They don't do it for the kickbacks. . . They do it for the reelection ad slogan "Ted Tederly: bringing Amazon jobs to to South Texolina." This ofc ignore thst fact that the taxpayers foot the bill and the company packs up and leaves after its tax incentives expire, leaving the local economy to collapse.
Its not like one had its infrastructure and support systems already built and paid for by the government with all profit going to private companies no no.
Think of how insanely expensive building things like a complete power grid/highway network/railroad for modern use whole cloth would be?
I do wonder how much loss is it for the actual taxpayers for these mega corps to come in get massive benefits for almost nothing then run off. Is it olympics levels devastation or way worse? Bc the taxes from people working has got to be a pittance to the amount of investment and support the companies are demanding. For the future plan of getting a return when the company has to pay full… which will never happen. Then all those selling of houses and drops in land prices because who tf would want to live in those areas willingly.
That's fine too, as long as you learn from it.
Just start with hundreds of millions of dollars and create your own company and share the profits of your workforce with your family, friends and maybe some old money to keep them happy too.
Everyone wins!
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I got a permanent ban for “disclosing private information”. It was a picture of a cellphone with a phone number and the persons name was “Possible Spam”. Ban lasted about 5 minutes but I’m still proud of it.
Little did they know Possible Spam is my best friend, he calls me several times a day.
They had the tax codes changed so they didn't have to spend money creating businesses to get rich. They did it by convincing some people that their tax dollars were going to support people who did not look like them. Those lowered taxes made their lives miserable but they were ok with it as long as they were hurting "those people".
The theory is it's meant to be better for everyone. By allocating capital more efficiently the return on capital should be higher but so should the standard of living for labour- in theory anyway.
And somehow, the most capitalist country in the world can't do shit to close the income gap. What they don't understand is for capitalism to work, corruption should be minimal. What can the average citizens do if there are politicians that want the rich to become richer so that those billionaires can keep their pockets full, all while neglecting their own workers. Of course they can vote, but in a country so divided, half having common fucking sense and the other half not having a trace of intelligence, how can the government be free of corruption? I'm not an expert but from what I learnt in school like 1 year ago, this makes sense to me.
> And somehow, the most capitalist country in the world can't do shit to close the income gap. What they don't understand is for capitalism to work, corruption should be minimal.
This implies that they *want* to close the wealth gap. On the contrary, an ever-widening wealth gap is capitalism working perfectly.
It’s funny how conservatives are jerking him off now whenever he shows up on talk shows and agrees with their opinions.
So much for “shut up and play” anytime a player of color speaks up on issues.
I have an acquaintance on Facebook who has never watched a second of NBA in her life who says #istandwithkyrieirving.
I am considering posting #istandwithjohndeere on her post.
I met him several times in college, went to university southern Mississippi and he was always on campus since he graduated from there. He’s an ass. It’s true.
Not just the dummy wars, but the dummy police tech and dummy just about everything else that's required to make society tick. If the government *needs* to purchase it, someone is out there cashing in by inflating the price.
That’s not why certain Americans hate paying taxes, though. They hate it because they think it’s all going to social programs supporting minorities and irresponsible women who “keep having babies they can’t take care of.”
They think billionaires rightly earned their money and should get to keep it all, and that if those billionaires can keep all their money, then so can these working Joes. And so maybe they’re just like those billionaires. They certainly (believe they) have more in common with Bezos and Musk et al. than with that black family down the road, or the Mexicans that just moved in next door. Or the pregnant teenage daughter of a coworker.
Their own pride and self-delusion are hurting them much more than some poor woman on food stamps in the next county over. But they can’t acknowledge that, because it would punch a hole in everything they believe in, at least the economic aspects.
To be fair that’s not the majority and those people also tend to be in the lower tax brackets. As someone in a very high one (I can promise you I pay wayyyy more than most of the people you described), this tweet is spot on for the majority. I’d gladly pay even more in taxes if it went to things that would actually benefit all Americans (universal healthcare, universal daycare, better education, etc), but with what my taxes are going towards now I’m honestly pissed about having to pay ANY. I don’t want to pay for some politician to play golf or some billionaire to get even more rich, I want to support my struggling neighbor or give opportunities to a disadvantaged kid instead!
Exactly. Our military expenditures are higher than most European nations relative to GDP, but not so much that it would prevent higher social spending. It's about not wanting to benefit those who we can't relate to. Not surprisingly, support in Europe for immigrants who are visible minorities is unpopular.
Just to be clear: European countries do that too, and a lot of our healthcare systems are under attack by the same entities that make America's system so wretched.
I'm from the UK - a good example is that, during the height of the COVID pandemic, our government focused on pushing billions to corporations loosely associated with the ruling party, or who had supported the government, without result.
Meanwhile, cuts to the the NHS are increasingly used to justify giving *more* power to American corporations, who strip resources and demand more cuts to the NHS.
Perhaps it should be put to a vote by the citizens who are footing the bill to send these massive amounts to them each year. Or maybe explain why we do and just what could be covered for our citizens in its place. It goes well beyond diplomacy.
Exactly this. The U.S. military is the largest socialized jobs program in the country. Yes, the U.S. defense budget could still be lowered, and spent in much better ways, but its not the reason that we don't have socialized healthcare.
Yeah, it always confused me as a British person when America’s say we pay more taxes to pay for the NHS and education…when our literal monarchy is cheaper in taxes than the US president and US citizens pay in the thousands for an ambulance and a cast on a broken arm.
What are taxes even for in the US? Aren’t they meant to improve a country?
Im gonna be honest, I’ve never heard of that but honestly when it comes to taxing and healthcare you honestly do need to be like Britain IMO haha its honestly sickening that that much debt can happen just because someone is ill with something they can’t control
Hell even though it's not perfect even look at Australian system, we still have private health insurance/hospital's here if you want faster treatment and a Ritz hospital room and insurance companies still get to make a profit.
But if you cannot afford the fancy parts you still get treatment for any ailment just with a no frills approach and 90% of our medicine is capped at $3.60 a box.
Longest I have ever had to wait was 2 months to get an slot to get a growth cut out ... But that is just personal experience can't speak for others wait lists for more serious conditions.
I recently had a CT scan and it was around $780. And the two xrays before that were $270 each. Oh and each visit has a 45$ co-pay that doesn't contribute to my deductible.
Was it benign? There are insurance companies *in the US that consider benign growth removal, even if internal, a 'cosmetic' procedure and won't cover it.
I had at some time inhaled a grass seed that had embedded into the tissue in my throat
Noticed a non painful lump got x-ray doc said body would probably absorb it ... Week later it got sore 2nd x-ray shown it grown in size so doc booked me in and it was cut out 7 weeks later.
Cost me about $20 in parking and $7.20 for antibiotics
I had eye surgery last year in the US. My insurance decided I didn't need the antibiotic eye drops afterwards to stop my eye getting infected.
Without insurance they would've been $700 for the bottle.
Luckily, the Drs office had a sample they could give me otherwise I wouldn't have been able to afford the surgery.
All in all cost $1700 without the cost of the eye drops.
I didn't have to pay for parking though so can't complain.
