Why do I find a painting stolen to be a fucking joke?

[madinmaryland]

Well, not that the painting is stolen, but the fact that someone would pay $50,000,000 for it. That amount of money could be used to invest in jobs for Americans, and actually anyone.

When someone mentions tax cuts, I see it going to fucking shit like this! A waste of fucking money which just goes between rich people for their own pleasure and not towards creating new jobs.

END TAX BREAKS FOR THE WEALTHY.

RIGHT
THE
FUCK
NOW!

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Why I'd want their taxes to go up to 70% no holes

or other creative ways to reduce it...

[notadmblnd]

2. He who dies with the most crap wins, I suppose

:shrug:

[madinmaryland]

4. Well...

my closest friend just ended his life and tried to take as much with him as he could. The flames were epic.

:cry:

[notadmblnd]

5. it's a shame

My sister attempted suicide once. It was an experience dealing with her.

I'm sorry for the loss of your friend.

[madinmaryland]

7. I was serious when I said the flames were epic.

He set the place ablaze and then did himself in. Serious fucking blaze.

It made the flame wars here look like teapot candle lights.

Thanks for the thoughts. Still trying to deal with it.

[drm604]

6. That's terrible.

I'm so sorry.

[madinmaryland]

8. Thank you.

[Quantess]

16. He who dies with the most crap stuck in his/her colon loses.

Material posessions are mostly crap, I know what you mean.

[RKP5637]

3. Exactly! That is why this damn reaganomics, voodoo economics, trickle down

economics or whatever one chooses to call makes no sense. Here we sit with all of the money corned by a couple of percentage points, real progress... and wall street/banking propped back up again, business as usual!

[HillbillyBob]

10. My partner calls rayguns policy

the Drizzlin Shits..sounds about right to me.

Im sorry bout the ops friend.

[RKP5637]

12. Yep, that's a really good description of rayguns policy. I'm saddened about the OPs friend

too, that's a very painful disturbing thing to have to go through.

[Dr Morbius]

18. Some of us have little inclination to wait for milk and honey...

...to trickle down the chins of the high and mighty.

[aquart]

9. No man should be so rich he has nothing left to buy but his government.

And a stolen Van Gogh.

[johnaries]

11. I take it you have never seen a true masterpiece in person. nt

[Vickers]

13. WTF does that mean? n/t

:shrug:

[madinmaryland]

19. Not sure what your point is. I thought I was pretty clear what my point was.

:shrug:

[proteus_lives]

14. My parents collect art. I understand the impulse to collect.

I would like stronger taxes for the wealthy but stories of wealth don't enrage me.

If it's their money, legally made, why should I care what they do with it?

[madinmaryland]

20. I don't begrudge people collecting art work. What I do have an issue

is the insane amount of money spent on this stuff that should be getting invested in this country. The company I work for has revenue over $100 million employs a 150 employees. Image if that $50 million was invested in a company or companies how many people could be gainfully employed.

[valerief]

15. +69 trillion

[pinboy3niner]

17. Wasn't it stolen from a museum?

That's an institution that makes art available and accessible to the people. And while it's value was reported (and the thieves probably hoped to sell it to a fat cat collector), this doesn't seem to have anything to do with tax cuts.

I don't have a problem with museums showing art, or even with most collectors--who, in buying art, make it possible for artists to earn a living. If not for them, we'd have a lot more unemployed, destitute artists.

I understand your concern about the filthy rich collector who hoards art (making it inaccessible to the public). But that doesn't seem to apply here.

ETA: I'm very sorry for the loss of your friend. I've lost friends to suicide, and those were very difficult times. I still avoid thinking about it. I hope you'll find some peace. :hug:

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

21. Very silly thing to be concerned with

A painting is an asset. A bond is an asset.

Say there are two rich people. One hands the other $50M in bonds in exchange for a painting worth $50M. Both are just as rich as they were before.

So what is the problem?

Do you recognize that the money is NOT wasted? It is not burned after the sale. There is no waste involved whatsoever.

Your problem is that someone has $50 million dollars in the first place.

Fair enough. That troubles me also.

But surely you already knew that somebody had $50 million, so what on Earth does buying a painting do to make matters any worse?

Why does buying a painting for $50M upset you more than someone having $50M in the bank?