this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2024
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[–] [email protected] 143 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Conservative and libertarian policies:

Tax cuts = less government revenue, literally defunding the state.

Privatization = less revenue going to the government, more to the private market, and due to tax cuts, that money isn't coming back to government.

Conclusion, the right wing are conducting anti-patriotic economic attacks on the state... Often doing so in a targeted way, funded by billionaire think tanks.

It's a major issue that needs to be named, and discussed more openly.

[–] [email protected] 67 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Almost as if it is (has always been) class warfare.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago

Shhhh......

- conservatives

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It is discussed openly - how to do it again and again and again, discussed over and over ad nauseum, like Kansas going bankrupt repeatedly, or how other states hear how Florida is doing and say "wowie, lemme try that too!" (while expecting the exact opposite outcome, bc "this time will be different") If you don't want to take my words at face value alone, check out the YouTube channel Innuendo Studios that has some amazing content especially The Alt Right Playbook.

The problem is that collectively, as a society, we are very dumb. In fact it is entirely possible that we are too stupid to survive, but I guess we'll see. We cannot control others though, and it remains to be seen whether we will bother to control ourselves to do what is correct, i.e. to git sum edumacashun ourselves and make a better alternative.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

We are far too stupid individually.

And we think communism and socialism are bad.

So corporations and oligarchs take everything.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Communism and socialism are bad, it's just that so is everything else, but not equally so.

Democracy and capitalism bear the cost of remaining eternally vigilant, which we have ~~failed~~ refused to do.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

We're talking local here, not national.

Even if they started taxing the rich, there wouldn't be many to tax in the area.

The median household income in Cumberland was $47,235 in 2021, which marked an an increase of 903(1.95%) from $46,332 in 2020. This income is 63.31% of the U.S. median household income of $74,606 (all incomes in 2022 inflation-adjusted dollars).

Top 5%: The mean household income for the wealthiest population (top 5%) is 302,286, which is 173.49% higher compared to the highest quintile, and 3113.14% higher compared to the lowest quintile.

https://www.neilsberg.com/insights/cumberland-md-median-household-income/#income-by-quintile

$300,000 is upper middle class, just barely enough to maybe call "rich". Even so, it's likely the only reason they live there is low taxes. We're not talking national taxes here, this is local, and they can be absolutely sure if they locally tax those wealthier people any more than they are, they'll move away.

They absolutely should do that, and give a firm middle finger to the back of the wealthy assholes as they move to their new mansion in whatever backwater they're moving to next, but it doesn't solve the inherent problem: the tax base is too small and too poor.

This is just a mountain town that has died slowly after the death of industry there post World War II, and frankly there is no good way to save it because there's no way to convince anybody to take their industries up there. The state can subsidize it but it's not going to grow.

What they're doing here is trying to use the new changes in remote work to potentially trigger a revitalization and expand the tax base. Even then, they're only giving it to 10 individuals, not anybody that moves there as the meme is implying. It may work, but I have my doubts.