Can't wait to see how the trade negotiations in Hong Kong play out. 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/10/business/zero-ships-china-trade-ports-pandemic

Zero ships from China are bound for California's top ports. Officials haven't seen that since the pandemic

RE

QuoteZero ships from China are bound for California's top ports. Officials haven't seen that since the pandemic

DUH

Summers warns of $1T revenue loss risk from Trump 'attack' on IRS


Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said that the Trump administration's moves to downsize the Internal Revenue Service, along with other changes, are likely to incentivize reduced tax-payment compliance — potentially costing the federal government $1 trillion in lost revenues over a decade.

"We are threatening the basis of our tax system, which is based on voluntary compliance," with the efforts to slash the IRS's staff, Summers said on Bloomberg Television's Wall Street Week with David Westin.

Summers said he's currently conducting analysis on the issue, along with colleagues he didn't specify. "I'd be surprised if we're not on a path to sacrificing more than $1 trillion of revenue over the next decade because of this misguided, wanton attack on the IRS," he said.

About 20,000 IRS workers, or roughly a fifth of the agency, opted to take a deferred resignation offer this month, Bloomberg reported last week. That came on top of about 4,700 employees who took an initial offer earlier this year. Roughly 7,300 probationary employees were separately put on administrative leave.

One of the other thieves apparently thinks this thievery goes to far!

Makes sense, fire everyone in the billing department and wonder why we go out of bizness.

The reason for DOGE going into the IRS is that only rich people can really cheat on taxes.  Wage statements, and such follow the rest of us around and we really don't have a way of hiding earnings like Musk and the Trump family do.

IRS Lost 31% of Tax Auditors in DOGE Downsizing, Report Says

The Internal Revenue Service lost 31% of its auditors from buyouts and layoffs tied to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, departures that are likely to hamper the agency's ability to go after tax cheats.

More than 3,600 revenue agents — responsible for conducting audits — have left the IRS, according to an IRS watchdog report.

In addition, 18% of revenue officers, who collect taxes, and 10% of tax examiners — front-line employees who review returns — have also left the agency, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in a recent report.

The IRS downsizing is due to a series of moves, spurred by Musk's DOGE, to cut the agency's workforce. More than 7,300 probationary employees were terminated. More than 4,100 workers took Musk's "Fork in the Road" resignation offer, followed by a second round of buyouts where more than 13,100 were approved to leave, according to the report.

The IRS had a large number of newly hired probationary auditors due to a funding boost under President Joe Biden, who increased funding for tax enforcement to rebuild the agency's depleted capabilities. That means the cuts targeting recent hires disproportionately affected those with auditing jobs.

The terminations have been the subject of ongoing litigation.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday defended the staffing cuts, saying the layoffs are "just taking the IRS back to where it was" before a bill that "substantially bloated the personnel and the infrastructure."

Scott Bessent's net worth is at least $521 million.

Quote from: K-Dog on May 11, 2025, 10:04 AMScott Bessent's net worth is at least $521 million.

So is judging folks by their net worth a common thing among us 7 figure net worth types?

Are there rules or etiquette involved? Lower NW speaks poorly of higher NW, and higher NW do the same to the lesser? After a nod-nod or wink-wink that everyone involved in this game has made it up the scale enough to be in the club?

7 figure net worth types?

You claim to be a statician and can't tell 9 figures from 7. Dude, that is a difference of a hundred to one.

In answer to your question.

Eat the rich.

I have met three billionaires in my life.  RE knows this to be true because when he was in Seattle RE saw where I worked.  He knows I have sucked in the thin air.

Billionaires are not a superior life form.  Sorry to inform you of this.  As humans they are flawed, and capable of making horrible decisions which can ruin the lives of millions of people.

You are going back in the cooler.  Three days.

Kanye West's net worth is currently estimated at $400 million

40% of a billionaire.

This came across my radar after I posted the above.

Kanye posted 'Heil Hitler' four days ago, which has been banned on streaming platforms.  It is a self-indulgent sick mess reminiscent of Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean".  As art it is crap.  In my opinion.

But we post it because it is generrally banned.  And to make my point, that money does not make men.  Money gives fools power.  Money corrupts.


Man These People Took My Kids From Me
Then They Post My Bank Account
I Got So Much Anger In Me
Got No Way To Take It Out
Think I'm Stuck In The Matrix
Where The Fuck's My Nitrous
Yes I Am A Cuck I Like
When People Fuck On My Bitch

The Shit That I'm Posting On Twitter
They Telling Me Hey Don't Say That
How Niggas Can't See Me In Public
I'm Driving An Off Road Maybach
With All Of The Money And Fame
I Still Can't Get My Kids Back
With All Of The Money And Fame
I Still Don't Get To See My Children

Niggas See My Twitter
But They Don't See How I Be Feeling
So I Became A Nazi
Yeah Bitch I'm The Villain

Nigga Heil Hitler, Nigga Heil Hitler
They Don't Understand The Things I Say On Twitter
Nigga Heil Hitler
They Don't Understand The Things I Say On Twitter
All My Niggas Nazis, Nigga Heil Hitler
Nigga Heil Hitler, Nigga Heil Hitler
All My Niggas Nazis, Nigga Heil Hitler

Nigga Heil Hitler, Nigga Heil Hitler
All My Niggas Nazis, Nigga Heil Hitler
Nigga Heil Hitler, Nigga Heil Hitler
All My Niggas Nazis, Nigga Heil Hitler

RE

Kyle advocates involuntary commitment.

But in America enough money makes people sane.  By definition.

"The saddest thing I ever heard in my life."

While that is true, the tune is appropriate for the times.  Music to go down by.  Down in flames.  Celebrate the madness.

