Blake
@Blake@feddit.uk
- Comment on Judges to rule on whether tenants in England have right to keep a pet 1 year ago:
No, the comment you’re replying to says “If you’re forced to rent because you can’t get on the housing ladder, you should be allowed to have an animal as a pet. Full stop”
They’re agreeing with you, I think you must have misread should as shouldn’t or something like that. It’s easily done :) I was just a bit confused reading the comment and reply.
- Comment on Judges to rule on whether tenants in England have right to keep a pet 1 year ago:
I think you misread the comment you’re replying to?
- Comment on Microsoft’s deal to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard cleared by UK 1 year ago:
Federal Trade Commission is maintaining its opposition to the deal but it cannot prevent Microsoft and Activision from completing it
Wasn’t the FTC specifically created to block/prevent corporate mergers to stop companies from becoming too big?
- Comment on Keir Starmer urges Tory voters to back Labour in speech disrupted by protester 1 year ago:
Our society is fucking falling apart. A massive cost of living crisis, food bank usage is at an all time high, the gap between rich and poor has never been higher, entire generations are completely unable to buy a home, each year breaks through the ceiling for “hottest year on record”, we’re completely blasting past the paris climate accords, still massively subsidising fossil fuels, inflation is absurd, the NHS is falling apart, along with every other public service, and Brexit is not only hugely unpopular but is actively damaging our opportunities.
And what bold, decisive answers does Labour have to solve these problems?
close ties with business and a “competitive tax regime”
not go back into the EU
not rejoin the single market or a customs union
not re-establishing freedom of movement
not committing to investing in renewables or other green policies
prioritising “””efficiency””” in the NHS, refusing to increase funding until they’ve undertaken an assessment
focusing on “””economic growth””” rather than green policy (which means sacrificing the environment for the benefit of the wealthy)
“getting people back into work rather than increasing their benefits“
“Deploy the power of artificial intelligence“ to help fix the NHS
ruling out any sort of wealth tax or increasing taxes for the wealthy
Labour under Starmer inspires no hope or enthusiasm whatsoever. They’re literally the party of, “I guess they’re technically not the Tories”. But make no mistake, they’re running on a right wing platform.
Labour claim to be “for the many, not the few”, but that’s not true. They’re “for the money, and none for you”.
If you want to vote for them because they’re better than the far-right Tories, you go ahead and do that, be my guest.
But I’m not going to be voting for a right wing party next election.
- Comment on Sunak ‘not sharing’ Covid texts ‘a disgrace direct from Boris playbook’ 1 year ago:
Got it, and replied. Sorry for the delay!
- Comment on Sunak ‘not sharing’ Covid texts ‘a disgrace direct from Boris playbook’ 1 year ago:
I’m honestly quite surprised - this is very, very close to my view of how things should work - much closer than anyone else has come to expressing the same views as I have.
I think the only gap between us is generally the details of how it would work, but also, how we get there. For the latter, I have a few suggestions which I have shared on Lemmy before. For the former - the only real difference is I kind of don’t trust the concept of “digital” direct democracy, I’m far more inclined towards delegates representing much, much smaller groups (100-150ish people) whom can be recalled immediately. I wrote a bit about how I think it should work elsewhere.
Anyways, I think we probably have quite a bit in common, you should drop me a message so we can chat more. :)
- Comment on Sunak ‘not sharing’ Covid texts ‘a disgrace direct from Boris playbook’ 1 year ago:
The problem is that any suggestions like this are impossible to achieve without a broader solution to the real problem, which is the fact that our entire society is basically held hostage by wealthy elites. Before we can solve the problems which they have caused, we need to get rid of them, and the source of their power, first. Otherwise, they will block any progress.
- Comment on Sunak ‘not sharing’ Covid texts ‘a disgrace direct from Boris playbook’ 1 year ago:
I don’t understand how anyone can witness this and not realise that the issue we have is a systemic issue, rather than an issue specifically with the PM or even with the Tory party.
