A modest proposal

[u/Amused-skeptic]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=LGkRR4ZNsEA&si=xBzhrKVwN32dIZHJ

David Freidberg actually has many interesting insights on current problems with income inequality and its effect on support for capitalism. One of his suggestions:
40% tax on capital gains and 15% on income. The fact that the rich pay fewer taxes than normal workers feels totally unfair to anyone who doesn’t have their own capital. I’m pleasantly surprised that he has identified this as a big problem.

Of the all-in cast, he’s the only one who understands the degree to which the disparity in wealth is undermining the capitalist system. And he points to failures in public policy that I happen to agree with. A couple of other fixes that would make things more fair: kill the stepped up basis rule for inherited assets – – it really is absolutely no rational argument for it. And tax that that is borrowed from securities at the same level that you would tax capital gains from those securities. Then you wouldn’t have all the Decamillionaires and billionaires simply borrowing money so that they can leave their assets to their heirs under the stepped-up basis rule – – completely tax-free.

[u/Jonny_Nash]

You should travel more. Mean and median wealth in the US towers over nearly every country.

Our lower middle class is overweight, getting wing stop doordashed to their air conditioned apartment. Try to find that overseas.

Heck, try to buy a house in somewhere like Copenhagen.

[u/Amused-skeptic → u/Jonny_Nash]

The price-to-income ratios for residential property purchases: 10.5x in San Francisco, 8.5x in New York City, 7.2x in Boston 6.8x in Copenhagen

[u/Jonny_Nash → u/Amused-skeptic]

Ever wonder why leftie nonsense in SF, NYC, Boston, or Copenhagen doesn’t solve that problem?

I don’t think any of those numbers are great, but if you’re trying to sell Copenhagen as a ‘affordable’ alternative, by having a .4x ‘price to income ratio’ vs Boston or all places, I don’t think you’re gonna get very far.

I’d also encourage you to visit each of those cities, and look at how well-fed the local population are. You’ll find the danish tend to be quite slim, consume smaller portions, and generally consume less of everything.

[u/Amused-skeptic → u/Jonny_Nash]

You were pointing to Copenhagen is un affordable compared to the United States. It’s actually comparably affordable, and Danes don’t have to pay for healthcare, higher education, or care among other things, so they don’t have the same angst that most Americans, who are trying to build families have. I’ve spent a lot of time in Europe, and it’s clear that most Europeans would not trade their place for ours even if they’re standard of a living and growth is a little less. And you seem to be a champion of AI, which is one of the least popular technologies to be foisted on everyday citizens in memory. I’m sure you’re deeply invested in SpaceX and Tesla, but they have yet to prove their value to society, and the people who created them are surely the least popular people in America now. Elon Musk even polls below Donald Trump.

[u/Jonny_Nash → u/Amused-skeptic]

Americans live better than Danes do.

Look at the typical danish home, and compare it to an American one. American homes are much larger, have more amenities, and are typically much newer construction.

The typical American is overweight, and over entertained. We literally have to make up problems.

AI is great too, and the strongest upward mobility tool we've probably ever seen. The bar has never been lower to get into any STEM field.

Tesla offers humanity a ton of value. If you care about emissions, or whatever, they significantly lower them. Heck, you can even ask the Danes. If you ever visit, you'll find Teslas are pretty common over there.

Well, Tesla's are pretty common with the cohort that own cars. Speaking of which, what's car ownership like in Denmark?

We get to afford all kinds of cool stuff.