Balta1701

QUOTE (Brian @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 10:43 AM) As much as it sucks that any games have been cancelled, I will be really pissed if it gets to a point if the X-mas games are cancelled. I realize it is a Sunday with NFL this year, but I love all the games and falling asleep to the West Coast game at 11pm when it is just starting the 4th. Ha I read this the first time through as you being pissed if the X-Games were canceled. Anyway, I always wind up having the NBA games on for X-Mas, but never wind up paying a huge amount of attention I think. Especially if there's NFL on that Sunday, I woudln't notice a thing. Hell, if there's NFL that sunday and the games actually happen, I'd wind up flipping between the Bulls game and NFL, but would skip the other NBA games. Probably about what, 3-4 weeks before they'd reach the "Cancel X-Mas games" point...but I don't see a whole lot of motivation to get this fixed quickly...especially if the owners can't agree on what they want to push for in revenue sharing terms (See previous post).

~50% chance of rain tonight around game time, rain chance supposedly declining as the evening goes on. Temperature might be ~50 degrees and still somewhat rainy by the end of the game.

QUOTE (soxfan-kwman @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 10:28 AM) Robin will help Beckham, Morel, & Rios regardless of who is hitting coach. Serious question...how?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 10:16 AM) Wonder if this will happen: The fact that he doesn't need to go to Congress to get the authority to change the payout rules probably means that something will in fact change. Very hard to judge of course what the actual impact will be.

Windhorst needs to be read/understood here. This really is the dynamic that has to be solved in some way before the lockout is solved.

Negotiations are scheduled for today...but without the Federal Mediator.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 09:50 AM) PWSullivan Paul Sullivan Theo tells The Score if Ryno is in town, as @KCJHoop reported, it has nothing to do with the Cubs. Wait, does this mean that the Bulls reporter has so little to do that they've assigned him to sit at the airport and see what Cubs-related people enter the city?