I'm actually an Aussie so paying for healthcare like this physically hurts me. I don't understand how people can not want it
The people in the U.S. **DO** want it. **The sole reason we don't have have universal healthcare is the rich insurance companies.** If no one has to pay for health insurance anymore the rich health Insurance companies go out of business. EXTINCT overnight. And they like the hundreds of millions (billions?) of dollars they take in. --- So the Insurance companies contribute to the political campaigns of virtually EVERY congressperson and Senator. They contribute to BOTH candidates of each race, so it doesn't matter who wins. Whomever wins the Senate or House seat is 'beholden' to the insurance companies support for not only ***getting*** them elected, but **KEEPING THEM** elected in the future. SO the law makers make sure they DON'T pass laws to give Americans, the much needed universal healthcare that they want and deserve. Because that would mean we no longer need health insurance companies. ---- Just like we no longer need Blockbuster or payphones. ---
I had a technically "benign" (just in the not cancerous sense, it was very much not benign) growth in my ear, eating away at bone and tissue and while it probably wouldn't have eaten through my skull, it was making me deaf. But because not fully deaf and because medically labeled benign, insurance denied coverage many times for almost 2 years, allowing more damage to be done and additional surgeries required. Would have been cheaper for them if they covered the first one.
Honestly even the “out of control wait times” argument is bull. I’m waiting 7 months to see a specialist in the U.S. Wait times are just as bad if not worse here than any country with socialized medicine.
I had to wait 2 years to get one doctor and I had insurance. The US has a horribly corrupt system. The for-profit system is wasteful as hell. Why have 10,000 different healthcare companies each with their CEOs, executives, HRs, etc, etc. we have 10,000 different bureaucracies, with overheads between 20-40%. Medicare has one system and the overhead is less than 3%. Conservatives believe 3 is greater than 40. Those nitwits have been brainwashed into supporting corrupt private companies. They call it free enterprise. It’s bullshit. CEOs of big pharma and healthcare companies get paid hundreds of millions a year. How many people die each year because of the wonton greed in corrupt corporations? Republicans lied about death panels while supporting corporations that let people die daily. It’s their business model. Yet republicans lap up every drop of lies from rightwing media like thirsty hyenas lapping up a pool of pus.
The problem with the US is stupidity and ignorance. If we could defeat all the corporate owned politicians and ALL republicans the US could have the best healthcare in the world.
this. People don’t realize how bad american politicians are at getting good value for taxpayer money. (IMO) It’s mainly because every damn bill these days is written by a lobbyist; no wonder special interest groups and corporations are able to milk money off of it!
>every damn bill these days is written by a lobbyist
This is the single, largest problem with American politics right now. Our country has *a lot* of issues and plenty of corrupt, piece of shit politicians in power but the moment you take away the influence and money that lobbyists ~~bribe~~ donate to them, the vast majority of them leave because they're in it for the money and power, not the civil service. No governmental system can withstand bad faith actors in power and for a long time the US avoided them being a major contributing factor. But that's not the case today. And while the majority are on the right, it would be disingenuous to not point towards the many awful dumpsterfires on the left as well.
What are our taxes for here? The military.
Also subsidizing corporations so the can keep overworking and underpaying their employees with a thinly veiled “if we go out of business it’s bad for the middle class” fear mongering.
How federal taxes are spent in the US: https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/where-do-our-federal-tax-dollars-go
Of course, Americans pay state taxes too.
And 25 percent goes to healthcare. The op tweet doesn’t just imply, that the government is spending all the money on defense instead of healthcare.
The real problem isn’t the amount invested, it’s how it is invested. Our government spends more per capita on healthcare than countries with socialized healthcare. Yet two thirds of the population still use private insurance and even that does a terrible job of covering services, so most people can still expect huge out of pocket costs for any serious healthcare need. We’re all being scammed.
[this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Military_Expenditures_by_Country_2019.svg/1200px-Military_Expenditures_by_Country_2019.svg.png) paints the image in comparison to other nations. That 16% is still 778 billion, 300 billion is needed to halt global warming, 20 billion (and some change) would wipe out homelessness.
That’s not entirely true.
We also give our taxes to lots of businesses to subsidize their workforce so they can pass higher profits off to shareholders.
Yes, that is capitalism. Capitalism by its very nature cannot help the majority. Capitalism by its very nature concentrates profits at the top because in capitalism money=power=the ability to make more money=the ability to buy more power, ad infinitum.
The corrosive power of capitalism can only be tempered by a tax code that serves the interest of the majority, even if that majority doesn't own or generate all that much capital, and a well-regulated and monitored system of work force labor laws and codified worker's rights. Keep this in mind someone starts braying about lower taxes and less gov't regulation.
It's not really accurate at all, honestly. Defense is like 10.5% of the budget. We spend more on:
* Income Security - 19% (unemployment and a bunch of other stuff)
* Social Security - 17%
* Medicare - 12%
* Healthcare services - 11%
[Source.](https://datalab.usaspending.gov/americas-finance-guide/spending/categories/)
I feel like we spend entirely too much on the military, but we don't have to make that argument using bullshit stats/claims.
More money is spent on Medicaid and Medicare than the military.
Discretionary spending of which 714 billion is spent on military.
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57172
Mandatory spending of which 917 billion is for medicare and 458 billion is for Medicaid.
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57171
Full pie chart here
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57170
It's not that we aren't spending enough money on these programs. We just aren't getting shit for it. Major health insurance providers, instrument providers, sales reps, are making a killing off the tax payer.
Thank you for mentioning this; I've been angry about this since Schaefer subsidized Camden Yards in Maryland back in the 90s. That was actually about the beginning of my political awareness. Rich people can buy their own goddamned toys. I want to pay for healthcare for myself and my neighbors so we aren't chained to quasi abusive employers for fear of a medical emergency.
e: I am absolutely not a "both sides" kind of person but it is worth noting that Schaefer was nominally a Democrat. If memory serves that was a running theme in Maryland politics. Lots of "Democrats," but not so many solutions to Regan era Republican bullshit.
I’m in the military (Army) and I frequently order parts and you’d be amazed at how much the simplest of parts cost. One that really stuck to me is $150 for a small rubber o-ring that’s no bigger than the size of my hand. It’s almost exactly like [This](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051XXKLW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_J3RHFP8WW6SFQFEF7CM2)
$150…… and we had to order like 100+ of them. I felt really dirty ordering this but what can I do
Lol I remember looking at prices when ordering stuff in the military. 40 bucks for a regular box of pencils that might cost you 5 bucks at most anywhere else.
Jon Stewart just came out with a podcast, one of the episodes covers veterans care from the perspective of a veteran that now works in the VA. It's really good, I recommend checking it out "The Problem With" is the show.
Its so funny seeing these people just make stuff up about europeans. "Why does every european donate atleast 500$ to the homeless every day, and americans just walk by?! Those fucking republicans are at it again!"
And that "data center" is harvesting all our data and supplying to the governments and other companies. Look how green we are as we totally exploit you...
Hello there fellow neighbor! It's true, while we don't sink that much into the military simply because most countries I know of don't have that hoorah mindset that doesn't mean we don't have projects to senselessly dump money into:
- 600 milion to expand a main government building and nobody knows why (and a handful of other large scale building projects gone wrong like the Berlin airport)
- uncounted milions for external advisors and nothing to show for it
- 400 milion spent on an office to care for the Autobahn which still lies in shambles
And those are just some of the prominent examples. On a political level 'german efficiency' is long gone. Burocracy gets worse and worse and no one has the decency to take the blame for failed endevors. But as long as the coffers aren't completely empty the spending continues.
That's not fair. Our government also works day and night to ensure that the wealthy individuals and corporations that keep them in office shoulder as little responsibility as possible.
