Nah, they're smart enough. But the funding has to be in the proper places. That's why the millionaire congressmen (mostly on the right) have been steadily defunding the IRS for decades. It takes a ton of resources to take down a big time tax crook, like say Trump, so instead the bare bones IRS office is relegated to pursuing poor and middle class America who can't afford to defend a full audit and just wind up paying.

But if we fund the proper watchdog agencies, the big time crooks can get hit and serious money can flow into the coffers, removing some of the burden from us Hoi polloi. Look at the Mueller fiasco - that recovered $46 million from Manafort alone.

I guess I just think our government can and should do better. Otherwise why are we even still here, voting?

You have business cars and dump trucks for work. You are not who I'm talking about when I say 4th car. I'm talking 4 Porches and Lexus and a summer Corvette with three ATVs in the winter chalet, etc. The point is to make those not paying their fair share do so. I'm working lower middle class here, and I agree, we pay a lot - and enough.

Nah, I'm eternally abrasive and cantankerous. It's in my peasant blood.

Oooh! Tell me more, Daddy Warbucks! Drop that rich man knowledge on the peasants! This is why we need to be ruled by millionaires in the senate and white house - you know so much about where to put big boats! I'm sitting here dreaming of dinghy! Pish posh!

Because1 if you were to ask poor ol' raggedy me where's the cheapest place to store your big boat, I'd only have one answer - and the closest it gets to Maine is right up your Mass. ;)

Good. Double it on you again - especially seeing that you have "I boat in Maine with Muffy and Buffy" money. :)

Class warfare is the millionaire and billionaire politicians making tax and economic policy for the nation even though they don't know the price of milk.

Class warfare is almost all new wealth going straight to the top while families struggle to make ends meet.

Class warfare is big pharma using tax-payer money to research and develop life-saving drugs that they turn around and mark-up 10,000% to where the people who paid to develop it now can't afford it and die.

Stop regurgitating phrases and words you hear on Fox News.

Raise the taxes on 2nd homes, 4th cars, and boats that cost over $75k instead.

Ah, you were the guy at the slave auctions bidding on slaves and yelling, "I don't agree with these laws, but give me that guy over there! Also, Johnson is sleeping with his slave in the field for everyone to see, so lock him up and give me his property! Once again, I disagree with these laws!"

Fuck outta here, you four-lipped snitch-loving dipshit, speaking out two sides of a paper asshole.

EDIT: Figures you would go out snitching and then hiding your comment from me. What a punk. Had you pegged from the jump. Go lick some boots.

EDIT 2: Since Reddit shadowbanned me from replying to Corey - It's scary how far you had to put your head up your ass to think that THAT was the comparison. Please don't breed.

Your reading comprehension is fucked. The article literally stated someone reported it, not that a monitoring agency found it.

And your worldview is superfucked. Just because something is legal or illegal (or whatever the hell 'legs begal' is lol) doesn't make it right.

Stop snitching.

Be nice to know who reported the video. Wonder if it was his competition or your typical rat Karen bastard who just can't stand seeing people enjoy life.

Fake outrage? Pfft. I grew up in the South Bronx where we survived the cops more than we did the streets. My eyes were forced open literally at gunpoint on playgrounds as a kid.

You may be black, but you're also a fucking moron if you don't see the problem with police unions. Take that shit to St. Elsewhere.

No, fuck that. Cops use their union to literally get away with murder while keeping their jobs and pensions.

And fuck you for trying to compare that to slavery and racism. There's no such thing as a blue life - you can take the shirt off. Black people can't take their skin color off, and cops are shooting them because of it and using unions to get away with it.

Wow. The lion the witch and the audacity of this bitch to try to compare indoor and outdoor slaves to being against how police unions sanction murder.

Schultz is appearing before Bernie's committee today to answer for just that.

That's the thing here: Starbucks hasn't even started negotiations with ANY of the nationwide shops that unionized. They simply raised pay for all shops except ones that voted to unionize, telling these "union shops" they'd have to wait for negotiations to work out their pay raises.

In particular to the Shelburne location: all the union-planning employees have left (revolving door) and none of the current employees want to step up to represent the store during talks...not that Starbucks is even ready to talk.

I'm pro-union (except for police unions) but understand unions won't work in industries with revolving door employment - that's what's happening here and with some supermarkets that have unionized. Unions work best in skill occupations. But everyone can try to unionize - just expect bad results if the company sees swarms of "disposable" employees lined up behind you waiting to work the job for 5 months before leaving. The company has no reason to kowtow, and that's just how it is. Sucks.

I had 3 years as well, still had to pay. No clue how any of it works - maybe they're just out to get us flatlanders lol

Hang in there until May/June - Vermont becomes 100% worth it (minus the ticks).

Apparently it pays to drive old jalopies up here. The older and rustier, the better. Kinda backwards considering how emissions crazy Vermont is. You'd figure they'd want more newer cars on the road, but nope - they tax the hell out of them and let the death traps slide.

Have you had the pleasure of an inspection yet? Apparently thats where they fuck everyone. Lol. Glad mine passed with flying colors, but it took an hour and a half of actual testing. Down in NC it's like 10 mins in the drive-thru shelter and you're good to go.

Still, this is my only big gripe with Vermont.

Someone said they did the "sell to spouse" trick last time a DMV thread came up. Guess they lied then, who knows.

Hey! Whaddya mean "no one actually answered" the question?! :*(

That store voted to unionize and then all the employee leaders quit for other jobs. The DM had it in for the store manager and eventually fired her for failing to prevent the union vote (though blamed it on failure to staff the store - a store no one wants to work at because the pay is less than other stores that didn't unionize).

As it stands, none of the current employees are stepping up to start talks so it was a big fucking bust that cost a bunch of people their jobs. Now that store has none of the recent raises that the other stores have, and there's no way they're getting any union benefits within the next two years because they can't get anyone to head the talks with Starbucks - not that Starbucks has agreed with ANY store in the US to give union contracts.

The best thing that can happen to that lpcation is it shuts down.

Just sell it to your spouse for a dollar and have them register and tell the DMV to go fuck themselves with their hoops. Wish I'd have known about that loophole before they robbed me for $900 in sales tax for a truck I already paid sales tax on twice in North Carolina (once at lease start and once at lease buyout).

Other things the DMV in VT has done:

• Marked the wrong sex on my license
• Mailed me a registration sticker with no sticker in it
• Made me sit in a crowded room 4 hours past my appointment for something that is done online everywhere else

I never fully appreciated the DMV hatred trope depicted in movies and shows until I moved to Vermont.

They only ship the cow because it gives more milk per milking thanks to the conversion into the metric system. They avoid re-conversion loss on the way back to the States because the milk is frozen.

Ah yes, Vermont's lone air balloon. Quite rare.

We should set their salary by their record. Every 6 months we go online and see a list of their votes/bills and then award them a set amount per vote or bill we agree with. Saved some turtles? That's a $2k per year raise. Voted to deregulate banks? Lose $5k.

But, Fyucker - won't the two sides just cancel each other out? Not if the politicians focus on what we ALL want.

Sure, there are probably flaws in this system, but I just made it up and I don't get paid to fix politics, plus the flaws could be ironed out.

Docs set up shop mostly where they went to school. They're lured away to other areas by big money. There's no big money in Vermont. There are barely any docs here. Expect to wait 6 mos to a year for any appointment, maybe 3 mos if it's a important. Otherwise it's the ER or urgent care and they won't be too happy to see you. Then they'll reference you somewhere for a followup in 6 months. It's insane - I say that coming from Raleigh where you can get in same day or week to see most docs.