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The Education of a Doomer

borretti.me

61–66 of 66 posts

Re: The Education of a Doomer

#61

> What’s the last major life decision you made without at least consulting an AI? This seems like asking what's the last major decision you made without at least doing a web search. There's nothing wrong with doing a search. The trouble is when you rely too much on what you read, without checking it.

I think there is something there though. I remember life before internet and I also remember how my decision throughput increased once I realized that other people must had the same problem before me. I definitely made some decisions that weren't mine, at least in the sense that I didn't consider my opinion/emotions on the problem.

Re: The Education of a Doomer

#62
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding you, but the purpose of taxes isn't to "compel people to acquire their currency", it's to remove that currency from circulation and prevent the currency they've printed from inflating itself out of existence.

Reducing inflation is indeed one of the reasons, but what I was getting at is that the government doesn't "need" people for tax revenue to pay for its services, contrary to popular belief. It needs taxes to make its money valuable. L. Randall Wray, "What Are Taxes For? The MMT Approach" (2014): > Sovereign government does not really need revenue in its own currency in order to spend. It is the tax that 'drives' the c…

Fair enough, both points are valid

Re: The Education of a Doomer

#63
post #58
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social safety nets have come about because labor movements were able to use their leverage over capital to extract concessions. When the labor movements have no more leverage, capital won't give it to them out of the goodness of their hearts.

Do the downvoters of this comment have an alternative set of examples from history or do they just dislike this uncomfortable fact?

The largest social safety net in the US is the one provided for retired people, who aren't laborers at all.

Re: The Education of a Doomer

#64
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding you, but the purpose of taxes isn't to "compel people to acquire their currency", it's to remove that currency from circulation and prevent the currency they've printed from inflating itself out of existence.

Reducing inflation is indeed one of the reasons, but what I was getting at is that the government doesn't "need" people for tax revenue to pay for its services, contrary to popular belief. It needs taxes to make its money valuable. L. Randall Wray, "What Are Taxes For? The MMT Approach" (2014): > Sovereign government does not really need revenue in its own currency in order to spend. It is the tax that 'drives' the c…

There are two types of citizens: debtors and creditors. Printing currency pays the debtors. Raising interest rates pays the creditors. Income taxes take from debtors. Property taxes and printing money take from creditors.

Re: The Education of a Doomer

#65
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do the downvoters of this comment have an alternative set of examples from history or do they just dislike this uncomfortable fact?

The largest social safety net in the US is the one provided for retired people, who aren't laborers at all.

[deleted]

Re: The Education of a Doomer

#66
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do the downvoters of this comment have an alternative set of examples from history or do they just dislike this uncomfortable fact?

The largest social safety net in the US is the one provided for retired people, who aren't laborers at all.

There were active labor movements and Social Security was a more moderate proposal than others; this was in the wake of the Great Depression after all. Labor movements played a role in it being considered.
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