Push Them Hard Enough and the Productive Class Will Opt Out of Servitude
1–10 of 16 posts
Re: Push Them Hard Enough and the Productive Class Will Opt Out of Servitude
#2I was interested until the article kept writing "Tax Donkeys" repeatedly. No mention of private healthcare costs, either, eh?
Re: Push Them Hard Enough and the Productive Class Will Opt Out of Servitude
#3The State is also using the private sector for building up its services and infrastructure, and therefore whatever increased costs the State has usually come from the private sector, which overprices its products/services when the customer is the State. The State doesn't mind paying more than what the market pays because it's not their money after all, it's the tax payers' money.
Perhaps the above conclusion is not totally valid in USA, but parts of it are, and parts of it are also valid for various states across the globe.
Isn't it time to rethnink everything? perhaps stop with taxation altogether, and fund public services with their own currency? and maybe put some time limits that the new currency is valid in order to avoid inflation?
I don't know if the above will work, but it could be on the right track.
Re: Push Them Hard Enough and the Productive Class Will Opt Out of Servitude
#4They might—but someone will replace them. As long as there are needs going unmet, there’s money to be had, and people willing to believe they’ve got it figured out. That’s why industries like game dev are so shitty—no shortage of people who want in.
Re: Push Them Hard Enough and the Productive Class Will Opt Out of Servitude
#5I really don't think these are valid complaints. First, if you work for a boss there's always a big overhead you pay (for your boss, HR, the company building, trips for management and senior coworkers, etc). Second (correct me if I'm wrong!), I think the USA is one of the places where the government taxes for entrepreneurs are quite low, compared to many other developed countries.
Re: Push Them Hard Enough and the Productive Class Will Opt Out of Servitude
#6Taking care of sick, old, unemployed people is 60% of the US Federal budget:
https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud...
The solution is for people to take care of themselves, not the rest of society, and to dismantle the welfare state, in coordination with dramatically reducing income taxes and eliminating payroll taxes. People have 'saved' for retirement and ill health for thousands of years - why can't we expect the same now in an age of economic plenty and stability?
The problem will only worsen with a swelling population of unproductive, idle old people that expect us to take care of them.
Re: Push Them Hard Enough and the Productive Class Will Opt Out of Servitude
#7Taking care of sick, old, unemployed people is 60% of the US Federal budget: https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud... The solution is for people to take care of themselves, not the rest of society, and to dismantle the welfare state, in coordination with dramatically reducing income taxes and eliminating payroll taxes. People have 'saved' for retirement and ill health for thousands of years - w…
That's easily the dumbest thing I've ever read on Hacker News.
Re: Push Them Hard Enough and the Productive Class Will Opt Out of Servitude
#8Taking care of sick, old, unemployed people is 60% of the US Federal budget: https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud... The solution is for people to take care of themselves, not the rest of society, and to dismantle the welfare state, in coordination with dramatically reducing income taxes and eliminating payroll taxes. People have 'saved' for retirement and ill health for thousands of years - w…
Let's hope that one day you don't become old.
“A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” ~Mahatma Ghandi
Re: Push Them Hard Enough and the Productive Class Will Opt Out of Servitude
#9Taking care of sick, old, unemployed people is 60% of the US Federal budget: https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud... The solution is for people to take care of themselves, not the rest of society, and to dismantle the welfare state, in coordination with dramatically reducing income taxes and eliminating payroll taxes. People have 'saved' for retirement and ill health for thousands of years - w…
> People have 'saved' for retirement and ill health for thousands of years
Have they, though? Unless you were part of the elite classes you probably died in poverty.
If we assume that 60% of the budget supports people because they can not support themselves, what will change that will allow them to support themselves? They're probably paying little if any income tax so how will reducing that help?
Re: Push Them Hard Enough and the Productive Class Will Opt Out of Servitude
#10Taking care of sick, old, unemployed people is 60% of the US Federal budget: https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud... The solution is for people to take care of themselves, not the rest of society, and to dismantle the welfare state, in coordination with dramatically reducing income taxes and eliminating payroll taxes. People have 'saved' for retirement and ill health for thousands of years - w…
This is the exact attitude that's the problem—the idea that we don't live in a society, but we should all be self-sufficient individuals. Islands unto ourselves.
The whole point of living in a society is so that we can get together and make things better. That includes things like technological progress and mutual defense, but also taking care of those who have difficulty taking care of themselves.
We may not be fully in a post-scarcity society yet, but we're producing enough today, in terms of food, necessities of life, and basic luxuries, that it would be totally realistic to provide these things to every American for free and still be fully able to turn a profit. The idea that everyone should have to earn the right to live is both ludicrous and horribly callous.
The only way for us to progress as a species is to return to an attitude of community—but expanding that community to cover the whole world. None of us are getting out of this alive, so we should be kind, take care of each other, and try to make sure everyone has the best life they can. It just so happens that that's also the way to make sure that we have the most bright, inquisitive minds able to spend time and energy working on solving the rest of our world's problems, rather than being stuck in poverty traps and unable to focus on anything but survival.