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Honest question for Americans. What do you think the federal government is doing to make you "poorer" that deserves dismantling the government. US income tax

Honest question for Americans. What do you think the federal government is doing to make you "poorer" that deserves dismantling the government. US income tax is generally lower than other advanced economies. Housing and medical insurance is mainly a state issue.

realdjtthrow 2y ago
[flagged]
- ty6853 2y ago
  The US has a progressive income taxation so they've counterbalanced that through taxing the balance ultimately via inflation,which is regressive against the cash based poor.
- 3vidence 2y ago
  High levels of government debt aren't exactly unique to America, however, America has the unique ability to issue it's own reserve currency that other countries will absolutely buy. Also isn't by far the number one government spending item the military? Why aren't they starting there?
  - realdjtthrow 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - 3vidence 2y ago
      Does that really align with occupying Gaza, invading Panama and occupying Greenland? Let alone the loose threats to Canada.
      - realdjtthrow 2y ago
        [flagged]
    - motorest 2y ago
      > According to the UST it's Social Security Social security is reported as 21% of the total spending. It is also financed through a dedicated payroll tax. This means the federal government only acts as an income redistribution system where payroll taxes collected today are redistributed as pensions paid today. So even though social security shows up so high, it just reflects the income redistribution scheme where the current workforce maintains retirement pensions of workers who retired. The second largest expenditure is national defense at 15%.
    - tzs 2y ago
      Defense is the largest discretionary budget item. They can cut it by simply not including as much money in the budget for it. Social Security is mandatory. They would have change the law cut it.
  - jrs235 2y ago
    They'll keeping buying dollars so long as they trust the US. Being erratic and shifty hurts that.
- tomrod 2y ago
  Fox has testified in court that they are entertainment, not news. Consider more factual sources. Yes, deficit spending has been high due to Covid and recovery. Of course it was started by Trump"s tax cuts. Perhaps we consider taxing wealthier people.
  - realdjtthrow 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - tomrod 2y ago
      Yes, the economist trends towards more factual reporting and less propaganda. Great call.
      - realdjtthrow 2y ago
        [flagged]
        deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
        tomrod 2y ago
        I find it hard to have a real conversation when a person apparently makes a sockpuppet account to express an opinion, complains when called out after they share information from a known propaganda source, then refers to a conversation nebulously as "scheduled programming".
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
maximinus_thrax 2y ago
> What do you think the federal government is doing to make you "poorer" that deserves dismantling the government. This is what you get after years of defunding or mishandling education. The oligarchs managed to convince the general public that the government is stealing from them. The past decades have seen a huge upward wealth transfer which peaked during covid and this was repackaged and sold back to the people as 'government bad'. Sure, government bad because they didn't go after the oligarchs, but dismantling it is not a solution. There will be no tax cuts for the plebs after the government is 'leaner', I guarantee it. At most a marginal couple hundred bucks per year - at the cost of drastically cutting down the civil services, some of that invisible stuff that makes society run. By far the biggest beneficiaries of a weak impotent government will be the existing ruling class, the so-called 'elites' the angry 'deplorables' voted against. My worry is that it's going to backfire and at the exact wrong time, when we need to deal with climate change, pandemics, crumbling old infrastructure and ongoing wealth consolidation. Fun times ahead.
nradov 2y ago
Federalism has always been a fundamental, unresolved issue in American politics. At one end of the spectrum some people think that states should be reduced to mere administrative units and all real power should be centralized at the federal level. At the other end some people think that the federal government should only deal with external affairs, and everything else should be left to the states. The issue is largely a matter of ideology rather than about whether it's making us poorer or whether federal income taxes are too high.
- fzeroracer 2y ago
  Unfortunately this isn't the dividing issue. The right doesn't actually believe in the division between states and the federal government, it's just a convenient wedge for them to push their power grabs. That much can be seen via both how they've weaponized abortion and anti-transgender policy. First they move to remove federal restrictions so that states can freely restrict the rights of individuals, then they add federal laws which force blue states to comply either by funding blackmail or through control of the supreme court.
- wrfrmers 2y ago
  It's incorrect to divorce this dynamic from its history, which is largely one of America's right wing/nativists using "states' rights" as a cover to infringe on the rights of marginalized people, which are supposed to be inalieanable from the federal government's point of view. You have to mention the applications of that ideology, which include secession, Jim Crow laws, and anti-abortion laws, among others.

