"Billionaires Will Not Save Us..."

[Nebulous]

It pisses me off that I have to pay property tax on shit I already own.

Same here.

 

[Webster]

Medium: Merry Christmas, Our Civilization Is Being Scrooged to Death by Billionaires

Merry Christmas! I hope you’re warm and safe and surrounded by those you love. In other words, that yours is going well. Us? We took Snowy out for a little Christmas shopping — he loves shopping, for some strange reason — and walked around the city. Ours is just fine, pleasant, charming.

But our civilization’s Christmas? Well, that’s not going quite so well. Our civilization is being Scrooged to death by billionaires, basically.

What do I mean by that? I came across an interesting juxtaposition recently, that I thought everyone should know — and think — about.

Recently, the UN had one of its regular biodiversity conference. And at this one — known as COP15 — an historic deal was finally struck. Nations agreed — for the first time in history — to protect 30% of nature by 2030. The deal’s come to be known as “30x30x30.”

Now, this is a great and wonderful and noble thing. Think about the context for a second, why this agreement matters so desperately much. We’re at the beginning of a Mass Extinction now — one of only five thus far in deep history, billions of years of it. This is the sixth, and it’s the only one that’s human-made. The last time the climate changed this way was the Permian Extinction, and 90% of species died off. It took the planet millions of years to recover, and when it did, it did so only after a new planetary and ecological was established. These are the stakes we’re playing with. Millions of years, events taking place across billions of years. 90% percent of species dying off, and the planet reaching a very, very different ecological balance. These are timescales — and events of such magnitude and scope — that we humans have a hard time even comprehending what’s really at risk here.

It should be needless to say — but perhaps isn’t — that Mass Extinction matters. Not just in a moral way — those are sentient, living things too, after all — but in a colder, pragmatic one. All those beings provide us what are called, by ecologists, in a somewhat anodyne manner, “ecosystem services.” The more prosaic translation for that is all the basics we need to live, too. Who do you think makes the air we breathe? Factories? Jeff Bezos? El*n M*sk? LOL, no. Trees do, with help from soil, water, and all the many organisms involved along the way. What about, for example, food? That one should be much more obvious, unless you’ve magically developed the ability to subsist on…rocks...

 

[fuzzems]

I never thought billionaires could save us. I never asked Bill Gates to save me. I was raised that it was MY JOB to take care of MYSELF. Seems to me we should get back to a whole lot more of that.

 

[Webster]

Seems to me we should get back to a whole lot more of that.

So your philosophy is "I got mine, screw the rest of us?"

Got it, thanks....

 

[fuzzems]

So your philosophy is "I got mine, screw the rest of us?"

Got it, thanks....

No. My philosophy is that of learning to be a self sufficient human being. Pretty much has been the philosophy of Mankind since day 1. But, I agree with having a social safety net to help take care of elderly, disabled and orphaned children. But, not interested in funding people who have body parts and a mind that works.

 

[Dee]

Billionaires suck. That is all.

We should eat them.

Also, yes, this thread title is correct. Billionaires will not save us because they do not care about us. End of story.

 

[Nebulous]

I was raised that it was MY JOB to take care of MYSELF. Seems to me we should get back to a whole lot more of that.

Same here, being self sufficient is all I've ever done. Even before I moved out at 18 I took care of myself because my mom was depressed and slept for 20 hours a day.

 

[fuzzems]

Did your mom every find help?

 

[Webster]

Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@[email protected])

Short rant. Southwest Air has cancelled ~70% of its flights in an epic meltdown this holiday season. Remember, Southwest took $3.7B in federal aid from 2020-21. It’s CEO got a pay raise to a $9.1M package in 2022. Yet Southwest employees are working 16 hour shifts & threatened w/termination...

mstdn.party

--Short rant.

Southwest Air has cancelled ~70% of its flights in an epic meltdown this holiday season. Remember, Southwest took $3.7B in federal aid from 2020-21.

It’s CEO got a pay raise to a $9.1M package in 2022. Yet Southwest employees are working 16 hour shifts & threatened w/termination if they refuse overtime or call in sick.

Socialism for the wealthy. Capitalism for workers.

Stop trusting billionaires. Start holding them accountable. And start protecting workers. End Rant.

