Politics And Current Events

[shmenguin]

Aaaaaaand?

[shafnutz05]

Aaaaaaand?

Just a Virginia politics update. Does seem a little iffy from a legal standpoint though.

[shmenguin]

I’m just shocked to see her do something useful.

[shmenguin]

If you and your wife each earn 30k…then you, sir, are a rich rich man

I mean, it’s one banana, Michael. What could it cost? 10 dollars?

[dodint]

I am cool with that. (Duh)

[Shyster]

You mean there isn't a cap already? The "$60k range" is the range that encompasses both the US median household income and the average household income. Why on earth should we be subsidizing the children of people who make more than average?

[NTP66]

Doesn't a lot of Europe already do all of this?

[count2infinity]

Does the current system have any sort of scale or cap to it? I genuinely don’t know.

[NTP66]

I'm also not convinced that Manchin would go along with it even if it were capped. Have we already forgotten that he has done this with the infrastructure bill, after it was lowered to below where he said he wanted it?

[shmenguin]

You mean there isn't a cap already? The "$60k range" is the range that encompasses both the US median household income and the average household income. Why on earth should we be subsidizing the children of people who make more than average?

Because child care costs cripple the finances of the average-income family. That’s the whole purpose of the plan. To subsidize an unsustainable expense - even for the average American.

Not sure why you think there’s some natural gravitation here towards all expenses being settled once you’re a the 50th percentile. Like…”you can afford that cancer treatment because you make the average income” isn’t a thing.

[Morkle]

I remember Channel One being the morning ritual in middle school. And I swear one of the news people was also an MTV host, too.

Janet Choi was from Real World.

Lisa Ling was also on it - I vividly remember both.

[Morkle]

Manchin is loving acting like a tough guy, and making demands that specifically cater to him and his GOP nonsense.

[shmenguin]

It’s all really simple. He and Sinema can’t go against their donors so they’re never going to do anything helpful.

It’s not an ideological divide or a power trip or a representation of their voters or an effort to raise their profile.

They both know this is likely their last term, so they’re cashing out - because there’s no other chance.

But you know…if it wasn’t them, it would be Feinstein or Coons. These 2 are giving a lot of cover to people next in line to block legislation.

[Pavel Bure]

You mean there isn't a cap already? The "$60k range" is the range that encompasses both the US median household income and the average household income. Why on earth should we be subsidizing the children of people who make more than average?

Because child care costs cripple the finances of the average-income family. That’s the whole purpose of the plan. To subsidize an unsustainable expense - even for the average American.

Not sure why you think there’s some natural gravitation here towards all expenses being settled once you’re a the 50th percentile. Like…”you can afford that cancer treatment because you make the average income” isn’t a thing.

This, monthly daycare costs for 2 children adds to more than our mortgage.

This country is so strange. The fact that in general we dig our heels in at people wanting to be healthy without going broke, or tell a single mother to work harder to feed her kids instead of using food stamps, or in this instance get mad at people get money for their kids that will go right into the economy is crazy.

It’s even crazier that this is the stuff people get anger boners over and not the insane military spending is just further craziness.

When, in our (again general term) lives, change from wanting to help each other (which we teach our kids) to acting like people shouldn’t need help and should be able to do everything themselves.

[dodint]

I've mentioned on several occasions that I'm for UBI. It's a true path to the end state you're looking for.

Recurring payments to someone on behalf of their **** trophies? Nah. They operate contrary to UBI and represent one more difficult clawback if UBI were ever actually implemented.

Parents complaining they're not be subsidized enough. Yikes.

[faftorial]

I've mentioned on several occasions that I'm for UBI. It's a true path to the end state you're looking for.

Recurring payments to someone on behalf of their **** trophies? Nah. They operate contrary to UBI and represent one more difficult clawback if UBI were ever actually implemented.

Parents complaining they're not be subsidized enough. Yikes.

As a parent of 3 (now grown) I agree. Kids too expensive or put a dent in your lifestyle? Don't have 'em.

[dodint]

This kind of reminds me of the labor 'shortage' right now. The problem is being framed incorrectly.
If having kids is too expensive it'd be better (for society) to address the costs rather than just print more money. But that would require widespread healthcare, education, infrastructure, etc. reform that we're not capable of. I'm attracted to UBI as a solution for this kind of thing because it also wipes out much of the government bloat at the same time.

We are not a functioning society and no one is acting in good faith here so it's basically just the written embodiment of the *wank motion* for me over here.

[eddy]

You mean there isn't a cap already? The "$60k range" is the range that encompasses both the US median household income and the average household income. Why on earth should we be subsidizing the children of people who make more than average?

Because child care costs cripple the finances of the average-income family. That’s the whole purpose of the plan. To subsidize an unsustainable expense - even for the average American.

Not sure why you think there’s some natural gravitation here towards all expenses being settled once you’re a the 50th percentile. Like…”you can afford that cancer treatment because you make the average income” isn’t a thing.

This, monthly daycare costs for 2 children adds to more than our mortgage.

This country is so strange. The fact that in general we dig our heels in at people wanting to be healthy without going broke, or tell a single mother to work harder to feed her kids instead of using food stamps, or in this instance get mad at people get money for their kids that will go right into the economy is crazy.

It’s even crazier that this is the stuff people get anger boners over and not the insane military spending is just further craziness.

When, in our (again general term) lives, change from wanting to help each other (which we teach our kids) to acting like people shouldn’t need help and should be able to do everything themselves.

Yep, this. It boggles my mind how "difficult" this country makes it to have an affordable healthy life

[shmenguin]

Ah the ramblings of the childless, who don’t remember that they racked up a pretty big tab on everyone else’s dime when they were kids.

Public services for me but not for thee

[NAN]

Faftorial isn't childless, and I'm sure dodint is paying for other kids educations via public school taxes.

[dodint]

His oft-used reply also ignores that my parents paid the same taxes.

I know, accountability is hard. Another reason why UBI is untenable in practice. Some people just want a little extra for themselves despite being the product of their own choices.

[shmenguin]

Your parents paid back their own debt. Now you pay yours. That’s how it works.

The alternative to this, as always, is that we stop keeping the human race churning. Which I’m sympathetic to, but it’s not realistic. In the meantime, having kids is treated as a standard behavior. That’s not changing. Your grievances are noted, but you and Shyster will continue to have to fund our species because there’s no other functional approach.

[shmenguin]

And faftorial’s experience of old timey child raising did not include spending 20k a year on child care for one kid, in an urban area. With the alternative being dumping them into a toddler farm where they learn how to be attention seeking maniacs.

[mikey]

There is a middle ground between letting the species die out and having to fund folks because, apparently, they had a child they were unable to afford...at least, I would think...

[faftorial]

And faftorial’s experience of old timey child raising did not include spending 20k a year on child care for one kid, in an urban area. With the alternative being dumping them into a toddler farm where they learn how to be attention seeking maniacs.

That because my ex stayed home with the kids and we sacrificed elsewhere.