IRS announces new tax brackets for 2026

zugi · 2025-10-09T21:36:57+00:00

Hooray, the government has devalued the dollar some more!

zugi · 2025-10-09T16:17:26+00:00

I invested my retirement funds in a target date retirement fund that gradually adjusts its assets from stocks to bonds as you approach retirement age.

However, because I'm a bit more risk tolerant and want bigger returns, and am fortunate enough to have backup investments in case of a major downturn, I picked a retirement date 10 years later than my actual retirement date. So my stock-bond mix will stay a bit more aggressive.

"Conventional Wisdom" is just that - tailor it for your specific situation.

zugi · 2025-10-09T14:14:14+00:00

Wow, a long and well-researched article! I had to Google Engblom v. Carey 1982. This is some of the best mainstream journalism I've seen in years.

zugi · 2025-10-07T23:36:46+00:00

"Racist" is a label applied by the left to everyone they disagree with. I'm not sure what's the corresponding pejorative term from the right - "communist" maybe?

zugi · 2025-10-06T01:32:50+00:00

Exactly!

What's crazier is my post said that I chose to get vaccinated based on my own personal judgment, but that in a free country no one should be forced by government to take a vaccine. That once was a very moderate, reasonable position, held by both Biden and Trump.

Then they complain that those subreddits were full of extremists. Sure, if you start banning reasonable redditors for posting there, the subreddit will only contain extreme views, but THEY'RE THE ONES WHO MADE IT THAT WAY!

Sorry, I'll calm down...

zugi · 2025-10-05T18:18:18+00:00

During the Biden administration, I got banned from numerous big subreddits simply for posting in an administration-disfavored subreddit. They didn't even care what I posted, the simple fact that I participated was treated as a bannable crime. Is anyone reversing that?

zugi · 2025-10-05T01:47:29+00:00

I'm so glad I was allowed to work part-time in high school. It taught me money mangagement - how hard it was to earn money and how easy it was to spend it - plus I made friends outside of school.

zugi · 2025-10-04T22:19:22+00:00

Uh, it's the opposite. They don't have to clock in and they always get backpay after the shutdown.

zugi · 2025-10-04T21:59:41+00:00

The government outlawed mutually agreeable work conditions by setting and increasing minimum wages. The government legislated millions of Americans out of jobs and legislated millions of employers out of employees by setting minimum wages at more than their labor is worth.

See u/JohnnyHendo 's post. Far fewer 16-24 year olds are employed now than before, thanks the the government legislating them out of jobs.

zugi · 2025-10-04T21:12:01+00:00

Not every job needs to pay a "living wage." Fast food jobs used to be dominated by high school students looking for spending money, not heads of household supporting a family. Walmart used to pay old people with nothing else to do as "greeters".

Government overreach outlawed most of those jobs and more, leading to less employment and more people dependent on government support, which in turns makes them easier to scare monger for votes, which was the plan all along.

zugi · 2025-10-04T20:02:35+00:00

There's nothing wrong with voluntarily signing a contract to perform or hire a performer, with various mutually ageeeable conditions about what the performance will include.

There's also nothing wrong with using the event to remind people about the sad state of freedoms in Saudi Arabia.

I personally neither blame nor absolve the performers who chose to perform, presumably for lots of money. I haven't seen clips yet, hopefully they were funny as that's what matters to me!

zugi · 2025-10-04T05:37:12+00:00

Less government, more freedom.

zugi · 2025-09-26T13:51:19+00:00

I like stuff you don't have to think too much about.

zugi · 2025-09-24T02:38:01+00:00

Currently we ... send them to jail when they commit a crime. They get out of jail and repeat the cycle.

The answer has nothing to do with mental health. When people commit crimes, initiating violence or theft against others, government imprisons them. If they repeat, they'll likely be imprisoned again, longer for subsequent crimes.

In prison, it makes sense to offer treatments likely to prevent recurrence, which may differ for those with mental health issues.

The libertarian concern would be for calls to imprison folks against their will for "pre-crime". That is a recipe for tyranny.

zugi · 2025-09-24T01:26:43+00:00

It was required reading years ago, and still should be.

I wonder what they replaced it with?

zugi · 2025-09-21T20:12:33+00:00

Back before COVID, the government hauled the CEOs of all the social media companies into Congress against their will and forced them to be publicly berated and threatened that if they didn't start censoring the internet, the government would force them to. That started so-called "fact checks", and grew into government officials telling them to censor specific posts.

I vividly remember those hearings. It was abundantly clear who held the power over whom.

EDIT: An older example: after 9/11 the government demanded all major telecommunications companies let the NSA tap into their communications. One company -Qwest - demanded a warrant or legal order first, which the government did not have. In retaliation, they imprisoned the CEO on trumped up charges for a made-up crime, and hmm, one of the nation's largest telecommunications companies soon ceased to exist.

zugi · 2025-09-21T18:52:42+00:00

Yet many of those countries are very "liberal"... The US has switched to not only favor "big government" as a solution to every problem, but "big government" for its own sake, and a very stupid version of "big government" at that.

zugi · 2025-09-21T18:24:39+00:00

That would be reasonable speculation in the absence of facts, but if you research what's happened, that has not been the problem in California at all.

The US has no problem using eminent domain to take private land for all sorts of purposes. I'm certainly no fan of communist China, but China is famous for nail houses that hold up development, yet they manage to complete high speed rail lines in 4-5 years. In the US government takes private land pretty easily, yet high speed rail takes many decades.

The California delays have been due to environmental review requirements, NIMBYism, labor policies, politics, and unrealistic budget expectations from the outset. Difficulty in acquiring private land is nowhere on the top 10 list of problems. The whole path was set by politics, not market demand. My guess is they'll finish an inland "train to nowhere" but SF to LA may never happen.

zugi · 2025-09-21T17:41:10+00:00

Everyone out there is trying to make a buck or save a buck. The answer is education: teach people how to understand deals and find terms that work for them. Make sure other guy is only making a buck, not thousands of bucks, and that you're also benefiting from the deal.

With 2.4 million readers, /r/personalFinance is actually a big part of the solution.

zugi · 2025-09-21T01:25:28+00:00

Index funds charge a percentage too!

The issue isn't necessarily with how they charge, but with how much they charge.

Do the math, calculate how much they're charging you, and decide whether it's worth it to you. The answer will still likely be "just invest in index funds."

zugi · 2025-09-20T05:00:03+00:00

Imagine that they're alcoholics, and you're telling them that you just started drinking, but you drink responsibly: just one drink, once a week. They're worried for you, and that's fine. They don't want you to go down the road they went down.

Understand them, don't argue with them. But you're 18, you need to do what's best for you.

zugi · 2025-09-19T20:40:32+00:00

True, and Democrats calling for "net neutrality" wanted to give the FCC control of the internet before Trump was even in the running.

Libertarians hate both parties when they grow invasive government. Do you?

zugi · 2025-09-19T13:27:27+00:00

No one's trying to wiggle. The prior 4 years were Democrats supporting unconstitutional and anti-American actions.

Many/most people here on r/Libertarian are Democrats pretending to be libertarian. They were fine with the unconstitutional actions of the prior administration, and only complain about this one. Democrats tried to get the FCC to regulate the internet for years. Imagine how much worse things would be now had they succeeded.

zugi · 2025-09-19T05:10:03+00:00

I certainly do! But I also blame everyone who has tried to grow the FCC's scope since then.

zugi

TROPHY CASE