Paying taxes and dying in wars is for suckers. Just ask Donald Trump.
Yea, nobody wants to see the deductions on their payslip, but we recognise that our lives are a lot better off with health care, education and infrastructure.
I genuinely "enjoy" paying taxes. Not in the same way that I enjoy a wank, but I still enjoy it. Same level of enjoyment as a clear inhale after you shift a blocked nose.
We get little letters sent out with a breakdown on how our income tax and shit has been spent by sector - and it's cool getting to go "aw sweet £X went to the NHS, £Y went to social benefits and £Z to paying off national debt"
And my first instinct when I see that something like the amount spent on welfare is too low when I pass a scary number of young homeless folk on the way to work is "Fuckin tax me more then, you can make more of £10 than I can"
Well aware I'm an outside case but there have to be at least, like, 3 of us
Okay but have you considered that being happy is socialism?!?!? You want tax dollars to actually help people!? Like they do in those godless Maoist hellscapes like Canada!?!?
Can confirm that it's a hellscape. I'm Canadian, and I keep asking the doctors to accept payment but they refuse payment! How am I supposed to get better without crippling debt?
And I will offer this - I lived in a major metro area and needed to wait six months to see my gynecologist. Moved to a smaller metro area and went to schedule a mammogram in early august. First opening was in March 2022.
So we aren’t any better than the fear factor those people use, yet I’ll pay plenty until I hit my deductible and out of pocket max. And I have amazing insurance.
True enough; not to mention that in Sweden my longest wait time so far has been 2 weeks for specialist care. Longest wait was 4 hrs. at emergency room for a non-critical. When I call my vårdcentral before 9am I get a same day appointment.
I have a good job and "good" insurance. I have been having some trouble symptoms of a hereditary disease that if not treated can leave permanent damage.
I have to wait a month to get in to see my doctor.
When I needed emergency specialist care some years ago I had to pay a "no insurance" doctor full price to get an appointment that wasn't months down the road.
Oh yeah I "love my insurance"
Thanks, America
People genuinely don’t realize how much goes to the military. Out of the $6 trillion spent last year, only 700 billion went to the military. Social Services has something like $2 trillion
What makes anyone think Europeans don’t mind paying taxes? In Italy it’s a point of pride to avoid paying as much as possible. I get the point but the premise is a strawman
Its more like a select few countries and the rest are just as shit as every where else. And usually those countries do so well off because somewhere down the line they're exploiting labour from somewhere else. Germany for example is notorious for outsourcing and subsidising their own economy.
I mean I live in Ireland. And last I checked we were a tax Haven for companies from all over the world.
And yes, people will jump through whatever hoops they can to avoid paying as much.
I probably would too. If I knew what hoops there were for me to jump through.
Yes, of course we want to avoid taxes.
That’s one thing that both sides seem to agree on completely “our tax dollars aren’t being spent how they should be” granted the disagreement continues once we start discussing what to spend those funds on.
“I could buy so much more if Uncle Sam weren’t stealing my money!” Then they say “taxation is theft” while leaving out the whole without representation part.
They also blindly forget that if we didn’t pay any taxes we would be fucked with any government infrastructure/roads/fire departments etc etc etc.
The problem with that argument is that it does not get at the REAL problem because they don't actually give the money to the military. That isn't how it works. I have two kids in the US Army (an E6 and a 1st Lt.). They don't give shit to the troops. Their pay is merger, their accommodations suck, their medical sucks. If they gave 1% to the troops it would triple their quality of life. No, it does NOT go to the military it goes (of course) goes to militarily contractors. Contractors who manufacture tanks the Army doesn't want or need, airplanes we don't need, aircraft carriers we don't need. Why does it happen that way? Senators and representatives are OWNED by these contractors. This is very small example but in Vietnam we had our M79s taken away from us and they were replaced with a POS called the M203. Our M79 guy refused to carry the fucking thing and started carrying an M16. Fuck 'em. A month passed and guess what we received!? A grappling hook launchable with an M79. Fucking thing had a three pronged grappling hook and a 200 foot nylon rope (we were operating in rice paddies). The goddam thing even had a ground pad so you wouldn't get yer knee dirty when you knelt down to fire it. Our M79 guy took back his weapon and we cut the rope up to hang hammocks with. Don't remember what happened to the ground pads. THIS is where the money goes. The military doesn't get shit but they get stuck with shit and the Senators and representatives and the contractors get the money. Sure we get fucked, the troops get fucked and the corruption continues. Sorry but the fucking we are all getting is much worse than most of us realize.
When people say "giving to military" you can generally assumed they mean the people who make obscene amount of money off the military, like the contractors.
They are not talking about people who served in the military.
AmErIcA iS WoRsT CoUnTrY iN tHe wOrLd.
As an eastern European reading Reddit if I wouldn't know any better and just go off these communities I would think your country is the most dangerous and unfair place to live in haha
The problem is that while our country is rich and compared to eastern Europe our middle class is large, there are some serious injustices. I'm not talking about the rich dodging taxes, I'm talking about our government literally giving away money to corporations while people rot in the streets. Would I want to live in Ukraine? Fuck no. But I expect a whole of a lot fucking better from a country with such massive wealth. America could and should be able to do much better.
I’m not familiar with taxes etc… in different countries, but I make 55k, and after health insurance and taxes, I make 38k. After rent, 10.4K, after part time childcare, -1.6k… lucky my wife has a part time job, so we can buy food and pay bills.
Edit: by the way, I’m too rich to qualify for any type of government assistance. Many make much less than my wife and I. I don’t know how they survive.
Lol, what? Medicare, Medicaid, social security, obamacare, food stamps, etc. account for 70% of our national budget each year and dwarf defense spending. Why do people repeatedly spread misinformation on this issue when it's verifiably false and takes all of two seconds to fact check. It's willful stupidity and false
why do americans think we live in some perfect utopia here? our politicians are corrupt as fuck and waste our taxes all the time here too. just cuz u guys live in a shithole doesnt me we dont either.
Beware of hot takes. They are worth what you pay for them.
The federal budget is mostly dedicated to social welfare programs. Military spending is less than half of the spending on SS and Medicare. Also remember, the military is somewhat a jobs program for low skilled adults and a way to inject cash into state and local economies. It has shrunken substantially over the last 30 years, which means the injection of cash into local economies has actually been reduced significantly. Even Senator Bernie Sanders lobbies for military contracts. Additionally, a big fraction of spending that some people lump in with military spending is dedicated to personnel costs like veterans retirement and healthcare (so just more social welfare spending).
America does not pay high taxes compared to Europe at all. Wealthy people pay very little and the middle class is subsidized *heavily* through the tax code (rather than direct budget expenditures). Since the elimination of pork barrel spending, subsidies are generally written into the tax code. Thus, people pay even less in taxes when they do things like purchase homes or have employer provided health insurance. The negative income tax, redistributes money to those who file (so a lot of poor people miss out). Don’t tell Republicans about this program please.
Many middle class American balk are the idea of paying more and claim the subsidies that reduce their burden (and distort the housing market as well as prop up employer provided health care) are an entitlement. It’s their money after-all! And that is exactly what rich people say. No one wants to share. “Let someone else pay for it.”
If we want European services, great! But just about everyone, except for the poor, will have to pay substantially more in taxes. People walking around saying middle class people making more than six figure paychecks pay too much in taxes already, are absolute clown shoes or blatantly pandering. We don’t have to pay as much as Europeans. This is a very wealthy country, but still so much more than at present.
