theneverfox

This was news to the people who needed to hear it

It's another notch in the wall. We all wish the wall would come down already... But it will be painfully slow and all encompassing

But every notch does matter

Yeah, well this is new information for the people who need to hear it

I think a progressive wave is inevitable at this point, but it would be very cool if it was a total sweep

Analysts have already said a lot of the new gerrymandering has Republicans net losing seats, but even predictions are being beat by double digit percentage points in the elections on the ground

It could definitely happen

It's a very meaningful difference, because these two things (spending and taxing) aren't actually related

Think of it like watering a plant. Watering is spending, and taxation is drainage. What actually matters is how wet the soil is

Our problem isn't the spending, it's that the drainage is bad. We have too much stagnant money. No amount of watering or not watering could fix that... The plant still needs water, even as mold in the bottom of the pot hurts the plant

Generally, taxes are drainage. As money moves around, a little bit drains out of the system at each step

Tarrifs aren't drainage, they're flow restrictiors. They reduce the amount of money moving around, which doesn't help the situation

It's not a perfect metaphor, but to strip it all away - the problem is that billionaires and speculation are collecting money in massive hoards, and the velocity of the money is zero

The actual health of an economy is the velocity of money, the amount in the system is secondary

I hated it because it was totally unbelievable, just a paternalistic rationalization for authority

I was confronted with the knowledge that the adults around me all thought the only thing keeping me from murdering someone was layers of rules and supervision. Like we're all just rabid animals barely held back by a watchful eye

Even then, I knew myself better than that. I knew people better than that

But that's how our society treats people. Like monsters that must be managed

I'll do you one better. Gloves off, brass knuckles on. I'm so tired of politicians, and people in general, not understanding where we are

It is a tough ask, especially now, which is why I'm not asking. I do think it's unreasonable to ask

But I'd like to remind the people in that position that it is an option. People tend to dismiss options they should seriously think through...It's not an easy option, but it might be worse than the alternative

Yeah, and a county could say "you can't do business in our county anymore" and block them

A country can ban dildos, but they don't get to tell a foreign factory they can't make dildos. If an importer orders dildos anyways, that's between the importer and customs. Which in this case the importer is the ISP

Because they don't work as phones, at least not for practical use

No one has cracked it yet, some projects seem to be getting close, but the radio in a phone is a very complicated and poorly documented black box

I do reject her because she's a bad boss

I think we need to change how we look at politicians. If they're abusive to their staff, why would they care about the people? Why would they care about Palestinians? Why would they care about anything other than getting more power for the sake of having it?

The measure of a (wo)man is how they treat the people under them or something

Well, considering how fucked things are right now...

1. I gather up the publicly active billionaires and bring them into stage with me before starting a speech on inequality, really digging into the fact that they probably don't feel safe in public anymore, then I announce that "these industry leaders have volunteered to help fix this, and will be staying in Washington until we have a plan". During the speech, I'd kick out their entourage and after I'd trade out their phones for ones that can only make calls

2. I'd keep guards everywhere and make pointed implicit threats, but leave that wiggle room for civility. I'd use this distraction to keep other parties from interfering as I sic the FTC, SEC, and FCC on trust busting basically the entire economy. I'd have the NSA help behind the scenes to speed up this process, hell I'd expand the judiciary just for this purpose, to push it through as fast as possible

3. I'd deploy the national guard everywhere to basically open soup kitchens and shelters. I'd probably send in large portions of the military as well - we have the resources and logistics to feed everyone for an extended period of time, so I'd use it to mitigate the short term damage

4. I'd call on other world leaders for aid. I'd make a big speech about collapsing empires and the dangers of the coming dark age. I'd call for a new age of cooperation and solidarity as equals, of breaking the cycle by playing another game. I'd ask for medicine and aid workers from around the world to help us through our trying time, then I'd parade out the billionaires to let them announce their plans to use their wealth to create jobs (and make sure they talk about how they want a world where they can feel safe, no matter how forced). Not all of them would make an appearance, but they'd all pop up later

5. From there I'd try to stabilize this whole mess legislatively. I'd overturn citizens united by making it expressly illegal with huge penalties, come up with a transition plan to nationalize healthcare, I'd create a program to buy food from independent farmers at cost to keep the soup kitchens open, I'd expand the supreme Court and put restrictions on them, and as things settle I'd make a big deal about restricting certain powers I used to get all of this through

It would be a huge mess. Like a total shit show. The plan is to basically turn the economy off and on again without loss of life

But I'd make sure people had food, housing, and hope for the future. They'd be terrified day 1, they'd be terrified as they lose their jobs and the stock market disappears, but then they'd have people going door to door arranging free food deliveries and healthcare. The power would stay on. The Internet would still be up. The evictions wouldn't come... And

I'd make a show of limiting my own power, and it would be largely true... But we really have to rework a lot of things, and I'd get the public buy in to do that by becoming a firm lifeline for them. I'd move much more slowly from then on

So that's my 100 day plan. Flip the table, burn the boats, then hold things together by giving people what they need until they can reorganize bottom up

I think I'd be reelected, I think I'd have to firmly reject a third term

Holy shit I think that's actually what he meant