Today...

[obfuscator]

The US is quite a safe country in general. High profile shootings and a couple bad cities don't ruin the whole country.

 

Also, Canada has not agreed to take more refugees. Canada has agreed to provide temporary residence for people stranded in-transit due to the visa changes, that's it.

[MuffinMaddy]

Went away for the weekend to see my friend I hadn't seen in 4 years. Definitely needed the time away, I have such a sudden burst of motivation to work hard and I've written 19 pages of my final year project (I have yet to finish writing the rest of my methodology, results and discussion) but I'm around halfway to the word count. I love my project, I finally actually understand what's happening - I personally find the molecular level hard to visualise in my head, so for a while I was just following the lab protocol but it's great to know what's actually going on. 

 

3 weeks left of lab work, and that is me done. 4 x 3 hour exams in the summer and that's the end of my degree.

 

I'm feeling really positive for the first time in a while, I had the realisation that pushing people away because of depression was just self sabotage. I'm very independent, but support from people around me has been instrumental in my recovery, especially since my dad died. I generally want to be more positive even for my own sake. I'll still be seeing my abuser around I don't want to let him "win" by letting anxiety consume me which it has done for a few weeks. I went to lectures for the first time in three weeks and I didn't have a panic attack or any reaction to seeing him which is great - he looks miserable and lonely which is an added bonus. I'm bitter like that.

 

I was seriously ill last week because of my anxiety and I just don't want to be defeated by it.

[Estonian dude]

 

You know, sometime it does seem like USA is the morally worst country in the world, keeping everybody else in check with the abysmally huge military and performing atrocities nearly as bad as the Nazis. At least the nazis were open with their intentions and declared war on all nations before invading them, and sometimes even before that, unlike the Americans. Pretty much every conflict of the 20th century you have been a part of. Pretty much every coup, or revolution, or whatnot, the hairy hands of Uncle Sam can be seen. And American citizens can be held without trial or jury or anything, being tortured in places like Guantanamo Bay and now Trump wants to create such sites on mainland US.

Replace "jew" with "muslim" and it seems like a Fourth Reich to me.

 

Most Americans are disgusted with Trump's executive order but lets talk about this statement.

 

If you believe even half of what you wrote here then you are bigger scum than the SS themselves. Why do I say that? 

 

You sure demand a hell of a lot of a country you find despicable. I can think of all the panic you had when trump was dscussing kicking Estonia out of NATO. I can think of non American's on TIF and elsewhere who say crazy shit like "America has the moral obligation to send troops on the ground to restore order in Syria" then those same people would also post "That America has the audacity to invade a defenseless natiion and engage in more 'Nation Building' just like Iraq lololol".

 

Shit like that reminds me of why people voted for Trump at all. We sure spend a lot of time and money in NATO to defend a bunch of ingrateful entitled Europeans who cry about America's military while at the same time benefiting from it.  By America footing most of the global military bill and being in alliances with much of the world other countries have a comparative advantage and can put a larger percentage of their budget on social services like healthcare that we can't afford.

 

I would really respect your position a hell of a lot more if you were organizing protests in Estonia encouraging the government to leave NATO. If you don't do this then plain and simple your a guy who admits to benefiting from Nazism and that your okay with that.

 

Fun tidbit: as Muslims who want to enter USA have been thoroughly vetted for ages the current ones in USA are generally richer and more educated than the general population. Same as Jews before WW2 in Germany.

 

First off, I haven't even heard of anyone kicking us out of NATO. We are one of the handful who pays MORE than the agreed 2% and we have done that for a while.

 

We had more soldiers on the ground in Iraq and in Afghanistan (mainly in Helmand, pretty much the most dangerous province by the way) per capita then any other nation. I personally know 5 guys who served in Afghanistan. How many of you, who have no connection to the military whatsoever can say such a thing? We had absolutely nothing other than ally ties to USA to make us go there. Unlike Americans, who jacked off while we were occupied by Soviets after WW2, we have shed our blood for America. On foreign soil. We lost our people there.

 

I was being over the edge on that paragraph to get a reaction. And that is the way that the people in our huge neighbour to the east thinks. Russian media has not stood still, and such statements are issued by-daily. A large part of the world does actually see America that way.

 

I simply know that it cannot be simply black or white and the American way generally is more acceptable than what our neighbours to the east are doing. With that Cheeto making such executive actions already on the first week I am not certain how long it's gonna last.

