There's been a lot of talk on the left that anyone that voted for Bernie would surely never vote for Trump. I'm here to dispel that myth.
I am someone that is very much pro-working class and pro-nation. I am concerned with corporate cronyism and exploitation of the middle class by the capitalist class. I believe we should solve our problems at home before we go intervening in the problems of the rest of the world. I would like to see a return to the days when a middle-class nuclear family could survive and thrive on one income. I want to end the corruption in Washington. For these reasons, I put my more conservative social leanings to the side and chose Bernie.
To simplify things, you could say I am fiscally left-leaning while socially right-leaning. Turns out this position is far more popular in Europe, but I assure you, we do exist in the US. In fact, I would argue that Donald Trump embodies much of these views...he nearly had my vote in 2016 for the same reasons. Now, with the recent influx of BLM and Antifa chaos, I have officially had enough of the left. I like that Trump has refused to back-down with these assholes, and I hope to see more of that. I want to know that if re-elected, Trump will put all of these fuckers back in their place. I want to know that I won't have to live in fear of losing my job because I have an actual understanding of statistics and refuse to subscribe to the narrative that "systemic racism" is the reason black people just can't get ahead (despite having EVERY opportunity handed to them in this country).
Most of all, I want to know that we truly can Make America Great Again (I won't say "Keep" because I don't think we're there yet). Tell me what I can do to help.
Edit: Okay everyone, I'm off for the evening.
I expected the occasional "commie" ribbing (though not the one guy that called me a nazi?), and that's fine. Most of you were welcoming enough and provided some interested sources of info for me to consider in light of my economic views. As I said lower in the thread, I am willing to consider evidence from all sides, and should new information come along that adequately refutes my beliefs, I will amend. For the moment, in these current times of insanity, we're on the same side where it counts.
We learn through discourse, and I'm glad many of you were willing to engage in such with me. Cheers.
Could you please expand on this ?
Sure.
I am in-favor of increasing taxes on the wealthy, perhaps not back to level of the FDR era, but certainly making them pay more of their fair-share than they are now. The rich make the majority of their money on capital gains, something that is taxed LESS than what most people in the middle-class are paying.
I am favor of social programs that benefit the middle-class. Increased funding for education, daycares, etc. Let's use the money from properly taxing capital gains etc to fund these things!
I would rather see nationalization of certain utilities (e.g. broadband infrastructure) than exploitative monopolies at the hands of groups like comcast. I am pro-union and also in favor of worker co-ops (i.e. true democracy in the workplace) rather than the more prevalent arrangement.
I too used to buy into the whole idea that the rich weren't paying their fair share, but then I looked at the numbers for myself.
For starters, 44% of the country doesn't pay anything in tax, and who knows how many get refunds (which I'll never quite understand, I mean how can you earn 0 and pay 0 in federal tax, yet because you've got some kids you get a refund?).
The more you make, the more effective tax rate you pay.
Yes, they do have resources that allows them to limit their tax burden, but guess what, that's what we should all be doing - not handing over our money to the government so they can mismanage it. I don't know about you, but I take advantage of every possible deduction.
https://taxfoundation.org/summary-latest-federal-income-tax-data-2018-update/
Once upon a time (circa Ron Paul days), I was in favor of the FAIR tax, what's your opinion on that?
Anyway, I gradually shifted to the left's narrative on this one. I'll have a read of your link and if I think it credibility refutes my views, I'll reconsider.
To be honest I don't know enough about the FAIR tax to have much of an opinion, however a quick search appears as though it eliminates all other taxes except sales tax. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
I guess it depends on what you think about taxes in general I suppose. The libertarian in me knows that tax is theft, however the liberal in me understands that services must be provided.
Thing is, most of those services provided are at the state level (at least for most citizens), and it would probably make most sense to keep that bulk of tax revenue local (as apposed to sending it to the IRS so they can divvy it up, and send portions back to the states. Here its use could be held more accountable.
