Understanding the United States of America (USA) - III

[bharotshontan]

I didn't put Asian males and females in this caste hierarchy as we are too minuscule to fall anywhere in there in terms of political power. We're the equivalent of Parsees, i.e. economically important but not politically.

[brar_w]

This election, a key statistic to keep in mind is that Trump got less aggregate votes than Romney or McCain. So what this proves is that it isn't exactly that the vote of caste 1 showed up to the booths more than usual, it is that the voters of castes 2-8 that were all equally excited about Obama (caste 2) being elected were not equally excited about Hillary (caste 4). Yes Hillary won the popular vote, but she didn't get anywhere close to what Obama ever got

Yup. This was always a battle of attrition to see who looses less support in terms of the vote compared to Obama and Romney. Trump won that battle even though as you rightly point out he secured less total votes than McCain or Romney. As was expected given the unpopularity of both the candidates, the third party vote was also significantly higher compared to 2012. Quick calculations show 2.2 million in 2012 went to others and third party compared to 6 million votes in 2016. This despite a smaller overall electorate in 2016 in terms of total votes cast.

I didn't put Asian males and females in this caste hierarchy as we are too minuscule to fall anywhere in there in terms of political power. We're the equivalent of Parsees, i.e. economically important but not politically.

Also the spread..What would the Indian-American or even Asian American population share be if we took out all of us living in solid blue, or solid red areas? Places like CA, NY, NJ, TX, WA etc.

[UlanBatori]

As expected, "liberals" from Berkeley and across the US declare Trump "not my President", do not accept democratic election results, start vandalizing property and get into rage-boy mode. No difference between these Berkeley morons and this idiot:

Here you go! Fresh as ever!

[pankajs]

^
Is that an American flag in the background. Which place/Uni. is this?

[UlanBatori]

San Francisco August 15. I forget the year.. must be around 2003 or so. AID that they didn't know the Pakis would come out with such signs. "V" never let them live that down, so it is safely parked on the Internet to remind them at intervals.

So PLEASE collect as many photos as you can about Pakis demonstrating against American Democracy. Sooner or later they will take to burning American flags. Need those pics for long-term storage.

[Manish_P]

The black flag near the centre looks like the islamic state flag

Yea.. that will help for sure

[bharotshontan]

This election, a key statistic to keep in mind is that Trump got less aggregate votes than Romney or McCain. So what this proves is that it isn't exactly that the vote of caste 1 showed up to the booths more than usual, it is that the voters of castes 2-8 that were all equally excited about Obama (caste 2) being elected were not equally excited about Hillary (caste 4). Yes Hillary won the popular vote, but she didn't get anywhere close to what Obama ever got

Yup. This was always a battle of attrition to see who less support in terms of the vote compared to Obama and Romney. Trump won that battle even though as you rightly point out he secured less total votes than McCain or Romney. As was expected given the unpopularity of both the candidates, the third party vote was also significantly higher compared to 2012.

Yes I noticed this firsthand at the local barbershops. Blacks and Latinos don't really care for white feminism which they see as a elite white establishment thing. Nothing of the sort of how middle-class blacks were pooling together hard-earned salary money to rent school buses to bring blacks in ghettos and projects out to voting stations in 2008 and 2012 happened this year. I think it is a mistake to interpret this election as "America got more racist". No, so-called "racist" was always there. America just showed that it is "misogynist" and the white-women-feminist caste are expected to be allies to black-male caste, but not vice-versa. Over the next few days, there will be tons of finger pointing articles coming out regarding this. First white-feminists will accuse blacks of misogyny with lot of sweet lacing as to how they are not coming at this from a racial pov but a gender-pov. Then blacks will defend themselves playing race card. Then black-feminists will accuse the generic-feminist movement of being racial and also blacks of being misogynist. Nowadays there are all kinds of hilarious identities popping up like "black Muslim-convert lesbian": http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2013 ... slim-south
Basically this SJW movement is coming towards a collapse now that people are recognizing that each interest group knows what it wants and nobody is nobody's "ally".

Also the spread..What would the Indian-American or even Asian American population share be if we took out all of us living in solid blue, or solid red areas? Places like CA, NY, NJ, TX, WA etc.

Exactly, and the only place where we mattered in this regard was Fairfax County in Virginia where Trump sent his daughter the other day to celebrate Diwali. Fairfax has some 20,000 Indian-American families. Either way Virginia overall and Fairfax county went to Clinton, but there was at least a photo-op attempt made where we could have mattered. Otherwise you're correct, most of the battleground states have the more "core" US demographic groups and Asians are a non-entity there numerically.

