Just a quickie. Below is my organizing some abstract thoughts around an undercurrent I’m putting in a story. Looking forward to your comments…
The problem with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is that no one really addresses how each level is attained, at least not to my cynical satisfaction.
You see, the problem is, “problem solving” itself, as one of The Needs, is at the top of his pyramid and only necessary after one achieves those before/below it. It’s like trying to make coffee before one’s had any coffee.
I would put Obtaining Power, as The Problem Solver, as the very base Need. Everything else follows. The problems and successes of humanity, I believe, are attributable to this most basic of human abilities, this essential method of getting by in this world.
Does a baby feed itself, or attain power over its parents to get them to do it? Is its hungry cry a gentle appeal or an ear-splitting demand? Are babies offensively ugly, or so cute you can’t help but spoil them? Manipulating others is innate and enabled from our earliest days.
Do children share naturally, or must they be taught to? Do they have to learn not to cheat? Even after their Physiological & Safety Needs are met, do children relinquish power naturally and cultivate strong family bonds?
Competent children can learn to obtain power through achievements. Society awards exceptional talent (at least it used to) – the best athletes get scholarships, as do the academics. Those who volunteer to help others are held in high esteem. Doors are opened for such achievers, special favors granted, power obtained.
The incompetent have a harder time. They recall, if subconsciously, the success of their offensive crying during babyhood, demanding things of others by being annoying, holding their parents’ peace ransom until they get that ice cream. Adam Schiff comes to mind as just such a petulant child who never grew out of it.
The achievers are enabled to achieve more, the manipulators to continue manipulating.
Jumping ahead, the best scenario in society is the most competent seeking only the respect of those equally competent. Great actors hanging around with professional athletes. Elon Musk chilling with Jared Kushner. They achieve to achieve, invent to invent, succeed to succeed, and all of humanity benefits.
The flip side are the incompetent but “successful.” …successful not by honest achievement but through cunning. The hyper-ambitious good-for-nothings of the world, to me, are the most dangerous. They progress materially and selfishly via destruction, taking from others, destroying others’ reputations and societal standing. They really do believe their candle will burn brighter by snuffing out another’s. These are the Marxists. This is where “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” comes from. “What’s mine is mine cuz I need it. What’s yours is mine cuz I need it.”
That toddler who obtained his power by garnering attention by doing naughty things is now the tranny. “Oh, you think nothing’s shocking? How about if I have my dick surgically inverted and turned into a vagina?” “Men can get pregnant and have periods.” “2 women can make a baby.” And look what’s happened, they’re getting the esteem they crave, without having to be competent at any life skill… other than obtaining power. Dictionaries are changing because of them. DEI training is happening in private businesses everywhere. Personal pronouns are a thing. And along this line goes CRT. One is esteemed for the color of xers skin, which xe didn’t earn (unless xe’s MJ). Power is taken from whites (and now Asians) and given to BIPOCs, not for any other achievement than manipulation – see college admissions policies. “Black” is capitalized in some periodicals’ style guides, while “white” is not. Only whites can be racist.
Metaphoric toddlers are now in charge of our country.
And grooming. If one can obtain power neither via real accomplishment nor cunning, then attain power over the weak and vulnerable. These poor incompetent souls had to wait so long without power, suffering into adulthood, until at last they grew big enough to intimidate… children.
Obtaining power is a selected evolutionary trait that exists but has no end goal. It does what it does and is selected because it works, although in myriad forms. It’s the most important drive we all have, to obtain power however we can. The only difference is in how one does it…
Do all within your power circle benefit from your influence, or only you? Did you have to steal power from others to get yours?
Power? Nahhh
Tall Cans!
Metaphoric toddlers are now in charge of our country.
Only because the achievers allow it.
Allow it, or too busy achieving?
I still submit that politics is solely the domain of sociopaths. The less sociopathic tendencies you have, the less interest in a life in politics you also have.
Yes. And social media, and a 24/7 news cycle, and hyper-partisanship makes it much harder for anyone NOT a sociopath to get into politics.
Well to harp on one of my favorite books, The True Believer, I would say no – all this existed before. It does probably speed up the cycle, but I think it is still the same dynamic. And remember – the sociopath gets support because he relieves the need to think/decide for the masses. This was something Orwell got very wrong – the assumption that a higher level of education would make for more critical thinkers. The reality is, most people are all too happy to cede their autonomy to avoid responsibility. If we accept that, then we need the rarest of all political creatures – benevolent sociopaths.
