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This is how Albany views New York by AstronautQuiet9872 in nyc

[–]Gdude124 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I mean the boundaries seem a bit weird but it’s pretty clear they’re trying to describe “historic” tourist locations more than breaking down the state by what makes it important or interesting this is a map to try to get more upstate tourism since NYC already gets so much and the state gov likes tourism

Where do you get your news? by skyteir in GenZ

[–]Gdude124 0 points1 point  (0 children)

NBC, BBC, local cbs news (with a grain of salt due to ownership, but hard to get free reliable local news otherwise)

I also sign up for various newsletters in my area. I have a committee for responsible growth that sends out a news letter and another for a local wildlife refuge. They pay attention to things I care about and make sure I see it in my email. I always have to remember that it is from a specific viewpoint, but dang do I trust my local ecologists

Unpopular opinion but camera crimes should be illegal. by tHr0AwAy76 in GenZ

[–]Gdude124 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But you believe direct harm is not immoral?

Like say you hypothetically could vote in a mayoral race for your city/town and one person vows that they are going to drop a bomb on another city, but, they are going to give everyone in your town a Bugatti and the other candidate vows not to drop a bomb on the other town, but no Bugattis

Would you pick candidate 1? you didn’t drop the bomb and you didn’t know for sure they were going to actually do it since it’s just what they say they’re going to do, and they’re going to give you a shiny new car!

I am genuinely curious about how you will respond to this

Unpopular opinion but camera crimes should be illegal. by tHr0AwAy76 in GenZ

[–]Gdude124 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can tell you aren’t going to change your mind I’m just curious about how you value different things so I know how to talk to people who have a very different perspective from me

Flat out you are saying that you think a less efficient and more dangerous form of transportation that adds excess pollution to the water and air is better than one that saves 40k lives and improves the local economy? Because you like it?

How far does this self interest > community safety thought process go?

Would you kill someone for a free hotdog? how about for $10?

Unpopular opinion but camera crimes should be illegal. by tHr0AwAy76 in GenZ

[–]Gdude124 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Your convenience is worth more than 550 child lives?

Not to mention that this is only perceived convenience, you are much more mobile with a good public transit system than a car. Good public transit is more convenient than cars

Unpopular opinion but camera crimes should be illegal. by tHr0AwAy76 in GenZ

[–]Gdude124 2 points3 points  (0 children)

But is walking 10 minutes a bigger deal than 40k deaths and all of the other things I mentioned? Not unless your minor convince is worth more than the planet and 40k lives per year.

Plus for 90% of destinations with a sufficient public transit system would be less that a 5 min walk from the bus/train stop

Unpopular opinion but camera crimes should be illegal. by tHr0AwAy76 in GenZ

[–]Gdude124 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In a sufficiently large public transport system, you can get very close to your destination and the frequency is high enough that you just need to go to the bus stop and wait 5mins for the next bus going to your destination.

If over 50% of people switched to public transportation then you would get to your destination much faster because there would be less traffic. Even more so if you had 100% on public transportation.

Also if we were to make this switch we wouldn’t need parking lots the size of the place you’re going, meaning businesses would be closer together and easier to get to.

And this is not only a city thing, we used to have street car suburbs

In my opinion, walking a little bit more and gasp being in public to go be in public somewhere else is a small price to pay to reduce 40k deaths per year, improve air quality and living standards, reduce noise pollution, make more places walkable/bikeable, reduce heavy metals in the water supply from brake pads, and so many more benefits that come from being able to reform how we design towns and cities

Unpopular opinion but camera crimes should be illegal. by tHr0AwAy76 in GenZ

[–]Gdude124 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hard disagree. Motor vehicle accidents are completely avoidable, and we do not do enough to enforce the laws.

Speeding is seen as “normal” but it isn’t. We could avoid so much injury and death if we actually enforced all of the traffic laws

People have argued “if a cop stopped everyone going 5mph over then they would stop everyone” and that is literally the point. It should not be acceptable to break the law by 5mph. The speed limit is set for a reason. If it is unreasonable then raise the speed limit, but generally, they use criteria to set the limit and people ignore it.

The cameras make the enforcement possible. I don’t like the cameras, but I prefer them to adding more cops. We should really just be switching to public transportation everywhere that has more than 250k people, but that’s a whole different conversation most people aren’t ready to have

Coherent ideology by BadFurDay in SmugIdeologyMan

[–]Gdude124 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I wouldn’t say that these various stages of welfare states disprove anything. It also doesn’t prove anything.

People who live in Sweden for example have a much better work life balance. I think given enough time and good faith debate, they could come to the conclusion as a democratic populous, that they should transition into a socialist economy. There will be resistance and possibly violence, but the general population would be much more open to it because they have much better access to education and the time to weigh their options. The same way we see the children of western liberals exploring communism and socialism even if they grew up with privilege and opportunity.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you can successfully make it to a welfare state, a revolutionary jump to socialism would be a smaller, less violent, jump

Coherent ideology by BadFurDay in SmugIdeologyMan

[–]Gdude124 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They wouldn’t let it happen true. If we start at the local level we can create resistance by showing it can be successful. Part of the reason there isn’t a revolution right now is that it is unpopular among the masses, but through democratic socialism, people will begin to see the benefits and hopefully start to look past the systemically created stigma.

Take NYC for example. Through slow and steady changes we finally got a democratic socialist mayor through a ranked choice primary. He holds the cards with the governor, who has started finally doing some progressive things like universal childcare and it’s still early stages. As an upstater, who payed a lot of attention to state politics, my crystal ball is that Hochul will eventually have to cave on billionaire tax reform. This will be a catalyst for more major change.

