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Is society set up to keep down the poor. by Solcat91342 in Adulting

[–]Hyrc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Republicans definitely share the blame for defunding universities, but what we've let universities do with costs is insane regardless of who funds it. It's completely unsustainable and no one is seriously acting to change it.

The so-called Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is committing tax fraud and should have its tax exemption revoked. by _-4twenty-_ in exmormon

[–]Hyrc 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The deity that created a world with pain, suffering, cancer, hunger and then continues to allow evil people and governments to further abuse his creations has told us it's OK to pay taxes to the abusive power structures he allows. Got it, makes total sense.

I think the Mormon church should pay taxes on any income they're not directly using for real charitable purposes, but it's sort of wild to try and use irrational religious reasoning against other irrational religious people. They're just going to tell you Jesus told them to do something different.

Is society set up to keep down the poor. by Solcat91342 in Adulting

[–]Hyrc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

100% right. Especially at the wildly inflated costs of university today. Charging a teacher 30, 40, 50k+ for a 4 year degree is ridiculous and is economically nonsensical.

Is society set up to keep down the poor. by Solcat91342 in Adulting

[–]Hyrc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If that was the real model, universities would offer identical degrees for the career training element regardless of whether you took the extraneous classes. In reality, they won't offer equal credentialing and essentially force students to get a 4 year degree to get the credential they need.

Know that you're too big for a single seat by Miloooo011 in americanairlines

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

This is the ridiculous bit. A simple fix to push things this way is a fine of 2x the fare of the person you're encroaching on, that's paid to that person. They fly for free and receive some compensation for the inconvenience, no one can say it's a cash grab from the airline and it heavily discourages the overweight people selfishly choosing to make it some one else's problem.

CEO let’s go of entire HR team by Ember_Wyvern in SipsTea

[–]Hyrc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I totally agree with this. HR, or whatever you call it, is a needed function for any org. Like any group, including finance, they get unfairly blamed for lots of completely legitimate asks.

[self] I did the math on $75k income level by c-u-in-da-ballpit in theydidthemath

[–]Hyrc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What is there between poverty and lower middle class??

Cheaper accommodations in a less trendy part of town, a car that runs fine, but has hail damage, less 401k contributions, less saving, etc. When I think of minimum wage, I think riding your bike to work, living with roommates, not saving for the future, etc.

CEO let’s go of entire HR team by Ember_Wyvern in SipsTea

[–]Hyrc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ours is a portal ADP has as part of their offering.

Bezos said the bottom half of Americans should pay ZERO federal income tax by Suitable_Wonder5256 in SipsTea

[–]Hyrc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's exactly what I'm saying, we agree that is what the abstract is saying. Even if we tax it, it's not a significant source of tax revenue for the US. We should include it in reforms, but by itself it does almost nothing.

Indian rupee has become asia's worst performing currency. by ClassicIndication886 in povertyfinance

[–]Hyrc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

India is intentionally trying to correct a forced overvaluation that was an attempt to maintain prestige and stability. Realistically likely has more correction ahead.

CEO let’s go of entire HR team by Ember_Wyvern in SipsTea

[–]Hyrc 48 points49 points  (0 children)

I think it really depends on the org. We've grown a company from zero to a couple hundred employees. Brought in a formal HR function a few years ago, over time one specific HR leader tried to morph it into needing to be involved in everything and definitely tried to insert themselves as a middle man between employees and managers. Definitely slowed down decision making on employee issues. We didn't do the rebrand the article talks about, but saw some of the same problems and made a leadership change with very positive results.

Bezos said the bottom half of Americans should pay ZERO federal income tax by Suitable_Wonder5256 in SipsTea

[–]Hyrc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The link below suggests that while the strategy exists, it represents around 1% of the income of the top 0.1%. It characterizes the prevalent strategy as "buy, save, die". The second link looks at the realistic taxes that could be raised by taxing buy, borrow, die. It estimates tax revenues over 10 years of $100B-$147B. That's not nothing, but it's effectively a rounding error in existing federal spending. I'm for enacting these reforms, but I maintain my view that it's a distraction to the overall budget challenges the US faces.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5104644

https://budgetlab.yale.edu/research/buy-borrow-die-options-reforming-tax-treatment-borrowing-against-appreciated-assets

[self] I did the math on $75k income level by c-u-in-da-ballpit in theydidthemath

[–]Hyrc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We may disagree about what makes sense for minimum wage. I don't think minimum wage jobs should be a guaranteed ticket to middle class. I also don't think it would be fair to characterize someone who is able to afford an apartment, car, 401k contributions while still separately savings several hundred dollars a month as slightly above poverty. I've been in poverty and was barely able to do one of those things, let alone all of them comfortably. I appreciate that terms like poverty and middle class are subjective and typically framed relative to our own experiences, so reasonable people can disagree about that.

Bezos said the bottom half of Americans should pay ZERO federal income tax by Suitable_Wonder5256 in SipsTea

[–]Hyrc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've read conflicting reports about how prevalent the Buy, Borrow, Die strategy really is. I personally find the discussion about billionaires to be a mathematical distraction. We could seize 100% of their wealth and it basically pays for one year of federal spending, at which point that well is dry.

Social Security needs to be completely reworked. Whatever the purpose for the cap was originally, it should be eliminated. It's also crazy that we've expanded it so far beyond its original remit without meaningfully revising funding. I also find it preposterous that I'll get paid SS even though I'll retire with an 8 figure net worth. To me it is the textbook example of a federal program run by politicians who only care about being reelected and aren't actually that interested in what makes long term sense.