 

[Nebulous]

Did your mom every find help?

Unfortunately no, she was a depressed mess until the day she passed away. RIP.

 

[fuzzems]

Unfortunately no, she was a depressed mess until the day she passed away. RIP.

Oh sorry to hear that. Mental illness is cruel.

 

[Nebulous]

Oh sorry to hear that. Mental illness is cruel.

Sure is!

 

[Webster]

Unfortunately no, she was a depressed mess until the day she passed away. RIP.

Oh sorry to hear that. Mental illness is cruel.

 

[MrDawn]

Same here.

Republican State Sen. Bill Eigel is pushing to get rid of personal property tax. I'm sold. I want him in office. Maybe I'd like to buy and pay a mortgage on a really nice house without fear of being hit with ridiculously high and over priced property tax. The state shouldn't be entitled so much as to make people pay for shit they already own or put a bar on what people can own based on their career. That is not fair & it's road side robbery. It's a tradition that is financially harmful to a lot of people.

State Senator wants to get rid of Missouri personal property tax, meets opposition

Lawmakers are considering whether to use St. Charles County as a pilot to potentially eliminate personal property taxes.

www.ksdk.com

 

[Webster]

The state shouldn't be entitled so much as to make people pay for shit they already own or put a bar on what people can own based on their career.

Okay, then how do you propose to raise tax income?

A sales tax? Income tax? Fees or tolls?

 

[MrDawn]

Okay, then how do you propose to raise tax income?

A sales tax? Income tax? Fees or tolls?

I'm not proposing anything. They're already taking state and federal taxes out of people's paychecks, not to mention they have sales tax on everything else. All I'm saying is to leave people's property alone. I simply don't agree with Personal Property Tax and the fact that people shouldn't be billed on something they already own.

 

[Webster]

the fact that people shouldn't be billed on something they already own.

Then I go back to what I asked earlier: how do you raise tax revenue w/out property taxes because there aren't very many options and the ones' available are somewhat regressionary towards working people.

The Importance of Paying Property Taxes

Property taxes paid by homeowners are used by counties and states to provide critical services and infrastructure such as police services, fire services, schools, roads and highway construction, and other uses that vary by jurisdiction.

www.nar.realtor

 

[MrDawn]

Then I go back to what I asked earlier: how do you raise tax revenue w/out property taxes because there aren't very many options and the ones' available are somewhat regressionary towards working people.

I would like you to tell me since you're the political expert. All I know is that it's adding to the homeless crisis. It does not help everyone like it advertises.

Elderly people shouldn’t become homeless because of property taxes - Libertas Institute

At the heart of this issue is a dramatic increase in Utah property taxes during the past few years.

libertas.org

Taxes Don’t Solve Homelessness, Housing Does

If I worked for consulting giant McKinsey and Company, or wrote for one of the local media outlets I might just declare, “Income Taxes Cause Homelessness.” But I’m not. I still know that correlation isn’t the same as causation.

www.forbes.com

 

[Bluezone777]

I think the question of who are these billionaires that actually promised to save us and what did they claim they were going to save us from as I clearly missed that part.

When you think about it, property taxes is basically like paying rent to your landlord. If you don't pay your rent then you get kicked out and if you don't pay your property taxes then you get kicked out. Makes you wonder if you really ever owned that property at all or if it is all an illusion with the only difference being who your landlord is.

With the way the government acts right now, they could get 100 percent of everything that everyone makes and still ask for more. They are is really no incentive for them to not increase the debt or act foolishly with the money as they know most of them will be guaranteed reelection every time with no term limits in sight regardless of how bad of a job they do. Most of us on the other hand can't consistently perform poorly without suffering immediate consequences for it so not sure why the government gets a pass on that.

 

[fuzzems]

Then I go back to what I asked earlier: how do you raise tax revenue w/out property taxes because there aren't very many options and the ones' available are somewhat regressionary towards working people.

The Importance of Paying Property Taxes

Property taxes paid by homeowners are used by counties and states to provide critical services and infrastructure such as police services, fire services, schools, roads and highway construction, and other uses that vary by jurisdiction.

www.nar.realtor

We don't need to raise tax revenue, we need to LOWER it.