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You're either not too bright or are being deliberately obtuse. Let me spell it out for you--Getting it refunded = not paying.
Whose hurling insults now?
If you think the money people pay (the REAL money taken out of their checks every week) is sitting pretty in some bank account somewhere until they get it back next year, you are misinformed. Its like saying I didn't really loan you $20 because you paid it back to me.
Real life bub. I live 20 miles from where I work. Move? We live three blocks from where my wife works. No, riding a bike is not a solution. Living on a lot less than you make? No, for someone just starting out, even a room today may take a large portion of what they make.
Please don't tell me about "real life". I live in the high cost SF Bay Area on a below average income. I make it work and have significant savings to boot. I rented a room for 8.5 years so I could keep making it work without being broke. Not many people would be willing to live as I lived in order to have the current options I have now (could potentially semi-retire to a lower cost area). And that's fine. Where I have a problem is when people start telling ME that I don't live in the "real world" when they have NO CLUE about the things I did without in order to be in a good situation.
If renting a room takes too much of your income, then you need a side gig, to increase your income at your current job, or you need to move elsewhere. If you can't make the numbers work with a reasonable margin for error, then you make the hard choices so that you can make them work.
I am quite aware that as a renter I may eventually be priced out of my very small apartment here. But I've been preparing for such contingencies (not necessarily that specific one, but generally) since I got my first paycheck at my first "real" (i.e. non-part time) job just over 20 years ago. Riding a bike may not be a solution for you. That doesn't mean it isn't for everyone. I didn't do it, either, but that was a choice on my part--and I recognize it as such.
Many different types of countries have capitalist economies and socialist democratic programs. How many times does this need to be said?
You're free to live elsewhere. Why should we follow everyone else? America was the greatest achievement in human progress since the Grand Remonstrance of 1641 (which our Declaration of Independence mirrored). Why should we return to serfdom? We are not subjects of the Federal Government. We are citizens of Free States. The States created the Federal Government to provide for the common defense, and to regulate (make regular) interstate commerce, not to create a welfare state and make us slaves. "Promote the general welfare" does not have anything to do with taking care of the "poor" as too many liberals think it means. It meant "well being," or prosperity.
Nah, they really didn't. You don't simply vote to fix a corrupt and rigged political system. Anyone who thinks voting is enough is delusional--and there are a lot of delusional people out there, unfortunately.
Not sure I implied this vote alone was enough.
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Yes, as am I. But unfortunately, just like hard core Obama voters, they want a savior to fix things for them. They don't want to hear that it's going to take a lot more effort than that.
I'm not sure your generalizations are meaningless much here.
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Yes, I agree with that. But ultimately, the elites are calling our bluff. They have the political system pretty rigged. They know people are too hooked on convenience and personal comfort to do the real work of restoring our government to the limited purposes for which it was intended. (A huge thread arguing about more social programs = comfort zone mentality). That means not depending on the government for so many programs and also not allowing it to wage so many wars.
I'll repeat it again. Voting for the "right people" alone will not be enough to upend the system. It takes a lot more work than that.
Depends on what you mean by that. I think we need people to band together in small communities are really start pulling their own weight more as well as taking care of people who truly can't. People who do everything possible to fight the tyranny that is taking over. That is what I think of as extreme. Most people don't want to do that because it's very hard and an alien concept to them since they've been conditioned to believe comfort and material security are life's highest good. Somehow, I doubt you're thinking along the same lines I am.
I don't understand your "one way or the other" comment. It's a false dichotomy. We don't have to pay for social programs that are essentially a form of enslavement. And we don't to pay for unnecessary wars, either. We must stop giving support to all forms of tyranny, or we will always be ruled over by tyrants.
"Die in the streets because of a lack of health care" is hyperbole.
It is not.
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If you think people are going to riot, well, I actually think it's inevitable at the rate we're going, anyway. Because eventually, all the social programs AND the wars are going to break us as a nation. But as of right now, only a few of us see that. At the rate we're going, it's just a question of time.
The social programs itself are not the problem, it is the fraud that people commit. For many people welfare is a way of life. I saw a documentary where a child in school was learning to write. He told the teacher he didn't need to learn to write, only his name, so he could cash checks. Also Social Security Disability. Many people definitely need it but the fraud within the system is tremendous. Recently they found police officers doing karate, wrestling, weight training, all the while on permanent disability. I know a friend's daughter on SSDI, she has MS. Owns two homes which she rents, brand new Lexus, has remodeled both homes herself, including bathrooms, yet collects SSDI.
You're free to live elsewhere. Why should we follow everyone else? America was the greatest achievement in human progress since the Grand Remonstrance of 1641 (which our Declaration of Independence mirrored). Why should we return to serfdom? We are not subjects of the Federal Government. We are citizens of Free States. The States created the Federal Government to provide for the common defense, and to regulate (make regular) interstate commerce, not to create a welfare state and make us slaves. "Promote the general welfare" does not have anything to do with taking care of the "poor" as too many liberals think it means. It meant "well being," or prosperity.
Intelligence means learning from others. I'll leave it at that.
Some appear to resent others being supported, when they are not. Yet, the funny thing is, the very type who complain about feeling cheated, etc., can be amongst the very ones in areas who most often receive benefits. The thing is, for a variety of reasons, people do not have equal experiences. How would anything ever be made even? So, should everyone sit around all the time being resentful, focusing upon what others have gotten, over them? "But Donny got TWO scoops of ice cream, when we only got ONE!"
Some are entitled with a wealthy parent handing them money and opportunity, though not knowing how to handle it. Some cheat on paying their taxes and lie, yet it seems that being honest and ethical is overlooked by some in certain instances. Certainly, we are unequal in personality, so why expect other aspects to be equal?
If some are so worried, there is something I feel should be addressed, though many don't see it or want to discuss it. It begins with some having children unexpectedly that they did not want to have at the time, but due to outside pressures, do so. Some are against teaching about protection or allowing for abortion and there can exist a lack of sexual responsibility by BOTH sexes at ANY age. Also, blocking funding to such programs as Planned Parenthood, is just more of an issue, not a solution.
As long as this goes on, it can interfere with education and finances, contribute possibly to forced marriages, poverty, divorce, dysfunctional behavior, mental issues, addiction, criminal activity, prison overcrowding, ultimately not raising others properly. (But everyone is supposed to have kids, right?) This may be thought of as unrelated, but it is not. One's neighbor or relative may not admit what is going on with them financially. Some may need assistance which can be temporary, while others possibly never get out of the loop, coming down to personality combined with factors mentioned. The thing is, do some really think they can control what occurs with others in relation to this? There should be more education, understanding and focus on doing the right things overall, instead of continuing to ignore.
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I live in the high cost SF Bay Area on a below average income. I make it work and have significant savings to boot. I rented a room for 8.5 years so I could keep making it work without being broke. Not many people would be willing to live as I lived in order to have the current options I have now (could potentially semi-retire to a lower cost area). And that's fine. Where I have a problem is when people start telling ME that I don't live in the "real world" when they have NO CLUE about the things I did without in order to be in a good situation.
Certainly, we are unequal in personality, so why expect other aspects to be equal?