The Political Discussion Thread

[Annoyed]

myhelix:
How would you pay for such a generous society and remain a free country?
No doubt you're thinking of taxing the hell out of the society. If at all possible, the owners of whatever form of wealth you attempt to overtax will simply move it outside of your society's tax jurisdiction or otherwise avoid taxation on it. So you're not going to get "the wealthy" with this. The ones who will end up paying for it are your everyday working stiffs, the guys who can't afford to evade the tax collector.

Or do you plan on restricting who can move out ?

[Coco Pops]

OMG found video of THAT WOMAN!

She really is that stupid . Apparently any ethnic people can't be racist, according to her, because they are ethnic...

Isn't that racism?

I love this quote from her video clips above

"We will not be silenced; we are militant. The world is not ready for minorities to challenge the status quo, but resistance to our resistance is futile."

[SoulReaver]

No doubt you're thinking of taxing the hell out of the society. If at all possible, the owners of whatever form of wealth you attempt to overtax will simply move it outside of your society's tax jurisdiction or otherwise avoid taxation on it. So you're not going to get "the wealthy" with this. The ones who will end up paying for it are your everyday working stiffs, the guys who can't afford to evade the tax collector.

that's where the advantages of an "international economic union" are obvious: global fiscal harmonization (same corporate taxes everywhere). this way any dishonest corporation would have to change planets to pay less taxes hehe...

wishful thinking of course since this won't happen anytime soon :/

[mad_gater]

As an outsiders point of few I think the US has a very harsh climate for their citizens. A bit like "sink or swim" mentality. Big cooperation's and rich people can do whatever they like to do in the US, but normal workers and poor people get treated like trash. Not that other country´s in the world had other systems, but I always considered (when I was younger) the USA as a country to look up to, but as time went by I realised how flawed the system is. Germany and other EU country´s had way better social framework for everyone.

IMO to much military and obsession with violence, no health insurance coverage for everyone, not much rights for workers, no real sense for the environment (if you have enough money you can destroy as much nature as you like without consequences), the food industry is producing a lot of cheap and unhealthy junk food, the government is spying out the whole world and of course their own people, the US became/is a police state with a lot of methods to control public, big cooperation have much more rights than an average US citizen....

Of course no country is perfect and I like the normal people and the country itself, but I see that so much things going in the wrong direction (not only in the US, in Europe, in China, Russia, Africa) it´s sad to see how much the one´s with power destroy the life´s of the normal people everywhere in the world, and it´s getting worse.

Without being communist, I think boundless capitalism is a big problem and people have to stand up and fight for a future that is worth living for our children everywhere in the world, And we had to stop big cooperation's messing with good basic human laws!

actually if you think about it there really isn't very much difference between collectivism and unbridled capitalism....unbridled capitalism (the kind that is practiced by these big wig corporations you mention) can also lead to 100% government control just as easily as socialism/communism/fascism

basically the goal of both is complete nationalization of resources...in collectivism the dictator is usually voted in (mainly because he promises the moon and stars to a discontented populace if only they'll let him and his men micromanage every aspect of their lives and sadly many people fall for that) and in unbridled capitalism complete government control is usually bought

bridled capitalism (the kind of economy our nation started with) is the kind of economy where you earn what wealth you want/need through honest hard work and perseverance and still have various private and public support systems in place to help people get back on their feet again

[Annoyed]

that's where the advantages of an "international economic union" are obvious: global fiscal harmonization (same corporate taxes everywhere). this way any dishonest corporation would have to change planets to pay less taxes hehe...

wishful thinking of course since this won't happen anytime soon :/

First, You seem to think that wealth is the property of the state, to be doled out to whomever the state feels deserves it, as opposed to wealth belonging to those who created it. Not so fond of that idea.

2nd, the advantages of an "international economic union" would primarily be to the poorer nations of the world, to the detriment of the United States, as the U.S. taxpayer would end up footing the bills for everyone. If you doubt this, look at the U.N. and it's various schemes to transfer wealth from the U.S. to others.

It's an international version of the "Metro" police/fire/govt. services ideas you see popping up in failing U.S. cities, where the administration of a central city that is going bankrupt due to failed policies wants to join forces with successful suburban towns and such. Their real motivation is simply to gain access to more taxpayers to continue to pay for their failed policies.

[Falcon Horus]

http://www.news.com.au/finance/econo...-1227346193452

Interesting times afoot for the Danes...

Anyone here live there can tell us more about this?

Don't live in Denmark, but I would like to say that I don't think a cash-less society is the way to go. I think, it's much easier to forget how much money is still in your account and start overspending, thus increasing debt.

I, for one, rarely have more than maybe 5 or 10 euro in my wallet (more often I have less than 2 euro) so I pay a lot with my bank card (not my credit card - that's for online buying (DVD's, Ebay) and holiday renting cars only) and I find that it's quite easy to loose track of the amount of money still in my account, only to realize when I go and pay the bills that I am running low on my account.

... bullshtako..

Hello Defiance...

A cashless society will be the last step to control you 24/7, the death for freedom.

