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In practice, corporations have all but destroyed America. They have Citizens united, corporate persons can and do contribute to politicians way more than anyone else can...
Hmmm. Let's look at some actual, you know, data. I agree with you that contributions to politicians are a significant problem. Let's look at how big a problem it is.
According to federal filings, here are the top political contributors to national election campaigns:
So, the data show the top 10 contributors are:
A left-wing union
A left-wing progressive Billionaire who made his fortune investing in -- gasp -- corporations.
A left-wing union
a corporation
A left-wing hedge fund Billionaire
A left-wing union
A hedge fund (interested in preserving carried interest)
A left-wing union
A left-wing union
An organization of realtors
How about the next 10 largest contributors?
So, the data show the 2nd 10 top contributors are:
A non-profit that fights opioid addiction and operates methadone clinics & counseling services
A left-wing publisher of ethnic magazines & news sources
A left-wing union
a corporation
A left-wing union
A left-wing union
A hedge fund (interested in preserving carried interest)
A left-wing advocacy group founded by extreme left-wing Billionaire Tom Steyer to promote his extreme left-wing political agenda
A hedge fund
An Investment Bank
Let's look at the third group of 10:
A home builder
A private company
A private company
A left-wing union
A left-wing union
Lawyers who sue businesses
A left-wing union
A left-wing union
A business
An organization dedicated to electing pro-abortion Democrats regardless of their view on any other issue
The conclusions from the data are incontrovertible.
all those that found their way to disability did not go on it because they were disabled .
they managed to get themselves on it , but really should not be . an aging older population retires and goes on ss retirement , not disability typically .
sorry i don't agree that these insane numbers on disability all belong there . it is being used by far to many as if it was unemployment insurance and drained far quicker than it should have been . .if you want to believe all is normal with the ssdi fund go a head . but i will never believe that is the case !
I know many on SSDI. It is absolutely a scam. I had acquaintances coaching me on how to “work the system” to get ssdi when I broke my leg. I passed. But believe me, many people are doing it.
Here’s another problem. A friend did manual labor at UPS. Legitimately couldn’t lift anymore. He took the path of going on ssdi instead of transferring to a desk job. You see, as long as you are unable to do your current job, and not any job, you are considered disabled. I don’t begrudge him at all....he’s playing by the rules. But the rules don’t make any sense.
Desirable places to live tend as a group to be "very high cost." That's not a reason to overpay (by 50% or so) for a rental property. That's what I would call "taking a bath."
Individuals have various reasons for why they do things.
Until the property is sold and there is a final accounting there is no way to say.
Plenty of property in the SF Bay Area is bought for investment and the recent history has proven EXTREMELY lucrative.
Some call it the greater fool theory... either way... plenty have struck gold.
all those that found their way to disability did not go on it because they were disabled .
they managed to get themselves on it , but really should not be . an aging older population retires and goes on ss retirement , not disability typically .
sorry i don't agree that these insane numbers on disability all belong there . it is being used by far to many as if it was unemployment insurance and drained far quicker than it should have been . .if you want to believe all is normal with the ssdi fund go a head . but i will never believe that is the case !
It is much harder to get disability than you are believing. There are many who need it and are legit. You are making assumptions with no facts. I have one relative collecting, her spine is a mess from a rear-end collision years ago, and 3 or 4 surgeries since then. Her nerves are affected and she falls multiple times a day. She is 60, too young for ss retiree benefits.
You make it sound like all you have to do is apply and have a doctor's note, it is not that easy and many more people get declined than approved every year.
I know many on SSDI. It is absolutely a scam. I had acquaintances coaching me on how to “work the system” to get ssdi when I broke my leg. I passed. But believe me, many people are doing it.
Here’s another problem. A friend did manual labor at UPS. Legitimately couldn’t lift anymore. He took the path of going on ssdi instead of transferring to a desk job. You see, as long as you are unable to do your current job, and not any job, you are considered disabled. I don’t begrudge him at all....he’s playing by the rules. But the rules don’t make any sense.
