that seems to be what it takes. The biggest thing that I agree with is the media needs to get a lot more comfortable with the notion of calling Trump a liar, because he totally is and when you hedge that you take away from what a complete injustice that is. 100%. I am really surprised that this far in and how hard he has "pushed the truth" they are still grappling with this. When he knowingly puts out false truths, he's lying and he does that all the time. I don't see what is so hard about just saying it.

It's funny (well not "funny" funny, but... well you know), I've always seen "political correctness" as just basic "don't be a dick." You know who gets annoyed by "the oppression of political correctness?" Dicks! Just be cool and try not to step on people's feelings. I think that's a pretty reasonable standard for society, right? Also, it's not like people are being hauled off to jail for simply being assholes, so really it's just people fabricating outrage (or perhaps getting outraged) at the fact that people don't want to hang out with assholes who either just don't care about people's feelings or do so selectively (I suppose you can be sued for creating a hostile work environment and what not, but then you actually are stepping on the rights of others, and you like shouldn't do that and stuff). It's the exact same thing as the bogus "war on Christmas" and all of that nonsense. People just want to feel aggrieved about stuff so they whine on and on about how they used to have to care so much less about the impact of what they said on other people, and honestly that is probably just because the world of communication used to be smaller, or people weren't nearly as empowered as they are now to speak up so the world has become a bit more enlightened on the effects of what they say. In essence, you've always been a dick but you're just figuring it out now. 

Carrying it to the famous example: I'm sorry that we all took it for granted for so long, but it's a dick move to call your football team The Redskins. Now, obviously they have exercised their right to do so but by doing so they invite controversy and public awareness that it's a dick thing to do. So they are left with a choice, carry that baggage or change the name. They totally control their destiny, but they can't have it both ways. Political correctness simply comes down to how you want the world to see you, and with the fast spread of information and ability for people to gather and spread messages it creates more intense pressure now. If you don't want people to call you out for being a jerk, don't be a jerk, man. I've never got what all of the fuss is about.

Sorry it that was a little over-caffeinated, but it's been a stressful and very caffeinated type of day. I feel good now though. Yeah!

Just for shits and giggles, I said what if I just added $30,000 of qualified dividend income to the return. He did finally generate tax, but only $3,500 of it. He would have a tax rate of 3.6% on $99,000 of income (remember from before 0.0% on $70k). Sorry I'm ranting, but I feel like people don't know this and they should. This is real and it affects everybody and it's super messed up.