If you still believe freedom is still alive, you are quite naive to think so.

They take away our pictures and profiles on facebook, they know what we love from google and online shops, they know what we are doing with our smartphones and GPS systems in cars, cameras in every building...

Don't be on Facebook or any other social media - problem solved.
Don't be on Ebay or any other sales websites - problem solved.

Have google erase every hint of you and disconnect your internet - problem solved.

Do not possess a smartphone or GPS (roadmaps are still quite usefull) - problem solved.

Cameras in buildings have proven their usefulness, and you as a person can't do much about them being there so that one you can't solve - unless you choose no longer to go out in public and live somewhere all alone, like on a deserted mountain or island.

We live in a world where freedom is in grave danger and nobody seems to care.

We are free within the boundaries of the law of our countries. Absolute freedom doesn't exist, it never has.

....Someone give FH directions to my cave.. I'll give you a shiny penny

Anyone know the way to her cave?

Don't worry about it. Just have him ask the nearest government security type person, they'll know where you are.

That would be her.

Have you ever gotten into "Continuum", on SyFy? The corporate police state that Kiera comes from in her original, unaltered timeline is a perfectly reasonable prediction of where the US might go given current trends. And it's not a pleasant one. One of the best aspects of that show is the heroine's slow but inevitable awakening to how wrong her "home society" really is.

Continuum does indeed offer a possible future the world is heading towards, and it's damn fascinating to watch.

[Annoyed]

Continuum does indeed offer a possible future the world is heading towards, and it's damn fascinating to watch.

Indeed it is. Which is why I like the show as much as I do.

If you ask me, the writers are pointing a finger directly at the U.S. and saying: "This is where you are going of you don't fix your financial house of cards in very short order" Science fiction is supposed to pose questions about our society, and this show does an excellent job of doing that.

Such a pity the show has been cancelled. I'm glad they got a 6 episode order for this year to tie up their story, though.

[SoulReaver]

First, You seem to think that wealth is the property of the state, to be doled out to whomever the state feels deserves it, as opposed to wealth belonging to those who created it. Not so fond of that idea.

2nd, the advantages of an "international economic union" would primarily be to the poorer nations of the world, to the detriment of the United States, as the U.S. taxpayer would end up footing the bills for everyone. If you doubt this, look at the U.N. and it's various schemes to transfer wealth from the U.S. to others.

It's an international version of the "Metro" police/fire/govt. services ideas you see popping up in failing U.S. cities, where the administration of a central city that is going bankrupt due to failed policies wants to join forces with successful suburban towns and such. Their real motivation is simply to gain access to more taxpayers to continue to pay for their failed policies.

bah, so what - the commoner's money is already property of the state

washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/08/they-fought-the-law-who-won/
(capitalism in a nutshell: government only protects corporate property, not citizens' property)

if the government already have such control over citizens then it might as well have the same control over the corporations as well

[Annoyed]

bah, so what - the commoner's money is already property of the state

washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/08/they-fought-the-law-who-won/
(capitalism in a nutshell: government only protects corporate property, not citizens' property)

if the government already have such control over citizens then it might as well have the same control over the corporations as well

That's just it. The government should NOT have such control over its citizens. The solution is not to add a second wrong, the solution is to stop the 1st wrong from happening in the first place. 2 wrongs does not make a right.

[SoulReaver]

the solution is to stop the 1st wrong from happening in the first place.

already happened. not gonna unhappen

2 wrongs does not make a right.

2 wrongs is 2nd best option (sometimes)

[Annoyed]

already happened. not gonna unhappen

You're probably right, but I'm not going to accept that as the ground rules of the game.

2 wrongs is 2nd best option (sometimes)

I don't accept that either. How is committing a second wrong the solution to the first one? Try telling a cop you had to run the second red light because you ran the first one.

[Falcon Horus]

Anyone looking for a new job? Saudi-Arabia's looking for 8 new executioners. You don't require any previous experience or knowledge, though as far as salary goes it won't be much. Executioner's a low-paying job.

I do think it requires a little arm-strength as it stated that the last decapitation was performed with a sabre so I imagine it requires a little hacking strength. Ears, noses and hands require less but the main job is decapitating the comdemned.

[jelgate]

Anyone looking for a new job? Saudi-Arabia's looking for 8 new executioners. You don't require any previous experience or knowledge, though as far as salary goes it won't be much. Executioner's a low-paying job.

I do think it requires a little arm-strength as it stated that the last decapitation was performed with a sabre so I imagine it requires a little hacking strength. Ears, noses and hands require less but the main job is decapitating the comdemned.

Do I get health benefits?

[Pharaoh Hamenthotep]

They might not like you drinking rum and eating bacon..

[Annoyed]

Quote Originally Posted by Pharaoh Hamenthotep
....Someone give FH directions to my cave.. I'll give you a shiny penny
Anyone know the way to her cave?

Quote Originally Posted by Annoyed View Post
Don't worry about it. Just have him ask the nearest government security type person, they'll know where you are.

That would be her.

There are so many cross-gender avatars in this joint I gave up trying to figure out who is what a while back.