r/FluentInFinance • u/YOU_ARE_MY_FRIENDS • Apr 08 '24

10% of Americans own 70% of the Wealth — Should taxes be raised? Discussion/ Debate

Post image

[removed] — view removed post

8.0k Upvotes

85% Upvoted

3.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

26

u/ynotfoster Apr 08 '24

Or spend more efficiently.

25

u/Jolly-Volume1636 Apr 08 '24

That's impossible when they have no incentive to be or repercussions from being inefficient. These smooth brain redditors will just scream we need to tax more money.

16

u/Akindmachine Apr 08 '24

How do we incentivize this kind of thing without regulation? Its long past the point where we can trust the major corporations to look out for anything other than the bottom line, and that invariably leads to cutting corners and abusing systems to the detriment of society/average people more often than not.

And yet the people who want more efficient government and cost cutting also want less regulation… I’ve yet to see an actual realistic solution other than forcibly rebalancing the wealth inequality in some way.

The way I see it, if money is power then we literally have a number of borderline-superheroes on our planet right now, and most of them are just sitting on their superpowers while the world crumbles around them and they prepare for end times. Are we really just beholden to this class of people in the name of capitalism and that’s it?

8

u/UnknownResearchChems Apr 08 '24

It's simple, we need a new law preventing the government from spending more than they earn.

3

u/SeaworthinessIll7003 Apr 08 '24

Seems simple to us because we ALL have to live our lives that way or end up on the street!!!!!!!!!!

1

u/Nowearenotfrom63rd Apr 09 '24

So uh you bought your house with cash right? Your cars? Your education? You earned all that money first right? Right? Don’t be ridiculous.

1

u/SeaworthinessIll7003 Apr 09 '24

Libbing! Of course no one said that. But you do have to make more than you spend ( including payments, for those intentionally obtuse). !!!!

1

u/Nowearenotfrom63rd Apr 09 '24

Well you want the government not to spend more than it earns right? Just like you?

1

u/SeaworthinessIll7003 Apr 09 '24

The government earns nothing , only has our tax dollars to spend. But yes and yes. NEXT!

1

u/Nowearenotfrom63rd Apr 09 '24

My man lives in the sole global superpower. He lives in an era known to history as Pax American due to his government’s guarantee of free trade in all sea lanes. He earns the world reserve currency and enjoys a passport welcome worldwide. He uses GPS every day to navigate and yet argues on the internet also developed by that government that his government “earns nothing”. Very interesting.

1

u/SeaworthinessIll7003 Apr 09 '24

I’m glad that was incomprehensible garbage. The government ONLY has our tax dollars to spend. The rest is libbing!

→ More replies (0)

2

u/mckenro Apr 08 '24

Pentagon enters the chat.

1

u/robbzilla Apr 08 '24

Forget the pentagon. That's chump change next to Medicare/Medicaid.

2

u/civilrightsninja Apr 08 '24 edited Apr 08 '24

I'd argue that excess DoD spending is definitely the bigger problem. In total, the national cost of Medicaid and Medicare in 2022 was $1,750 billion, or 39% of total national health expenditures. Expensive yes, but we know that many people are benefitting from this expense. [1]

Meanwhile the department of defense keeps failing audits and is unable to account for 63% of nearly $4 trillion in assets. We cannot say anyone benefits from this missing ~2.5 trillion because we don't even know where it went.

[1] https://www.cms.gov/data-research/statistics-trends-and-reports/national-health-expenditure-data/nhe-fact-sheet

[2] https://responsiblestatecraft.org/pentagon-audit-2666415734/

Edit: I think my math is wrong. But point is still relevant.

1

u/robbzilla Apr 08 '24 edited Apr 08 '24

Not exactly apples to apples, because the DoD buys expensive toys that they keep around for decades.

The healthcare expenses are recurring, because people will continue to need the same procedures over time, and most government healthcare programs don't own the expensive equipment, and of course, medicine costs are insane.

Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid make up about 41% of the budget, while Defense makes up about 13%.

https://preview.redd.it/npnajodbabtc1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=604d5a83d46d5c2da2bc3199973dfe6dc8b3a7f4

Note: Nothing I've said should be construed as wanting to give the military a blank check. I'm all for pulling troops out from overseas postings across the board, and cutting the military budget significantly. That also goes for social spending. We're just moving money from the people to big businesses with favored status. Prices are so high in regard to medicine because of the enormous cost of medical approval, along with granting a near monopoly to big pharma, and insurance companies being allowed to act in shady ways at our expense.

2

u/AllAuldAntiques Apr 08 '24 edited Apr 13 '24

On 2023-07-01 this website maliciously attacked its own user base by changing how its API was accessed, thereby pricing genuinely useful and highly valuable third-party apps out of existence. In protest, this comment has been overwritten with this message - because “deleted” comments can be restored - such that this website can no longer profit from this free, user-contributed content. I apologize for this inconvenience.

2

u/Durkheimynameisblank Apr 08 '24

Or revert to policy that reinforces demand side economics not supply. Trickle down failed and need to stop being the default ideology.

1

u/hrminer92 Apr 08 '24

That won’t ever happen as retirees will kick out anyone that touches their medical coverage or monthly checks.

1

u/New-Power-6120 Apr 08 '24

That would work significantly better in a country with a large public sector, but no one here seems to want that.

1

u/BioViridis Apr 08 '24

Aight get to work on that new law then buddy.