Politicians are literally giving the middle finger to a public inquiry with complete impunity. If they can get away with this, then what force can hold them accountable? The voters? They lie about their policies and positions, get voted in, then do whatever they want for years. The media, completely controlled by the wealthy ruling elite, makes it impossible for any politician who would be a threat to their interests to get elected by running constant smear campaigns and puff pieces.
Electoral politics is at a dead end. The best it can accomplish is avoiding the worst possible outcomes. For a truly better world, we need massive changes which happen outside the system.
- Comment on Self-driving buses that go wherever you want? How the UK is trying to revolutionise public transport 1 year ago:
The ruling class know fine well that funding public transport would solve a lot of problems, but the problem is that it would also reduce profit for a lot of industries. So that’s why it doesn’t happen and why it won’t happen, if anyone was wondering.
The obsession with technical solutions (like these self-driving buses) is because it gives them an excuse to funnel more wealth to the wealthy.
That’s what it’s all about, it’s what it has always been about. If we want to improve our world then the people with power need to be stripped of that power, completely and utterly.
- Comment on Rethinking care: With the population set to age further in the decades to come, the ever-expanding marketisation of care must be replaced by a system based on solidarity 1 year ago:
You’re blaming the wrong people, it’s not working class baby boomers that are responsible for our problems, it’s the wealthy ruling elite.
- Comment on UK households face tax rise of £3,500 a year by next election, finds IFS 1 year ago:
I suggest joining the IWW, getting involved in direct action and mutual aid and working within your communities to build alternative structures. Start or join a housing co-op or a workers co-op (or both), try to make changes to your living situation which make you more self-sufficient (growing your own food, getting solar panels) and just being helpful, generous and kind.
I think what should come after is a world where people work together to provide everyone with what they need without any abusive structures of power.
- Comment on UK households face tax rise of £3,500 a year by next election, finds IFS 1 year ago:
I don’t think they are saying the taxes are bad
Come on, stop arguing that black is white. The article calls the report damaging and even you said that it highlights how badly the country is performing. The article very clearly has the message of “isn’t it bad how much the Tories have raised taxes?”
Why are you like, arguing about this? I don’t really understand.
There are biases beyond who funds the report. Neoliberalism is biased against taxes, economists are overwhelmingly neoliberal and the think-tank is a group of economists. It’s not that complex, really.
- Comment on UK households face tax rise of £3,500 a year by next election, finds IFS 1 year ago:
I literally just said I’m not talking about direct democracy. It was just an example of an alternative, and one that I specifically said I didn’t support.
All cards on the table, since you’re trying to understand my position, I’m a libertarian socialist. I support the abolition of money, the police, prisons, social classes, states and all unjustified hierarchies. I believe that power ultimately corrupts anyone who wields it and the only solution is to abolish all forms of power as far as is possible.
I think a good way to structure society would be groups of approximately 50-150 people (but absolutely no more than 200) represented by someone in their community in a council of delegates where decisions are made. The representative would not make decisions on behalf of their community but rather would act as a liaison between the community and the larger council. Proposals made at meetings of the council would be brought back to the communities to be discussed and for consensus to be built and a decision to be reached (or for a request for more information / clarification) and then that feedback would be brought to the council, where the delegates would share the feedback/decisions made by their community and they would make amends to the proposal to make it work. The barrier for approval for a proposal to be accepted would be high - something like 90% but certainly no lower than 75% - meaning that true consensus has to be reached, rather than a tyranny of the majority.
This is the model used by some cool groups such as workers/housing co-operatives, and I think it would work well for larger societies. Maybe it’s been used by large societies, I honestly don’t know.
- Comment on UK households face tax rise of £3,500 a year by next election, finds IFS 1 year ago:
“Causing harm to us” was my short-hand interpretation - I’m just a guy writing internet comments, they don’t have to be perfect - but I don’t think it’s an unfair reading of the article.
Acting like their analysis is unfeeling and unpolitical is classic IFS bullshit. Raising corporation tax, energy profit levy and top rate income tax are all good things and you want me to complain about it just because the Tories are doing it? Is tribalism more important than policy?
