Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez misquoted the U.S. Constitution while threatening to run for president

You mean do I have a forced confession from jake the drunken GM autoworker?

Or a white paper written by some think tank egghead?

My opinion is compiled from thousands of inputs over many years of observation

But I will give you a hint

GM cant build good cars in America and it has to use union labor in the unionized upper midwest

Foreign companies like toyota build great products in the south using non union workers

 

Great lets have a flat tax of 70% with an exemption for the first $200,000 of income.

 

Yes that exactly proves my point. It wasn't the workers that killed the US auto industry it was the engineering and the management.

That said the pay at the Toyota non union plants is pathetic and shows that just bringing back manufacturing jobs isn't clearly going to bring back the middle class.

 

Ohhhhh, I see now, class warfare is what drives your thinking.

 

Sorry but recognizing that wealth/ income disparity is growing out of control in America is hardly class warfare. It is a fact. And silly people yelling " class warfare" or " class envy" is going to change the facts.

 

You’re hopeless

The quality of a car design all depends on the final assembly

Toyota works take pride in their job

GM workers do not

 

Has MAGA ever bothered to stop and try to quote Constitution in his course of walking all over it?

 

You must not be content with your own station in life. Must we confiscate from others to help you find fulfillment?

 

Its literally right in your face. Liberal cities like San Fran, LA, Seattle etc. initiate more socialist policies regarding heavy taxation, welfare benefits etc. In the end you end up with MORE poor people and higher costs of living and lower quality of life. Hispanics do better in Texas than in California in unemployment and home ownership.

 

Those "non-producers" you refer to in your post are the workers who actually DO produce the product. They deserve more of the wealth produced by their labor than they are getting under the current system. It's not morally acceptable for the owners, shareholders & CEOs to get the huge percentage of total profits when it's the workers who are doing most of the work to make that profit possible.

 

What lie? Are you questioning the economic statistics used by Bernie Sanders & the new generation of concerned politicians quoting the same statistics? Is it a lie that all our wealth goes to a minute handful of ultra-wealthy families? What is good about that? What about that makes America "great again"? America is supposed to be the land of opportunity. But it isn't. Why? Because American capitalism as practiced here has allowed a minuscule number of families kidnap our economy for themselves, thus preventing creative individuals in the general population from having access to the tools, funding, or legal rights necessary for success. The situation has gradually worsened over the past three decades. What's worth preserving about that failed system? We need change. We need an economic system that allows for more wealth going to the middle & lower classes. The hidden talent & creativity there needs the means, & the right, & the public support to express itself. The key to American "greatness" was the increase in the middle classes after WWII. That greatness hinges on revitalizing that middle class. The ultra wealthy will never make America "great again" because they are so self-absorbed, selfish, & unwilling to allow competition from below.

 

Every system is capable of abuse by selfish, self-serving leaders--including us. Venezuela was a victim of that kind of abuse. The W European countries with Democratic Socialist governments are examples of socialist countries that avoided that pitfall, and became success stories. I would argue that American capitalism was gradually betrayed by a small, select, selfish, self-serving few ultra-rich families, who in their greed, have kidnapped the American economy for themselves at the expense of the vast majority of Americans. What's good or worth defending about that?

 

So, you are going to be the judge of how workers should be compensated opposed to the free market. Tell me a couple things then......
When a business goes south, do these workers share in the loss of the ones that fronted the capitol? In other words, do they risk capitol in investment? Remember, capitol only originates through labor and risk.
Do these workers deal with the headaches and burden of government that business owners must deal with? Do they deal with shifting regulation put on them by government bureaucrats? It seems to me it just seems a lot less risky to be a worker and therefore the reward would be less. It sounds like you want government to regulate what that reward should be rather than the risktakers.
So don't get me wrong.....Workers and their labor are a valuable commodity. I have always told my children always concentrate on how to make your own commodity to be more valuable. That is how you get ahead. That is far more satisfying and liberty minded than petitioning Government to confiscate from the risk takers and rewarding others.
Oh by the way, I do not view workers as non-producers. There are plenty of those that illegitimately collect government subsidies rather than work. At the same time, I make no excuses for Corporations and businesses that do the same thing. As Reagan once said "Government isn't the solution to the problem, it is the problem."

