Yea I should have put “serious” in quotes there.
BBC radio just had a discussion on who won the debate and the main person on the panel was one of Biden’s campaign advisors!! OF COURSE she thinks Biden won and everyone was mean to him, jfc
I think it’s bad policy in the real world unfortunately. The reality is that the infrastructure for tax evasion is absolutely massive, and a law is only as good as its enforcement. There are tons of laws on the books globally that if enforced would be amazing but since they aren’t it doesn’t actually matter.
It would take at least a decade and 100B+ to build the enforcement apparatus to make the rubber hit the road on a wealth tax IMO.
I still support Warren.
Cry me a river.
I’m probably more of a free market capitalist for small business than most people here, almost certainly actually, but just flat out confiscating everything over $50M would be solid. There is no unlimited right to bogart.
($20M would be a better number)
My question is what do you do with it.
Just give it to the people, cash money homey.
Another reason it’s so good is it limits multi-generational unearned mega wealth. Like the Walton kids all get hit with 2% a year, that’s an effective 10% annual tax on that $150 billion or whatever AND it stops compounding.
I’m in 4 Liz. Made a recurring donation.
2 Likes
Have bernie and liz nailed down how they’re going to pay for m4a yet? how do they not have better answers to, “will middle class taxes go up under your plan?” It’s either, “taxes will go up but you’ll save money overall,” or just, “if you’re making less than x, the amount you pay will go down,” but instead of that they always flub the question.
1 Like
How come this standard is only applied to services that help people but never to military expenditures or tax cuts?
I’d also be satisfied with them flat out saying No, you’re taxes won’t go up, it’s the fact that they waffle around on what should be a softball question that irks me
I don’t think he is asking how they will pay for it, he is asking why don’t they have a good talking point response to that constant “gotcha” question
2 Likes
I mean Liz and Bernie should just point to Europe and say that’s how. It’s strange Bernie doesn’t do that since he was open about what Democratic Socialism means to him last night.
1 Like
It’s because they have too much intellectual honesty to answer it quickly and decisively. They should be more concerned with explaining the policy honestly in a basic way people can easily understand.
They know the basic answer is, “Your taxes will go up, but by less than the average cost of premiums.” But they know if they use that answer, the sound bite “Your taxes will go up,” will end them in the general election. They also know that even in the short-term, the second half of the answer will get parsed endlessly and sink the policy.
Bernie/Liz on Truth Serum: “Your taxes will go up, but by less than the average cost of premiums.”
Moderator: “Can you guarantee that NO American will end up spending more in taxes?”
Bernie/Liz on Truth Serum: “The wealthiest Americans will pay more, but the middle class and lower class will save money.”
Moderator: “Can you guarantee that NO middle-class American will end up paying more?”
Bernie/Liz on Truth Serum: “Well, some may, but on average the middle class will save tons?”
Moderator: “A ha! GOTCHA! So you admit that some middle-class Americans will end up paying more!”
So instead they beat around the bush to avoid being technically dishonest but morally honest while avoiding giving a bad soundbyte while trying to explain the policy.
1 Like
How is “taxes will go up but you’ll save money overall” not an answer?
Bernie is saying he’ll raise taxes to pay for it.
1 Like
Both of them said basically this last night. It’s a strange talking point to imply they didn’t.
2 Likes
It’s just that they want to avoid uttering the words “taxes will go up” in any way that can be cut up into an attack ad in the general election or even later on in the primary.
2 Likes
Good article on Liz
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/09/12/warren-obama-2020-228068
1 Like
Not good, amazing. It’s long but well worth a read in full. Liz is an absolute beast.
Here, science. I still don’t like that “freedom” and “the american way of life” are being called conservative, but like it or not, that’s what they respond to, so here we are.
1 Like
https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1172993687892168704?s=19
https://twitter.com/billygendell/status/1172971828375183360?s=19
Does one of the Bernie supporters want to explain to me the non underpants gnome version of getting a national rent control law passed?
I mean, I know all about the Overton window and setting big asks in order to negotiate down, but at some point you (a) are either just promising stuff with no ability or intent to deliver and/or (b) out of touch with political reality.
2 Likes