I’d call out this crap regardless of who’s in power because it’s just typical neoliberal “taxes are always bad” bullshit. Tax the shit out of corporations and the wealthy, please.
- Comment on UK households face tax rise of £3,500 a year by next election, finds IFS 1 year ago:
No, it doesn’t, that’s a very narrow perspective - I’m guessing that you’re quite young and you’re not familiar with alternative systems of organising society.
There are many alternatives, but I like the idea of consensus based decision-making. It’s a little bit like direct democracy - instead of voting for people to represent you, instead you directly get to support or block decisions made about the society you live in.
For example, currently, we elect politicians to represent us, and we try to elect a politician who would solve climate change. But that doesn’t seem to work. Imagine if, instead, we could all directly vote on an idea - whether or not we should end fossil fuel subsidies, for example? That’s direct democracy, but it gets rid of electoral politics. For full context, I don’t support that kind of direct democracy, but there are countless alternatives to representative democracy, I just wanted to share one which was simple and easy to explain.
- Comment on UK households face tax rise of £3,500 a year by next election, finds IFS 1 year ago:
No. Nothing to do with voting. Just forget that voting exists. Imagine that the politicians are unelected. How would you go about changing the system in that scenario? That’s how you need to be thinking, because that’s essentially the situation that we’re in.
- Comment on UK households face tax rise of £3,500 a year by next election, finds IFS 1 year ago:
Yeah, misread your comment, sorry!
Your numbers are a wee bit off, but close enough - my calcs give £27bn corp tax rather than £21.6 (remember they’re increasing it this tax year to 25% from 19%).
It’s irrelevant anyways. The windfall tax is all just propaganda to mitigate criticism of the fossil fuel industry. I don’t want to defend the Tories at all, I agree with you that they’re taxing the working class greater for the benefit of the wealthy. But that isn’t what the article is saying, and that’s why I’m annoyed at the article. The article is bullshit not because it criticises the Tories, the article is bullshit because it’s complaining about the wrong things! They mention three conservative government policies which they claim are causing harm to us, and of those three policies, two and a half of them are things we should be pushing for MORE of. (Higher corporation tax, taxes on the fossil fuel industry, higher income tax for people with high incomes). Those policies are bad because they don’t go far enough.
- Comment on UK households face tax rise of £3,500 a year by next election, finds IFS 1 year ago:
I absolutely 100% agree with you that the Tories are stealing from the poor and giving to the rich. But the article isn’t about personal allowance. If you click on the link I referenced in the original post, it takes you to an article about higher rate tax-payers. I don’t think any of us should give a shit about higher rate tax payers, and I’m not going to apologise for holding that opinion.
I’m responding to the article as it stands. Obviously the Tories aren’t good for the country economically, I think that’s self-evident, but the article is extremely misleading.
- Comment on UK households face tax rise of £3,500 a year by next election, finds IFS 1 year ago:
No, you’re not getting this, I’m guessing you don’t understand what I mean by direct action. I’m not saying that direct action will impact elections. I’m saying that elections aren’t the way we’ll change the system.
Elections are just smoke and mirrors to manufacture your consent and to make you compliant. When I say “get involved with direct action”, I don’t mean go campaigning for a better political party, I mean creating an alternative before tearing the state down.
- Comment on UK households face tax rise of £3,500 a year by next election, finds IFS 1 year ago:
Take one look at anything I have ever written on Lemmy and you’ll see that I am by no means a defender of the Tories. Speak against them all you want, I’ll not defend them, but I also won’t abide the media sharing pro-industry, pro-capitalist think-tank bullshit, which is exactly what this is - a think tank that wants the Tories to tax the wealthy even less than they currently are.
