Free Republic 3rd Qtr 2024 Fundraising Target: $81,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $13,826
17%  
Woo hoo!! And we're now over 17%!! Thank you all very much!! God bless.

Posts by Capn Hayek

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • Supreme Court leaves Trump-era offshore tax in place on investors

    06/20/2024 11:12:49 AM PDT · 10 of 11
    Capn Hayek to Magnum44

    You’re more fair than I - and I’ll cop to jumping to pure saltiness a bit too hard.

    The full decision with the dissent is https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-800_jg6o.pdf

    I know it gets complicated - at least the decision DOES seem to be narrowly carved out so maybe we’re talking... heavy petting (that cracks the door open to...) rather than my tart cliche.

    I suppose I wouldn’t disagree that sure, there’s plenty of sleaziness to be had with “reimbursement” (regardless of whether it involves an international entity or not) but at initial blush - the travel expenses don’t seem terribly unreasonable.

    Fundamentally, I guess I just flew off the handle initially because the reality IS we aren’t really talking gains here.

    I know people hate loopholes but I guess I just lean on the idea that the loophole door swings both ways: loopholes for benefits that don’t constitute income, but also loopholes for the feds to grasp more money.

    I’m going to read the decision (and the dissent!) more closely... and FWIW? Thanks for calming me at least :-)

  • Supreme Court leaves Trump-era offshore tax in place on investors

    06/20/2024 10:23:22 AM PDT · 8 of 11
    Capn Hayek to Magnum44

    You understand it perfectly and I wish I had seen your response before mine, but yup... UNREALIZED gains - “wealth” and “investments not yet bearing fruit” are now taxable.

  • Supreme Court leaves Trump-era offshore tax in place on investors

    06/20/2024 10:23:22 AM PDT · 7 of 11
    Capn Hayek to TheConservator

    Yup.

    I haven’t read the decision (nor the dissent from Thomas/Gorsuch) and I realize my opinions on capitalism and taxes are no longer in fashion, well... anywhere, anymore.

    But I just wish more folks would step back and realize what stuff like this means. I.e., I’m sure protectionists and anti-free market folks like this. But I’ll bet that secretly, so does Pocahontas and Bernie the socialist.

    This decision effectively blesses the whole concept of a “wealth tax” and settles the question of a pretty massive taxation concept.

    The federal government is now free to say “You have too many assets - regardless of whether you’ve realized any REAL gains, from your investments and work... I can now take some of it... and I don’t care if that means you liquidate some of those assets to pay me.”

    As the cliche goes, you can’t get a little bit pregnant... and the socialists have to be secretly thrilled because now they’ve got a bun in the oven - and they certainly won’t murder this one in the womb.

  • Fake News Media Hypes Up Latest Jobs Report to Help Joe Biden – But Here’s the Truth

    06/07/2024 2:51:23 PM PDT · 8 of 13
    Capn Hayek to george76

    Meh.

    I understand the desire to pick apart or frankly, worse, ultra-parse things like the monthly BLS jobs reports.

    However, unlike the leftists - I *am* a steadfast capitalist. Capitalism is a gift from God that allows everyone to benefit so long as you are willing to work hard *and* always evolve, grow your skills, and make yourself valuable.

    Other folks can waste their breathe parsing, but I take broader view and in terms of the fall election?

    Every good jobs report means the prime rate ain’t gonna be cut any time soon as well as meaning inflation isn’t going to be tamed, and ultimately? Voters aren’t economists and their views are highly personal and they mostly view it as a matter of what they’re paying for a loaf of bread.

    Heck, folks who want to be done with SloJoe’s socialist drift ought to be *rooting* for big jobs numbers from here on out because it means two things:

    1. Capitalism is far stronger than the leftists could possibly imagine and hope to defeat.

    2. The squishy middle mostly cares about personally impactful pricing - and strong job growth will keep that high.

    I hope the next 3-5 months stay just as high because it’s a win-win... Even the best efforts of giveaway Joe and his lackeys can’t actually defeat capitalism, while at the same time? Goods and services prices will continue to rise, making the non-engaged/squishy middle more amenable to a change.

    There really is not a downside here, folks.

  • Lindsey Graham: ‘Average American’ wouldn’t face Hunter Biden’s gun charges

    06/04/2024 12:38:13 PM PDT · 44 of 70
    Capn Hayek to faithhopecharity

    This is where I stand - the constitution, and specifically, the Bill of Rights/first 10 amendments are supposed to be protections for citizens, NOT tools for ‘clever’ government overreach to use in opposition to each other as a means to an end.