I just wish it were actually fair. Those who benefit from the services provided most, should pay most. This of course would apply to business owners requiring the use of our roads and bridges, police that keep them safe, etc.
The more kids you have, the more tax you pay. The more cars you own/drive, the more tax you should pay. The relative cost of your property should impact how much tax you pay. Interstate travel should cost based on usage.
Idealistic, I know, but what we have now makes my blood boil when I think about it.
When I earn wages, the IRS takes a slice. When I spend money, I pay sales tax. When I buy a car, they tax it when I buy it, and every year I use it, plus the fuel I use to run in. I gotta pay property tax on my home, just to own it. Like it's my house, I already pay for it. Tax the bank for my payments if you want, but damn.
We pay tax for way too many things as it is, and if the gov could come up with a different way to tax us, you can bet your ass they'd do it.
We don't have a tax problem. We have a spending, theft, fraud, and mismanagement problem.
Capital gains are taxed at a very high rate compared to income.
I will have a read of MMT as, I'll admit, that's the first time I've come across the term.
Do I think 29% is high enough? This country was at its greatest directly following WWII. I'm sure you know what the tax rate was then. Didn't seem to hurt, only to help things.
Did you think the champagne socialist who owns three houses and until he became a millionaire used to attack millionaihs and billionaihs (afterward millionaihs weren't the problem any more only billionaihs), paid an effective rate of 13% on a combined income of over $200,000 and told people that if they wanted to get rich they should write a successful book, was actually going to redistribute money from the rich and give it to the poor and thus make a utopia?
Have you ever read a history book? Do you actually have an understanding of why socialism fails by design, or do you think it's just some crazy coincidence that the greatest political and economic system ever developed always fails in much the same way but surely next time it'll work?
Yuck! A true commie ! Doesn't matter as long as you vote for Trump!
Could you please share your itemized objections to my fiscal views? It will help me understand your side of the narrative as well. That's how we make progress. Discourse.
Simple. I think I , and therefore everybody else , should be entitled ONLY TO THE THINGS that i work for or that I am GIVEN by either my parents or whoever I convince to do business with me.
I believe the children of the responsible shouldn't pay for the education of the irresponsible. I believe the children of the responsible shouldn't pay for the upbringing of the children of irresponsible. I believe there HAVE TO BE CONSEQUENCES for your actions.
I believe the current shitshow in many cities is exactly the result of lack of real consequences for the lack of responsibility of the parents.
True equality is like this. I can't beat Usain Bolt at running therefore if i compete with him. He SHOULD ALWAYS WIN. Therefore if life would be a running contest he should be rich and i should be poor. Fortunately life ain't a running contest .
That being said. those capital gains that you keep talking about ... are generated by the same mechanism ... LACK OF CONSEQUENCES ... Bailouts , and stimulus . But that is a long discussion . because everyone cheers when they see the numbers go up.
There is a lot to unpack with your fiscal views, so not going to address everything. Most of us are for smaller government because we believe the free market is much much more efficient. There are of course essential services such as the police and firefighters that shouldn't be privatized, but SpaceX's recent launch is just one example of good privatization. Another example would be school choice. Simply, more government programs mean higher taxpayer to government worker ratio, which can become unsustainable (we already arent). The govt debt is the number one problem we will face in the future if the left doesnt destroy us sooner.
Unions were helpful when they first started but now they just bully both employers and employees. It removes the right of the worker to negotiate his own salary to be more competitive. Also, while unions keep asking for raises, those raises mean nothing since they are one of the very drivers of inflation. Unions have become political too with many spending their mandatory dues on political candidates and lobbying despite some of their workers beliefs.
As for healthcare, research is incredibly expensive and one of the reasons the US drives 90% of medical innovations globally is the opportunity to profit on those innovations. Our quality of care would decrease substantially with increased wait times like in Canada or UK, and decreased medical research output.
Lastly, taxing the rich does nothing as they can just move their money to countries with less taxes who will gladly take them.