If we accept that, then we need the rarest of all political creatures – benevolent sociopaths.
* Lord Havelock Vetinari has entered the chat *
“benevolent sociopaths.”
I can’t seem to find any.
Smiling and speaking kindly does not equal benevolent.
Had to look up LHV – never read any of Pratchett’s work.
Perhaps it was Plisade, but some Glib previously talked about the language of sociopaths in corporate settings perhaps? While the choice of the word is indeed misfortunate, I was well aware of the contradiction I was constructing.
I would even be so generous as to grant FDR and Churchill the status of benevolent sociopaths; certainly our Founders were – for while they overthrew power they weren’t overthrown by it themselves. Trust me when I said rare, I meant it.
Neph is your go-to for Pratchett, I just was remembering (mis-remembering?) from the books how Vetinari was terrifying and ruthless, but generally had the interests of the city at heart.
Let’s step back from that a moment, though, and correlate that to how prosperous a society is. I think it’s all too easy to forget that there was a time when people were so busy surviving that all they had was responsibility–the responsibility to do whatever it took to stay alive and attempt to thrive (if that even occurred to them), so of course they had to cede society’s decision-making to someone else. At some point, there is no decision to be made, as “that’s just the way it’s always been” and it doesn’t even occur to a person that he can make decisions for himself.
There are exceptions, obviously, but our little freedom experiment here for the last 200 years is not typical because this is not the way the rest of the world works, and even that’s crumbling.
So, in short, individual power really depends on the sophistication and prosperousness of a society.
That’s a good thought.
Agreed. The book, Guns, Germs and Steel, lays out your argument in great detail.
I got Diamond’s book “Collapse” for Xmas, I read the Germs book several years ago, 10-15 or so. “Collapse” is small print and a lot of pages.
A sociopath has no principles. They do what they have to do to maintain power. The dumbing down of the ruling class mirrors the stupidification of the (nominal) electing classes. If the sociopaths in Congress had to act like adults to be elected, they’d act like adults. If there were real consequences for stupidity, it would be done away with.
Politics is downstream of culture. And our culture is utterly rotten.
Yeah; note how the culture treats wanting to be left alone was the oddball desire but wanting to insert oneself into complete strangers’ lives and boss them around is seen as a virtue.
Responsibility is a weird word to use to me, I guess. A lot of people become ideologically fixed in amber because they are either indoctrinated or seduced by the idea of their worldview being morally superior.
Libertarians and our abducents are absolutely as guilty of this as anyone else. I’ll be the first to admit that what I see as the moral superiority of volunteerism and free exchange are some of the philosophy’s strongest selling points. That is human nature. Likely, the only way to escape that would to be a sociopath…..
***Libertarians and our adjacents***
What a strange autocorrect.
What a strange autocorrect.
I read ‘abducents’ about 3 times and thought, “cool, new word”.
https://www.wordnik.com/words/abducent
Drawing away; pulling aside.
That’s not entirely inappropriate.
Perhaps I truncated my thought there – responsibility for decision-making, and the consequences thereof. The average person wants someone else to blame if things go wrong. Plisade might want to factor that into his above thoughts on Maslow, power and manipulation. Our garden variety sociopath cares nothing about blame or terrible consequences, but they are able to make decisions and manipulate people. The True Believer is just another name for sociopathy in general.
@JI, thanks. Yes, to I am looking to expound on this, but my first goal was to find the first principle to survival a la Maslow.
It’s the same dynamic with school councils and HOA boards. People who want to control others are attracted like moths to a flame.
Like moths that go through the flame so they can get lit on fire and burn down everything they touch. All hail our Moth Lords, rulers of the ashes!
Interesting take by the way, thanks Plisade.
My pleasure.
Wow, this is heavy stuff. I can’t find anything I disagree with, especially this and its prior paragraph: “Metaphoric toddlers are now in charge of our country.”
Workers are busy working,
The rest fail upward,
They achieve to achieve, invent to invent, succeed to succeed, and all of humanity benefits.
How does Jared Kushner’s achievement benefit humanity?
Thanks Plisade! This is a fun read!
