SKYE’S LINKS 11/04/21

Australia’s nightmare is Xiden’s dream for America.  One lesson is that Aussies have no 2^nd Amendment and have been forcibly disarmed.

Australia Confiscating Bank Accounts, Property, Licenses, & Businesses For Non-Compliance With COVID Fines

Thank heavens (and the Founding Fathers) Americans do. Jonathan Turley on a pivotal Second Amendment case currently before the US Supreme Court:

The Supreme Showdown: “Bruen” Has The Makings Of A Major Second Amendment Victory

But there’s a caution:

How New York is Trying to Gut the 2nd Amendment at the Supreme Court

Is it because Aussies are defenseless against a fascist police state that they are expected to behave like terrified sheep?  This is a recent front page of one of Australia’s most widely-read newspapers, the Courier-Mail:

This is the goal of the Global Elite and their Global Cops — what to expect of them this winter:

CJ Hopkins: (New Normal) Winter Is Coming

Wow!  Wake up call!!  Consumer Research blasts woke BlackRock (the biggest hedge fund ($9 Trillion with a ‘T’) and single family home owner (45,000) in America) for its multigigabuck ties to the Chinese Communist Party:

Consumers’ Research Slams BlackRock for its Love Affair with the CCP

More here:

Home – BlackRock Loves China

BOO!  Scary NBC poll data for ‘Crats:

Chuck Todd: ‘Shocking’ NBC Poll Shows 71% Believe U.S. Is on Wrong Track — ‘Scary News for the Democrats’

This is a detailed and fascinating narrative written by an experienced truck driver about the transport bottlenecks in the supply chains.  Don’t expect things to get better in the foreseeable future:

I’ve Been Driving Trucks For 20 Years, I’ll Tell You Why America’s “Shipping Crisis” Will Not End

The Mises Institute comments on supply chain problems:

The Fed’s Inflation Is Behind The Supply Chain Mess

Now, here are my comments.  Both of the above are true, and they suffer from a dreadful and disastrous connection through the distorting effects of the US tax code.  Why is there a lack of storage space for all those shipping containers and the chassis (the back part of the 18 wheeler that carries the container)?  It is a direct effect of the US tax code.

A business cannot deduct the value of the land that it buys and uses in its business.  The cost of this land is a legitimate and necessary business expense, but the IRS does not allow the business owners to deduct its cost from their profits before paying income taxes.  So there is a shortage of chassis parking and container storage space.  That shortage won’t go away until a business can deduct the cost of the raw land from their profits before paying taxes.  Don’t hold your breath.

Only the improvements (such as buildings) can be deducted.  But wait!  The owners will have to wait for a very long time to get that deduction, because the cost of their new warehouse must be deducted over 39 1/2 years!  If you build a $1,000,000 warehouse, you are allowed to deduct only $12,500 in the first year, and then $25,000 per year for the next four decades.  But wait – it gets worse – far worse.

If inflation is only a couple of percent per year, you lose a couple of percent of the value of that deduction every year.  Over four decades, those inflation losses really compound.  This means that, corrected for inflation, you only get to deduct the real value of about half your $1,0000,000 – and it takes four decades to do it.  Now imagine what happens at 5% inflation.  How about 10%?  The businessman who is foolish enough to build or expand a warehouse in a time of high inflation will be able to deduct only a tiny portion of his expensive investment.  Don’t expect the warehouse shortage to get better, either.

Could it possibly be worse?  Yes, it already is.  What about the chip shortage?  Do you want to know why semiconductor fabrication has moved out of the US to South Korea and Tiawan?  Yup!  The US tax code doesn’t allow deducting the cost of the land, requires the building to be depreciated over 39 1/2 years, and requires the billions of dollars of state of the art high tech machinery to be depreciated over 15 years.

Won’t that machinery be obsolete long before then?  Yup…  Guess what? The US and Japan are the only advanced economies that don’t allow expensing of all business expenses.  Both have moribund economies, and their tax codes have a great deal to do with it.

Jonathan Turley on Biden’s unrealized capital gains tax plan:

Warning: Joe Biden’s “Eat The Rich” Pitch May Come Back To Bite You

Vaccinations and vaccination mandates are NOT an effective public health measure.  But don’t expect any policy changes from corrupt government officials.  Here is the real science: “There appears to be no discernible relationship between percentage of population fully vaccinated and new COVID-19 cases… the trend line suggests a marginally positive association such that countries with higher percentage of population fully vaccinated have HIGHER (emphasis added) COVID-19 cases per 1 million people.”

Increases in COVID-19 are unrelated to levels of vaccination across 68 countries and 2947 counties in the United States

The Durham investigation is finding a much broader anti-Trump plot than initially expected and witnesses are reportedly cooperating:

Durham Probe Inches Closer To Hillary As Alfa Bank Hoax Plot Thickens

Americans’ #1 fear?  Corrupt government officials.  Climate change moved down to #13:

Americans’ Biggest Fear Is “Corrupt Government Officials”

Here is what these corrupt officials are doing around the world:

Humanity Is Sleepwalking Towards Medical Apartheid…

FBI caught hiding exonerating evidence that shows that Kyle Rittenhouse acted in self defense:

FBI Sat On Bombshell Footage From Kyle Rittenhouse Shooting

About the Crat’s proposed wealth tax:

Dumb Dem Ideas Never Die

Support for secession is rapidly rising, and has reached 52% among 18-29 year olds:

McMaken: Three Reasons To Start Taking Secession Seriously

Ray Dalio, cohead of Bridgewater, a huge Wall Street investment fund has written his own version of “Generations”, one with an emphasis on economics rather than sociology:

The Big Multigenerational Psychological Cycle

Weird story of the week: War-gaming China vs. Taiwan and US with, yes, poison frogs.  Okay, they’re metaphorical, but still…

‘Poison Frogs’: US Urged To Make Taiwan Islands Too ‘Painful’ For China To Seize