4 ms·
I didn’t know this but it’s the kind of stuff our tax dollars pay for and ultimately why I’m so disgruntled about the high taxes we pay - especially in the midd
by gxs 3mo ago
I didn’t know this but it’s the kind of stuff our tax dollars pay for and ultimately why I’m so disgruntled about the high taxes we pay - especially in the middle class
No problem paying taxes - my entire gripe is with what what the moneys spent on
- wilg 3mo agoThe US has below average middle class tax rates. But luckily we can just choose what our tax dollars are spent on through democracy! The main problem is nobody agrees about anything and lots of people are really dumb and can't handle the responsibility of electing competent people into government.
- clickety_clack 3mo agoIt would be a mistake to assume that people who don’t agree with you are really dumb.
- mcdonje 3mo agoThis is naïve. The US government is less democratic than advertised, and there are many factors for that. Not going to write a tome, but if you're going to point a finger at one group, it shouldn't be private citizens.
- wilg 3mo agoThis is a common coping mechanism, but the US is quite democratic and almost any objection you have about corporate control or whatnot can be easily overridden by getting like 100,000 more people to agree with you.
- gxs 3mo agoCan you explain here without an LLM? Really curious to hear more about this Unless all of congress is included in that 100k, I’d love to hear a plausible scenario where this is actually achievable and not merely some clever edge case you found
- polshaw 3mo ago>Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-poli... especially note figure 1.
- the_real_cher 3mo agoIm not sure I agree that a two party system for 400 million people allows us to choose what our taxes are spent on.
- wilg 3mo agoIt does exactly that.
- bmau5 3mo agoWould love to see someone vibecode an explorer for seeing how their jurisdiction spent their taxes. Denver has a decent explorer here: https://www.denvergov.org/transparency/checkbook#/home?year=2026 https://www.denvergov.org/transparency/checkbook#/home?year=...
- thesuitonym 3mo agoWhy do you need to vibecode an explorer when financial analysis tools are a dime a dozen?