Wasn’t Kushner instrumental in achieving the Abraham Accords? I would argue that benefits humanity.
^^^
Nietschze is that you?
Not Machiavelli?
I’m plowing my way through Thus Spoke Zarathustra at the moment.
a selected evolutionary trait that exists but has no end goal
That isn’t unique here – no evolutionary trait exists but that it sustains its own existence, which is the goal of all evolution.
That’s more a note to myself to not phrase things in manners thusly, “The octopus developed the ability to camouflage itself to hide from predators.” As opposed to, “Because the octopus has the ability to camouflage itself, it can hide from predators.” There is no intent to evolution; what works can reproduce.
I can’t think of another branch of science that operates on such a tautology. The weird thing is how it still gives insight, at least for now.
I agree with your take on the trans issue. There have always been people with gender dysphoria who can benefit from a sex change. But it’s much more than that now. My middle kid declared herself trans in high school. She has bipolar disorder and a number of other mental health issues. Often she’d talk to me about transitioning, and ask “What do you think Mom would say? Would she be mad?” So she was looking for attention. Now she’s 21 and says she has “baby fever” and wants to have a kid some day. I quietly pat myself on the back for being that asshole parent who wouldn’t take her to a doctor in Chicago so she could get testosterone and surgery. It would be very difficult if not impossible for her to have a kid if I had gone along with her wishes.
Good job, Kevin. You might have saved her life.
Well me and Mrs. TOK, who’s even more vocal about these things. We went through tons of therapy with the older two (they came from foster care). I think that gave us a lot of perspective on this. In general gender dysphoria is a lot like eating disorders, only as a society some have decided to celebrate and promote it instead of treat it.
We do celebrate the more profitable eating disorders.
Just in case you weren’t aware, there are pro-anorexia groups out on the internet. I prefer not to search for them or link to them, to try to maintain some faith in humanity.
I guess there is some angle to play there, anorexia is good for the environment.
Speaking of, this was my lunchtime reading.
Plastic surgeon injected kids with saline instead of COVID vaccine, feds allege
Since this is Ars Technica + Beth Mole the comments were exactly what I expected. Maybe more. These people will cheerfully put people in a camp and be utterly surprised when it is their turn.
And they say they should be amnestied, but not the people who opposed the lockdowns and vaccine mandates.
to try to maintain some faith in humanity.
I come here for that. How fucking terrifying is that?
Perhaps the Glibs motto should be “abandon all hope…”. Or is that just Wednesdays?
Like Dante’s inferno there are different circles. Wednesdays are the ninth circle.
Yeah, Wednesday is definitely Dantean.
I wasn’t even supposed to be here today!
How fucking terrifying is that?
Especially with guys like MikeS around.
Not clicking.
Relevant
Perfect.
Friends in my Power Circle? Yeah, right.
Thanks, Plisade. I was criticized at work by a couple employees because “I worked too hard”. They both left voluntarily.
I have watched some neighbor kids, they knew how to work, not necessarily what to do but had learned how to work from their parents. They bought the business from their dad and are still going successfully.
Role models are underrated but so damn important. Almost impossible to succeed without them.
Heh – you just plugged my link below.
We could also be stuck on the physiological level. We get terrible sleep, eat garbage food, don’t get enough sunlight, don’t drink enough water, poor exercise, etc. That would fuckup the rest of the pyramid.
This is why we need to adopt the Warty Hugeman Life™.
*activates the doomcock signal*
Gentlemen, we must sun our balls.
Relevant and I found it a very interesting presentation.
Can’t watch now. Saved for later. Looks interesting.
While I agree role models are ‘essential’, the idea that ‘boys can’t succeed in school with no male teachers to be seen, or enter fields with no men in them’ treads awfully close, at least superficially, to the “I can’t learn from or work for people that don’t look like me”.
The problem is mainly female teachers are often unfair in grading . At least in my subjective experience.
I don’t think male teachers was his first concern – which was stop age-tying school class cohorts, particularly for boys. I don’t think he takes it quite as far as I would – I’d be good with completely eliminating the grade-level system we have. It exists to enforce a terrible regimentation – right out of fucking 19th century Prussia.
