I agree the latte can be skipped. I don't need the image factor. I drink my sustainably sourced single origin at home, thank you very much.
But also, I like to optimize my money-holders every so often. I read somewhere about wealth being making sure your money earns money, and it stuck with me. So maybe you think it's peanuts, but if you have a bank account with $100 in it just so you don't have to pay an annual fee, and it gives you 0.01% interest, and there's another reputable bank offering 0.1% interest, take advantage. And one that offers 1%? Hoo baby, moving on up. It does add up over time. And one day, you realize you don't have to buy ramen anymore and it feels great!
Progressive Sales Tax I don't know much about, but where would you set the bar? Who would set it? How soon would we corrupt that basic idea until a hot mess.
For example, I think (hope) we can all agree that we need pants. But there are basic-needs reasonable affordable lowercase jeans, and then there are double-welted supershabadoo denim slacks hand-dyed by singing indigo plant tenders from some L.A. outfit that cost $500. Both pants.
Yes, there would be a lot of practical considerations and lots of room for exploitation, I'm sure. But isn't there now? Don't we rely on the government to make a ton of tax decisions already? Also, considering your scenario of super expensive pants, you could cap the price of pants at a certain level for the basic tax, as they get more expensive they're taxed even more. I don't think this would be too bad. It would incentivize companies to keep prices lower, and super expensive pants that get taxed even more would likely be purchased by people for whom money is likely not that big a deal.
I see what you're saying. I just worry that any solution that must do the work to define specifically what is and is not a needed good is inherently too fiddly for Government ham hands -- and may adversely affect the people who need those strictures to protect them from officials biased by their own spending power, lobbying influences, etc. I imagine a world where those who require a uniform for work still have to pay out of pocket, and fast food is considered essential because it's food and it's cheap (and sometimes the only food option).
But it does get into the idea of evening out the COLA between different metro areas, and that sounds just. That the pants in Wyoming can be the same price as the pants in Delaware.
I can track with most of these arguments, but I have to hard disagree on going to college being worth it even if you go into debt for it. I think if you are able to pay for it outright, with scholarships, etc. it’s worth it and mayyybe in very select fields it could be worth going into debt for. But I would definitely advise my own future children to never go to college if it will require you to take on significant amounts of debt to do so. I’m probably biased because I have paid for all my college outright as I’ve gone along (first community college, then part time night classes while working full time). So I very much didn’t have a “traditional” college experience, and now that I’m only a semester away from completing my MBA, I can say with confidence that I have learned far more, gained far more skills, and met far more interesting people from working my job than I ever have from classes. Classes are just a necessary means to end so I can have a piece of paper saying that I am qualified for certain career opportunities.
Haha Craig you've made some very compelling arguments and provided a lot of food for thought. Not sure I agree tat UBI should exist and I think billionaires do have a right to exist as long as they don't meddle with government.
But don't be so hard on yourself, your job is NOT completely unnecessary, only partially unnecessary. Just Kidding boss, we need thinkers and comedians to help wake us up to new ideas. In many ways, the old Court Jester provided humor but also truth to the King that no one else dared to speak. Hide it in humor! That's the ticket. So keep making us smile, laugh ...and learn. Wink, Ding!
With the billionaires thing, my problem is how are they billionaires. Nobody can have personally done enough to have earned or warrant that amount of money. It comes from the same pool of money, reducing what is available to everyone else. And it does not improve their lives to have that amount of money. There is no added benefit. It comes down to hoarding in the end. The land owner (who inherited the land) hoards most of the grain grown by the peasants. This sits in his barn whilst the peasants, who actually did the work, are encouraged to fight amongst themselves for a share of what is left. If the land owner shared out what he couldn’t possibly use himself, the fighting stops, people respect the land owner, are more likely to do extra for him and he hasn’t had to lift a finger. Seems like a win win.
Craig for President!
