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I'd rather pay taxes to Apple, Tesla, and Google than the US government. At least they're competent.
by aianus 10y ago
I'd rather pay taxes to Apple, Tesla, and Google than the US government. At least they're competent.
- oconnore 10y agoSo, in case anyone else hadn't noticed, we have reached peak libertarian techie madness.
- bitJericho 10y agoWhat op doesn't realize is that he already does. It's called the CEOs salary and its sometimes 30000 times that of the lowest paid worker, who of course survives with welfare.
- s_kilk 10y agoIt's almost as if none of these guys have ever read any nightmarish dystopian cyber-punk fiction. Megacorps as stand-in for governments == bad.
- icebraining 10y agoOr they don't happen to think that cheap sci-fi pulp, which is the vast majority of cyber-punk, are a good argument for or against anything.
- Apocryphon 10y ago"We live on an internet created by corporate persons, our government is hacked by Russian spies, and virtual reality is real now, dear." - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gazACJ0R1Hc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gazACJ0R1Hc
- jamroom 10y agoReally? At least with taxes your money is likely to stay local (whether you agree with how it is spent or not), whereas with a multinational corp like Apple, Tesla or Google your money is just as likely to go somewhere outside the country.
- aianus 10y agoAI and clean energy, once researched and developed, will never go away. The vast majority of government expenditures are for mundane transient things like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and bombing brown people across the ocean. None of which will last past beyond our lifetimes.
- andybak 10y ago> mundane transient things like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid You might dislike some of the details but aren't those things there to stop people dying, starving or living in misery? Doesn't the entire developed world have programmes similar to those you've just dismissed as 'mundane and transient' - presumably to stop the masses rioting in the street? Which libertarian paradise should we be looking to for guidance here?
- aianus 10y ago> aren't those things there to stop people dying, starving or living in misery? Ubiquitous AI and clean, cheap energy would be more effective in accomplishing the same thing. Not to mention off-world colonies would stop the human race as a whole from dying. Ensuring you and I and Grandma enjoy a little more comfort and security throughout our measly lifespans doesn't seem as inspiring and deserving of, what, $2 trillion a year?
- nikdaheratik 10y agoYou act like the choice is "Send Granny on an iceberg or we won't have Nerd Rapture for Everyone". It's not an either/or here and there's plenty of money (government or otherwise) to do both. Also, hundreds of millions of voters would disagree with you, so I guess the choice is "pay SS tax" or "move to sea-topia". Godspeed to ya.
- Asooka 10y agoA significant percentage of each dollar you give to the government is given back to you in the form of civil infrastructure and various kinds of social aid. Precisely 0 percent of each dollar that goes to Apple is used to your benefit. I'm not saying I blindly trust the government, I just see companies as even worse stewards.
- legulere 10y agoYou just hear less about their fuckups, because they're less transparent than governments.
- spriggan3 10y ago> I'd rather pay taxes to Apple, Tesla, and Google than the US government. At least they're competent. Welcome to the Cyberpunk era, where nations are private entities ... I can't wait to play CD Project game by the way.
- riboflava 10y agoThis world isn't the 80s and 90s dystopia I craved. This is far worse.