    IIRC, I *think* the 5th Appellate Circuit actually has a case pending where I very much expect they’ll strike down the statute and the form.

    HB is a loathesome person with plenty of *real* crimes he should be charged with. Unlike the leftists, I’m not going to celebrate the bastardization of the law and the constitution in pursuit of someone I don’t like. From unfiled taxes to income masquerading as a “loan” to failure to register as a foreign lobbyist to plenty else - nail his a** to the wall on those things.

  • The end of an era: Whatever happened to the phone book?

    05/22/2024 8:20:11 PM PDT · 34 of 64
    Capn Hayek to Tijeras_Slim

    This.

    My business ownership started at the tail-end of the yellow pages cartel, so I can only imagine what business owners had to deal with years before me, but I think I can imagine.

    It was so surreal and ridiculous that it still makes me chuckle - again, thanks mainly to fact that I started in a world where the yellow pages were rapidly becoming pointless.

    The “sales rep” I... “worked” with was a complete joke. I was just looking for numbers/metrics and asking things that are frankly, bog standard (at least nowadays) and he got all pissy and eventually, even said - this is a salesman, mind you - “Fine, the price just went up on your block”.

    This was in the 90s, not the 80s - so I’m still pretty happy with my response: So be it, Don SoonToBeObsolito - my offer is nothing.

    ...and it was... and it didn’t matter.

    I grew up with big, thick phonebooks and I get the nostalgia.... but I don’t miss them.

  • Did You Know Alan Grayson Is Running for Senate? Few Do.

    05/22/2024 8:20:11 PM PDT · 17 of 25
    Capn Hayek to chickenlips

    If Florida changes its voting rules such that only people committed to a mental asylum can vote - I worry he has a chance.

    Fortunately, I do not think Florida will change its voting rules so that only loony bin inmates can vote.

  • Gambling Is Ruining Sports

    05/22/2024 8:20:11 PM PDT · 28 of 39
    Capn Hayek to Rummyfan

    I completely agree.

    I don’t have a problem with betting on games per se - I’ve done it; pools, fantasy leagues, even parlay cards in Vegas (and I’ll copy to, ummm... parlays NOT in Vegas, but well past the statute of limitations, IRS watcher!).

    I still love a lot of that - and I’ll be playing both fantasy football and running my rotisserie baseball team until they pry them from cold, dead hands.

    But yeesh... You cannot *watch* a game - or even read about players or teams or teams you enjoy anymore without getting buried in ads and stupid stuff about proposition bets.

    It’s gotten so ridiculously out of control.

    I’m very much a libertarian on most things involving individual actions: Do what you want so long as you take responsibility and I don’t have to pay for your failures.

    But - yikes. I’m so tired of watching/reading/etc sports I like where 80% of it involves prop bets I don’t care about.

    I mean, even if I end up drafting Josh Jacobs - there’s a damn limit to how much I care about his game number!!! Not being a degenerate gambler, I’d rather he post 10 yards in 3-0 win than run for 200 with 2 TDs in a 35-42 loss!

  • Pol Pot the most evil "leader" in history?

    05/22/2024 6:44:02 PM PDT · 14 of 51
    Capn Hayek to RandFan

    A disturbing exercise.

    By “counting stats” - hard to see how Mao doesn’t top the leaderboard. China has just always had more people and Mao killed a LOT of them.

    Maybe Stalin could challenge if you include people he didn’t specifically mark for execution, but would inevitably perish in the gulags + his incompetent military decisions in WW2.

    But - “rate stats”? Yeah - Pol Pot just killed in a lower-target environment vs Mao.

    So I guess it comes down to whether you make era and environment adjustments.... do the leftists revere a socialist who managed to rack up more kills, but did so in high-kill environment (then, I think it’s Mao). Or - do they use advanced metrics and credit proxies (then it might Stalin)? Or - do you just purely look at per capita murders (that probably does mean Pol Pot).

  • New York Times: Another controversial flag spotted outside a Samuel Alito property

    05/22/2024 6:25:50 PM PDT · 27 of 35
    Capn Hayek to Tench_Coxe
    How amusing. The leftists of my youth who demanded people should be allowed to burn one flag, the flag, as a freely available form of protest have now decided *some* flags warrant burning the person who flies it. This is why I find myself unable to even debate them, at least, in the realm of anything even moderately considered reality. Some day, I just wish they'd decide 1)whether symbols matter and 2)some logical schema of which and why some of them matter and some of them don't. At present? It's just stupid nonsense that seems to boil down to "feelings"... and that is impossible to discuss.
  • Sen. Rick Scott enters race to succeed McConnell as GOP Senate leader

    05/22/2024 6:25:50 PM PDT · 14 of 14
    Capn Hayek to rdl6989

    I could live with Scott. He’s a smart guy.

