Submitted by [deleted] t3_1105aof in Futurology
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Submitted by [deleted] t3_1105aof in Futurology
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The Super American Patriot Services You Deserve Kick Ass Assault Weapon Services Program.
Patriot Pay. Money you get just for being an American.
I can't stop thinking about if you actually renamed it this you'd probably see a 50% increase in support.
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Bro patriot pay would play so well in the buttfuck backwater states that get all the extra votes
this is brilliant.
Throw two of those in there actually. Anywhere.
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Old republicans have problem w social security tho.
Because they keep taking money from it with no intention of paying it back
Yup. Both parties do it but GOP is way more anti democracy. Pete Buttigeg refuses to reinstate Obama era brake policies that would have prevented the train derailment in Ohio that Trump took away. Money runs both parties but I still just vote blue because one side has just completely lost their minds wanting to establish an authoritarian theocracy which closely resembles the damn Taliban.
Could you elaborate the train policy bit?
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This literally is the dumbest thing I have read on here in a while. The delusion is strong with this one!!!
both sides want to establish authoritarianism .. the left will just do it by controlling the handouts. I have know fucking clue what the right is doing, but if you think they actually have a plan vs running around like fucking idiots, you're a better man than I
When did Democrats try to take over democracy? Who attempted a coup and work to gerrymander and make voting difficult for people? You’re equivalency is a fallacy. Next you’re going to compare Bernie sanders to Kim Jung un lol.
democrats gerrymander too.. not really a secret.
Democracy?/Sanders.. how about when the dnc turned and worked against sanders so hillary could be on the ticket? Against the voters will?
> You’re equivalency is a fallacy
This is a weird statement given the state of current affairs.
Democracy, has already been taken over by populists who peddle the idea that you are better off when the government takes care of you. The free press which is supposed to protect democracy, in many cases finds itself a willing/unwilling partner in it's demise.
Let me ask you this. If a major incident were to occur, say something that had the potential to shake up the party in power.. say it's the party right now.. do you believe it would get the play time it deserves, do you think the truth will be curated by some deeply committed journalist that believes in democracy so much, he puts everything at stake to get the story? Or, do you believe the party in power, knowing that something was going to leak out would first meet with it's incident handlers, "leak" it to a few trusted journalists who downplay the incident and then call their partners in the media and persuade them of the narrative?
As a nation, we've got our heads so far up our ass, that if something doesn't change soon, we are all screwed.. for several generations
“Here’s some money, we’ve already locked various commodities prices so go ahead” would be nice.
If they impose price controls its all over. We DO NOT want that. Shortages would only get much MUCH worse
Or human rights
No no no that’s a bunch of commie talk
I've thought for a while now that socialism needs a good re-brand!
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I don’t know, Basic Universal Services is BUS, and public transit sounds a lot like socialism to me
/s
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Out of the woodwork crawl the people whining about what it'll cost. These same assholes don't ask how we pay trillions of dollars for war, spending more than any other country by several multiples, more than the next 9 highest spending countries combined.
Easy, here we go:
Done, paid for. We probably wouldn't even have to cut defense.
Next problem.
Stop making sense man. We’ll have nothing to argue about.
But then how will the health insurance overlords and medical groups be able to bilk us for a ridiculous amount of money? What about their yachts? Did you even stop to consider their yachts?
You could eliminate Medicare/Medicade military healthcare Known as tricare food stamps and the other bureaucratic social services and merge it into the social security administration and use every citizens social security number to deliver the money directly into there checking accounts therefore bypassing the states and all of their individual bureaucratic bloat. this could save many tens of billions in bureaucratic costs you could call it basic universal services.
I can’t believe that no one has ever thought of closing tax loopholes and digging into the lucrative profits of all those churches! Reddit once again proving it’s the last intellectual haven on earth.
Your sarcasm adds nothing. The fact that no one has acted on those concepts demonstrates that our politicians do not act in our best interest but for corporate interests. Until we get sincere representatives, nothing significantly good is going to happen.
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Although we should and the defense department agrees. So much of the spending is waste. Inflated cost to contractors
With that you're so right you wouldn't even need to cut defense spending.