On that, I’d agree. Our current educational system, whether one classifies it as Prussian or “feminine” (now there’s two things I’ve never juxtaposed before), is not ideal for anyone really, but boys/young men especially. I would be supportive of doing away with age separation and even sex integration. The only real, if very long term, way out of the quagmire (giggity) we are in might be fixing education. I would really love to see back-pack funding normalized and see how things wash out.
now there’s two things I’ve never juxtaposed before
+1 sensible chuckle
My daughter just started kindergarten at a charter STEM school. She already gets to go do her reading classes with the first graders since she came in knowing everything they teach in kindergarten. They say that they’ll move you up or down multiple grades in each subject so that they’re always learning at ability instead of age. If she stays at this school for several years it will be interesting to see how it actually works (or doesn’t) in practice. Perhaps an idea for a future column?
Nice humble-brag, bro.
😉
I dunno. I think cohorting, particularly in younger ages but even later has benefits. There are definite downsides to ability/mastery based advancement and being on the fringe or outside of peer groups.
15% gap between women and men in graduating college. And yet, women are still a small fraction of engineering majors.
The cynical part of my brain tells me all those “extra” women graduating from college are getting useless degrees.
Funny how the cynical parts of our brains and the rational parts seem to have so much overlap.
Human resources degrees.
Lots of nuance there. Thanks for sharing it.
Seen it before. Meh. Boys would do well enough if the system was not against them. More standardized tests less teachers grading during class. The developmental gap is not that relevant to automatically redshirt boys for a year.
if you want to group kids based on ability not age sure, some will rise faster others will not. this will be less and less possible in the future as western education moves towards discouraging the idea that some are better students than others, some are smarter, better performing etc. case muh equality
Let’s say that in a family dynamic, you have a problem child and you have a not-problem child. (This problem could be a disability, not a behavior problem.)
The powerlessness of the parents (let’s call these “the competents”) to fulfill the needs (or clean up the messes) of the problem child is directly related to how willing the competents are to be heartless and cruel, and/or to run afoul of the law. This is a consequence of any combination of love, altruism, basic human decency, fear (e.g., censure of peers and/or law enforcement). Unfortunately, this dynamic impacts the not-problem child because that child has no resources and no recourse. The not-problem child is the most powerless in the family, until they can legally get the hell out of Dodge.
The powerlessness of the above situation is solvable with suitable application of heartlessness (sociopathy?), although if the minor is a child, there’s a bit of a sticky wicket.
The problem child is always going to have the power in the family if the parents’ hands are tied somehow by love or fear, which is just a different way of illustrating what you already said.
It’s a choice to remain powerless in these situations.
It’s fascinating to me that just last night, I listened to a woman describe your above situation. She even used the very word “powerless” as her dominating feeling.
“…they’re getting the esteem they crave, without having to be competent at any life skill… other than obtaining power.
In this case, power is the object goal. The life skill is whining and/or throwing tantrums. I think you’ve very accurately described the psychology of the vast majority of modern bureaucrats, activists, and politicians.
The class of people that live off of the productive labor of the rest. I’m leaning to Marx wasn’t all wrong about parasitism – just he misidentified where it lay.
Speaking of power…
Our democracy is at great risk. Because GOP leaders care more about power than anything else.
And because our economy isn’t working for millions of hard working Americans.
We’re in the fight of our lives—a fight I’m ready to lead as California’s next U.S. Senator.
…there is this projecting, destructive windbag.
If only we would give this guy a position of power. Just imagine the incredible things he could do if he were in such a position.
I suppose us being set on fire and robbed, whilst being sodomized with a barbed hook would be an incredible thing…
He’s a pathological liar. Perfect for California.
On the other hand – he runs for this and loses the primary he’s out of Congress entirely. I may have to donate to whatever horrible human being is running against him in the primary.
Enjoyed the read and the reflection Plisade.
I would like to believe the people in my circle of influence thrive off of any power I hold as I tend to be a “get you where you want to be” type of person in my professional life. I don’t horde information and some say I give too much information (not blabbering, but more like why would you mention that, it will make us look like we messed up type of information).
I have wrestled power away from peers. Was it for a better way or just because it was my way? Don’t know. However, I have no problem giving up power if someone can compel me to do so in a logical manner.
Now this is how you properly frame a straight news piece. Call-back to the AM links.
