I neither idolize nor dislike the rich. I do despise their gaming the system and changing the law to benefit themselves at the expense of the country as a whole. But it is the elected liars and accomplices in Congress that I reserve most of my disgust for. I would hazard a guess that my effective tax rate is more than most of the 1% that rule the USA and that is just plain wrong but I can’t do anything about it because I can’t afford a lobbyist much less the bribe money the lobbyists delivers. That the rich spend a lot of money there is no doubt but they do not spend enough money to support an economy and they damn sure don’t pay enough taxes to maintain a country. Only a middle class can do that and the middle class in the USA is disappearing. The USA is like the UK of 100 years ago. A dying power being consumed by greed and military over reach.
There she is.
[QUOTE=captainbry;139017]There she is.
[/QUOTE]
Ugly 
Look at what a anonymous Norwegian shipowner has ordered from Kleven
MT 5006 ESV
That’s a yacht for the filthy rich 
[QUOTE=c.captain;139013]
Ah Steamer my good friend…Fort Liquerdale has perverted your once progressive principals. Come back to the light…it’s not too late for you[/QUOTE]
I saw the light decades ago … no one was going to pay me unless they made enough to pay themselves first.
It isn’t the rich you should be raging against, it’s like tengineer1 wrote, it’s the corrupted criminals in congress who should be the target of rage and criminal charges.
If I can make a respectable living supporting the megayacht industry I also support all the other little people I buy stuff from that have nothing to do with the industry other than catering to my needs for food,shelter, drink, and entertainment. Be careful what you ask for, Kulak.
[QUOTE=c.captain;139013]FUCK YOU MISTER! My boat is wood and 52 years old and I am far from rich. In fact I wonder if I even qualify to be in the middle of the middle? Right now I am a struggling small businessman trying to make a buck any place I can and there ain’t too many of those!
Now shut your effing pie hole![/QUOTE]
Come on C. Captain, You know I was just joking with you. Also remember old man Edison started off with just a small Wooden Shrimp boat. I’m sure you wouldn’t have any objections of building your small business into the biggest fleet in the NE. I hope you do. If you succeed in 10-15 years will you hire an old poor 60 something captain as myself? LOL!!!
On a side note, I remember someone else just did a interview and said they were broke and struggling when they left their job a few years ago. Who was that??? Oh yea, the Clintons!!!
I don’t mind the Sailor mouth, being one myself, BUT PLEASE LORD… Don’t bring out the POINTY STICK sir.
I thought the C’EST LA VIE was Dino’s fishing boat, not Gary’s.
It’s primarily a tournament boat just like the freedom.
[QUOTE=Steamer;139020]It isn’t the rich you should be raging against, it’s like tengineer1 wrote, it’s the corrupted criminals in congress who should be the target of rage and criminal charges. [/QUOTE]
but the criminals in Congress are the handmaidens to the top 20%. Only they have the money to buy the influence in the highly hallowed halls of Washingtoon. The Congress is only guilty to that they are beholden to the very wealthy for campaign funding. The very wealthy demand concessions to allow them to build their wealth on an uneven playing field and the Congress obliges their demands because they need that money to stay in. I freely agree that changing the way Congress supports the wealthy at the expense of the people must be changed if there will ever be a government in the US which is “of the people, by the people and for the people”.
OK, I don’t like the very wealthy because I believe they have paved the playing field (by controlling the Congress) with a solid concrete superhighway for them to run at 170mph on but the rest of us unwashed struggle on a rutted muddy worn out road trying to make a few feet a day and getting covered in crap while we crawl. What I want is the playing field of be at least paved for all of us and that is why I first advocated strongly that all campaign financing be public and that all media be open and free to all candidates equally
second, that the very wealthy pay a high [B][I]progressive[/I][/B] annual tax on their total wealth and not just on income. There should be a clear law prohibiting that any wealth earned in the US by both individuals or corporations to be sent offshore or at least a high tax be paid in the transfer of it. I don’t begrudge them having money since I would like to have some of it myself but their holdings of so much wealth as they have is defacto granted by the populace so by that there is an opportunity price to be paid and the best way I can think of to pay that is in the form of taxes although I am also an advocate that the wealthy be given many tax credits if they have charitable foundations which go to help society at large such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I used to loathe Bill for being a predatory businessman who cut off the oxygen supply of his competitors but have come to have great respect for him for dedicating his wealth to helping people unlike his former Microsoft partner who has more megayachts than he can count.
