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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1705 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 2, 2025

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The economic tragedy in America is that, today, the dutiful "middle class" career person or family who pays all of their taxes, saves responsibly but without being monkish about it, and tries to setup a self-sufficient future is actually the RUBE.

Wait what? You more or less described me, but I don't see how I'm a rube. I know that social security is basically stealing money from me, I don't have a choice whether or not to pay it. I know that the uber-rich have ways of making money that surpass my wildest dreams, but also they require seed capital I don't have. So, I put money into my retirement account because that's all I can really do as far as I can see. But I'm not doing this because I've been fooled into thinking it's an amazing option... it's just the one I have available to me.

I was being deliberately hyperbolic using the word "RUBE" (hence, the capitalization).

It's not that you and people like you are stupid or being tricked, it's that you're paying the freight on those who defect socially (degenerates) and paying more than your fair share when considering that the elites shield themselves from taxes.

I should note that I am not in favor of some communist Elizabeth Warren style "wealth tax." That's confiscation by the government, clearly unconstitutional, and would also destroy markets overnight. Mostly, I'm in favor of cutting both corporate and individual income tax and making new capital and business formation easier. You say that hypothetical businesses require "seed capital [you] don't have" - yet you say you're investing in ETFs / Mutual funds (presumably). I'd love to a scenario in which you and a couple buddies, over the course of a few years, collectively save maybe some level of money and are then allowed to make a bet on a new startup or something. Right now, setting up an investment firm to do that is cost and regulatorily prohibitive if you aren't starting with at least $20 million or so (and that's a micro amount). If you're investing personally, you literally have to be rich enough to be allowed to do that (see "Accredited Investor"). This in the same country that allows any adult to literally gamble on their cellphone 24/7.

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