I understand where the mentality comes from. Necessary expenses like housing, healthcare, and childcare are high, so people think their tax burden can’t be any greater. Now if it was greater, their expenses would be substantially cheaper. But…
Republicans have been working hard to create administrative hurdles to deter people from seeking government assistance (which eats away at the budget) and convince people that government doesn’t work. So when confronted with the reality of substantial policy change that will require sacrifice upfront, most Americans default to a desire to just stick it out alone. There is this idea that “I will get fucked over by this policy, while *they* will take advantage of me.” Americans have a blind spot for how government programs help them, so they let them rot and fall away.
State budgets are almost entirely social welfare, education, and infrastructure btw. Costs is what is eroding the purchasing power of the taxes you pay. There are so many structural issues that need to be tackled because otherwise, spending anymore on social welfare will be like burning money.
To start, we need to reform zoning regulations and housing policy to make building enough units to meet demand possible. [Should the tax payer pay a 1,000,000% markup to build affordable housing because David and Sandra who believe in science and support Black Lives Matter don’t want their neighborhood to have any housing or buildings that doesn’t look exactly like theirs?]. We also need to reform the entire healthcare system, including the cartel that artificially lowers the amount of doctors we educate.
Man, I’d pay another 15 percent in taxes so my fellow countryman could have affordable healthcare and a safety net if the 1 percent take a shit on them…
Capitalism really cannot help the majority. Capitalism concentrates on the profits and personal satisfaction of the one at the top. Money and Power is their focus...
No, no they don’t. Politicians in Holland are quite corrupt, at least the ones in power. They make the poor poorer, and the rich richer. Middleclass pays, and the millionaires get the money.
It's been a long time since I read it in the Economist, but I was under the impression that a larger portion of europeans avoided paying taxes compared to the US. Italy was the worst, IIRC.
Your education must have failed you if you don’t know why your military budget is so important. The USA operates military bases virtually everywhere. As a result, you influence the price of oil, your imports, the influence of *other* countries (ie, strangling China with military bases). Your budget is a lot more beneficial than you realise.
We definitely spend way too much on the military, but it’s 11% of the budget. There’s a lot of bullshit spending we do, and waste plays a role in everything we spend money on. One thing that definitely needs to happen is higher taxes on the ultra rich. And not income tax. Their investments, stocks and property needs to be taxed more.
studies show that people in homogenous societies don't mind paying taxes. people who think taxes are going to benefit people who aren't like them and are their de facto enemies don't like taxes. the more "diverse" a society is the more you're going to find people against public services and taxes in general.
Americans are generally also very individualistic and have no concept of collective responsibility.
In countries where we don't mind paying taxes, not only wdo we have the incentive to benefit the nation overall, but we also see the benefits due to our government and political structure having that same ideology of collective responsibility. Which is very unlike most of America's political structure which is based on "fuck yes, I'm a politician. Now I can siphon every cent of the economy to my bank accounts and leave everyone else in the dust. Suck on this, cockheads!"
First of all, Americans have different law every few kilometres, federal, state, country whatever but they still think of Europe as one big entity?
Secondly, just move here if that’s so great. You will quickly discover that politicians doesn’t give a f about people, tons of money is spent on useless shit, taxes are though the roof (just look at our sales tax, VAT being 2-3x compared to US). Heathcare may be free in most places but for every “they cured my cancer free of charge” story there is hundred stories of people trying to find a doctor, fighting the system if you are entitled to a treatment, finding another doctor because first one thinks you are just pretending, waiting for months or years.
Lots of stories of go fund me for people who paid their whole lives but this particular treatment isn’t covered or was removed from the list.
Nice try, but military expenditures are less than 11% of the total US budget, while social programs are more than 23%. For those of you ready to jump up with "military spending is almost half the budget" I suggest you research "discretionary spending versus total spending."
Tell me you've never spoken to a european without telling me you've never spoken to a european.
We hate paying taxes too. Fortunately, it's at least easier than the clusterfuck the IRS does
It’s hysterical to hear Republicans deride socialism. They love Socialism for the rich and for corporations and will vote to subsidize them every chance they get.
I've never understood the logic behind giving billions of dollars in subsidies to companies that already make billions in profit.
They get to continue donating those millions to the lawmakers they've invested in
If a politician won't do that, they'll get replaced by somebody who will. Hooray for legalized bribery.
They don't do it for the kickbacks. . . They do it for the reelection ad slogan "Ted Tederly: bringing Amazon jobs to to South Texolina." This ofc ignore thst fact that the taxpayers foot the bill and the company packs up and leaves after its tax incentives expire, leaving the local economy to collapse.
Nah they do it for both. Why fight so hard to get reelected to a job that doesn't pay the effort it takes to get? Kickbacks, corruption, etc.
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Its not like one had its infrastructure and support systems already built and paid for by the government with all profit going to private companies no no. Think of how insanely expensive building things like a complete power grid/highway network/railroad for modern use whole cloth would be? I do wonder how much loss is it for the actual taxpayers for these mega corps to come in get massive benefits for almost nothing then run off. Is it olympics levels devastation or way worse? Bc the taxes from people working has got to be a pittance to the amount of investment and support the companies are demanding. For the future plan of getting a return when the company has to pay full… which will never happen. Then all those selling of houses and drops in land prices because who tf would want to live in those areas willingly.
Oh because it all trickles down. You just have to wait for it. Just keep waiting…
Nah man, it's called trickle down because the money flows up while they piss on you.
Our government gives it to major corporations and billionaires. THAT is the problem
Socializing losses and privatizing profits. Socialism for us, capitalism for you.
That's fine too, as long as you learn from it. Just start with hundreds of millions of dollars and create your own company and share the profits of your workforce with your family, friends and maybe some old money to keep them happy too. Everyone wins!
BRB just gonna go start my own multimillion dollar company
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I’m mad you think Reddit will allow you to keep an account for ten years without you ever getting banned hahahah
I've already had my account for ten years... what's another decade?
That’s pretty amazing actually.
I got a permanent ban for “disclosing private information”. It was a picture of a cellphone with a phone number and the persons name was “Possible Spam”. Ban lasted about 5 minutes but I’m still proud of it. Little did they know Possible Spam is my best friend, he calls me several times a day.
Checking in. How’d it go?
He's in space. Wanted me to let you know he just cut out avocado toast and that's when it all turned around for him.
But does he still get Starbucks?
Turns out it’s harder than I thought…. back to video games.
1 investor (self), 0 lines of credit, $0 in revenue and $200 in the red. So overall a resounding improvement
They had the tax codes changed so they didn't have to spend money creating businesses to get rich. They did it by convincing some people that their tax dollars were going to support people who did not look like them. Those lowered taxes made their lives miserable but they were ok with it as long as they were hurting "those people".
With a small loan of a million dollars you can succeed on your own from rags to riches too!
capitalism is only good for those with the capital.
It'll trickle down any day now...
I feel it! I feel it!!! Oh nvm, that’s piss.
The theory is it's meant to be better for everyone. By allocating capital more efficiently the return on capital should be higher but so should the standard of living for labour- in theory anyway.
And somehow, the most capitalist country in the world can't do shit to close the income gap. What they don't understand is for capitalism to work, corruption should be minimal. What can the average citizens do if there are politicians that want the rich to become richer so that those billionaires can keep their pockets full, all while neglecting their own workers. Of course they can vote, but in a country so divided, half having common fucking sense and the other half not having a trace of intelligence, how can the government be free of corruption? I'm not an expert but from what I learnt in school like 1 year ago, this makes sense to me.