I mean, they are blocking a State action to force wage compensation against their businesses. But hey, let’s go with they are denying wage increases. In-N-Out is lumped in I think because they actually do pay pretty highly and regardless of what one thinks of their food offerings, I have never been in one where the personnel weren’t kempt and the restaurant area immaculately clean even after a large lunch rush.
Gah…sorry had that in my clipboard apparently. Wasn’t supposed to dump that until later links.
I’m reluctant to reduce everything to power over others. I would rather start with competence and capability. Now, babies have neither, so yeah, they have to resort to manipulation (which I still want to distinguish from power – if you have power over someone, you don’t need to manipulate them). I don’t think children have power over adults, not in the strong sense, anyway.
Power is, to me, fundamentally the ability to punish. If anything, I would probably use “power” and “manipulation” a little differently than you do in this post. DEI, etc. etc. is being implemented due to power (and some manipulation) at this point. Of course, the ability to punish people socially is probably some alloy of power and manipulation, and that seems to be how the Cultural Revolution is being won by the Marxist left these days.
You do make the distinction between competence and power as the basis for achievement, and I do agree that metaphoric toddlers now seem to hold the power in our country. They have manipulated and leveraged their way into positions of power, which they now have not due to innate competence, but due to ruthlessness.
I think Maslow’s point was that you don’t worry much about achieving what is higher on his hierarchy of needs until what is lower on the hierarchy is taken care of. I’m not sure that adding a new layer at the bottom really fits with that.
Good post. Lots to think about.
That’s how I’ve always read it.
Fun fact: I mentioned Maslow to XY and he said they covered that in health class in middle school.
I think that base premise of “lower on the hierarchy is taken care of” is false. Once the bare minimum of a lower level is achieved, people reach for higher levels. With everyone having different tradeoffs.
Example #1:
Poor people will visit the nail salon. Yes, they are now no longer starving and have a home, but they have not taken care of the entire physiological or safety levels, and are now going out to aesthetic. Oh you can argue that the action is to further some lower level, but that just removes the entire premise. If everything is interconnected, then there is no absolute hierarchy.
repeat with flashy cars, living large and lots of other peacock behavior… done well before they are complete.
They have taken care of a given level in the hierarchy relevant to them. Different people have different needs to feel satisfied at the physio/safety/etc levels. There is no single measuring stick.
Thanks for differentiating some things. I will ponder.
I am not sure I get this… the current society is an example of the basic needs being solved and people concentrating on other things. I don’t get what “I would put Obtaining Power, as The Problem Solver, as the very base Need. ” is supposed to mean.
Power,in the ‘Energy expressed over Time’ sense, is required in order do anything else.
Now see, I would’ve read it power as in will.
Opium production in Myanmar surges to nine-year high
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64409019
When your on heroin the base of the thing is heroin
A credit to the human spirit!
Tucker: This is nuts and no one seems to care
I care…
Our rulers don’t give a single shit what you care about. They want their war. And make no mistake, that is what this has been about from the beginning, they wanted this war because they thought they could win it through Ukraine, whatever winning means to them. They knew Russia would go to war over NATO in Ukraine. Wikileaks has proven that.
Now they’re in a bind and getting desperate and stupid. Whatever you make think about Putin and his motives, DC’s are as bad or worse. They’re psychopathic megalomaniacs who cannot stop warring anywhere and everywhere across the globe. If they manage to extricate themselves from Ukraine after it’s a smoldering ruin, China will be next. No threat to American hegemony can be allowed to rise.
DC’s are as bad or worse
That has been and remains my position.
No threat to American hegemony can be allowed to rise.
No threat would rise if we, idk, were friendly with Russia.
Reminds me of this:
Most people believe that the 20th century was a death struggle between Communism and Capitalism, and that Fascism was but a hiccup. But today we know better. Communism was a fool’s errand. The followers of Marx gone from this earth, but the followers of Hitler abound and thrive. Hitler, however, had one great disadvantage. He lived in a time when Fascism, like a virus… like the AIDS virus… needed a strong host in order to spread. Germany was that host. But Germany did not prevail. The world was too big. Fortunately, the world has changed. Global communications, cable TV, the internet. Today the world is smaller and a virus does not need a strong host in order to spread. The virus… is airborne. One more thing. Let no man call us crazy. They called Hitler crazy. But Hitler was not crazy. He was stupid. You don’t fight Russia *and* America. You get Russia and America to fight each other… and destroy each other.
