this California wealth tax thing is just incredible. so in October 2025, a California healthcare union proposed a "one time" 5% tax on any billionaire's wealth. the ballot measure will be voted on next month. In early December 2025, California announced that it would be a retroactive tax if passed, applying to anyone with CA residency as of Jan 1, 2026. The objective is to pay for Medi-Cal, California's incredibly dysfunctional healthcare system. (which also functions as a glorified welfare apparatus, but that's a discussion for another time). polls reveal that the CA electorate is split around 50/50 on the tax, but prediction markets only give Prop 40 a ~23% chance of passing (there are competing measures on the ballet that would nullify it). there are 200 billionaires in CA, worth collectively somewhere between $2.3 and $2.6 trillion. 5% of that is around $100b, accounting for a small amount of attrition. proponents of the tax forecasted a significant windfall, assuming only a 10% departure rate. supporters thought they were being clever with the retroactive concept. no billionares would leave CA in the few short months between the tax being proposed and the residency cutoff date, without the tax even having passed yet, right? well as it turns out, they did. a new paper [1] from two academics at Stanford called "The Net Present Value of the California Billionaire Tax Act", argues that not only did more billionaires leave due to the proposed tax than its proponents expected, but that the value of the tax, if it does pass, is actually negative. proponents of the tax only assumed 10% avoidance, that is, only 10% of the taxable base of targeted billionaires would leave CA within the very short Oct-Dec 2025 window. Jaros and Rauh, the Stanford academics, find that a lower bound of 28.6% of the taxable base managed to leave. just based on known departures, those departures total $577b in net worth, or $28.8b in potential tax lost. this of course does not capture everyone (many left without announcing their departure), so the authors normalize to departure rates estimated from other wealth tax events, and apply other discounts for litigation, arriving arrive at a figure of only $28-$36b in forecasted tax revenues. but this isn't all! all of the income taxes paid by the departed billionaires are also forsaken. the authors estimate that CA billionaires pay $3.3- 5.8b in annual income taxes. they assume a midpoint of $2b lost in annual collections from departed billionaires. the net present value of that lost income stream is -$68.9 billion. so when you add it all up you get: + $30b one-time tax windfall (estimated) - $69b in present value of lost future income taxes = - 38.9b overall net present value of the tax of course, this analysis is highly estimate driven. the authors simulate the parameters 100k times and find a negative NPV of the implemented tax 85 percent of the time. and if the tax doesn't pass, which it's not looking like it will, California still ended up losing at least $577b in departed net worth, and they have permanently poisoned the well with entrepreneurs who will now worry about future wealth taxes. [1]: nber.org/system/files/workin…

Vance lets it slip that he knows Trump may not endorse him anymore Vance: If I run, I think the President would endorse me. But I'm not sure. I haven't talked to him yet.

Western liberals imported the third world into France and other countries in the name of diversity and compassion. They ignored fundamental questions of assimilation and compatibility. They were told it would lead to this and they didn't listen. I pray that France, a beautiful country of amazing people, will stop this madness before more of its landmarks burn. And I hope Americans are paying attention. This is the future congressional Democrats seek for your country.

That roller coaster in Atlanta was a disaster waiting to happen!

If every group but yours plays like a team, they can and will take your shit. This is inherent to democracy.

Of the various boomers in my and my betrothed lives we stand to inherit upwards of 4-5 properties and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of shit. Campers, cars, tools, furniture, etc. I have no clue what I will do with any of it.

Trump: You can no longer say hi mom. It's hi gestating. I love you so much gestating.

> You are David Nemecek, you are the lawyer the most aggressive distressed hedge funds fear > You get your law school degree from Harvard Law, obviously > You work at Cravath, Gibson, Skadden, and then the leading law firm recruits you > You become a Partner at Kirkland & Ellis nine years after law school > Over the next 15 years, you absolutely kill it. You work on literally every innovative LME. You are the LME market. > Legends start about you. Associates bring you the docs, you examine them and find chink after chink in the armor > The Financial Times calls you the "most powerful adviser to distressed companies" > In 2026, Simpson Thacher poaches you to become Head of Simpson Thacher’s Capital Structure Solutions for a reported $30mm figure > You join. And you are not alone. Every major company (Xerox, Leslie’s, Springs Window) drops K&E and rehires you through STB. You are officially greater than Kirkland and Ellis. > Xerox comes asking for help. They need cash, but assets are pledged and docs are closed. > You find yet another chink in the docs. Subsidiary baskets are closed, but why should the recipient of the assets be a ‘Subsidiary’ at all? You design the JVCo dropdown. > You pull it off; more will come, Pari Passu writes about you. Of course they do. You are Dave Nemecek.

My expectations are that I'll be paid what I'm owed. And I'm sure that I will. There's not a politician anywhere who will fuck with the voting power of GenX and Boomers. Its you who will be fucked. Not me.

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.