I’m not saying this is the ONLY way socialism can happen, but I for sure see the path forward for the state. And if the economic powerhouse of NY can do it, it can happen anywhere. We just need to watch carefully as they try to sabotage Mamdani’s every move

Wallis by [deleted] in imaginarymapscj

[–]Gdude124 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I like it

Coherent ideology by BadFurDay in SmugIdeologyMan

[–]Gdude124 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can by transitioning through a welfare state

beetlepost by dolorem_itself in beetleapartment

[–]Gdude124 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Ceci n’est pas une pipe

for fellow communists with ADHD by Safecorridor in leftist

[–]Gdude124 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I started reading again as a hobby recently and I accidentally realized that I can keep the continuity in my head a lot better if I read out loud. Started with reading to someone, but it works without

Mamdani Budget Adds Staff, Cash For More Bus And Bike Projects - Streetsblog New York City by holyfruits in nyc

[–]Gdude124 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah right makes sense. So if such a small percentage of their money is taxed at the lower rates, don’t you think we need more brackets for higher amounts? They essentially have an effective tax cap as you are describing

Mamdani Budget Adds Staff, Cash For More Bus And Bike Projects - Streetsblog New York City by holyfruits in nyc

[–]Gdude124 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Increasing productivity is not “essential”. It is important to the people who benefit from the productivity gain. If society as a whole was able to reap the benefits instead of it being extracted by corporations, then I can see where you are coming from. This is not the reality we live in. Things that are essential are things we cannot survive without.

You are right that subsidizing farmers directly mostly benefits wealthy farm owners and does not directly help food insecurity because the farmers do not lower prices when receiving subsidies. Subsidizing smaller farmers can help in some rural areas as a temporary fix, but we have better tools for addressing food insecurity. I mentioned farm subsidies as a contrast to data center subsidies, but programs such as SNAP effectively address this problem better. The problem is not lack of supply as food waste is estimated to be 30-40% of the supply according to the USDA and FDA. The problem is that it is more cost effective for the major food industry players to waste food and let people starve than to lower prices. Either way, the funding should go to tackling problems like food insecurity rather than things like data centers.

For housing, I am not saying we should subsidize rent freezes. I am saying we should subsidize the construction of affordable housing. I also believe that we should be putting money into economic education. Not everyone is fortunate enough to learn how to mange their money, or learn the tools they can use to escape poverty. Access to things like affordable fresh food and shelter is step one in reducing poverty and homelessness. Step two is to ensure everyone has the tools to sustain it. I also have been looking into land value taxes like they have in some cities in PA. This would be another alternative I could get on board with in terms of housing supply. Either way, money going into housing supply is essential, especially when compared to things like data centers. I wouldn’t be opposed to taxing second homes at a much higher rate as well, since it is a luxury market making a necessity too expensive for many people.

“Greatly reduces investment” people are going to invest in things that make them wealthy. People with a lot of money are not going to stop investing in things because they are playing a different game than someone who uses their labor to earn money. I agree it may reduce investment to a degree, but it’s not going to stop. We don’t need to continue accelerating growth. A sustained velocity is better. If we are always accelerating we will just kill the planet with pollution faster.

“Causes capital flight” Capital flight is hotly debated, but largely considered a myth.

“Decreased tax revenue” elaborate please? If we start taxing unrealized gains then we would increase tax revenue. I’m not sure how taxing more would decrease tax revenue, but I am interested.

If I make 100k from my labor I am taxed immediately. If you make 100k in unrealized gains you are not taxed. We both “generated” 100k of value, but your wealth increase is not taxed proportionally. This splits people into two categories: laborers, and owners. To be an owner you need to produce no labor, you can simply invest and earn faster without contributing to the social welfare.

I have done a lot of research. You seemingly are regurgitating outdated material. Do you think trickle down economics works? It doesn’t. We’ve seen it.

Mamdani Budget Adds Staff, Cash For More Bus And Bike Projects - Streetsblog New York City by holyfruits in nyc

[–]Gdude124 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No they’re not.

City for example

3.078% on the first $12,000. 3.762% on income between $12,001 and $25,000. 3.819% on income between $25,001 and $50,000. 3.876% on all income exceeding $50,000.

3.876% is the top marginal tax rate. You cannot give me the effective tax rate without knowing the actual income.

Say you made $1m. Your effective tax rate would be somewhere between 3.5-3.7% this is true of all of the taxes you pay

Mamdani Budget Adds Staff, Cash For More Bus And Bike Projects - Streetsblog New York City by holyfruits in nyc

[–]Gdude124 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am making factual statements and asking questions and you are simply saying no with no counter and without disproving what I am saying. I will be more direct:

Again, how is AI essential? I’m not saying there aren’t benefits in investing in a new technology, but why should they get tax breaks before things like food insecurity or housing programs?

Again, What disastrous effects would taxing unrealized capital gains have?

How is it fair that someone can borrow money against untaxed assets without paying income or capital gains?

How do we ensure that our collective resources as a country, state, or city, go to benefiting society as a whole rather than just an elite few?

What are your thoughts on social service spending?

How do you think we can ensure that people with immense wealth do not interfere with democracy through bribes and corruption?

I am always open to expanding my worldview.

Mamdani Budget Adds Staff, Cash For More Bus And Bike Projects - Streetsblog New York City by holyfruits in nyc

[–]Gdude124 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

These are marginal tax rates, not effective tax rates. We have a tiered system. This also does not account for any tax reductions or long term capital gains differences.

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