The Stupidity Of Our Legislators Knows No Bounds: Inequality Is Solved By Taking From The Rich...And Giving To The Government!

The idea of equality of opportunity used to be axiomatic, but that has fallen out of favor in certain fascist-curious circles (read: The Democrat Party), and has been replaced with a curious hodgepodge of confiscatory taxes, business-crushing regulation that emphasizes rent-seeking behavior, and a fascination with the impossible -- equality of result. Although to be fair to the profoundly ignorant representatives touting the latest nonsense, they have no interest in prosperity for all...what they want is to drag everyone down to an equal level: squalid and poor, living in misery. But at least they will get reelected!

Democrats Propose Taxing Americans on How Wealthy They Are Compared to Median Households

“The Oppose Limitless Inequality Growth and Reverse Community Harms (OLIGARCH) Act to tax extreme wealth, reduce inequality, and combat the threat to democracy posed by aristocracy,” said a July 26 press release. Introduced by Representatives Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the OLIGARCH Act proposes taxing anywhere from 2 to 8 percent of the wealth held by the ultra-rich annually.
“Inequality in the United States is worse in 2023 than it was during the Gilded Age,” said Barbara Lee.
“It is unacceptable that millions of hardworking people remain impoverished, while the top 0.1 percent hold over 20 percent of the nation’s wealth.”

Of course this will go nowhere, because it's insane. But the political philosophy behind it is worth examination. And that is easy, because it is simple; it is the politics of division. Pit one group against another, destroy national unity, degrade love of country, create a mindset that sees economic success as a zero-sum game, and poof! You have the progressive playbook.

But even their facts are carefully manipulated to create tension. For instance, while it is certainly possible that "inequality," whatever that is, is worse now than during the Gilded Age (although I doubt it), the only valuable question is whether the lives of most people have improved. And the answer is of course a resounding, YES! Even our poorest citizens are better off than they were just a generation or two ago. America's poor drive cars, have air conditioning, cellular phones, computers, flat-screen TVs, and judging by their waistlines haven't missed meals in a very long time.

But the most offensive manipulation these people spout is the idea that a hardworking American will remain impoverished. Certainly there are circumstances that conspire to prevent some hardworking people from success, but one of the glories of American Exceptionalism is that hard work WILL result in success. For these conniving leeches to claim otherwise is a testament to their disgust for freedom and liberty, and their desire to control every aspect of our lives, even if that means restricting our ability to prosper.

And that is exactly what will happen if these dangerous socialists ever become powerful enough to enact their country-destroying ideas. Tax the wealthy more than they are already? Watch what happens. They will leave. They will withdraw from the capital markets, decreasing the available capital that is vital for economic growth. And who will be injured? Not the wealthy, who are almost always a few steps ahead of the tax collector. No, it is that hardworking man whose opportunity for success has been stymied by the lack of capital that drives economic growth.

One thing that has never made any sense at all: how does confiscatory taxation of the wealthiest people in society translate to improved outcomes for the poorest among us? The absolutely horrendous track record of LBJ's Great Society is a 55 year set of data that show how useless government largesse is when the supposed goal is to pull people out of poverty.

Oh...that wasn't the goal?

Buying votes for the Democrat party was the goal?

This is my shocked face!

Posted by: CBD at 12:00 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Good afternoon everyone

Posted by: Skip at July 30, 2023 12:00 PM (xhxe8)

2 "One thing that has never made any sense at all: how does confiscatory taxation of the wealthiest people in society translate to improved outcomes for the poorest among us?"

Right. It's never made sense, but it gets these people elected. They're not stupid (well, many of them are, but the maneuver isn't stupid), they just know what their voters want to hear, and they give that to them. It's a con that has been successful for nearly a whole century.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:04 PM (iBy62)

3 Good morning

Posted by: MAC V SOG at July 30, 2023 12:04 PM (P4Pk9)

4
I'm all for it failing my one single vote. Fire a warning shot inches over the thick skulls of the wealthy supporters of socialism.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at July 30, 2023 12:04 PM (enJYY)

5 Howdy!

Posted by: Moonbeam at July 30, 2023 12:04 PM (rbKZ6)

6 Fire a warning shot inches over the thick skulls of the wealthy supporters of socialism.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at July 30, 2023 12:04 PM (enJYY)

Ah...there's the rub. Those people are never injured by these policies.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 30, 2023 12:05 PM (PHmov)

7 You first, corruptocrats.

Posted by: stu-mick-o-sucks at July 30, 2023 12:06 PM (uU/Wx)

8 It's a con that has been successful for nearly a whole century.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:04 PM (iBy62)

Yup.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 30, 2023 12:06 PM (PHmov)

9 There is also a very real divide between the classic liberal Democrat, who appears to have believed all along that the government would make things right, and those supreme cynics/leftists who just seek power.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:06 PM (iBy62)

10 Good article I think at American Thinker this morning that the definition of Socialism is stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Even Marx set it up that way being a low life who never had a real job. And it always was the elite taking off the top for themselves.
Look at the Cultural Marxists BLM they skimmed off millions of the shakedowns and that's what government bureaucracy does.

Posted by: Skip at July 30, 2023 12:06 PM (xhxe8)

11 Bet any wealth tax won't apply to members of congress. No laws apply to them, apparently.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 30, 2023 12:07 PM (Q4IgG)

12 I always suspected those bastids would go after wealth. It’s opens up a whole new area of taxation and theft. And IMHO, to paraphrase PDJT, they’re not going to go after the rich, they’re going after us.

Posted by: Rufus T Firefly at July 30, 2023 12:08 PM (HcwhT)

13 The Ultra Rich is defined as anyone who makes more than they do.

Posted by: Jinx the Cat at July 30, 2023 12:08 PM (zxfvR)

14 "And that is exactly what will happen if these dangerous socialists ever become powerful enough to enact their country-destroying ideas."

??
Isn't this happening like, right now?

Posted by: Reforger at July 30, 2023 12:09 PM (B705c)

15 Bet any wealth tax won't apply to members of congress. No laws apply to them, apparently.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 30, 2023 12:07 PM (Q4IgG)

The insider trading loophole for members of congress is the one that makes me want to puke. You and I would be in jail for what they do every day.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 30, 2023 12:09 PM (PHmov)

16 hiya

Posted by: JT at July 30, 2023 12:10 PM (T4tVD)

17 Isn't this happening like, right now?

Posted by: Reforger at July 30, 2023 12:09 PM (B705c)

Pretty damned close, but we haven't gone full-scale socialist...yet.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 30, 2023 12:10 PM (PHmov)

18 First and foremost, hardworking people in the United States are far from impoverished.

Posted by: polynikes at July 30, 2023 12:10 PM (MNhXM)

19 I do wonder though, if the hardcore commie socialists really DO want their policies enacted, or are trying to, how tight will their coalition with the fascist leftists remain, because it is of course, a dividing point between them.

I guess as long as the commies are just barking, without having any real power, the fascists will allow them to keep at it. But the commies are young, whereas the fascists, those currently with real power, are mostly the geriatrics.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:11 PM (iBy62)

20 Poor people in The United States are far from impoverished. Hell most of these ‘impoverished’ poor have smart phones and are overweight.

Posted by: polynikes at July 30, 2023 12:12 PM (MNhXM)

21 In a case like this even if the Gub'mint does take the money from the UltraRich, they'll just give most of it back in various forms. In an unpopular statement here, it's exactly why I threw a vote at disgusting Obama in 2012 instead of the repellent Romney: I worked at RomneyCorp, and the only difference I could see between the two was Obama at least made a vague noise about tossing me some scraps back if I remained working-class/no-collar and 'poor' which at the time, post-Housing Bubble, I totally was.
Romney made no such noises, and his corporation was vile. Obama: Vote for me and I'll toss you some potato peelings!
Romney: Vote for me, and I'll take even more of your pay and won't bother even with food scraps!
Like I say, not a popular decision here, but I did it.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 30, 2023 12:13 PM (43xH1)

22 Bet any wealth tax won't apply to members of congress. No laws apply to them, apparently.
Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 30, 2023 12:07 PM (Q4IgG)

Warren Buffet of course, pays a lower tax rate than his sexretary. Just ask him, he'll tell you.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:13 PM (iBy62)

23 Poor people in The United States are far from impoverished. Hell most of these ‘impoverished’ poor have smart phones and are overweight.

Posted by: polynikes at July 30, 2023 12:12 PM (MNhXM)

I guess I should have mentioned that in the post...

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 30, 2023 12:13 PM (PHmov)

24 >The insider trading loophole for members of congress is the one that makes me want to puke. You and I would be in jail for what they do every day.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 30, 2023 12:09 PM (PHmov)
______________

Yup. I think there's fund based off of an average of what congress buys and sells. It's always a couple days behind the trend because there's a real lack (by design) in congressional reporting on their financial dealings.

There's no way someone as stupid as Nancy Pelosi can rake in the millions she's taken without the inside scoop.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 30, 2023 12:14 PM (Q4IgG)

25 Hell most of these ‘impoverished’ poor have smart phones and are overweight.
Posted by: polynikes at July 30, 2023 12:12 PM (MNhXM)

They have smart phones and are overweight because it's in the interest of the powers that be for them to have smart phones and be overweight.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:15 PM (iBy62)

26 The Stupidity Of Our Legislators Knows No Bounds: Inequality Is Solved By Taking From The Rich...And Giving To The Government!

**
1. That's not stupidity, that's graft and grift and extortion.
2. Also they don't take from the rich, who already bribe them handsomely (see 1); they take from the working people.

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at July 30, 2023 12:15 PM (vHIgi)

27 Why tax anybody at all? Just borrow what you need since we are in debt up to our squeakhole anyways.

Washington DC is broke, in debt and no amount of bullshit tax this or tax that is getting us out of the bed we have made over the last 53 years.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at July 30, 2023 12:15 PM (R/m4+)

28 ...without the inside scoop.
Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 30, 2023 12:14 PM (Q4IgG)

Or maybe an inside hammer?

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:16 PM (iBy62)

29 All land is stolen.

-History

Posted by: pawn at July 30, 2023 12:17 PM (wsHtO)

30 Props for blog humility:

I guess I should have mentioned that in the post...
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 30, 2023 12:13 PM (PHmov

Posted by: Hokey Pokey at July 30, 2023 12:17 PM (glGDV)

31 Pretty damned close, but we haven't gone full-scale socialist...yet.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 30, 2023 12:10 PM (PHmov)

I'd say we are socialist and heading towards communist. There are a few loose ends for then to tie up but we are already in all but name socialist. They need someone to bleed so they let us capitalists live, for now.

Posted by: Reforger at July 30, 2023 12:18 PM (B705c)

32 Poor people in The United States are far from impoverished. Hell most of these ‘impoverished’ poor have smart phones and are overweight.

