Maeve

😒

Anyone not plain vanilla and falling in line, apparently. Unless you’re fabulously wealthy or otherwise “useful.”

Thanks for that. I need to reread it a couple of times and stew on it for a good while. Being from the USA, my perspective is obviously skewed from that perspective. My immediate question arises from generations behind baby boomers who never had the opportunity of home ownership (and related maintenance/tax expenses), who may be able to inherit properties, if not having to be signed over to the state for necessary elder care expenses. In this situation, the beneficiary have wealth, but have to sell the property to pay taxes, then be taxed on savings, and still unable to afford modest housing, rented or bought.

In this example, my immediate thought is in favor of doing away with sales and/or VAT, but having aggressively progressive income taxes, with income under $x being exempted, or even negative tax burden*.

*Kitten bumped device before sentence completed.

Sure, and that’s extremely important context that should be included, because

taxes are a way - and always have been - to redistribute from the poor to the rich. Sounds about right.

Comes off sounding ancap or USA style libertarian.

Exactly.

We were, but being set to expire in a decade and redundant 24 hour news cycles means they were designed to be forgotten.

Can you find and link me to the article? Ideally, they’re to fund public necessities, schools and other infrastructure, roads, etc, fire departments, sanitation, defense, anything used by the collective.

I believe IBM will be happy to do their part.

But it might be noted that ICE raids are carried out using data provided by Silicon Valley companies—most notably Peter Thiel and Alex Karp’s Palantir, which has a $30 million contract with ICE to manage a “real-time” surveillance system on immigrants. But whether directly or through third party contractors, much of big tech, including Google, has made deals with ICE, too.

Minor point: the Clinton candidacy met the GW neoconservative idea with neolib. When hrc ran she repackaged it as ”3rd way." Both ideas were straight from Mussolini, even down to 3rd way. There was also the what she said on the campaign trail vs what she told bankers in private events scandal, which is why Obama got the D nomination, iirc

I’ve been on Librewolf for a couple of years and yt is nagging me about ad blockers not being allowed, suddenly. Are they going to black screen me again?

I have no idea why I have to view some posts by visiting the original URL. Nice work, though

It’s not you.

“It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” Krishnamurti

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It has been a really long time (20? years) since I’ve been on nix. Kind of torn by Mint and Deb. I want the ease ootb but the flexibility of Deb.

We have only bits and pieces of information but what we know for certain is that at some point in the early twenty-first century all of mankind was united in celebration. We marveled at our own magnificence as we gave birth to AI.

Kool Aid is the brand name that ended up generic in meaning, like Scotch tape and bandaid.

700 is one job in a small town, mostly seasonal work. She stopped counting at 700. How many jobs do you think there are, there, especially in off -season? I’m sure several did end up homeless or dead in prison. I’m not about to doxx myself so believe what you choose.

I’m well aware USA isn’t all the world. Several other Western societies and prisons seem to follow US lead. And no one said jobless automatically end up in prison. It’s usually a series of unfortunate happenings. Lose a job, can’t get another with livable wages, end up homeless, hungry, steal a can of sardines or crackers, get arrested, can’t make bail, fight to survive in jail awaiting time or have an untreated medical issue…

What’s really weird is you condescendingly telling me that my experience isn’t all the world’s, while failing to realize yours isn’t, either.

It’s not hyporbole. I applied once for a job in a small tourist trap town before AI was used in screening. I went to the office to check on it, not having heard back within seven business days. The receptionist was flipping through resumés, and when I inquired, motioned to several mail crates full of resumés. She apologized and said she stopped counting at 700. That’s a small town.

If prisons aren’t forced labor camps, what are they?

I honestly see your point. It’s just capitalism doing what capitalism does. The bars are set so incredibly high, for every groveling “winner” there are tens of thousands "losers” who will become hungry, homeless, and die in the streets or in forced labor camps. The question is, how well do you like the taste and feel of that steak in your mouth, and how long will you get to enjoy it?

I’m not saying there’s a right or wrong answer. I’m saying it’s wrong to be forced into a position to have to make that decision, though.