Political distractions vs. True Policy issues

[Caturday]

I would LOVE to see where this statistic comes from (not directed at you, Hulka - I clicked through to the link and can't find anything to back it up there). In my 6th year of practice I can count on one hand (actually, 2 fingers) the number of clients that have completely disinherited their children. One couple left everything to charity and one couple had one son who was a drug addict and in and out of jail - they left pretty much everything to nieces and nephews. I don't think my practice is atypical - I cannot imagine that 46% of children from wealthy (whatever that means) parents do not receive some form of intergenerational wealth transfer.

And these wealth transfers are taxed. So a family member makes a fortune over a lifetime, pays income taxes, pays taxes on his investments and then dies and the inheritance is taxed. What more do you want? This issue is so, so small in light of what this country is facing that it's laughable.

Les Grossman is correct, this isn't a issue. This is THE issue. Somehow we didn't learn much from the triple crash and we're seemingly blind to what's going on in Europe.

 

[DeacMan]

The only political issue that currently matters to me is our deficit/debt. I want a long term plan that reduces our deficit and ultimately work towards paying down our national debt. I dont care if this is a 50 year solution. But, it needs to be done. We should literally lock every member of Congress in a room and refuse to let them out until they come up with a viable and workable solution. I also know this will never happen, they will continue to pass the buck, and focus on making political points over all the stupid crap that doesnt really matter.

While I wouldn't go quite this far, I generally agree with you. As little faith as I have in congress, I have even less in our current President on this issue. The worst thing about this issue, absent some huge structural reform whatever is passed today as a 50 year plan can just as easily be reversed by the next group of elected leaders. It's a mess.

 

[DeacMan]

And these wealth transfers are taxed. So a family member makes a fortune over a lifetime, pays income taxes, pays taxes on his investments and then dies and the inheritance is taxed. What more do you want? This issue is so, so small in light of what this country is facing that it's laughable.

Les Grossman is correct, this isn't a issue. This is THE issue. Somehow we didn't learn much from the triple crash and we're seemingly blind to what's going on in Europe.

Not that it much matters, but death is literally a financial industry unto itself. People set up all sorts of things to cover their death taxes. There are a lot of multi-million dollar life insurance policies out there for one reason. Loads of people take them out to cover the taxes associated with the inheritance they are going to leave behind.

 

[NotTheRealRJKarl]

This is an excellent thread. One thing that disappoints me is when people make everything a massive policy issue. Kudos to those of you who agree, and it's this manner of civil, thoughtful discourse that makes this message board such a welcoming place.

 

[Placate Me Now]

I can't believe that you people are allowed to take someone's name in your handle and just run with it. I demand that this practice be ended immediately and that reparations be paid to the actual owner of the name. $100 per post made by you stupid parodies.

 

[deacdiggler]

I like the civility

 

[DeacMan]

The mother of all political distractions is this whole "dog' thing. Romney's camp is now countering that will Mitt may put his dog on the roof of his car Obama admits to actually eating dog meat as a child. The calousness of these two knows no bounds!!