That is not true. It is true for many private disability policies, not SSDI. Maybe your friend had a private policy.
Individuals have various reasons for why they do things.
But some still do things for no rational reason at all. Paying $600K for a rental property that will yield just $2K per month in rent would be one of those things.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultrarunner
Until the property is sold and there is a final accounting there is no way to say.
Tax authorities do of course take cognizance of an actual sale, but they have ways of determining property value even in the absence of any recent sale.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultrarunner
Plenty of property in the SF Bay Area is bought for investment and the recent history has proven EXTREMELY lucrative. Some call it the greater fool theory... either way... plenty have struck gold.
Just as "many" who trekked out to Sutter's Mill found gold.
Notice that about 3/4 of your post used past tense
America is less and less the land of opportunity. Even things like "upward mobility" are now measurable and all indications are that USA is trailing the rest of the developed world. Even Canada, the example of nearby communism (according to Fox news etc.) is doing better in that measurement.
I have worked in Iceland, the whole island down to the last fishing village was laid with fiber. Contrast that to living 30 miles outside of Austin, TX (silicon hills of America?) or Charlottesville, VA (with a huge high tech university) and you get is satellite or 4G LTE with prices and service rivaling remote Tanzania.
"We the people" have become slaves to corporations. From being beat down for protesting a pipeline to losing a job because it is cheaper to exploit some unfortunate far away where there are no labor laws, to "Citizens united" and legalized bribery via lobbying, to corporate run prisons, drug epidemics fueled by the ever hungry pharma industry in cahoots with a crooked health care system, to being raped by the only industry in the world where you walk in and get service without knowing how much it will cost ("health care"), to schools that differ 180 degrees from each other depending on an arbitrary line called school district, to an education system that creates debt slaves in order to give them a college degree, to medical bills being #1 cause of bankruptcy to..... Kind of like a 3rd world country in the treatment of its citizens. Then someone says we have low taxes compared to Germany. Well, look at them German suckers. #1 economy, highly skilled labor (how about that free education?), longer life expectancy (how about that free health care system?), etc. etc. How dumb can those guys over there be?!?
But hey, we are free to own guns and THAT'S the measure of freedom. Can't eat statistics but I guess one can eat a gun or use it as an antenna to get Internet?
And then there is the "how about retirement planning" thread. Yah, right.
You paint a bleak picture... at least you have options I would guess.
When I worked in Austria the entire country was going Fiber... that included remote mountain huts with fiber and a solar for power... the decision was made in central planning and that is what happened.
It was like this here with Telephone and Electric Service... now not so.
An entire mountain community in Santa Cruz has Telephone but no electricity... the Telephone company has been trying to get rid of them for years... some as far back a 10 miles on gravel roads.
Common Sense and Reason are often lacking... history is repeat with many examples... like the foreclosure meltdown... no one can make you take a loan... yet I know plenty of serial financers and when the music stopped they walked away.
School Debt is almost a right here and one I disagree... the idea of free money is ludicrous... I worked my way through school as did most of my friends except those with academic, sports or other scholarships.
Until they make it illegal to be stupid... what can you do?
That said I know plenty of American success stories from daily life in the SF Bay Area...
Engineers or emigrants with nothing striking gold in the Silicon Valley... people doing very well in the construction business starting as a simple laborer...
I went to school with some NOW very wealthy people... who would have thought coming from Oakland California??? and only one won the lottery.
I could live well in Europe and I live well here... it is just different and don't think Europe isn't becoming more like the United States in many ways...
It is much harder to get disability than you are believing. There are many who need it and are legit. You are making assumptions with no facts. I have one relative collecting, her spine is a mess from a rear-end collision years ago, and 3 or 4 surgeries since then. Her nerves are affected and she falls multiple times a day. She is 60, too young for ss retiree benefits.
You make it sound like all you have to do is apply and have a doctor's note, it is not that easy and many more people get declined than approved every year.
What sort of entitlement do you think should be thrown out? Are you sure that everything on your list is actually an entitlement?
Too much welfare.
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