And for icing on the cake, Corporation taxes have actually decreased under the Tories from 28% in 2011
Yes, it was dropping until the relatively recent announcement that they’re increasing it to 25% for companies that earn over 250k. That’s one of the reasons why this think tank is complaining about increases of corporation tax costing households money.
the new amount it is still £2744 per household
Except it’s not. It’s £0 per household, because corporations and fossil fuel companies aren’t households. If I instituted a wealth tax on billionaires and raised £282 billion with it, that’s not costing households £10,000 each is it?
The Tories deserve tonnes of criticism about hundreds and hundreds of things they’ve done. But increasing corporation tax and the concept of a fossil fuel industry levy (as much of a total scam that the implementation is) aren’t among those issues.
- Comment on UK households face tax rise of £3,500 a year by next election, finds IFS 1 year ago:
Whether we have PR or not doesn’t matter, we cannot turn a system against itself. A political party disruptive to the status quo would not be allowed to gain power. Party politics will not save us. We need bold action that goes far beyond voting.
- Comment on UK households face tax rise of £3,500 a year by next election, finds IFS 1 year ago:
Your option is to get involved with direct action and mutual aid in your area. You can’t vote corruption out of power. Corruption basically is power. Vote for the least worst option, sure, but we need to do more. And I’m not talking about peaceful protest.
- Comment on UK households face tax rise of £3,500 a year by next election, finds IFS 1 year ago:
Oh, and for all you “vote the Tories out, get a labour government” fantasists: “the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has ruled out introducing a wealth tax or putting up the top rate of income tax”
Labour aren’t worth your vote. We need to make our own political change now.
- Comment on UK households face tax rise of £3,500 a year by next election, finds IFS 1 year ago:
As someone who hates the Tories, this is total bullshit, reporting actually. The £3,500 a year figure comes from “an additional £100bn a year for the exchequer – the equivalent to about £3,500 more per household”, but where is that additional £100bn coming from?
A “rise in corporation tax from 19% to 25%, the energy profits levy and the freezing of various income tax and national insurance thresholds.”
Ah yes, “various income tax rates”, that’s definitely not a reference to the top rate of income tax… which is £125k. Fuck off. I don’t give a shit about people earning that much having to pay more tax.
Fuck the Tories, they’re looting the whole country. But this is total nonsense.
- Comment on UK's First Consumption Room Given Go Ahead. 1 year ago:
UK Home Office insists “there is no safe way to take illegal drugs”.
There’s also no 100% safe way to eat a sandwich. Much more dangerous to get into a car than to smoke weed. UK Home Office can get in the fucking bin.
- Comment on NHS England patients wait up to two-and-a-half years for an MRI 1 year ago:
Believe it or not, but the labour party has changed somewhat in the last 75 years. The current Labour Party are just a Lite version of the Conservative Party. They will not save the NHS.
- Comment on Electric car rules could cost carmakers billions 1 year ago:
The problem with exploitative supply chains is that they’re chains, so even if you make one link less exploitative, the sources and next steps in the chain likely remain exploitative.
Each improvement makes things better. If we let perfect be the enemy of good then we just allow exploitation to continue because we couldn’t fix it all at once.
Companies have already been exerting influence on these supply chains for decades to “improve” them, and they have only gotten worse. No, I don’t think that’s better.
Manufacturers aren’t going to just sit back and say, “oh well I guess we’ll just not compete in the industry anymore, let’s just let our competitors take it.” No way, the people running these firms aren’t going to just throw away business like that. They’ll lose out on some profits for a while and throw all their toys out the pram about that, but they will not just leave the market (or price themselves out of it). That’s just their gaslighting propaganda.
- Comment on NHS England patients wait up to two-and-a-half years for an MRI 1 year ago:
It won’t matter. Labour will not save the NHS.
- Comment on Electric car rules could cost carmakers billions 1 year ago:
Fuck the manufacturers. They’ve had years to invest in local battery manufacturing and chose not to, betting on the fact that they could pressure the EU to roll it back. Nope, hold them to the flame. This is a step in the direction of reducing our exploitation of the developing world.
- Comment on Paramedics not sent to a third of 999 ambulance calls in parts of England 1 year ago:
Keep reading the article. What happens towards the end may surprise you!