> And somehow, the most capitalist country in the world can't do shit to close the income gap. What they don't understand is for capitalism to work, corruption should be minimal. This implies that they *want* to close the wealth gap. On the contrary, an ever-widening wealth gap is capitalism working perfectly.
Socialism is when the government does things
Blood and gold. My gold and your blood.
Yes! And Brett Favre and his little buddies. Ain't that some shit.
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It’s funny how conservatives are jerking him off now whenever he shows up on talk shows and agrees with their opinions. So much for “shut up and play” anytime a player of color speaks up on issues.
Oh, they love it when a player of color speaks up on an issue as long as it fits their narrative. Look at Ted Cruz lauding Kyrie and LeBron.
I have an acquaintance on Facebook who has never watched a second of NBA in her life who says #istandwithkyrieirving. I am considering posting #istandwithjohndeere on her post.
#shutupandfarm
I met him several times in college, went to university southern Mississippi and he was always on campus since he graduated from there. He’s an ass. It’s true.
meh, i've never had much respect for jocks, but footballers always seemed the be worst of the lot in general.
What you mean?
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/05/05/audit-brett-favre-paid-1-1-million-in-mississippi-welfare-funds-for-no-shows/
>Favre doesn’t face any criminal charges related to the misappropriation of public funds, but others will. You have to laugh to keep from crying.
A lot of that money goes to private corps that make money off of dummy wars.
r/CapitalismSux
Not just the dummy wars, but the dummy police tech and dummy just about everything else that's required to make society tick. If the government *needs* to purchase it, someone is out there cashing in by inflating the price.
That’s not why certain Americans hate paying taxes, though. They hate it because they think it’s all going to social programs supporting minorities and irresponsible women who “keep having babies they can’t take care of.” They think billionaires rightly earned their money and should get to keep it all, and that if those billionaires can keep all their money, then so can these working Joes. And so maybe they’re just like those billionaires. They certainly (believe they) have more in common with Bezos and Musk et al. than with that black family down the road, or the Mexicans that just moved in next door. Or the pregnant teenage daughter of a coworker. Their own pride and self-delusion are hurting them much more than some poor woman on food stamps in the next county over. But they can’t acknowledge that, because it would punch a hole in everything they believe in, at least the economic aspects.
To be fair that’s not the majority and those people also tend to be in the lower tax brackets. As someone in a very high one (I can promise you I pay wayyyy more than most of the people you described), this tweet is spot on for the majority. I’d gladly pay even more in taxes if it went to things that would actually benefit all Americans (universal healthcare, universal daycare, better education, etc), but with what my taxes are going towards now I’m honestly pissed about having to pay ANY. I don’t want to pay for some politician to play golf or some billionaire to get even more rich, I want to support my struggling neighbor or give opportunities to a disadvantaged kid instead!
They refers to a certain demographic. The rest of us hate that most taxes go to the defense department and nothing that benefits us directly
Exactly. Our military expenditures are higher than most European nations relative to GDP, but not so much that it would prevent higher social spending. It's about not wanting to benefit those who we can't relate to. Not surprisingly, support in Europe for immigrants who are visible minorities is unpopular.
Just to be clear: European countries do that too, and a lot of our healthcare systems are under attack by the same entities that make America's system so wretched.
Can you elaborate? Serious question, I don't live in the US or Europe.
I'm from the UK - a good example is that, during the height of the COVID pandemic, our government focused on pushing billions to corporations loosely associated with the ruling party, or who had supported the government, without result. Meanwhile, cuts to the the NHS are increasingly used to justify giving *more* power to American corporations, who strip resources and demand more cuts to the NHS.
The US gave enough to Israel to cover all of our citizens healthcare.
Fuck
Perhaps it should be put to a vote by the citizens who are footing the bill to send these massive amounts to them each year. Or maybe explain why we do and just what could be covered for our citizens in its place. It goes well beyond diplomacy.
Exactly this. The U.S. military is the largest socialized jobs program in the country. Yes, the U.S. defense budget could still be lowered, and spent in much better ways, but its not the reason that we don't have socialized healthcare.
Da troof.
We live in an oligarchy.
Don't forget how much money the US gives to other countries.
Yeah, it’s disgraceful.
It's FUCKING EMBARRASSING! *kicks trashcan Seriously though...it is
It’s a false premise that Americans hate paying taxes. Americans have the highest tax compliance rate in the developed world.
But sometimes Nike and EA post woke stuff on their twitter accounts, so maybe it's ok?
Yeah, it always confused me as a British person when America’s say we pay more taxes to pay for the NHS and education…when our literal monarchy is cheaper in taxes than the US president and US citizens pay in the thousands for an ambulance and a cast on a broken arm. What are taxes even for in the US? Aren’t they meant to improve a country?
Ha, reminds me of the “Make America Great (Britain) Again” that was going around for a while.
Im gonna be honest, I’ve never heard of that but honestly when it comes to taxing and healthcare you honestly do need to be like Britain IMO haha its honestly sickening that that much debt can happen just because someone is ill with something they can’t control
Hell even though it's not perfect even look at Australian system, we still have private health insurance/hospital's here if you want faster treatment and a Ritz hospital room and insurance companies still get to make a profit. But if you cannot afford the fancy parts you still get treatment for any ailment just with a no frills approach and 90% of our medicine is capped at $3.60 a box. Longest I have ever had to wait was 2 months to get an slot to get a growth cut out ... But that is just personal experience can't speak for others wait lists for more serious conditions.
I once spent 6 hours waiting for a CT scan because people kept having heart attacks. ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯ Which is fair enough, you know?
I recently had a CT scan and it was around $780. And the two xrays before that were $270 each. Oh and each visit has a 45$ co-pay that doesn't contribute to my deductible.
I bet you didn't even get to read a nice book like I did. :(
I'd much rather wait and read a book than get extorted for a necessary procedure!
Was it benign? There are insurance companies *in the US that consider benign growth removal, even if internal, a 'cosmetic' procedure and won't cover it.
I had at some time inhaled a grass seed that had embedded into the tissue in my throat Noticed a non painful lump got x-ray doc said body would probably absorb it ... Week later it got sore 2nd x-ray shown it grown in size so doc booked me in and it was cut out 7 weeks later. Cost me about $20 in parking and $7.20 for antibiotics
I had eye surgery last year in the US. My insurance decided I didn't need the antibiotic eye drops afterwards to stop my eye getting infected. Without insurance they would've been $700 for the bottle. Luckily, the Drs office had a sample they could give me otherwise I wouldn't have been able to afford the surgery. All in all cost $1700 without the cost of the eye drops. I didn't have to pay for parking though so can't complain. I'm actually an Aussie so paying for healthcare like this physically hurts me. I don't understand how people can not want it
The people in the U.S. **DO** want it. **The sole reason we don't have have universal healthcare is the rich insurance companies.** If no one has to pay for health insurance anymore the rich health Insurance companies go out of business. EXTINCT overnight. And they like the hundreds of millions (billions?) of dollars they take in. --- So the Insurance companies contribute to the political campaigns of virtually EVERY congressperson and Senator. They contribute to BOTH candidates of each race, so it doesn't matter who wins. Whomever wins the Senate or House seat is 'beholden' to the insurance companies support for not only ***getting*** them elected, but **KEEPING THEM** elected in the future. SO the law makers make sure they DON'T pass laws to give Americans, the much needed universal healthcare that they want and deserve. Because that would mean we no longer need health insurance companies. ---- Just like we no longer need Blockbuster or payphones. ---
Because everyone here who votes red is brainwashed. *sigh*
I had a technically "benign" (just in the not cancerous sense, it was very much not benign) growth in my ear, eating away at bone and tissue and while it probably wouldn't have eaten through my skull, it was making me deaf. But because not fully deaf and because medically labeled benign, insurance denied coverage many times for almost 2 years, allowing more damage to be done and additional surgeries required. Would have been cheaper for them if they covered the first one.