[UlanBatori]

Is it just me, or that pic from "Berkeleystan" looks amazingly similar to something from India, probably Gujarat long ago. R u sure that is recent? Same gaping mouth, same crazy eyes, same lice-blessed beard. Can there be two of the same so handsome and smart, hain

[UlanBatori]

You do realize that all that 'lock her up' rhetoric goes away now that the campaign is over right? . There's not going to be any special prosecutor from Trump's side.

this will be quite an acid test... so if she is so bad and corrupt are you going to prosecute her like you said you will? in fact I think he should now open a prosecution against her
and yes, when does the wall go up?

I think Mr. Comey will be invited to House/Senate hearings - after all the Dems promised they would do that, assuming a HiC Presidency and big win at the polls for Donkeys.
Once that happens, I think the snowball starts gathering both mass and velocity. Justice Dept bozos will start taking The Fifth, or cutting deals... Trump will claim absolutely no knowledge of any of these proceedings, as he should.
Investigations of the Clinton Foundation have been going on for some time, apparently, about Pay2Play. No reason to stop those. Prosecutors will be falling over each other trying to be first to file indictments.

[pankajs]

Ya ... that path now seems via Clinton fund. Will be interesting to watch if the Repubes go full throttle or save for another day another election.

[UlanBatori]

They have a serious "Boy hu cried Wolf!' problem if they don't move soon. Note that the GOTUS has not revealed a single email, NOTHINg - all we have is from Putin/ WikiLeaks. Justice Dept. probably going 24/7 burning evidence.

[TSJones]

there are limits to what trump can do.

he can spend political capital prosecuting the clintons or he can use it to achieve his legislative agenda. To wit: steep tax cuts, getting rid of obama care, universal education vouchers, getting rid of sequestered military funds, adjustments to social security, making medicaid the individual states responsibility, etc. he also wants to build a wall on the border costing billions and making mexico pay for it and then mass deportation of 11 million illegal immigrants.

quite a tall order and he is facing Mr Chuckster Schumer in the US Senate. Who is slobbering at the chops at the mere thought of shoving a filibuster up the donalds rectum if he can find a stick big enough.

trust me, chuckster's in a foul mood and hurtin' where it doesn't feel good and is hard to reach.

[Viv S]

he can spend political capital prosecuting the clintons or he can use it to achieve his legislative agenda.

A disciplined Trump capable of ignoring distractions, depersonalizing the job and staying focused?

I remember Paul Manafort promising one of those... before he was booted out by the boss.

No worries. Third time's the charm.

At least as President he won't have to deal with all this toxic liberal media coverage that so used to rile him up and give him an itchy twitter finger.

[Singha]

Cold voice of The Donald can freeze tigers blood
-- old jungle saying

The cabal of lka type margdarshak repubs who tried to take him down must be shivering what files he has access to now soon . Dt spends some cycles on his own thinking how he will punish his numerous enemies..fairly bruce wayne type character lol

[LokeshC]

A president is a COO of massa not its CEO. He can only implement the laws that are laid by lawmakers, and not just do whatever the phk he wants.

The only thing he has is flexibility in implementing those ssid laws via some control of rule making.

That and appointment of supreme Court justices

[UlanBatori]

I hear them talking some sense: "Repeal Obamacare" was never DT's message in the Debates: it was change it to remove some inter-state barriers etc. At this point donkeys would probably welcome that if they had any sense, because it is bleeding heavily. A tough PaperWork Reduction Act applied to the medical field would work miracles - how many trillions are spent in Back-Office Processing of those trillions of usefless forms repeating the Patient's Name, Address, DOB, List Of Medications, etc? Immigration: if he brings about the shelved plan - fast-track merit-based immigration, put legal applications way out in front of any "amnesty" stuff, he can get strong support, even if the donkeys obstruct it. He'll probably send Arab/African refugees to Guantanamo for vetting before letting them into the US - meaning a decade given the ICE backlog. He'll allow sweeping deportations of illegals to win some credibility. Not 11 million but maybe 1 million (BO was already doing a lot of that). The "Wall" is really a modern armed, well-lit, drone/Blimp/automatic-sensor protected border built to industrial security specs, hey? Probably joint Mexican-US patrolling with some blimp/drone bases on the other side of the border - satisfying "And the Mexicans Will Pay 4 It".

[TSJones]

well in a way, I hope he does go after missus clinton. gives the rest of us a break from his robber baron legislative agenda. that could use up a good portion of his 100 day legislative window.