I agree the latte can be skipped. I don't need the image factor. I drink my sustainably sourced single origin at home, thank you very much.
But also, I like to optimize my money-holders every so often. I read somewhere about wealth being making sure your money earns money, and it stuck with me. So maybe you think it's peanuts, but if you have a bank account with $100 in it just so you don't have to pay an annual fee, and it gives you 0.01% interest, and there's another reputable bank offering 0.1% interest, take advantage. And one that offers 1%? Hoo baby, moving on up. It does add up over time. And one day, you realize you don't have to buy ramen anymore and it feels great!
Progressive Sales Tax I don't know much about, but where would you set the bar? Who would set it? How soon would we corrupt that basic idea until a hot mess.
For example, I think (hope) we can all agree that we need pants. But there are basic-needs reasonable affordable lowercase jeans, and then there are double-welted supershabadoo denim slacks hand-dyed by singing indigo plant tenders from some L.A. outfit that cost $500. Both pants.
Yes, there would be a lot of practical considerations and lots of room for exploitation, I'm sure. But isn't there now? Don't we rely on the government to make a ton of tax decisions already? Also, considering your scenario of super expensive pants, you could cap the price of pants at a certain level for the basic tax, as they get more expensive they're taxed even more. I don't think this would be too bad. It would incentivize companies to keep prices lower, and super expensive pants that get taxed even more would likely be purchased by people for whom money is likely not that big a deal.
I see what you're saying. I just worry that any solution that must do the work to define specifically what is and is not a needed good is inherently too fiddly for Government ham hands -- and may adversely affect the people who need those strictures to protect them from officials biased by their own spending power, lobbying influences, etc. I imagine a world where those who require a uniform for work still have to pay out of pocket, and fast food is considered essential because it's food and it's cheap (and sometimes the only food option).
But it does get into the idea of evening out the COLA between different metro areas, and that sounds just. That the pants in Wyoming can be the same price as the pants in Delaware.
As a non Star Wars fan, I was under the impression that Rogue One was NOT popular! I enjoyed it as a casual viewer though
I can track with most of these arguments, but I have to hard disagree on going to college being worth it even if you go into debt for it. I think if you are able to pay for it outright, with scholarships, etc. it’s worth it and mayyybe in very select fields it could be worth going into debt for. But I would definitely advise my own future children to never go to college if it will require you to take on significant amounts of debt to do so. I’m probably biased because I have paid for all my college outright as I’ve gone along (first community college, then part time night classes while working full time). So I very much didn’t have a “traditional” college experience, and now that I’m only a semester away from completing my MBA, I can say with confidence that I have learned far more, gained far more skills, and met far more interesting people from working my job than I ever have from classes. Classes are just a necessary means to end so I can have a piece of paper saying that I am qualified for certain career opportunities.
Haha Craig you've made some very compelling arguments and provided a lot of food for thought. Not sure I agree tat UBI should exist and I think billionaires do have a right to exist as long as they don't meddle with government.
But don't be so hard on yourself, your job is NOT completely unnecessary, only partially unnecessary. Just Kidding boss, we need thinkers and comedians to help wake us up to new ideas. In many ways, the old Court Jester provided humor but also truth to the King that no one else dared to speak. Hide it in humor! That's the ticket. So keep making us smile, laugh ...and learn. Wink, Ding!
With the billionaires thing, my problem is how are they billionaires. Nobody can have personally done enough to have earned or warrant that amount of money. It comes from the same pool of money, reducing what is available to everyone else. And it does not improve their lives to have that amount of money. There is no added benefit. It comes down to hoarding in the end. The land owner (who inherited the land) hoards most of the grain grown by the peasants. This sits in his barn whilst the peasants, who actually did the work, are encouraged to fight amongst themselves for a share of what is left. If the land owner shared out what he couldn’t possibly use himself, the fighting stops, people respect the land owner, are more likely to do extra for him and he hasn’t had to lift a finger. Seems like a win win.