Posted by: polynikes at July 30, 2023 12:12 PM (MNhXM)

I guess I should have mentioned that in the post...
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 30, 2023 12:13 PM (PHmov)

You’ve told me on multiple occasions if I didn’t like what you wrote or didn’t write , there was always Hot Air so I quit reading them.

Posted by: polynikes at July 30, 2023 12:19 PM (MNhXM)

33 Why tax anybody at all? Just borrow what you need since we are in debt up to our squeakhole anyways.

Washington DC is broke, in debt and no amount of bullshit tax this or tax that is getting us out of the bed we have made over the last 53 years.
Posted by: Hairyback Guy at July 30, 2023 12:15 PM (R/m4+)

It's an interesting question. Why DO we get taxed? It's probably less to do with generating revenue, than it is to keep us participating in the game.

And in the end, government's don't really have assets, debts, etc. They have agreements. Internally and externally, for the moneyed interests outside of the nation's government, to keep relationships intact.

If the Chinese ever REALLY wanted to destroy this country, they'd simply find a way to collect on the debt, but they don't. Because they don't want to. It's a ponzi scheme on such massive proportions, no one can fathom just how phony the whole thing really is.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:19 PM (iBy62)

34
The purpose of social programs is not to help the poor and disadvantaged. It's to help the people who say they're helping the poor and disadvantaged.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 30, 2023 12:19 PM (MoZTd)

35 Anyway, Re: Mitt Romney, I can tell you all about the vileness of Bain & Company.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 30, 2023 12:20 PM (43xH1)

36 https://www.americanthinker.com/the true definition of socialism

As said we became Socialists since income tax was started and became the rich paying for the poor

Posted by: Skip at July 30, 2023 12:20 PM (xhxe8)

37 Tax the wealthy more than they are already? Watch what happens. They will leave.

Portland is finding that out. Oregon has a hefty income tax, and Washington across the river has no income tax (you have to move both yourself and your income across the river to avoid Oregon income tax).

This was already causing affluent people to move across the river, but Portland politicians doubled down, by imposing two wildly popular new taxes, which both tax only the "rich" (defined as about $150,000/yr for an individual and about $250,000/yr for a couple). The taxes are wildly popular, since most people pay nothing.

In particular, there is a large tax on incomes over 150K/250K to provide "free" childcare in Portland's county. What makes it even better is that since it will take a decade or more to fully implement the "free" childcare, the limited initial spots are of course doled out purely on the basis of skin color and income.

So if you are high-income and white, you are at the absolute back of the line for this "free" childcare, even though only high-income people are paying for it.

Remarkably, this has only accelerated the flight of high-income people from Portland.

Posted by: Droolin' Joe Biden! at July 30, 2023 12:20 PM (2tUFv)

38 A couple of years ago, a Moron related that someone told him "Greed is no basis for an economic system." The Moron replied, perfectly, "Better than envy."

Posted by: Oddbob at July 30, 2023 12:22 PM (nfrXX)

39 Afternoon Horde, nice post CBD. A wealth tax would require a constitutional amendment. The income tax took a constitutional amendment. The problem with the wealth tax is that it is confiscation of a person's property without compensation. Without an amendment you could sue to get the wealth tax monies back, because wealth is personal property. The amendment would have to remove the "takings clause" from the Constitution.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 30, 2023 12:22 PM (S75Fo)

40 The purpose of social programs is not to help the poor and disadvantaged. It's to help the people who say they're helping the poor and disadvantaged.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 30, 2023 12:19 PM (MoZTd)

True, as I cynically said to a friend, there’s a lot of money to be made in poverty

Posted by: Rufus T Firefly at July 30, 2023 12:23 PM (HcwhT)

41 Warren Buffet of course, pays a lower tax rate than his sexretary. Just ask him, he'll tell you.
Posted by: BurtTC
++++
Yeah Buffet goes to the media and talks about how it's not fair that he's not taxed more. Meanwhile he employs an army of attorneys and tax advisors to reduce his taxes.

Posted by: Florida Peasant at July 30, 2023 12:24 PM (dr4Q1)

42 Yeah Buffet goes to the media and talks about how it's not fair that he's not taxed more. Meanwhile he employs an army of attorneys and tax advisors to reduce his taxes.
Posted by: Florida Peasant at July 30, 2023 12:24 PM (dr4Q1)

Sing with me:

This tax code was made, for you and me...

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:26 PM (iBy62)

43 It's an interesting question. Why DO we get taxed? It's probably less to do with generating revenue, than it is to keep us participating in the game."

I've thought about this quite a bit, since it is painfully obvious that taxes no longer have anything at all to with spending levels. (Want another trillion for Covid foolishness? Just create it out of thin air! Want $100 billion for Ukraine? Just create it!)

So, it stands to reason that the *only* reason for taxes (on the Federal level, at least) any more is to push policy preferences which could not be achieved by ordinary constitutional means, and to punish enemies of the regime. They have become a tool of evil, intended only for evil purposes.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 30, 2023 12:26 PM (q3gwH)

44 True, as I cynically said to a friend, there’s a lot of money to be made in poverty
Posted by: Rufus T Firefly at July 30, 2023 12:23 PM (HcwhT)

And a LOT of it is about control. If you have nothing without me, you will never leave me.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:27 PM (iBy62)

45 34
The purpose of social programs is not to help the poor and disadvantaged. It's to help the people who say they're helping the poor and disadvantaged.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 30, 2023 12:19 PM (MoZTd)

Social programs are nothing more than full employment programs for alumnae of the Seven Sisters. And since most of them have gone co-ed, alumnae of the Ivies.

Posted by: Fox 2! at July 30, 2023 12:27 PM (rND0T)

46 WTF gets paid for thinking up these stupide acronyms? Because I want that job.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at July 30, 2023 12:27 PM (ScR16)

47 One of the great irony's of the Wealth Tax is that all versions of it are just rehashed versions of Huey P. Long's Share the Wealth plan of the early 30's. The Left literally has not had any new ideas in 100 years.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 30, 2023 12:28 PM (q3gwH)

48 So if you are high-income and white, you are at the absolute back of the line for this "free" childcare, even though only high-income people are paying for it.
Posted by: Droolin' Joe Biden! at July 30, 2023 12:20 PM (2tUFv)

Go into any black neighborhood in any city, town, or village. Every one will have ball fields, a Martin Luther the king “community” center, head starts baby mamma centers and some type of church specializing in grift and graft to help the feral utes. Yet nothing changes.

Weird.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at July 30, 2023 12:28 PM (R/m4+)

49 I thought just printing more money was the model?

Posted by: BignJames at July 30, 2023 12:28 PM (AwYPR)

50 Where Obama's stash?!

Posted by: Sh'Qweefa from around the way at July 30, 2023 12:28 PM (AtYqS)

51 41 Warren Buffet of course, pays a lower tax rate than his sexretary. Just ask him, he'll tell you.
Posted by: BurtTC
++++

Isn’t there a PO Box in DC he can make a voluntary contribution to, if he wants to pay more in “taxes”?

Posted by: Fox 2! at July 30, 2023 12:29 PM (rND0T)

52 A new Fed group just dropped in Wisconsin: "Blood Tribe". Same khakis and blue hoodies and not-see flags as "Patriot Front", with a sketchier name.

Posted by: Ian S. at July 30, 2023 12:30 PM (FD5dr)

53 CA enacted a tiered electric rate system based on income.

Once again, CA leads the way forward, Comrade!

Posted by: blake - semi lurker in marginal standing(2YtOq) at July 30, 2023 12:30 PM (2YtOq)

54 So, it stands to reason that the *only* reason for taxes (on the Federal level, at least) any more is to push policy preferences which could not be achieved by ordinary constitutional means, and to punish enemies of the regime. They have become a tool of evil, intended only for evil purposes.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 30, 2023 12:26 PM (q3gwH)

They can't wait to make digital currency the thing, because it makes it so much easier for them to track everything/everybody, and use it even more fully to control who gets to say/do whatever.

The Farage case was a canary in the coal mine. They haven't yet killed the bird, but once they do... we're all gasping for air, and they're the ones with their hands on the knob.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:30 PM (iBy62)

55 But the most offensive manipulation these people spout is the idea that a hardworking American will remain impoverished. Certainly there are circumstances that conspire to prevent some hardworking people from success, but one of the glories of American Exceptionalism is that hard work WILL result in success.
----
If anything is standing in the way of success for a hardworking individual it's the government itself.

Free market enterprise will reward hard work and personal initiative beyond most people's dreams.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 30, 2023 12:30 PM (BpYfr)

56 Bureaucracy makes out well controlling those billions being funneled to the poor.

Posted by: Skip at July 30, 2023 12:31 PM (xhxe8)

57 A new Fed group just dropped in Wisconsin: "Blood Tribe". Same khakis and blue hoodies and not-see flags as "Patriot Front", with a sketchier name.
Posted by: Ian S. at July 30, 2023 12:30 PM (FD5dr)
-----
You could almost say they glow.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at July 30, 2023 12:31 PM (ScR16)

58 The Stupidity Of Our Legislators Knows No Bounds:

*******

I was pondering this the other day, another of the wise ideas of our Founders gone awry. They envisioned a legislature plucked from the productive citizens, with a variety of professions included, such as doctors, small business owners, librarians, inventors, surveyors, etc. etc. These representatives would serve one or two terms and then return to their communities, ensuring an ongoing exchange of viewpoints between congressional districts and D.C. Almost all would be a subject matter expert of sorts in their field, allowing for a collective wisdom for problem solving.

Now we get professional career politicians, (largely lawyers or worse, Poli-Sci najors) who stay in DC as long as they can cling to their seats. And a large proportion have no real world experience, skills or knowledge. A bunch of know-nothings, steeped in pandering partisanship and full of pulsating passion. They then proceed to bring this lack of experience, skill and knowledge to bear on every perceived societal ill and inflict their stupidity on the populace.

Posted by: Muldoon at July 30, 2023 12:31 PM (zLLgI)

59 Warren Buffet of course, pays a lower tax rate than his sexretary. Just ask him, he'll tell you.
Posted by: BurtTC
++++

Isn’t there a PO Box in DC he can make a voluntary contribution to, if he wants to pay more in “taxes”?
Posted by: Fox 2! at July 30, 2023 12:29 PM (rND0T)

Buffet wants to pay more taxes, the same way Amber Turd wants to donate to charity.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:32 PM (iBy62)

60 reward hard work and personal initiative beyond most people's dreams.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 30, 2023 12:30 PM (BpYfr)

Yeah, well see....

Posted by: BignJames at July 30, 2023 12:33 PM (AwYPR)

61 CBD I have a question for the food thread, which I might miss. KTY has moved to MA, a land bereft of Wawas, and she sorely misses their fruit smoothies.
Anyone have a recipe for some faux-Wawa smoothies?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at July 30, 2023 12:33 PM (vHIgi)

62 (largely lawyers or worse, Poli-Sci najors)

*******

...or fucking "community organizers" or self-described "activists".

