Ok I conceded that I'm assuming the wrong context and thank you for getting us back on track.

It does make a huge difference if you're in the highest bracket and you're making a much higher rate than the threshold amount. Again I've conceded that I assumed the wrong context and am moving on.

Taxes paid at the marginal rate are paid on income that has declining marginal utility. Utility isn't destroyed just decreased for most anyway.

I think most people vastly over-estimate what kind of income these generate.

CPC was basically a way to drive poker players to Partypoker pre-UIEGA in an mgr format. Granted a CPA deal is safer legally, but from what I can tell Mason isn't (or wasn't) comfortable with the affiliate model.

The actual cruise company doesn't generate much income.

Training sites are a different animal, but also a very difficult model to make a ton of money with. Player churn and other issues plague the sites and most of the value is in the exit strategy with regards to the customer base, which 2p2 already has.

This is not to say that 2p2 should or shouldn't have done these things, but that they are not the cash cow that some seem to think they are.

I don't understand your "Mason wants you to believe." Mason said it, why assume he's not being sincere? What I took issue with was his closing comment of "that's what happens when you spread the wealth around." That may be what happens with Mason's business; it's not what happens with mine. And Obama's increase of the highest marginal rate will not affect a large percentage of small businesses. Additionally, statistics show that tax rates are not the only, or even the prime, determinant of productivity, employment, wages, or growth.

Aren't the start up costs insanely low? It seemed like something that should have been a no-brainer for 2+2 even if the training site concept had a low chance of taking off.

Question for you, do you have any insight into what might actually get through Congress regarding Obama's tax plan when/if Obama is POTUS? I assume it makes a significant difference if there are 60 or more Dems in the Senate in the next Congress. amirite?

Mason the mason?

Mason,

What is the critical tax rate on income over 250K for your employees not to get a bonus? It seems to be a remarkable coincidence that this is exactly in the narrow range between 36% and 39%, which is the difference between the two tax plans.

Overall profitability was what I was commenting on. I thought the Didz post made it look like 2p2 would be awash in gold plated hookers if he had started a poker cruise business and training site and I just wanted to make the point that it might not be the case.

Also, forgot to add that a 2p2 training site would have book sale implications. Of course there are corresponding revenues from the training site, but it's not a small issue wrt book sales.

Point taken. Mason is probably sincere in his belief that his business won't be profitable enough in the future BECAUSE OF Obamas tax plan. Joe the Plumber was also likely sincere in his belief that he wouldn't be able to afford to purchase his plumbing business because of the tax plan.

Also coincidentally, it isn't that he will have a smaller bonus...rather, no bonus at all.

Haven't really given it much thought. Is there really a chance the Dems will have 60 seats? As a guess, I would say they are more likely to let the Bush tax cuts expire, as you indicated in another post, rather than do something more radical, as that would let them say we didn't "increase" taxes, we simply let the law expire. And your surmise that they would amend the payroll tax seems likely.

If the predictions made by Greenspan and the White House press secretary yesterday prove true, we're in for a long and deep recession. That would mean the Dems will have to be careful to protect their majorities for 2010; I see them being more cautious than radical. But Reid and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Pelosi are poor leaders and I expect them to be both sore-winners and misguided.

Didn't really answer your question. I guess the only thing we know is we're going to get different. May be better, may be worse, but it will be different.

Here's a wild one: How about Obama offering McCain Secretary of Defense? A chance to show, in action, what Obama has been saying in words, that we all need to come together.

Conversely you should keep all your money, but not drive on public roads, hire your own security detail, have your own food quality lab, and not complain when you don't have clean air and running water, or vagrants on your front lawn instead of at school. Surely we are so close to that mystical Republican utopia where all these services magically spring out of thin air and we're not going to pay for them because "da gaburment aint gonna take mah monay that i earned and give it to poor people!"

Not a snarky question: How are the book sales doing lately?

If I had to take bets on quantity of future revenue derived from providing poker information/training information, my money wouldn't be on "books".

Put me in a time machine and take me to 2013 and tell me online poker is legal in the US, and knowing nothing else, and ask me which business I'd rather own, 2p2 or CR. Not a close decision imo.

Well, I don't know anything about this so sorry if I am completely wrong.

1. The training sites are going to exist no matter what, might as well have the money go from one part of your company to another instead of out of the company.

2. Sources of income which require constant payments (like subscriptions) could potentially be more valuable long term compared to one time profit sources like books?

You may very well be correct about your initial point, that training sites are not printing money.

Thanks for the response. McCain as Secretary of Defense? Yeah that would be good.

Impossible to predict how a new POTUS will proceed to govern. Bush was the "education" president and a "uniter" when he took office. I sure hope Obama will be a good leader, we need one. I predicted long ago Obama would win, haven't seen a reason to change my mind.

I'm only pointing to the affiliate side of CPC. Basically they own the rakeback of a huge majority of old school posters first party accounts. Obviously there's other reasons why they didn't go this route until it was too late. (perhaps raketracker.com is a better example)

Yeah, if he said smaller bonus he could have maybe had a point. I still wouldn't be sure since it is not 100% clear to me that Obama's plan will not increase the amount of books he sells. I still would have had a tough time taking him seriously because of the spreading the wealth talking point memo which has nothing to do with the math.

McCain is completely unqualified to be Secretary of Defense, and would be more likely to attempt to stage a coup, much like his friend Pinochet. Just because someone is a bellicose bully, doesn't mean they actually have the skills to command.

And the last thing McCain would ever do is try to implement Obama's ideas.

Frankly, Jim Webb would be a great choice. Hell, he's a former Republican, and former Secretary of the Navy. Colin Powell would be a great choice, but I'm pretty sure he has no interest. Petraus would be a fair choice.

Or, we put government in charge of all that, and ONLY that. Reduce everyone's tax rate to about 1.9%, and call it a day.

Problem solved, everyone is happy.


Edit: Except for all the people that would now have to go look for jobs.

The other argument against making McCain Secretary of Defense is that the *current* Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, is almost uniformly regarded as doing a great job, so much so that there's a pretty good chance he'll be a hold over from the Bush Administration in the event Obama wins.

Likely to stage a military coup? Sure why not.

Think Gates wants to leave though when Bush is through but yeah if Gates wants to sign on for a bit longer that would be good.

I dont think the Move On. org crowd would like this one bit.