[HN Gopher] Microsoft CEO sells half his stock, weeks before WA ...
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       Microsoft CEO sells half his stock, weeks before WA state
       implements gains tax
        
       Author : samspenc
       Score  : 23 points
       Date   : 2021-11-30 21:56 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.geekwire.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.geekwire.com)
        
       | millzlane wrote:
       | Sound like a move to avoid losses.
       | 
       | TL;DR: Nadella sold the shares "for personal financial planning
       | and diversification reasons," the Redmond-based company said in a
       | statement Monday afternoon. "He is committed to the continued
       | success of the company and his holdings significantly exceed the
       | holding requirements set by the Microsoft Board of Directors."
        
       | systemvoltage wrote:
       | I predict that people will leave Washington State in droves. Not
       | because of the tax increase, but because the amount of taxes you
       | pay goes into never ending government pit of inefficiency and
       | incompetency. I'm down with paying more taxes but in return I
       | want no homelessness, no chadzone, less crime, better roads,
       | straight forward education (math is racist apparently), spotless
       | streets, safety, eradication of poverty, no power cuts, and
       | better law enforcement.
       | 
       | Better yet, instead of increasing taxes, how about we improve the
       | efficiency of the government? For same budget, we can get more
       | done. We never seem to ask this question.
        
         | GaryTang wrote:
         | Left WA and moved to FL last month. It feels like I went from
         | North Korea to South Korea. Never realized how much greener it
         | could be on the other side. What's most surprising is how much
         | better the small business environment is and how much more
         | productive people are in general. The mosquitoes though are a
         | nuisance.
        
         | philipkglass wrote:
         | None of those issues (with the possible exception of roads,
         | depending on which roads you mean) are state-level problems. I
         | live in a smaller locale in Washington and these Seattle-area
         | laments are not problems here.
        
         | vvram wrote:
         | the same goes for CA as well.
        
         | d22 wrote:
         | What's chadzone?
        
           | travbrack wrote:
           | Pretty sure they're referencing
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Hill_Occupied_Protest
        
         | mikestew wrote:
         | _Not because of the tax increase, but because the amount of
         | taxes you pay goes into never ending government pit of
         | inefficiency and incompetency._
         | 
         | From my POV, having lived here for 20 years, WA residents used
         | to get a reasonable deal on their taxes. Sure, they were high
         | from the perspective of this Midwestern boy, but the ferries
         | ran on time and shit got done. I do not feel that's the case
         | anymore (well, the ferries are probably still timely).
         | 
         | I was just asking my wife the other day, "I don't mind high gas
         | taxes per se, but for having some of the highest fuel taxes in
         | the country, why is this highly-trafficked road such a piece of
         | shit? They haven't paved it since we moved here." As one
         | example; but where the hell is that money going? We don't even
         | have hard winters to tear the roads up. Why are four-banger
         | compact cars running practically open exhaust and rattling
         | windows? Don't we do inspections anymore? Or have cops that
         | pull people over for such things? Speaking of which, in Redmond
         | I'm kind of surprised when I see a cop driving around anymore.
         | 
         | Blah, blah, blah, no one outside of WA cares and those that
         | live here know what I'm on about, so I'll cut it short. I'm
         | with parent: I'll gladly pay taxes, they buy civilization. But
         | lately I don't feel I'm getting as much civilization for my tax
         | dollar as I used to, not even close.
        
           | toast0 wrote:
           | > well, the ferries are probably still timely
           | 
           | Someone isn't on the wsdot ferry email list (anymore?). Most
           | of the lines are currently running single boat service, or
           | only announcing both boats will be running in the morning. I
           | don't personally count it as being on time if you're doing
           | half the normal number of sailings, but those are mostly on
           | time.
           | 
           | I'll give a pass for the regular delays on friday afternoon
           | and sunday evening though. As far as I know, those delays are
           | like clockwork, and we're stuck with them. (Maybe when
           | coleman dock construction finishes, the super peak times will
           | run more smoothly, but I'm ok with just pretending the ferry
           | doesn't run during those times, cause I don't want to be
           | there)
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | mountainriver wrote:
         | Good point, it is rarely talked about how we increase
         | efficiency.
         | 
         | I wish there was a better way to inject free market competition
         | into the government. Government contracts seem to also favor
         | inefficiency and poor implementation.
         | 
         | Something I've been thinking on lately, if anyone has resources
         | on this I would love to read them.
        
           | ren_engineer wrote:
           | >I wish there was a better way to inject free market
           | competition into the government
           | 
           | it's called immigration, people move to states/nations with
           | the best functioning governments if they are allowed free
           | movement. Historically voting with your feet has been the
           | best way to change government. See Illinois and it's massive
           | budget shortfall due to people leaving the state
           | 
           | also look at the Soviet Union which needed border security to
           | keep people IN. The exact opposite situation that the US has,
           | which is that millions of people want to live here through
           | any means necessary
        
             | tiernano wrote:
             | > See Illinois and it's massive budget shortfall due to
             | people leaving the state
             | 
             | Does this really make them think of changing stuff, or will
             | they just increase taxes and try get more money? I mean,
             | most governments will do the latter before fixing the issue
             | (they don't want to admit the issue is with them...)
             | 
             | [NOTE] not a US citizen, so cant don't know much about US
             | politics
        
           | systemvoltage wrote:
           | Journalists should be holding governments accountable. Just
           | the way Carreyrou (WSJ) single handedly brought down
           | Theranos, I want journalists to go after government
           | corruption and high impact inefficiencies. Notice how NYTimes
           | and the like are not interested in actual journalism of this
           | sorts. Government is a de facto monopoly and we need 10x more
           | eyes on it than anyone else. There needs to be mechanisms for
           | firing bad actors from high up positions.
           | 
           | Instead, the focus is always on increasing taxes. As a
           | liberal, I want my taxes to go into exceptional and super
           | high quality services that even the Scandinavians would envy.
           | Otherwise, I will vote for lower taxes and that could mean
           | vote for republicans. Our governments suck so much.
        
             | 8note wrote:
             | The government has become pay to play for journalists. Piss
             | the government off and your not allowed into press
             | briefings anymore.
             | 
             | Some dedicated investigative journalism group could do it,
             | but any larger media company cannot.
             | 
             | I could see folks on YouTube doing a good job of it?
        
             | GDC7 wrote:
             | You keep dreaming.
             | 
             | A journalist is a regular citizen who can write. They are
             | motivated by hatred, that's why Cuomo, Trump and Elizabeth
             | Holmes a juicy targets, but the inefficiency of the
             | beurocracy and the government waste are not something they
             | are interested in.
             | 
             | Journalists also throw tantrums when they analyze a high
             | profile person and find nothing on them.
             | 
             | Journalists , like cops, judges etc. are not proactive ,
             | unlike engineers, their enemy is not a problem, but it's
             | always another person.
             | 
             | Their dream is basically them publishing a hit piece which
             | would bring somebody big down, that's how they picture
             | themselves, that's what they visualize when they are asked
             | to define success.
             | 
             | From there they try to go backwards trying to see what they
             | have to do to make it happen.
        
       | JoeyBananas wrote:
       | Capital gains tax is a bad idea because it hurts businesses. It
       | takes money out of the economy and puts it into the government
       | where it is spent less efficiently.
        
         | ttymck wrote:
         | I'm sure your argument is deeper, but what you have written
         | could be said about any tax, no? Is there something unique
         | about capital gains tax in particular?
        
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       (page generated 2021-11-30 23:01 UTC)