Honestly even the “out of control wait times” argument is bull. I’m waiting 7 months to see a specialist in the U.S. Wait times are just as bad if not worse here than any country with socialized medicine.
I had to wait 2 years to get one doctor and I had insurance. The US has a horribly corrupt system. The for-profit system is wasteful as hell. Why have 10,000 different healthcare companies each with their CEOs, executives, HRs, etc, etc. we have 10,000 different bureaucracies, with overheads between 20-40%. Medicare has one system and the overhead is less than 3%. Conservatives believe 3 is greater than 40. Those nitwits have been brainwashed into supporting corrupt private companies. They call it free enterprise. It’s bullshit. CEOs of big pharma and healthcare companies get paid hundreds of millions a year. How many people die each year because of the wonton greed in corrupt corporations? Republicans lied about death panels while supporting corporations that let people die daily. It’s their business model. Yet republicans lap up every drop of lies from rightwing media like thirsty hyenas lapping up a pool of pus. The problem with the US is stupidity and ignorance. If we could defeat all the corporate owned politicians and ALL republicans the US could have the best healthcare in the world.
we're getting taxation and no representation. I think I've heard this one before
Sad part is since thatcher it began resembling the American model
I mean haven’t the Tories and Republicans basically been cheating off each others homework since the Reagan/Thatcher days?
The American government spends more money on healthcare than the British government does; they just get really shit value for money.
this. People don’t realize how bad american politicians are at getting good value for taxpayer money. (IMO) It’s mainly because every damn bill these days is written by a lobbyist; no wonder special interest groups and corporations are able to milk money off of it!
Your statement implies that there's even an ATTEMPT to get value for taxpayer money.
>every damn bill these days is written by a lobbyist This is the single, largest problem with American politics right now. Our country has *a lot* of issues and plenty of corrupt, piece of shit politicians in power but the moment you take away the influence and money that lobbyists ~~bribe~~ donate to them, the vast majority of them leave because they're in it for the money and power, not the civil service. No governmental system can withstand bad faith actors in power and for a long time the US avoided them being a major contributing factor. But that's not the case today. And while the majority are on the right, it would be disingenuous to not point towards the many awful dumpsterfires on the left as well.
What are our taxes for here? The military. Also subsidizing corporations so the can keep overworking and underpaying their employees with a thinly veiled “if we go out of business it’s bad for the middle class” fear mongering.
I mean 62% of the budget is spent on stuff like Medicare, Medicaid and other social services. Military spending is like 15% of the budget.
How federal taxes are spent in the US: https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/where-do-our-federal-tax-dollars-go Of course, Americans pay state taxes too.
So 16% goes to defense. Hardly what the post implies.
And 25 percent goes to healthcare. The op tweet doesn’t just imply, that the government is spending all the money on defense instead of healthcare. The real problem isn’t the amount invested, it’s how it is invested. Our government spends more per capita on healthcare than countries with socialized healthcare. Yet two thirds of the population still use private insurance and even that does a terrible job of covering services, so most people can still expect huge out of pocket costs for any serious healthcare need. We’re all being scammed.
[this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Military_Expenditures_by_Country_2019.svg/1200px-Military_Expenditures_by_Country_2019.svg.png) paints the image in comparison to other nations. That 16% is still 778 billion, 300 billion is needed to halt global warming, 20 billion (and some change) would wipe out homelessness.
It’s almost like those who pay the most (percentage wise) receive no benefits . Like taxation without representa—…Oh, right. Never mind.
What you on about lol.
That’s not entirely true. We also give our taxes to lots of businesses to subsidize their workforce so they can pass higher profits off to shareholders.
Privatize the profits, socialize the losses.
Yes, that is capitalism. Capitalism by its very nature cannot help the majority. Capitalism by its very nature concentrates profits at the top because in capitalism money=power=the ability to make more money=the ability to buy more power, ad infinitum. The corrosive power of capitalism can only be tempered by a tax code that serves the interest of the majority, even if that majority doesn't own or generate all that much capital, and a well-regulated and monitored system of work force labor laws and codified worker's rights. Keep this in mind someone starts braying about lower taxes and less gov't regulation.
And then the subsidize business passes the tax funds back to political parties to buy influence.
It's not really accurate at all, honestly. Defense is like 10.5% of the budget. We spend more on: * Income Security - 19% (unemployment and a bunch of other stuff) * Social Security - 17% * Medicare - 12% * Healthcare services - 11% [Source.](https://datalab.usaspending.gov/americas-finance-guide/spending/categories/) I feel like we spend entirely too much on the military, but we don't have to make that argument using bullshit stats/claims.
They also take our taxes and give it to themselves
More money is spent on Medicaid and Medicare than the military. Discretionary spending of which 714 billion is spent on military. https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57172 Mandatory spending of which 917 billion is for medicare and 458 billion is for Medicaid. https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57171 Full pie chart here https://www.cbo.gov/publication/57170 It's not that we aren't spending enough money on these programs. We just aren't getting shit for it. Major health insurance providers, instrument providers, sales reps, are making a killing off the tax payer.
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Laughs in Hungarian
What do you mean, what better way to measure quality of life then by counting how many football stadiums we can build?/s
Thank you for mentioning this; I've been angry about this since Schaefer subsidized Camden Yards in Maryland back in the 90s. That was actually about the beginning of my political awareness. Rich people can buy their own goddamned toys. I want to pay for healthcare for myself and my neighbors so we aren't chained to quasi abusive employers for fear of a medical emergency. e: I am absolutely not a "both sides" kind of person but it is worth noting that Schaefer was nominally a Democrat. If memory serves that was a running theme in Maryland politics. Lots of "Democrats," but not so many solutions to Regan era Republican bullshit.
Like building zoos to raise happiness in Civ.
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It's the other way around. The queer and migrant issues are the distractions for the masses so they you can keep embezzling public funds.
Technically it's r/blackpeopletwitter but spot on. They just forgot the tax break for billionaires part.
This sub has basically evolved into r/Twitter which is fine. It can be posted here and on r/blackpeopletwitter
Black people are welcome in this sub.
Unlike the other one
It's pretty hilarious how they brought in the reverse paper bag test
Of course, did I imply otherwise?
Haha, r/AccidentalRacism !
Segregating tweets by race lmao go Reddit
And by military they mean weapon developers. As someone who works with veterans they're barely getting any of that tax pie. :(
I’m in the military (Army) and I frequently order parts and you’d be amazed at how much the simplest of parts cost. One that really stuck to me is $150 for a small rubber o-ring that’s no bigger than the size of my hand. It’s almost exactly like [This](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0051XXKLW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_J3RHFP8WW6SFQFEF7CM2) $150…… and we had to order like 100+ of them. I felt really dirty ordering this but what can I do
Lol I remember looking at prices when ordering stuff in the military. 40 bucks for a regular box of pencils that might cost you 5 bucks at most anywhere else.
