US GDP as a percentage of world gdp shrinks everyday. You really haven't considered this if you think this will make China or India or the EU change.
Billionaires can make investments and take chances that others cannot and there is value in that. Also Billionaires in some respects are creating wealth and we do not want to stop that. The better solution is to tax them at a higher rate and tax incentives for acting in a particular manner. For example providing a tax break for paying all their workers a living wage. We are not just competing in the USA but globally and need to be competitive in that vein.
But that is just evolution and the creative destruction of business. The small general stores were displaced by the Sears catalog, which were displaced by retail stores and malls which were displaced by the discounters like Wal-Mart which are now being displaced by Amazon. Europe's wealth is derived that they were aggressive pirates and created stock companies that extracted the wealth from India and the East Indies and all over the world. There were huge fortunes made that planted the seeds for the last few hundred years of western dominance. If we bury our head in the sand and don't let innovators and innovations take hold and allow the desire for extreme power and accumulation of wealth and control of businesses we are trading the future dominance of our country for short term spurts of hopeful equality. I think the long term affect is equally poor people and wealth will aggregate in other areas. I want the best for this country and so its a necessary part of growth.
Yeah, I don't think we're miles apart on this, more like inches. I think someone with 800 million dollars can still invest, take chances and create wealth. If not at the same level, then they could partner with one or more folks to do the same thing. That diversity might also be good. I mentioned earlier that 1 billion is just an arbitrary number but it's one that I think works. That being said, I do find it hilarious that this thread has gone on for so many pages and I'm posting so much in it. I'm not supporting Bernie for the primary and I don't have any real expectation that any kind of wealth cap would ever be passed, at least in my lifetime. I guess anything I'm arguing is theoretical. That being said, I do believe that increases taxes on these folks like you mentioned is an actual possibility at some point. But to get there, I would advocate proposing something like the billion dollar wealth gap but coming away with tax increases and closing of loopholes as a compromise.
Lets see how those numbers change when a moderate or two drops out and those votes coalesce behind one candidate .... there aren't that many people out there who can't figure out that the government spending 70%+ GDP is utterly stupid.
Yes the USA needs major change in their healthcare process and system. A lot of it is cultural, preventative care needs to be pushed hard, people need to not go to work when sick and the federal government needs to crack down on what we are actually eating and what is acceptable. There is a major negative externality problem in general in the USA but especially in what we eat and consume and how that manifests in healthcare. I do believe fear about MFA is justified in some sense. If you look at the VA, the quality of care is terrible compared to the care in the private sector.
Do we as a society want to pay for health care for our people or profits for insurance corporations? we can easily afford it if we buy less bombs for killing and make the health of the nation a priority.
The public companies in the healthcare industry made $100 billion dollars last year. Even if you wipe away all profits of the industry it doesn't actually move the needle as US healthcare spending is around $ 4 trillion annually! The most expensive part of medicine is the Doctor's pen. We need large scale Costco's to be involved in healthcare and bring their efficiency to that sector. But the healthcare regulatory/licensing boards control medicine and make it impossible to deviate.
Reallocating the money we already pay to the government is a start to getting healthcare and all the other things that should be a right and priority for every American. But when you say that, some people will tell you it still isn't enough to cover the cost of everything Bernie wants to accomplish. so I guess they think it isn't worth it to try at all? It's a dumb argument.
You know Woods has a mental disorder right? There is no place or no time I can find that Bernie has ever proposed 52% on someone making just $30k or so. He knows that's not really a living wage. So sad how math and reality-impaired some Americans are. (Not saying you, but definitely the remnant of actor James Woods.
That is not true. More fake news. https://www.truthorfiction.com/does-bernie-sanders-plan-tax-people-making-29000-at-52-percent/ Your figures are ridiculously false. Try looking at the facts he lays out on the Bernie Sanders tax proposal on his website.
I laughed. People are completely out of their minds in thinking that cut throat capitalism is the only choice here. The rest of the world figures this **** out while Americans are so ignorant and stuck in this malaise of thought that they can't imagine anything but $400 monthly supplies of insulin WITH insurance and the horseshit disaster of health care, education, poverty, and corruption that cut throat capitalism brings us. Get a clue. I know the simple math that unions brings higher benefits and wages which is why Republicans attack them, I know that a single payer is the simple math of leveraging costs downward which is why Republicans attack it, and I know that quasi-monopolies are the simple math of higher costs and fewer options which is why Republicans coddle them. I know that socialism and welfare for the rich and cut throat capitalism for the middle class and the poor is the great joke of America. People around the world are in disbelief when they hear the ridiculous things that go on here. Ask around.
I agree we can't speak it into existence. From my perspective, I know that current Medicare pays for 80% of health care payments. So how will Medicare for all handle that and will that require the existence of supplemental insurance which is currently the case in Medicare. In current Medicare you also have to buy a prescription drug plan that typically has expensive out of pocket costs. I'm honestly sick and tired of arguing about the need for it. Before we had Obamacare there was fear about how that would impact health care, death panels, and all that spooky stuff. The scary gubmint takeover of health care. Typical Republican garbage. Whatever. The only issue I ever had with Obamacare is that it was extremely expensive for a lot of people, prohibitively so. It obviously didn't go far enough but you get done what you can do I suppose. As an aside, I had a good friend traveling in Europe last year and her baby got sick one evening in a hotel in Germany. The front desk actually called a doctor who showed up at the hotel and checked on the baby. No charge and they were glad to do it. What in the holy hell? Yes, in this country we have a warped sense of what is possible and what is normal.
Those are not my figures. To be honest I do not really pay attention to anything Bernie says because he is a complete nut case. The whole "everything will be free and someone else will pay for it" mantra does not resonate well with me because I work for a living and realize who that "someone else" will be. That being said you should be happy to know I am voting for him in the Texas primary. Of course come November I will not vote for him.
I feel that way about Trump. I can't believe anything coming out of his mouth anymore. He's too much of a compulsive liar. His narcissism and childish name calling adds to my disgust just watching him speak and toot his horn. I lost all trust and respect for him, even though my dumbass voted for him. Now, I'd vote for ANYONE but him,
Private hospitals will be drastically reduced and they will not take a lot of medicare people, the profit motive will just not be there. The common man will not be able to go to a private hospital on M4A. And as wrong as you have been on a multitude of issues you should not be chastising anybody about facts.
Every candidate up there has made that exact same statement. Why does Bernies statement mean so much?
Who would be hurt if there were no millionaires? Like Bernie? Why should he get to have 3 houses unlike everybody else? What's the right in that?
Dude he just spent the majority of his time in the debate criticizing an individual in Bloomberg for being a billionaire.. You sound like Mojo and the others just making **** up to deflect blame from your fearless leader. Yeah I said it.