[Lalmohan]

now what I am interested in seeing next is what wikileaks comes up with...
I think that a year, maybe two years from now - there will be a bunch of releases to do with el naranjito al billi-grabbi
depends how much leeway the tsar gets in Syria over the next 12 months

[Yayavar]

During the otherwise ridiculous debates/speeches I heard DT say 'wont let people die on streets', '..have a bigger heart' etc. He also said he will 'fix obamacare', make it better. His comments were different from republican and in some ways closer to democratic party. He talked about better infrastructure. Just those things will make a difference. He did speak in a deplorable way on other social issues-- but his acceptance speech was very different. So let us see the actions now.

PS. I hope EPA is not curtailed.

[UlanBatori]

Interest in CalExit growing..
6th-largest economy in the Dunia. Wonder how they'll do with open borders minus the US Armed Forces. And their own Legislative agenda. Just the weight of new Forms to fill out, might bring on The Big One.

[TSJones]

Interest in CalExit growing..
6th-largest economy in the Dunia. Wonder how they'll do with open borders minus the US Armed Forces. And their own Legislative agenda. Just the weight of new Forms to fill out, might bring on The Big One.

finally mexico will get california back. Los Angeles is already the second largest Mexican city on earth.

I hope they enjoy the likes of sean penn, jay z, et al.

[vina]

. AID

WhattzDat?

[vina]

Otherwise you're correct, most of the battleground states have the more "core" US demographic groups and Asians are a non-entity there numerically.

I think Asians must start voting their "class" in places like Kalifornikashun, if the Evangelical wackos are sidelined in the Elephants and it turns into a economic and social conservative party minus the religious nutcase fringe and the attendant shrill idiocy like letting religious beliefs intrude and supplant science and logic.

[IndraD]

Is there a chance now Snowdwn gets pardon from POTUS (Obama denied) and returns back to normal life with assurance he will never disclose any thing on DT?

[Raja Bose]

Interest in CalExit growing..
6th-largest economy in the Dunia. Wonder how they'll do with open borders minus the US Armed Forces. And their own Legislative agenda. Just the weight of new Forms to fill out, might bring on The Big One.

The mango abdul might have wet dreams about #CalExit but their mai-baaps who dole out their bi-weekly paychecks (less federal and california income tax onlee) live in heavily red cities of Atherton, Hillsborough, Woodside are too plugged in to the deep state intel apparatus to allow the mangos to go bananas.

[LokeshC]

Screw it. I am calling for #SoCalExit.

[Singha]

Otherwise you're correct, most of the battleground states have the more "core" US demographic groups and Asians are a non-entity there numerically.

I think Asians must start voting their "class" in places like Kalifornikashun, if the Evangelical wackos are sidelined in the Elephants and it turns into a economic and social conservative party minus the religious nutcase fringe and the attendant shrill idiocy like letting religious beliefs intrude and supplant science and logic.

how different is it from say the BJP - which also has a deeply religious section for whom religion is everything or the INC who worship the golden calf of sikularism day and night like a false god or the Commies who worship the big pandas backside and are willing to tear apart the country to get their way....
every party is going to have fringe elements. Repub contenders were some 15 to start with...how many were in that EJ mould ?

[ManishC]

Wasn't Snowden the one looking for Pardon. Assange has the rape issue in Europe, more than anything which can be fixed in US.

Talking of Pardon - POTUS (the Current) is not ruling out Pardoning Clinton on email issue, forestalling any prosecution by Trump admin.
If done it will confirm 400% HRC's guilt - let her face prosecution and come clean, or go to jail.

[IndraD]

Interest in CalExit growing..
6th-largest economy in the Dunia. Wonder how they'll do with open borders minus the US Armed Forces. And their own Legislative agenda. Just the weight of new Forms to fill out, might bring on The Big One.

sounds more like keep DT distracted by 1000 bush fire in backyard and not let him work.

[IndraD]

Wasn't Snowden the one looking for Pardon. Assange has the rape issue in Europe, more than anything which can be fixed in US.

corrected sir. Thanks that is what I meant.

[TSJones]

I m unaware of any US charges against assange although he acts like it. his beef is with sweden....

