Hermes Conrad. He’s got a level head and knows his way around a bureaucracy.

Please enlighten me on how he could have acquired $200 billion dollars if he had paid his fair share in taxes, fairly compensated his labor, and refrained from monopolistic business practices.

As a reminder, the tax rate for the wealthy during the highest period of economic growth was as high as 91%, whereas Gates has never paid more than 40%.

How do you think his stocks were juiced if not for the aforementioned monopolistic business practices? What kind of capital gains taxes did he pay on those compared to what labor pays on their income? Why should he pay at a lower rate than people who work for a living instead of holding onto wealth?

But perhaps you misunderstand my point: a healthy society would not allow this kind of wealth disparity, as it is inherently destabilizing.

Oh yeah, I forgot to add monopolistic practices that prevented people from effectively operating competing businesses.

That should about cover it.

It shouldn’t be his money to spend; it’s been skimmed from all the people he has underpaid and the taxes that he’s avoided for decades.

Billionaires shouldn’t exist, even ones with good PR like Gates.

I made that exact mistake a couple weeks ago, and it was just like you say. Biggs doesn’t have nearly as many of those bitter ones, either.

No. It’s another form of government that has its own issues, but not all authoritarian regimes are fascist.

On the other hand, neo-feudalists are reactionaries because they want to return society to a mythical past where a heirarchy of elites rules over their subjects. Fascism, neo-feudalism, and conservatism are all subsets of reactionary ideology, but they are not the same thing.

So… Bring my HEV suit and crowbar?

I feel like I could get flintknapping down pretty well.

But what about the freedom to lose one’s life savings to an insurance company?

Zelenski has the patience of a demigod for not slapping the shit out of Vance.

He handled the no-win situation as best as he could; I hope it raises Europe’s will to back Ukraine since it was obvious how he was ambushed by a supposed ally.

Try the Fedigrow community, maybe.

Your post will probably be removed as off-topic here.

So that begs the question: what is this all about?

Wrecking the economy so billionaires can buy up infrastructure at fire-sale prices?

Conservatism is the theoretical voice of this animus against the agency of the subordinate classes. It provides the most consistent and profound argument as to why the lower orders should not be allowed to exercise their independent will, why they should not be allowed to govern themselves or the polity. Submission is their first duty, and agency the prerogative of the elite.

Though it is often claimed that the left stands for equality while the right stands for freedom, this notion misstates the actual disagreement between right and left. Historically, the conservative has favored liberty for the higher orders and constraint for the lower orders. What the conservative sees and dislikes in equality, in other words, is not a threat to freedom but its extension. For in that extension, he sees a loss of his own freedom.

Corey Robin: The Reactionary Mind

Dude was one of the biggest scumbags in human history, but not many people know about him.

I love you.

As long as we’re wishing, I’m going with bigpox.

It’s really annoying how people confuse cynics with skeptics.

There is nothing “skeptical” about flat-out denying the efficacy or safety of vaccines; there is abundant evidence of both. Refusing to accept plain facts because your livelyhood depends on it is just plain cynical.

Isn’t sinking what submarines are built for?

Satan 2: This time, it’s personal.

BZ Basel also said Thomas was arrested the day after Ms Joksimovic’s body was found, and initially told investigators he had found her dead and dismembered her body in their laundry room in panic.

Let those who have not dismembered a family member in a panic with a jigsaw and garden shears before dissolving their pulped body in a bath of acid throw the first stone.