Politics And Current Events

[mikey]

His idea also created employment for 950,000 people. But that doesn't count as a societal investment

It could have been 951,000...he's evil...

[shmenguin]

And everyone loves working at Amazon.

This is really something fellas.

[nocera]

Didn't expect to see pro-Jeff Bezos talk today but okay.

[NAN]

I like mikey's style.

[NTP66]

I love Amazon, but they do a lot of awful ****.

[shmenguin]

Didn't expect to see pro-Jeff Bezos talk today but okay.

Bezos is a genius who has also improved commerce and our overall quality of life. He’s not evil or even particularly unethical (in relative terms).

His wealth, along with the rest of the hoarding class, destabilizes the economy by removing large amounts of capital from being more evenly distributed. The US mint is essentially printing money and then shoveling it into an incinerator.

I get that this is uncomfortably close to socialism for some people, but this isn’t a sustainable model. And it’s obviously not just Bezos. This is a trend across several new billionaires.

[Trip McNeely]

I think we can all agree that Musk and Bezos are complete douchebags right?

[shmenguin]

Is Bezos a douchebag? He’s icky in the way that CEOs are, but he’s not a complete toolbag like Musk is. He shouldn’t be blamed for being wealthy and not paying taxes.

…I do wish he would treat his employees better and pay them more. But he’s no anomaly that way.

[mikey]

I'm not saying that Amazon and Bezos are perfect...but there's this weird jealous-rage thing (or something?) once you cross a certain threshold of money...it's like little league baseball where once you score 10 runs, your team automatically loses instead of it being a mercy rule, it goes the complete opposite way...

I haven't done the math...but what have the top X (25? 50?) richest people in this country combining to give back versus what the entire government's social programs actually output to people...? If 25 people are donating even 1% of what our entire government can give back/re-distribute, it probably stands the reason that your "hoarding class" bit takes crucial damage...and I'm just saying philanthropy, not even R&D and productive elements of society (like Amazon) or even employment (because all of that employment is bad too...or whatever...)

I'll really lean into the over-simplified, slightly-disingenuousness here: There's an infinite amount of money that we just print at any time whenever we need it...who cares if the guy who makes the most pumps the most back in...? It's not like he has $25 billion in his mattress somewhere, that's not how wealth works...

[shmenguin]

Oh good. Here comes the “he doesn’t ACTUALLY have all that money” thing. Ah well. My bad. I’ll email Forbes.

There’s no jealousy or rage. The middle class is almost gone because money has been redirected to the top of the house at a new and awful scale.

There’s plenty of jealousy and whatnot floating around, but that’s not what’s going on in this message board. Go to Twitter or Reddit to fight that battle.

[robbiestoupe]

The argument should be about the wealth gap, not whether people should be rich or not.

Eat the rich was the wrong phrase, it should be the rich get richer.

There's no such thing as working harder to make more money. The mantra now is work harder because we cut a bunch of jobs/lost employees and need you to step up. For the good of the company. Meanwhile, we'll keep posting record profits and pocket the difference.

[shmenguin]

You’re just jealous

[mikey]

Make I'll get rich having a bunch of kids...

[mikey]

The argument should be about the wealth gap, not whether people should be rich or not.

Eat the rich was the wrong phrase, it should be the rich get richer.

There's no such thing as working harder to make more money. The mantra now is work harder because we cut a bunch of jobs/lost employees and need you to step up. For the good of the company. Meanwhile, we'll keep posting record profits and pocket the difference.

This is better story arc and phrasing than hoarding class nonsense in that it seems to be set in reality instead of in a giant haunted Republican castle at the end of the road...

[dodint]

Make I'll get rich having a bunch of kids...

Want to skip the middleman? I'll just Venmo you direct.

[NTP66]

Make I'll get rich having a bunch of kids...

Want to skip the middleman? I'll just Venmo you direct.

Whoa whoa whoa…


Me first.

[Trip McNeely]

Is Bezos a douchebag? He’s icky in the way that CEOs are, but he’s not a complete toolbag like Musk is. He shouldn’t be blamed for being wealthy and not paying taxes.

…I do wish he would treat his employees better and pay them more. But he’s no anomaly that way.

Yea Musk takes the cake for sure. Just the ultimate

[RonnieFranchise]

This child tax credit is just crappy messaging. It has been around for many, many moons. Families didn't notice it as much when it just was another line item on your tax return that resulted in paying less income tax. The biden administration decided to increase it by $1,000 per kid (and $1,600 for kids under 3 or whatever). They also came up with this hairbrained idea to send checks every month to brand it as a way to help cover child care costs. It is no different than these cities that are "testing" UBI by getting money from foundations and then giving people $500 a month or whatever. That isn't ubi. its charity. Biden's plan isn't anything that hasn't been done for 20 years or so. its just a larger dollar amount. I think under trump it was $2,000 per kid.