Posted by: Muldoon at July 30, 2023 12:33 PM (zLLgI)

63 And a LOT of it is about control. If you have nothing without me, you will never leave me.
Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:27 PM (iBy62)

Yes, that a big part, the other part is to control normies its like me. “Oh you didn’t pay your taxes? Bugga Bugga”

Posted by: Rufus T Firefly at July 30, 2023 12:34 PM (HcwhT)

Posted by: Tafari Campbell at July 30, 2023 12:35 PM (AtYqS)

65 Posted by: Muldoon at July 30, 2023 12:31 PM

Great post, sir.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at July 30, 2023 12:35 PM (Xrfse)

66 If anything is standing in the way of success for a hardworking individual it's the government itself.

Free market enterprise will reward hard work and personal initiative beyond most people's dreams.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at July 30, 2023 12:30 PM (BpYfr)

There's a generational thing going on here too though, with debt being something weighing much more heavily on younger generations. Home ownership becomes more and more difficult to attain, which of course is the main way ordinary people accumulate wealth.

Trinkets and circuses are no real measure of wealth, they're another illusion meant to distract people from the fact they are slaves to a system rigged against them.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:36 PM (iBy62)

67 I find myself increasingly indifferent to the plight of the poor, put-upon rich people suffering from the ravages of the democrap party.

Posted by: Giorgio A. Tsoukalos at July 30, 2023 12:37 PM (PWI4f)

68 I saw Trinkets and Circuses open for Seals and Crofts at the Whiskey in '73.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at July 30, 2023 12:39 PM (ScR16)

69 Now we get professional career politicians, (largely lawyers or worse, Poli-Sci najors) who stay in DC as long as they can cling to their seats. And a large proportion have no real world experience, skills or knowledge. A bunch of know-nothings, steeped in pandering partisanship and full of pulsating passion. They then proceed to bring this lack of experience, skill and knowledge to bear on every perceived societal ill and inflict their stupidity on the populace.
Posted by: Muldoon at July 30, 2023 12:31 PM (zLLgI)

Pro politicians are an industry, complete with all sorts of roles filled by all sorts of people, with the elected official merely being the figurehead at the top.

One possible solution, as counterintuitive as it might be, would be MORE legislators. Congress is 435 entities. Each "representing" a district containing hundreds of thousands of "voters." What if we multiplied that number by 10? What if each congresscritter represented about 10K people. You'd actually have to be elected by people who KNOW you!

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:40 PM (iBy62)

70 Poor people in The United States are far from impoverished. Hell most of these ‘impoverished’ poor have smart phones and are overweight.
Posted by: polynikes

And a lot of them drive Escalades

Posted by: db at July 30, 2023 12:41 PM (wu87C)

71 Houses should no longer be thought of as investments except in the sense they should be passed down within the family.

Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 12:41 PM (AtYqS)

72 We're recreating the break-point of every communist experiment.

That breaking point is redistribution. Whenever you give the state authority to decide what everybody's "fair share" is, you end up empowering some part of the government with a de-facto control over all wealth in the economy.

"A small group that controls all of the wealth" is an aristocracy.

Creating an aristocracy in the name of equality is paradoxical, contradictory, and self-defeating.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 12:41 PM (gJKGU)

73 Trinkets and circuses are no real measure of wealth, they're another illusion meant to distract people from the fact they are slaves to a system rigged against them.
Posted by: BurtTC
+++
A lot of people have never saved up their money to buy something. The concept of doing that is totally foreign to them.

Posted by: Florida Peasant at July 30, 2023 12:42 PM (dr4Q1)

74 A lot of people have never saved up their money to buy something. The concept of doing that is totally foreign to them.
Posted by: Florida Peasant at July 30, 2023 12:42 PM (dr4Q1)

The concept of delayed gratification is basically dead.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 12:43 PM (gJKGU)

75 And a lot of them drive Escalades
Posted by: db at July 30, 2023 12:41 PM (wu87C)

Well, to be fair, when you’re morbidly overweight it’s hard to get in and our of a small car.

Posted by: Rufus T Firefly at July 30, 2023 12:44 PM (HcwhT)

76 Yes, buying votes was Johnson's main objective in creating the Great Society. But there was a secondary effect: employing thousands more social workers to oversee the Great Society, employing supervisors to manage those social workers, and managers to manage the supervisors. As long as there is a job industry built on servicing the poor, the poor will never go away.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin -- I wasn't particularly fond of the '70s the first time around at July 30, 2023 12:44 PM (B7rlW)

77 Houses should no longer be thought of as investments except in the sense they should be passed down within the family.
Posted by: logprof'

This. Full enthusiastic agreement. It's a place to live, that is yours (at least theoretically). The concept of a personal residence being some kind of 'liquid investment' has always struck me as a very, very bad idea.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 30, 2023 12:45 PM (43xH1)

78 A lot of people have never saved up their money to buy something. The concept of doing that is totally foreign to them.
Posted by: Florida Peasant at July 30, 2023 12:42 PM (dr4Q1)

True, but it's also true that the ability to do that is significantly more difficult. Sure, you could live without for a decade or so, save up enough to put a down payment down, but doing that is MUCH harder now than it's ever been. Especially when you already have 100K or so in student debt.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:45 PM (iBy62)

79 As long as there is a job industry built on servicing the poor, the poor will never go away.
Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin -- I wasn't particularly fond of the '70s the first time around at July 30, 2023 12:44 PM (B7rlW)

That's pretty much the entire Democrat business model. Find some "disadvantaged" group, freeze them, then spoonfeed and cater to them. Ensure that they can never prosper, but are stuck in a prison of their own imagination, forever the victim, in need of a savior.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 12:45 PM (gJKGU)

80 Anyone have a recipe for some faux-Wawa smoothies?

Posted by: vmom stabby stabby stabby stabby stabamillion at July 30, 2023 12:33 PM (vHIgi)

It's a pretty standard smoothie. There are recipes on the internet, but it's ice, fruit, milk, sugar, vanilla.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 30, 2023 12:46 PM (PHmov)

81 Speaking of Johnson, his Great Society has racked up hundreds of billions by now and has no gains to show for it except as he wished Black families have been all but destroyed

Posted by: Skip at July 30, 2023 12:46 PM (xhxe8)

82 I find myself increasingly indifferent to the plight of the poor, put-upon rich people suffering from the ravages of the democrap party.

I too. But remember: they may be stupid and crazy, but they’re still thieves. Thieves go where the easy money is, and that’s the far larger number of not-rich who don’t have tax lawyers on retainer.

When they say “rich” they mean “everyone between the rich and the poor”. And that’s what laws to “tax the rich” will end up doing.

And if they find a way to tax the poor, they’ll do that, too. Hell, printing money probably has that effect already.

Chances are, if a proposal really does tax the rich, all it’s really meant to do is milk lobby money from the affected people.

Posted by: Stephen Price Blair at July 30, 2023 12:46 PM (EXyHK)

83 Posted by: Hokey Pokey at July 30, 2023 12:17 PM (glGDV)

Yeah...about that humility. I DID mention it in the post.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 30, 2023 12:47 PM (PHmov)

84 Go into any black neighborhood in any city, town, or village. Every one will have ball fields, a Martin Luther the king “community” center, head starts baby mamma centers and some type of church specializing in grift and graft to help the feral utes.

LOL. A formerly all-black neighborhood in Portland now invaded by yuppies had all these things on one major street.

The yuppies wanted bike lanes on that street (of course), but since We Are Supposed To Listen To Black People, the City of Portland determined that the black people did not want the bike lanes on the street, because it would make it harder to drive to the various organizations used entirely by black people.

The yuppies threw a complete and utter fit - after all, Listening To Black People does not mean that they get to block anything that the yuppies want.

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at July 30, 2023 12:47 PM (2tUFv)

85 True, but it's also true that the ability to do that is significantly more difficult. Sure, you could live without for a decade or so, save up enough to put a down payment down, but doing that is MUCH harder now than it's ever been. Especially when you already have 100K or so in student debt.
Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:45 PM (iBy62)

With how absurdly inflated housing prices are versus incomes, a person working for a median income will never be able to save enough. For younger generations, only the rich or those who inherit will own their own homes.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 12:47 PM (gJKGU)

86 This. Full enthusiastic agreement. It's a place to live, that is yours (at least theoretically). The concept of a personal residence being some kind of 'liquid investment' has always struck me as a very, very bad idea.
Posted by: LenNeal at July 30, 2023 12:45 PM (43xH1)

One that is encouraged by the system. If you paid 100K for a house, and it's worth a million now, it's a reasonable assumption to make, that you could sell it, buy another for a million, and expect sometime during the life of your loan it'll be worth 10 mil. Why wouldn't you.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:47 PM (iBy62)

87

According to Wikipedia...

In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Western United States. As American wages grew much higher than those in Europe, especially for skilled workers, and industrialization demanded an ever-increasing unskilled labor force, the period saw an influx of millions of European immigrants.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 30, 2023 12:48 PM (63Dwl)

88 A bunch of know-nothings, steeped in pandering partisanship and full of pulsating passion. They then proceed to bring this lack of experience, skill and knowledge to bear on every perceived societal ill and inflict their stupidity on the populace.

Posted by: Muldoon at July 30, 2023 12:31 PM (zLLgI)

Well said.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 30, 2023 12:49 PM (PHmov)

89 The concept of a personal residence being some kind of 'liquid investment' has always struck me as a very, very bad idea.
Posted by: LenNeal at July 30, 2023 12:45 PM (43xH1)

Concur. Before the last housing crash, I knew that was coming when a bartender at Outback told me her and her husband were flipping houses as a side hustle. I told her folks used to buy homes to live in their entire lives. She laughed.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at July 30, 2023 12:49 PM (R/m4+)

90
The concept of a personal residence being some kind of 'liquid investment' has always struck me as a very, very bad idea.

Posted by: LenNeal at July 30, 2023 12:45 PM

It can be an extremely difficult investment to cash out of at times. But still the very best way for Joe and Jane Sixpack to build some semblance of wealth. Funny thing is, you don't hear much about house flippers anymore. It was quite the rage for a while. Have people become to lazy to engage in 'sweat equity' or is some nefarious organization buying the 'fixer-uppers' and employing an army of people of questionable legality to work in this country to do the deed?

Posted by: Divide by Zero at July 30, 2023 12:50 PM (enJYY)

91 @#64 Tafari Campbell,

I'm still wondering how a man could drown while being out on the water with a large personal flotation device. Paddleboards DO float, don't they?

