• pingveno@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I wonder if this will still be true for Democrats when the shoe is on the other foot. They were held together by Pelosi’s skilled hand for twelve years. I think the fundamentals are strong for the Democrats. They care a lot about good governance principles. Ultimately, I think that will keep everyone on the same page. I don’t see any part of the party willing to rock the boat.

      Where I am starting to get worried is with the national debt. The US, China, and many other governments are going to run into both debt issues and an aging population. That will force a reckoning at some point on entitlement spending, which is very popular.

      • ghostdoggtv@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        The solution to the debt is taxing the rich, and equitably too. They’re going to have to pay double for the amount they’ve stolen from we the people since 1980.

        • pingveno@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          That’s going to have to be part of it, but it can’t be all of it. There isn’t enough money in the upper class to take care of all of the debt, and at a certain level of taxation they will just move. I will speak in favor of increasing taxes on around pretty much every individual making over 100k or couple making over 200k. For a single person working 40 hours a week in the US, that is the 77th percentile. My husband and I are in this position and I think starting the additional tax burden with us would be fair.

          I don’t see raising taxes much below us as being very productive, and those “flat tax” people can fuck right off. That group is already paying money into entitlements so the oft repeated statement that half of households pay no income tax is misleading. They’re really struggling right now, so I just don’t see an increase in taxes as productive.

          • IHadTwoCows@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Stockholme syndrome

            EDIT TO CLARIFY: “There isnt enough wealth to tax to cover ALL the debt” is both a bad faith argument and reducto ad absurdum. Nobody expects $33T to be raised in one year or even ten by taking from the 1%. It’s also absurd to speak as if their wealth is static and not replenishing daily.

            “If we tax them they will just leave” is the mantra of the battered housewife. They’re free to leave but they are not free to take the infrastructure that we gave them to be in business, and they are not free to continue doing business in the country that allowed that business to thrive and grow. When they walk away, they leave the house and car. They are free to go restart their business somewhere else. Let them try to tell the Chinese that they have businesses in the Cayman Islands for tax write-offs.

            • pingveno@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              The problem with doing that is that people then get more hesitant about putting money into a country. Would you invest in a country if there’s a good chance its leadership is just going to do an about face and tax your wealth into nothing? Take your possessions? It’s part of the reason why many countries struggle to get foreign investment. Their past has caused businesses to have little faith that investments won’t just get nationalized by the government.

              • IHadTwoCows@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                High corporate taxation Made America Great. Low taxation destroyed it and created oligarchy. Undeniable.

              • pingveno@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                Yeah, 200k and DINK. I want to have my taxes raised, just as long as others like me also have have their taxes raised.

      • CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social
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        1 year ago

        The problem is that eventually, they’ll get someone that just won’t reach across the isle, assuming that this guy isn’t himself the one.

          • grue@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            You understand how that plays right into the traitor caucus’ hands, right? That’s hardly “fun.”

              • grue@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                The traitor caucus doesn’t give a flying fuck about other Republicans’ electoral chances. Real damage is done both to all the things managed by the federal government and to the federal workforce itself (in terms of attrition and lower morale) every time the government shuts down. That harm is, in their warped, traitorous worldview, a win.

                • IHadTwoCows@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  Fortunately we have the Telecommunications Act to make sure that they have full control over all media airwaves in the areas that count the most: the rural AM talk show market.