capitalism
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- i_monk12
- Morning_star-5
What is rich?
There’s lots of posts here that criticise the ‘rich’ or request some further taxation or redistribution of wealth and I struggle to understand what (financially) rich means. It’s become a meaningless totemic word for perceived financial insensitivity or vulgar displays of wealth.
I’d imagine that most, if not all of the contributors to QBN are in the global top 1% of earners, and by that comparison we are all ‘rich’. Yet, I’d also imagine that those that support a more socialist approach to redistribution are likely to be amongst the folk that would be most effected if their suggestions ever came to light.
Targeting an incredibly small group of celebrity billionaires as the problem seems dumb and naive.
So what is ‘rich’ and what would ‘tax the rich’ actually mean?
- Probably means “make those who earn (a lot of) money pay the actual amounts of tax they should be paying, and not sidestepping their dues”hardhat
- Which tax? Personal taxation, corporate taxation, taxes on goods and services, tax on gifts and inheritance, regional taxes, tax on income? The types of tax...Morning_star
- ...are complex, imperfect and prone to exploitation. What is wrong with using the imperfection to reduce the amount you pay? We ALL do it.Morning_star
- Prince Andrew is a nonce, but he's using legal methods to not get prosecuted for being a dirty fucking nonce. Just because it's legal doesn't make it ok.PhanLo
- You have to remember that most people don’t have any way to exploit the system (mainly the bottom row tax payers) whereby the top tier have a multitude of wayshardhat
- Which they do so royally. Just because a system *can* be exploited, doesn’t mean it should be, or that it’s “right” to do so.hardhat
- A lot of tax dodging is just plain immoral, and indefensible. That’s my take on it in any case.hardhat
- It’s not the same. Let’s assume Andrew is guilty (as we don’t actually know) then he’s done something illegal and subject to prosecution. What have the Rich...Morning_star
- ...done that’s illegal? And again, just what consitutes Rich?Morning_star
- @hardhat, if it isn’t illegal why is reducing the amount you pay immoral?Morning_star
- The absolute exploitation of workers? No-one becomes a billionaire without breaking the backs of those under them and profiting from their labour.face_melter
- I think the term is just shorthand for “people who earn more should pay more” which if you think about it, is quite a good ideahardhat
- The wider issue is capital. Billionaire cunts are the manifestation of capital and it's utter disregard for people, the environment, society, and human rights.face_melter
- Agreed. But these structures are also just put in place to shield “individuals” from their tax bills.hardhat
- @face, Isn’t exploiting workers illegal?Morning_star
- Make no mistake, Gates et al would happily flatten the planet if it meant more cash. Especially Gates and his wretched white-man-saviour 'philanthropy'.face_melter
- “People” still run these things and choose to circumvent paying their dues but can put a “we do it for our shareholders” etc as way of justificationhardhat
- Also, do you mean ‘capitalism’?Morning_star
- “We” (I included) are essentially greedy and don’t want to give up the $$ we got. Understandable, but not “right”.hardhat
- @face, are you a fan of a communist system.Morning_star
- @hardhat, I understand what you’re trying to say but it’s not greed. I want the best Life I can afford for me and my family. That lifestyle is radically...Morning_star
- ...different depending on the country you reside in. I won’t apologise for wanting the best I can afford, yet the iPhone I have is manufactured...Morning_star
- ...by an unregulated, un-unionised workforce. Arguably I am just as much part of the problem as Bezos or Cook yet the knives are out for the people who bring us...Morning_star
- ...these products we’re very happy to consume. The whole argument is incredibly hypocritical.Morning_star
- Paying taxes in the country you earn money helps the people living in that country, it makes the society better. How hard is that to understand?PhanLo
- Go to a Scando country and see what the higher taxes pay for.PhanLo
- Roosevelt taxed 75% of 'rich' peoples earnings over a certain amount with the New Deal. Build loads of stuff and gave people work.PhanLo
- @phanlo, I totally agree with you. The financial and political model that the scando countries embrace is possibly the peak of what we can expect...Morning_star
- ...on this planet today. However, they subscribe to a mix of free market and socialists systems depending on what’s best. And it works. The cry of many that...Morning_star
- ...capitalism is evil and socialism is the only answer is crass and unworkable. I’m all for an appropriate mix of the two.Morning_star
- With regard to Tax, the system is fucked and until it’s simplified and the loopholes addressed then painting those who exploit the inadequacies as...Morning_star
- ...evil is idiotic and missing the point entirely.Morning_star
- @morning - I think we’re pretty much on the same side here. I was just saying “people should pay what they should pay” at its simplesthardhat
- And agree - loopholes need to be closed. We all want “the best” but “taxing the rich” is just saying we want things to be fair and that often they skirt payinghardhat
- nb1
Not really sure where to post this. But fuuuuck
- https://www.reuters.…Nairn
- Yeah, sure, but if I had a nickel for every time corporate rules were ignored in China...nb
- zaq3
https://worldaftercapital.org/
Technological progress has shifted scarcity for humanity. When we were foragers, food was scarce. During the agrarian age, it was land. Following the industrial revolution, capital became scarce. With digital technologies scarcity is shifting once more. We need to figure out how to live in The World After Capital in which the only scarcity is our attention.
