Now it's time to tax it back to where much of it came from.
  • Jagothaciv@kbin.earth
    41·
    5 hours ago

    Born in the 80’s how many of y’alls parents took economics? None? There’s your answer.

    • Flocklesscrow@lemm.eeEnglish
      21·
      4 hours ago

      More infuriating is that higher education was dirt cheap for Baby Boomers. Meaning they CHOSE to stay uneducated, mostly because they “didn’t need it.”

      • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
        5·
        4 hours ago

        And it was true, they didn’t need it because manufacturing and non-college-educated jobs provided a living wage. Now neither is higher education affordable without decades of debt, but it’s a default qualification to get nearly any job that pays a living wage.

  • RickRussell_CA@lemmy.worldEnglish
    94·
    7 hours ago

    I think we need to mentally compartmentalize Elon Musk, the rich dingbat, from the output of his companies.

    Tesla single-handedly brought the electric car to the American market in a sustainable way, where every US and Japanese car maker was in a pause state waiting for somebody else to take the first move (although, credit to Nissan for the Leaf, but I think that by itself the Leaf wasn’t going to open the floodgates).

    For all the goofiness around SpaceX, I think they’ve proven that they are the right model for developing orbital boost systems. Other major players are trying to be more like SpaceX.

    Should the US have effectively subsidized these efforts? Yeah, we should have. Arguably Tesla and SpaceX were the only serious players in these markets with the chutzpah to be successful, after a lot of false starts by others (incl. bigger companies in the same markets).

    It’s a shame that they enabled and enriched a giant dingbat, but in the end, Tesla and SpaceX have done things that nobody else could.

    So by all means, tax him. And point out how Tesla and SpaceX depended on gov’t subsidies and tax rebates. But let’s also keep focus on the fact that electric car success and a more competitive space program are good things that were, and are, worth taxpayer involvement.

    Also, to go back to the subject of the article. We don’t really need a wealth tax. We don’t need a corporate tax (which is just the political cowards tax).

    We need to stop giving capital gains a free ride. Tax income when it is realized, consistently. Investment income should the same tax – or just very slightly less – as wage income. 15% tax on investment returns is laughably low.

    • Joe@discuss.tchncs.de
      1·
      2 hours ago

      And those unrealized gains, saved for a rainy day in an art safe in switzerland, or in some special financial scheme that effectively hides/reinvests any profits without triggering the tax obligation?

      There is something to an extremely low-percentage wealth tax that kicks in only at an insane amount of wealth. It could introduce the obligation to track and report individual wealth in a standard way, at the risk of a significant financial penalty, helping to bring much needed transparency, which in turn can help shape future laws and policy.

  • Carvex@lemmy.world
    108·
    8 hours ago

    Rich in what? I see an irresponsible man-child whom others have given far too much responsibility. Stop sucking his dick every five seconds and he’d fade to obscurity.

    • linearchaos@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      7 hours ago

      Yeah, I’m sure not saying that Tesla and SpaceX have had some positive outcomes here and there will just totally make him disappear. /s

      Those two companies persist despite him not because of him.