Balta1701

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 02:55 PM) Gillaspie needs to learn to play some outfield. Personally I think he needs to find the 10-15 HR that we saw from him last year. With where baseball is going I don't mind guys who aren't putting up huge power numbers even at this position as long as they're doing a solid job of hitting, but man, 0 HR is pretty extreme.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 02:49 PM) I feel like it's been made pretty clear that the Bulls will not select and start the season with two domestic 1st rounders. At least one of then picks will be traded or used to stow away foreign talent. Saric seems to be a great option if he falls to us and remains insistent on staying abroad. The problem is...if they're looking to trade those picks, the team acquiring them may want two domestic first rounders, and if they draft a foreign player it could prevent them from making a move this year.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 02:28 PM) Also, the decision was effectively immediately with no stay entered and couples have already begun marrying: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-...-sex-marriages/ I'm casually watching the Facebook feed of one of my cousins (I think that's what she counts as. Cousin in law maybe) who's been living with her gf for like 5 years now.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 02:25 PM) Yeah, so far it's still mostly been at the district level and it's working its way through the appeals courts. My mistake. Still, if the string of rulings holds at the appellate level, there won't be much for SCOTUS to say. The question is, will Anthony Kennedy be willing to go so far as to follow all these rulings or will he attempt to come up with some crazy nonsensical middle ground?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 01:26 PM) All I am going to say is last year I had a long debate with Balta on Connor and he was 10000 percent correct and I was 10000 percent wrong. WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 02:15 PM) I said it after the last wave, but with all of the federal circuit courts ruling the same way so far, I wonder if SCOTUS will ever even take it up. If all of the courts are just applying Windsor and doing so in the same manner, there's not really much more for SCOTUS to say. Utah's overturning today just was the first time a federal appeals court to rule in favor of marriage equality since the Prop 10 case last year.