    I know this will be an unpopular opinion because well - I’ll just say it, I think people are irrational about Mitch McConnell based on nothing more than silly, meaningless rhetoric* - but I’m pragmatic and much as my heart says Thune, my head knows he’d run into choppy waters.

    Scott has the street cred because he challenged Mitch for leadership. He’s always said the smart MAGA things - like I said, I think he’s a smart guy.

    My hope would be that he recognizes leading the GOP is *not* a matter of being the loudest or most ostentatious voice, but it’s about arm-twisting, caucus cohesiveness, and ultimately - getting the votes and increasing the numbers.

    *This isn’t the place for it, I know, but it really bothers me how much so-called “conservatives” have turned on Mitch. I’ve read a lot of threads ‘lauding’ Nancy Pelosi in the same manner the Brits and Montgomery lauded Rommel as the ‘desert fox’ in WW2. The fact is - without an operator as skilled as Mitch, the stalwart north star of conservatism on SCOTUS (Scalia) gets replaced a leftist and the bizarro of Scalia (RBG) gets replaced by something even worse.

    Almost entirely thanks to McConnell - we got the opposite. His only failing was vote-counting and arm-twisting on the Obamacare repeal. Other than that? He’s been the best you could hope for.

    It saddens me that Mitch will exit so hated by people with - sorry, but I’ll say it - attention spans of gnats. Overturning Roe was a 50 year effort and nobody deserves more credit for it than Mitch. SCOTUS - and the Dobbs decision - looks a lot different with someone who spouts rhetoric gnats like to hear, but lacks the skills to keep his eyes on the prize(s).

    But - like I said. I’m pragmatic. I’m also an optimist, so Scott might be the best choice. I just hope - whatever he says publicly - he’s smart enough to recognize the things Mitch accomplished and more importantly, learn *how* he did so.

  • Nvidia stock pops 4% after earnings beat forecasts, announces stock split and dividend hike

    05/22/2024 5:10:17 PM PDT · 34 of 35
    Capn Hayek to TexasGator

    Oh, I think so too - like I said, that kind of growth from megacap is pretty unicorn.

    But, in a vacuum - there’s always a price point on an equity where you might be better off with something more slow and boring :-). My comment is less about the wisdom of taking some profits - I’m not planning to do that - and more about the go-forward. Insert standard language about financial advice here!

    If I were as good at this stuff as I wished, I’d be writing this from the private island in the Caribbean I owned.

    Even if capitalism wasn’t so good to me - and such a good thing for *everyone*, even those who don’t appreciate it... this is another reason I love it. It’s just really fascinating.

  • Nvidia stock pops 4% after earnings beat forecasts, announces stock split and dividend hike

    05/22/2024 4:26:48 PM PDT · 29 of 35
    Capn Hayek to TexasGator

    Yup!

    Nonetheless, this is a really good 10-Q. You just don’t generally get that kind of YoY from a large/mega-cap.

    That said - a 10:1 rather than 5:1 does give me a bit of pause.

    Don’t get me wrong; as a shareholder, I’ve got nothing but kisses for Jensen Huang... however, I get leery of investments that move out of their comfort zone.

    Wish I were a genius, but I’m not - I jumped into NVDA a fair bit back (2019/2020). I’m a fairly classic Buffett-style investor: Buy and hold, find equities in a growing space who are best-in-class, etc. I bought into NVDA because the chip space - and particularly, NVDA’s old bailiwick of GFX - were lapping competitors and the space was growing. I bought in further when they got a bump from alt-use of chips for crypto mining - and liked that they saw it as nothing more than a happy blip, but not part of their longterm strategy. I didn’t expect the AI revolution nor NVDA’s leadership in it.

    By splitting 10:1 (rather than a more conservative 5:1 or whatever), they’re looking for liquidity... and that means it’s time to start looking elements *beyond* their pure market space and market space leadership.

    It can be done - Apple transitioned from a future visionary to an Operations expert to maximize efficiency to, well, what they are now: price support via a pile of cash (read: buybacks) + a relatively safe, albeit no longer growing or exciting revenue stream.... Call it the IBM track.

    Feels like a crossroads to me for NVDA - and to be honest? I’m not entirely sure what I think about it going forward!