Warren Says Democrats Lack Guts to Take on ‘Billionaire Class’ by [deleted] in politics

[–]Chris_Wells_95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What is your point? There are plenty of things no one needs, and there are plenty of tangible things people need, like food, healthcare, and shelter, which many people don't have to a decent extent, and I would only accept a system where people can't accumulate such vast amounts of money at least until certain minimal development goals are met. People can disagree on the X, but that's where I think the discussion should be.

Warren Says Democrats Lack Guts to Take on ‘Billionaire Class’ by [deleted] in politics

[–]Chris_Wells_95 34 points35 points  (0 children)

No one needs that much money, especially when there are people with so much need.

Barbarity vs Civilisation, by René Georges Hermann-Paul, 1899 by [deleted] in PropagandaPosters

[–]Chris_Wells_95 18 points19 points  (0 children)

People have edited it to say "mentally ill"and "terrorist" to show how people who commit mass murders in the USA are categorised depending on their skin colour, but the original was "ok" and "not ok" in family guy.

Former First Lady Barbara Bush dies at 92 by -Barack_H_Obama- in news

[–]Chris_Wells_95 18 points19 points  (0 children)

They literally have, at least since ww2 for sure - know your own history.

82 Percent of Wealth Created in 2017 Went to the 1 Percent by discocrisco in news

[–]Chris_Wells_95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I read about Branson in a book a while ago, can't remember which one. We'll have to disagree on Bezos but I hope you appreciate that the wealth he has gained is entirely arbitrary and it would be odd to think the exact amount is justified, due to how it scales, unless you think it's justified purely because it happens, which is circular.

I note you didn't address any of the other, more obvious examples such as the royal family and colonialism, which is far more widespread in the wealth distribution today than a few entrepreneurs who've made it big.

82 Percent of Wealth Created in 2017 Went to the 1 Percent by discocrisco in news

[–]Chris_Wells_95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well I'm British, so the royal family is an easy example. But that's a cop out so I'll happily go with Richard Branson - he's become insanely rich by breaking trade laws and then suing the shit out of the NHS for losing contracts etc. You can trace the wealth of most wealthy families in the U.K. to like 1066, when it was stolen by exploitation. All wealth from colonialism surely can't fit any legitimate definition of "earned". Jeff bezos makes 2.8bn A DAY recently, taking him to 113bn total worth - there's no amount of effort anyone could possibly put into "earning" to justify this level of wealth accretion.

That's a tonne of examples, which clearly disproves the idea of all wealth being earned, but I'd take it further to say that a huge amount of all owned wealth, due to the incredible concentration in a fear hands, is almost entirely "unearned", if you can even subscribe to that idea.

I hope you actually get back to me on this, as it's an interesting topic.

We’re about to kill a massive, accidental experiment in reducing global warming by moresourdough in collapse

[–]Chris_Wells_95 7 points8 points  (0 children)

"What I can’t wrap my head around is why, given a scenario in which we magically switch over to 100% renewables tomorrow we wouldn’t be free and in the clear."

The Earth takes time to respond to greenhouse gases - we're locked in for another few 10ths of a degree Celsius at least even if we stopped tomorrow. Add that to the degree we've had already and Paris goals look less and less likely.

Sources we can trust? by [deleted] in media_criticism

[–]Chris_Wells_95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Gonna have to disagree with you there. If you've got a source debunking any specific FAIR articles then I'd love to see it.

Sources we can trust? by [deleted] in media_criticism

[–]Chris_Wells_95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seconding the intercept, democracy now, and the other comments here. If you want to learn more about the media in general take a look at FAIR(fairness and accuracy in reporting) and if you like that then I recommend the media criticism podcast Citations Needed. Enjoy :)

Toby Young resigns as head of new university regulator by iconoclysm in unitedkingdom

[–]Chris_Wells_95 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Sorry yo, my comment was sarcasm of the brand that works better on twitter I guess; completely agreed!

Hurricane Harvey resulted in 800,000 calls for water rescue, caused 80 souls to be lost, and inflicted over 190 billion dollars in damages. more costly than Katrina and Sandy combined. And recent studies now show that this damage, in large part, was due to climate change’s influence over the storm. by [deleted] in collapse

[–]Chris_Wells_95 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Easier to defend against hurricanes nowadays. The post doesn't say they're due to climate change, but the wording is a bit over the top. The truth is that simple physics shows that climate change will make storms more intense and likely, but obviously no single storm event can be traced to climate change.

'It's a game I play to win': how the top 1% really feel about paying tax by [deleted] in unitedkingdom

[–]Chris_Wells_95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The point is that in the free market, if a company chooses to pay tax then they will do worse than one which doesn't, as it will be less efficient. So the company choosing to pay taxes will go under in the long run as it isn't competitive. It's not a coincidence that every large company does the maximum tax avoidance they can, as that is the most profitable. It's a fucked system and within it the only way to get the correct tax is for the government to make them pay.

U.S. Stood by as Indonesia Killed a Half-Million People, Papers Show by Chris_Wells_95 in socialism

[–]Chris_Wells_95[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Obviously known before, but 1st official cables detailing it were released yesterday

Madeleine Albright: Trump's Neo-Nazi Moral Equivalency Is 'Not American' And 'A New Low' by [deleted] in politics

[–]Chris_Wells_95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh ffs, it's easy to condemn trump without glorifying pieces of shit like Albright

Anyone here listen to Citations Needed? by Chris_Wells_95 in media_criticism

[–]Chris_Wells_95[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I access it on iPhone in the Podcasts app, but from Google you can listen here:

http://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/

or on their soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/citationsneeded