The reality of the math of the current biden policy is this: If you have a married coulple with two kids over the age of three, you don't pay tax on the first $80,000 of income you make, give or take a few bucks. If you make less than $80,000, not only do you not owe tax, but you get a few bucks for having kids. is that right or wrong? I dont know. does it make a difference in peoples lives? Sure. do they realize it? I dont know. what i do know is that i get annoyed when things that have been around for a long time get rebranded under the name of progressive policy.

People are going to **** when they find out their tax refund isn't as high.

I've had to sock mine away because we owe every year even with the child tax credit. I didn't want it but I was too late to shut the hose off.

[eddy]

This child tax credit is just crappy messaging. It has been around for many, many moons. Families didn't notice it as much when it just was another line item on your tax return that resulted in paying less income tax. The biden administration decided to increase it by $1,000 per kid (and $1,600 for kids under 3 or whatever). They also came up with this hairbrained idea to send checks every month to brand it as a way to help cover child care costs. It is no different than these cities that are "testing" UBI by getting money from foundations and then giving people $500 a month or whatever. That isn't ubi. its charity. Biden's plan isn't anything that hasn't been done for 20 years or so. its just a larger dollar amount. I think under trump it was $2,000 per kid.


The reality of the math of the current biden policy is this: If you have a married coulple with two kids over the age of three, you don't pay tax on the first $80,000 of income you make, give or take a few bucks. If you make less than $80,000, not only do you not owe tax, but you get a few bucks for having kids. is that right or wrong? I dont know. does it make a difference in peoples lives? Sure. do they realize it? I dont know. what i do know is that i get annoyed when things that have been around for a long time get rebranded under the name of progressive policy.

People are going to **** when they find out their tax refund isn't as high.

I've had to sock mine away because we owe every year even with the child tax credit. I didn't want it but I was too late to shut the hose off.

If I get that child credit now in monthly payments, then I basically spend it on pizza, if I wait until tax return, then I go on a nice vacation somewhere.

[NTP66]

The Zodiak Killer just seems to walk right into these on a routine basis.

[King Colby]

I haven't done the math...but what have the top X (25? 50?) richest people in this country combining to give back versus what the entire government's social programs actually output to people...? If 25 people are donating even 1% of what our entire government can give back/re-distribute, it probably stands the reason that your "hoarding class" bit takes crucial damage...and I'm just saying philanthropy, not even R&D and productive elements of society (like Amazon) or even employment (because all of that employment is bad too...or whatever...)

This is where I am. Just because he's not signing over every check to the little sisters of the poor or whatever doesn't mean his fortune isn't being used to drive society in an upward direction.

Also I'm jealous. All I have on him is better hair

[shmenguin]

Your position of “he’s done enough, even though he’s tens of billions of dollars away from actual sacrifice meanwhile us plebes are 10’s of dollars away” is noted.

[robbiestoupe]

This child tax credit is just crappy messaging. It has been around for many, many moons. Families didn't notice it as much when it just was another line item on your tax return that resulted in paying less income tax. The biden administration decided to increase it by $1,000 per kid (and $1,600 for kids under 3 or whatever). They also came up with this hairbrained idea to send checks every month to brand it as a way to help cover child care costs. It is no different than these cities that are "testing" UBI by getting money from foundations and then giving people $500 a month or whatever. That isn't ubi. its charity. Biden's plan isn't anything that hasn't been done for 20 years or so. its just a larger dollar amount. I think under trump it was $2,000 per kid.


The reality of the math of the current biden policy is this: If you have a married coulple with two kids over the age of three, you don't pay tax on the first $80,000 of income you make, give or take a few bucks. If you make less than $80,000, not only do you not owe tax, but you get a few bucks for having kids. is that right or wrong? I dont know. does it make a difference in peoples lives? Sure. do they realize it? I dont know. what i do know is that i get annoyed when things that have been around for a long time get rebranded under the name of progressive policy.

People are going to **** when they find out their tax refund isn't as high.

I've had to sock mine away because we owe every year even with the child tax credit. I didn't want it but I was too late to shut the hose off.

If I get that child credit now in monthly payments, then I basically spend it on pizza, if I wait until tax return, then I go on a nice vacation somewhere.

I was hoping to use mine to pay for new flooring instead of borrowing money. Turns out I won't need it as the contractor is months behind his schedule.

[Beveridge]

All mine is going right back into daycare next year.

[mikey]

Your position of “he’s done enough, even though he’s tens of billions of dollars away from actual sacrifice meanwhile us plebes are 10’s of dollars away” is noted.

I hope so. I'm not going to obligate myself to his finances, he's not obligated to fund my poor life decisions if he doesn't want to. It's a pretty easy non-transaction to follow. Mine doesn't have a prescribed beginning, yours doesn't have a prescribed end. Sacrifice isn't meaningful until its felt is a pretty detached take in my opinion...

Essentially, two players go down to block a shot...one blocks it, gets up, continues his shift; one blocks it, gets hurt. The latter player's contribution is more valuable because he felt it...? Meh, that's not workable...