"And do you really expect the truth from either side of the conflict at this point?

So... a little bit of back story. As a military dude, senior leaders come in with 100% credibility. But once you lose that credibility, it's gone forever.

Trump has no credibility. I assume that everything he says is --------. So yeah, in this moment, I view Iran as being a more credible source of information.

"Because Iran proved they can shut down the entire oil dependent world."

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but right now it is the US that is shutting down the entire oil-dependent world.

Iran has said the straits are open. It's the US that's maintaining a blockade.

$20 billion?

That's almost silly cheap.

Trump always talks about "deals" I think it is his favorite word.

If he could pull this off, he could honestly say he made at least one good "deal."

"Why does being transgender bother anyone?"

I don't think it does.

If a trans-person gets arrested for a crime, and their license is based on identity rather than biology, how do they get processed into jail? Does a man who identifies as a woman go into a woman's jail? And if so, is that fair to the biological women in that jail?

Would you hand-wringers be equally up in arms if a white supremacist had committed this crime and was facing a similar sentence?

Isn't there a ----- facing the same charges?

Should terrorist supporters get special treatment if they have Mohammed (PBUH) in their name?

"LOL Sure. A good idea actually. But we don't need to be exactly as or as good as Canada. We should obviously be better and learn from their mistakes. Right?"

In Germany, you can opt out of the public plan if you make more that 70k EUR per year or so and go with a private plan. You can utilize private hospitals, which provide. Better service. Much of Europe is like that.

What makes Bernie's plan different is that it would ban any healthcare services that competed with the government-provided services. He's literally bragged about that part of it. Which means that USans would have no healthcare options other than what the government. Was able to provide. So the entire US population would find themselves in a similar situation to where I was my last three years on active duty in the military.

"US servicemembers love socialism and universal healthcare."

Yeah ... not so much. My last three years on active duty were spent in Germany, where the government-provided healthcare was the only option. For dependents, it was nearly impossible to get an appointment. If a kid was sick or injured, you went directly to the ER. Even as an aviator, my wait time was three weeks on average, and we had a special clinic for flyers. Compare that to my first appointment after I retired and started on my Cigna Global plan. I can get most appointments in a day or two.

"Using Albania, long virtually the most closed State on the planet, as an example of Socialism is just lame. Meanwhile, the highest standards of living and Happiness Indices are in Dem Socialist Scandinavia and Northern Europe."

Yep. You're referring to capitalist countries. I'm sitting in Norway right now. About to go hiking.

"There's an irrational fear of socialism in America"

I don't know if it is necessarily irrational. I can tell you what my closest friend thinks, after having grown up in the People's Socialist Republic of Albania.

He's not a fan.

You likely wouldn't be either if you had actually experienced socialism.

#5

It's working swimmingly for me. And for lots of other USans.

I have a Cigna Global plan. I can get healthcare in any country on the planet with little or no co-pay. Presumably, Cigna would cease to exist if Bernie were to be elected, along with every other non-USG insurance company. Which is fine, I suppose I would find an alternative based on Europe or somewhere else, but why? And let's assume that taxes go up to pay for this healthcare, how would that impact people like me with US plans who don't live in the US, or people who do live in the US but wind up need care while outside the country. Would I be paying for a healthcare plan that didn't even benefit me?

I'm probably the only person who has actually lived in a system where there was a US single-payer system. For US service members stationed in Europe, they are obligated to use US government-run healthcare providers. When I was on active duty, it was nearly impossible to get an appointment for dependents. If they needed care, you went to the ER. Even for me as an aviator, it was typically a 3-week wait for anything.

... Then I retired and picked up my Cigna plan. I called my chosen healthcare provider on a Monday to start working prescriptions. They asked me if Thursday of the same week was too long. I just laughed.

There are loads of Western European models that the US could choose to emulate. Most of them work pretty well. Why. ---- around with trying for force one plan down everyone's throat, even when most have far better options?

" This means access to affordable, healthy food that is hopefully culturally relevant," City Councilwoman Elsie Encarnacion said"

Anyone want to take a Stab at explaining "culturally relevant food?"

#56

If someone identified as a dog, and decided to ---- in their neighbor's yard, would you consider it justified as they identified as an entity that ---- in neighbor's yards?

Should the neighbor be legally obligated to recognize the person identifying as a dog, as a dog? And if so, would that negate the rights they held as a human? Like, could the dog catcher pick them up and euthanize them?

You don't need no edumacation, do ya Snoof. You was born smart.

#135

Um, it's the Economist. It's like the New England Journal of Medicine, but for economics.

That's not to say that they couldn't be wrong, but it's far more likely that you are. Just like I'm sure that there are those who disregard the positions of those edumacated contributors to NEJM.

Because the VAT is a regressive tax. And you want to replace parts of the sole progressive tax, with regressive taxes.

"An argument against VAT is that it is regressive, because the poor consume more of their incomes than the rich. But the poor also have the most to gain from better public services and faster economic growth. In any case, vat is less regressive when measured against lifetime, rather than annual, income; raising the tax would affect rich retirees who spend out of wealth and no longer pay labour taxes. Another argument against increasing VAT today is that doing so would raise prices and add to measured inflation. But inflation has fallen significantly. If increases were phased in gradually, the effects would be manageable."

#129

Thank you for the credit, but that duly goes to the Ways and Means department at The Economist.

"Republicans came out against gay marriage and later trans people simply existing."

Dude, Drag Queens have been a thing as long as I have been alive. And no one cared. It was only when the queens began demanding that they be recognized as something they weren't that it got political.

"You'd also need the Spend, and you don't want that."

I don't understand your comment. Without the spend, there would be no need for a VAT.

VAT or no VAT, I just find it interesting that progressives, let's use Bernie as a case in point, argue that the US needs to be more like the western European countries...until it comes to something like the VAT.

"...every country that puts the burden on the middle class."

Which is pretty much all of them.

"The federal government has some scope to raise more money from high earners. But the idea that the main problem with the existing system that tax rates are too flat is wrong. In 2018 the lowest fifth of earners on average paid no net federal taxes at all. The top 1% paid a total rate (ie, after all deductions) of 30%, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Include state and local levies, and high earners face a marginal tax rate on each extra dollar they take home"the rate that matters for work incentives"which is middling by rich-country standards. Tax refunds for poor families are exceptionally generous. In 2019 a single parent of two children earning two-thirds of average pay faced total net labour taxes of only 10%, according to analysis by the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries. In egalitarian Sweden the rate was nearly 33%."

"All Electoral evidence to the contrary."

If you're talking right now, I would agree with you. Two years ago, not so much.

The Dems isolated much of the middle by embracing identity politics.

"Your suggestion would (once again) shift the tax burden onto poorer classes."

Or, it would mirror every other western country.

I'm off to Norway tomorrow afternoon. The VAT in Norway is 25%.

I don't often hear progressives referring to Norway is a politically regressive country.

"One has to wonder why the Republican Party doesn't worry about courting moderates and independents."

How do you think the Republicans won in 2024?

It's almost as if you're trying to rationalize a dictatorship by a minority comprised of those who share your values. Kinda like the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

"What specifically would you be doing differently in your life if you "played along?"

Um, playing along.

Do you think it should be an obligation that society "plays along?" But it's unreasonable for the trans person to keep their cosplay to themselves?

"So an "extreme leftist" is me, a person who advocates for our tax dollars to pay for things like healthcare, education, childcare and geriatric care, instead of endless wars and subsidies for billionaires."

Cool.

What rate should the VAT in the US be? 10%? 15%? 25%

You tell me.