3 ms·

IMHO, the easy answer is wealth taxes and massively increased social safety net in order to bring America in line with developed countries.

saltyoldman 7mo ago
I don't think the rich should be taxed a dime more until they route out the Fraud. What's the point of having all the rich people suddenly pay out $40 Billion next week, if that money disappears in California Homeless and Hospice crap. I don't disagree with increased safety nets but it needs to be done without people writing 50k Medicare billing lines per day. Supposedly CA spent 800k on EACH HOMELESS PERSON over the last 5 years. They could have all gotten a free home in a suburb and developer salary for 2 years instead of fraud capture.
- stego-tech 7mo ago
  [flagged]
  - saltyoldman 7mo ago
    > Kindly fuck off with that repeatedly disproven propaganda, Reagan. Please don't do that, we all have opinions here. > Seriously. Fuck off, read a book, talk to people. Just turn off the podcasts and cable news for a spell. Then you update with Fuck off and talk to people. Am I not talking to people now?
- siliconc0w 7mo ago
  It needs to be a yes-and. We need to be better about fraud (digital ID + biometric proof on delivery of services) and we need a more equitable tax system that doesn't have the top .1% paying an effective tax rate lower than a school teacher.
- mixmastamyk 7mo ago
  War: 200B now, 1.5T later.
  - saltyoldman 7mo ago
    I don't disagree with solving that too. But it seems like the answer is always "TAX MORE" but nothing in our government spending aligns with the fixing the ACTUAL PROBLEMS.
    - mixmastamyk 7mo ago
      IOW, tax more must be combined with spend less. And spend more efficiently, yes.
  - ryandrake 7mo ago
    I don't want to hear anyone talk about "fraud in government spending" until the defense department passes an audit.
stego-tech 7mo ago
I mean, yeah, I'm in full agreement with you. Think Tanks, Economists, Researchers, Politicians, Philosophers, Social Workers, everyone who looks at this stuff professionally is in general agreement that our method of shoe-horning middlemen into every single transaction, forced privatization of government services, permissive attitudes towards corporate consolidation/antitrust laws, and lack of substantial taxation is what's ultimately harming our long-term growth prospects. Try telling that to the people who have benefited from said conditions for decades and are enjoying the fruits of their harmful labors. They're the ones running all three branches of government from local to federal level and everywhere in between, and they have no intention of changing anything or sacrificing their own gains until they're dead in the ground.
jandrewrogers 7mo ago
The economies you want to copy are even more stagnant than the US economy. It isn't obvious why this would be a long-term improvement.
- shimman 7mo ago
  Why should the majority of Americans care about a stagnant US economy? You realize THEY AREN'T BENEFITING from the current economy right? 50% of the population is always on the verge of collapse, that is shameful and pathetic. I absolutely do not care about profits until we can provide universal healthcare, universal childcare, and universal education (all levels, university, community college, vocational training). Not being able to have freedom from sickness or having the freedom to better oneself is the ultimate sin of modern America. The fact that you care about maybe say 10,000 capitalists over the hundreds of millions of Americans is beyond pathetic. Who exactly are you serving with this rhetoric because it's absolutely not your children, nor your family or community. Who benefits from this delusion that money only matters in our lives? What a joke.
ryandrake 7mo ago
We need to Make Billionaires Millionaires Again.
akramachamarei 7mo ago
In line with developed countries except, for example, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden, each of whom previously levied wealth taxes on individuals, but apparently didn't like the taste, and have since repealed.

saltyoldman 7mo ago

I don't think the rich should be taxed a dime more until they route out the Fraud. What's the point of having all the rich people suddenly pay out $40 Billion next week, if that money disappears in California Homeless and Hospice crap. I don't disagree with increased safety nets but it needs to be done without people writing 50k Medicare billing lines per day. Supposedly CA spent 800k on EACH HOMELESS PERSON over the last 5 years. They could have all gotten a free home in a suburb and developer salary for 2 years instead of fraud capture.

stego-tech 7mo ago
[flagged]
- saltyoldman 7mo ago
  > Kindly fuck off with that repeatedly disproven propaganda, Reagan. Please don't do that, we all have opinions here. > Seriously. Fuck off, read a book, talk to people. Just turn off the podcasts and cable news for a spell. Then you update with Fuck off and talk to people. Am I not talking to people now?
siliconc0w 7mo ago
It needs to be a yes-and. We need to be better about fraud (digital ID + biometric proof on delivery of services) and we need a more equitable tax system that doesn't have the top .1% paying an effective tax rate lower than a school teacher.
mixmastamyk 7mo ago
War: 200B now, 1.5T later.
- saltyoldman 7mo ago
  I don't disagree with solving that too. But it seems like the answer is always "TAX MORE" but nothing in our government spending aligns with the fixing the ACTUAL PROBLEMS.
  - mixmastamyk 7mo ago
    IOW, tax more must be combined with spend less. And spend more efficiently, yes.
- ryandrake 7mo ago
  I don't want to hear anyone talk about "fraud in government spending" until the defense department passes an audit.

stego-tech 7mo ago

I mean, yeah, I'm in full agreement with you. Think Tanks, Economists, Researchers, Politicians, Philosophers, Social Workers, everyone who looks at this stuff professionally is in general agreement that our method of shoe-horning middlemen into every single transaction, forced privatization of government services, permissive attitudes towards corporate consolidation/antitrust laws, and lack of substantial taxation is what's ultimately harming our long-term growth prospects. Try telling that to the people who have benefited from said conditions for decades and are enjoying the fruits of their harmful labors. They're the ones running all three branches of government from local to federal level and everywhere in between, and they have no intention of changing anything or sacrificing their own gains until they're dead in the ground.

jandrewrogers 7mo ago

The economies you want to copy are even more stagnant than the US economy. It isn't obvious why this would be a long-term improvement.

shimman 7mo ago
Why should the majority of Americans care about a stagnant US economy? You realize THEY AREN'T BENEFITING from the current economy right? 50% of the population is always on the verge of collapse, that is shameful and pathetic. I absolutely do not care about profits until we can provide universal healthcare, universal childcare, and universal education (all levels, university, community college, vocational training). Not being able to have freedom from sickness or having the freedom to better oneself is the ultimate sin of modern America. The fact that you care about maybe say 10,000 capitalists over the hundreds of millions of Americans is beyond pathetic. Who exactly are you serving with this rhetoric because it's absolutely not your children, nor your family or community. Who benefits from this delusion that money only matters in our lives? What a joke.

ryandrake 7mo ago

We need to Make Billionaires Millionaires Again.

akramachamarei 7mo ago

In line with developed countries except, for example, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden, each of whom previously levied wealth taxes on individuals, but apparently didn't like the taste, and have since repealed.