The morning after, now what?

[fund razor]

Well... some of you are probably considering moving to different countries. Different, less socialist countries that don't borrow from the Chinese to spend on social programs that our grandchildren will be paying for working in Chinese mines.

But some will stay.

For those who stay, who make over $200,000 a year, what to do?

1) Sell appreciated assets in the 2012 calendar year. Starting Jan 1, 2013, you will see a minimum 3.8% tax increase on capital gains to pay for the "medicare surtax." That will raise the top rate to 18.8%. If the Bush tax cuts are not extended into 2013 (I think that we have a decent chance of saving them). If the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire, you will see an increase of 8.8%, as the top rate will climb to 23.8%.

2) Be careful carrying defense industry investments into 2013.

3) Talk to your investment advisor about: your IRA, RMDs from an IRA increase your adjusted gross income, maybe it is time for a Roth conversion?
Some folks will head for tax exempt bonds, as they don't increase your AGI.

4) If you have friends who are wealthy, visit them now, before they get too busy packing to move to their new horse farm or winery in Chile.

5) Do not start a business. The government will take it over and make sure than only the unions get paid.

6) Buy any guns that you have been interested in now. We are one SC justice away from a new look at cases like Heller.

7) Set aside much more of your income for health care and insurance costs.

8) Invent something that stupid people just can't resist. The stupid are now the majority.

9) Manufacture that product for the stupid offshore, and import them into the US. Our government could care less about unfair competition and trade. After all, if they gave China most favored trading status, they will give it to you also. But be careful... they will want to borrow money from you all the time, in order to pay for programs for the stupid, and ensure future re-elections by the hand-out class.

10) Install security cameras. As success continues to be villianized, the youth will continue to seek easier ways to survive. The Thug Life has been glamorized for the media for many years, while working hard and doing the right thing has become passe at best. If you are seen as productive and have visible assets, you are "rich" and you have a target on your back.

Good luck.

[fund razor]

There is a "u" in "glamour" I suppose.

Maybe my subconscious thought it looked too Canadian.

[fund razor]

Democracy is the road to socialism.
In a higher phase of communist society... only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be fully left behind and society inscribe on its banners: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

..

[fund razor]

Aren't you dead, Karl?

[fund razor]

I come back every four years to vote in Chicago.

..

[fund razor]

I see. The joke would have been funnier if you had waited for your own screen name to get processed.

[Ratickle]

Reincarnated as a President in the United States.....

[fund razor]

I am on a time limit.

..

[clayinaustin]

Romney and the Republican party lost last night . There will be alot of discussion on why, but saying that people are stupid misses the point. The Republican party was able to alienate every major voting block except white males!

The fastest growing voting block is the Latinos. The Republican party needs to soften its stance on immigration reform if it wants to get the majority of these votes.

The Republican stupidity on rape, abortions, and women's health in general needs a complete overhaul! I can't believe the things that Akin and Mourdock said. I'm glad they lost!

A very large group of Americans want to legalize marijuana and are OK with gay marriage (see Colorado). If the Republican party can somehow make a 180 degree pivot on these two points, they would win both the Senate and the White House.

If the Republican party does not make major changes in the next four years, there will be a Democrat in the White House for a long time!

[fund razor]

Romney and the Republican party lost last night . There will be alot of discussion on why, but saying that people are stupid misses the point. The Republican party was able to alienate every major voting block except white males!

The fastest growing voting block is the Latinos. The Republican party needs to soften its stance on immigration reform if it wants to get the majority of these votes.

The Republican stupidity on rape, abortions, and women's health in general needs a complete overhaul! I can't believe the things that Akin and Mourdock said. I'm glad they lost!

A very large group of Americans want to legalize marijuana and are OK with gay marriage (see Colorado). If the Republican party can somehow make a 180 degree pivot on these two points, they would win both the Senate and the White House.

If the Republican party does not make major changes in the next four years, there will be a Democrat in the White House for a long time!

Hi Clay,
The fact that people are stupid and your points are not mutually exclusive. I don't disagree with much of what you posted at all. But here is the thing, I did not suggest in the LEAST that stupid people becoming the majority caused the loss for the Republican party. I said that a strategy for a capitalist would be to invent something that stupid people find that they can't live without. That's PT Barnum talking, not Glenn Beck. Stupid people are breeding at a rate something like 10 times as fast as non-stupid people. They are an emerging market.

My post didn't attempt to explain the loss at all. It is more of a stream of consciousness "what next?" for the individual who wakes up the next day and wonders how to adjust strategy, not for the Republican party. It was not directed at the candidates or the politicians. It was directed at, let me check...."people who stay in this country who make more than $200,000."

You may have mistaken it as advice for "people who lost an election last night because the Republicans ran a Mad Man campaign in a Modern Family world." That would have been a completely different thread, just as you suggest.

[clayinaustin]

My post was not a direct reply to your post. Rather it is just my rambling discust of the party I once supported.

[fund razor]

My post was not a direct reply to your post. Rather it is just my rambling discust of the party I once supported.

I gotcha. I guess I keyed in on the "stupid" thing.
IMO your assessment of the factors that hurt them is pretty accurate.

[Ratickle]

The Republicans lost the election because the "Average" Republican (ie Romney) could not seperate himself from the far right "Republican" like the idiots on rape etc. But that's not the main reason, just secondary. The main reason is because every state that was closely fought last time had the democrate election offices and personnel left in place since then. Never underestimate the power of incumbancy......

[fund razor]

Never mind about the tax thing. People's appreciated assets just depreciated.

[Tinkerer]

If the republicans changed their thinking on those things you mentioned then they would be Democrats. NOT who I would vote for.
This election was ONLY about the difference between the ignorant and the intelligent. Those that work for a living and those that live off others hard work.

[TUCK646]

Rock and Roll cootchie coo lordie momma -_____________

[fund razor]

Rock and Roll cootchie coo lordie momma -_____________

What is "light my fuse," Alex?

[Bobcat]

I'll take "Economic doom for a thousand "

[fund razor]

Looks like the union vote really helped Obama in my county, with the second most union membership in the country.

So, even if General Motors doesn't pay its bills.... the UAW paid Obama back in full.

[fund razor]

I'll take "Economic doom for a thousand "

Lotsa businesses closing now that were hanging in there for the elections. I heard about an entire coal mining operation that has shut down for 90 days to guage the anti-coal climate. If things aren't better for the coal industry in 90 days, they are laying off everyone permanently and waiting four years to see what happens. They said that the coal can wait until the administration wakes up and ends the irrational war on coal, or there is a change in leadership and the house.