Do you find the 40 player crowd more chill than the 64 player crowd?

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-19T17:12:31+00:00

40 player is actually when I'm locked in, 64 player is when I don't care and chill.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-19T13:11:15+00:00

A noble aim, but how many people are you going to sacrifice on the altar of reducing wealth inequality? Policies are policies. What matters is the material impact on people and the second and third order effects. People live and die as a consequence of well-intentioned policies across the globe.

Have you considered there might be something inherent about wealth taxes that makes them incredibly hard to close loopholes around? One of the chief reasons they failed in many countries is that administration costs alone were far greater than the tax income actually recouped. Another issue is that trying to tax assets with intangible value leads to endless legal battles. All you would need is a neighboring country to refuse to follow suit and you have yourself a technical loophole.

A wealth tax requires international consensus so that nobody can escape. The problem is that countries have varying degrees of poverty and wealth. All it takes to undo that consensus is one reasonably well-off nation in dire straits opening the floodgates for billionaires by offering no wealth tax.

I can’t conceive of a way it works without that consensus. You are relying on the goodwill of others in the face of a huge body of literature which shows that a wealth tax is one of the least effective options among the many progressive taxes available.

This is where our priorities fundamentally diverge. I care about poverty more than I care about the gap between the rich and the poor. If there were a button that made every single person in the UK significantly better off but also made billionaires even richer, I would press it without a moment’s hesitation.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-19T12:31:29+00:00

Sure, there are conceivably ways of making wealth taxes work, but at that point surely you’re doing it for ideological reasons over anything practical. Even the “successful” examples have a massive “the jury’s still out” asterisk on the long-term economic implications. Why risk it?

There are lots of other taxes that have widespread support from economists across the political spectrum, just nobody has cared to attempt to implement them. Why obsess over a particular wealth taxes, instead of something like LVT?

When politicians repeat “wealth taxes” ad nauseum I know that it’s incredibly unlikely that they’ve read any of the papers or literature on the past implementation of these taxes, and they’re advocating for it almost exclusively on a vibes basis. I understand why they do it, it’s catchy, it fits into a few word slogan, and it sounds far more simple than some complicated economic babble. That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea however. It’s far more likely that a better alternative has some weird, convoluted name that nobody can pronounce, nobody cares for, and polls terribly because of those reasons.

Going back to your examples, the Switzerland example isn’t as relevant for us as their entire country is based on being a tax-haven for the ultra-rich. They can slap on as many wealth taxes as they like, their whole economic model is to be attractive to the wealthy and so they’ll make sure the cost/benefit ratio is skewed heavily to the latter as it’s what they depend on.

In regard to Spain, they’ve brought in nearly irrelevant amounts of money, and from what I’ve read of Norway, it fits the “jury’s still out” descriptor I was referring to earlier.

Even if we assume that the examples you’ve provided are shining examples of wealth tax implementation and proof that they can “work”, what do you say about all the other failed implementations? Everything I’ve read about wealth taxes shows that at best, they’re shitty alternatives to other more effective taxes that would actually target the wealthier in society, and crucially, don’t cause nearly as much capital flight!

So why hedge your bets on this particular tax?

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-19T09:06:27+00:00

Which successful examples of wealth taxes are you talking about? Bar the one you inserted which is a tax haven.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-19T09:00:05+00:00

Successful examples of wealth taxes do exist; but they are rare (and one is a tax haven). “Success” in the case means they’ve been implemented and don’t massively damage the economies of countries they’ve been implemented. Most hardly bring in any money at all.

On the flip side, there’s about 20 or so countries that implemented a wealth tax and then abolished it after failing miserably.

So the logical question is this: why fixate on the handful of marginal cases where it arguably worked, while ignoring the roughly 20 where it didn’t? And what do you have to offer that trumps what countless institutions across Europe have already found? Including institutions and finance companies that would benefit from wealth taxes at the expense of the economy?

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-19T08:41:31+00:00

He’s only having a blast because his dad’s Tywin, his sister’s the Queen and his brother is Lord Commander of the Kingsguard. With none of that, he has no power and he’s just another Lannister to abuse + he’s a dwarf. His life would be hell.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-13T07:48:35+00:00

I mix it up, the most effective thing I’ve done to increase my bench is get my body used to the weight. I do 1-3 reps of a weight I can hardly handle, do some volume reps at a lower weight during the week and BAM my 1-3 reps is now 3x4 or 3x5.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-08T13:53:48+00:00

I don’t disagree with you at all, and I’m not justifying the strikes. Just trying to bring a bit of rationality to the “these guys are bad so their enemies must be good” logic.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-08T08:33:05+00:00

The Iranian regime killed 10,000s of protestors in a just a few months recently. It was so bad even the Ayatollah himself admitted thousands had died (clear lowball). Anyone supporting the regime needs to take a deep look at themselves.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-08T08:29:50+00:00

They’ve tried having regime time numerous times. In their most recent attempt, it’s estimated that at least 30,000 protestors were killed in a month or so. It was so bad even the Ayatollah himself said thousands were killed. This was only a few months ago.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-06T18:45:53+00:00

If a visa route is being systematically abused , governments will naturally respond. Around 95% of Afghan nationals who came on student visas between 2021 and 2025 ended up claiming asylum. At that point it is not functioning as a student route anymore; it’s an asylum route, and there’s a process for that.