Posted by: Sam Adams at July 30, 2023 12:50 PM (KEWDx)

92 Houses are seldom the source of wealth. It's usually the land they're on.

YMMV

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 30, 2023 12:50 PM (Q4IgG)

93 This is nothing more than the Dems version of repealing Obamacare.

Scream when you're out of power and when you obtain power...

BTW you know what comes after Global Boiling, right?

If you said emergency powers, collect your winnings.

Posted by: Global Boiling at July 30, 2023 12:50 PM (yU+ZT)

94 Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:45 PM (iBy62)

With how absurdly inflated housing prices are versus incomes, a person working for a median income will never be able to save enough. For younger generations, only the rich or those who inherit will own their own homes.
Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 12:47 PM (gJKGU)

I'm not sure we're there yet, but we're probably not far from this being a major divide in this country: You home owners with your fancy mortgages and private entrances to your private quarters with your personal lawns and trees!

What monsters you are!!!

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:50 PM (iBy62)

95 Poor people in The United States are far from impoverished. Hell most of these ‘impoverished’ poor have smart phones and are overweight."

And yet we are endlessly lectured and asked to give money to end hunger and food deserts in America. What BS. If there is any hunger among the moocher class it is because their bag of chips ran out and they can't get off the couch to grab another.

People that give money to the food insecurity NGO's are damned fools.

Posted by: Ripley at July 30, 2023 12:51 PM (PTDkx)

96 CBD-

I don't see anywhere in the post where you point out that the stupidity of our legislators knows no bounds...

🙂

Posted by: Muldoon at July 30, 2023 12:52 PM (zLLgI)

97 "And that is exactly what will happen if these dangerous socialists ever become powerful enough to enact their country-destroying ideas. Tax the wealthy more than they are already? Watch what happens. "

All you have to do is look at what the college professors are teaching and indoctrinating into the minds of mush at universities and see that we are headed off a cliff.

These college students will be running for office, voting and silencing anyone that doesn't agree with their radical ideology.

Posted by: redridinghood at July 30, 2023 12:53 PM (NpAcC)

98 Meritocracy and equality of opportunity and working harder to get ahead are all very nice ideas now used to keep those with a work ethic squarely in their positions as wage slaves and tax cattle, sheep to be shorn, who keep working themselves to the point of burnout and insanity on the usually false promise of raises and organizational advancement. Todd the slacker who grew up with the CFO's kid and does coke with him while boating on weekends is getting the raise and promotion, not you.

Posted by: They may have been true once. Now they're empty slogans to gull us rubes. at July 30, 2023 12:54 PM (e8n94)

99 It can be an extremely difficult investment to cash out of at times. But still the very best way for Joe and Jane Sixpack to build some semblance of wealth. Funny thing is, you don't hear much about house flippers anymore. It was quite the rage for a while. Have people become to lazy to engage in 'sweat equity' or is some nefarious organization buying the 'fixer-uppers' and employing an army of people of questionable legality to work in this country to do the deed?
Posted by: Divide by Zero at July 30, 2023 12:50 PM (enJYY)

I think the house flippers lost their shirts on a lot of those transactions the last time the powers that be crashed the market. Today, with Blackrock and Vanguard being the new "house flippers," they'll make sure the market doesn't crash the same way it did last time.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:55 PM (iBy62)

100 Saw this the other day, an under-reported story...

Katy Grimes
@KATYSaccitizen
Mysterious Chinese COVID Lab Uncovered in City of Reedly CA.

Code enforcement check uncovers illegal lab making COVID-19 and pregnancy test kits, bacterial and viral agents and 900 white mice.
@CaliforniaGlobe

Posted by: Mister Ghost at July 30, 2023 12:55 PM (TGPs7)

101 I don't see anywhere in the post where you point out that the stupidity of our legislators knows no bounds...

Posted by: Muldoon at July 30, 2023 12:52 PM (zLLgI)

That's a good point.

Their economic perspective is flawed, and their plans for improving the lot of the "poor" will do exactly the opposite.

A purely empirical analysis of that would suggest that they are indeed profoundly stupid, but there is another interpretation that suggests evil intent.

So...both!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at July 30, 2023 12:55 PM (PHmov)

102 "BTW you know what comes after Global Boiling, right?

If you said emergency powers, collect your winnings.

Posted by: Global Boiling"

I was thinking global vaporization.

Posted by: Ripley at July 30, 2023 12:55 PM (PTDkx)

103 And yet we are endlessly lectured and asked to give money to end hunger and food deserts in America. What BS. If there is any hunger among the moocher class it is because their bag of chips ran out and they can't get off the couch to grab another.

People that give money to the food insecurity NGO's are damned fools.
Posted by: Ripley at July 30, 2023 12:51 PM (PTDkx)

It's all just going to feed Sally Struthers anyways.

Posted by: Marvin is still starvin at July 30, 2023 12:56 PM (e8n94)

104 An abyss that laughs at creation
A circus complete with all fools
Foundations that lasted the ages
Then ripped apart at their roots

Posted by: Ian Curtis weighs in at July 30, 2023 12:56 PM (LFU92)

105 Bullets not money for thugs and rioters!

Posted by: Dr. Claw at July 30, 2023 12:59 PM (roH4R)

106 People that give money to the food insecurity NGO's are damned fools.
Posted by: Ripley at July 30, 2023 12:51 PM (PTDkx)
It's all just going to feed Sally Struthers anyways.
Posted by: Marvin is still starvin at July 30, 2023 12:56 PM (e8n94)

Concur. I hear that fat non cooking bitch Rachel Ray on the radio begging for the chirruns who be hongray. You a cook for crying out loud Rachel, go fix them sumthing to eats.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at July 30, 2023 12:59 PM (R/m4+)

107
The concept of delayed gratification is basically dead.
Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas

That's one of the earmarks of white supremacy.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 30, 2023 12:59 PM (63Dwl)

108 One possible solution, as counterintuitive as it might be, would be MORE legislators. Congress is 435 entities. Each "representing" a district containing hundreds of thousands of "voters." What if we multiplied that number by 10? What if each congresscritter represented about 10K people. You'd actually have to be elected by people who KNOW you!
Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:40 PM (iBy62)

It would be easier to break up the country into regions with their own rep and senate blocks. Even have our own presidents. The only central point for all to come together is continental defense .

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at July 30, 2023 01:00 PM (BdMk6)

109 You still get taxed by OR if you live in WA and work in OR. And I fully expected a state income tax in WA at some point.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 30, 2023 01:00 PM (ouTlx)

110 And yet we are endlessly lectured and asked to give money to end hunger and food deserts in America. What BS. If there is any hunger among the moocher class it is because their bag of chips ran out and they can't get off the couch to grab another.

People that give money to the food insecurity NGO's are damned fools.
Posted by: Ripley at July 30, 2023 12:51 PM (PTDkx)

I would see, before I moved out of bigcity, convenience stores that had big signs saying they accepted EBT cards.

I was told by those who knew, you could go into a store like that, buy a bag of chips, use your EBT card to get cash back. I don't know if there was a limit or not, but otherwise you could give your card to someone who would spend $100 on "groceries," and give you $50 in cash back.

Guess what all that cash would buy.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 01:00 PM (ZHG8S)

111 Code enforcement check uncovers illegal lab making COVID-19 and pregnancy test kits, bacterial and viral agents and 900 white mice.
----------
Woo! Count us in!

Posted by: Boa constrictors at July 30, 2023 01:00 PM (ScR16)

112 Todd the slacker who grew up with the CFO's kid and does coke with him while boating on weekends is getting the raise and promotion, not you.
Posted by: They may have been true once. Now they're empty slogans to gull us rubes. at July 30, 2023 12:54 PM (e8n94)

Reminds me of my last job.

I was the manager of the testing department. We had an engineering support department that's job was to fix machines that had failed testing and repair them.

Late last year, the engineering support manager's department underwent almost complete turnover. He didn't have any employees that had been there for more than a few months. Their manager then decides that he's going to start spending all of his time in R&D. The engineering support team had become completely non-functional.

As broken machines began piling up in testing and several multi-million-dollar orders were being put in peril of shipping late, I decided to be proactive and complain about the lack of engineering support to upper management and HR.

Guess who got demoted? I did, for trying to do the right thing. The worthless engineering manager was probably somebody's cousin.

Everything's a popularity contest now.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 01:01 PM (gJKGU)

113
"BTW you know what comes after Global Boiling, right?

Global condensation

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 30, 2023 01:01 PM (63Dwl)

114 You still get taxed by OR if you live in WA and work in OR.
----------
And if you live in OR and work in WA.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea, Radioactive Knight at July 30, 2023 01:02 PM (ScR16)

115 It would be easier to break up the country into regions with their own rep and senate blocks. Even have our own presidents. The only central point for all to come together is continental defense .
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at July 30, 2023 01:00 PM (BdMk6)

Continental defense? Which continents?????

Posted by: Your Military Industrial Complex at July 30, 2023 01:02 PM (ZHG8S)

116 "BTW you know what comes after Global Boiling, right?

Global condensation
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 30, 2023 01:01 PM (63Dwl)

And global hard boiled eggs. I hate hard boiled eggs.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 01:03 PM (ZHG8S)

117 Global Boiling

♫ ♫
Hot time, simmer in the city...

Posted by: Muldoon at July 30, 2023 01:03 PM (zLLgI)

118 Oh Covid was a money maker for Big Pharma and scammers

Posted by: Skip at July 30, 2023 01:04 PM (xhxe8)

119
Today, with Blackrock and Vanguard being the new "house flippers," they'll make sure the market doesn't crash the same way it did last time.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 12:55 PM

I think I get at least one correspondence per month offering to buy my house 'in any condition'. I know what legitimate American workers charge per hour and how an 'employer' (as long as it does not hire more than about 10 problematic employees) can get away with paying someone they can call ICE on if they become troublesome. Some much smaller percentage. Lotta profit there.

It's a shame. In today's dollars my first 'fixer-upper' flip netted me about $160,000. Back then there were no YouTube videos from thousands of skilled tradespeople showing how to perform the most esoteric of tasks. That would have been great back then.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at July 30, 2023 01:04 PM (enJYY)

120 ♫ ♫

Big boil keep on roiling
Proud Mary keep on boiling
Boiling. Boiling. Boiling on the river...

Posted by: Muldoon at July 30, 2023 01:05 PM (zLLgI)

121 If it meant that assholes like Bill Gates wouldn’t have the money and power to fuck with me I’d be all for it. Of course it wouldn’t work that way.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at July 30, 2023 01:05 PM (u73oe)

122 21
' not a popular decision here'

The important thing is that you know you fucked up.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at July 30, 2023 01:05 PM (roH4R)

123 > "BTW you know what comes after Global Boiling, right?
________

I hope it's Global Distillation. Earthshine?

