Lauchs
@Lauchs@lemmy.world
- Comment on Was Donald Trump ever cool? 2 days ago:
He was a synonym for rich guy for awhile. And was even on WWE. So, depends how you define cool.
- Comment on Meaning of the phrase “Hang dead.”? 2 weeks ago:
I wonder if one of you is switching the words around from dead hang?
A dead hang is when you hold yourself from a chinup bar.
- Comment on Bat is the way 2 weeks ago:
What separates Bruce Wayne from other people apart from money?
The willingness to devote their lives to training in all forms of combat and gymnastics and push themselves past Olympic mastery (as well as all the esoteric knowledge and studying required to become the world’s greatest detective.)
And here’s the thing, if your theory were correct there should be multiple Batmen. It’s bizzare to claim that somehow the existence of one billionaire means no one else is able to become one or devote their lives etc.
- Comment on Bat is the way 2 weeks ago:
Just to make sure I understand your position… Your theory is that if other people had Bruce Wayne’s money, they would spend it on advanced tech, weaponry and simultaneously devote their lives to training in all forms of combat and gymnastics and push themselves past Olympic mastery (as well as all the esoteric knowledge and studying required to become the world’s greatest detective) and thus be able to save the universe when asked, despite no one else doing this? Like the only thing stopping people in the D.C universe from becoming Batman is because Bruce Wayne has more money than most people?a
- Comment on Bat is the way 2 weeks ago:
Yes, he is the only billionaire.
- Comment on Bat is the way 2 weeks ago:
I’m pretty sure most of the time the Justice League saved the world it’s not because they were just giving the military a break.
- Comment on Bat is the way 2 weeks ago:
Except in DC most groups can’t stop threats like Darkseid. There’s a reason the top group is the Justice League and a reason Batman is one of the founding members.
If you’re theory held, there should be all sorts of justice leagues etc.
- Comment on Bat is the way 2 weeks ago:
I always wonder what social service is going to stop Darkseid etc.
- Comment on fuck this asshole 3 weeks ago:
In what way was your response meaningfully different from your original comment?
- Comment on fuck this asshole 3 weeks ago:
Are you an llm? Most humans, instead of restating what they’ve already said, actually read the comment to which they are replying.
- Comment on fuck this asshole 3 weeks ago:
Wait, this seems silly. You are in effect saying that it’s wrong to blame those who stayed home because some of them would have voted for trump? Like, we’d still blame those people too had they actually voted trumo.
The blame isn’t just because you voted for trump it is because you didn’t try to stop him, which applies both to those who voted for him and those who didn’t vote.
- Comment on 1 month ago:
First, thank you!
There’s a website that’s kind of helpful:
Basically, digital stuff is probably the easiest. And as others have pointed out, visiting helps!
- Comment on Isn't EU's "VAT" a regressive tax? Why do they have that, instead of something like, taxing the rich? 1 month ago:
Ahhhh, gotchya, sorry missed that!
Though, I think tax cuts are fine to spur demand (especially targeted at lower income levels) though I’m a little hesitant about cutting spending. I’m in the camp that feels deficit spending is okay, maybe even desirable for things like recessions and wars. Spending cuts usually act as a drag on growth so if your goal is to heat up an economy, cutting taxes AND spending seems counter productive…
- Comment on Isn't EU's "VAT" a regressive tax? Why do they have that, instead of something like, taxing the rich? 1 month ago:
Oh, if the impetus is just to cut taxes, well I don’t think that’s particularly ideal.
If you’re cutting taxes in the hopes of Laffer striking again, fine but that’s supposed to be revenue generating.
If you’re cutting taxes for the sake of lower taxes, then you need to have some services in mind that are worth less than the value of the tax cuts, not just in terms of dollars but in terms of what they do. For example, you could cut SNAP benefits but yeah, most would be against that because feeding poor kids is pretty popular.
I don’t think these are unpopular because people don’t know economics so much as there aren’t many services they’d give up for marginally lower taxes.
- Comment on Isn't EU's "VAT" a regressive tax? Why do they have that, instead of something like, taxing the rich? 1 month ago:
Fair but I’m not sure what the point of spending cuts is beyond ,shrinking the state, cooling down an overheated economy or reducing a deficit. What am I missing?
A lot of government spending is super popular (think entitlements, healthcare, infrastructure etc.) I have an econ degree (admittedly, not particularly used as I’m now a dev) but I’m still not seeing a particular impetus…
- Comment on How are you actually doing today? 1 month ago:
Hope your mom gets better, sounds like a super shitty day though.
- Comment on How are you actually doing today? 1 month ago:
(Champagne problems warning) Was goddamn great until I pulled a calf muscle playing soccer tonight and now probably can’t ski on Friday and Monday, despite our mountains FINALLY getting a nice dump.
Admittedly, my problems are nothing compared to the children who mined the cobalt for my phone but godfuckingdamnit.
- Comment on Anon has a business idea 1 month ago:
We’re already reaping the benefits of social media/internet addled brains hitting voting age… I’m not sure ai images are a particularly harmful step from those poisons.
