Economy The Capitalism Crumble

[AWilder]

Everyone likes the shit on Bitcoin for its energy consumption.

Take a look at data centers and AI and get back to me.

Data centers and AI actually have value. BTC is just holding onto it hoping you cash out before the rug pull.

 

[Sinister]

com-pl-Alex? If that was intentional, please explain it. That's one weird typo.

Anyways, your rebuttal is pathetic and stupid, as usual.

I'm on my phone. but I'm 100% positive you knew what I was getting at.

There is little more pathetic and stupid than billionaire boot-licking. So I'll take your consistent ad-hominem nonsense as a compliment.

 

[HereticBD]

It's always entertaining to hear capitalist apologists attempt to both sound cynical and idealistic at the same time.

Not nearly as entertaining as it is to hear socialist's living in a capitalist society that they benefit from, go on and on about the merits of a proven failure of a socialist system that they've never lived under, and wonder why so many flee from socialist society shitholes, for a capitalist paradise.

 

[My Spot]

Should've left Vegas to the mob.

 

[HereticBD]

I'm on my phone. but I'm 100% positive you knew what I was getting at.

Speech to text? Again, very weird typo

There is little more pathetic and stupid than billionaire boot-licking.

Maybe. One of those things that is more pathetic, is some American guy benefitting from Capitalism, going on and on about how great Socialism is, despite it's gargantuan failure rate over centuries.

 

[AWilder]

Speech to text? Again, very weird typo

Maybe. One of those things that is more pathetic, is some American guy benefitting from Capitalism, going on and on about how great Socialism is, despite it's gargantuan failure rate over centuries.

buddy there's nothing more pathetic on these forums than a "proud maganadian"

 

[HereticBD]

buddy there's nothing more pathetic on these forums than a "proud maganadian"

Did you think of that all by yourself?

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

not going to lie, i thought primm was just a place they made up for fallout NV

 

[Gamer2k4]

In order to tax Bezos properly the U.S. would need to introduce mark-to-market taxation (means you are taxed each year on the increase in the value of your assets, even if you don't sell them.)

Example Jeff Bezos:

Jeff owns about $190 billion in Amazon stock.
Suppose that at the start of the year, his stock is worth $180 billion.
At the end of the year, it’s worth $190 billion.
That’s a $10 billion gain in value.

Under mark-to-market taxation, Jeff would be taxed on that $10 billion gain even though he hasn’t sold any stock. If the capital gains tax rate is 25%, he would owe $2.5 billion in taxes that year. So he would have to sell off pieces of Amazon or change the salary structure to accommodate.

Billionaires often avoid income taxes by holding appreciating assets, borrowing against those assets for spending, and paying low capital gains taxes only when they eventually sell (if ever). Mark-to-market would close that gap by taxing the yearly increase in wealth from assets like stocks, real estate, etc.

It’s still a small amount but it would be a good start.

Let's say the value goes down, from $180 million to $170 million. Does he get refunded for his loss?

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

What do you see China as?

If they are capitalist they aren’t communist, but everyone on the right hates them for being “the communist party of china” etc.

The Chinese themselves say they are on a “capitalist road to communism” - That was the anti-Maoist philosophy that came into fashion after Mao

state capitalism. private gains for the benefit of the state. very similar to the economy under hitler, though there's more social welfare under xi than hitler.

 

[Bia]

Could the Vegas decline coincide with gambling apps available on smart phones? People can just gamble anytime, anywhere without the need of going into a Casino. In return the Casino trying to maintain their profit by increasing other avenues like food, drinks, entertainment or accommodations which drive away low spending visitors

 

[HereticBD]

Could the Vegas decline coincide with gambling apps available on smart phones? People can just gamble anytime, anywhere without the need of going into a Casino. In return the Casino trying to maintain their profit by increasing other avenues like food, drinks, entertainment or accommodations which drive away low spending visitors

It's probably a contributing factor.

