alvvayson @ alvvayson @lemmy.dbzer0.com

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2 yr. ago

Look at it this way: if it was the intention all along, how else would you convincingly play it?

The goal is to get the Republicans locked on Trump and save the Democrats from the infighting that cost them 2016.

I couldn't come up with a better plan if I tried.

For one, you can't transfer a 401K to your kids.

You have to first cash it out, pay income tax and then you can transfer what remains.

Yep, but nowadays they are losing popularity. I don't even know if you can still find them.

In all honesty, I think Biden gets the credit.

2016 was a shit show and both RNC and DNC fucked it up.

Biden stepped in in 2020 to defeat Trump.

He chose Harris and hinted that he would do one term.

He made good on that and here we are.

That man is a strategist.

Then you'll need to educate yourself beyond what the government tells you.

Look up the ProPublica leaks. Someone is serving a very long jail time for leaking that out. It clearly shows how billionaires have very low taxable income, probably lower than yours.

To then say that you are upper class and Jeff Bezos is middle class is... Absurd.

The top 10% of income is not upper class. The error that people make, including you, is to focus on income.

People like Elon Musk have incomes smaller than $100K.

Upper class are the people who do not need to work and who live off of capital.

We need to shift our focus on wealth equality.

Look, the economy needs capital. If we want to be less dependent on the capital of rich people, then middle class people need to take over that role.

The people making $100-300K per year are key, because they can provide an alternative source of capital if their tax burden is lowered.

The people making $50K will not be able to provide large amounts of capital.

Yes, I fully agree.

So we need to find the right messaging.

I don't know about Germany, but here in the Netherlands most people identify as middle class.

So "stop taxing the middle class" and "let the billionaires pay more" is a message that should resonate.

I'm optimistic and I believe we will get there. The level of equality we have today would be unfathomable for somebody living before 1945.

Which is why the tax system needs to be reformed.

The political right actually has one good point that we on the left don't always appreciate: taxes on middle class people should be lower.

Specifically, very liberal tax exemptions on things like 401Ks, including the ability to transfer wealth across generations.

Combine that with higher taxes on the wealthy, and it will be possible to shift power to the middle class.

Consider the total market cap of the S&P 500, rounded up it's about 50 trillion. Divide that among 130 million households and each household should own about $400K in stock on average.

Full equality is neither achievable nor desired by most people, so a good scheme would be to let every household hold up to $1M in wealth, tax exempt.

And then progressively tax everything above that.

And even if they didn't care about Gaza, do Americans really want a foreign country to have so much influence on their elections and politicians?

Americans who care about America should want to get rid of AIPAC.

As a European, I am appalled that I didn't get to vote for Harris.

Gotta share the love man.

Can't save the cultists, yes, but Independents do care.

And even though Indies are a minority, they are still the ones who decide the election outcome in every swing state.

So, good strategy by the Dems.

Why doesn't the USA or Europe just accept the Jews and let the Palestinians have the land?

Jordan especially has a ton of Palestinians. More than half of Palestinians already live outside of Palestine.

Your question actually boils down to, why don't they take all the Palestinians so Israel can have the land?

And the answer is: they don't want to be complicit in ethnic cleansing.

Totally with you here.

How did I end up on a timeline where I am vibing with Erdogan.

Interesting that this map does have Palestine (presumably the West Bank and east Jerusalem) but doesn't consider Gaza part of Palestine.

That's quite a unique combination.

Edit: looking at Azerbaijan, I think they just focus on the biggest landmass and ignore exclaves.

Edit2: the fine print actually says that they ignore exclaves, except for Malaysia.

If he goes full Dark Brandon with his immunity, perhaps in his lame duck period, then that would be epic.

I got the popcorn ready.

Also, if you know any Iranians, they don't wear hijab in the house there.

So yes, this photo would still be possible.

(And of course I am strongly against the theocracy in Iran)

Yep, the fastest way to stability is to pull a (near) all-nighter and set an alarm clock for the next day.

A little bit of sleep deprivation helps to get regulated. And sleeping late in the weekends is also my way to restore.

Dude, thanks for sharing!

I am learning a lot.

One question that I do wonder about a lot is: did early Christians believe that their pagan friends and family would burn in hell?

My understanding is that hell (as we know it) was a much later invention.

Thanks for posting this.

Indeed, most religions are quite tolerant of other religions.

Christianity and Islam are the two biggest exceptions. They are religions of empire and designed to spread along with empire.

This is not to say that people of other religions can't be violent or intolerant, but as an example, you can find quite a lot of Hindus who also have a picture of Jesus or Mary in their shrine.

I firmly believe that the original Christianity was not like this. It became like this after the Romans leveraged it as a state religion 300 years after it started. And Mohammed copied that Roman idea another 400 years later.

In don't agree with people downvoting you for sharing your honest thought.

What I would say is this: more and more countries are looking to lower the voting age to 16.

I think that's a nice step to give the youth a little more say.

And for the rest, people don't seem to realize that all their investments will be worth nothing without workers to keep the economy chugging when they retire...

You either have kids, or you will depend on someone else's kids. Both are fine, but don't complain about picking up some of the burden to raise them.