Let the top 20% have the wealth and the trappings of wealth if that is what they want, but also they should give an equal amount back to the PEOPLE! That is the perfect world I wished we lived in.
how can a middle or lower class person support the very wealthy is always been a mystery to me and my fellow mariners here seem to support that same puzzling condition. How you can love Gary Chouest (and all the other Joe Bosses in the GoM) staggers me to the core
[QUOTE=AB Murph;139022]Come on C. Captain, You know I was just joking with you. Also remember old man Edison started off with just a small Wooden Shrimp boat. I’m sure you wouldn’t have any objections of building your small business into the biggest fleet in the NE. I hope you do. If you succeed in 10-15 years will you hire an old poor 60 something captain as myself? LOL!!!
I don’t mind the Sailor mouth, being one myself, BUT PLEASE LORD… Don’t bring out the POINTY STICK sir.[/QUOTE]
OK but please take it easy with your knee jerk blanket statements! I am a blue collar working stiff mariner and worker. I lean right in many aspects of society but I lean far left when it comes to how the wealthy control the country. I got that from my dad who was a very blue collar working mariner himself. I was taught by him that no nation can be a healthy nation if there is a huge disparity between classes of the populace and everything I advocate is for US society to be much more equal, just and fair for ALL and little more other than for KP to be closed. I seriously doubt I will ever see either in the time left before me but that doesn’t mean I need be quiet about my opinions on the subject.
[QUOTE=Kraken;139019]
Look at what a anonymous Norwegian shipowner has ordered from Kleven
That’s a yacht for the filthy rich :p[/QUOTE]
got to admit I actually like the look of that vessel…
I wonder what the final price tag will be? $250M at least.
[QUOTE=c.captain;139029]got to admit I actually like the look of that vessel…
I wonder what the final price tag will be? $250M at least.[/QUOTE]
90% of the superstructure is welded by robots at kleven and the rest of the hull is build in Polen. So i think that $250M is a bit steep, more like $160-180M.
Not Norwegian Owner
Not a shipowner
Not the correct pricing
It is seriously cool boat
It is seriously BIG boat + 6000 GRT
And the Owner is a regular guy that loves his boats
And motorcycles
And farms
A lot
And keeps a lot of nice people working in the family Leisure & Pleasure Department.
For a long time now
PS - The profile has been updated a little since that image. It is even cooler. The tender just barely visible in the bow well is 27 meters, for an idea of the scale.
[QUOTE=+A465B;139043]Not Norwegian Owner
And the Owner is a regular guy that loves his boats
[/QUOTE]
Nothing regular about ordering a 107 meter vessel!
And sorry about the norwegian shipowner, from the artikkel in teknisk ukeblad I got the impression that he was Norwegian.
Is it You?? 
No.
Not me.
Unfortunately, I am just a small fish in a big pond.
Newspapers will write anything.
But if it is on the Internet it is definitely true …
Rather than stop people from getting rich, how about making political corruption a capital offense and enforce it harshly and quickly? Stop the corruption and let the entrepeneurs get rich making jobs for the rest of us instead of accepting a broken and corrupt government as normal. You are raging against the wrong people.
The very wealthy demand concessions to allow them to build their wealth on an uneven playing field and the Congress obliges their demands because they need that money to stay in. I freely agree that changing the way Congress supports the wealthy at the expense of the people must be changed if there will ever be a government in the US which is “of the people, by the people and for the people”.
See the above, stop the opportunity to buy influence and the playing field will level out because without corruption the crooks cant get rich and the scumsucking politicians will find some other way to feed their egos.