Banking on tourism holding you up forever, probably didn't help either.

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

The first time I noticed this trend was before Vegas really started to sell its soul. It was in Key West. When I was a kid going to The Keys in Florida was a big deal if you liked the ocean. My wife and I went a long time ago while visiting my Mother and it was INCREDIBLY tourist-trappy. Everything was magnificently overpriced, and lower in quality. She was pretty underwhelmed with that aspect of the Atlantic Ocean as a California Native lol. We got a nice room literally 50ft from the beach and just hanging out at the room was more fun because there wasnt a ton of pressure to buy sh*t or pay for overpriced experiences.

Vegas turned around and did the exact same thing. It's no longer a place where anyone is made to feel like Royalty. It's a place where only actual Royalty are welcome.

Yeah, to your last point, in the hospitality industry I've heard servers say "if you can afford to go out, you can afford to tip" and I think similarly the modus operandi much like the video you posted is "If you can afford to go to Vegas, you can afford to pay the $20 for a bottle water from your hotel room" etc. Profitability comes before anything, so here we are.

And well, I'm going to sound like an asshole, but here goes. I spend almost half my time abroad, and "selling one's soul" is the common default of the westerner in this day and age. I am much more (and I mean much much much more) content dealing with locals in developing nations than westerners whether they be europeans or americans or canadians.

Westerners just suck at interacting with each other these days. Chips on shoulders, arrogance, lack of manners, angry/stupid drunks, gaudiness and relentless attention whoring behaviors, all reflective of insecure people. Hook up / pick up artist culture for the sexes. There is little sense of comradery or manners amongst people. People just trying to show off their imaginary lives to out-fake other fake people it's just such a shit trap western life is engineered to these days. Worse yet, maybe there was a time where selling one's soul would be somewhat legitimately rewarding in terms of a nest egg that would be built, but now it seems like it is so for ever shrinking % of people.

Of course I think it sucks to be playing games with a robotic dealer, but since people are pretty useless at talking to each other in civilized or interesting manners, I can't be surprised at the move because the days of people having respectful and interesting social skills to be interacting with humans is a bit of a lost art. The ship has sailed. It's what is not mentioned in the video you posted that is very important -- is that insufferable people are being engineered to the point that folks don't value human interaction any more and are left with two options - interact with shit people, or interact with shit automation/AI.

I guess that's a big part of the reason why I haven't been back in so long and have no desire to. I'd much rather do the Bourdain / Obama style stuff:

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

What do you see China as?

If they are capitalist they aren’t communist, but everyone on the right hates them for being “the communist party of china” etc.

The Chinese themselves say they are on a “capitalist road to communism” - That was the anti-Maoist philosophy that came into fashion after Mao

After spending time in China, I can only see China as China. It's its own thing, a world in a country. I've never really heard anyone describe it in a way that does the experience of being there a helpful way of understanding it.

 

[Rygu]

Yeah, to your last point, in the hospitality industry I've heard servers say "if you can afford to go out, you can afford to tip" and I think similarly the modus operandi much like the video you posted is "If you can afford to go to Vegas, you can afford to pay the $20 for a bottle water from your hotel room" etc. Profitability comes before anything, so here we are.

And well, I'm going to sound like an asshole, but here goes. I spend almost half my time abroad, and "selling one's soul" is the common default of the westerner in this day and age. I am much more (and I mean much much much more) content dealing with locals in developing nations than westerners whether they be europeans or americans or canadians.

Westerners just suck at interacting with each other these days. Chips on shoulders, arrogance, lack of manners, angry/stupid drunks, gaudiness and relentless attention whoring behaviors, all reflective of insecure people. Hook up / pick up artist culture for the sexes. There is little sense of comradery or manners amongst people. People just trying to show off their imaginary lives to out-fake other fake people it's just such a shit trap western life is engineered to these days. Worse yet, maybe there was a time where selling one's soul would be somewhat legitimately rewarding in terms of a nest egg that would be built, but now it seems like it is so for ever shrinking % of people.

