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It's good that you are getting support. I do think your jokes here are a bit in bad taste though. It isn't likely to make anyone feel good about supporting others, or about being supported.
The point of helping others isn’t to make yourself feel better
That definitely is not what I was saying. What I'm saying is that mocking and taunting people does not help social cohesion. It can cause reluctance and spite. We just don't need that.
I mean, that's a sweet position if the safety nets actually helped. Just kinda lame you have the same attitude as a 1%-er about it which just points to trolling. Would rather my taxes go to housing someone than war manufacturing or price gouging by corporate companies.
I was happy to pay my taxes before I needed it, and I’ll be happy to pay my taxes after I need it. This is temporary, and it’s important that people get the help they need when they need it.
Problem is that the cost vastly surpasses the taxes you paid and will pay. And since the really rich always have the means to weasle out of the system, the middle class is bleeding until it can't any more. Countries like Germany are squished by the cost of their welfare system.
the funds sholdn't come from the working class, but instead the rich. increase taxes on the highest earners to fund welfare.
I think for this to work you need an agreement between wealthy countries to all apply this kind of tax. This would be an attempt to stop all the accounts from just living offshore.
Not sure if the EU can apply this as a bloc style rule. I doubt the US powers that be would want to, and then other large powers I'd argue have even more questionable ruling classes anyway, but I'm open to being wrong on that last statement.
I could be wrong on my first statement too. I haven't thought it out that much.
no, you're right. The wealthy would do everything they can in order to avoid those taxes, up to and including moving to a new country with lax tax laws.
That is the fun stuff. They don't. That is the lie.
If the USA and EU decides that the rich has the pay taxes then where do the rich go? They go to XYZ country, you might think but they don't. Their business is in the US and the EU and their wealth is. They can slowly move their business and wealth... But they can't move their market, which is where? USA and EU.
Also e.g. The old money in Germany will never leave Germany. Due to privacy laws and the safety that they live in, they remember the RAF and they are thankful for the privacy and safety.
It is a lie that they tell you. They don't leave.
Edit: in case, someone is wondering what I think is a motivator for them. Comfort.
They don't because they don't have to - they are not very highly taxed (in Germany business profit is taxed at 30%, private capital gains at 26% and salaries by up to 45% - and the rich don't have salaries).
Once you start a policy that is exclusively paid for by the actual rich, they'll either prevent it or find a way to net profit via their contacts in legislation, or they will just change their main residence to one of their vacation homes. Plenty of German rich folks have done so already.
Or tax businesses based on where they make their profit, if they refuse to show their numbers and comply close them.
Pretty big assumption here that they won't pay more taxes than what they get from the government. I paid $20k in tax in the first year of my first non-retail job. If they paid taxes for 7-8 years before covid they probably already paid for themselves.
Your calculation would make sense - if all of your taxes went into the welfare system. In Germany the contribution rate is only 2.6% though (paid on top of your taxes) and with that your whole career might not be enough to pay for a single year of unemployment.
Also, the payment that arrives on your account hardly is the whole cost. There are up to whole ministries of government to pay for with thousands of tax-paid employees. Every pay-as-you-go system only works if the vast majority pays and only a few get paid.
That's fair, though we also don't know how much this individual is getting from the welfare system. At the end of the day I'm far less annoyed by people like this than by billionaires or even just CEO-types who make tens, hundreds, or thousands of times what a normal person makes while providing arguably similar amounts of economic input.
Additionally, while this person's comment comes across as proud, they more than likely actually need the support the welfare system gives them. There's probably a reason they only started relying on it since covid.
You are a success story, which most people who have had hardships will be if only given a chance.
If you can work and you choose to live from benefits, you are a leech.
i think anyone should be allowed to choose whether they want to work, and if they choose not to, they should at a minimum be provided housing, food, running potable water and clothing.
On what basis? Are you asking me to support financially someone fully capable of working? Fuck that, I have my own children to support. If he can work, he should work.
Unless you are talking about universal basic income - but this is completely different idea to benefits and should be paid instead of all the other state payouts, including state pension. I am not opposed to that, that's just basic wealth sharing.
i'm not asking you to do anything, unless of course you're a member of the super wealthy who don't pay a fair share in taxes. The burden should be on the wealthiest individuals who profit off our backs and keep us in this perpetual capitalist hell.
The good news is that Capitalism cannot be perpetual, so the Hellscape will end at somepoint.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the wealthy should pay much, much more than they do. They also should work for their money rather than spending time on golf courses or wanking themselves on twitter.
That does not alleviate the basic duty of every single person, capable of working, to be able to earn his own maintenance.There is plenty of people unable to do so (or temporary unable to do so) and these should be helped.
You should read OP's edit, cause you sound like an ass. An why the hell do you want to be a slave to work so damn bad, and think others should be forced into that mentality? You do you, but I garauntee if you were in the position of a billionaire, you would be doing the same. No one wants to work. No one needs to work 40hrs. If everyone could make enough from a 20hr work week, im willing to bet their would be a hell of a lot less "leeches" as you so unemphathetically call them.
Guess what, I don't give a flying fuck what you think I sound like 🙄
Clearly. Just as no one needs to give a fuck what you think.
Its unhealthy, and a horrible way to go about life. Please seek help in understanding why you think everyone needs to work in awful conditions, and not break.
On what basis?
On the basis that they are alive and if they didn't get those basic amenities they wouldn't be anymore. You know, like we do with healthcare in actually civilized countries.
Oh, but they will be alive. Alive and working like they should.
We had almost full automation for 60 years in factories, where did that money go? There are leeches in society, but OP is not among the relevant ones.
Two wrongs don't make it right. The fact that rich people are often leeches does not change the fact that poor people can also be leeches.
Brother. This is childish thinking. The exploitation of the rich is killing the planet, literally making it uninhabitable for all things living. One guy living off welfare is not on the same level, not by a long shot. Get a grip
What the fuck are you even talking about? Justifying a leech sucking welfare system when he is fully capable of working just because there are other wealthy leeches is like justifying a thief stealing a car, because he didn't rob a bank.
It's more like a thief stealing a pebble from the garden in front of the bank.
People consentually drawing from the public safety net to meet their needs are entirely different from a Class based on accumulating vast amounts of wealth and power off the backs of Workers via wage slavery.
Billionaires leech literally millions of times what a poor person leeches, and yet you're here complaining about the poor person (who has likely already paid more in taxes than they have leeched).
I am not "complaining" about anything. I am calling leech "a leech" because he is a leech.
You're still missing the point lmao. Who gives a fuck about a tiny drop of water when there's a tidal wave coming for them.
Yeah, who gives a fuck about a guy stealing car if there is a another one just robbing a bank. Sound thinking, Sherlock 🙄
You're getting there. A bank robbery is worse than a car theft, and society does put more resources into preventing bank robberies than car thefts. Maybe we should put more effort into stopping billionaires leeching billions than stopping Joe Schmoe from being on welfare.