“Well, I think there's a couple of lessons we can take away from this. One is that the idea of sticking it to the rich is very popular. The other lesson is that it's still really hard to pass and get across the finish line because of all of the particulars involved, because of the way that a tax is structured, and because of how influential the billionaire class is in our society. The third lesson is that because it's so hard, people who want to do this kind of thing need a really broad base of support to push it across the finish line.”
Wealth managers coach clients to relocate Picassos
“Well, it was kind of wild. I went to this conference in Orange County a couple of months ago where a bunch of tax advisors and wealth managers were meeting. And one of the sessions they had was basically kind of like how to help your clients reduce their net worth. So suggestions that were like, oh, move your Picasso out of your house in Beverly Hills to your house in Aspen. Or if you were carrying more insurance than you needed on your wife's six-figure diamond necklace that just reduce the insurance policy to what it's actually worth, because that's what you'll be taxed on.”
“The Hungarian government under Orban has not been using the veto to protect Hungarian interest. It was using the veto to protect Russian interest. So that very clearly will need to stop.”
Health care earmark alienates other powerful unions
“Meanwhile, some of the most influential unions in the state, the Teachers Union, the Umbrella Group for SEIU, they haven't publicly taken a position. And privately, they're concerned about the idea of a tax that gets locked up in this special box and doesn't fund the programs that most tax dollars do. So there's a lot of different angles of potential concern and that's also why many of the Democratic candidates who are running for governor have expressed some reservations.”
Billionaires see existential precedent, not one-time hit
“For the billionaires and also many tech leaders who are not billionaires but who are aspirational, they see this as an existential threat that it really would set precedent of going after the wealth that people have earned and taxing their possessions in a way that really has never been done before. On the other side, that is also part of the motivation for this thing, to really shift the paradigm in how the government taxes wealth and how the government gets people to contribute to society.”
“Iran on the brink, as protestors move to take two cities, appeal to Trump, you should see they have Trump's name stickers all over streets. They're renaming streets after Trump in Farsi. Just a very interesting spectacle. Reza Pahlavi came out and gave a message to the Iranian people.”
“First of all, we were correct. We talked about this and we said that the tariffs and we said at the beginning of the year they would be tactics, not taxes. And guess what? All the economists come out and so surprised. Oh, wow, you know, it really hasn't gone up and hasn't been as inflationary as we thought.”
Swalwell suspends campaign amid sexual misconduct allegations
“Within hours of those reports, nearly all of his major endorsers abandoned him. On x, Swalwell apologized for mistakes in judgment but denies the allegations. He's now facing calls from fellow Democrats in California to resign his house seat.”
California billionaire tax targets assets, not income
“So this would place a 5% tax on the net worth of any billionaires who are California residents as of January 1st of this year. The money would go into a special fund at the state level and would have to be spent on health care services. It's unusual to tax the assets of a person as opposed to their income. So their assets would be their stocks, the jewelry they own, the cars in their garage, the paintings, anything that contributes to their wealth.”
Newsom opposes state tax, floats national alternative
“Well, I think you summarized it exactly right. And that's why when he does talk about this, he really focuses on his objection to a state-specific wealth tax. And he does frequently say, we ought to have a conversation about a national wealth tax, leaving the door open to the idea of a wealth tax if it was applied evenly across the country.”
“Rubio tells lawmakers Trump wants to buy Greenland. We don't know if it's on sale or not. I went on eBay the other day. I didn't see Greenland for sale. I went on realtor.com. Zillow couldn't find it, but maybe they're on a different website we don't have access to.”
“So far, the average refund is about 11% higher than this time last year, about $350 more according to data from the IRS. Michael Pierce with Oxford Economics expects that average will go up. That's because higher income filers typically procrastinate on filing and seem to be benefiting more from the new tax changes.”
“Trump administration is freezing $10 billion in child and family aid to five states over fraud concerns. And by the way, you know what they said? Fraud investigation of California has begun. What do you mean, fraud investigation? It just began.”
Tech billionaires fled California before January 1 deadline
“So they started freaking out late last year in advance of this January 1 deadline because the ballot measure says that anyone who was a resident of California on January 1 of this year could be subject to this tax. So at the end of the year, there was a lot of jockeying and there were a few pretty high-profile billionaires who made moves to leave the state to change their official residency. A couple of the founders of Google relocated, Sergey Brin moved to the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, Larry Page left for Florida, and then also some of the people who were really influential in the world of investing in technology left. David Sachs moved to Texas and Peter Thiel moved to Miami.”
US blockades Iranian ports after failed peace talks
“The US military is blocking ships from entering or exiting Iranian ports absent a peace agreement. The blockade was due to take effect two hours ago. US central command says the action will not, quote, impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait Of Hormuz to and from non Iranian ports.”
FIFA hikes World Cup ticket prices to record highs
“World Cup tickets are getting even pricier. FIFA, the international governing body for professional soccer, is adding a more expensive tier. A ticket for a front category one seat at the US opener against Argentina in Los Angeles will cost as much as $5,470 according to the Associated Press.”
“Trump just came out and said, Look, Venezuela is going to give up 50 million barrels of oil to the US. And China comes out and says, Wait a minute, what are you talking about? That's ours. So there's this fight going on. Remember the key word that Rubio used, Western Hemisphere.”