There has been and there remains a vehement anti-Russian contingent in DC. Zbigniew Brzezinski was the perfect example of it, may he rot in hell.
The refusal to capitalize on the end of the Cold War by cementing a permanent alliance between Moscow and DC and leaving Europe to fend for itself will go down as the single most idiotic decision of the late twentieth century.
Our elite needs Russia as an enemy, not neutral and certainly not friendly.
Is it 1984 yet?
https://youtu.be/jcYTM_PJ4rY
https://youtu.be/jlPEBROvR9w
https://youtu.be/yN8ge2hYdnw
No threat would rise if we, idk, were friendly with Russia.
How did that work with the PRC?
Why the Late Romans wanted the Empire to fail.
https://youtu.be/rHz9ekcz9W0
High taxes, inflation, arms control, corruption, two-tiered justice system… Glad we learned from history.
I’d rather live under Putin than progressive rule…
what is stopping you?
Someone would have to be the first to teach an old dog Russian?
Shazam!
This is a high quality piece, Plisade.
I was afraid putting the Medical Suicide post last night after a double barrel blast of SugarFree might have thinned out the commentariat…
I love it. Just shows how many interests we can have on this site. I just can’t give serious comments because this is the Big Meeting Time of the Day and I am presenting.
This crowd is flexible, in nothing else. Look at what happens if a post is a minute late. A half hour late would be grounds for an insurrection, I’d guess.
We make our own links in the comments when that happens. We carry on!
Insurrection only happen if you take away our steaks.
I’ve been thinking about that suicide post all day. And I’m even less sure where I stand.
That’s what I really dig about this lunatic asylum. Y’all are smart little fuckers.
I was trying to be offline last night (well, actually watching the world pool championships on freetube), so missed it. But read this morning (Thanks Pat!). At the risk of disabusing of your last delusion there; While I understand the principle Pat was defending, and largely agree with it, to me it’s similar to the death penalty, at least in the sense that I understand and support the principle, I don’t know if I support the practice. These are of course quite different in that one involves a personal decision, the other direct state coercion. However, ‘assisted suicide’ also requires trusting the state given it’s intimate connection, and in most cases, direct control of medical institutions. And I can’t help but think – with Canada as an ongoing real-world example – that the state involvement will not make it infinitely worse than the horrible suffering and struggle that can be imposed on people at the end of their lives. It’s a thorny issue compounded by the fact that people in that situation are often at a point in their lives where they are are most vulnerable to sociopaths. Keep the drugs/methods available to those who want to avail themselves of it, but I’m very uncomfortable with the third party involvement, especially when the 3rd party is essentially a government agent/agency.
Yeah, that’s where I’m increasingly coming down. The only third party I would want involved is family. No state. No docs.
At the risk of disabusing of your last delusion there
Qué?
Y’all are smart little fuckers.
Ah, well I didn’t mean you and me.
Actually you’re touching on the only way I’d feel comfortable with the death penalty – if it were decided by those connected with the victim. Those are real moral agents – not the state or any institutions thereunder.
Interesting. They often have a strong influence on the death penalty the way things are now, though obviously they aren’t making the final decision.
Thank you, sir.
“Does a baby feed itself, or attain power over its parents to get them to do it? Is its hungry cry a gentle appeal or an ear-splitting demand? Are babies offensively ugly, or so cute you can’t help but spoil them? Manipulating others is innate and enabled from our earliest days.”
This isn’t the deep philosophical conundrum you think it is. As the current father of a 2 year old, I can confirm that all the most cynical interpretations are correct.
Huh, I just got invited to the swearing in of the new ambassador to one of the lesser ‘stans.
It’s just as well that I’m out of town that day because if I went, I might not hold my tongue.
Sounds like a good opportunity to peddle some influence, make an arms deal, or talk your way onto the board of an energy company.
He’s an odd character who’s been in a lot of odd and wild-ass places, including Moscow in the 90’s.
My guess is he’s been pretty clean because otherwise he could have been a very wealthy man by now.