[brar_w]

He wanted to eliminate the EPA or the "Department of Environmental" as he claimed. He basically took Clinton's infrastructure plan added a few billion and said he'd do it. Also Half a trillion over 2 FYDP's in the defense plan and the proposed tax breaks that he included in his plan. On numerous occasions he has specifically used the term Repeal and Replace Obamacare which is a commmon GOP slogan. The Repeal bill has already been veto'd by Obama on a couple of occasions so they have that covered, the replace portion needs to be developed under the current House-Senate-WH structure. The traditional GOP position has been to get rid of the three tiered system under the current PPACA exchanges and allow the free market to come up with their own plans inside the echange (I guess that is how Romney wanted to do it).

So what you could have is a massively high deductible plan that comes in at a very low premium. The current GOP platform wants to retain the "no-preexisting condition" plan but I'm not sure they'll be as willing to fund the remaining federal liability for the medicaid-expansion even though many GOP governors accepted the expansion of medicaid. The problem with high deductible plan is that if the deductible is high enough its almost like having no health insurance and the providers don't get reimbursed and what you essentially get is them passing on the cost to those that do pay up. So if more and more folks go into a hospital and don't pay up, those that pay will have to carry them and this will get reflected in the rate negotiations with private insurance and even CMS. So in addition to the mandatory cost shifting that happens when CMS only reimburses 50 cents on a dollar, those insured through their employer, outside of the exchanges, or those that pay out of pocket (no insurance) will have that cost shifted to them by the hospitals.

The 'dying on the streets' portion is already covered through EMTALA but the coverage has always been about getting non emergency care available to those that may need it in order to avoid heavier costs down the road. I believe Paul Ryan, RNC and Trump will address that and won't be like previous GOP administrations now that the public, or at least 20 million have had experience with exchange based healthcare.

On top of all this he used the fiscal conservative message of not increasing the deficit and actually promised reducing the debt. When asked how that will happen given the combination of his spending increase and tax breaks to corporations, he said we'll do it by hitting an economic growth target closer to China.

Again, a lot of what is likely to happen over the 2 years (and then we have the elections) is going to be close to what the GOP platform that his team worked closely on with the RNC.

[bharotshontan]

Otherwise you're correct, most of the battleground states have the more "core" US demographic groups and Asians are a non-entity there numerically.

I think Asians must start voting their "class" in places like Kalifornikashun, if the Evangelical wackos are sidelined in the Elephants and it turns into a economic and social conservative party minus the religious nutcase fringe and the attendant shrill idiocy like letting religious beliefs intrude and supplant science and logic.

What is the goal in this besides empowerment of Indian-Americans? Bigger question I might ask...is it a zero-sum game wrt India's rise in economic power, living standards, HDI, etc vs America's position at the top? If it is indeed a zero-sum game, then it is better to have Indian-Americans not bat too hard for the larger whole of where they live but rather remain politically on the peripheries (thus emotionally not invested into whether US does well or not).

[IndraD]

Massive security thrown in around Trump tower !





Members of the New York Police Department's Counterterrorism Bureau stand watch outside Trump Tower earlier this week

Lane around his tower closed.

[vina]

then it is better to have Indian-Americans not bat too hard for the larger whole of where they live but rather remain politically on the peripheries (thus emotionally not invested into whether US does well or not).

They and more importantly their Children are fully paid up American citizens. They better be politically and emotionally engaged with the US and be well invested in it's success and prosperity. And they must make sure that they punch their weight and more.

[Yayavar]

thx for the details brar_w

[TSJones]

the donald wants tax free savings accounts to replace obama care and for property tax payers in hospital districts to continue to pick up indigent medical care via emergency rooms,

[TSJones]

the donald wants a 10% tax on foreign corporate earnings and 15% on domestic corporate earnings.

TAX LAW CHANGES

The Trump Plan will revise and update both the individual and corporate tax codes:

Individual Income Tax

Tax rates

The Trump Plan will collapse the current seven tax brackets to three brackets. The rates and breakpoints are as shown below. Low-income Americans will have an effective income tax rate of 0. The tax brackets are similar to those in the House GOP tax blueprint.

Brackets & Rates for Married-Joint filers:
Less than $75,000: 12%
More than $75,000 but less than $225,000: 25%
More than $225,000: 33%
*Brackets for single filers are ½ of these amounts

The Trump Plan will retain the existing capital gains rate structure (maximum rate of 20 percent) with tax brackets shown above. Carried interest will be taxed as ordinary income.

The 3.8 percent Obamacare tax on investment income will be repealed, as will the alternative minimum tax.

Deductions

The Trump Plan will increase the standard deduction for joint filers to $30,000, from $12,600, and the standard deduction for single filers will be $15,000. The personal exemptions will be eliminated as will the head-of-household filing status.

In addition, the Trump Plan will cap itemized deductions at $200,000 for Married-Joint filers or $100,000 for Single filers.