However, a 10% decrease in defense spending also would cover it and it wouldn't upset all the oligarchs (meaning it might pass)
It would upset the oligarchs who are heavily invested in defense contractors.
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I’m pretty sure many these same people are critical about the money we spend on wars etc considering most people think we spend an absurd amount of money in general.
I’m confused, it sounds like you are suggesting taxing churches will lead to significant tax revenue? It’s always crazy this idea is so popular on Reddit when there’s so many simple reasons it’s a bad idea. Now some people that say it just want churches to be classified as regular non profits, or they don’t care about the money and just have a hate boner for churches, but those that actually want the tax revenue make the least sense as it’s so easily disprovable.
US churches revenue is about $75 billion a year. Assuming we classify them as corporations, they have a super high profit margin of 20% (that’s not the case irl), and they don’t get any tax dedications so they pay the full 21% corporate tax rate, that ridiculously liberal estimate still only means $3 billion in taxes.
With how much waste that is in the military, it’s sensible to cut funding, as much as 400 billion. If we raise corporate taxes 4%, that will bring in 480 billion. If we halve healthcare cost down to what other countries spend, that saves about 2 trillion. Putting something that even in a best case hypothetical, brings in a couple billion, in the top 3 priorities is laughable (and that’s ignoring all the other problems with it).
And, once again, if we are going for tax revenue, forcing billionaires to actually pay their income tax won’t help much either, as they almost entirely make their wealth off capital gains and/or already possess the money. Even a wealth tax on just billionaires is suboptimal. Billionaires have $12 trillion in wealth. Those worth between 10 million and a billion? $80 trillion.
So how about this
• health care
• eliminate tax loopholes
• weath tax and higher capital gains tax for those worth $10 million+
The churches part just won't ever happen... Seperation of church and state. Plus strong legal precedent. The rest, maybe ....
So when those corporations and billionaires leave who’s going to pay for it?
Yeah.....just eliminate all the tax loopholes. That's so easy. Then remove the special status religion has enjoyed since the founding. That'll go over so well. No revolts will be had. No one will die. Such a smart idea 🫠
Do you suppose all the “revolts” you speak of would kill more people than currently die of hunger, homelessness, poverty, etc.? That’s a pretty high bar.
I may be insane, but I genuinely believe that the Bible belt alone would kill more Americans than starvation, homelessness, and poverty. Just my opinion, but I believe that revoking religious tax exemption would in fact lead to war, and in turn far more death.
I think pastors are going to have a harder time using their profit margins to motivate their congregations to war. Also, war with who? How about where? You give way too much credit to America's bible belt.
War with the federal government. Again, maybe I am giving them too much credit, but if those same pastors would frame "the government" as a satanic force of (expletives for abortion, gay rights, globalization, diversity, etc.).
It would only take a few bad people in a few key positions of influence to take advantage of a bad situation. I hope I'm wrong. I hope I'm wrong, and this is all schizophrenic nonsense, but I would ask you to spend some time on the fringes of Odyssey and Bitchute, and tell me I'm wrong.
the bandaid is gonna have to get ripped off eventually.
Only stupid people would die on those hills.
So…..a win? 🙃
And do you think those "stupid people" will just lay down and die, or do you think they'll crack open the gun safe and take a few (explicit terms for progressives) with them?
You can dismiss their intelligence. You can't deny their access, and pretelection for the use of, firearms.
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You could get trillions by removing the statute of limitations on tax crimes.
This would have zero unintended fallout and would really help strengthen the confidence in the US legal system
I’m good with it. There are whales who disappear for seven years, then magically reappear. The level of investigation it would take to find these people is grade school level.
Do you think that perhaps the issue may not be with the laws and rather the investigators? I’m going to give you a hint that the people who end up getting hammered by the federal government and prosecutors aren’t the ones with legal teams and financial firms behind them.
Don’t you think flipping the script and changing the rules that allow the whales to violate the system is a better tact than leaving things in place?
The investigators are tied up in red tape and thousand page returns. You’re looking at number of “audits” to declare the system is rigged and the people investigating are corrupt. The IRS has nation state level computer programs to check simple returns. Every time someone misplaces a dollar, miscounts dependents, tries to claim someone else’s dependent, or even counts wrong an exception is generated. Then the IRS sends out a notice of correction and that counts as one of your numbers. People with tax attorneys are far less likely to make simple arithmetic errors, but they do have the means to obfuscate or disappear. The way you’re counting is wrong in how you’re going about claiming corruption.