Since the US government by law does not keep good records of accidental shootings, a non-profit went through press reports and compiled actual numbers of accidental shootings of children. They find they can definitively count 100 shootings of children 14 and under during the year they counted based on press reports. They excluded ones where the press/police report says that the gun could have been fired accidentally but no confirmation was given, so that is probably an undercount. 2 kids a week are killed by accidental discharges in this country, and that probably means there are dozens of injuries per week. That total suggests that the government statistics underestimate the number of accidental shootings of children by more than 67%. They estimate that 2/3 of these shootings could have been prevented by having a gun appropriately locked up.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 11:10 AM) Balta, you are only half right. There are deductions from the employee paychecks for those two items but as an employer, you pay an additional amount into the SS deposits you have to make each month/quarter. Whatever amount the employee contributes, so does the employer, on TOP of what the employee pays. And yet the system is still broke. Unemployment is generally called unemployment insurance, and you pay into it regardless of if you have ever laid anyone off or not. I paid into it for 17 years as a business owner and only had one employee in all those years use it. and then they fought me when I tried to claim it for myself after I closed my shop. yes, but for all intents and purposes that is part of the payroll tax on the employee that is just effectively hidden from the employee because that's the way we do our silly bookkeeping.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 10:35 AM) Yes, they would. I don't think Tex would dispute that, but it doesn't directly relate to the point he was making. Tex was, if anything, countering the idea that undocumented immigrants pay no taxes and are a net drain. At least that's how I read it. A question in response: how would an off-the-book undocumented worker be paying payroll taxes in the first place? My brother does cash side jobs for a buddy of his. It's all off-payroll, so his employer doesn't pay any payroll taxes and neither does he (nor does he report that as taxable income, either). If Walmart is hiring undocumented workers to their regular payroll and issuing a W-2 (this would require a fake/fraudulent SSN or tax ID for the undocumented worker), how can Walmart avoid paying their share of the payroll taxes associated with that W-2? On the other hand, if it's non-payroll cash payments to undocumented workers, why on earth would the workers be voluntarily sending in payroll taxes? How would they even be doing that? If a worker is voluntarily sending in "Federal income taxes" wouldn't it basically be the payroll tax that they're sending in as that's a much larger fraction of their total tax paid? When walmart was caught systematically employing undocumented workers a few years ago I guess the question is whether they were filing W-2s. Since it was so widespread for them I would somehow doubt that they were, but if we switch industries and go to the agriculture or textile or home working industries that employ a lot of undocumented workers, those are probably paid with cash/checks and kept completely off the books. An employee there could be filing their own taxes but I would guess very few of those workers, probably numbering in the millions, are actually paying the full tax rate, and I'd be really surprised if those employers were. That's money that is being taken out of the payroll tax even at low income levels because that tax is so onerous at low income levels.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 10:25 AM) How would that work? If the undocumented worker isn't working for cash under the table but is legitimately on the payroll and paying payroll taxes, the employer is going to have that on their books and will need to pay the payroll taxes as well. If they are being paid cash and not filing a W-2, then nobody is paying payroll taxes. I think it either has to be both pay or neither pay. Anyway, Tex's point was that if someone is working under a fraudulent SSN or tax ID number, it's actually a net benefit to the government revenue stream. That low-income worker would normally file their taxes and get EITC, probably getting most or all of their income taxes back. If they're undocumented, they probably aren't going to be filing a tax return, so that money never gets refunded. But the balance changes a whole lot when you actually count the payroll tax. His number $24k is a person who, if being paid as a normal worker and paying payroll taxes, would be paying a pretty solid amount to the federal government even after counting the EITC because of the payroll tax hit. Serious Q: how exactly would an employer who has an undocumented immigrant working for them be paying the payroll tax for them? That seems like a pretty dead giveaway to the government and it seems like probably a big part of the motivation for places like walmart to hire undocumented workers.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 10:22 AM) Payroll tax? Unemployment tax? Social security tax? Property Tax? I'm sure those are all made up as well. I'll consider giving you the unemployment tax, but Payroll and Social Security? Come on, that's a tax paid per employee. If the company fires its employee that removes those taxes they would have paid on that worker. That's an income tax by another name.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 10:16 AM) Kind of like talking about companies paying no corporate taxes? Ah yes, because after all, when I purchase something and pay the sales tax on it, that sales tax is really not being paid by me.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 10:02 AM) Eh, I already made that point earlier in the thread and don't think that was the argument Tex was making at all. I know, but when you count the payroll tax you would fundamentally rewrite that post. Even if an immigrant is paying their share of the payroll tax, if they're undocumented, the employer is not paying the hidden half so the employer is making out like a bandit, and even a low income employee will contribute to the government through the payroll tax which funds a solid chunk of the government these days anyway.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 09:49 AM) tex did specify "federal income tax" I know and it drives me nuts. "If we don't count the 125% of the taxes you actually pay because it has the wrong name we can make it sound like you're not paying taxes!"

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 09:49 AM) Didn't I get railed for suggesting we get this guy when the Pirates put him on the block near the beginning of the season? I think even wite hated that idea. If Garcia were healthy he'd be in the same boat with us that he was in Pittsburgh, a 4th OF who needs playing time and won't get it. Instead, now we're down an OF and it seems like Viciedo is showing he will not cut it with us on what should be his last chance. That gives us at least 1 OF slot definitely available the rest of this year and a good chance at an opening long term as well.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 12:20 AM) Any way Hillary will be seen as the richest presidential candidate of all time and actually be an unpopular elitist choice? Or is this no big deal? http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/24/opinion/cost....html?hpt=hp_t3 I think Hillary may actually be the 2nd least wealthy candidate to be on a ticket since 2000. Kerry, Bush, McCain, Romney were all loaded with legit corporate/inherited wealth.

