sexgenderbody: OK, wtf is it with white men and taxes????

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

sexgenderbody: OK, wtf is it with white men and taxes????

why look at poor as a line item “cost” or “investment” on a spreadsheet? how privileged and arrogant that is!

it presumes that human beings in poverty “are” that, independent of what the wealthy do to put them into poverty and keep them there. such a statement asserts the privilege of declaring the identity and value of human lives by “how much it costs me”.

no fucking thank you.

Thanks for assuming that I’m worried about “How much it costs me”. There isn’t a whole lot of room to elaborate in the reply box, so my views weren’t there. I actually advocate for a strong minimum income along side a progressive tax system. Imagine for a moment if we just gave people enough to always be slightly above the poverty level. There is literally no better source of Keynesian stimulus imaginable. If every household was guaranteed to have say 1.2 times the present poverty level? What would that look like?

I got my math wrong it’s about $80k per household, not per person. So assuming that every one of those households is an 8 person household($38,890)*1.2 = $46,668. That’s bigger than the present National Median Income… That number suggests to me that the money isn’t actually getting out there to help people. If we’re spending 80k per household, and they’re still in poverty when that 80k if we just cut them the check would put them in the top %75 of incomes in the country!

Those back of the envelope numbers wouldn’t work in actuality, some kind of graduated system of basic income would be needed to make this work for reals, but I think it illustrates why I’m skeptical that “throw more money at it” is the solution.

when “fiscally concerned” individuals take an atom bomb to corporate welfare and lop off half the spending on military spending, they will find a missing deficit, people moving out of poverty and a shit load of money left over to splurge on education, health and infrastructure.

buy those results and maybe I’ll believe a fucking word you say about responsible thinking.

I’m %110 behind that. I say we freeze the amount we’re spending and sit our asses down as a country and decide what’s important. We have Exactly 3.(something) trillion to spend, what do we actually give a shit about? If we want to keep our promised about social security then military spending will have to go down. Etc. I don’t think it’s possible under our present system, but that’s how I’d do it anyhow.

oh yeah…if you have a jones for rooting out corruption, start with the Pentagon and war profiteers. if you get bored, look at the oil industry.

I agree, but we might need to start working it from the wall street end at the same time. Too much corruption to look only in one place. Also David Brin has a brilliant post about why an independent Inspector Generals service would help stop that shit.

(edit: some derp formating issues)

so, a) I apologize for jumping to conclusions. that was wrong of me; and b) every conversation I have about poverty must include not just money to be given, but an examination of the ongoing forces that create poverty. not one penny spent on the poor will make a difference if the billions that go to create poverty are not examined and ended.

corporate excess & greed

oligarchy

the creation and harvesting of poverty by holy men

the murder industry

racism

sexism

and more…

those forces and the individuals who act to sustain them and the wealth they provide must be contended with, altered and limited with every step of dealing with poverty.

poverty doesn’t just happen - poverty is created. we don’t end poverty by doing something to/for the poor. we end poverty by stopping those who create, harvest and profit from the poor.