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 30, 2023 01:05 PM (Q4IgG)

124 Posted by: Mister Ghost at July 30, 2023 12:55 PM (TGPs7)

--Like that entity buying up land around Travis AFB on the sly for $800 million

Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:06 PM (LFU92)

125 Income inequality is yet another issue conservatives have foolishly handed to the left. Those billionaires that we're dying on the hill to protect from additional are the ones funding the Democratic Party. Every major corporation is an enforcer of the hard left. You thought your old college campus was left wing?Welcome to HR's new struggle sessions. Mainstream conservativism tells us rubes that the CEO's are afraid of their woke employees coming out of college. Bull. They're actively putting them in positions of power because they agreed with them the whole time.

Conservatives who worship at the alter of Reagan should ask themselves how socialism became a mainstream idea within the United States while we're still within living memory of communist atrocities. Leftists didn't suddenly become persuasive, but the post cold war period of our history has seen endless failed wars and economic catastrophes where somehow the well connected find ways to get wealthier while the rest of us stagnate.

Posted by: Eric at July 30, 2023 01:06 PM (2Xqjl)

126 You still get taxed by OR if you live in WA and work in OR.

Yep. However, you can't be taxed for days when you don't set foot in Oregon, so if you go into the office in Portland two days a week, and WFH three days a week, you cut your Oregon tax bill by 60%.

And I fully expected a state income tax in WA at some point.

Yeah - a blue state with no income tax is not a stable political equilibrium.

However, every time an income tax goes to a popular vote in Washington, it loses bigly.

They did manage to put a capital gains tax on the richest 7,000 people in Washington, so they are nibbling around the edges.

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at July 30, 2023 01:06 PM (2tUFv)

127 Guess what all that cash would buy.
Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 01:00 PM

No yellow!

Posted by: Hunter B., artiste extraordinaire at July 30, 2023 01:08 PM (a3Q+t)

128 Posted by: Eric at July 30, 2023 01:06 PM (2Xqjl)

The large international megacorps are not our friends.

Capitalism requires robust competition in order to self-regulate. These megacorps, colluding with politicians, have created a curated oligopoly where the consumer typically only has 2-3 choices for vendors, all of them essentially the same.

Prices are fixed, nobody offers any significant difference in service, etc.

Small and mid-size businesses are our natural allies, not the megacorps.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 01:08 PM (gJKGU)

129 Yeah, if you live in WA and work remote for an OR company, you get your tax money back. Which gave me enough money to pay property taxes on the house in WA.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 30, 2023 01:09 PM (ouTlx)

130 54
'The Farage case was a canary in the coal mine. '

I agree we cannot let the worlds' capital stay in the left's hands. If we ever get power and plan to be serious, we should hang or Gitmo some of the more egregious bankers. No one would be sorry.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at July 30, 2023 01:09 PM (roH4R)

131 Poor people have cell phones because it's their internet access. Most don't have a computer, or have an old junky one. And there are programs to help them get phones and internet.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 30, 2023 01:10 PM (ouTlx)

132 "BTW you know what comes after Global Boiling, right?

Global Boiled Frog.

Posted by: davidt at July 30, 2023 01:11 PM (SYTee)

133 The concept of delayed gratification is basically dead.
Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas

That's one of the earmarks of white supremacy.
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 30, 2023 12:59 PM (63Dwl)

Eehhhhh I don't like this notion. Having zero impulse control is definitely destructive. But "delaying gratification" seems to mean passing up all opportunities for enjoyment, keep working without stopping for a moment to enjoy anything, then wake up day realizing that your life has been one of zero gratification, devoid of joy or meaning, but you sure made someone else a bunch of money and paid a lot of taxes.

Posted by: Have a little gratification along the way or you'll regret it at July 30, 2023 01:11 PM (e8n94)

134 Yeah, if you live in WA and work remote for an OR company, you get your tax money back.

I know several people who switched from corporate employment to setting up consulting firms in WA, serving businesses in OR - no income tax.

There are Washington business taxes, however, so you don't get away clean from the taxes.

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at July 30, 2023 01:12 PM (2tUFv)

135 "BTW you know what comes after Global Boiling, right?"

"Burn baby burn, Global inferno"

https://youtu.be/u5lSeYd_riw

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at July 30, 2023 01:12 PM (9yUzE)

136

Lawmakers broke for their August recess this week with work on funding the government largely incomplete, fueling worries about whether Congress will be able to avoid a partial government shutdown this fall.

“We're going to scare the hell out of the American people before we get this done," said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 30, 2023 01:13 PM (63Dwl)

137 Big boil keep on roiling
Proud Mary keep on boiling
Boiling. Boiling. Boiling on the river...
Posted by: Muldoon at July 30, 2023 01:05 PM

You know that Ike beat Tina to death.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at July 30, 2023 01:13 PM (a3Q+t)

138 If we ever get power and plan to be serious, we should hang or Gitmo some of the more egregious bankers. No one would be sorry.
Posted by: Dr. Claw at July 30, 2023 01:09 PM (roH4R)

"I sincerely believe with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Taylor, 1816

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 01:13 PM (gJKGU)

139 91 -- The XO and I sold our house to one of those outfits, praying daily that the damn thing didn't fall down around us until the final papers were signed. East Omaha, the older, pre WW II part of town, is thick with house flippers who buy, fix up, and either sell or rent. Maybe Bidenomics have discouraged this sort of activity in other places, but not Omaha.

Posted by: Captain Josepha Sabin -- I wasn't particularly fond of the '70s the first time around at July 30, 2023 01:13 PM (B7rlW)

140 We employ flippers daily, don't require handouts, dress properly, see the world in clear-cut terms of black and white, yet get little or no respect from some on this blog.

Posted by: Big Penguin at July 30, 2023 01:14 PM (tO+U3)

141 No yellow!
Posted by: Hunter B., artiste extraordinaire at July 30, 2023 01:08 PM (a3Q+t)

If you wanna REALLY get cynical, going down the conspiratorial rabbit hole, look at all the returning vets from Perpetual War, being physically and mentally disabled, getting a check from Uncle Sam every month...

Where does THAT money go? Some of it to the babymomma, who uses it however she wishes, and some of it goes directly to the dope man. Fentanyl gets imported and meth gets cooked, because your tax dollars make it profitable. Yay.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 01:15 PM (ZHG8S)

142 I'm just not as afraid of Democrats jacking up taxes anymore because they really are the party of the rich now.

If say Bernie had gotten the nomination, I think you would have seen even upscale voters (the new Democrat base) flocking to Trump when he started talking about 90% tax rates.

Posted by: Blago at July 30, 2023 01:15 PM (cOFom)

143 “We're going to scare the hell out of the American people before we get this done," said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.

This has become their modus operandi. Fear, fear and more fear.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at July 30, 2023 01:16 PM (Xrfse)

144 You know that Ike beat Tina to death.
Posted by: Duncanthrax

*******

By 15 years.

Posted by: Muldoon at July 30, 2023 01:16 PM (zLLgI)

145 I see income inequality as a problem; I also see a self-perpetuating economic/political elite as a problem.

I haven't seen a practical solution to it, though. Taxing rich people doesn't work. They dodge the taxes, and any additional taxes generated by the socio-economic elite are just taken by the political elite.

Japan manages to get on well enough without gross inequalities. The average Japanese executive's income is 16 times the income of the average Japanese worker. (16:1). In the USA, that ration is 400:1. The Japanese value social cohesion much more than we do.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at July 30, 2023 01:17 PM (9yUzE)

146 But "delaying gratification" seems to mean passing up all opportunities for enjoyment, keep working without stopping for a moment to enjoy anything, then wake up day realizing that your life has been one of zero gratification, devoid of joy or meaning, but you sure made someone else a bunch of money and paid a lot of taxes.
Posted by: Have a little gratification along the way or you'll regret it at July 30, 2023 01:11 PM (e8n94)

When a person who's spent their whole life delaying gratification for a large payoff realizes that payday isn't coming, you get one of two things: A psycho shooter, or someone who loses the ability to give more than the tiniest fuck about most things.

Given that I'm not in prison, which one I am is probably obvious.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 01:17 PM (gJKGU)

147 Of course this will go nowhere, because it's insane.
===
Not in California. In California, insanity is a prerequisite.

Posted by: Perry White at July 30, 2023 01:18 PM (JvZF+)

148 Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 01:00 PM (ZHG8S)

--There is some outfit here that pays some fraction in cash for gift cards.

You learn about these things when you have an addict in the family.

Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:18 PM (LFU92)

149 "Tax the rich," always includes tax exemptions for the rich.

Posted by: davidt at July 30, 2023 01:18 PM (SYTee)

150 I'm just not as afraid of Democrats jacking up taxes anymore because they really are the party of the rich now.

Same. But it's worth noting, the Democrats are also the party of carve-outs for rich people to avoid taxes.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at July 30, 2023 01:18 PM (9yUzE)

151 Their biggest fear in shutting down the government is that no one will notice.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at July 30, 2023 01:18 PM (u73oe)

152 America was great when taxes on the rich were high and straws were made here in the USA out of paper

Posted by: Paul at July 30, 2023 01:18 PM (dOsWq)

153 Japan manages to get on well enough without gross inequalities. The average Japanese executive's income is 16 times the income of the average Japanese worker. (16:1). In the USA, that ration is 400:1. The Japanese value social cohesion much more than we do.
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at July 30, 2023 01:17 PM (9yUzE)

Japan has a law that the highest wage in an organization can't exceed the lowest by more than a certain multiple (I think it's 30x?). At a certain point, if the executives want raises, they have to give the janitor a raise.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 01:19 PM (gJKGU)

154 Where my Obamahone?!

Posted by: Sh'Qweefa from around the way at July 30, 2023 01:19 PM (LFU92)

155 We employ flippers daily, don't require handouts, dress properly, see the world in clear-cut terms of black and white, yet get little or no respect from some on this blog.
Posted by: Big Penguin

********

An old penguin wrangler named Guido
Had a bird who showed up in a Speedo
"I've had it! You're fired!
That's not proper attire!
You're required to wear a tuxedo!"

Posted by: Muldoon at July 30, 2023 01:19 PM (zLLgI)

156 We employ flippers daily, don't require handouts, dress properly, see the world in clear-cut terms of black and white, yet get little or no respect from some on this blog.
Posted by: Big Penguin at July 30, 2023 01:14 PM

Totally us too, except maybe for the flippers.

Posted by: Wm. Gates, Geo. Soros, & K. Schwab at July 30, 2023 01:20 PM (a3Q+t)

157 If we ever get power and plan to be serious, we should hang or Gitmo some of the more egregious bankers. No one would be sorry.
Posted by: Dr. Claw at July 30, 2023 01:09 PM (roH4R)

"I sincerely believe with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Taylor, 1816
Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 01:13 PM (gJKGU)

Holy ship! Who is this Tom Jefferson, and why will nobody listen to him?