 

I would say it is Government loopholes that benefit ultra-rich families like the Kennedy's and Clinton's. Anyway, the problem is government, not large producers.
Got any examples of these Socialist Country's that want to tax at a rate of 70%-90%?......like some of our self admitted American Socialist want to do? They know better. The producers in America will pack their toys and go elsewhere. What are you going to do then? Stop them with armed force? That sounds like some totalitarian regimes I've heard of.

 

Every day Americans start small businesses and become successful. Sometime come out of your gloomy socialist world and watch "Shark Tank". Don't focus on others that have more than you. Focus on what you can do for yourself and your family. That is how Americans used to do it before this entitlement mentality set in.

 

1. Conservatives are totally hung up on Venezuela as their example for socialism's failure. But there is a healthy group of successful socialist countries in W Europe that honor human rights & share their nation's wealth with the entire population of their countries rather than allowing a handful of ultra-rich families own & control everything & everyone. Yes, Venezuela is a socialist failure. It's leaders took it into the quagmire of communism, which is always a path to misery & ultimate failure. But W Europe is a beacon of hope for those who want to share in a nation's prosperity. They have several successful socialist governments that have already surpassed us in the protections and daily practice of human rights. They also encourage a thriving middle class, which is the ultimate key to economic success & greatness for any nation.
2. Although large urban areas may have more social programs to aid the needy, those locations are still working under the system that has allowed a small fraction of Americans to own & control all the wealth. That is a fact across the nation, regardless of address. And, it affects us all the same way, by constricting opportunities for economic success for anyone not members of those controlling families. America has become a functional oligarchy ruled by a small group of ultra-rich families. That's the tragedy of America. That's why greatness has abandoned us.

 

When norway and denmark embraced socialism they were small countries with a small homogenous population who were mostly well educated

Check back with them in 20-30 years after they have embraced shoeless muslims as immigrants and see how they are doing

I predict white flight and increasing difficulty of the government to wipe every nose as promised

 

1. Having 2% or our people take 98% of our national wealth for themselves & their families, while the rest of us struggle to survive, is worse than theft.
2. In terms of fairness, if a person making $10,000. per year, pays 10% in taxes;and another person making $1,000,000. per year pays 10% taxes, the first has $9,000. left to survive on, while the latter has $900,000. left to live on. Since simple survival requires more than $9,000. per year, how is this fair? How is it acceptable? And, how does this inequity portray the government's attitude toward its own people, in terms of its public image? Is this really the kind of tax system you would support as the best choice for our nation? Such a tax system would only exacerbate the current situation where the super-wealthy get almost all the new wealth in the nation. This system would only make it worse.
3. The disparity of wealth as it currently exists is already stressing over 80% of our population, and angering an ever increasing percentage of those. Income redistribution would alleviate some of the pain underlying that stress & hate. Yes, it would increase the anger of the wealthiest 2%, but that's a price worth paying to rebuild American society.
4. I agree. But that won't come from the stagnant wealthiest 2%. If that were the answer, they would have already solved the problem. Since they haven't, we must conclude they have no intention or interest in doing so. Other means of opening up opportunity must be found. I think redistributing national wealth to more Americans could make a huge difference in opening those opportunities.
5. The only part of your statement here I disagree with is the word "severely." I agree we should limit immigration more than in the past, and end all illegal immigration entirely, but our nation was founded, and has thrived on the creativity & hard work of its immigrant populations thru time. To stop that would impact our children's and grandchildren's America in unpredictable & unforeseen ways.

