The New Lounge

[GhostOf301]

Yeah, yeah, thousands of examples. I was being hyperbolic for the sake of expedience. There's very little chance for little fish to rise much. Most of us who rise do so just enough to move into a better adjacent school district. It's not nothing, but it's not much. Since the Boomers, every subsequent generation is doing worse.

The alternative to relying on govt sprinkles is relying on corporate/wealthy sprinkles. You oversimplified and so did I. Again, it's for the sake of expedience.

It's the billionaires who are taking from us. Nobody works 10,000 times harder than anyone else. Nobody actually earns a billion dollars. When you're that rich, your money works for you. You're making passive income without doing a thing. And when it comes to resources and money, the total amount is finite, so one person having that much is absolutely taking it from someone else.

Currently, billionaires get to turn around and buy the govt, then further rig it to benefit themselves at our expense. They should owe a far greater debt than they are currently paying to a system that protects their right to earn so much more. They owe it to the system to make the same opportunities available to others, but instead the income gap continues to grow.

So it seems we agree on a lot of the problems. We also seem to agree that the link between politicians and big money harms all the little fish. I tend to think we have a better chance at voting out politicians who aren't serving our interests than we do letting the free market decide. I trust the democratic process more than I trust capitalism.

So forgive me if I am wrong. But you seem to be basing your logic on little fish becoming billionaires. Let me start over by explaining that I believe capitalism gives people the opportunity to live comfortably and be able to save for retirement. I am not pretending that everyone can become millionaires or billionaires just by working hard. We shouldn't expect the same outcome as everyone else. The only thing we should expect is to be rewarded for our efforts and to be able to live modestly and healthy. Socialism has proven to fail everywhere it has been tried. It may be more of a balanced economic class, but it is a lower class.

As far as voting politicians out. That will never happen unless there is a ban on special interests and lobbyists in Congress. That was one of the biggest disappointments from Trump's first term for me. He said he would do it and never even brought it up. Look at Mitch McConnell for shit's sake. That crook would have been primaried a decade ago if it weren't for him being bought. I can go down the list of pieces of shits that need to be primaried in the GOP. But never will be. I am not just talking about the never Trumpers either. Of course my list of dems is a lot longer. Lol

 

[Dattier]

So forgive me if I am wrong. But you seem to be basing your logic on little fish becoming billionaires. Let me start over by explaining that I believe capitalism gives people the opportunity to live comfortably and be able to save for retirement. I am not pretending that everyone can become millionaires or billionaires just by working hard. We shouldn't expect the same outcome as everyone else. The only thing we should expect is to be rewarded for our efforts and to be able to live modestly and healthy. Socialism has proven to fail everywhere it has been tried. It may be more of a balanced economic class, but it is a lower class.

As far as voting politicians out. That will never happen unless there is a ban on special interests and lobbyists in Congress. That was one of the biggest disappointments from Trump's first term for me. He said he would do it and never even brought it up. Look at Mitch McConnell for shit's sake. That crook would have been primaried a decade ago if it weren't for him being bought. I can go down the list of pieces of shits that need to be primaried in the GOP. But never will be. I am not just talking about the never Trumpers either. Of course my list of dems is a lot longer. Lol

No, not little fish becoming billionaires. It's a sliding... scale. I'd like to do away with billionaires as we know them today. "As we know them today" would mean undertaxed and buying politicians. We said we wouldn't have a king when we founded this country. An oligarchy is basically the same thing and if they have virtually unchecked power, they're de facto royalty.

Getting money out of politics is key. Easier said than done. I like the idea of eliminating all private contributions. Have a set standard for how to qualify for a ballot -- GOP, DNP, and maybe even Libertarians and Green Party could be grandfathered in, and others could get X number of signatures -- then give them all matching state funds for their campaign. Strengthen ethics and emolument laws. Ban elected officials and military personnel from stock-trading in office or working in certain fields after office. Raise their salaries to offset the greed a bit. (Just spittballin here; it's a rough draft.)

I'm not advocating for complete socialism or communism. There are tenets we've already adopted into US society: libraries, schools, roads, fire departments, etc. I'm in favor of more of it, not all of it. We should embrace unions more fully. We should unapologetically tell the rich that once their wealth amounts to the hoarding of resources, we're going to take it.

Socialism has failed, but not in a vacuum. The US has worked hard to undermine socialist regimes for more than a century. Where a socialist economy and a totalitarian govt coexist, the former is compromised anyway. Plus, capitalism has definitely failed a growing number of Americans. The American Dream is less attainable than it used to be.

 

[KDSTONE]

No, not little fish becoming billionaires. It's a sliding... scale. I'd like to do away with billionaires as we know them today. "As we know them today" would mean undertaxed and buying politicians. We said we wouldn't have a king when we founded this country. An oligarchy is basically the same thing and if they have virtually unchecked power, they're de facto royalty.

Getting money out of politics is key. Easier said than done. I like the idea of eliminating all private contributions. Have a set standard for how to qualify for a ballot -- GOP, DNP, and maybe even Libertarians and Green Party could be grandfathered in, and others could get X number of signatures -- then give them all matching state funds for their campaign. Strengthen ethics and emolument laws. Ban elected officials and military personnel from stock-trading in office or working in certain fields after office. Raise their salaries to offset the greed a bit. (Just spittballin here; it's a rough draft.)

I'm not advocating for complete socialism or communism. There are tenets we've already adopted into US society: libraries, schools, roads, fire departments, etc. I'm in favor of more of it, not all of it. We should embrace unions more fully. We should unapologetically tell the rich that once their wealth amounts to the hoarding of resources, we're going to take it.

Socialism has failed, but not in a vacuum. The US has worked hard to undermine socialist regimes for more than a century. Where a socialist economy and a totalitarian govt coexist, the former is compromised anyway. Plus, capitalism has definitely failed a growing number of Americans. The American Dream is less attainable than it used to be.

“Once their wealth amounts to hoarding of resources, we’re going to take it”.
Confiscatory tax policies are wildly unpopular and detrimental to society as a whole. The super rich don’t bury their money in the backyard. They invest in companies, capital, banks etc. to keep the economy humming. You know, create jobs.
The private sector uses the $ much more efficiently than the govt ever could
And who decides when someone is no longer just wealthy and successful but has crossed the line into hoarding?
A bizarre post

 

[Mac9192]

Socialism has failed, but not in a vacuum. The US has worked hard to undermine socialist regimes for more than a century. Where a socialist economy and a totalitarian govt coexist, the former is compromised anyway. Plus, capitalism has definitely failed a growing number of Americans. The American Dream is less attainable than it used to be.

Capitalism hasn't failed Americans. Our government has. They've expanded their sticky fingers. Which is also why the American Dream is less attainable now.