Overhaul the entire American political system, eliminating legalized bribery (Citizens United) and racist gerrymandering (Shelby County). And while you're at it implementing a new Constitution, strip power from the senate.
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I also favor splitting this country up. Liberals can have their own country, conservatives can have theirs. Everyone will be happy.
Except for all the people trapped in fascist America. Or were you imagining an American version of the Partition? How did that work out for India and Pakistan?
Lol well since the British wouldn’t be drawing the borders in America I imagine it would go much better than Pakistan/India. You realize that there are far more states that vote Republican right? I highly doubt that the majority of those people would consider a conservative government “fascist”. Same as not everyone in a liberal country would consider their state socialist or whatever -ist fits best.
You...know not everyone living in Red States is a Republican, right? What happens to them? If they are black, women, gay or trans, we just abandon them to a brand new country that openly despises them? Sounds like an awesome solution!
Lol I mean I’m just assuming that everyone would move where they wanted. You know X group might not want to live in future Republic of Texas so they move to Republic of Illinois, or Y group leaves The Pennsylvania Commonwealth to go live in The commonwealth of South Carolina. No idea how any of it would work in a random future. Hell there might be 50 independent countries, or 5. My point is that splitting up America would solve a whole lot of issues.
Sure, yeah, millions of people abandoning everything and moving hundreds of miles away. What could go wrong?
All sorts of things. I would assume that the states would all welcome new arrivals to replace people leaving, but I have no idea. It would be crazy for sure. Or we could just keep going the way we are and have a civil war that would just have the same results with more deaths.
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Better get ready for the meta verse in that case. Can you honestly see the kind of vast political change that would need to happen to make any of this possible
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I would just like to live in a country that actually functions and where my values are represented. That won’t happen until this country gets split up. Neither side will ever have a super majority of all 3 branches to just push their agenda through
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I think that our founders had no idea how much the world would change. I can’t say it’s their fault, who would have thought 13 colonies would become the worlds biggest super power in less than 200 years? Not to mention how much society has changed.
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Overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, then adjust the tax code to eliminate corporate welfare.
It can’t be implemented and it won’t. Not unless the United States has a huge political shift to the left. The US can’t even get every state to accept expanded Medicare benefits, even more free things on top of the free housing, food, and cell phones just won’t be possible. You might have a few liberals cities or even states to try and implement some form of it, but that’s the max.
The US is gerrymandered up to its eyeballs. Our politicians don't really represent us. If we can get rid of unlimited corporate political spending and make gerrymandering illegal, the US will swiftly and "magically" move left.
I think you are imaging that every state is really completely packed with liberals who yearn to make their state just like California when that is not the case. Gerrymandering won’t make the south, mid west or west suddenly vote democratic. Ending corporate money and union money however would make the system better though.
>ke gerrymandering illegal, the US will swiftly and "magically" move left.
get rid of Citizens United. Corporations are not people.
Gerrymandering does not affect the US Senate or the Electoral College (other than ME and NE).
The US Senate is your best measure of what the realistic trajectory of the US is, and is definitely nowhere near as left as rando Redditors wish it were,
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This, unfortunately.
People in this thread are confusing "what could theoretically fund a program like this" vs. actually implementing it. Getting members of congress to draft provisions, agree to even talk about it, much less even vote on it to pass it, is what it takes to get it done. That's not happening.
I appreciate some people are very optimistic that certain things will change for the better, but I’m too realistic/cynical/jaded to have much hope. Maybe when I see our political system perform basic functions without all out wars over the tiniest things I’ll have more faith.
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Make the wealthy and corporations pay their taxes, provide services.
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Just some questions
How much if my paycheck would I keep after these basic services are forcefully removed from my earnings? Despite what people think these things are not free, and no the rich will not pay for everything.
Seeing housing is included, so I choose where I live? Or does an agency decide for me?
Can I choose where my kids go to school? Seeing that’s provided as well, or again does an agency decide for me?
How about Dr’s? Do we choose our own providers? We currently make a roughly 3 hour trip for one of my son’s specialists because the one that’s closer is a moron.