- grafician-2
"Executives of hedge fund Renaissance Technologies LLC will personally pay approximately $7 billion in back taxes, interest andpenalties to settle a long-running dispute with the Internal Revenue Service, the firm said, a tax settlement that may be the largest in history.
James Simons —the quantitative-investing pioneer who started Renaissance before retiring as the firm’s chairman on Jan. 1—will make an additional “settlement payment” of $670 million, according to the firm. Mr. Simons will also pay back taxes related to his gains.
The dispute relates to moves the firm’s key Medallion fund took between 2005 and 2015 to convert short-term trading gains into long-term profits. It has been closely followed in the worlds of finance and politics because of the enormous amounts involved and because Renaissance’s leaders are among the largest political donors in the U.S.
Mr. Simons has been a long-term supporter of Democratic candidates—while Robert Mercer, another Renaissance executive, has backed Republican causes, including former President Donald Trump."
- _niko4
Under capitalism, man exploits man.
Under communism, it's just the opposite.
- Salarrue2
if you're battery level is below 20% Uber and Lyft will purposely hike up the prices because they believe you'll be desperate enough to take it since you're battery levels are low
- if you use another phone with 80% battery at the same place with the same destination it's the same prices, chill
it's midnight, ofc the prices are high afgrafician - It specifically says under 20%, so 35% and 80% are basically the samemonospaced
- It’s clearly double cost under 20% at the same time and for the same trip. If this image is to be believed.monospaced
- then wait until after 4AM and you'll get a lower fee duh
nothing to do with battery life on your phone, it's just supply and demandgrafician - or even wait 'till 5AM and take the metro ffsakegrafician
- no, it's based on battery level, it's the same demand, how are you not getting this?monospaced
- it's not the same time, it's ten minutes apart. Prices change a lot.nb
- Also how did this user go from 32% to 18% in ten minutes?nb
- if you use another phone with 80% battery at the same place with the same destination it's the same prices, chill
- i_monk1
- https://i.imgur.com/…PhanLo
- Lol! Fox News viewers think it’s somehow a foregone conclusion that people must work low-paying jobs. Actually, that’s sad.nb
- Milan6
- here it issted
- nice. decapitate the producershotroddy
- The ignorance is strong in this one. But you just keep going with your calls for violence and murder.Morning_star
- Like they won’t come for designers.doriangrey
- @Morning_star
that's the symbol of working-class resistance and a reminder for the rich what public anger can do (yeah that might involve some killing).sted - As we have seen recently in this current climate of 'news as entertainment' and 'opinion as fact', public opinion is just that. Opinion and nothing more. ...Morning_star
- ...Show me the policy, the manifesto, the coherent thought that rationalises beheading people. It's nothing more than Diet ISIS.Morning_star
- you know in america they tie people to chairs and electrocute them multiple times until dead? the guillotine is humane in comparison and was the standardkingsteven
- method in france where it was eradicated in 1981 after 4 years of not being usedkingsteven
- @king Actually we mostly run with the good ol' lethal injection these days. Due to increasing scarcity of some of the ingredients of the cocktail, the processgarbage
- ..can be much much worse. There's a sense of burning and eventually a pulmonary edema which creates a drowning sensation, like you're being waterboarded..garbage
- ..and there are cases of it taking almost 2 hours to kill a person.garbage
- It's not the method that's the problem. It's the (impotent) suggestion that mob justice is acceptable. "Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees"Morning_star
- Most states allow nitrogen hypoxia which is basically an exit bag. A few states allow a firing squad or hanging if the right criteria are met. USA! USA! USA!garbage
- hah, nuts. nitrogen hypoxia is a good juxtaposition for the strength of symbolism of the guillotine. perfect trade-off of mechanical terror and humaneness...kingsteven
- @morning Oh I agree that death row is an impotent deterrent of crime. "Strange fruit" is a much different and more sinister tool of intimidation.garbage
- It's really hard to know when to stop decapitating people, I think that's the problem.PhanLo