To all my Jewish friends the happiest, healthiest and best ever of New Years!
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Hezbollah needs money and gets it from Iran. Hezbollah have nothing to sell except their bodies and terror. (See 1 below.)
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Predictions regarding Immigration, health care, tax simplification legislation and N Korea.
Logic would dictate Congress should allow children of illegals to gain citizenship and the same for their parents. You can call it amnesty with a price tag but it is a problem that begs a solution and as long as the matter of secure borders comes first and then amnesty follows that would solve two contentious issues. Will logic win? Probably not. Why? Because politics and ideology always tops logic and what is the better solution. The nation is always first on politician's lips but last when it comes to execution and doing what is right.
What about tax simplification? Here again Steve Forbes has a very rational approach. Report all income, take away most, if not all,deductions and institute a large exemption. Eliminating deductions for state taxes would not find favor with New York and California tax payers because they pay high rates of various taxes which would not be deductible.
What happens with tax free interest type instruments? Would their status remain. I suspect it would have to or the Municipal Bond market would be slaughtered.
Then you have the charitable community which will argue they would receive less contributions if they are not ruled deductible and finally you have home owners who would recoil at not being able to deduct mortgage interest.I even think those who own restaurants and hotels would also object if business expenses could not be deducted. So boil it down and you have various powerful groups that would lose disproportionate current deductions and they will protest and fight against having their ox gored.
Finally what about those who have stock gains and losses? If it were me I would allow all deductions against all gains because I believe this would increase market valuations and trading activity. It might add to speculation initially but eventually adjustment patterns would resolve these matters. As for capital gains tax I would eliminate it and simply tax any net gains as ordinary income if there was any and this would , for all practical purposes, eliminate holding periods and this would further enhance market activity.
None of this is likely to happen because government does not function when things are simple. Speaker Ryan is a policy wonk. He cannot comprehend simplicity. It is as if his father was Rube Goldberg. As for Mc Connell, eliminating special considerations would mean less funding for politicians because there would be no special favors that needed protection
Corporations are more likely to get needed relief because they have more financial clout and hordes of hired guns called lobbyists to plead their case(s). The individual tax payer is unlikely to be effective in their own behalf because they are more like sloths when it comes to protecting and defending their own self interests.
Call me cynical but I do not believe Republicans have what it takes and the votes to do what is right by America. Meanwhile, Democrats are far more effective at accomplishing their objectives. because they are willing to fight and coalesce.
In essence, conservative legislation and ideas, that have historically proven preferable, generally fail because Republicans are too Patrician to fight. Therefore, liberal and progressive ideas and legislation is more likely to become law because Democrats fight for their ideas. If this were not so then how do you explain all the bad and counterproductive legislation that stifles our economy, ie. Dodd Frank, Consumer Protection Agency, Obamacare and the list is endless.
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Dick
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| Two years after the nuclear deal was signed by Iran and world powers, the Islamic Republic is reported to have boosted its financial support to Hezbollah to $800 million a year, a dramatic increase from the $200m. it was said to be giving its proxy when sanctions were in place. Hezbollah, one of the most prominent terrorist organizations in the world, has become bogged down fighting in Syria for Bashar Assad. Of its approximately 22,000 fighters, about 7,000 are fighting for the Assad regime, and some 2,000 have been killed in the four years the group has spent in Syria. The US and European countries lifted sanctions against Iran in January 2016, releasing roughly $100 billion in assets after international inspectors found that Iran had dismantled large parts of its nuclear program. According to US media, officials say President Donald Trump is ready to extend those waivers that were issued under the Obama administration. According to IDF assessments, while Hezbollah has increased its military capabilities due to its fighting in Syria, the group has spread its troops across the entire Middle East and is hurting financially. The finances of the Lebanese Shi’ite group, designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by dozens of countries around the globe, also has been hit hard due to years of sanctions by the United States. In June, a US congressional committee met to discuss enhancing sanctions targeting Hezbollah met with four security experts for advice on additional legal actions against the group’s financial network. According to the committee, the 2015 Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act (HIPA), which threatens sanctions against anyone who finances the group in any significant way, was a good start but needs enhancing because Hezbollah continues to remain a significant threat to Israel. Iran also is reported to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars for its militias in Syria and Iraq, as well as supporting Houthi rebels in Yemen who are fighting pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition. Although HIPA placed major restrictions and other measures of the Lebanese banking sector, lawmakers in Washington believe it needs to be widened to cripple the group, which is involved in fighting in those countries. Tehran, which froze its financial support to Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the group refused to support the Assad regime in 2012, is now reported to be providing the Gazan terrorist group some $60m.-70m. In August, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar said ties have been restored and that Iran is “the largest backer financially and militarily” to Hamas’s military wing. Meanwhile, the IDF on Thursday afternoon announced the end of the large-scale Or Hadagan military drill in northern Israel. The exercise, with tens of thousands of soldiers from all branches of the army simulating a war with Hezbollah, was the largest IDF drill in almost 20 years. “The objective of the exercise was to improve the Northern Command, the Northern Corps and the ability of its divisions to fight the multi-branch operational system in the Northern Command, with an emphasis on the Lebanese front,” the Spokespersons Unit said. During the drill, large numbers of aerial, naval and land vehicles and equipment were used and troops were trained in joint exercises. Both defense and offensive capabilities, as well as fire power, intelligence and simultaneous military maneuvers were practiced in several sectors of the northern front. The Home Front Command also practiced implementation of the plan to evacuate residents of communities that sit on the border with Lebanon. Although the primary threat posed by Hezbollah remains its missile arsenal, which has been rebuilt with the help of Iran since the 2006 Second Lebanon War, the IDF believes the next war will see the group try to bring the fight to the home front by infiltrating Israeli communities to inflict significant civilian and military casualties. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ |
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