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Politics : The Trump Presidency -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: koan who wrote (81462)	7/4/2018 11:28:01 PM
From: mel221	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 356585

Venezuela is modern day socialism. A smokin' ruin.

To: koan who wrote (81462)	7/5/2018 12:12:35 AM
From: arno	Respond to of 356585

*reduces income inequality which is a cancer on society.* Apparently you neither understand economics or human nature.

To: koan who wrote (81462)	7/5/2018 12:37:47 AM
From: mel221	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 356585

The future of US socialism... brought to all by the Democratic party. Chavez of Venezuela is a socialist. During his presidency he solved the 2 problems that are extremely important to US liberals; income inequality and wealth inequality. His policies destroyed the economy and everyone basically has the same income... 0. His policies destroyed the currency and everyone basically has the same wealth... 0. With inequality solved, socialists proclaim "Mission Accomplished". Venezuela is the goal US socialists and the Democratic Party hope to achieve here in the US. Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (Spanish pronunciation: ['u?o rafa'el 't??aßes 'f?i.as]; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was President of Venezuela from 1999 to 2013. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when it merged with several other parties to form the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which he led until 2012. en.wikipedia.org

To: koan who wrote (81462)	7/5/2018 12:21:15 PM
From: John Koligman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 356585

Nice work if you can get it! He says he's made " half a billion dollars for three years of work" based on the value of his initial stock in Facebook, and his "lucky break" is exactly what's wrong with America today. Facebook co-founder: Tax the rich at 50% to give $500-a-month free cash and fix income inequality Tom Huddleston Jr. 1 Hour Ago Olivia Michael \| CNBC Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook. Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes thinks the government should give cash handouts to people with the lowest incomes in order to fight income inequality. And he thinks the money should come from higher taxes on wealthy individuals and even big tech companies, like Facebook. Hughes, 34, was one of Facebook’s co-founders, along with Mark Zuckerberg and three of their Harvard classmates, in 2004. He was Facebook’s spokesperson for the company’s first three years, before leaving to finish his Harvard degree and then to work on Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign as a media strategist. He says he's made " half a billion dollars for three years of work" based on the value of his initial stock in Facebook, and his "lucky break" is exactly what's wrong with America today. “That is indicative of a fundamental unfairness in our economy. Income inequality in our country has not been this bad since the Great Depression. And even though we’re reading the headlines that unemployment is at 3.9 percent and the stock market is at record highs, what’s actually happening is that the median incomes in our country haven’t budged in nearly 40 years. At the same time stories like mine create an illusion of economic opportunity," he told Techcrunchcontributors Adriana Stan and Tom Goodwin on their " Interesting People in Interesting Times" podcast. Hughes, author of “ Fair Shot: Rethinking Inequality and How We Earn," is not necessarily a believer in the idea of universal basic income (UBI) — championed by entrepreneur Andrew Yang and also supported by billionaires such as Richard Branson and even Facebook’s Zuckerberg — which would see a standard cash payment handed out to all citizens no matter their employment status. UBI “is infeasible in America today,” Hughes explained on the podcast, because making payments to everyone in the U.S. is an “unaffordable” proposition. However, Hughes believes a reconfigured U.S. tax code could effectively transfer money from wealthy people like himself to those in need, from the unemployed to American workers struggling to make ends meet. He says on the podcast that the "most urgent thing we can do" is roll back tax code changes that lowered rates on corporations and the 1 percent and instead give a $500 monthly tax credit to every working American who currently earns less than $50,000 per year to create an “income floor” — a minimum amount of money that people earn. Mark Zuckerberg: Alaska's cash handout program "provides some good lessons for the rest of the country" The plan would cost roughly $290 billion a year in total, Hughes said in April. He proposed that the government pay for the handouts by imposing a 50 percent tax rate on both income and capital gains for any Americans who earn more than $250,000 per year. (Individuals who earn more than $200,000 per year currently have their income taxed at 35 percent, based on the latest tax overhaul.) By giving low-income workers $500 a month, Hughes contends, you would guarantee they would not earn less than $6,000 per year. “That’s not enough money to live on. That's not enough money to put up your feet and, like, watch video games — the fear of a lot of folks out there. But it is a massive amount of money in the lives of many working people in our country,” he said on the podcast. Hughes also proposed further changes to the U.S. tax code that could generate enough money to guarantee an income floor for working Americans. “You could tax data and distribute a check to everybody,” he said, which would see the government tax companies on the data they collect from customers, which is often sold to third parties such as marketers and advertisers. From social media platforms, like Facebook, to e-commerce giants, like Amazon, large companies collect reams of data on their users and customers that can be put to use in myriad ways — either sold to third parties or used to improve the companies’ own services. “We all create immense amounts of data,” Hughes said. “Not just your Facebook post, but your phones know where you are physically, your Fitbit knows your heart rate, your calendar knows where you’re going to be.” If those companies are making billions of dollars in profits, in part thanks to data collection, Hughes argues, then “there is an opportunity to say: Our collective data is powering these profits, we should all share a little bit in the upside.” “You could ask these companies to pay a small tax into a sovereign wealth fund and have that be distributed as a data dividend,” Hughes said on the podcast. “A check to every single citizen as a recognition of the value they’re creating.”

To: koan who wrote (81462)	7/5/2018 12:48:33 PM
From: pcstel	Respond to of 356585

"That is not what socialism is. If you want to see modern day socialism on steroids look at the Nordic countries. And they are all thriving." They thrive simply due to the humongous national revenues that flow in from North Sea Oil... Small population, Huge Revenues!! Economically, they are nearly Still Born. tradingeconomics.com The Nordic countries also very restrictive trade policies. Protectionists.. (Remember here, you are against all that stuff.. Please check your previous daily "marching orders" if you are confused) Large Federal Sales Tax.. VAT/GST. (Regressive Taxing again, more stuff you are against.) Workplace raids on illegal immigrants?? Yeap! They have them. usnews.com Funny how the Liberals always claim that the time and time tested failure of Socialism isn't "what socialism really is". But, more so the Democratic Socialism of the Nordic Countries that is funded by a small population base, and huge Oil Revenues.