Andrige

@mmedeiros @jasontrost That’s related to countries with very low gdps. We are 5th for expenditures per capita too so we are extremely high. It’s not regressive. It taxes people who consume more which is exactly what people like Bernie say they want to do. It’s implemented in many European countries.

@Andrige3 @jasontrost Yes, the nation with the highest GDP has the highest government expenditures. We're barely in the top 40 for government spending as a percentage of GDP. Don't be surprised if a consumption tax requires *higher* government spending to offset the regressive nature of the tax.

If you own stock, you pay 23.8% only when you sell and you can borrow without tax. If you have salary income, you pay 37% annually. Isn't that a tax problem?

@mmedeiros @jasontrost I never said alone but we have highest government expenditures in world. I want to fix the hole in the leaky bucket. Income tax disincentivizes people from working and wealth tax does same for investing. I’d be fine with consumption tax to raise more money.

@Andrige3 @jasontrost And? Because reducing spending alone doesn't fix the problem You said we should "lower income tax rate and cut wasteful spending" Do you now see that would only exacerbate the problem and we are a long way from being able to decrease revenue regardless of how much waste is cut?

@mmedeiros @jasontrost And even if you could confiscate all the wealth of the billionaires, you still couldn’t pay off our debt and we’d have no more growth (eg what happened in Soviet Russia) so clearly we have to reduce spending.

@Andrige3 @jasontrost The vast majority of "our current spending policies" cannot be changed at this time. Say 25% of discretionary funding is wasteful, and we remove that 25%. You're now running at a $1.3T deficit instead of $1.8T Cutting "waste" doesn't solve this problem.

@mmedeiros @jasontrost Depends how you define waste. Interest payments becoming the highest budget line items seems pretty wasteful and isn’t going to slow down with our current spending policies. We are also paying way too much for other mandatories (eg military and poorly managed contractors)

@Andrige3 @jasontrost Cutting "waste" doesn't solve this problem.

@Tironianae These people are getting exactly what they voted for.

🚨 BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani is getting hit with massive backlash after floating property tax hikes that would slam regular New Yorkers, not just the “ultra-wealthy.” Homeowners. Small landlords. Working families already drowning in New York costs. And the “solution” is… raise taxes again? That is not soaking billionaires. That is squeezing the middle class. New York has some of the highest property taxes in the country. Rent is out of control. People are fleeing the state. And the answer from the socialist wing is always the same: tax more, spend more, blame someone else. At some point voters have to ask: How many times are you going to fall for the same pitch before you realize who’s actually paying the bill?

@OrevaZSN We have $39 trillion in debt and haven’t managed to solve world hunger, homelessness, or poverty. What are we doing wrong?

I cannot wrap my head around having enough money to end world hunger, homelessness, or poverty and just… NOT doing it. Like, what do you want to use all that money for? You’re literally going to die anyway?

@RBReich And even if you confiscated it all (like a true communist/democratic socialist), you’d only pay off 1/3 of Americas debt. Let that sink in.

The 500 richest people on the globe added $336 billion to their fortunes on Monday, bringing their collective net worth to a record $13.3 trillion. Read that back. Our problem isn’t an issue of resources. Our problem is ever-expanding wealth inequality.

@SenWarren Since you want to tax unrealized gains, are you going to reimburse him for the $70 billion he lost in a single day from the spacex correction this week?

If Elon Musk paid my ultra-millionaire tax, we could fully cover free community college in America.

@RepMarkPocan Hospitals in underserved areas are already struggling to make ends meet with current Medicare reimbursements. Who will subsidize these hospitals with Medicare for all? Or are we going to further increase health disparities in the country?

REMINDER: Medicare for All would save 68,000 lives and $450 billion a year.

@SSWorks Then you also need to raise caps on benefits.

The key to Social Security’s solvency isn’t cuts — it’s having everyone pay their fair share. Congress should scrap the cap on contributions that’s currently set at $184,500 and require billionaires to contribute on all of their income, earned and unearned.

@Chris147Bacon Without SpaceX, we'd still be relying on Russia to get to ISS.

@SamuelFByers This is the generation that added almost $39 trillion in debt, refused to raise their own taxes, and refused to make social security/medicare sustainable by making minor tweaks. Now they are preying on modern liberals to bail them out at the expense of future generations.

If you are under the age of ~55, you need to budget for a substantial tax hike in 6 years because that’s how the Boomers are going to “fix” Social Security

@cmsinvests Do you think any CEO who isn’t named Elon can command such a high PE ratio? If not, do you think Elon will still be running the company in 40 years?

Sometimes I feel like putting my entire $40,000 portfolio into $SPCX and just let it ride for the next 40 years. I’m currently 18, would this be a good idea?

@realsmallbizguy @mcuban You do realize that without the higher reimbursement from private insurance a lot of hospitals (particularly in underserved areas) would close without additional subsidies from the government (which isn’t free)? It’s another indirect subsidy by working Americans.

@Andrige3 @mcuban It needs funding but it spends less per patient than the average American pay in premiums.

Who runs it ?

@hankgreen I’d rather have a tax on consumption. This change would hit middle class Americans who save for retirement. Meanwhile, wealthy people will continue to use tax havens to borrow money against their shares.

Anyway, capital gains should be taxed like ordinary income.

@realsmallbizguy @mcuban It’s projected to become insolvent by 2033 even without expanding benefits.

@mcuban The current Medicare system runs great. Not Medicare advantage. Straight Medicare. Just need some better supplement plans.

@PramilaJayapal The problem is that the government has shown it’s absolutely terrible at managing billions of dollars. Please get your house in order so that people actually trust you to manage this money.

The insurance industry does not want you to know this: Medicare for All would cover everyone. It would cost most families less than what they pay right now. It would eliminate the bureaucratic nightmare that wastes billions of dollars every year. Money that could go toward actual care. The only people who lose under Medicare for All are the executives pocketing billions while denying your claims. That is exactly why they fight it. And exactly why we have to fight harder.

@pawelwargan If you think the quality of life in China is so much better, feel free to move. I’d personally choose the average American lifestyle any day of the week.

In my lifetime, China lifted 850 million people out of poverty, while the US created one trillionaire. It is clear as day that socialism is the key to our future.

@VigilantFox $4.5 billion profit on $1.3 trillion is a 3% profit margin which is very low. Profit is the money that goes to upgrade equipment, facilities, and expand staffing. I’m sure there’s bad actors but this doesn’t seem absurd.

Joe Rogan watches in disbelief as a video reveals America’s “nonprofit” hospitals actually rake in $45,000,000,000 in profit every year. ROGAN: “Motherf*ckers.” One CEO at NYU Langone paid himself $15,300,000 a year. Other CEOs paid themselves $4,500,000 while nurses made about $70,000 a year. P. DAVIS JONES: “A congressman recently described some nonprofit hospitals as ‘hedge funds with hospital beds,’ and I was like, ‘I bet they are.’” “The total revenues of nonprofit hospitals in America in 2023 was $1.3 trillion. Nonprofit hospitals were making $45 billion worth of profit.” “A study that looked at almost 1,500 nonprofit hospitals found that 86% of them provided LITTLE TO NO charity.” “It goes to executives, these CEOs getting paid about $4.5 million a year. Meanwhile, their nurses make about 70K.” “Here’s a guy, Robert [Grossman], at a hospital in New York who paid himself $15.3 million a year. Nonprofit hospital.”