Transportation, will that be limited to public transportation limiting where I can go in a whim? Or as stated earlier for medical appointments?
I’m surprised you didn’t mention food, but if that was provided would my meals be chosen for me and my family as well?
What happens if you don’t like what’s provided? Or they want to force you to follow a specific diet to decrease the cost of the free healthcare you get?
Good questions.
Looks like they have been ignored.
I would love to see someone who’s in favor of this answer these.
well first we'll have to eliminate the corporations attempting to sell those same services to us
Honestly, it would take policies and investments that I just don't see as being pushed through in any meaningful way.
It would take money from the very corporations that no longer require the labor that enabled them to remove said labor.
The incentive to NOT spend valuable profits on people they don't need anymore just doesn't exist.
The government COULD force them to do so, but they will lobby as much as possible to stop that from happening in any meaningful way.
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We should just have it so each person self funds their own universal basic services and chooses which services they want to use, that would be a great way to do it.
Just as long as if you opt out of the health care part you don’t show up to a hospital and expect anyone to treat you because in your “opt in/opt out” world, you opted out.
This is actually where Libertarians and Conservatives diverge, and why L’s would support a UBI under those terms, while the Conservatives realize that that’s not realistic.
They'd have to put it in a capitalist and individualist framework. UBI seems like the most likely first step. You can slap Patriotism onto healthcare and, idk, advertise it as a new stake in the frontier and path to forge your own destiny for housing?
America is all about branding. Just don't set off the communism alarms, and you can pretty much do whatever you want.
This could be achieved but I think first we are gonna probably go full Gilead before people really “get it” you know?
Are you trying to make Europe poor? They barely afford it with the universal healthcare and military aid we provide already.
Won't happen.
You'd have to either disempower or completely reprogram about half of the country. Even if the GOP was on board with the idea, they have convinced many of the very people who desperately need those services that they are somehow evil.
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We'll get this only after every billionaire gets an extra billion dollars a year from the government.
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Stop senseless warmongering all over the world, fix relationships with important countries, invest in STEM education, fix infrastructure and balance the budget so that trillions aren’t spent on paying off interest.
Basically, it can’t be done
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This has a greater likelihood of implementation after CBDC's are running amok.
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As long as the enemies have these benefits, the political parties and media will continue to tell you that youalready have it better than anyone else.
The basic function of capitalism is to create competition and scarcity. The way our political climate is set now this will never happen without significant structural changes.
Reduce the population by 95%, institute a slave caste with IQ throttles to 85 MAX for hard labor and automate industrial production.
Aka, not remotely possible in the current state of affairs. You’d have to solve the “free loader problem” AND the cognitive workforce demands/lifestyle creep of the wealthiest nation on the planet.
Considering American Healthcare system is purely for profit and have been systematically destroying England’s NHS to set up the same profit engine there - it won‘t happen until there are massive nationwide protests. Nixon sold out the country.
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I'm sure this will be one of the ideas floating around after the next civil war. We will be broken into districts and forced to fight proxy wars against each other to justify our military spending. A California birth certificate will be worth its weight on gold.
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I just hope all this ML goes towards printing tech. If we can print resources, we'll be fine.
Either the US (and the West in general) become socialist in the next few decades or the world will die.
Rule 2 - Submissions must be futurology related or future focused.
The US would first have to get rid of a certain political party that openly works to kill poor people.
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It’s very easy to do this from a technical standpoint. Other countries already do. The problem is the USA enjoys making money off the sick and dying, and charging its children for education. And of course there’s no profit in providing affordable housing and public transportation. We are basically ruled by Ferengi. So the answer is massive political change.
Solve metabolic disease so that people don’t need so much healthcare.
First start with term limits for all elected/appointed seats, including judicial. No more lifers/forever reelected.
Corporate world and (private interest/other countries enemies) are crushing the US population over greed via pocket congress-person who's only interest is getting elected with no agenda to help US citizens.
Next lowering, even to $0, for Power and Water/Sewer will have to happen.
Next removal of healthcare options from all businesses. This should have never been an option for businesses to offer. This should have been a separate service and not tied to who you work for. Too many are stuck at dead end jobs for fear of losing their healthcare.