 

Another bit of stupidity to assume that anyone concerned about growing wealth inequality must not be happy with their own situation. Almost as ignorant as assuming anyone who favors gun control doesn't own guns.

 

No the quality of a car does not totally depend on final assembly. Initial defects yes but things like major repairs, useful miles, cost of ownership are much more dependant on engineering. And that is where foreign autos defeated the US made cars. In fact they still do. Read consumer reports ratings on reliability. Toyota blows almost everyone out of the water in every category. Easy enough for you to go to the library and check it out if you aren't a consumer reports subscriber.

J D Powers which rates initial quality is a lot different from long term reliability. Ads for US auto makers try to deliberatly confuse the two.

 

Norway. A Democratis Socialist country that beats America in lifespan, average income, and the happiness of it's population. I don't remember their exact top tax rate but their tax rate is much hiher than the US.

Socialism clearly doesn't work in many countries but Democracy is not thrieving in the world either and even in the US does not really prove very beneficial for a lot of our citizens. Facts like the real midfle class income has been almost stagnant since the late sixties should give most Americans reason to wonder about how well our Democracy is really working.

 

1. When a business fails, the owners face the financial challenges that go along with that failure. Truly, that is stressful. But the workers within that failed business face instant unemployment, loss of benefits (like healthcare insurance for themselves & their families), and simple, stark survival--which is levels of stress above any stress over lost revenues. My response is that both owners & workers face immediate, intense stresses, but the workers face the prospect of failing to provide basic necessities of life for themselves or their loved ones who depend upon them. Owners generally are well off enough to get by for a time without worrying about simple survival. The workers hurt more than the business owners.
2. I disagree with Reagan. I don't regard business or government as the sole culprit in our lives. Both have positive & negative qualities. Both serve a purpose. Both have the power to improve or abuse society. Greedy, irresponsible investors caused the Great Depression of 1929. Greedy, irresponsible CEOs & corporate boards caused the Great Recession of 2008. Government helped cause both by failing to oversee potential abuse thru enactment of legal controls that could have made a difference. Although the purpose & goal of government & business are different, both are necessary, both are human institutions, and both serve a need. Neither is inherently evil. Both reflect the best & the worst qualities of those who run them. To say one is worthy of our support and admiration while the other is our enemy, is wrong. Failing to utilize both in the most positive manner possible is also wrong. The best course of action is to use each for the purpose they are individually best suited for, keeping in mind that vigilance toward both is always necessary to prevent abuses of power that can harm society.

 

Ok

5. Severely limit legal immigration to highly qualified individuals and their wife and children

College graduates in needed professions should be the only immigrants eligible

Meaning end the family chain migration where aunts uncles brothers grandmothers are admitted even if they cant support themselves

 

1. Yes, government loophole DO benefit ultra-rich families at the expense of the rest of us. The question is, why are such loopholes passed by Congress? Perhaps because Congress is a millionaires' club, which passes laws that benefit wealthy people like themselves. Who's there to represent the needs of the non-wealthy? Right now, very few members of Congress fill that gap. And. . .just a thought. . .I'd add the Bush & Trump families to your list of wealthy political families who are part of the problem.
2. Please see my post #197, part 2 above as my response to your statement here.
3. Actually, those Democratic Socialist countries that are so successful in W Europe, don't tax at the rates you cite. Their tax rates were on a comparative level with ours before the 2017 tax cuts were passed, but citizens of W Europe receive much more in benefits for their taxes than we have ever received here for ours.True socialist countries look for ways to improve the lives of their citizens using tax revenues, while we don't. Examples are: better healthcare at a cheaper cost for them; much higher level of education in their pre-college public education systems; far superior training in the trades provided by their education systems; healthcare coverage that doesn't end when unexpected job loss occurs; retirement programs that follow the owner thru life uninterrupted, even when jobs change, etc. It's as simple as that.

 

All that you list are important

Including reliability

And reliability depends most on how well it eas manufactured and assembled

Non-union toyota workers are better than unionized GM workers