Sorry, tied up at work. Hope to comment in a bit.
https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2023/01/26/theres-nothing-beyond-meat-plant-based-meat-sales-take-a-serious-pruning-n1665028
*points & laughs*
One memory I shall keep with me was shopping during the pandemic, first couple of months. The grocery store was totally bare, hardly anything there at all. Off-brand mustard, soup nobody eats even in a famine were the only things on shelves. The little section of expired/soon to expire meat was even empty.
Then I turn the corner of an aisle and there’s a refrigerator case of Beyond Meat products. All of them are fully stocked and nobody is buying it. People would rather buy expired meat or starve than buy that.
😂🤣
Brandon gives a highly partisan speech in which he lies about House Republican proposals.
He literally said that Rs want to impose a 30% national sales tax and eliminate the income tax because the income tax is the only way that the rich pay taxes…This is so ass backwards from reality it make my head spin.
Lies about the circumstances surrounding job loss and the scamdemic. Now sounds like MAGA wanting to bring manufacturing back to America. That’s about all the dishonesty I can handle right now.
I haven’t bothered to read much about it since there’s a 0% chance of this happening, but I assume the sales tax will generate a higher percentage of its money from the rich?
There’s all sorts of potential fallout from that. I haven’t thought about it in a while, but suffice it to say that it would completely upend tax planning, particularly for small businesses.
It’s at the point of transaction. Spend more, pay more.
I can already envision the carveouts. Think of all the new favors Congress could sell.
the carveouts
Hence the problem with the tax code as it currently exists. It could be very simple, but leave it up to politicians to fuck it up for the average Joe in favor of the people that fund their campaigns.
I think we can all agree abortions and caramel macchiatos should be tax free.
Anal bleaching too.
Of course . Anal bleaching is a human right.
Racist! You don’t love the dark ass in its natural state?
One time I told my ex that I thought she should bleach her asshole.
She dumped Clorox on me.
If it was like Texas which taxes most everything but food, you could practice tax avoidance and greatly reduce your tax bill. If you choose to live simply, you avoid the taxes. Choose to live extravagantly, pay the tax man. Also that would mean a clear upper limit to taxation and government spending. The government can’t spend what people don’t give them. If economic activity only raises $50 billion in taxes, your government better damn well fit in that $50 B box.
Oh, I think it’s a far better arrangement than our current clusterfuck, but it does come with its own issues. But I wouldn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
I know, I’m not a real libertarian.
Me flying my private jet every weekend to go buy shit in other countries will be bad for climate change , for instance.
How could you be since I’m the only true libertarian?
Absolutely No system is perfect. It’s a damn sight better though. Also Urthona has a most awesome jet we can use to go buy exotic liquors at a discount in other countries.
For Compelled Speechless:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BQoLxsVV6vs
“Also that would mean a clear upper limit to taxation and government spending. The government can’t spend what people don’t give them.”
Dude, this is planet Earth, you know.
Fair tax has the “rebate system”/guaranteed income. This is meant to offset essential items, without explicitly carving these items out.
[horrifyingly insipid whining voice] buuuuuuuut people won’t buy the right essential items if they aren’t
nudged/strong-armed/guns-put-to-their-head/sin-taxed-out-the-ass [/hiwv]This is easy to digest: https://taxfoundation.org/fair-tax-national-sales-tax/
I might believe some of this, if politicians were capable of simplifying income tax – which is just as feasible.
I may be a coward, but there is no way I would go to this.
It would best to wear large shades, a hat, park way outside the city, don’t bring a cell phone, etc…
If you could somehow determine the fed uniform of the day, wear that.
They went through flight manifests for the 1/6 witchhunt.
Nope. Staying far, far away.
And hotel reservations.
Drive, sleep at rest-stops or camp in ‘open’ areas with no registration/permit. All purchases, including gas if driving from far enough away, cash only or bring everything you need with you.
Or just stay far, far away.
Ha! Biden’s rape victim is one of the advertised attendees. The signs practically write themselves.
Nope.
I’m suspicious of psychology in general, doubly so from a guy who couldn’t be bothered to live through the 1970’s.
If you thought stepping on one was bad: 6 doctors swallowed Lego heads for science. Here’s what came out
“Researchers then measured the time it took for the gulped Lego heads to be passed. The time interval was given a Found and Retrieved Time (FART) score.”
So what was the answer? No way I’m listening to 15 minutes of NPR!
Sorry- I meant to include the NPR trigger warning