Comments

1

Ok Joe, Inslee cut the “State office of Equity” aka the professional victimhood office.

Question: was the office a “must have” or a “would like to have”?

Plenty more where that came from.

2

Two easy moves:

1 - eliminate all tax deductions, depreciation, subsidies, and exclusions for all fossil fuel infrastructure businesses and impose a $250/ton carbon tax on all imported or exported fossil fuels transiting in or originating in our state; and
2 - remove all exemptions on capital gains above the Social Security contribution level (e.g. $145,000 per person) and fully tax that as Excess Gains.

4

@3 Canadians will be getting $2000 a month for the next 4 months, but they live in a First World nation ... and don't have to make mortgage payments for the next 6 months.

5

“we tried to shrink our way to growth in 2008. It didn’t work then, and it won’t work this time.“ really, what state and local budgets shrank?

6

@2 Haha, no. That's not gonna happen. Also, Canada will be delighted to accept your application for permanent residency and you can change your name to "Will in Vancouver," but you'll need some sort of occupation they're interested in.

8

Thank you, Senator Joe Nguyen! We sure don't want to end up like the Southern United States.
@3: Don't laugh like you're going to Disneyworld, rube. It's a loan. You'll find out at tax time next year.

9

Hear, hear. This is all commonsense economics, but obviously, judging by some of the comments, some of the students skipped history. When times are good, cut the budget. When times are bad, spend, spend, spend.

It is tougher for a city (or state) because they can't run a deficit (hence the governor's budget). But overall, it would be stupid to save for a rainy day. It is raining right now. Hard.

10

“ When times are good, cut the budget”

Funniest shit I’ve read all day.

11

Increasing public spending in a downturn will accelerate recovery (see: WWII mobilization); cutting it will make it worse (see: Hoover administration). We're fortunate to have the opportunity to do the former here.

Imagine that during the Great Depression, in 1930 one industry was growing gangbusters with rising stock prices.

That's what's going to happen here: consensus is pointing toward the coronavirus crisis accelerating cloud computing, remote work, and a more digital-centric economy. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are number one, two, and three in public cloud computing today. Microsoft and Google are number one and two in technologies for remote work. They will have more customers and grow. Meanwhile, non-tech companies will be ramping up their efforts to build digital lines of business in preparation for the next crisis--increasing competition for already scarce tech talent further.

Without an income and capital gains tax, a river of money will be flowing right by people doing the equivalent of dying of thirst.

I am a tech worker who would assuredly wind up paying both, but public spending to accelerate the recovery and help get people back on their feet is clearly a win-win: not just to relieve suffering, but, selfishly, to bring back restaurants and small businesses and cultural institutions we all value, faster, while also preventing people we know and care about from losing homes and being displaced.

Tech can be a big part of bringing Seattle and Washington state back if elected officials step up to tax a whole lot of income and wealth here--that's only going to increase.


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