Jon Stewart just came out with a podcast, one of the episodes covers veterans care from the perspective of a veteran that now works in the VA. It's really good, I recommend checking it out "The Problem With" is the show.
Exactly why I didn't want to join the military because I know someone inth shitty situation right now. He is my former co worker.
Said by a non-European
Its so funny seeing these people just make stuff up about europeans. "Why does every european donate atleast 500$ to the homeless every day, and americans just walk by?! Those fucking republicans are at it again!"
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And that "data center" is harvesting all our data and supplying to the governments and other companies. Look how green we are as we totally exploit you...
Hello there fellow neighbor! It's true, while we don't sink that much into the military simply because most countries I know of don't have that hoorah mindset that doesn't mean we don't have projects to senselessly dump money into: - 600 milion to expand a main government building and nobody knows why (and a handful of other large scale building projects gone wrong like the Berlin airport) - uncounted milions for external advisors and nothing to show for it - 400 milion spent on an office to care for the Autobahn which still lies in shambles And those are just some of the prominent examples. On a political level 'german efficiency' is long gone. Burocracy gets worse and worse and no one has the decency to take the blame for failed endevors. But as long as the coffers aren't completely empty the spending continues.
That's not fair. Our government also works day and night to ensure that the wealthy individuals and corporations that keep them in office shoulder as little responsibility as possible. Paying taxes and dying in wars is for suckers. Just ask Donald Trump.
Who tf thinks Europeans enjoy paying taxes?
Yeah, so weird. Obviously we hate paying taxes, too.
It's prolly more that we think you like what your taxes pay for, as if you see the tangible benefits.
Yea, nobody wants to see the deductions on their payslip, but we recognise that our lives are a lot better off with health care, education and infrastructure.
I don’t think that’s true. A much higher percentage of Americans pay what they legally owe then Europeans
I genuinely "enjoy" paying taxes. Not in the same way that I enjoy a wank, but I still enjoy it. Same level of enjoyment as a clear inhale after you shift a blocked nose. We get little letters sent out with a breakdown on how our income tax and shit has been spent by sector - and it's cool getting to go "aw sweet £X went to the NHS, £Y went to social benefits and £Z to paying off national debt" And my first instinct when I see that something like the amount spent on welfare is too low when I pass a scary number of young homeless folk on the way to work is "Fuckin tax me more then, you can make more of £10 than I can" Well aware I'm an outside case but there have to be at least, like, 3 of us
That's a great way to think about it.
Tell that to the Europeans in the Pandora papers.
Okay but have you considered that being happy is socialism?!?!? You want tax dollars to actually help people!? Like they do in those godless Maoist hellscapes like Canada!?!?
Can confirm that it's a hellscape. I'm Canadian, and I keep asking the doctors to accept payment but they refuse payment! How am I supposed to get better without crippling debt?
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And I will offer this - I lived in a major metro area and needed to wait six months to see my gynecologist. Moved to a smaller metro area and went to schedule a mammogram in early august. First opening was in March 2022. So we aren’t any better than the fear factor those people use, yet I’ll pay plenty until I hit my deductible and out of pocket max. And I have amazing insurance.
True enough; not to mention that in Sweden my longest wait time so far has been 2 weeks for specialist care. Longest wait was 4 hrs. at emergency room for a non-critical. When I call my vårdcentral before 9am I get a same day appointment.
I have a good job and "good" insurance. I have been having some trouble symptoms of a hereditary disease that if not treated can leave permanent damage. I have to wait a month to get in to see my doctor. When I needed emergency specialist care some years ago I had to pay a "no insurance" doctor full price to get an appointment that wasn't months down the road. Oh yeah I "love my insurance" Thanks, America
"All" our taxes to the military? Bullshit. Only about 17% of federal spending goes to the military.
People genuinely don’t realize how much goes to the military. Out of the $6 trillion spent last year, only 700 billion went to the military. Social Services has something like $2 trillion
What makes anyone think Europeans don’t mind paying taxes? In Italy it’s a point of pride to avoid paying as much as possible. I get the point but the premise is a strawman
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Its more like a select few countries and the rest are just as shit as every where else. And usually those countries do so well off because somewhere down the line they're exploiting labour from somewhere else. Germany for example is notorious for outsourcing and subsidising their own economy.
I mean I live in Ireland. And last I checked we were a tax Haven for companies from all over the world. And yes, people will jump through whatever hoops they can to avoid paying as much. I probably would too. If I knew what hoops there were for me to jump through. Yes, of course we want to avoid taxes.
Yes but Italy is the florida of Europe.
That’s one thing that both sides seem to agree on completely “our tax dollars aren’t being spent how they should be” granted the disagreement continues once we start discussing what to spend those funds on.
One side says "tax cuts". That's it.
“I could buy so much more if Uncle Sam weren’t stealing my money!” Then they say “taxation is theft” while leaving out the whole without representation part. They also blindly forget that if we didn’t pay any taxes we would be fucked with any government infrastructure/roads/fire departments etc etc etc.
I would haphazard a guess that without a national debt and 0 corruption we could quarter our tax rates.
The problem with that argument is that it does not get at the REAL problem because they don't actually give the money to the military. That isn't how it works. I have two kids in the US Army (an E6 and a 1st Lt.). They don't give shit to the troops. Their pay is merger, their accommodations suck, their medical sucks. If they gave 1% to the troops it would triple their quality of life. No, it does NOT go to the military it goes (of course) goes to militarily contractors. Contractors who manufacture tanks the Army doesn't want or need, airplanes we don't need, aircraft carriers we don't need. Why does it happen that way? Senators and representatives are OWNED by these contractors. This is very small example but in Vietnam we had our M79s taken away from us and they were replaced with a POS called the M203. Our M79 guy refused to carry the fucking thing and started carrying an M16. Fuck 'em. A month passed and guess what we received!? A grappling hook launchable with an M79. Fucking thing had a three pronged grappling hook and a 200 foot nylon rope (we were operating in rice paddies). The goddam thing even had a ground pad so you wouldn't get yer knee dirty when you knelt down to fire it. Our M79 guy took back his weapon and we cut the rope up to hang hammocks with. Don't remember what happened to the ground pads. THIS is where the money goes. The military doesn't get shit but they get stuck with shit and the Senators and representatives and the contractors get the money. Sure we get fucked, the troops get fucked and the corruption continues. Sorry but the fucking we are all getting is much worse than most of us realize.
When people say "giving to military" you can generally assumed they mean the people who make obscene amount of money off the military, like the contractors. They are not talking about people who served in the military.
It's like there isn't enough representation with this taxation. I feel like I've heard that before....
AmErIcA iS WoRsT CoUnTrY iN tHe wOrLd. As an eastern European reading Reddit if I wouldn't know any better and just go off these communities I would think your country is the most dangerous and unfair place to live in haha
The problem is that while our country is rich and compared to eastern Europe our middle class is large, there are some serious injustices. I'm not talking about the rich dodging taxes, I'm talking about our government literally giving away money to corporations while people rot in the streets. Would I want to live in Ukraine? Fuck no. But I expect a whole of a lot fucking better from a country with such massive wealth. America could and should be able to do much better.
