I’m fairly convinced that what makes a lot of the US population right wing is a lack of understanding of what that means.
My dad (long time conservative but can’t get on the trump train which is good at least) thinks that “tax the rich” means people like high end doctors and surgeons. People who are absolutely in the top 1% but like “has a nice weekend car and maybe a lake house” not people making millions of dollars per month or week (or more)
“So your proposal to solve (the debt) is to tax the rich?”
“So your proposal to solve the empty gas tank is to put gas in the tank?”
“So your proposal to solve the dog getting out of the yard is to repair the fence?”
“So your proposal to solve the problem of not being able to see is to put on your glasses?”
Bro. It’s the most obvious solution. It also has the added benefit of being the only one that’s proven to work.
Being a representative whose mind doesn’t immediately jump to that solution is like being a truck driver and not immediately jumping to the solution of slamming on the brakes when you’re speeding toward a red light: it’s not a difference of opinion or policy, it’s dangerous negligence. Why are you holding meetings about this? If you’re dedicated to not slamming on the brakes, just try swerving into the daycare playground or whatever your twisted idea is. Don’t hold a town hall asking for a rubber stamp on plowing through the toddlers, and definitely don’t act surprised when your constituents react in horror and propose using the brakes instead.
We don’t tax billionaires to fight the national debt. We tax billionaires to fight BILLIONAIRES.
(But whatever gets us there I guess.)
I should probably have mentioned:
The main point of the post is that despite the connotations of the word “debt”, retiring the debt would be a disastrous mistake.
Even running multi-year neutral (or surplus) budgets would probably cause a recession.
And that’s not a weakness of the US economy, it’s just how fiat currency works.
That sounds like our economy is being held hostage by billionaires. “You can’t take money from us, it’ll make things worse for everyone”. Bullshit - they’ll try to make things worse for everyone but we don’t have to let them, which is exactly the point.
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Because I might be rich someday, and if that happens I’m going to want even more money. Or something like that.
They’re all temporarily embarrassed billionaires confused about the order in which they’re supposed to climb and kick the ladder.
I am not opposed to inreasing taxes necessarily, but people need to understand that the income of wealthy individuals is not used purely for the fulfilment of their needs and wishes. Rich people play a rather important role in allocating and managing resourses(capital) in society, and increasing the taxes will decrease the capability of rich people to invest, which is not ideal.
Also, if the tax increase is percieved to be unfair, rich people can just leave and go to Monaco or Switzerland or any other “rich friendly” country. They are pretty much free to do so and they do it all the time. So increasing taxes will not necessarily lead to more tax revenue if they are increased above what is reasonable.
I am so happy karma is not a thing here btw. I would be in an unenviable position otherwise.
To take your seriously for a moment: Lack of investment sounds like next generations problem.
There is a crisis in Europe because of lack of investment, are you sure it is not your problem?
I do in fact wish we had European problems. That would be a massive upgrade. We should be so lucky.
Yeah, when welfare and pensions are butchered because the EU is trying to salvage the deindustrialising increasingly uncompetitive economy by pouring lots of money in the military-industrial complex instead of social services this is going to be soooo awesome. Only Europe is going to be doing that in a much more fiscally constrained environment that America. Greaaaat.
You are trying to scare me, an American, by saying that if Europe keeps going the way they are going someday they might be as terrible a place to live as America.
That’s better odds than my current reality. I’m guaranteed to live in a country no social safety net and a constrained fiscal environment because that describes America right fucking now.
Again, we should be so lucky.
I would say that America can afford a safety net, it just doesn’t do it for ideological reasons.
I mean, I am not trying to scare you, just showing you that a lack of investment is bad.
Really sounds like you are arguing in favor of those ideological reasons.
I’m not saying we should take the fortunes of the rich and light them on fire. (Though there would be benefits even to that destructive approach)
Sure, eating the rich would not solve all our problems forever. It would solve some immediate problems today, and future generations would need to grapple with their problems tomorrow.
“We can’t change things! There would be costs!” There are costs to inaction. We are paying them every day.
You’re literally preaching trickle down economics. Which from the state of things today, clearly does not work for the benefit of the lower and middle class. The greatest times for the middle class in US history was when we had a 70% corporate tax rate. Upward mobility though hard and smart work is a myth. The richest people in this country see you as indentured servants, and they would let you get mangled in an industrial accident if they thought it would save them a dollar.
I am not advocating lowering taxes, just not increasing them beyond what is sensible.
Also, I sincetely doubt the richest people in America see me as an indentured servant. You are being overly dramatic.
just not increasing them beyond what is sensible.
No, you openly said raising them currently isn’t a good idea, which is a fucking stupid Take that shows you’re totally clueless on the topic
Love how he thinks the idea of taxing the rich is so ridiculous that merely repeating it back to the audience is a counter argument.
We really need to get the money out of politics.
To him it’s ridiculous because they give him so much money. He can’t fathom another point of view.