 

I don't consider Iraq as an invasion of a defenseless nation. Iraq could stand on its own in the region. It was simply destruction of a country that was at the time functional and centrally strong. A country that also was a nation, united by ideals. Now there are only remnants of the welfare, economy and stability, and ISIS has taken over most of the country and the rest of the country is split between rival clans. Same in Afghanistan.

 

If US really wanted to fight terrorism, Saudis would have been the first one to take down. It isn't even a secret anymore that their oil money (from Americans) is funding terrorism.

 

I honestly think the greatest country in the world right now is China. I am not happy with how some things there are, but they have succesfully brought millions and millions of people out of poverty in recent years. Granted, there isn't exactly full freedom of speech, but they aren't daily harassed either, that thing is quite civil. There may be rampant corruption, but meanwhile the simple Gao's and Mei's have had their life improved tenfold. Maybe USA should concentrate a wee bit on "socialism" instead of invading other countries and they would be the greatest country in the world. The costs of war (of which most of the taxpayers money went to the selected few American corporations) in Iraq alone would have paid for free health insurance for everyone in America many times over.

[obfuscator]

A country that also was a nation, united by ideals.

LOL

 

Iraq was "united" by a brutal dictator who murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people to keep the "nation" intact. The Iraq war was stupid, but let's not engage in revisionist history here.

[Estonian dude]

United by the ideals of the brutal dictator, but still united and ISIS would not have had a chance there.

[obfuscator]

United by the ideals of the brutal dictator, but still united and ISIS would not have had a chance there.

Do you realize how fundamentally ridiculous this sounds? That's like saying it would be fine for Russia to march into the baltics and kill anyone who tried to revolt, because at least the USSR would be re-united again.

 

Also, they weren't united by his ideals; they were united because he had anyone who didn't want to be united killed.

[Gang Sabre]

Seems like the Government did not learn from the war in Vietnam... they went ahead and attacked a third world country again. Maybe they should of beefed up their guerilla warfare defensive?

[Major Dash]

Do you even know how much free health care would cost in the US? Way more than it does in Canada or Europe. The Iraq War would not have payed for universal health care for any significant amount of time.

[Bonez899]

Do you even know how much free health care would cost in the US? Way more than it does in Canada or Europe. The Iraq War would not have payed for universal health care for any significant amount of time.

Not quite sure on this, Canada still manages to spend only 11% of GDP on healthcare vs the American almost 18%.

[RpgGamer]

NO FREE HAND OUTS. BUILD THE WALL.

[Estonian dude]

And why the bloody [bleep] do you pay so much on health care? Do you get gold injected instead of physiological solution? Do you cover all your teeth in platinum? Do you create medicines from miracle weeds grown on the dark side of the moon?

We have the same equipment, the same medications and the same level of medical expertise in nearly the whole Europe. And why the heck should it cost so much more in the States of Trump?

 

For one, you can't deny emergency medical help. When a person is dying, he or she needs treatment and gets it, anywhere around the world. The costs are shared for the people who have insurance or have paid. You have a lot more people using emergency medical help if they cannot get help at the proper time when it isn't too late, however as they don't have insurance, they can't afford it.

I pay a small amount of tax for the healthcare of everybody in the country and I know that so far I am in the positive, by a lot. I got a $50K surgery (which costs just €2000 here) and my employer pays off a fraction of my salary, and I am okay with that. That thing goes automatically, I don't even have to think about it. I can visit my GP pretty much any day and not need to worry about costs and get an early idea when anything is not okay with my health. Also, we now have free dental care (up to a certain point).

 

You do know that it is cheaper to provide governmental housing for every homeless person than it is to keep them on the streets? The ER visits, crime, and cleaning for the people is more expensive then, for example, grant free access to the ghost towns in Detroit for example. It is pure greed and jealousy that makes you poorer. If you get homeless in America, you are screwed majestically in every single way.

A small. minuscule portion of my taxes goes to keep up homeless shelters. And I'm fine with that, as that means people don't start dropping dead on the streets when the colds or the heatwaves come.

 

[bleep], I do sound a bit commie. But I can't for the heck of me find any bad parts about that situation.

[Hedgehog]

And why the bloody [bleep] do you pay so much on health care? Do you get gold injected instead of physiological solution? Do you cover all your teeth in platinum? Do you create medicines from miracle weeds grown on the dark side of the moon?