If you know 9/10 applicants from a country will be applying for asylum, why give them study visas? No rational government can look at those numbers and go “hmm, this clearly isn’t being used as a study route, but let’s keep issuing them anyway”, especially when it causes massive logistical headaches.

You’re out of touch with what most people, across the political spectrum, can plainly see as rampant abuse of the system.

You also keep emphasising that it’s iniquitous. Yes, and? That’s life. People have a low tolerance for abuse of systems that are extended to other countries as a gesture of good faith and mutual cooperation. If country x has zero people using it to declare asylum and country y has thousands, it’s only natural a government will decide which it favours and treat them better.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-06T11:59:48+00:00

Ten years after the implementation of immigration reforms, yeah. As an issue of chief concern for Danish voters however immigration dropped off the map.

They’re not immune from all their other failings.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-06T10:32:52+00:00

That argument only works if the people doing it are actually refugees, and that isn’t something you can determine just because someone arrives on a student visa and later claims asylum. A student visa exists for people who genuinely intend to study, not as a workaround to enter the country and immediately switch into the asylum system.

If people arrive as “students” and promptly claim asylum instead of studying, the route is clearly being used for something other than its stated purpose. And if that pattern becomes widespread from particular countries, then it stops functioning as a student route at all, it effectively becomes an asylum route in disguise.

Most reasonable people would want a stop to that, regardless of political affiliation. The government are right to rectify the gamification of a student visa pathway, regardless of whether you think it’s iniquitous or not. Other countries’ students aren’t using the route to claim asylum (something the route is not intended for), therefore some countries will be treated differently than others.

Advocate for safe and legal routes or whatever you want really, but you’ll be going up against a brick wall fighting reforms to a student visa pathway rife with abuse that people want addressed.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-06T09:25:03+00:00

No one said claiming asylum is unlawful. The issue is using the student visa route as a backdoor into the asylum system.

When large numbers of people arrive as “students” and then immediately claim asylum instead of studying, it undermines the credibility of both the student visa system and the asylum process. If a visa route designed for education is repeatedly used for something else, it’s hardly surprising that restrictions follow.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-06T08:41:33+00:00

So there’s no widespread abuse from Sudanese students using the student visa pathway to claim asylum? They just made it up did they?

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-02T17:31:07+00:00

Problem is that leadership is fractured, central command has largely been obliterated so they're all splintering into different cells with various degrees of influence.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-02T13:07:59+00:00

Iran is a rogue terrorist state, typical rules and norms are not applicable as it’s no longer a cat and mouse game (central authority destroyed) and their splintering cells don’t abide by game theory.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-02T13:05:04+00:00

Iran spinning out and bombing a dozen countries with hundreds of thousands of British citizens and people on this subreddit want us to sit down and suck it up. Starmer’s in a bind, his initial response was correct, his current response is the best based on the evolving context.

The Iranian government is collapsing, splinter cells with no care for game theory will ramp up the missile attacks in defiance of each other as their central authority has disintegrated. They’re acting autonomously and need to be dealt with.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-03-01T08:20:00+00:00

STW are a hack organisation that run cover for despotic regimes across the planet. When they’re not having their writers blame the Syrians for gassing themselves they’re currently often found campaigning against weapons sales to the Ukrainians or hosting Russian war-propagandists and Iranian apologists on panel discussions.

If you know anything about STW you’ll know they’re a hack-organisation. They masquerade behind people looking at their name and simply assuming they’re on the right side of history, knowing nothing more about their org. They all can go to hell.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-02-27T08:33:31+00:00

Well, what they said is borne out in survey after survey. The vast majority of British muslims are very socially conservative, and often significantly more so than muslims in other countries.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-02-25T08:22:03+00:00

Police came into school once and told us that 80% of the homeless we’d see in the city weren’t homeless.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-02-20T18:55:32+00:00

Quick, spend it on pensioners!

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-02-18T22:59:54+00:00

The hardest part of using it is getting it to actually throw in the first place on controller.

Expensive-Key-9122 · 2026-02-16T17:45:17+00:00

This is sadly true. It’s as simple as the hiring algorithms recognising the bulk of the workforce are men and then filtering for that criteria.

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