The left to right wing pipeline.  That has been a popular route in the last year or so.  Now it exposes fools. 

Quote from: K-Dog on May 12, 2025, 07:05 AM7 figure net worth types?

You claim to be a statician and can't tell 9 figures from 7. Dude, that is a difference of a hundred to one.

Of course I know what 2 orders of magnitude are. Not the point. I had previously and arbitrarily decided that 7 figures and up are high net worth individuals, and speculated on the perspective they, and you and I, might have because of it.

I do use statistics. I have laid no claim to being a statistician. Stochastic modeling, as you've noted, is about handling sharp objects, involving statistics.   There are people who can barely handle sharp objects, true. And then there are those who can juggle them. While riding a unicycle. On a rope strung between two buildings. Over a lake filled with crocodiles. During a rainstorm. While being stung by bees.

Who said such a person needs to have been trained as a statistician?   

Quote from: K-DogI have met three billionaires in my life.  RE knows this to be true because when he was in Seattle RE saw where I worked.  He knows I have sucked in the thin air.

I once got into an argument with Harold Hamm?. And I've met others like him, but never asked about their net worth as it wasn't relevant to the conversation.

Quote from: K-DogBillionaires are not a superior life form.  Sorry to inform you of this.  As humans they are flawed, and capable of making horrible decisions which can ruin the lives of millions of people.

You are going back in the cooler.  Three days.

I have made no claim about the superioriority of billionaires, only classified high net worth individuals starting at 7 figures, like you and I.

The excuse for the cooler was "insulting a diner". Where was the insult?

Quote from: TDoS on May 15, 2025, 03:37 PMI have made no claim about the superioriority of billionaires, only classified high net worth individuals starting at 7 figures, like you and I.

Kdog's net worth only gets close to 7 figures if he gets a really good price on the sale of his McMansion, and even then the various closing costs  would likely drop it below 7 figures.  Besides that, he has to split the proceeds with his wife,  She is not interested in selling. 

RE

Quote from: RE on May 15, 2025, 06:22 PM

Quote from: TDoS on May 15, 2025, 03:37 PMI have made no claim about the superioriority of billionaires, only classified high net worth individuals starting at 7 figures, like you and I.

Kdog's net worth only gets close to 7 figures if he gets a really good price on the sale of his McMansion, and even then the various closing costs  would likely drop it below 7 figures.  Besides that, he has to split the proceeds with his wife,  She is not interested in selling. 

RE

Last time I checked the Zillow on his joint it puts him into 7 figures pretty easily. As far as joint ownership, that can be an issue, assuming the ownership is rigged that way. Mine is, because rights of survivorship are important in terms of estate planning.

But there are other ways to make it up, life insurance and market savings, 401k's, all the usual working man mechanisms. K-Dog mentioned he isn't thrilled with high growth funds so he might have handicapped himself in that regard.

This gets us back to the question of whether having a 7 figure net worth makes you rich in today's wotld.

In order to do the Generational Wealth thing with the Trust Funds for your kids, if you set the Capital requirement at $10M for each kid's TF, you need to have that $10M above and beyond things like your own McMansion, cars etc that you need for your own living until you die.  To qualify for this class of people, the minute the kid pops out of the oven, usually the Grandparents of the kid go to the family lawyer and they make the typical "safe" portfolio of stocks, bonds and REITs and gift it to the kid (no inheritance tax), a Trustee is appointed to manage it and the kid gets some defined allowance until 21, when they can usually dissolve the trust and do WTF they want with the money.

So, in your case since it's 1st generation money the grandparents don't have the money, so you would need $10M for each kid, which I'm pretty sure you didn't have yet when they were born.  Maybe getting close to the point now where you could set up a Trust for a grandkid when one arrives.

Now, not being in the class of the filthy rich doesn't mean you're poor or even middle class.  That's more an income driven thing than a net worth thing.  These days to qualify for the 1% on Income, it's around $220K/yr I think.  Kdog definitely does not get near that number.  You probably surpass it.  Between his SS and suplemental employment earnings, K-dog is middle class.  Monsta is middle class and Knarf and I are poor.  No filthy rich Diners at this time I am aware of.

RE

QuoteThe excuse for the cooler was "insulting a diner". Where was the insult?

1)  My net worth is personal.  If I am a millionaire or not is my business.

There was a clear sense of me being  'the pot calling the kettle black' in your comment, suggesting that I was a hypocrite for criticizing wealth. 

That is a ridiculous claim.  Extreme wealth is not the same thing as having earned enough to be comfortable.  Extreme wealth is an abuse of power.  Extreme wealth puts one in another class.  Extreme wealth kills democracy.

There are only so many hours in a lifetime.  'Earning' ones own money through labor caps a persons net worth at a million or two, that is all.  Anyone who has more than that has acquired money by other means than working, and are in a class other than the working class.

So you pissed me off and I sent you to the cooler for three days.  RE and I do that when you piss us off and the specific reason in this case results from discussing my personal business.

And while it is true RE has also discussed my net worth, he did not start it, you did, and he did not piss me off like you did.  You are always trying to say I have 'crocodile tears' when it comes to money.  My position is that having a million earned through honest labor is not the same thing as having ten million or more harvested from American capitalist excess.  Those kind of rich are in a social class which looks down on everyone else.

The only people I can look down on are adults of sound mind and body who refuse to work.  I do not have a problem with that at all.  Someone I know was in Italy recently, and it was noted that everybody who was working was old, the young have better things to do.

I see nothing wrong with following your bliss if you do it on your own dime.

In my world, personal contact with the means of production would be something everyone would have to experience for some part of their life.

If that makes me a work NAZI so be it.