JazzG public debt can be eliminated in one year with a relatively limited but progressive capital tax. Even a one time tax. There is no need to gut the government. That's just what the billionaires who steal your money want you to believe.

  • Daz likes this.

HomeSteak yeah this a scam and will become a front for blatant money laundering

meanwhile, at a democrats consultancy retreat

basically, run kamalas campaign again but with a white guy at the top of the ticket. 'move away from the dominance of small donors' is such a huge tell. trashbag party that repeatedly learns all the wrong lessons. they deserve to keep losing.

    Gazza M it works. It’s an admission that after half a century of the Cold War and centuries of slavery, this is a fundamentally right leaning country. Etched in its psyche. Win within that context unless you plan a revolution.

      if there's even functional elections in 26/28 and the democrats somehow Mr magoo themselves back into power, it will snap right back to the populists and rabble-rousers in short order.

      Claudius if you keep moving the Democrats to the right the Republicans also move to the right and you get what we have now with Trump, Musk and co.

        Gazza M If the Democrats went looking for the votes of two in three citizens who heard about the UnitedHealthcare assassin and thought "Yeah I get why you'd do that", they'd be in better shape.

        It's not enough to wait for Trump to get sent packing, the next candidate to oppose the phalanx of fascist meltdown needs a plan, a mandate and a battalion of picks to replace the Hegseths and Bonginos going into office now.

        Speaking of not having a mandate, Starmer recording nett negative approval, and a majority of UK voters thinking Labour is incompetent just six months after their victory, tells you how that goes.

        Qwiss I hear what you’re saying. I just don’t think Americans think of concepts of equity the way we might. All this stuff runs counter to the American dream. It’s not coincidental that the US should be the place that generates so many billionaires - and the same people who can’t afford medical services will openly say don’t tax the billionaires more because they’ve earned it. You have to break a lot of beliefs of what it means to be American for a Bernie type to garner enough votes to win

          I've been an anti-imperialist since I was a little university Marxist in the late 1990s. Feels bizarre to me that I go on Twitter and it's full of Silicon Valley MAGA fascists saying how unfair it is the United States pays for 70% of NATO.

          I want the war in Ukraine to end as soon as possible, but backing Ukraine into a very difficult spot and giving Russia a freer hand in negotiations won't help with that.

          I've got plenty of sympathy for Ukrainians who've been walked into a Russian massacre by NATO nations and are now having the rug pulled.

            Claudius I think there's a bit too much recieved wisdom in that. Look at the New Deal. America is capable of some social reforms.

            Burnwinter a lot of people predicted Ukraine would end up like Afghanistan and here we are.

            Wouldn't be surprised if Zelensky is replaced soon.

              Burnwinter Wish someone would just shoot this dangerous blowhard down.

              Come on now you're better than that.

              Burnwinter I've got plenty of sympathy for Ukrainians who've been walked into a Russian massacre by NATO nations and are now having the rug pulled.

              Americans are gonna get a lucrative Mineral deal and they've crippled the Russians while they are at it.

              Kel Varnsen Fuck this guy and his retarded tariffs.

              I wonder how long he can keep up on tariffs, the economy will take a turn for the worst and public opinion will start to shift.

              Kel Varnsen Wouldn't be surprised if Zelensky is replaced soon.

              I still wonder what is up with him, surely he must know that Trump is the only person who can stop this war and he needs to suck up to him. It is shit deal for him and Ukraine but he has run out of road here, there is no other way. The Americans have run out of patience here, he is gonna end up getting shafted even more now.

                Pepe LeFrits He may have come put well in a PR sense but his meeting was a total failure, given the entire purpose of it was to try to persuade Trump to adopt a more moderate position on Ukraine.

                I don't think Ukraine was the only thing on his agenda, he went there to suck up, give Trump a royal invitation and try to avoid the UK being hammered with tariffs. He came out it with talk of a potential free trade deal so I think he has done alright. Even now he is kind of acting like a bridge between Ukraine and the Americans, trying to make sure that deal doesn't collapse, he was very wise not to join in with other Europeans and start tweeting after that Zelensky meeting. The way the European nations are starting tweeting together did seem very suspicious to me....

                Burnwinter violence is bad. but we must also consider the greater good. in a world where we have endured people like Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pinochet, Idi Amin etc., you need to know when to recognise certain behaviors.

                  JazzG Come on now you're better than that.

                  I'm quite serious. I'm no great fan of Zelensky but this dumbass partisanship from a public figure with Musk's influence is likely to cost lives.

                  He's embarrassing.

                  The end result of Trump, Vance and Musk dragging Zelensky and flouncing off to turn off the tap of military aid to Ukraine has been to rattle Europe, throw the situation into chaos, and hand Russia a ton of additional leverage in any negotiations.

                  Trump's supporters are feasting on their favourite spectacle, Daddy being tough, but the United States doesn't have the same capacity to bully Putin, because it didn't promise Putin it'd help him win if he invaded.

                  Multi party peace talks haven't even begun because of this demand from Trump's office that Ukraine sign a minerals deal prior to agreeing any security guarantees. That amounts to "let's do the quid first, then we'll discuss the scope and scale of the quo".

                  And all this nonsense is accompanied by a bunch of absurd, divisive slander about who does, or does not want peace. We've seen just as bad or worse from Biden and co in the past, but make no mistake, this stuff is utterly contemptible. Extortionate, untrustworthy, disrespectful drivel from the posse of utter fuckwits running the world's most powerful country.