QUOTE (Tex @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 07:57 AM) Anyone earning less than $24,000 and files a return has a negative tax rate. After credits and deductions, they will not pay federal income tax, and probably receive a refund check beyond what they actually paid in taxes. Think about that for a moment. Now if the person does not file, for example if they are here illegally and using a fraudulent social security number, they will not be receiving a refund. The federal income tax that the employer paid and the contribution from the worker will stay in the treasury. Now, if that worker files a return, that money leaves the treasury as a refund to the individual. For more information look up effective federal income tax rates. And as always, the $2000 that they pay to the government as payroll tax (and the additional portion of the payroll tax paid by their employer) doesn't count.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 06:56 PM) I am sure they come out with a consolation prize. That is the Bulls way. I'm in for Mirotic, the two draft picks, and a MLE-level player somewhere.

QUOTE (kev211 @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 06:33 PM) I'd say at least 50% I'm in for >50%.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 05:42 PM) I don't think you are looking at it the right way. You are assuming that all of the immigrants will come here idealistic and righteous and be productive members of society. They aren't criminals because they are immigrants. However, because they are poor and will live in high crime areas, they will place more of a burden on the system and thus will contribute to the problem. They will be some that become desparate enough to turn to crime but hopefully not many. But I think you can agree that if you innundate the already high crime rate areas with even more poor people, crime will increase. You cannot equate the turn of the century US with the growing economy with the US of today. The economic condition isn't the same unrestricted poor workers will add to great of a burden on the government without much benefit, as someone said because they will not be paying taxes. Migrant workers are needed for the economy but to restrcit the number who stay here permanaetly would be the best of both worlds. It does need to be stressed that this intuition is completely the opposite of what we currently see in data. For whatever immigrant population you want to analyze (except for under the statement that all undocumented immigrants are criminals), the actual crime and incarceration rates among the immigrant population are less than those of native-born citizens by a lot. This is not accounted for by the number of them deported based on additional work. To drop some links in, 1, 2, 3, 4. (Interestingly, the "once they're here they become more like native-born people in crime rates" cited in #2 there could very well be another version of the lead exposure problem).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 04:08 PM) If we picked up his contract? The Jays would probably pretty close to give him away right. Are they still in first place? They'll probably put up with it as long as they stay at the top of the division this year. If they fall off the pace then they'd probably let anyone have him on waivers again.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 04:30 PM) So, how does this answer the question? It shows how we've failed before, doing different things. That means it cannot be done? I'm not following your logic here. What different things can be done? We've thrown tons of money at additional people and high-tech boondoggles like the "virtual fence" and the only thing that really impacted the flow of immigration was destroying our own economy.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 04:27 PM) I'm not sure about that. Semien has shown more power, patience and is a better defender. Johnson's speed might not translate either. His unorthodox lead off might be a gimmick that doesn't fool players at upper levels. That was only out of those 2, Sanchez and Johnson. Semien, he may have shown those things but so far this year, it looks like Semien is the one who isn't translating to higher levels.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 03:56 PM) The conversation should always revolve around cutting off the incentives for illegal immigration to the US. Solve the root problem, and the rest falls into place. And the only way that's going to happen is if there is a legal way for employers to satisfy the demand for that low-wage work force.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 03:55 PM) The VA budget has gone up more than almost any other governmental agency. Your answer alone is so emblematic of liberal group-think. MORE MONEY! Bulls***. More accountability. These assholes cooked the books on wait times so they can get bonuses and to cover their butts. more money is NOT the answer. Start by firing a whole bunch of people. And rescinding all the bonuses that were not earned. ALL of them. Then perhaps jail time for some if their actions truly resulted in deaths. This isn't a Democratic witch hunt, or at least is wouldn't be if Democrats weren't trying to cover something up. This should be as bi-partisan as we can get nowadays. The system is broke. It should be abolished, except for the prosthetics units which I am told to excellent work. Just give every vet insurance that they can go to their own doc. Oh wait, that would be privatizing something, and hurt all the VA employees who are unionized. Ah, there is where the politics comes in.... Yeah, I mean, it's not like we created 5 million+ new veterans for BS reasons.