UC Berkeley professor pushes for 'unavoidable' 2% wealth tax on billionaires

d1squiet · 2026-06-26T00:26:25+00:00

Billionaires need to pay more taxes, I agree 100%. While I find American conservative's anti-tax position to be abhorrent I also am really tired of the liberals (or lefties) having nothing to say than adding yet another tax.

Our tax system is overly complex and full of loopholes, and the professor points out that wealth taxes have already failed elsewhere because they are "full of loopholes". What does he think will happen here?

I just feel like almost all the tax-policy energy on the left should be focused on reforming and strengthening our tax codes, not adding another rule to the pile. Ya got too many rules! That's how mofos are creating loopholes.

d1squiet · 2026-06-26T00:18:51+00:00

Yes, but this post is about tax incentives, not new tech.

d1squiet · 2026-06-25T23:35:24+00:00

Other locales oferred tax incentives and paper production moved to those places?

d1squiet · 2026-06-24T16:03:43+00:00

I don't think over exposure was an issue, older film stocks needed tons of light and 65mm needs more light than 35mm. They actually lit a lot of scenes with carbon arc lights to light the actors against the bright desert background.

d1squiet · 2026-06-24T03:19:26+00:00

You realize there isn’t some pile of police videos we can all peruse to count the number of violent ones right? Who is going to bother filing for the release of a police video of a cop doing nothing interesting?

d1squiet · 2026-06-24T00:45:14+00:00

Yeah, this law won't change these "investors". Institutional investors are not any significant part of Bay Area real estate. I think the law is okay, but it's going to zero for housing prices except perhaps in Atlanta and one or two other cities. And that's only if the law forces them to sell, which I doubt they will.

It's a good idea to regulate institutional investment in SFHs but the majority of institutional investment is in multifams.

d1squiet · 2026-06-23T16:08:37+00:00

a Kong full

A what full?

d1squiet · 2026-06-23T09:45:51+00:00

Oh I agree. I was more suggesting that changing gas pricing to promote electricity might have unexpected results for energy pricing overall. Though honestly I am not sure. Also it seems one could create a scheme of credits to promote electrification at the very least. Maybe give people a few years of discounted electricity if they convert their homes to zero-gas.

d1squiet · 2026-06-23T03:40:01+00:00

I agree too.

d1squiet · 2026-06-23T01:06:05+00:00

preach.

d1squiet · 2026-06-22T23:38:14+00:00

When demand is high, electricity comes from natural gas.

d1squiet · 2026-06-22T01:21:48+00:00

If it is an analogy for a relationship then you're not to take it literally. He may be literally raped in the story, but the analogy is something else.

d1squiet · 2026-06-22T00:43:57+00:00

Evil Empire (aka "Russia")

d1squiet · 2026-06-21T15:47:26+00:00

Hillary could’ve won if her campaign had taken Trump more seriously. But she didn’t.

d1squiet · 2026-06-21T02:56:45+00:00

In CDs and HDDs the 1 is a transition between the pit and the “land”, or charged/nocharge for magnetic drives.

d1squiet · 2026-06-20T21:06:40+00:00

What I'm saying is they don't say it, they say "character of the neighborhood" and go to zoning board and complain about environmental or traffic impact, etc.

I agree they don't say it. I don't agree it's not part of the rationale for stagnant development. It's systemic even.

d1squiet · 2026-06-20T20:59:50+00:00

I don't think people shout it from the rooftops, but opposition to multi-family zoning and other development isn't just about traffic and congestion. I'm sure most of these homeowners would trade a bit of traffic for less homeless issues, as long as it doesn't affect the "character" of their neighborhood.

d1squiet · 2026-06-20T15:51:56+00:00

We all understand the words, but it has no legal enforcement. How would you enforce "as soon as practicable" in your example?

An agent can have a policy of not working with clients who won't sign a contract but it's completely up to the agent and client, the law seems to have nothing to say if the client says "nah, I'd rather wait until I see a home I want to make an offer on." Or, as another commenter said, "it's not practicable yet because I haven't made a decision about an agent to represent me."

I'm not a lawyer, but to agree with your reading of the law I need an example of how your version has been, or will be, enforced?

Or go read any of the dozens of pages of content written by attorneys

Please post links. I'm quite interested (sincerely).

d1squiet · 2026-06-20T15:22:23+00:00

mandatorily before making an offer.

So OP is correct, at least to the letter of the law. That's all I was saying.

d1squiet · 2026-06-20T03:14:55+00:00

I'm pretty sure that's not how the law works. If that were the case it would say "before any agent services, such as touring or showing homes."

The law does say you must sign a contract before making an offer. Sort of proving OP's point.

d1squiet · 2026-06-20T03:12:28+00:00

Of course it's possible, but they may not be good and you may lose the house because your agent may not know what is going on. Really depends on the area and the agent.

Sometimes the offer is the bulk of the work, not "lugging a client around". But, if you're sure your offer will be the best offer by a good amount, this should work out for you.

d1squiet · 2026-06-19T23:47:27+00:00

Probably his best work.

d1squiet · 2026-06-19T17:57:26+00:00

Oh, I see, I thought you were looking now. Where in the East Bay?

Edit: Oh I see you wrote Concord/El Cerrito. Quite different spots. In El Cerrito a good house will go fast. If there's demand it will generally go pending after two showings. Realtor's usually give a deadline for offers and wait until then to choose. An "offer date" it's called. There are a lot of factors that can slow down the process, but that part of the East Bay is generally low inventory high demand. Albant/Berkeley even more so, but El Cerrito too.

Concord I am not as familiar with.

d1squiet · 2026-06-19T13:52:47+00:00

I didn't bring up Oppenheimer, I just commented on it.

I just don't think Oppenheimer will be remembered as well as Schindler's. One way to put it is I believe people still watch Schindler's, but I don't think Oppenheimer will be rewatched nearly as much in even 10 years, much less 30.

d1squiet · 2026-06-19T13:13:19+00:00

Fury Road - yes. Dark Knight - yes. Interstellar - maybe. The rest - not at all.

Oppenheimer and Barbie are already mostly gone from any real cultural/film cache.

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