Elite War on Deplorables.

Almost a century ago we were invading Russia you know.

 

I am neither Liberal nor Conservative -- I am a Classic Liberal.

All humans should have
-- food
-- shelter
-- medical care

 

I do not have a degree in Economics.

I know that USA leaves millions of disabled people to fend for themselves.

I have Moderate Autism and Moderate Depression -- that is difficult enough.

10 million people in USA have Severe Mental Disability -- a much worse condition.

 

I am sorry to hear about your troubling disabilities. You are passionate about what you believe and that is good. The thing is I believe you are being misled about the real culprit that has you wishing that taxes on the rich should be raised. I would like to point you to Hillsdale College. They have free online courses that you can take to learn about the founding of this country and also about the constitution. It's free! Check it out, sign up and come back here and tell us what you learned.

Mods, exception please.

 

I would add my support to the Hillsdale suggestion. It's a very well directed and on target university; in the business of teaching rather than pushing ideology, and generous in it's programs to help people.

 

Yup. Just another example of how woefully inadequate our public education is these days. So, ok, I'll play your silly game. You help them today, you destroy the mechanism that fuels the ability to build the economy, the impetus for future economic growth is irrevocably destroyed, then what? You just start printing money? Laughable.

 

Posters here that rail agains "Socialism" incorrectly link it with Communism. In Communism, the state (collective) owns everything, especially the engines of production. Incomes are flat across the various sectors. Theoretically, everyone is equal financially, politically, and economically.

Socialism and America's complex system does none of that. A graduated income tax and national safety net is typical of these hybrid systems. They are free, democratic republics.

 

A 10% flat tax would be fair if it applied to everyone (no exemptions).

If the government can't operate on that revenue without running a deficit, then cut government.

 

The bottom end of US society is going backwards. Tax cuts don't benefit them and inflation devalues their meager pay rises.

 

Trump's legion of millionaires and billionaires would love it. They would make out like bandits. Americans on the lowest part of the economic pyramid would suffer.

In a graduated system of taxation used by G-7 nations, taxes aren't meant to be "fair" they are meant to preclude Darwinian, winner-take-all societies. Such societies don't last long. Revolution eventually topples them.

 

Having been to Sweden, and observed the orderliness, the clean streets, the high standard of living,, and the relatively flat income distribution curve, I would say yes.

Not because I expect the government to make me well off, but because there is considerable advantage to living in a civilized counry where everyone can expect to be treated as an equal and where a minimum standard of living is something that is viewed as a basic expectation.

It is certainly preferable to the vast income disparity in the US, pockets of extreme poverty, declining middle class, crumbling infrastructure, and the high porportion of people who are one medical emergency away from bankruptcy here in the US.

 

He just told you that you don't know what you're talking about.

Every employed person pays the FICA/FUTA taxes which finance most of the social safety net.

You responded by repeating a false talk radio slogan, a falsehood that had already been pointed out to you.

BTW, exempting low income people from Federal income tax is the bargain the Republicans made in order to get their massive tax cuts for the top 1/4 of 1% passed under George W Bush.

Three times in the last 35 years, the GOP has enacted huge tax cuts that almost all went to the top 1% of the population.

Every time they did, the right wing talk radio minions cheered for it, even though every time, they got peanuts to show for it, and the cuts were financed against the middle class' future tax liability (as 100% of every GOP tax cuts was BORROWED)

CEO's are cheering all the way to the bank thanks to Mnuchin, and the Trumpsters got a raise big enough that they can't clear the check at Appleby's with it, and inflation took the buying power away already.

And this is BEFORE the impact of Trump's tarriff hit the cost of big ticket items.

 

I've been to Sweden too. Like most places, you can drive around without seeing the worst of a city, never knowing it's there. However....

 

I haven't seen the democrats do anything when they had power.

At least republicans make some movement.

Democrats had a supermajority for a short time under Obama...where was their 90% tax rate bill on the rich?

When they had the chance they failed you completely.

They are all talk.

 

I want to add another helping-hand noting there are people such as myself who tried hard and did everything expected but was born disabled and have several disabilities making meaningful employment to even a subsistence level impossible so society provides help to us. I'm not rolling in the lap of luxury though eat okay, have a place to rest my head, have medical care to ease my suffering and a modest sum of money a month and am doing okay. Society made ,kindly, provisions for people like me who once we prove we are unfit and cannot upon determination by experts able to sustain ourselves are provided for at a basic level. In a way its similar to how public welfare was done in Ancient Athens well set-up to meet modern needs. But since the panel had medical doctors, employment experts and such they should know what they are doing.

 

Do the Swiss attack and denigrate the rich like they do in the US.

This fact has always baffled me.

The "rich" are responsible for providing a significant percentage of the revenue both the Federal Gov't and State governments depend on.

One would think that people would be pushing for more rich people, given that dynamic. The Feds and the States should be doing everything they can to create more rich people.

Instead, it would seem fostering envy for political gain is the order of the day, primarily within the objectives of the New Democratic Party.

The logic, under the circumstances, escapes me.

 

That's the difference between libs and conservatives. Conservatives don't care about "the rich". Libs are obsessed with the rich. Envy.

 

And I don't know of anyone who disagrees with helping those who are in need through no fault of their own. I find that most people are generous and understand that need, and are glad to help such people have quality in their lives. This is like the hand-up in the way it benefits a society. It does not promote dependence, it meets genuine need that can't be met by the individual themselves. One of the big issues here is how we decide which category people fit into, and there are a great many who will apply as "impaired" in someway when there real issue is lack of motivation. It does require good men with expertise to make that call, and especially to do so without in any way treating those in genuine need poorly. I'm not handicapped, however at only one time in my life did I apply for unemployment, which is a normal process. However the way I was treated by the people at the office when I applied- made me walk out in disgust, and I swore I'd never take a dime of their help, and I never have. If a handicapped person who had no choice and been treated with the same disrespect, I can't imagine the pain such indignity would cause- but even knowing about it would make me angry. We have to know when to do the right thing.

 

They never had a supermajoty.

That claim is as false as your last one was.

They balanced the budget, something no Republican President has done since the 1920's. and which no recent Republican President ever intended to do.

So, we borrow against the future growth of the nation to finance a tax cut, and you get a nickel out of ten dollars worth of that (and the promise that you will eventually repay that nickel with interest) and you cheer for it!

Yup, there's one born every minute.

I fell for this trickle down nonsense in 1980.

I made up my mind I wasn't going to fall for that scam again. Alas, a lot of people don't learn from experience.

 

That is true. But of course, I have no idea where or when that picture was taken. I travelled extensively throughout the country, with natives, not just as a tourist. I saw quite a lot.

 

Yes they did, once Franken was sworn in and they held it until February 4th, 2010.

 

Thank you. At least 34 million people in USA have Moderate Mental Disability. Another 10 million have much more severe Mental Disability.

 

Definitely, Scandinavian Socialism does not have the excesses of Communism.

 

No. They simply impose high taxes on them.

 

A reasonable move.

In the US, the liberals approach is to attempt to eat the hand that feeds them.

A bizarre display of promoted and encouraged envy.