Of course I think it sucks to be playing games with a robotic dealer, but since people are pretty useless at talking to each other in civilized or interesting manners, I can't be surprised at the move because the days of people having respectful and interesting social skills to be interacting with humans is a bit of a lost art. The ship has sailed. It's what is not mentioned in the video you posted that is very important -- is that insufferable people are being engineered to the point that folks don't value human interaction any more and are left with two options - interact with shit people, or interact with shit automation/AI.

I guess that's a big part of the reason why I haven't been back in so long and have no desire to. I'd much rather do the Bourdain / Obama style stuff:

Really good post.

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

Could the Vegas decline coincide with gambling apps available on smart phones? People can just gamble anytime, anywhere without the need of going into a Casino. In return the Casino trying to maintain their profit by increasing other avenues like food, drinks, entertainment or accommodations which drive away low spending visitors

Would be interesting to see the data.

I'm a math guy, and find gambling overwhelmingly boring since the long term results are entirely predictable for most games. Sports gambling a bit excluded as well as card games against other participants.

Going to Vegas I always viewed the gambling as a form of entertainment, as opposed to a serious money making activity. What % of people go with actual dreams and visions of making money from their trip versus it being a form of entertainment would be intriguing for me to know.

 

[Rygu]

Would be interesting to see the data.

I'm a math guy, and find gambling overwhelmingly boring since the long term results are entirely predictable for most games. Sports gambling a bit excluded as well as card games against other participants.

Going to Vegas I always viewed the gambling as a form of entertainment, as opposed to a serious money making activity. What % of people go with actual dreams and visions of making money from their trip versus it being a form of entertainment would be intriguing for me to know.

I'm a math guy too, especially mental mathematics. A friend of mine loves to gamble and is ok at it but for years has tried to get me to learn to count cards as I have a good memory and a knack for using mnemonics but it just looks like a ton of work and I'm fucking lazy lol. For those who can and do I assume big paydays are quite possible if you don't get beaten up by the casino henchmen.

 

[Aegon Spengler]

Let's say the value goes down, from $180 million to $170 million. Does he get refunded for his loss?

That would depend on the details of how he lost the money, but typically under this system you can claim the losses against future taxes and against gains in other areas. So you don’t get a direct refund but you do get tax credits or offsets against sister companies etc.

Personally I would say if you lose that money that’s on you, but that’s not usually how mark-to-market works. Elizabeth Warren proposed just a straight up wealth tax, kind of like, you can keep 1 billion in assets and you get a plaque that says you won capitalism. But you can only keep up to 1 billion (in whatever you want) and the rest is taken by the taxpayers to pay for social services, or I guess, bombs, in the case of the USA

 

[Rob Battisti]

Data centers and AI actually have value. BTC is just holding onto it hoping you cash out before the rug pull.

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

That would depend on the details of how he lost the money, but typically under this system you can claim the losses against future taxes and against gains in other areas. So you don’t get a direct refund but you do get tax credits or offsets against sister companies etc.

Personally I would say if you lose that money that’s on you, but that’s not usually how mark-to-market works. Elizabeth Warren proposed just a straight up wealth tax, if you go over 1 billion you in assets you get a plaque that says you won capitalism, you can keep up to 1 billion and the rest is taken by the taxpayers to pay for social services, or I guess bombs in the case of the USA

The billionaires thing is interesting - I was listening to Sam Harris the other day on David Frum's podcast, basically saying Bill Gates is the greatest monetary philanthropist in history and you'd think in a healthy society he would be virtually universally praised for it, yet there is a not-small contingent of folks who try to make him out to be the devil. Unfortunately not as many people are cut from the same cloth -- I imagine someone could have the ego satiated by having hospital wards in their name, or college endowment funds. But some rich folks are more interested in dedicated their calories to showing they are a very good video game player and the such.