By the way, the claim that he fathered ANY children with slaves is almost certainly a total lie.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 01:20 PM (ZHG8S)

158 139 I bet the little island of Iowa known as Carter Lake has a lot of house flipping going on. I know it's a destination for Omaha Sunday beer drinkers who can't wait until noon.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 30, 2023 01:20 PM (0EOe9)

159 I was told by those who knew, you could go into a store like that, buy a bag of chips, use your EBT card to get cash back. I don't know if there was a limit or not, but otherwise you could give your card to someone who would spend $100 on "groceries," and give you $50 in cash back.

Guess what all that cash would buy.
Posted by: BurtTC

Back when food stamps were actual physical booklets with printed funny money in them one could buy them for 50 cents on the dollar.
With EBT cards they had to get more creative like lurking outside of stores and offering to get what's on an incoming customers grocery list and sell it for half price (as you mentioned above). If more people were aware that the racket is legit, yes, they will get your groceries, show you the receipt, and give it to you at half price, more people would be willing to take part in it.
Worst case I have seen is in bottle deposit states - buy a cart load of bottled water, cheap soda, etc. Dump it down the drain right out in the parking lot and get the deposits back in cash.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at July 30, 2023 01:20 PM (ga8qR)

160 Paul, you ignorant slut.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at July 30, 2023 01:21 PM (u73oe)

161 138
'is but swindling futurity on a large scale.'
Pres. Jefferson had keen foresight of our current situation, didn't he?

I wonder what his letter would have said had it occurred to TJ that central banks would use their power to keep certain people from having bank accounts.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at July 30, 2023 01:21 PM (roH4R)

162
Japan manages to get on well enough without gross inequalities. The average Japanese executive's income is 16 times the income of the average Japanese worker. (16:1). In the USA, that ration is 400:1. The Japanese value social cohesion much more than we do.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at July 30, 2023 01:17 PM

There's value to what you're saying. By the same token I looked up the organization my wife was working for at the time with locations everywhere. I divided the CEO pay (15 million iirc) by the number of employees and determined that everyone would get less then a dollar an hour increase in pay if they fired the CEO and did without.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at July 30, 2023 01:21 PM (enJYY)

163 The Democrat Party is just the political wing of the Media, and the billionaires that own it.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at July 30, 2023 01:22 PM (aD39U)

164 By the way, the claim that he fathered ANY children with slaves is almost certainly a total lie.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 01:20 PM (ZHG8S)

If he did, I don't care. A person can be wise and have moral failings at the same time. That they're imperfect doesn't automatically render everything they said untrue.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 01:22 PM (gJKGU)

165 Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 01:00 PM (ZHG8S)

--There is some outfit here that pays some fraction in cash for gift cards.

You learn about these things when you have an addict in the family.
Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:18 PM (LFU92)

Yep. I'm sorry to hear that, I've just worked in this field long enough to see it up close that way.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 01:22 PM (ZHG8S)

166 Japanese don't flood their country with foreigners to drive down wages either.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 30, 2023 01:23 PM (ouTlx)

167 143 “We're going to scare the hell out of the American people before we get this done," said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.

This has become their modus operandi. Fear, fear and more fear.
Posted by: Notorious BFD at July 30, 2023 01:16 PM (Xrfse)

Why are they so intent on scaring us? Why do we have to be afraid day in and day out? I know it's about their personal power trips, but how much of it is owing to their own fear of death and what consequences lay before them when they meet the Almighty? They want the rest of the world to feel like they do in the dark of the night?

Posted by: Moki at July 30, 2023 01:23 PM (JrN/x)

168 Why tax the middle class? Because that's where the money is.

Posted by: Willie Sutton at July 30, 2023 01:24 PM (aD39U)

169 LOL. This is not a capitalist society. Few Americans even understand the concept, and most who do dislike it. That said, the ones who truly fucking *HAAAAAATE* it the most, the ones who it makes ructate bile, are the very wealthy.

And those people own people like these Communist Congresscunts. So they can go out and trash the rich all they want - it neatly serves the purposes of the rich - but it'll be a cold day in Hell when they're actually permitted to do anything to materially harm their overlords.

Any bill that actually passes will be for the purposes of harming the despised middle classes. As always.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at July 30, 2023 01:25 PM (0FoWg)

170 We employ flippers daily, don't require handouts, dress properly, see the world in clear-cut terms of black and white, yet get little or no respect from some on this blog.
Posted by: Big Penguin at July 30, 2023 01:14 PM (tO+U3)
===
Have you considered your body odor? You stink.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 30, 2023 01:25 PM (JvZF+)

171 146
'Given that I'm not in prison, which one I am is probably obvious.'
Psycho shooter clearly.
Congratulations on evading arrest. I have a wish list of names for you when you get back to work.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at July 30, 2023 01:28 PM (roH4R)

172 If he did, I don't care. A person can be wise and have moral failings at the same time. That they're imperfect doesn't automatically render everything they said untrue.
Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 01:22 PM (gJKGU)

That's why the claims exist, to discredit him.

The genetic link to his clan is used to pinpoint Thomas J., but there were many candidates, including I think, his nephew, who was known to have fathered other children with slaves not on Thomas' property. And he was known to visit Monticello often enough while Sally Hemmings was around and getting knocked up.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 01:28 PM (I7wMT)

173 OT-and today's dumb leftist letter in the NY Post

Remember Till

Leave it to a man of compassion, empathy, tolerance and decency like President Biden to spearhead the establishment of memorial statues to commemorate the savage murder of Emmett Till, a 14 year old boy whose " capital criime" was to allegedly whistled at a white woman. ( Biden honors '55?slay Vic Emmett Till, July 26.

Calling to mind Emmett Till will not be popular in some parts of the country in which America's racist underpinnings are deemed too uncomfortable to acknowledge.

The president's actions bring comfort to surviving members of Emmett's family and to all whose lives have been impacted by racial animus.

Oren Spiegler, Peter's Township, PA.

Will compassionate and empathetic Joe Biden be erecting statues for the Asian or white people stabbed or pushed onto the subway tracks by
Thugs who happen to be AA?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 30, 2023 01:28 PM (aTVrz)

174 166 Japanese don't flood their country with foreigners to drive down wages either.
Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 30, 2023 01:23 PM (ouTlx)

--For all the doomsday scenarios about China, she will be able to push though them more adeptly and with less bloodshed because of ethnic homogeneity.

Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:28 PM (LFU92)

175
Why tax the middle class? Because that's where the money is.

Posted by: Willie Sutton at July 30, 2023 01:24 PM

Because of working our butts off for a combined century of paychecks and flipping a couple of homes, then paying off those mortgages, my wife and I are now in some theoretical 96% percentile of wealth in this country. I don't wanna give the number obviously, but there just really aren't as many wealthy people in this country as the left believes.

Or those other 4% are really, really loaded.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at July 30, 2023 01:29 PM (enJYY)

176 As broken machines began piling up in testing and several multi-million-dollar orders were being put in peril of shipping late, I decided to be proactive and complain about the lack of engineering support to upper management and HR.

Guess who got demoted? I did, for trying to do the right thing. The worthless engineering manager was probably somebody's cousin.

Everything's a popularity contest now.
Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas

Most people do not have the knack to understand the complexities of management. Most engineers, if not all, grok what they are doing and can apply the same analysis and solid logic do virtually an6 problem, but management is a process they are incapable of comprehending.

/ does another line with the senior management team

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at July 30, 2023 01:32 PM (ga8qR)

177 Maybe someone can produce a scaled chart showing how prosperous everyone has been throughout history from, say, 1100 onward. It could show a trend line for poorest, "median", and for the top couple of tiers of "richest".

I know what it would show: the poorest among us is now as wealthy as a noble of old, at least. Not a single person in our country will starve, unless they ignore all the help out there or are imprisoned.

Posted by: GWB at July 30, 2023 01:32 PM (E8qwH)

178 When foodstamps were printed tender rather than an EBT card, there were a lot of wild things going on, including buying wars where one small store owner would pay .75 on the dollar instead of the usual fifty. There were a couple sons of the desert doing this in Cleveland, making $25K and more foodstamp deposits on a regular basis. Two markets, about the size of a small bedroom, couple dusty cans of beans and tuna on the shelves. Lots of beer, cigs, and lottery action. By the same token, a HS classmate of mine got busted for taking foodstamps for "non essential" stuff like TP and diapers.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 30, 2023 01:32 PM (0EOe9)

179 Oren Speigler is from ny neck of the woods. He's a fuckstick who bombs numerous papers with letters like above. A true jackass.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at July 30, 2023 01:32 PM (TZ75n)

180 173
'Will compassionate and empathetic Joe Biden be erecting statues'

Compassion isn't the purpose but you knew that already.

I'll care about Emmett Till when his Community show any remorse for the white victims of blacks (that died an equally vile and outrageous deaths).

Posted by: Dr. Claw at July 30, 2023 01:32 PM (roH4R)

181
Emmett Till

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 30, 2023 01:28 PM

It's all about picking at a scab to make sure it never stops bleeding then reaping the 'rewards' (spit) on Election Night. I wish more AA voters would see through the scam.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at July 30, 2023 01:33 PM (enJYY)

182 It is unacceptable that millions of hardworking people remain impoverished
It would be, if it were true. Millions of hardworking people (in this country) are NOT impoverished. They might not have as much as the next guy up the ladder, but they are NOT "impoverished."

It's purely the politics of envy.

Posted by: GWB at July 30, 2023 01:34 PM (E8qwH)

183 Government and Greed.
Both begin with G.

There it is. The most profound thing I'm gonna say today.

Posted by: Diogenes at July 30, 2023 01:35 PM (e4fEA)

184 Drone attack on big building in Moscow

Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:35 PM (LFU92)

185 Feed the Rich to the Poor.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at July 30, 2023 01:35 PM (aD39U)

186 if these dangerous socialists ever become powerful enough
Hoo boy, are you behind the curve, CBD!

Posted by: GWB at July 30, 2023 01:36 PM (E8qwH)

187 183 Government and Greed.
Both begin with G.

There it is. The most profound thing I'm gonna say today.

Posted by: Diogenes at July 30, 2023 01:35 PM (e4fEA)

and Grovel.

Posted by: davidt at July 30, 2023 01:36 PM (SYTee)

188 "The hard working poor", whatever. During my recent move from NC back to Texas, every Buc-ee's that I stopped at was advertising that they were hiring. The LOWEST starting wage was $16/hour (Leeds Alabama). Going up to $30/hour. With shift differential. With health and dental insurance, 3 weeks vacation, 401k with 100% match up to 6%. Of course it does require you to show up on time (clearly white supremacist), work hard and have a good attitude (ever met a rude employee at Buc-ee's? They're like Chik-fil-a). Some people are just determined to be a victim.