QUOTE (daggins @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 09:47 AM) Dunn reminds me of Rich Sexson, unfortunately. You know, I could have swore he was on one of the official steroid lists, but I just googled his name and steroids and only the usual vague accusations came up.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 09:11 AM) I didn't expect you to think Paul Konerko being out of his zone was a good thing. He's already there. We fired his hitting coach. And he was that hitting coach's biggest and only supporter towards the end.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 09:18 AM) I expect the same sort of consistency when it goes the other way... Oh wait, why bother. I will happily pay a 1.3% higher tax rate in exchange for removing the cap on payroll taxes. Fair?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 09:12 AM) Which is one of the reasons why a simpler tax code is a good thing. And as SS pointed out, simpler doesn't have to mean completely flat. It could simply mean removing most or all special deductions and credits, keep the income tax brackets, and lower all the rates a bit. I kind of like the idea of limiting Congress to a specific maximum number of credits and deductions. Make the law so that the income brackets and rates can be changed, but that the tax code can only have a MAXIMUM of, say, 5 possible credits and/or deductions on personal taxes (and 5 on businesses). It allows for some flexibility, but keeps things from getting out of control again. And it forces Congress to prioritize. So you might go with, say... PERSONAL 1. Mortgage interest - deduction 2. School tuition, room and board - deduction 3. Property taxes paid - deduction 4. Charitable contributions - deduction 5. Purchase of solar/wind/other alt energy equipment - % credit of total amount spent BUSINESS (keep in mind that this tax on income, not revenue like it is for personal, so employee and facility costs are already deducted) 1. Fully US-based project R&D spending - deduction 2. Purchase of solar/wind/other alt energy equipment - % credit of total amount spent 3. Charitable contributions - deduction 4. Net increase of US employees - credit per increased net head count 5. Purchase of real estate - deduction Just saying, something like this, with a progressive tax bracket like we already have, could make for a tax code that would be just a few pages long. And would also make it so that any individual could file their own return quite easily. Also, related topic... I'd be in favor of lowering the tax % on cap gains and dividends, in exchange for not being able to deduct losses from investments (on net - so if you lose net money total on the year, you get no tax, but also no deduction). See if you can guess why I think that's a good idea. Here's the biggest problem NSS. Everyone here will agree in principle that the tax code is way too complicated. Just yesterday saw another international survey of business "competitiveness", and the U.S. was solid on a lot of rankings like technology availability, access to capital, etc., but one thing the U.S. is very weak on is the tax code complexity. Robs a lot of manhours, wastes resources that could be spent elsewhere. The problem is...this is the tax code our system is designed to create. Every one of those deductions that makes the system more complex is in there because someone benefits hugely from it. Thus, if you try to "Simplify" things, there's no real constituency lobbying hard for a more simplified tax code, but the 5 big guys who are going to lose their billion dollar exemption will spend tens of millions of dollars lobbying to make sure theirs is protected. Any "Simplification" fix you make is likely to make the system better...but even the simplest "Simplifications" are going to be fought against tooth and nail, with only a weak constituency behind the changes. I have no answer for this problem. Any solution anyone writes is likely to be better than the current web...but that solution will have zero chance of passing.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 09:12 AM) I'm not surprised that the only consistent thing about your is your partisan colored glasses. Let's do a little bit of math. The Social Security tax rate on a person earning $114k is 12% (1/2 paid by employer, small cut this year). Thus, they pay ~ $13680 in that tax. Because of the cap on payroll taxes, they are forced to be regressive. Thus, a person earning $1 million in a year pays $13680 in that tax. Thus, a person earning $1 million a year pays a 1.37% payroll tax rate. A person earning $2 million a year pays 1/2 that, and so on. While on the other hand, a person earning $40k a year pays..12% in payroll taxes (1/2 born by the employer). Yeah, it's totally insane to get annoyed when someone ignores that tax for a person with a low income and then neglect it at high incomes. That 1%...man, that sting.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 09:11 AM) RicBucher Ric Bucher Derrick Rose + Russ Westbrook pulling out of world tour, DHoward + Joakim Noah could take their spots. Well, that will substantially reduce the number of assists.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 08:57 AM) Eh. I'm sure he will be protected. If he was Jordan Jones, no one would care. Except for GM's who have adapted to the modern era of baseball.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 09:00 AM) Taking your best hitter out of the zone is a good thing? Uh... I didn't expect you to come on so strongly in favor of Greg Walker returning.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 09:05 AM) I'm happy to see you endorse removing the cap on payroll taxes. Thanks.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 09:01 AM) And yet if someone makes that post about the 47% you have a conniption. Because that group of 1470 earners is paying the same amount in payroll taxes that a person earning $114k is. Thus...>90% of their income is not subject to the main tax that you ignore when you insist that the lucky duckies earning $24k are undertaxed. And as we demonstrated a few posts ago, the percentage of the federal budget being covered by payroll taxes has massively expanded while the income/corporate tax portion has declined dramatically over the past 50 years.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Oct 25, 2011 -> 10:48 PM) Oh, don't we know it. I mean, $500,000 in taxes isn't enough for someone with an AGI of $1,000,000. Just $500 more! Only $500 more... we could SAVE 400,000 jobs? Excuse me while I wipe my ass with that bulls***. Considering that 1470 people with incomes over $1 million paid $0 in federal taxes in FY 2009, and that the average tax rate drops as incomes increase over $1 million, yes, what they're paying right now isn't nearly enough.

QUOTE (Tex @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 08:15 AM) Obama says thank you for your vote come November 2012 If we can get Kap to vote libertarian and SS and BS vote Green, it comes close to balancing out.

I don't think David Brown knows how to count.

I know PK14 has been great the last few years...but with the state of the clubhouse, maybe having someone who clashed with PK14 on hitting wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

QUOTE (Tex @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 06:54 AM) what you are really saying is they didn't interview any candidates. Fixed.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 26, 2011 -> 08:30 AM) I'd rather either not tie up the rosters spots for future moves, or take a chance on someone else in the rule 5 versus keeping Danks protected. Has there been any point in the last 5+ years where "Not enough roster spots" has caused us to make a move we really regretted? There was a roster spot for Randy Williams for crying out loud.

QUOTE (SI1020 @ Oct 25, 2011 -> 09:58 PM) Dunn looks to me like a hitter's version of Steve Blass, the ace of the 71 Pirates who suddenly and inexplicably lost the ability to throw a strike. I think we'll know real early next year if he has a comeback in him. Rios is one of my all time disliked White Sox players. Lousy attitude, lousy effort, and terrible results. Please get rid of him. Peavy was on the decline before his unusual and pretty horrific and without precedent injury. I expect very little from him, and in a best case scenario his Cy Young days are long gone. Am I really supposed to look forward to these three leading the Sox back to pennant contention? You could go for the more recent comparisons and go with Chuck Knoblauch or Rick Ankiel.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Oct 25, 2011 -> 10:53 PM) I hope so. Standing pat is just delaying the inevitable. Being stuck in between contention and rebuilding/retooling is maddening. Quite simply...that's where we are based on last season, but one can make the best of this if they do their job well.