this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2024
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Asklemmy

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Military numbers seem grossly undervalued

[–] [email protected] 19 points 6 days ago (1 children)

$83 billion per month is almost $1 trillion per year. That sounds about right.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Oh dang, missed the part of this monthly.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago
[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Right I thought the average size of a defense budget was just under a trillion lol

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

We don't know their dark money shush fund income or expenditure, and guess who's never passed an audit?

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 days ago (2 children)

The US has a problem of representation. Specifically and especially since the Citizens United decision, corporate interests can easily flow money towards politicians to make them do just about anything they want. This exacerbated an existing problem with the corporate tax rate and has now brought it into laughably low territory.

That's all an oversimplification of course, but it's not that Americans haven't "figured it out". It is far more complicated than that.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Thank you. I'm getting quite tired of people posting the most fucking obvious takes about problems in the US, then going "why haven't americans fixed this? are they stupid?", when we have exceedingly small control over the actions of our shitass policy makers.

It's some real "everyone is dumb except for me" energy.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Yet somehow most Americans think they are a democracy

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Someone defending the US few weeks ago said: "decisions are made by those who show up and vote".

No, decisions are made by those who hold economic and political power. That is NOT the citizenry of capitalist dictatorships. Having elections also serves a lot of ideological functions like:

  • Building consent / subservience for the capitalist dictatorship.
  • Creating the illusion of democracy.
  • Being an entertaining and distracting theatre piece.
  • Serving as a platform for capitalist ideas and talking points, making everything else seem "illegitimate"
  • Being used as a tool of western chauvinism, labeling any other system (even substantive people's democracies) as "undemocratic".
[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

exactly ,

Passiv Income has 100% of the Delegates and the 2 Major partys ,

while Active Income has no Represenative at all...

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago (2 children)

USians spent 4.5 TRILLION dollars on healthcare in 2022.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 days ago

Or 375 billion/month, given the month scale in the above image

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

It was really bothering me that I was pronouncing this β€œYOO ESS-EEANNS” in my head every time I saw people using it. I just realized it can definitely also be β€œYOO-ZHIANS.” Which is obviously far superior.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago (3 children)

Oh, we've known. There just isn't anything we can do about it.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Like we did with Occupy Wall Street or are doing now for Palestine?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 days ago

No, harder. Much, much harder.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

OWS crumbled in ways right out of various leaked three letter agency guides to disrupting grass roots movements.

I'd love to see it get another try, with how news sources have become far more decentralized. Less opportunity for major news orgs to kill the momentum.

Full disclosure, the destruction of OWS is pretty much the one thing I allow myself to go "full tinfoil hat" over.

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

Covid protests and jan6... There is a always some fed running this things even ifntheu start organically.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'm not American, but generally exploite people can't afford to miss work.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (9 children)

The bolsheviks managed to, as have other revolutionary groups.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Imagine if americans were as excited to shoot politicians as they get about shooting kids in school

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

buissness is getting squezed . also the current minority...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago

An astounding amount of our government goes towards taking care of old people, yet it still feels like there is basically no safety net for them.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago (5 children)

Estate taxes is woefully small. There should be a 100% death tax on all assets after $1M, excluding a single home.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

The tax formally known as β€œinheritance tax”.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago

Most have, increasingly so, they just lack strong orgs. As Imperialism decays, more will be forced to grapple with reality.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

TBF taxes on billionaires would go under individual taxes. And corporate taxes are relatively easy to fudge because corporations aren't real except on paper.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

TBF you should really put more effort into "figuring it out" because you did not figure it out ..

i will give you a hint:

who is getting represented ?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It's a technical detail people might not have been aware of, and I've pointed it out. I'm going to disengage rather than defend a viewpoint I don't even necessarily hold.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The people are in debt... to themselves

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (2 children)

And as long as people have confidence in our currency, the debt we owe to ourselves really doesn't matter

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

That National Defense slice looking like it could be decimated, also

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

It isn't cheap being "leader of the free world".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

The poorest Americans are constantly fighting with the bureaucracy to get assistance, this is by design to make them hate it.

Any addition to the expansion of the state will be met with hostility.

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

there is a Ingroup that the Laws shall protect but never hinder , and ther eis a Outgroup that the laws shall hinder, but never protect.

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