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Daily Archives: 25. Juni 2025
Buy, Borrow, Die: How to be a billionaire and pay no taxes
(March 17, 2025)
Step one: buy. The average American derives most of their disposable income from the wages they earn working a job, but the superrich are different. They amass their fortune by buying and owning assets that appreciate.
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Instead of selling their assets to make major purchases, the superrich can use them as collateral to secure loans, which, because they must eventually be repaid, are also not considered taxable income.
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According to a provision of the tax code known as “stepped-up basis”—or, more evocatively, the “angel of death” loophole—when an individual dies, the value that their assets gained during their lifetime becomes immune to taxation.
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“Only morons pay the estate tax,” Gary Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs executive and the then–chief economic adviser to Donald Trump, memorably remarked in 2017.
Zohran Mamdani Delivers Stunning Blow to ‚Billionaire-Backed Status Quo‘ in NYC
Disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was backed by prominent national Democrats and an unprecedentedly deep-pocketed super PAC funded by billionaires and corporations, conceded defeat after it became clear that Mamdani‘s lead was insurmountable. With 93% of the votes tallied, Mamdani led Cuomo 43.5% to 36.4%.
Mamdani‘s primary win, a stunning upset, is expected to become official after the ranked-choice tally next week. In his victory speech, Mamdani said that his campaign and its supporters „made history.“
„In the words of Nelson Mandela, ‚It always seems impossible until it is done,'“ he added. „My friends, we have done it.“
A New Political Star Emerges Out of a Fractured Democratic Party
That Mr. Mamdani had such success while running on a far-left agenda, including positions that once were politically risky in New York — like describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide and calling for new taxes on business — may challenge the boundaries of party orthodoxy and unnerve national Democratic leaders.
Trump tensions with Israel, Netanyahu rise to the surface
Amos Hochstein, who was a senior official focused on the Middle East during the Biden administration, described a pattern of Israeli leaders presenting headstrong views on security and using the U.S. as a scapegoat to rein them in with hawkish security officials and hard-line political partners.
“I’ll say something a bit controversial, but in my mind, since Ronald Reagan, Israel doesn’t have a stop button,” Hochstein said on the “Unholy: Two Jews on the News” podcast June 19.
“Every prime minister, right-wing, left-wing centrist goes to his, whoever it is at the time, the military, the intelligence, his, you know, extremist parties and says, ‘I’m with you, but these darn Americans are forcing me to stop.’ And they’re like, all right, fine, we’ll stop and we’ll do a deal. And that’s been the case in every operation since the 1980s.”
Trump Sees ‚Progress‘ On Gaza, Raising Hopes For Ceasefire
„I think great progress is being made on Gaza,“ Trump told reporters ahead of a NATO summit in the Netherlands, adding that his special envoy Steve Witkoff had told him „Gaza is very close.“
He linked his optimism about imminent „very good news“ for the Gaza Strip to a ceasefire agreed on Tuesday between Israel and Hamas backer Iran to end their 12-day war.
Death toll across Gaza Strip surges to 56,156, over 132,239 injured
Medical sources announced on Wednesday that the death toll from Israel’s ongoing aggression in the Gaza Strip has risen to 56,156, the majority of whom are women and children, since the start of the aggression on October 7, 2023.
The number causalities has also climbed to 132,239, with many victims still trapped under the rubble, unreachable by ambulance and civil defense crews due to the continuous bombardment and destruction of infrastructure.
Wednesday‘s death toll surges with 74 killed in 24 hours
At least 74 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the last 24 hours, with another 391 injured, Gaza‘s health ministry is reporting.
It added that emergency teams also recovered the bodies of five people killed in earlier strikes.
Pentagon launches probe into Iran strike intel leak
Seated next to President Donald Trump, NATO chief Mark Rutte and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the start of a day of meetings, Hegseth didn’t provide details of the investigation, but did confirm the classified intelligence assessment and its findings, saying its conclusions are “low confidence.”
Exclusive: Early US intel assessment suggests strikes on Iran did not destroy nuclear sites, sources say
The assessment, which has not been previously reported, was produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s intelligence arm. It is based on a battle damage assessment conducted by US Central Command in the aftermath of the US strikes, one of the sources said.
The analysis of the damage to the sites and the impact of the strikes on Iran’s nuclear ambitions is ongoing, and could change as more intelligence becomes available.
The Latest: Iran-Israel ceasefire holds; 7 Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza
Meanwhile, an Israeli military official said seven Israeli soldiers were killed Tuesday in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis when their armored vehicle was struck by an explosive. The announcement comes a day after witnesses and hospitals in Gaza said Israeli forces and drones opened fire toward hundreds of Palestinians waiting for aid, killing at least 44.