- Comment on Isn't EU's "VAT" a regressive tax? Why do they have that, instead of something like, taxing the rich? 1 month ago:
Yeah, I’m not sure I’ve seen any of those in my lifetime. I’m Canadian and even Steven Harper, who would be almost a Democrat by American standards, wanted to go to war with the census for Reasons.
Broadly though, my understanding of Conservative values, peeling back the state, more self reliance etc is broadly unpopular to the many who think the state has a big role to play in social welfare from education to healthcare
If you could offer just rough ideas/goals, what would your sane, honest Conservative budget feature? Not looking to fight just genuinely curious. (No numbers obviously but like what would you want to cut. No vague “government waste” though please.)
- Comment on Isn't EU's "VAT" a regressive tax? Why do they have that, instead of something like, taxing the rich? 1 month ago:
Honestly, I’m just not sure deficit spending outside of wars/economic emergencies was a great strategy and instead, a time bomb Reaganomics left everyone else to deal with. I think that’s the ridiculously outsized part of spending that would’ve been the best to cut. If I remember correctly, servicing the debt is now on par with American military spending…
- Comment on Isn't EU's "VAT" a regressive tax? Why do they have that, instead of something like, taxing the rich? 1 month ago:
Cool to know about, thanks!
- Comment on Isn't EU's "VAT" a regressive tax? Why do they have that, instead of something like, taxing the rich? 1 month ago:
Oh interesting, I wasn’t aware there were actually examples of the Laffer curve working in reality! I alwats thought it was just a theoretical that conservatives had latched onto…
- Comment on Isn't EU's "VAT" a regressive tax? Why do they have that, instead of something like, taxing the rich? 1 month ago:
Oh absolutely, it’s just the VAT itself is regressive, not the overall tax system.
- Comment on Isn't EU's "VAT" a regressive tax? Why do they have that, instead of something like, taxing the rich? 1 month ago:
No, EU member states handle taxes individually.
But, that ease of travel is one inducement. (Consider, as billionaire Spaniard learns the government plans to tax an additional 100 million euros. With no border, is moving a few km next door to Portugal worth a 100 million?
More meaningful though is business taxes/regulations, which are a large part of why Europe has lost so many Unicorns to the NYSE and why within America, Texas is kind of killing it in terms of business relocations.
I personally think it’s a race to the bottom but those are the constraints that exist.
- Comment on Isn't EU's "VAT" a regressive tax? Why do they have that, instead of something like, taxing the rich? 1 month ago:
It’s obviously a tax on the biggest consumers.
Yes and no.
You’re absolutely correct in terms of total dollars contributed.
But the flip side is in terms of percentage of income. The wealthier you are, the more likely you are to have stocks, property and the like, which are usually exempt. So, as a total percentage of income, a VAT tends to hit the poor harder. (That being said, other taxes like capital gains are more progressive etc to make up the difference.)
- Comment on Isn't EU's "VAT" a regressive tax? Why do they have that, instead of something like, taxing the rich? 1 month ago:
They also tax the rich through progressive income taxes, capital gains taxes, corporate taxes etc.
If you’re asking why not just tax the rich in place of a VAT, well, it’s sort of why not tax the rich to pay for absolutely everything we could want. The costs and difficulties in taxing the rich generally scale to the point where the marginal revenue raised by the tax becomes negative.
- Comment on Legal experts said the president was testing the boundaries of executive power with aggressive orders designed to stop the country from transitioning to renewable energy. 2 months ago:
And still, despite the harm to so many billions and your fucking kids, a disproportionate of the memes and discourse tomorrow will revolve around Musk succesafully trolling us, albeit without that framing and more breathless “Is Musk bringing back Nazis?!?”
- Comment on Elon Musk Ignites Online Speculation Over the Meaning of a Hand Gesture 2 months ago:
And that alarm was listened to by the same people who already believe he’s a nazi, convinces and mobilizes zero people and makes the majority of voters who voted for trump even less likely to listen to us when someone isn’t just making a stupid salute but actually doing dangerous shit that actually harms people.
I get that for spoiled mostly white kids online, life will pretty much go on and nothing that bad will happen. But to those of us who actually understand the potential harm, we also underground that how we react matters more than what feels good or is easy, like screaming nazi.
- Comment on Elon Musk Ignites Online Speculation Over the Meaning of a Hand Gesture 2 months ago:
If you are representing most Americans, then presumably you voted trump?
Musk is playing us apparently beautifully.
What literally made trump President is people didn’t believe the warnings on the Left, presumably because we screamed FASCIST for oh, the last 8 years and even the trump presidency we feared didn’t bring about a fascist revolution. But hey, now that there are hand waves it is clearly important to get outraged and be taken even less seriously! Otherwise trump might not dominate the mid terms I guess.
Fuck I wish my side wasn’t so goddamn easy to bait.
- Comment on Elon Musk Ignites Online Speculation Over the Meaning of a Hand Gesture 2 months ago:
It’s not important, it just makes us look like we’re in hystrionics about Musk etc.
To most Americans, they’re not worried about a handful of idiots in swastikas. When we take this sort of bait it just makes real criticisms look like more Lefty whining.
