4 ms·

Really? Could you be more specific on how regulatory fees and government service fees are a bigger problem than massive, gaping wealth inequality and the power

Really? Could you be more specific on how regulatory fees and government service fees are a bigger problem than massive, gaping wealth inequality and the power differentials that go along with it? And what's the solution? Deregulation? Wouldn't that just make consumers even more vulnerable to the predations of the powerful? In fact, it seems that powerful interests generally lobby for more regulation, not less, so I'm not really sure what your point is here. And your statement about "too much government" is vague and abstract. How exactly is "too much government" contributing to wealth and power inequality. Historically, it has been government intervention that has acted as a counterweight to concentrated power. In fact, people who have been complaining about too much government became influential in public policy about the EXACT time a lot of these trends in wealth inequality started (the late 1970s). Sorry to be so critical, but I think a major contributor to our problems is people who make blanket statements about that are vague and imprecise and do not articulate any real policy goals.

CodeWriter23 9y ago
In response to your first question, my go to answer would be the government's favorite rent seeking apparatus: parking enforcement. Parking tickets are a regressive form of taxation that disproportionately affects the poor. I'm not talking about exceeding your time at the meter. I'm more referring to Street Sweeping violations on a weekly basis, when they hardly ever actually send a street sweeper down your block. Another example is how LA Sanitation continued to charge myself and thousands of other apartment dwellers the monthly flat rate, despite our landlord hiring a private service, and the fact that the city collected our cans and the city trucks didn't collect trash. They refused to refund my money, citing a City Council Resolution on the matter. The city was eventually sued and this policy was repealed. If I refused to pay, since DWP does the billing for Sanitation, my electrical service would have been terminated. Don't even get me started on CA's solution to Sacramento's refusal to curtail spending by passing a $.20/gallon gasoline tax. CA residents already pay more gas tax than most other states. And last but certainly not least, CA Senate Bill 18/2017 which thankfully was crushed by activists. This "Children's Bill of Rights" did not increase safety nor the welfare of children in general. It did however insinuate the State of California as your child's new parent, whilst mandating a new level of services to be provided by the billionaire author of the bill, Jim Steyer (Common Sense Media). Funded by your tax dollars, of course.

CodeWriter23 9y ago

In response to your first question, my go to answer would be the government's favorite rent seeking apparatus: parking enforcement. Parking tickets are a regressive form of taxation that disproportionately affects the poor. I'm not talking about exceeding your time at the meter. I'm more referring to Street Sweeping violations on a weekly basis, when they hardly ever actually send a street sweeper down your block. Another example is how LA Sanitation continued to charge myself and thousands of other apartment dwellers the monthly flat rate, despite our landlord hiring a private service, and the fact that the city collected our cans and the city trucks didn't collect trash. They refused to refund my money, citing a City Council Resolution on the matter. The city was eventually sued and this policy was repealed. If I refused to pay, since DWP does the billing for Sanitation, my electrical service would have been terminated. Don't even get me started on CA's solution to Sacramento's refusal to curtail spending by passing a $.20/gallon gasoline tax. CA residents already pay more gas tax than most other states. And last but certainly not least, CA Senate Bill 18/2017 which thankfully was crushed by activists. This "Children's Bill of Rights" did not increase safety nor the welfare of children in general. It did however insinuate the State of California as your child's new parent, whilst mandating a new level of services to be provided by the billionaire author of the bill, Jim Steyer (Common Sense Media). Funded by your tax dollars, of course.