volkris @volkris@qoto.org

@alanrycroft

The main reason I disagree is that since corporations aren't people, it skews the costs to actual people as corporations are taxed.

The corporation is just going to pass the cost of taxes along to customers, often harming the ones that can least afford to pay increased prices.

So that kind of taxation strikes me as particularly unfair.

But the other reason I disagree is that it digs into the incentive corporations have to be efficient, including things like energy efficiency.

I WANT the corporation to experience a benefit from things like investing in less polluting equipment.

Tax away the incentive to be more efficient and you get less efficiency.

@skykiss

@jmcrookston I'd say it speaks to the need for reform of US intellectual property law...

@uspolitics wow, no.

Legislation like the inflation reduction act injected more cash into the economy to actually keep inflation from dropping as quickly as it might have, which itself is a pretty sad statement about US politics.

There are similar issues with the court rulings around districting.

So you're pointing at these things as a break from negativity when really they're just more negative views on the state of the United States.

@alanrycroft

Excess profits is a funny term.

It's one person deciding how much someone else should make, beyond their costs.

So like, I think you made too much last year. I'm going to call back some of your income because it was too much that you made.

Guess you should have spent more on groceries!

@skykiss

@trevorflowers That's a really top down authoritarian view of the country that doesn't really reflect reality.

There's not really a the US at all. There are who knows how many different governments, local, state and federal, involved in education making those decisions, and each government is composed of countless bureaucrats and politicians making their own decisions.

Further, you seem to be suggesting that throwing money at the problem would fix it, but that's obviously not true. We spend tremendous amounts of tax dollars on education, and those countless politicians and bureaucrats probably waste a good bit of it.

So it's an unhelpful over simplification to describe the country the way you do, the state of education the way you do. It's neither true nor does it present us with any real solutions.

In the end it really doesn't matter what CEOs say. Here. We keep electing and re-electing bad politicians who keep directing education to be mismanaged.

That's not all CEOs. That's on us.

@ravirockks ha, but this is why the company no longer has that money!

@marisa "interesting"

@marisa "no"?

@marisa so when you quote the word quotes, does that mean the word quotes doesn't really reflect what you are trying to say?

@marisa I think a general definition of terrorist is somebody using violence or threat of violence to promote a political cause outside of a Democratic or otherwise established governance structure, just off the top of my head.

@GW@newsie.social this line just plain doesn't make sense.

I mean it's obviously a kooky conspiracy theory, but at least it could hold together.

@marisa I always notice how statements like these are so dehumanizing.

Like people who turn to terrorism don't have agency? They can't make decisions for themselves? Basically, they aren't humans?

@sentientmortal honestly, I don't think people care about math as much as they care about joining the parade to bash Musk and Twitter.

@taylorlorenz

@binaryhawk it's not about bailing out Republicans.

That line is a huge distraction from the substance of governing, and it's one that all too few people seem to be pushing.

Do you want a functional legislature? Democrats voted to shut this legislature down. Do you want government funded? Well then it needs to be reopened.

Nothing about that has anything to do with bailing out Republicans.

Maybe you like government shutdown. Fair enough! That's what Democrats are voting for, so great!

Hold your representative accountable for their vote, but make sure you know what they actually voted for.

@Kihbernetics I'd say plenty of those theorists are entirely familiar with this sort of argument.

@LouisIngenthron That's a very interesting question

@rberger I just always emphasize that we voted for this.

We voted for these representatives who voted to shut the place down.

So in the end, if we choose to vote for these people, I guess it's a philosophical question as to whether that is a failed state or one that is recognizing the votes of its people.

Maybe both.

We just really need to stop re-electing these morons.

@chiclet

Also, so the Democrats voted to shut down the House, and they are supporting the crazy GOP members.

Yeah, that's what they did.

You bring up what it means, and what it means is that the GOP extremists have a voice where they would not have a voice otherwise. It means someone like Jim Jordan became a frontrunner as Republicans were forced to try to take the crazies seriously.

So frankly, what it means is even worse than what they did.

What they did was to shut down the democratic branch of government. What it means is that crazy people get a voice.

Hold them accountable for their votes to do this and mean this.

@dswidow @DemocracyMattersALot

@nuncio Well that's quite a leap

@Free_Press