volkris @volkris@qoto.org

@alanrycroft keep in mind that the market considers taxation when it sorts things out.

So again, if you put taxes on corporate profits, that means the market has less incentive to pursue efficiency.

If the company is going to lose money through either buying more efficient vehicles or taxation then there's a lot less reason to do the first than the second. It's going to lose the money either way. So the market won't worry so much about efficiency.

That's the problem.

@skykiss

I mean, should I accuse @chiclet of being a shadow supporter for extreme Republicans for not wanting to call out the Democrats supporting their cause?

No, a lot of people here. Simply don't realize what is in the actual voting rolls.

So let's raise more awareness and put more pressure on all of our representatives to stop supporting the extreme Republicans.

But we can't do that if we don't care to look at the way our representatives are actually voting.

@johnettesnuggs @realTuckFrumper

@chiclet

No, it's the exact opposite.

Democrats are supporting the extreme Republicans and I think we need to call them out on it.

It's supportive of the same extreme republicans to try to paper over the Democratic voting record, excusing it.

Instead, let's work against the extreme republicans by telling the Democrats to knock it off, and fix the problem they voted for.

At the moment, Democrats are voting in a way that puts the extreme republicans in the driver's seat. Let's tell them to stop. Let's call them out for what they're doing.

@johnettesnuggs @realTuckFrumper

@uspolitics I just don't see positivity here.

Less bad is not positive. It's just not as bad.

@chiclet

Yes. And I provided the link above so you can see for yourself that it sure is.

@dswidow @DemocracyMattersALot

@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