Next healthcare, schooling, childcare (even college) needs to be lower, even to $0.
Next new type of housing need to be developed, this should be something that can be movable, floatable, and have ability to be connected in sections in a modular designs with possible stacking on other housing with lower housing able to be move out from under other units..
Housing addresses will at this point will be bot guided to that location via ground, water, or air drone deliveries.
These units will basically be for the life of the owner with upgrading options, add-ons and extra space sections that can be added/removed when needed or not wanted.
Movable is meant for units to have option to be closer to owner's needs like work or relatives or medical reasons.
Floatable is meant for times for floods or other storms, its assumed this units will be semi domed to help against wind, structured against quakes, and lastly fire protected.
The US needs a new world war to get on top again. That might be why only now they are doing tangible things again Russia.
God, I just want to sit on my ass and play video games, maybe a little Couch Activism as well. Basically, take money from others and give me free shit.
I'm pretty sure it's going to be absolutely necessary. AI is about to explode. Chat gpt is the single most impressive technology I've ever seen! The next 10 years are going to be wild.
Yes. Forget the capitalst framework stuff. Capitalism is not good.
Yes. World wide, per capita.
They aren’t going to. They’re going to make 80% of us homeless. It’s already been decided
It can’t, it is not profitable, so they won’t do. USA is a grind machine for its people.
Pick any European country with it working already, such as Germany or Sweden and literally copy their model.
Germany for example provides universal healthcare cheaper than the US, with better health outcomes, quicker, and whilst providing competitive physician salaries. They even have means based default offer private health insurance for those who want it.
Removing the GOP is the only way it could even have a chance
Well, if we taxed the very rich at the same level as we taxed the guy who works at McD's, we'd have UBS in pretty short order.
Not sure that works the way you think it works. The guy who works at McD pays no Federal income tax (probably gets a refundable EITC) and no direct Federal sales tax. Everything else varies by state and city.
Oh you could have done that decades ago but you keep voting for republicans
Really, until we get our financial situation more balanced, it can't happen. We would have to:
Even if something like that could happen, and I sincerely doubt that it will ever happen, there would be a lot of problems. None of them are insurmountable except for greed.
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Flat taxes are inherently regressive.
Anyone that clamors for flat taxes are either stupid and heard it once in some college class or is rich enough to ignore it.
Sales tax and Sin taxes punish the poor, not the rich.
Way, way more political activism and actual commitment to political causes.
We could raise tax rates on high income earners, corporations, close loopholes, raise capital gains taxes etc.
Then use that increased revenue to responsibly and sustainably invest in the health, welfare, and education of every American.
But... every single Republican would object.
Because every politician from both parties would make sure it lines their pockets instead of going where it’s needed.
They can't. It's not politically viable. The average American isn't willing to make the sacrifices short term to save down the road. America's left want to try and sell it as something you can just 'bill corporations' to do. It's not how these things work. You pay more taxes and you get those things.
The path in the past was to make cuts to the US military and use that money to fund it. But with relations with Russia flaring up again... that position is also not politically viable.
I really hope not.
Ignore this stuff, apparently I need to have “More words” or if I feel that I can’t expand on what I have to say I need to contact the mods; but I’m not about to contact some neckbeard on a power trip over a comment on Reddit.
Ps. To the mod that’s reading this and about to take it down; I’m surprised that you can even properly type on your keyboard from all the extra fat on your fingers. Maybe skip that second large pizza next time?
You're really mad that the mods want you to have something more valuable to say than "Nuh-uh"?
This will never, ever happen. The United States will dissolve as a nation before it happens. Half of the US states are third-world Christofascist theocracies & proud of it.
The only thing free the US Government should supply is the list below.
Nadda.
Nadda
Nadda.
>nly thing free the US Government shou
For those that pay taxes my ass. My taxes pay for roads, defense, public transportation, public schools, Libraries, ect. There is no reason that tax money cant be used to better benefit the population that is having to pay so heavily into it.
This is what our taxes should pay for but they are busy spending it on proxy wars and black projects and don’t have time to deal with our petty issues like roads, power grid, homelessness etc.
