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>Trending outrage seems to be the only way to move the needle at the moment so trying to undermine this article is also undermining progress. I am pointing out

by slg 5y ago

>Trending outrage seems to be the only way to move the needle at the moment so trying to undermine this article is also undermining progress. I am pointing out the root of the problem is not TurboTax/Intuit but instead the government. Your comment is effectively the doing the same thing to my comment that I did to this article so I don't understand your criticism that I was "undermining progress". It isn't like "making voting days holidays, guarantee a livable minimum wage, guarantee time off like the rest of the sane world" is a much easier to accomplish political goal than "fix lobbying".

kelnos 5y ago
I certainly do blame our politicians for bowing to this type of lobbying, but I think it's a little weak to claim that the companies that do the lobbying deserve a pass. Asking your government to adopt policies that is actively against the interests of most of the people in the country is immoral, regardless of the reasoning behind it.
- moate 5y ago
  "It's not my fault slavery is legal and I'm profiting off of it!"-Thomas Jefferson, probably Fully agree with you that saying "This rent seeking entity with a will of its own and deep pockets to spend on lobbying, is solely a byproduct of a broken system and not also fundamentally culpable at this point for the continuation of that system". Governments and corporations are made of people who make a choice. If a company choses to profit off a bad thing the government wants to do, we can decry the industry as well. At some point there was a complex tax code, and TurboTax et. al. didn't exist yet and were not to blame for it. At this point, they do exist and they must share in the blame.
- slg 5y ago
  >Asking your government to adopt policies that is actively against the interests of most of the people in the country is immoral My point was that this is something we all do. I have never met a single person who was always on the side of the greater good for every single political issue. I don't think voting or lobbying for your own interests is inherently immoral. If it is, basically all of democracy and capitalism is immoral.
  - jklinger410 5y ago
    Being selfish, or: doing something extra for yourself that explicitly harms others, is inherently immoral. No need to add grey space here.
    - slg 5y ago
      So every time you have decided to drive your car somewhere instead of take public transportation you are being immoral? The reason we need nuance here is without it we are all evil people contributing to the destruction of the planet.
      - brynjolf 5y ago
        False equivalency and you know it
        slg 5y ago
        Well, yes, that was the point. I was highlighting the ridiculous of the previous comment’s universal statement that anything selfish that harms others is immoral. There is nuance here that a statement like that ignores.
    - pessimizer 5y ago
      Who cares? Complain to the Pope about immorality, and he'll make sure they go to Hell. While you work on that, hopefully someone is working on making tax filing simpler, and preventing lobbyists from blocking that effort.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  > Asking your government to adopt policies that is actively against the interests of most of the people in the country is immoral, regardless of the reasoning behind it. To solve the problem, you can either liquidate all immoral people, or harden government against the desires of immoral people. Eliminating Intuit would just result in a new company picking up where they left off. Blaming and condemning Intuit is a no-op and a waste of time.

by slg 5y ago

kelnos 5y ago

I certainly do blame our politicians for bowing to this type of lobbying, but I think it's a little weak to claim that the companies that do the lobbying deserve a pass. Asking your government to adopt policies that is actively against the interests of most of the people in the country is immoral, regardless of the reasoning behind it.

moate 5y ago
"It's not my fault slavery is legal and I'm profiting off of it!"-Thomas Jefferson, probably Fully agree with you that saying "This rent seeking entity with a will of its own and deep pockets to spend on lobbying, is solely a byproduct of a broken system and not also fundamentally culpable at this point for the continuation of that system". Governments and corporations are made of people who make a choice. If a company choses to profit off a bad thing the government wants to do, we can decry the industry as well. At some point there was a complex tax code, and TurboTax et. al. didn't exist yet and were not to blame for it. At this point, they do exist and they must share in the blame.
slg 5y ago
>Asking your government to adopt policies that is actively against the interests of most of the people in the country is immoral My point was that this is something we all do. I have never met a single person who was always on the side of the greater good for every single political issue. I don't think voting or lobbying for your own interests is inherently immoral. If it is, basically all of democracy and capitalism is immoral.
- jklinger410 5y ago
  Being selfish, or: doing something extra for yourself that explicitly harms others, is inherently immoral. No need to add grey space here.
  - slg 5y ago
    So every time you have decided to drive your car somewhere instead of take public transportation you are being immoral? The reason we need nuance here is without it we are all evil people contributing to the destruction of the planet.
    - brynjolf 5y ago
      False equivalency and you know it
      - slg 5y ago
        Well, yes, that was the point. I was highlighting the ridiculous of the previous comment’s universal statement that anything selfish that harms others is immoral. There is nuance here that a statement like that ignores.
  - pessimizer 5y ago
    Who cares? Complain to the Pope about immorality, and he'll make sure they go to Hell. While you work on that, hopefully someone is working on making tax filing simpler, and preventing lobbyists from blocking that effort.
pessimizer 5y ago
> Asking your government to adopt policies that is actively against the interests of most of the people in the country is immoral, regardless of the reasoning behind it. To solve the problem, you can either liquidate all immoral people, or harden government against the desires of immoral people. Eliminating Intuit would just result in a new company picking up where they left off. Blaming and condemning Intuit is a no-op and a waste of time.