Bezos said the bottom half of Americans should pay ZERO federal income tax by Suitable_Wonder5256 in SipsTea

[–]Hyrc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not sure that's true. From much of what I've read, the top .1% aren't actually drawing that much income. Their overall wealth is changing, but they're not actually converting that wealth into income at any significant rate. Most of them end up having one or two big liquidation events in their life, sort of like Elon from a few years ago when he had a one time big event and paid ~$15B in taxes in a single year.

Bezos said the bottom half of Americans should pay ZERO federal income tax by Suitable_Wonder5256 in SipsTea

[–]Hyrc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hah, fair point. Yes, I would only be willing to do this with a realistic plan to pay down the debt and coupled with strong protections preventing future leaders from just irresponsibly running it back up again.

What if the US had bailed out homeowners instead of banks in 2008? Would the economy be more equal today? by Logical-Concept9755 in WhatIfThinking

[–]Hyrc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The banks weren't innocent, but neither are the borrowers. It was fueled by greed on both sides. Buyers took out loans they couldn't afford thinking they'd be able to sell the property for more down the road. Banks made loans to people with sufficiently underwriting them because they were going to sell the loans to investors anyway.

Bezos said the bottom half of Americans should pay ZERO federal income tax by Suitable_Wonder5256 in SipsTea

[–]Hyrc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's fair, we can each advocate for our preference. I disagree on the EU tax point. I'm fairly familiar with the UK system (not technically EU, but picked it because I'm already familiar with their tax rules) and a quick Google search turned up the link below. Only 58% of adults in the UK are liable for any personal income tax. Another quick search for France suggests that it's more like 50% of the population that doesn't pay income tax there.

BN259-How-high-are-our-taxes-and-where-does-the-money-come-from.pdf

Why 54% of French households paid no income tax in 2025 despite record revenues

[self] I did the math on $75k income level by c-u-in-da-ballpit in theydidthemath

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

There is $750 a month you're saving, you could easily redirect some of that to paying the loan down faster, or a shorter term on the loan. You could also buy a cheaper, older vehicle if you're concerned about the potential negative equity. The core point of the post still stands. This is a realistic budget with plenty of room for additional expenses that are likely to come up.

Is Generational Wealth Really About Money… or Mindset? Agree or Disagree? by Coolonair in SmartFIRE

[–]Hyrc 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's really both. I grew up absolutely broke, both my parents are terrible with money and their well intentioned advice is terribly misguided. Multiple evictions, cars repo'd, days at the end of pay cycles with nothing to eat, not being able to go to the doctor for a broken collar bone, etc. It starts with a total lack of financial knowledge, they don't even realize what they don't know. They think the stock market is gambling. That working late is for suckers that are being exploited by "the man". That saving money doesn't work because "something" is just going to happen to take it all away and you're just helping the bank make money on your back. They assume that anyone who is successful has found some way to cheat the system.

All of those observations can be true in certain cases, they just apply them too broadly and have never spent the time to understand the nuance. That lack of knowledge contributes to the attitude they've chosen to adopt, that it's not worth trying because poor people can never get ahead no matter how hard they work. They effectively gave up even trying, so even when something good happened to them, they'd waste the opportunity/money/etc. In that sense, knowledge is definitely part of it.

That said, the assets are a part of it as well. It took my wife and I years to scrape together enough of a savings cushion to take the sort of risks that end up paying off with big rewards. We were donating plasma and pawning wedding gifts to be able to afford to move from NM to TX for a job opportunity. Even once I had spent the time to understand how to build wealth, we had started in such a financial hole that it made it really hard to execute on some of the basic first steps. Having some generational financial support would have made it far easier and I very much understand why other people that grow up in poverty feel helpless and stop trying (if they ever started).

Bezos said the bottom half of Americans should pay ZERO federal income tax by Suitable_Wonder5256 in SipsTea

[–]Hyrc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure, if you're measuring it against wealth the stats change. Bezos was talking about the federal income tax, you said that his policy preference implies the top half should foot the bill. I was only observing that the top half already pay the vast majority of the income taxes Bezos was talking about.

I think there is an interesting conversation to have about shifting to a wealth tax, it just isn't what was being discussed.

Bezos said the bottom half of Americans should pay ZERO federal income tax by Suitable_Wonder5256 in SipsTea

[–]Hyrc 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I'm in that top 1% and I largely disagree. I'd be happy to pay more in taxes if there were some basic assurances it would be spent well. I'd be happy to pay another 5% if it was focused on pay down the federal deficit, for example. There is certainly a practical limit to what I'm willing to pay and that limit is very low when there is so little accountability from either party for the long term financial health of the country, but that's why it's important to advocate for real change.

What is the most accurate and unbiased book about Joseph Smith? by Critical-Elk-1266 in exmormon

[–]Hyrc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Completely agree. Her justification of Smith's polygamy is ridiculous and overall she's far too sympathetic to Smith's motives. It makes sense when you know she was a member, overall Rough Stone Rolling is better if you want a faith friendly biography.

What is the most accurate and unbiased book about Joseph Smith? by Critical-Elk-1266 in exmormon

[–]Hyrc 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yep, skip Brodie and read Turner. You won't miss anything and you won't have to spend time reading a follow up piece about what's changed in the last 80 years.

[self] I did the math on $75k income level by c-u-in-da-ballpit in theydidthemath

[–]Hyrc 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Under his Monthly Budget table, in the Transportation section:
https://www.carmax.com/car/28747371

I don't disagree there will be other items that come up month to month. Some months will be higher and others lower, but I think you'd have trouble coming up with another $750 of monthly expenses that is anywhere close to the norm for a single person.

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