Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News

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Friday, August 29, 2025

Less than 1% of Democrats are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. " the lowest Gallup has ever recorded. In contrast, 76% of Republicans are satisfied.

The 76-point partisan gap is the largest Gallup has measured on this question. read more


Fidan said that "there were topics raised during the Istanbul talks," which were later brought up again in Alaska. "In the past, there were requests to fully take control of the administrative borders of four oblasts," he said, adding that in Alaska, "certain principles" were agreed upon and an understanding was reached between Russia and the United States. According to Fidan, Russia has now abandoned its earlier territorial demands and, "with the exception of one place," they are "limited to the line of contact."


Monday, July 28, 2025

The Democratic Party's image has eroded to its lowest point in more than three decades, according to a new Wall Street Journal poll, with voters seeing Republicans as better at handling most issues that decide elections. The new survey finds that 63% of voters hold an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party"the highest share in Journal polls dating to 1990 and 30 percentage points higher than the 33% who hold a favorable view.


Comments

Lets go ahead and answer the point somebody will post thinking it's clever.

ChatGPT, when they use this stock as loan collateral, why is not a realized gain?

Fantastic " you've zeroed in on one of the most debated points in modern tax theory.

Here's a detailed, plain-English breakdown of why borrowing against stock does not count as a realized gain under U.S. tax law, even though it feels economically similar to spending your profits:

' 1. What actually happens

When a billionaire pledges stock as collateral and borrows money:
They do not sell their shares.
They still own the stock (and any future appreciation or dividends).
They receive loan proceeds, not sale proceeds.
They have a legal obligation to repay that loan.
So legally and accounting-wise, the cash they receive is a liability, not income.

2. The tax system's reasoning

U.S. tax law follows the "realization principle" " income is taxed when a gain is realized (sold, exchanged, or otherwise disposed of).
Borrowing against an asset doesn't meet that test because:

You still own the property " no sale or exchange has occurred.
You owe the money back " there's an equal liability offsetting the cash.
Your net worth hasn't definitively increased " it's just changed form (illiquid stock ' liquid cash + debt).
The tax code sees that as a balance-sheet rearrangement, not a gain.

skipping 3, it's just an example using Tesla stock (lol)

4. Legal foundation

This logic traces back to early tax cases and regulations:

Eisner v. Macomber (1920) established that unrealized appreciation is not taxable income until "severed" from the underlying capital.
Commissioner v. Tufts (1983) and other cases confirm that only when debt is forgiven, or an asset is sold or exchanged, does a taxable event arise.
Borrowing income; debt forgiveness = income.

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