Death Tax

The Trump Plan will repeal the death tax, but capital gains held until death and valued over $10 million will be subject to tax to exempt small businesses and family farms. To prevent abuse, contributions of appreciated assets into a private charity established by the decedent or the decedent’s relatives will be disallowed.

Childcare

Americans will be able to take an above-the-line deduction for children under age 13 that will be capped at state average for age of child, and for eldercare for a dependent. The exclusion will not be available to taxpayers with total income over $500,000 Married-Joint /$250,000 Single, and because of the cap on the size of the benefit, working and middle class families will see the largest percentage reduction in their taxable income.

The childcare exclusion would be provided to families who use stay-at-home parents or grandparents as well as those who use paid caregivers, and would be limited to 4 children per taxpayer. The eldercare exclusion would be capped at $5,000 per year. The cap would increase each year at the rate of inflation.

The Trump Plan would offer spending rebates for childcare expenses to certain low-income taxpayers through the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The rebate would be equal to 7.65 percent of remaining eligible childcare expenses, subject to a cap of half of the payroll taxes paid by the taxpayer (based on the lower-earning parent in a two-earner household).

This rebate would be available to married joint filers earning $62,400 ($31,200 for single taxpayers) or less. Limitations on costs eligible for exclusion and the number of beneficiaries would be the same as for the basic exclusion. The ceiling would increase with inflation each year.

All taxpayers would be able to establish Dependent Care Savings Accounts (DCSAs) for the benefit of specific individuals, including unborn children. Total annual contributions to a DCSA are limited to $2,000 per year from all sources, which include the account owner (parent in the case of a minor or the person establishing elder care account), immediate family members of the account owner, and the employer of the account owner. When established for children, the funds remaining in the account when the child reaches 18 can be used for education expenses, but additional contributions could not be made.

To encourage lower-income families to establish DCSAs for their children, the government will provide a 50 percent match on parental contributions of up to $1,000 per year for these households. When parents fill out their taxes they can check a box to directly deposit any portion of their EITC into their Dependent Care Savings Account. All deposits and earnings thereon will be free from taxation, and unused balances can rollover from year to year.

Business Tax

The Trump Plan will lower the business tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent, and eliminate the corporate alternative minimum tax. This rate is available to all businesses, both small and large, that want to retain the profits within the business.

It will provide a deemed repatriation of corporate profits held offshore at a one-time tax rate of 10 percent.

It eliminates most corporate tax expenditures except for the Research and Development credit.

Firms engaged in manufacturing in the US may elect to expense capital investment and lose the deductibility of corporate interest expense. An election once made can only be revoked within the first 3 years of election; if revoked, returns for prior years would need to be amended to show revised status. After 3 years, election is irrevocable.

The annual cap for the business tax credit for on-site childcare authorized by Sec. 205 of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 would be increased to $500,000 per year (up from $150,000) and recapture period would be reduced to 5 years (down from 10 years).

Businesses that pay a portion of an employee’s childcare expenses can exclude those contributions from income. Employees who are recipients of direct employer subsidies would not be able to exclude those costs from the individual income tax and the costs of direct subsidies to employees could not be used as a cost eligible for the credit.

CONTRAST WITH HILL

[bharotshontan]

then it is better to have Indian-Americans not bat too hard for the larger whole of where they live but rather remain politically on the peripheries (thus emotionally not invested into whether US does well or not).

They and more importantly their Children are fully paid up American citizens. They better be politically and emotionally engaged with the US and be well invested in it's success and prosperity. And they must make sure that they punch their weight and more.

I understand the obvious. I was wondering if India's return to wealth is a zero-sum game with regard to US future. Lot of Europeans were also floating around in various Indian kingdoms from 1500-1700 serving in individual capacities as mercenaries and traders. Most of the earlier ones near the beginning were assimilating emotionally, but as European political and economic power rose up and Indian wealth went down, those that were borderline in assimilation began extricating themselves and seeing themselves as colonists. I'm not asking about a moral argument of "better do xyz", I am asking is it a zero sum game or not. Past history suggests so more or less.

[Lalmohan]

there's a pile of American cash sitting abroad that could be repatriated through tax breaks - that will fund a year maybe two years worth of circus maximus shows for the plebians

mind you... the Chinese and Saudis could start selling their feds en masse too... that might get interesting

incidentally, anyone notice the volumes on the futures markets last couple of days...? some folks have made A LOT of money...

reminds me of "Trading Places" as another wise mauler here said a few pages back