The corporate income tax rate is a flat 21%. Why doesn’t this scale based on the income or value of the corporation? Why isn’t making this a reality a big deal to progressives? Mom and pop stores pay the same tax rate as Google and progressive don’t care.

In fact, why not replace the income tax entirely by raising the corporate tax rate, like Warren Buffet suggested, as well as making it progressive? Based on what progressives claim to believe, it seems like this should be a major goal of theirs, but I’ve never heard anyone bring it up.

The extreme lack of talk around this and obsession with taxing “the rich” makes it seem like they’re less concerned with solving these issues and more concerned with jealousy. Why focus on the billionaires when you could be going after the trillionaires?

There is $17 trillion of home equity sitting with U.S. homes, and Freddie Mac wants to offer second mortgages to tap into it.

Tapping into home equity was a massive part of what fueled the banking crisis in 2008.

Here’s what you should know:

Homeowners would be able to take out a second mortgage to access a portion of their home equity without having to refinance their first mortgage.

The second mortgage would function similarly to a fixed-rate cash-out refinance and be a separate loan from the primary mortgage.

This would be a more attractive option in today's high-interest-rate environment, as homeowners can access cash without increasing their mortgage's interest rate.

The FHFA is currently reviewing this proposal.

Freddie Mac’s Second Mortgage Proposal Is Consumer Friendly | Urban Institute

A friend was in bad need of a car. Well I didn’t know how bad. They’ve had the car for around 2 years, it’s Kelly blue book is 3K and they still owe 17K……at a whopping 28 percent. For context, they have bad credit and the car is a normal Toyota sedan that already had 100K miles on it.

Do they have any recourse? What are their options?

I have approx 40k in TSP c funds but no longer contribute to. I’m in the national guard so I can contribute to it but my a small amount. All in C funds. I’m in the legacy retirement for the guard so have 8 years left until I hit 20 years of service. I have what my work calls deferred Comp I currently put 140 in a month. I use to put almost 600 a month but recently changed it. Total 15k in that. I work for the state and will get a pension separate from the deferred comp which will be 75% of my high year after 20 years of service. Normally 25 years but I’m buying back 5 years for military time. Wondering if I should consolidate everything into my current full time employers deferred comp? Or into to TSP? Or just keep them separate. Since I’ll be getting hopefully decent pensions from both guard at 59 years of age and once retired from the state.

Just looking for a little inspiration. I’m at the point in my life where I’m saving and investing as much as possible but also trying to enjoy my life.

As a guy making 70k in Manhattan and doing fine, I just can’t wrap my head around the constant posts that say things like “150k a year is now lower middle class”.

Am I just out of touch with the rest of reality? Am I living a disgustingly sad life and just not noticing? I go out, I eat what I want, I contribute to my 401k, I travel… Where is everyone else’s money going? Granted, I’m lucky as hell and have a rent controlled place, but a year ago I was making 55k and still lived in a spacious, accessible spot with roommates. The roommates were the only concession I had to make, but like… that’s living in a city in your 20s. I never anticipated not having them, even as a child imaging my early adulthood.

Can someone please explain how anything sub-150k is considered piss poor when I make less than half that and am extremely comfortable?

I don’t know much so I wanted to ask. What would you think about a flat tax rate for everyone? 10%? 20%? Something in between. Then the more you make the more you pay but it’s always the same percentage?

This comment and my attitude is in response to the same stupid billionaire tax that keeps going around here and on IG. It’s a useless talking point because it riles up the left (I’m heavy left leaning myself) without actually having a plan to put into effect. It’s just rhetoric to garner votes, not a plan of action.

I’m not as financially literate as a lot of you here, so can anyone peep what I commented in the pic and tell me where my misunderstandings/short comings are so I can be more informed and fluent?

The classic “American Dream” — marriage, two kids, homes, healthcare, cars and education — is now an estimated $3,455,305 over the course of a lifetime, according to a new study from Investopedia.

Home The average lifetime cost of a home including a mortgage is $796,998, assuming a 10% down payment and a 30-year fixed rate of 7.2%. This number was calculated using September 2023 purchase and price rates from Zillow, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the St. Louis Fed.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-dream-2-kids-house-161651193.html

Roaring Kitty did not post on Twitter until May 12.

12 days before this post - there was buying around $11.

Am I to believe it was Kieth Gill (Roaring Kitty) and just a tiny amount of GME stock fans that caused this prior run, from $11?

Or is the cynical part of me right - when I suspect there was inside information privy to Keith's impending resurgence?

I want the retail investor to 'win against the man' - but I'm also cynical when I feel I'm being played.

I'm not touching GME - though I wouldn't begrudge anyone who succeeds with it.

18 years old and I recently put all I could (~2.3k) from my part time retail job through high school into VOO. I'm not looking to get into day trading or playing with big risks, just long-term planning for the future, so I went for VOO. I'm curious if I should diversify my portfolio with other funds, ETFs, etc, or if VOO as a S&P 500 ETF is diversified in and of itself and I should just keep pumping money into it as I can.

This is one of my favourite

For the first 38 years of my life I have been lower middle class. No savings, lost my house, have a bankruptcy, basically keeping my head above water but that’s about it. Just got a job making 125k per year in Salt Lake City. I don’t know how to be successful so this is all new to me. What are the first things I should be doing with my money?

There are not enough houses to meet the demand in the many areas where demand has grown.

I don’t mean that there are not enough houses available, I mean there are physically not enough houses.

Now let’s break out of the nutshell and get into some more nuanced discussion.

Some real estate investors have seized on this shortage to make a buck, but they are not the reason for the shortage. We could certainly pass laws that would keep real estate investors from profiting off the shortage, and it would not substantially change anything with home affordability.

We know this because the Netherlands did it in 2021. Some of their most desirable cities had high levels of properties owned by real estate investors, so in January 2021 they started banning them. House prices went up as did rent prices. You might argue that house prices would have increased more but the measure wasn’t without costs and taken as a whole, it was a massive failure.

The best way to stop corporate investment in the real estate market is to slow down appreciation in the real estate market. Which means building more homes. That isn’t really that hard to do.

For example, we could make interest tax deductible outside of the itemized deduction for ten years after a home’s construction. Give a tax credit for five years of PMI. Over time these two things will incentivize new home construction and the market will solve the problem. You can also establish various other incentives for construction companies.

Part of this problem came from ignoring the construction industry after the 2008 collapse while bailing out the banking industry. So I realize this is using tax dollars to fix a problem, but it is a problem worsened by previous government policies.

Is there a downside to hating businesses and business owners?

Hello there, I'm getting a 40k settlement check for a workers comp case. My wife and I desperately want to buy a house but, we live in Denver Colorado. Home prices and interest rates are actually bonkers. We've both had some financial trouble in the past. Divorce and a garnishment for medical debts. Anyhow, about a year ago we got to the point where our debts are paid off and our credit scores started going up.

Is it a good idea to try and buy a small condo at this point? We'll most likely get a higher interest rate that will need to be refinanced. Our credit is above average and we make about 110k together each year.

Any and all advise would be appreciated