You'd have to infiltrate academia, the news, and entertainment and slowly warp the minds of the populace over several generations. They'd have to be taught that the very idea of a free society is selfish and inhumane. You'd use some excuse to convince them to live in cubicles, eat bugs, and consume as few resources as possible. It's evolution would start as a Chinese model, quickly transition into the North Korean model before reaching it's desired form, the Star Trek Borg model. Neurolink and AI are going to be sweet! No more avoiding the actual hammers and sickles. It will be utopia.
Nations wide #411 powder and diaper your bottom service vans
How much will is cost and how would we propose funding it?
It already does. The fact you haven't noticed shows how bad of an idea it is.
For clarification, universal in this case means available to all, not need-based as we currently have with many programs.
I agree with you OP, in spirit and principal, but the truth is all of these things are subsidized seven ways. We just won't pull the trigger on having the subsidies extended all the way to all of the people.
Nothing is free, so someone would have to pay for all this, people who work and support themselves would be paying for people who don’t work and contribute to the system.
It’s not really a solvable problem, someone somewhere is losing
Uh, no? It's a system we would pay into, yes, but it would be a system that works for all. There are people who can't work (elderly, disabled, etc.) and they deserve access to those systems, even if they're not able to directly contribute to them. These services would also help the working people by not stripping us of every cent we make. I would be totally willing to pay more taxes if it meant I never had to pay for another doctor visit or medicine again. I would also want my taxes going into systems that I may not need but others do. It's called being a basic human being. You should try it sometime.
There has never been a system that works for all. If such a system was proposed, it would be contorted until it was unrecognizable within a decade. Europe can only afford that level of care because of A) overseas economic colonialism and B) having their entire defense budget subsided by the US.
If the US stopped subsidizing Europe, they would never be able to afford universal healthcare, but the US might.
.....The U.S. is the richest country in the world. Try again.
Okay, second try:
My first point. Such a system is only possible in a world of saints. In our world the system would, in the end, only abuse those most in need, and in all likelihood just lead to corruption. Greed is a powerful thing, and it festers when there's that much money being gathered and redistributed.
And the system we have now works perfectly well, right, and isn't currently abusing poor people? lol okay. The point is, the U.S. is capable of implementing a system that benefits everyone. We're already corrupt by greedy people and corporations.
The U.S. is literally the only developed nation in the world that doesn't have a universal healthcare system. No, it doesn't take saints to make it work.
The system we have now is trash. I'm of the (admittedly nihilistic) opinion that nothing that replaces it will be materially better.
I want universal healthcare as much as the next 20 something. I just don't agree that the US is capable of it.
It's absolutely capable of it, but okay. We know how to do it, but until politicians are unable to be bribed and corporations aren't worshipped, no, we won't get anywhere. I have some faith that as Gen Zs come into the world of politics, we could see some shifts.
I admire your optimism. I hope you're right. I hope I'm wrong.
But I totally understand. This country sucks. I'm sorry if my responses were a bit snarky.
Don't be. I'm a little too pessimistic myself, and on some level the snark reminds me that this is just Reddit, and we're just normal people throwing our ideas around. Sorry for my attitude, and safe travels in cyberspace.
I simply provided my opinion and your first course of action was to insult my character and say I’m not a decent human blah blah blah.
You didn’t refute my point of how someone somewhere would be footing the bill so someone else can get free shit, that is not a sustainable system and would obviously be abused
I like how you're worried about people abusing a system but not the billionaires getting free rides and money off of exploitation and giving money to our politicians so they can essentially make the rules. I don't give a shit about poor people cheating and abusing a system, to be honest with you. I don't really know how someone can abuse a system that's providing free healthcare, education, and other needed resources, though? lol explain that to me.
If you want to pay more taxes and have all of these things why not move to a country that does this and see if it works for you?
Are you gonna pay my moving expenses? If so, I'd be happy to. You're regurgitating the same shit my hardcore Republican parents spew. lmfao
Maybe you should listen to them, they sound more sensible than you.
Yeeeeeeah. Republicans are known to not be of high intelligence, so no thanks. Republicans are not sensible people. They're pathetic, which explains your dumbass comments.
You are a bot without question
Really? That’s your argument?
delawarebeerguy t1_j871vvy wrote
They could start by renaming it 'Basic Universal Services' to avoid triggering the Socialism alarm