We have the same equipment, the same medications and the same level of medical expertise in nearly the whole Europe. And why the heck should it cost so much more in the States of Trump?

 

For one, you can't deny emergency medical help. When a person is dying, he or she needs treatment and gets it, anywhere around the world. The costs are shared for the people who have insurance or have paid. You have a lot more people using emergency medical help if they cannot get help at the proper time when it isn't too late, however as they don't have insurance, they can't afford it.

I pay a small amount of tax for the healthcare of everybody in the country and I know that so far I am in the positive, by a lot. I got a $50K surgery (which costs just €2000 here) and my employer pays off a fraction of my salary, and I am okay with that. That thing goes automatically, I don't even have to think about it. I can visit my GP pretty much any day and not need to worry about costs and get an early idea when anything is not okay with my health. Also, we now have free dental care (up to a certain point).

 

You do know that it is cheaper to provide governmental housing for every homeless person than it is to keep them on the streets? The ER visits, crime, and cleaning for the people is more expensive then, for example, grant free access to the ghost towns in Detroit for example. It is pure greed and jealousy that makes you poorer. If you get homeless in America, you are screwed majestically in every single way.

A small. minuscule portion of my taxes goes to keep up homeless shelters. And I'm fine with that, as that means people don't start dropping dead on the streets when the colds or the heatwaves come.

 

[bleep], I do sound a bit commie. But I can't for the heck of me find any bad parts about that situation.

It's really hard for some people to want to subsidize others, especially when they're already living pay check to pay check. If you're in the working class and you can barely afford private health insurance, you probably aren't too eager to pay extra to cover your coworker's healthcare. Ideally, there wouldn't be a huge increase (or an increase at all) in taxes for people who can't afford it, but that's a problem that the millionaires in Washington don't want to solve.

[Bonez899]

 

And why the bloody [bleep] do you pay so much on health care? Do you get gold injected instead of physiological solution? Do you cover all your teeth in platinum? Do you create medicines from miracle weeds grown on the dark side of the moon?

We have the same equipment, the same medications and the same level of medical expertise in nearly the whole Europe. And why the heck should it cost so much more in the States of Trump?

 

For one, you can't deny emergency medical help. When a person is dying, he or she needs treatment and gets it, anywhere around the world. The costs are shared for the people who have insurance or have paid. You have a lot more people using emergency medical help if they cannot get help at the proper time when it isn't too late, however as they don't have insurance, they can't afford it.

I pay a small amount of tax for the healthcare of everybody in the country and I know that so far I am in the positive, by a lot. I got a $50K surgery (which costs just €2000 here) and my employer pays off a fraction of my salary, and I am okay with that. That thing goes automatically, I don't even have to think about it. I can visit my GP pretty much any day and not need to worry about costs and get an early idea when anything is not okay with my health. Also, we now have free dental care (up to a certain point).

 

You do know that it is cheaper to provide governmental housing for every homeless person than it is to keep them on the streets? The ER visits, crime, and cleaning for the people is more expensive then, for example, grant free access to the ghost towns in Detroit for example. It is pure greed and jealousy that makes you poorer. If you get homeless in America, you are screwed majestically in every single way.

A small. minuscule portion of my taxes goes to keep up homeless shelters. And I'm fine with that, as that means people don't start dropping dead on the streets when the colds or the heatwaves come.

 

[bleep], I do sound a bit commie. But I can't for the heck of me find any bad parts about that situation.

It's really hard for some people to want to subsidize others, especially when they're already living pay check to pay check. If you're in the working class and you can barely afford private health insurance, you probably aren't too eager to pay extra to cover your coworker's healthcare. Ideally, there wouldn't be a huge increase (or an increase at all) in taxes for people who can't afford it, but that's a problem that the millionaires in Washington don't want to solve.

 

Realistically though, that person no longer has to pay for private health insurance at that bracket because the increase in taxes they are paying would cover as much or more than the private insurance they are currently paying for.

[RpgGamer]

BUT MAH MUNNEE. THEM FREELOADERS ARE PUTTING THURR GRUBBY HANDS IN MAH POCKETS.

 

(I've officially come to terms with the fact that I'm a bit of a Communist myself)

[Estonian dude]

Well, yeah, in here it works that everyone pays a flat percentage, from the lowliest cleaner till the president herself. Which means that rich people pay more and poor people pay less.

 

And everyone equally gets the benefits.

