Vyvyan Basterd

Bezos on CNBC: "You could double the taxes I pay, and it's not gonna help that teacher in Queens. I promise you."

I love how we all accept this as truth, or as part of a "debate", when taxing the fuck out of them - even a "kind" regime where they're still unfathomably rich - would yield so much money for health care, infra, and so much more

May 20 at 4:18pmWeb
Show threadVyvyan Basterd2d ago
there is literally no world where closing the capital gains loophole and taxing the fuck out of incomes over, say, 1 billion would not result in a manifestly better world for everyone. If you get huge waste and fraud you still come out ahead! That's a lot of money!
Show threadSpeed demon 🇪🇺 🇳🇴🇺🇦🇵🇸2d ago
@neurobashing Could even use some of it to go after waste and fraud. It's not like Trump's "small government" is actually free of it.
Show threadBo Tally2d ago
@neurobashing A single billionaire will not visit a restaurant often enough to keep it in business. 10000 folks making $100,000 can support lots of restaurants.
Show threadCassandrich1d ago
@neurobashing You could even literally just burn all the money you take from them, without redistributing it, and we'd still all be vastly better off. Because they would no longer be able to spend it doing harm to us all.
Show threadsarcoptus scabium1d ago
@neurobashing the waste and fraud is already happening, this just means regular people can have a go, instead of keeping the waste and fraud behind a paywall.
Show threadlower-value human capital2d ago

@neurobashing What we need is interviewers who hit back: "That's a lie. You just lied to me. Any legislation that doubled your taxes would bring in vast revenue, and it absolutely would "help that teacher" as you so blithely put it, and any five-year-old can understand that. So do you think I'm a moron, or do you expect me to lick your boots because you're rich, or just what did you hope to accomplish with that lie?"

But (I didn't see the program) I bet that didn't happen.

Show threadKye.br 1d ago

@sennoma @neurobashing in current environment that will end with interviewer not getting interviews.

So there’s an incentive to not ask tough questions

Show threadVyvyan Basterd1d ago
@Kyebr @sennoma you see, I agree with you in spirit, but: is there *any* data to actually suggest this is true? I mean everyone lives in fear of being "blacklisted" or whatever, but in our modern era has it ever happened? Has eg the Pentagon banning some outlets actually impaired their ability to report? It doesn't *appear* that way, but I'm not in the biz. I guess I wish someone would just shoot the moon and do it, and see what happens
Show threadlower-value human capital1d ago

@neurobashing @Kyebr A little solidarity would reverse the power relationship and shut that shit down. Oh, you blacklisted our competition? We're here to ask the same questions. Ban us, the next news group steps up. Either you play ball or we just don't report your side of anything.

But as always, the Epstein class has the rest of us at each other's throats instead of theirs.

Show threadJon1d ago
@neurobashing @Kyebr @sennoma has Trump been "interviewed" by anyone not in the MAGA bootlicker "news" ecosystem yet? Does he answer questions that aren't fawning with anything except personal insults? That's how "the news" works today.
Show threadexcited for the mastodon rise2d ago
@neurobashing And also prevent them from getting richer, aka accumulating more of the power that prevents us from taxing them.
Show threaddrpatois2d ago
@neurobashing Could it be because he doesn't pay any taxes to begin with or because the guy in charge will just pocket the extra?
Show threadKeen Grasp2d ago
@neurobashing impeccable math, two times zero equals zero
Show thread#?.info 2d ago
@neurobashing Yeah, And while it's probably technically correct of Bezos to say that, that's because he pays almost nothing in taxes. We're not going to double taxes on him, we're going to f---ing soak him in taxes.
Show threadChewie1d ago
@neurobashing maybe he's right, but I'm sure limiting campaign contributions to political parties would probably help quite a few more people though...
Show threadAdventureTense1d ago
@neurobashing Bezos conveniently forgets that a huge part of the 39 Trillion dollar national debt is his too.
Show threadVyvyan Basterd1d ago
@adventure_tense oh he's not "forgetting", my friend. He's choosing to ignore.
Show threadAdventureTense1d ago
@neurobashing So true.
Show threadJon1d ago

@neurobashing ah, but what if Bezos paid taxes at the same rate as a teacher in Queens instead of the near-nothing he likely does in reality - and THEN we doubled it?

(Ref. Warren Buffett on why as a billionaire, his tax rate should not be lower than his secretary.)