OK, I don’t like the very wealthy because I believe they have paved the playing field (by controlling the Congress) with a solid concrete superhighway for them …
You keep pointing directly at the cause of your anxiety and rage. It isn’t rich people, it is criminal politicians.
…how can a middle or lower class person support the very wealthy is always been a mystery to me and my fellow mariners here seem to support that same puzzling condition. How you can love Gary Chouest (and all the other Joe Bosses in the GoM) staggers me to the core
I support an economy where I have a chance to make some money and not have it taken away by someone who thinks I don’t deserve it. Good for those who can get rich, if they do it without the help of crooked politicians and bribes then it shows the system can work.
I don’t “love” Gary Chouest or any of the hordes of rich. I suspect many of them have bought the doors that opened to opportunities I will never see but if we eliminate the doorkeepers we eliminate the problems.
You want to get rid of the wrong bunch. Vote out every single sitting politician at every level and start from scratch with real campaign reform that completely eliminates contributions from anyone who cannot vote for the candidate. This means eliminate PACS, and every other form of legalized bribery that exists. Take the election industry out of elections, take corporations out of elections.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_model
We have rich people, but they are not filthy rich pigs who don’t contribute to society.
[QUOTE=Kraken;139053]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_model
We have rich people, but they are not filthy rich pigs who don’t contribute to society.[/QUOTE]
That is ABSOLUTELY correct. Who needs the middle class when you have Globalization. The super rich are not job creators. Sure they contribute to the economy and pay tax rates lower than we do, but most of the compensation from American companies goes straight into the wallets of the execs. If you think that then maybe you should keep your doors locked, stock up on some more ammo, and watch some more Fox news.
[QUOTE=Steamer;139050]You want to get rid of the wrong bunch. Vote out every single sitting politician at every level and start from scratch with real campaign reform that completely eliminates contributions from anyone who cannot vote for the candidate. This means eliminate PACS, and every other form of legalized bribery that exists. Take the election industry out of elections, take corporations out of elections.[/QUOTE]
I agree that the scumsucking slugs in the Congress are part of the problem but they are just that…A PART and not the whole problem. There is a mutual symbiosis between the power of the very rich and the corruption of elected politicians in Washingtoon. They both are growing like blood engorged leeches these days.
Eliminate all private campaign financing of all forms or at least wrap a wire around the neck of the beast as you propose by severely limiting “outside” contributions. This however will never happen because the courts always come down on the side of “free speech”. “Free speech” equals MONEY in the USA and that is now so entrenched that it will never ever be done away with.
So what can be done next? Perhaps make the very very wealthy just a bit less so through higher taxation. You say no but I don’t know why? Why should the very wealthy get such an easy ride? And please don’t tell me trickle down in the form of people building the yachts for the uber rich. Those few tens of thousands who benefit are a pinspeck compared to society at large. If the top 15% paid another 15% (thus 30% tax on capital gains and carry over interest) our deficit will go away yet the top 15% will still be the top 15% but with a little bit less wealth. Why is this bad?
There are a couple simple fixes to the whole mess. Eliminate income tax entirely and replace it with a 20 percent national VAT (sales tax) on everything, raise minimum wage to $20 per hour, and cancel all welfare programs for able bodied people, all corporate welfare programs.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;139076]There are a couple simple fixes to the whole mess. Eliminate income tax entirely and replace it with a 20 percent national VAT (sales tax) on everything, raise minimum wage to $20 per hour, and cancel all welfare programs for able bodied people, all corporate welfare programs.[/QUOTE]
And as a result, rich people could accumulate wealth more easily while those who are already financially struggling would have to pay more for basic necessities such as food…
Yes but the poor people are making far less than $20 an hour and pay a significant % in income tax as it stands now. Without the corporate welfare there may be less incentive for the crazy executive compensation and the rich would have to pay big taxes on their toys. I don’t see why food couldn’t be exempt (food, not meals) as many states exempt it from sales taxes already, and clothing perhaps up to a certain $ amount.