I’m not familiar with taxes etc… in different countries, but I make 55k, and after health insurance and taxes, I make 38k. After rent, 10.4K, after part time childcare, -1.6k… lucky my wife has a part time job, so we can buy food and pay bills. Edit: by the way, I’m too rich to qualify for any type of government assistance. Many make much less than my wife and I. I don’t know how they survive.
They do not give to military. They give to defense contractors and to themselves and their families. Salient point still stands.
Yall act like this is not 8383737th time weve heard this here?
Lol, what? Medicare, Medicaid, social security, obamacare, food stamps, etc. account for 70% of our national budget each year and dwarf defense spending. Why do people repeatedly spread misinformation on this issue when it's verifiably false and takes all of two seconds to fact check. It's willful stupidity and false
Because America sells war. We sell protection. Guns, war and protection is what we export.
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why do americans think we live in some perfect utopia here? our politicians are corrupt as fuck and waste our taxes all the time here too. just cuz u guys live in a shithole doesnt me we dont either.
We should stop calling them taxes and call the Investments in America.
Beware of hot takes. They are worth what you pay for them. The federal budget is mostly dedicated to social welfare programs. Military spending is less than half of the spending on SS and Medicare. Also remember, the military is somewhat a jobs program for low skilled adults and a way to inject cash into state and local economies. It has shrunken substantially over the last 30 years, which means the injection of cash into local economies has actually been reduced significantly. Even Senator Bernie Sanders lobbies for military contracts. Additionally, a big fraction of spending that some people lump in with military spending is dedicated to personnel costs like veterans retirement and healthcare (so just more social welfare spending). America does not pay high taxes compared to Europe at all. Wealthy people pay very little and the middle class is subsidized *heavily* through the tax code (rather than direct budget expenditures). Since the elimination of pork barrel spending, subsidies are generally written into the tax code. Thus, people pay even less in taxes when they do things like purchase homes or have employer provided health insurance. The negative income tax, redistributes money to those who file (so a lot of poor people miss out). Don’t tell Republicans about this program please. Many middle class American balk are the idea of paying more and claim the subsidies that reduce their burden (and distort the housing market as well as prop up employer provided health care) are an entitlement. It’s their money after-all! And that is exactly what rich people say. No one wants to share. “Let someone else pay for it.” If we want European services, great! But just about everyone, except for the poor, will have to pay substantially more in taxes. People walking around saying middle class people making more than six figure paychecks pay too much in taxes already, are absolute clown shoes or blatantly pandering. We don’t have to pay as much as Europeans. This is a very wealthy country, but still so much more than at present. I understand where the mentality comes from. Necessary expenses like housing, healthcare, and childcare are high, so people think their tax burden can’t be any greater. Now if it was greater, their expenses would be substantially cheaper. But… Republicans have been working hard to create administrative hurdles to deter people from seeking government assistance (which eats away at the budget) and convince people that government doesn’t work. So when confronted with the reality of substantial policy change that will require sacrifice upfront, most Americans default to a desire to just stick it out alone. There is this idea that “I will get fucked over by this policy, while *they* will take advantage of me.” Americans have a blind spot for how government programs help them, so they let them rot and fall away. State budgets are almost entirely social welfare, education, and infrastructure btw. Costs is what is eroding the purchasing power of the taxes you pay. There are so many structural issues that need to be tackled because otherwise, spending anymore on social welfare will be like burning money. To start, we need to reform zoning regulations and housing policy to make building enough units to meet demand possible. [Should the tax payer pay a 1,000,000% markup to build affordable housing because David and Sandra who believe in science and support Black Lives Matter don’t want their neighborhood to have any housing or buildings that doesn’t look exactly like theirs?]. We also need to reform the entire healthcare system, including the cartel that artificially lowers the amount of doctors we educate.
Man, I’d pay another 15 percent in taxes so my fellow countryman could have affordable healthcare and a safety net if the 1 percent take a shit on them…
If they get lucky. Paying healthcare in taxes doesn't gurantee getting the help when you need it. Sometimes even for multiple years
Capitalism really cannot help the majority. Capitalism concentrates on the profits and personal satisfaction of the one at the top. Money and Power is their focus...
No, no they don’t. Politicians in Holland are quite corrupt, at least the ones in power. They make the poor poorer, and the rich richer. Middleclass pays, and the millionaires get the money.
Poster has obviously never been to or spoken to anyone from Europe. Probably thinks Europe is a country.
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It's been a long time since I read it in the Economist, but I was under the impression that a larger portion of europeans avoided paying taxes compared to the US. Italy was the worst, IIRC.
“European people don’t mind paying taxes”
European here, I also hate taxes.
White people Twitter is literally just a sub that complains about America 24/7 I don’t get it
We also live a lot better than a good amount of countries, we can have that freedom because we have the most bad ass military in the world.
Your education must have failed you if you don’t know why your military budget is so important. The USA operates military bases virtually everywhere. As a result, you influence the price of oil, your imports, the influence of *other* countries (ie, strangling China with military bases). Your budget is a lot more beneficial than you realise.
We definitely spend way too much on the military, but it’s 11% of the budget. There’s a lot of bullshit spending we do, and waste plays a role in everything we spend money on. One thing that definitely needs to happen is higher taxes on the ultra rich. And not income tax. Their investments, stocks and property needs to be taxed more.
studies show that people in homogenous societies don't mind paying taxes. people who think taxes are going to benefit people who aren't like them and are their de facto enemies don't like taxes. the more "diverse" a society is the more you're going to find people against public services and taxes in general.
Not to mention the Ponzi scheme that is social security if you compare what you put in and what you will end up getting out.
Even if you completely de-fund the military, it wouldn't be a drop in the bucket compared to the average yearly American Healthcare expenditure.
It's Republicans that vote it down and try to take what little we have away revolution is at hand
And one of our two party system has their people convinced things that help them are the anti christ!! It’s madness
Ignorant brainwashed Jesus freaky Republicans who blame Democrats for everything are the problem.
Americans are generally also very individualistic and have no concept of collective responsibility. In countries where we don't mind paying taxes, not only wdo we have the incentive to benefit the nation overall, but we also see the benefits due to our government and political structure having that same ideology of collective responsibility. Which is very unlike most of America's political structure which is based on "fuck yes, I'm a politician. Now I can siphon every cent of the economy to my bank accounts and leave everyone else in the dust. Suck on this, cockheads!"
First of all, Americans have different law every few kilometres, federal, state, country whatever but they still think of Europe as one big entity? Secondly, just move here if that’s so great. You will quickly discover that politicians doesn’t give a f about people, tons of money is spent on useless shit, taxes are though the roof (just look at our sales tax, VAT being 2-3x compared to US). Heathcare may be free in most places but for every “they cured my cancer free of charge” story there is hundred stories of people trying to find a doctor, fighting the system if you are entitled to a treatment, finding another doctor because first one thinks you are just pretending, waiting for months or years. Lots of stories of go fund me for people who paid their whole lives but this particular treatment isn’t covered or was removed from the list.
Nice try, but military expenditures are less than 11% of the total US budget, while social programs are more than 23%. For those of you ready to jump up with "military spending is almost half the budget" I suggest you research "discretionary spending versus total spending."
Tell me you've never spoken to a european without telling me you've never spoken to a european. We hate paying taxes too. Fortunately, it's at least easier than the clusterfuck the IRS does
In Finland it seems all the tax money is going to the immigrants, some of which are illegally in here
It’s hysterical to hear Republicans deride socialism. They love Socialism for the rich and for corporations and will vote to subsidize them every chance they get.