realdjtthrow 2y ago

[flagged]

ty6853 2y ago
The US has a progressive income taxation so they've counterbalanced that through taxing the balance ultimately via inflation,which is regressive against the cash based poor.
3vidence 2y ago
High levels of government debt aren't exactly unique to America, however, America has the unique ability to issue it's own reserve currency that other countries will absolutely buy. Also isn't by far the number one government spending item the military? Why aren't they starting there?
- realdjtthrow 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - 3vidence 2y ago
    Does that really align with occupying Gaza, invading Panama and occupying Greenland? Let alone the loose threats to Canada.
    - realdjtthrow 2y ago
      [flagged]
  - motorest 2y ago
    > According to the UST it's Social Security Social security is reported as 21% of the total spending. It is also financed through a dedicated payroll tax. This means the federal government only acts as an income redistribution system where payroll taxes collected today are redistributed as pensions paid today. So even though social security shows up so high, it just reflects the income redistribution scheme where the current workforce maintains retirement pensions of workers who retired. The second largest expenditure is national defense at 15%.
  - tzs 2y ago
    Defense is the largest discretionary budget item. They can cut it by simply not including as much money in the budget for it. Social Security is mandatory. They would have change the law cut it.
- jrs235 2y ago
  They'll keeping buying dollars so long as they trust the US. Being erratic and shifty hurts that.
tomrod 2y ago
Fox has testified in court that they are entertainment, not news. Consider more factual sources. Yes, deficit spending has been high due to Covid and recovery. Of course it was started by Trump"s tax cuts. Perhaps we consider taxing wealthier people.
- realdjtthrow 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - tomrod 2y ago
    Yes, the economist trends towards more factual reporting and less propaganda. Great call.
    - realdjtthrow 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
      - tomrod 2y ago
        I find it hard to have a real conversation when a person apparently makes a sockpuppet account to express an opinion, complains when called out after they share information from a known propaganda source, then refers to a conversation nebulously as "scheduled programming".

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

maximinus_thrax 2y ago

> What do you think the federal government is doing to make you "poorer" that deserves dismantling the government. This is what you get after years of defunding or mishandling education. The oligarchs managed to convince the general public that the government is stealing from them. The past decades have seen a huge upward wealth transfer which peaked during covid and this was repackaged and sold back to the people as 'government bad'. Sure, government bad because they didn't go after the oligarchs, but dismantling it is not a solution. There will be no tax cuts for the plebs after the government is 'leaner', I guarantee it. At most a marginal couple hundred bucks per year - at the cost of drastically cutting down the civil services, some of that invisible stuff that makes society run. By far the biggest beneficiaries of a weak impotent government will be the existing ruling class, the so-called 'elites' the angry 'deplorables' voted against. My worry is that it's going to backfire and at the exact wrong time, when we need to deal with climate change, pandemics, crumbling old infrastructure and ongoing wealth consolidation. Fun times ahead.

nradov 2y ago

Federalism has always been a fundamental, unresolved issue in American politics. At one end of the spectrum some people think that states should be reduced to mere administrative units and all real power should be centralized at the federal level. At the other end some people think that the federal government should only deal with external affairs, and everything else should be left to the states. The issue is largely a matter of ideology rather than about whether it's making us poorer or whether federal income taxes are too high.

fzeroracer 2y ago
Unfortunately this isn't the dividing issue. The right doesn't actually believe in the division between states and the federal government, it's just a convenient wedge for them to push their power grabs. That much can be seen via both how they've weaponized abortion and anti-transgender policy. First they move to remove federal restrictions so that states can freely restrict the rights of individuals, then they add federal laws which force blue states to comply either by funding blackmail or through control of the supreme court.
wrfrmers 2y ago
It's incorrect to divorce this dynamic from its history, which is largely one of America's right wing/nativists using "states' rights" as a cover to infringe on the rights of marginalized people, which are supposed to be inalieanable from the federal government's point of view. You have to mention the applications of that ideology, which include secession, Jim Crow laws, and anti-abortion laws, among others.