Posted by: Stacy0311 at July 30, 2023 01:36 PM (Yjop+)

189 Wait till 2028, when after destroying California, Gavin Newsom will become POTUS and will force the entire middle class to pay reparations along with climate change taxes.

Posted by: redridinghood at July 30, 2023 01:37 PM (NpAcC)

190 Two markets, about the size of a small bedroom, couple dusty cans of beans and tuna on the shelves. Lots of beer, cigs, and lottery action. By the same token, a HS classmate of mine got busted for taking foodstamps for "non essential" stuff like TP and diapers.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 30, 2023 01:32 PM (0EOe9)

It's all about who you know. The scammers were probably friends of at least one local politician, and probably donated a cut of the action as a "campaign contribution" to him.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 01:37 PM (gJKGU)

191 Japan manages to get on well enough without gross inequalities. The average Japanese executive's income is 16 times the income of the average Japanese worker. (16:1). In the USA, that ration is 400:1. The Japanese value social cohesion much more than we do.
Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo
____

Japan has laws that keep this in line.

One "liberal" policy I would support is something similar. You could do it in a way where it's just a tax problem for a company that wants to pay excessive salaries.

$100 million dollar CEO pay packages are sickening for a publicly traded company.

I know we're supposed to be the party of Big Business, but since all the Fortune 500 companies are now woke extensions of the Democrat Party, screw them.

Posted by: Blago at July 30, 2023 01:37 PM (cOFom)

192 "BTW you know what comes after Global Boiling, right?"

Sous vide that shit!

Posted by: Taq, Rickrolled by Jesus at July 30, 2023 01:37 PM (kjOVp)

193 Drone attack on big building in Moscow
Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:35 PM

Rooskies are saying that 3 drones were attacking, one was shot down, and the other 2 jammed and crashed; the building damage is from one of the jammed ones crashing into the building.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at July 30, 2023 01:37 PM (a3Q+t)

194 It's all about picking at a scab to make sure it never stops bleeding

That's exactly what it is. Scratch, bleed, repeat as necessary.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at July 30, 2023 01:38 PM (Xrfse)

195 Drone attack on big building in Moscow
Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:35 PM (LFU92)

Bastards!!!

Posted by: Big Buildings Everywhere at July 30, 2023 01:38 PM (e4fEA)

196 It's all about envy. Envy is not jealousy. Jealousy is wanting what others have. Envy is maliciously destroying what others have.

Posted by: Regular joe at July 30, 2023 01:38 PM (nnp+f)

197 Show me a map of the highest income per capita counties in the country and I'll show you the map of the biggest democrap voting strongholds in the country.

Posted by: Giorgio A. Tsoukalos at July 30, 2023 01:39 PM (PWI4f)

198 140 We employ flippers daily, don't require handouts, dress properly, see the world in clear-cut terms of black and white, yet get little or no respect from some on this blog.
Posted by: Big Penguin at July 30, 2023 01:14 PM (tO+U3)

Big Puffin has been keeping you down.

Posted by: It's true. You wouldn't believe what goes on behind the scenes. at July 30, 2023 01:39 PM (e8n94)

199 and Grovel.
Posted by: davidt at July 30, 2023 01:36 PM (SYTee)

Oooo....
Yeah. That too!

Posted by: Diogenes at July 30, 2023 01:40 PM (e4fEA)

200 I know we're supposed to be the party of Big Business, but since all the Fortune 500 companies are now woke extensions of the Democrat Party, screw them.
Posted by: Blago at July 30, 2023 01:37 PM (cOFom)

I couldn't agree more. We need to be the party of small and mid-size business, the party of competition and aspiration, not the party of a stagnant, corrupt cartel that bleeds us dry and gives us nothing for it.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 01:40 PM (gJKGU)

201 There it is. The most profound thing I'm gonna say today.
Posted by: Diogenes at July 30, 2023 01:35 PM

Dude. It's only been a few hours since you got up, looked around, scratched yourself, and went to find coffee. Don't limit yourself unnecessarily.

Especially with the First World Problems, Sous-Vide, and Gub Threads coming up!

Posted by: Duncanthrax at July 30, 2023 01:40 PM (a3Q+t)

202 Show me a map of the highest income per capita counties in the country and I'll show you the map of the biggest democrap voting strongholds in the country.
Posted by: Giorgio A. Tsoukalos at July 30, 2023 01:39 PM (PWI4f)

——————

Most of them are right around DC.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at July 30, 2023 01:40 PM (u73oe)

203 Will compassionate and empathetic Joe Biden be erecting statues for the Asian or white people stabbed or pushed onto the subway tracks by
Thugs who happen to be AA?
Posted by: FenelonSpoke

Is that one of the twelve steps?!?

Posted by: db at July 30, 2023 01:41 PM (wu87C)

204 Government revenues are totally disconnected from expenditures, therefore the tax rate is is entirely political, not fiscal, not monetary.

It is set solely in accordance with how greedy the ruling class is and what they wish to destroy.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 30, 2023 01:41 PM (JvZF+)

205 Jealousy is coveting your neighbor's wife.

Envy is coveting his entire life and all its trappings.

Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:41 PM (LFU92)

206 When a person who's spent their whole life delaying gratification for a large payoff realizes that payday isn't coming, you get one of two things: A psycho shooter, or someone who loses the ability to give more than the tiniest fuck about most things.

Given that I'm not in prison, which one I am is probably obvious.
Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 01:17 PM (gJKGU)

Pretty much. Or door number three they off themselves.

Posted by: There is no moral or religious virtue in following a lie at July 30, 2023 01:43 PM (e8n94)

207 190 The two guys in Cleveland? No doubt they had somebody on the pad. When they finally got "caught", it was like their turn to take a fall. Lost their foodstamp license or whatever you call it for a month or some bullshit. My classmate was pretty sure somebody he fired snitched him out for really just being a nice guy, and he had the Feds crawling up his ass looking at the books.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 30, 2023 01:43 PM (0EOe9)

208 Anyone see that the DOJ is threatening to arrest Devon Archer to keep him from testifying tomorrow?

Posted by: Duke Lowell at July 30, 2023 01:43 PM (u73oe)

209 Gruesome is my bet for Installed Totalitarian in 2024.

Posted by: Skip at July 30, 2023 01:44 PM (xhxe8)

210 205 Jealousy is coveting your neighbor's wife.

Envy is coveting his entire life and all its trappings.
Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:41 PM (LFU92)

If you're Chad you get to shtup your neighbor's wife so you can skip coveting and get right to the adultery.

Posted by: If you're gonna break a commandment, go big. at July 30, 2023 01:44 PM (e8n94)

211 OT, but if anyone's interested in a writer's group, please e-mail your AoS nic and name. I've gotten a couple but don't know who they are. Want to avoid a phishing scheme. Thanks.

Posted by: OrangeEnt at July 30, 2023 01:45 PM (Angsy)

212 Pretty much. Or door number three they off themselves.
Posted by: There is no moral or religious virtue in following a lie at July 30, 2023 01:43 PM (e8n94)

My stubbornness is the only reason I'm still here.

If I were to take the easy out, it would be admitting that the bastards have won.

The temptation is constant, but I will not give this wretched world the satisfaction. If it wants to push me into the mud, I will stand up again. If it wants me gone, I will inflict as much of myself as I can on it.

Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 01:45 PM (gJKGU)

213 Finally, the best reason yet why you should vote for Trump:

https://tinyurl.com/4x3huhfs

Posted by: BurtTC at July 30, 2023 01:45 PM (FlXxH)

214 John Derbyshire aptly compared the multiple sites of the new ET monument to the Stations of the Cross.

Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:45 PM (LFU92)

215 I don't know why, when people are interested in the current weather, they would consult a meaty urologist.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm

Well, we're all gonna.die!!!

Dr. Eli David
@DrEliDavid
John Kerry in 2009: “In 5 years we will have the first ice free Arctic summer”

-
Ice free?!!! THE Arctic is boiling!!!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at July 30, 2023 01:46 PM (FVME7)

216 OT, but if anyone's interested in a writer's group, please e-mail your AoS nic and name. I've gotten a couple but don't know who they are. Want to avoid a phishing scheme. Thanks.
Posted by: OrangeEnt

To whom do I mail it ?

Posted by: JT at July 30, 2023 01:46 PM (T4tVD)

217 On 60 Minutes:

The potential threat of nuclear war is no more dangerous than the existential problem of climate change, there is no hierarchy in these issues, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said.

We're all going to die, with "leadership" like that.

Posted by: A Provocative Parade Of Perverts! at July 30, 2023 01:47 PM (2tUFv)

218 Orange Ent what's the addy?

Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:47 PM (LFU92)

219 I don't know why, when people are interested in the current weather, they would consult a meaty urologist.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm

I prefer my urologists to be dainty. And my proctologists daintier.

Posted by: It's a prostate check, not a prostate wreck at July 30, 2023 01:47 PM (e8n94)

220 Also, Pritzker just signed a law making it legal for illegal aliens to be police officers in Illinois. Things are moving quickly now.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at July 30, 2023 01:48 PM (u73oe)

221 Of course this will go nowhere, because it's insane

---

WTF does that have to do with anything?

Posted by: Cave Johnson at July 30, 2023 01:49 PM (2pViA)

222 I prefer my urologists to be dainty. And my proctologists daintier.
Posted by: It's a prostate check, not a prostate wreck at July 30, 2023 01:47 PM

It doesn't matter how 'dainty' their hands are, when you go 'unnnnh' and then suddenly realize that both their hands are on your shoulders.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at July 30, 2023 01:49 PM (a3Q+t)

223 213
'the best reason yet'

I regret that I have but one vote to give to make Barr self-terminate.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at July 30, 2023 01:49 PM (roH4R)

224 216 OT, but if anyone's interested in a writer's group, please e-mail your AoS nic and name. I've gotten a couple but don't know who they are. Want to avoid a phishing scheme. Thanks.
Posted by: OrangeEnt

To whom do I mail it ?
Posted by: JT at July 30, 2023 01:46 PM (T4tVD)

FormerPrince@Centralbankofnorthernlagos.ng

Posted by: No really it's legit at July 30, 2023 01:50 PM (e8n94)

225 220 Hey, that's great and they get guns and fast cars and all kinds of cool stuff. Reconquista, amigos.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 30, 2023 01:50 PM (0EOe9)

226 Finally, the best reason yet why you should vote for Trump:
https://tinyurl.com/4x3huhfs
Posted by: BurtTC

LOL ! I find his terms acceptable!

Posted by: db at July 30, 2023 01:51 PM (wu87C)

227 Illinois deputizing MS13?

O brave new world!

Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:51 PM (LFU92)

228 Oh goody, Illinois is hiring mercenaries

Posted by: Skip at July 30, 2023 01:52 PM (xhxe8)

229 Best use of mercenaries is controlling citizens

Posted by: Skip at July 30, 2023 01:52 PM (xhxe8)

230 The temptation is constant, but I will not give this wretched world the satisfaction. If it wants to push me into the mud, I will stand up again. If it wants me gone, I will inflict as much of myself as I can on it.
Posted by: Cato, Post-Apocalyptic Scourge of the Seas at July 30, 2023 01:45 PM (gJKGU)

Sometimes hanging in there just to give the bastards the middle finger is enough.

Posted by: Defiance. It's what's for dinner. at July 30, 2023 01:53 PM (e8n94)

231 Best use of mercenaries is controlling citizens
Posted by: Skip at July 30, 2023 01:52 PM (xhxe

————-

Exactly what they have in mind. They’ll do the same with the military.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at July 30, 2023 01:53 PM (u73oe)

232 ET phone home

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 30, 2023 01:53 PM (63Dwl)

233 all of DC, both dims and pubs, agreed that the national debt to go to 36 trillion by Jan 2025

extrapolate that out 10 years and you're talking at least 50 trillion, maybe 55

everyone and everything will take a 25-30% haircut

EVERYONE !!!!

*in my best Stansfield voice*

Posted by: REDACTED at July 30, 2023 01:54 PM (us2H3)

234 It's all fun and games until the mercenaries realize the reason they're paid is because you're pussies.

See Anglo-Saxons, Mamelukes, et al.

Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:55 PM (LFU92)

235 Moustachioed officer, mirrored sunglasses and a Colt .38 Super with a Matador on the grips. "Senor, documentos, por favor" said with contempt.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 30, 2023 01:55 PM (0EOe9)

236 234 It's all fun and games until the mercenaries realize the reason they're paid is because you're pussies.

See Anglo-Saxons, Mamelukes, et al.
Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:55 PM (LFU92)

I thought Mameluke was some kind of ethnic slur used in Brooklyn.

Posted by: Learn something new every day around here at July 30, 2023 01:56 PM (e8n94)

237 I know what it would show: the poorest among us is now as wealthy as a noble of old, at least. Not a single person in our country will starve, unless they ignore all the help out there or are imprisoned.
Posted by: GWB

Get where you are coming from but one cannot compare a single wide with a castle nor one's posse in the hood with a bone fide army (even if they are only armed with pointy sticks).
Real Wealth == Power
No matter what age you are in.

Now, the poor of any age would rather be poor in the modern America. Better to have McD every day than some rank porridge.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at July 30, 2023 01:56 PM (ga8qR)

238 Global boiling. Boy I feel smart and frankly superior when I hear people believe that nonsense.

Posted by: Regular joe at July 30, 2023 01:56 PM (nnp+f)

239 We’ve asked the question before will the police or military obey an order to fire on American citizens. These new recruits will.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at July 30, 2023 01:57 PM (u73oe)

240 We thinks this be a goods idea because it be helps childrin of coler !!!!!!!

Posted by: Mary Clogginstein from Brattleboro, VT at July 30, 2023 01:57 PM (y9QBQ)

241 Of course this will go nowhere, because it's insane

-
NBC News has entered the chat.

NBC News
@NBCNews
A number of people are attempting to change their race by watching certain videos, hoping to manifest physical change.
“They have convinced themselves it works because there’s other people who have convinced themselves, as well,” says a media professor.
. . . .
Experts agree race is not genetic. [!!!] But they contend that even though race is a cultural construct, it is impossible to change your race because of the systemic inequalities inherent to being born into a certain race.

-
So race is not like sex which you can change every day and twice on Sundays?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at July 30, 2023 01:57 PM (FVME7)

242 Moustachioed officer, mirrored sunglasses and a Colt .38 Super with a Matador on the grips. "Senor, documentos, por favor" said with contempt.
Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 30, 2023 01:55 PM (0EOe9)

I will have to work on my Spanish.

Lo siento, oficial. No tenía idea de que eso era ilegal. ¿Puedo pagarte la multa?

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at July 30, 2023 01:57 PM (aD39U)

243 The potential threat of nuclear war is no more dangerous than the existential problem of climate change, there is no hierarchy in these issues, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said.

The stupidity of this statement is mind boggeling.

Posted by: Diogenes at July 30, 2023 01:58 PM (e4fEA)

244 La prostituta muerta debe haber estado en mi maletero cuando alquilé el coche.

Posted by: G'rump928(c) at July 30, 2023 01:58 PM (aD39U)

245
We’ve asked the question before will the police or military obey an order to fire on American citizens. These new recruits will.
Posted by: Duke Lowell

"We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."
Barack Obama 2008

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 30, 2023 01:58 PM (63Dwl)

246 Sh'Qweefa from around the way sounds like St. John Chrysostom compared to Mary Cloggenstein

Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 02:00 PM (LFU92)

247 It's all fun and games until the mercenaries realize the reason they're paid is because you're pussies.

See Anglo-Saxons, Mamelukes, et al.
Posted by: logprof at July 30, 2023 01:55 PM (LFU92)

I thought Mameluke was some kind of ethnic slur used in Brooklyn.
Posted by: Learn something new every day around here at July 30, 2023 01:56 PM (e8n94)
***

I thought it was a cartoon about a dog.

Posted by: Diogenes at July 30, 2023 02:00 PM (e4fEA)

248 242 And he answers "your tail light is burnt out. Get out of the car and interlock your fingers on top of your head". Things he remembered from Inglis 101 at the academy.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 30, 2023 02:01 PM (0EOe9)

249 1st at Nood, 1st at peace ✌️

Posted by: Skip at July 30, 2023 02:01 PM (xhxe8)

250 The potential threat of nuclear war is no more dangerous than the existential problem of climate change, there is no hierarchy in these issues, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said.

The stupidity of this statement is mind boggeling.
Posted by: Diogenes

Obhection! Secretary Blinken has no mind to boggle!

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at July 30, 2023 02:03 PM (FVME7)

251 Yeah, I think we're going to go in a different election.

Posted by: King Alaric at July 30, 2023 02:03 PM (LFU92)

252 249 First in nood, first in peace, first to say I quit.

Jubilation T. Cornpone

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 30, 2023 02:04 PM (0EOe9)

253 249 242 And he answers "your tail light is burnt out. Get out of the car and interlock your fingers on top of your head". Things he remembered from Inglis 101 at the academy.
Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at July 30, 2023 02:01 PM (0EOe9)

¡Deja de resistirte!
*EL BLAM EL BLAM EL BLAM EL BLAM EL BLAM EL BLAM EL BLAM EL BLAM EL BLAM*
Hizo un movimiento furtivo.

Posted by: Same story different language at July 30, 2023 02:04 PM (e8n94)

254 This crapola resonates with a segment of wine moms and childless wine wives that feel guilty being a member of the upper middle class for doing not much of anything, but having married a high earner.

I hope that most working class people understand that real oligarchs can and do buy special tax exemptions. Plus they understand that the commiecrats have no plans to make working pay better, it is all about paying the welfare class to stay home and vote for the Ds.

Posted by: PaleRider at July 30, 2023 02:05 PM (3cGpq)

255 Finally, the best reason yet why you should vote for Trump:

https://tinyurl.com/4x3huhfs
Posted by: BurtTC

Bill Barr?
Isn't he the guy who spent his entire time covering up rampant political bias in the Dept of Justice, to the detriment of almost the entire country?

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at July 30, 2023 02:07 PM (ga8qR)

256 FOX News Sunday leads with new Trump charges

not Hunter's sweetheart deal gets blown up

Posted by: REDACTED at July 30, 2023 02:08 PM (us2H3)

257 Give the people the land! Capitalism and Socialism are not the reason for the government holding the land from its citizens.

Fucking whackjobs have been holding the land in this country for generations, - centuries.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at July 30, 2023 02:14 PM (KVGVf)

258 "We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."
Barack Obama 2008
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 30, 2023 01:58 PM (63Dwl)

Which is a pretty bizarre thing to bring up out of fvcking nowhere. It alone would merit removal for lunacy. The fact that little was made of it implies The Party knew what he was talking about and just let it slide... for the time being.

Posted by: Itinerant Alley Butcher at July 30, 2023 02:16 PM (ga8qR)

259 America was great when taxes on the rich were high and straws were made here in the USA out of paper
Posted by: Paul

If Mary Cloggenstein and Raimondo hooked up, you'd get Paul

Posted by: Drink Like Vikings at July 30, 2023 02:21 PM (NkiYS)

260 Exactly what they have in mind. They’ll do the same with the military.

Yep.

Posted by: Notorious BFD at July 30, 2023 02:25 PM (Xrfse)

261 "the only valuable question is whether the lives of most people have improved. And the answer is of course a resounding, YES! Even our poorest citizens are better off than they were just a generation or two ago. America's poor drive cars, have air conditioning, cellular phones, computers, flat-screen TVs"

Except these are neither the only nor the most meaningful measure of wellbeing. When Reagan was making this point 35 years ago, it might have been a sufficient proxy, but it quite obviously no longer is. Life expectancy for the bottom quintile is actually going *down*. Marriage rates have been going *down*. These are vastly more important measures of well-being.

"and judging by their waistlines haven't missed meals in a very long time."

Um . . . you realize that obesity is (1) inversely correlated with class/income and (2), you know, BAD, right?

But your larger point is correct: nothing in their latest Eat The Rich scheme will change any of this.

Posted by: Phi at July 30, 2023 02:32 PM (5Z779)

262 When your policy is "rob Peter to pay Paul", Paul can be counted on for a vote.

Don't have enough Pauls? Import them. Yup.
The goal can never be prosperity for all or even most.
Nevah, nevah. I shan't hear of it. Nupe.

Posted by: Speller at July 30, 2023 02:54 PM (pSotA)

263 Weak Geek's Theory of Acronyms:

Any program whose name forms a cutesy acronym will fail. It shows that the planners spent time on that which could have been better devoted to the program itself.

(Ironically, I like acronyms.)

Posted by: Weak Geek at July 30, 2023 02:58 PM (p/isN)

264 I'm making $90 an hour working from home. I never imagined that it was honest to goodness yet my closest companion is earning sixteen thousand US dollars a month by working on the connection, that was truly astounding for me, she prescribed for me to attempt it simply. Everybody must try this job now by just using this website... www.Payathome7.com

Posted by: www.Payathome7.com at July 30, 2023 09:09 PM (DThjd)

265 The OLIGARGH is a long overdue corrective action needed to right the wrongs in our dysfunctional capitalist system"

-Senator Wesly Crouch u

Posted by: Dark Force Thirsting For Power at July 30, 2023 10:34 PM (QY+6a)

266 Why do conservatives defend tax cuts for the people bankrolling the Democrats?

Posted by: Eric at July 31, 2023 12:25 PM (vUenf)

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