[paraclete]

You don't really think he is showing no symptoms, he has visibly aged

[Wondergirl]

If showing no symptoms and checking out of the hospital can be characterized as having weathered the storm and doing well, then I'd say yes and yes.

He was (is still?) on dexamethasone, a steroid!!! and other drugs.... He's a control freak. He wasn't discharged; he checked out (like it was a hotel). This week will be interesting.

[jlisenbe]

I see. I was just going on what the doctors said. Silly me.

[Wondergirl]

I see. I was just going on what the doctors said. Silly me.

Trump is the commander in chief. The doctors are part of the military and/or under the military umbrella. Understand now? (And of course you noticed how they always hedged, and he 'may not entirely be out of the woods'.)

[paraclete]

what you have are two opposing views; reality and hyperbole. The doctors know that recover takes time and he may never fully recover particularly at his age, Trump lives in fear he will lose the election and therefore cannot be seen to be anything less than perfect

[Athos]

Athos, using a flat tax in your scenario seems a strange thing to do when we plainly don't have a flat tax

Not a bit strange. It's an example showing the great disparity (unfairness) in taxes between the rich and the poor. See the next answer for your 4K tax.

If the man making 50K pays in only 4K in income tax, thus making the wealthy man pay in 50X more, then that would make your argument seem far less compelling.

Ok, thanks for writing this. NOW I understand your confusion. Your example of 4K makes my argument just as compelling! Now the disparity is $800,000 as against $46,000.

Is that why you did it?

No, I engage in tax discussions to show the unfairness and ways to make it fair.

Here's one way - why not tax capital gains the way income is taxed?

[jlisenbe]

Ok, thanks for writing this. NOW I understand your confusion. Your example of 4K makes my argument just as compelling! Now the disparity is $800,000 as against $46,000.

There is no confusion. You used a flat tax for your comparison knowing full well that we don't operate under a flat tax. You did it, I imagine, because it made the numbers work better for you. When you compare a million dollar income with a 50K income, the million dollar guy is going to come off looking better. Is that surprising?

If you look, however, at taxes paid by both people, it comes to 200,000 versus 4,000, a 5,000% differential. So he made 20X more income, but paid 50X more in taxes. Hmm. Turns out the rich guy bore a MUCH larger share of the burden, doesn't it? Sounds beyond fair to me. If we didn't have that wealthy guy, we'd be in a fix.

I'd go with a flat tax that would be keyed to the budget. Spend more, then tax more. No more borrowing other than in genuine national emergencies. If we had to start paying for what we are spending, then spending would go down in a heartbeat. We'd get rid of the lying, deceitful dems and repubs in Congress. No deductions other than exceptional medical expenses. Want to tax cap gains? Fine with me. Just do away with deficit spending.

[jlisenbe]

Trump is the commander in chief. The doctors are part of the military and/or under the military umbrella. Understand now? (And of course you noticed how they always hedged, and he 'may not entirely be out of the woods'.)

Oh come on. If they had said something negative, you would believe them instantly. You are actually suggesting he is being treated by crooked doctors, and when they say the pres has no symptoms, they are lying. So it's a big conspiracy??? Are UFOs involved as well?

Doctors always hedge. It's called "being cautious".

[talaniman]

Crooked is just you're latest exaggeration. The doctors are clearly under orders to NOT tell the full truth, except he ain't of the woods yet.

[jlisenbe]

The doctors are clearly under orders to NOT tell the full truth

So the docs are lying, but they are not crooked. Well, OK.

At any rate, you have no idea if they are under orders to, "NOT tell the full truth" or not. It's a ridiculous claim on your part. What are you, part of the Secret Service???

[talaniman]

They have publicly said they erred by putting an optimistic spin on the dufus condition, as well as cited HIPPAA considerations for not disclosing certain specific information, which no doubt was the dufus idea, right or wrong, since he is a public figure, but still retains a right, as do we all, to decide who gets our medical information. So they are neither crooked or lying.

[jlisenbe]

They said he no longer had symptoms. If that is not true, then they are lying.

[talaniman]

Being asymptomatic doesn't mean you don't have covid, so that's no lie.

[jlisenbe]

This is the typical spin put out by the democrat party cheering news media.

A spokeswoman for his campaign on Monday criticized the Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, for having not contracted the virus himself.

"He has experience now fighting the coronavirus as an individual," Erin Perrine, director of press communications for Trump's campaign, said in an interview with Fox News Monday morning. "Those first-hand experiences Joe Biden, he doesn't have those."

There was no criticism of anyone for anything there. The spokesman simply pointed out that Trump could now speak with first hand experience on the virus, something Biden could not do. To say he "criticized" Biden for, "not having contracted the virus himself," is ridiculous.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trum...ry?id=73435073

[jlisenbe]

Being asymptomatic doesn't mean you don't have covid, so that's no lie.

Oh stop muddying the waters. There was no suggestion the doctors said he no longer had the virus. They said he no longer had symptoms. If he did have symptoms, then they lied. If he did not have symptoms, then you should believe them.

[talaniman]

Are you crazy or something? They doped the dufus up because he did have symptoms, and tested positive for the disease. I think your waters were already pretty muddy. We won't know the course of the virus for several days yet.

[Wondergirl]

Oh stop muddying the waters. There was no suggestion the doctors said he no longer had the virus. They said he no longer had symptoms. If he did have symptoms, then they lied. If he did not have symptoms, then you should believe them.

You didn't notice his coughing that was poorly editing out of that four-minute video in the hospital? or the way he had to haul himself up the steps to the WH? or his labored breathing once he got to the balcony?

Prednisone nicely covered up my aplastic anemia symptoms and made me super happy and confident, even a bit crazy, as dexamethasone has done for his covid.

[jlisenbe]

Are you crazy or something? They doped the dufus up because he did have symptoms, and tested positive for the disease. I think your waters were already pretty muddy. We won't know the course of the virus for several days yet.

No one has suggested otherwise other than the "doped up" part that is just laughable. Of course he HAD symptoms. HAD is past tense. He HAS no symptoms now according to his docs. That is present tense. You must stop living in the past.

You didn't notice his coughing that was poorly editing out of that four-minute video in the hospital? or the way he had to haul himself up the steps to the WH? or his labored breathing once he got to the balcony?

Prednisone nicely covered up my aplastic anemia symptoms and made me super happy and confident, even a bit crazy, as dexamethasone has done for his covid.

You think his docs lied. I think they are telling the truth. You believe in conspiracies such as the editing of tapes to cover up a cough. I think that's a stretch. You think you know how his docs treated him. I kind of doubt that.

[talaniman]

You know how crazy you're talking this morning JL? Much crazier than normal so maybe YOU have new meds, or the old ones need renewing? Or maybe you took a double dose of dufus BS today?

[jlisenbe]

As usual, throwing around nonsense with no specifics at all. I must admit that you are very good at talking a great deal about nothing. It seems to be your specialty.

Keep working on the past tense/present tense deal. You'll get it one day soon. It's really not that hard.