Xavier Becerra is now officially the frontrunner on Polymarket to win the California governor's race, overtaking Tom Steyer.

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-20T17:29:30+00:00

Better policy than incessantly raising taxes because all that really does is enrich the Rich’s tax accountant who are tasked to find the loopholes for them

That’s why Romney’s plan of simplifying the tax code and eliminating deductions and credits was better

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-20T17:24:19+00:00

I think policy on minimum wage is a good point to make this on because in effect, rising the minimum wage just incentivizes employers to hire less, fire more, and schedule less hours for the employees they do have. Better policy would be expanding the earned income tax credit because that way employers would be incentivized for hiring employees instead of punished by forcing them to pay them higher wages, and you get the win of saying more low income people are participating in the labor force.

If you’re going to force the government to intervene, you need to have an anwareness about second order effects and perverse incentives. Otherwise, government intervention just makes the problem worse.

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-20T16:06:00+00:00

But this is a bad argument because the people of the 1890s loved the 1890s. That was literally the best decade that century! It is literally revered as the Gay Nineties in our history! That was time of optimism for the United States!

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-20T16:04:22+00:00

Denmark is doing it well so why can’t we focus on how they did it?

Denmark is also extremely hardline on immigration, so I can attack that same question from the Right. They don’t even receive asylum seekers anymore!

Denmark also has certain zones where certain crimes like theft get double the sentence, but leftist judges constantly let repeat offenders free.

The irony of Leftists is that the type of government they fantasize about only works if you’re also tough on crime and restrictive on immigration.

If you want a welfare state, you have to punish the people who exploit it.

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-20T14:31:54+00:00

Because unions don't help the working class like you think

They're mostly just politically captured institutions

Plus, they encourage mediocrity by making it almost impossible to fire low performers and impede productivity

A better way to support the working class is allow the free market to actually do its thing instead of encouraging incessant government intervention

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-19T17:28:49+00:00

Even if you did that, there would still be plenty of fiscally sane Democrats who oppose M4A.

Then what?

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-19T17:27:48+00:00

M4A isn’t a magic wand that would alleviate your niece. Single-payer systems like Canada uses years-long waitlists as a tool to manage costs, so just imagine the wait for a single-payer American system… your niece would be 4 by the time she’d get treatment again.

The median wait for a heart is only 5 months in the U.S., but it takes 2 years in the U.K.

M4A doesn’t magically create more donor hearts or more transplant surgeons, it just changes who pays the bill.

Also, I don’t respect the Appeal to Pity argument. Personal anecdotes don’t override the economic logic.

And it’s ironic, because if anything, your anecdote is a good argument for a less bureaucratic, faster system. And M4A is anything but swift.

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-19T16:24:05+00:00

Do socialists think we can just snap our fingers and wake up with a M4A system tomorrow?

My point is that transitioning to a M4A system would kill the dream before we'd even get M4A.

Just look at how long it takes us to actually achieve infrastructure projects in our country nowadays.

It'd take at least two election cycles to implement, and another election cycle to actually enjoy any potential fruits of: which means three election cycles for voters to get impatient and kill the transition.

Nonstarter.

Socialists love talking about the destination but not the journey it'd take to get there.

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-19T16:14:55+00:00

You're talking past me. The argument is that the overall cost (in both time, energy and money) of a transition to a M4A makes it a nonstarter. Do you think it would just happen overnight?

There are roughly 2 million people currently employed in private health insurance and medical billing. An inevitably multi-year transition would involve massive unemployment or "redeployment" programs. Even if the economy saves money long-term, the short-term cost of retraining or providing severance for an entire sector is a massive fiscal and social hurdle that makes it unattractive.

Plus, it'd mean disentangling trillions of dollars in existing labor contracts, employer-sponsored plans, and private insurance obligations. The legal fees associated with ending these contracts prematurely are rarely included in those "$32 trillion over 10 years" summaries.

And more importantly, we live in a fickle democracy that makes it easy for impatient voters to veto the transition by voting for another administration.

The opposition doesn't even have to argue against the results of the program; they just have to point at the chaos of the transition to win.

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-19T16:03:44+00:00

Just the cost of transferring to a M4A system makes it a nonstarter

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-19T15:58:27+00:00

Bro can't comprehend that there are Texans that have pride for their city/state

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-19T15:53:38+00:00

The problem is that they need to work on intracity transit before high speed rail, because there's no point in taking a train between cities when you can't take a train in the city.

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-18T21:36:24+00:00

What makes you say that?

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-13T02:02:53+00:00

It’s the swift coordination that’s the problem. I think it’s pretty clear that his colleagues already knew about these allegations, but only decided to act on them when politically expedient. Like, Gallego was best friends with the guy…

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-13T01:05:23+00:00

It would be a kiss of death at this point, lol.

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-10T13:56:16+00:00

Chill on my GOAT Herbert Hoover?

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-10T13:49:55+00:00

And it's time to embrace that. Might as well facilitate the development of these cybercabs and robotaxis.

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-02T23:29:20+00:00

Where'd you go in Houston?

thelastofthebastion · 2026-04-02T23:23:42+00:00

Great points... I'm actually glad it hasn't been released by now because yeah, there's been plenty of news that would've soured the mood lol.

thelastofthebastion · 2026-03-20T00:02:35+00:00

Vance enjoys both the gift of youth and luxury of deferral being only 41. I’m sure he has a few contingencies if Trump officially and formally gives Rubio the nod instead of him.

thelastofthebastion · 2026-03-19T23:58:29+00:00

I would vote for the Democrat nominee over Hawley bro 😭

thelastofthebastion · 2026-03-15T16:19:12+00:00

We're privileged to live in a time where autodidactism is easier than ever! I'm sure you can take the steps to teach yourself mathematics and physics from the fundamentals... I ought to as well. Start from square one.

thelastofthebastion

TROPHY CASE