 

Christ, that is COMMUNIST! TERRIBLE! BURN IT WITH NAPALM!

[Veiva]

A flat tax is regressive on the poor and progressive for the rich.

[Estonian dude]

It's equal. We have had flat taxes for pretty much all my memorable life.

 

And how is that regressive on the poor and progressive for the rich? You pay off a percentage of what you make, not a certain sum.

 

BTW, where's Muggi? He'd have something to say on the topic of the gorilla in the White House.

 

EDIT::Damn, he's been gone over a week and it was his birthday 2 days ago...

[Veiva]

You've got to be really out of it to think a flat tax is fair.

 

Flat tax hurts the poor. It's paired with sales tax (or equivalent) to compensate for the lack of government profit from income tax alone. The poor spend more of their income. Ergo, they pay more in sales tax. They have less income as a result.

 

So Bob pays 20% (Estonia's rate I think) in income, plus whatever VAT is. That's a much higher effective tax rate than 20%. For example, if they make $30,000 and spend $15,000, with a 20% VAT + 20% income tax, they're paying $9,000 in taxes, which is a 30% tax rate.

 

The rich's income comes from capital gains, among other things. In other words, money makes money. They rarely spend their money, and thus don't pay a proportionate portion in sales tax. A rich person makes $2 million and spends $500,000. Their effective tax rate is 25%.

 

edit: I'll use actual figures: https://www.bls.gov/cex/csxann11.pdf (See page 9. I truncate to the nearest thousands.)

 

Assuming a 20% income tax rate and a 20% VAT rate, those making between $30,000 and $40,000 would spend $11000 on average in taxes. (Let's assume housing isn't taxable). That's a 33% tax rate when compared against the average income of $34,000.

 

Assuming the same for the '$70,000' or more block, the average income is $130,000. They spend $37,000 on average in taxes, for an effective rate of 28%.

 

It only gets worse the higher the income. The rich don't spend money equal to their income. The burden falls onto those who do.

[Hedgehog]

Yeah flat taxes are really bad. They might work well in a country like Estonia that's small and doesn't have huge problems with wealth distribution, but a flat tax is a burden on the poor and middle class. Remember that most Americans spend almost all of their income, and that a tax hike could be crippling. Any state funded project has to be funded almost entirely by the rich if we want to see any actual human development. We can relax on progressive taxes once our middle class is actually able to afford to retire, but not until then.

[Estonian dude]

The thing to keep in mind here is that the more regulations you have the more you have loopholes about it. That's why huge corporations pay nearly no taxes. Heck, that's why Trump himself didn't pay taxes for years and most probably still doesn't. And loopholes only profit the rich.

Now I'm going out on a limb, but I guess the poor people on average pay a lot more in taxes in the US than the rich people, cause they don't have the knowledge or know-how to use the loopholes.

 

It's also why doing my taxes takes 2 minutes and an internet connection while in US it is pretty much mandatory to have a special accountant services for that if you want to save money.

[Veiva]

What does that have to do with flat tax being regressive on the poor? Nothing, that's what.

[Melos]

Today I came back home 2 hours late because I stayed at work for 2 hours late T.T.

[obfuscator]

A lot of economic policies end up being regressive, unfortunately. Some of them are independently still good policy (such as weighting more towards consumption rather than income taxes), so the regressive affects can be rebated, but there are plenty of poor policies that are also regressive. Like supply management in Canada, for example...yuck.

[Randox]

As far as American healthcare costs go, my understanding is that a large part of the problem is that hospitals are for profit, particularly coupled by an obligation to help anyone (to a point) regardless of their ability to pay. Combine that with things like more and more pharmaceutical monopolies, and things start getting really ridiculous. There is also the issue that it's often a lot cheaper in the long to pay continuously to keep someone healthy than it is to wait for them to deteriorate to the point where they need emergency care (at which point the hospital is obligated to help, no matter your ability to pay). That kind of cycle of medical care not only exacerbates medical issues, increasing overall medical costs, but it can interfere with your ability to get and hold down a job, meaning that now instead of paying income taxes, you're on social assistance. You can save an astounding amount of money just by keeping people out of hospital beds.

[RpgGamer]

I wish we lived in a world where talking about politics wasn't so important. I'd like to talk about other things but I just can't escape it. Also I know I have to talk about it or else I yield power to the oppressive forces before me.

 

But ffs my DnD session gother cut short because we all started rambling about how shitty Trump is. I can't escape. :wall: