Daily Archives: 26 September 2016

A Thought on JASTA

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JASTA is the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, passed overwhelmingly by each house of Congress and just vetoed by President Barack Obama (D).  The bill would allow the survivors of the 9/11 victims to sue in American courts the Saudi Arabian government and members of it over their alleged role in the terrorist attacks and to seek recompense for those participations.

Without commenting on the legitimacy such suits, or on the likelihood that enough Democrats will roll over for their leader to sustain his veto, I have this on an argument against the bill.

[I]f US citizens are allowed to take the Saudis into court, then foreign countries could do the same to the United States, its diplomats, and its service members.

Whether or not foreign countries “could do the same” to us is a matter of those nations’ domestic law, current or to-be-passed.

Thus: those nations already can “do the same” to us, without waiting for a JASTA suit, and it’s already been done.  This is a nakedly specious argument by Obama against the bill.

Another Thought on Clinton’s Death Tax

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This one by Brad Anderson, ex-Best Buy CEO.

This is a devastatingly stupid idea…. I worked for a guy who was a high school graduate, created a company—it didn’t make money for 20-years. And after 20 years it finally starts to build up. He has a dream that he’s trying to build, that includes passing some of it along to his family and if you take that away, why does he pay the price?

And why does that man’s family pay an even bigger price?

Enterprises that are left to heirs with value above Clinton’s death tax threshold very often have insufficient cash from the nature of the business—a farm, for example, or a physical plant-heavy enterprise—to pay up.  As a result, the heirs must sell their inherited business to raise the money for her vig.  And so the heirs are left without their inheritance—and so too often destitute.

Never mind this insult added to that injury: this wealth has already been taxed in real time, and often several times, as it was being created, earned, and distributed.