Billionaires are the malignant tumors of end-stage, unregulated free-market capitalism.
@TheresaVermont - And the middle class will become poorer, yes.
Income in the US during the mid-1970s was as equally distributed as at any time in history. But between 1981 and 1986, the top tax rate was cut from 70% to 28%, while taxes on the bottom 4/5 of earners rose, and economic inequality began to rise.
It might be time to rethink the whole "trickle down" thing. Our economic system hasn't had any sort of reboot since Reagan, only mindless Wall Street bailouts that didn't solve any of the core problems. And it looks like there's another disaster coming.
The Qanon idiot mascot is out of jail already.
@JLong - Definitely. I'm sure there are "remnants" of CIA/FBI ops like CHAOS and COINTELPRO still doing their thing, except now they have access to the ocean of personal info that's held in the Utah Data Center and whatnot. Either way, it's pretty funny, the very thought of it.
In general, libertarians are haughty, solipsistic ideological chameleons who'll say anything to smuggle themselves into leftist groups and try to turn them evil. Jaws dropped worldwide a while back when it was revealed that a “libertarian wing” had somehow materialized within the Democratic Socialists of America, a Scandinavian-economy-minded, Bernie Sanders-worshipping organization that apparently forgot to add a “no libertarians” clause to their list of Frequently Asked Questions.
Christian fundamentalists who want to take over the country got rid of Roe v Wade and subsequently made it so you can nark out your neighbor and have them prosecuted if they have an abortion in some states.
Now they're going after mifepristone (the “abortion pill”) in Texas.
Facebook is censoring posts with reproductive rights information.
Most voters believe this is wrong. Amnesty International has suggestions for fighting back:
https://www.amnestyusa.org/abortiontoolkit/
#WomensRights
#AbortionRights
The elites who demanded that everyone go back to work in order to create profits for them were never very worried about covid. Why? Because everything they do in their daily lives has a seclusive aspect: private planes, food preparers, country clubs, small private schools for their kids, doctors making in-calls, all-inclusive hotel-sized homes, etc.
They don't take the daily risks regular people do. Covid has become a daily risk for workers, like driving in traffic.
@JLong - It's great when they're really crazy. I was at an estate sale in northern NH last year, and there was a gaggle of old MAGAs in the basement, talking about how Biden was planning to sell the whole country to China. I was like, "Yeah, if I have to learn to speak Mandarin I'm gonna take my time doing it!"
Man, it really has to hurt the brain, being that stupid.
@JLong - Whenever I meet a conservative, I like prodding them until I find out which subgroup they hate the most. It's always one or the other: an ethnic minority, LGBTQIAs, poor people, etc. It's always one or more, every single time.
Politicians aren't going to pass a gun law anytime soon. The Republicans will get their talking points from the NRA, stuff like "If there'd been a good guy with a gun at the school, nothing would have happened." If there aren't enough Republicans to kill a gun bill, the NRA pays off enough Democrats to vote no.
Only way to solve it is to get money out of politics, which isn't going to happen while our system is ruin by a cult of "free market" ghouls.
#GunControl
#EndTheNRA
#GunViolence
@b4cks4w 😂 - Sure, radioactive ones.
@codeWhisperer - I think the sales tax gets tacked on to the buyer's bill, like it depends on their state. Us sellers are just used to it, so we try to keep costs low. I have many big boxes of CDs because I write a music column for a newspaper; I only do it when I have a few minutes to spare. I can't imagine the disappointment felt by people who try to sell their personal book or music collections on Amazon. It's an unbelievable ripoff.
@holon42 - 15 years of it I've put up with, and I'm just a very casual seller. The man is truly disturbed.
Oh hi!
You want to know why Amazon sellers hate Jeff Bezos's guts? Sure, let's talk about that.
I keep forgetting to raise my prices on the free promo CDs I get, and once in a while I lose money (pic of last night's "sale").
The Italians made him stop it. They should do it here in the us. He's a usurious, union-busting, psychotic pig.
I dunno, we're in a tough place these days, like we should nationalize healthcare and the rail system and whatnot, but if we did, how could we make it up to the 1% who profit from making everyone else completely miserable, like, have you ever stopped to think about that?
NEW BOOK "My Year in the Online Left," a book on leftist solidarity out June 10th.
Wrote RUSSIAN NAZI TROLL BOTS, a book about right-wing trolling.