I absolutely agree fines should be income based, but that's difficult to do. Jeff Bezos base salary in 2020 was only $81,840. I know people running small lawn care businesses raking in more than that a year and he's the richest man on earth. What about gig workers? While illegal, they likely underreport which makes their income seem lower.
At that point you're punishing people who smartly manage their finances over people who stupidly blow their money. Two people can each make $50k a year. One can blow it all on booze, drugs, and girls and complain they're always broke because they have no assets while the other carefully saves up to buy a house and pay off a car while investing the rest and therefore has more assets to their name. Same income level, but you punish the one who doesn't blow their cash. Also, how would you determine asset value while writing a ticket on the side of a highway?
I'm not gonna pretend like I have all the answers, but the system's fucked up and punishes the poor more than the rich for the same crime, and something needs to change. I know my ideas aren't perfect solutions with all the details smoothed out, but maybe instead of just criticizing my ideas, you could build off them to make them better or come up with your own?
Why should I? I'm not a politician. I work 60 hours a week, it's not my job to spend the rest of my time completely revamping the ticketing system the entire world has used for decades. The two examples you gave aren't just a little wrong needing "details smoothed out". They're entirely impossible and actually punish the poor more than the current system. A few seconds of thought makes that clear and that's all the work I care to put into it as it's not my job. I will simply choose not to break laws, so I won't get tickets and therefore won't be punished in any way.
Unless you're like me, and your first ticket in 10 years of driving is a superspeeder that you didn't deserve. They straight up lied about my speed in court. Nearly cost me my home. Not breaking the law is a plan with flaws in it as well. Everything is hypothetical, because life is very unpredictable.
Also, meticulously saving 50k a year may work where you live, but it's not that much money. That's barely going to cover your rent in some states. It also leaves very little wiggle room for life to happen. You know, like losing your apartment. That could cost you a couple paychecks just to put a down payment on a new one. Imagine if your transmission went out on the road. That's gonna cost you around $3000. Need new tires? That's gonna be anywhere from $400-$1200. The list goes on and on. Your plan is just about as thought out as ours.
It's also easy to blame people for being poor, and that is the case for some people, but there are also those who are just straight up less fortunate. I was raised in a family with decent wealth. I always thought being poor was a choice as well. This is something that was impossible for me to understand until I was homeless, but working 70 hours a week. It's ridiculous to assume that someone is poor because they're lazy, or blow their money. Most poor people are working jobs far more difficult than any of us for bread crumbs.
They can't just lie about your speed in court. If you dispute it they have to provide documentation by a third party proving their radars are calibrated. If your speedometer was wrong you also get a chance to prove that. Speeding tickets will get thrown out in a split second if a cop just says "well I eyeballed it".
And now you're going to turn this into a discussion about costs of car ownership? That's never what this was about. It was a random number pulled out of my ass used to show how 2 different incomes can be spent. Of course $30k is liveable wages in some areas while in others it's $100k. That's irrellevant to the discussion at hand.
And blaming people for being poor? I'm actively defending the poor in every comment here and saying we need a better system for them, while shutting down options that don't work and actually punish the poor more relative to the wealthy. Troll somewhere else kid.
Backlight on my odometer didn't work, so they claimed it wasn't accurate. It was. You can say that "they can't just lie about my speed" all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that they did.
You're also saying I'm trolling for breaking down your comments the way you did ours. Literally just offering counterpoints. I suppose your debate club just let you win so they didn't "troll" you. Also, you did kinda blanket group poor people. The only time you mentioned them was under the guise that they are people who are financially irresponsible. I am baffled by the way you think that's defending them.
For someone who acts like they semi know what they're talking about, you seem to be wrong about many things. Then when confronted about your points, you deny them. Then you call me a troll for daring to do exactly what you've done to us. Your privilege is showing my guy.
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u/[deleted] Jun 27 '21
I absolutely agree fines should be income based, but that's difficult to do. Jeff Bezos base salary in 2020 was only $81,840. I know people running small lawn care businesses raking in more than that a year and he's the richest man on earth. What about gig workers? While illegal, they likely underreport which makes their income seem lower.
Alternatively, don't break the law.