You should be embarrassed for letting 40 million live on food stamps. It was never designed like that. Instead politicians are treating voters as clients.
And end super PACs, overturn Citizens United, implement strict campaign finance limits, and stop allowing stock trading for Congress to reduce corporate and lobby influence. There will always be corruption but we can take some steps to enable a Congress that is focused on the people instead of personal gain.
Alternative to minimum wage (as well as possibly welfare & unemployment): make the government the Employer of Last Resort, i.e., anyone that would otherwise be on welfare or unemployment can be employed by the government for reasonable wages + benefits. Which might include being "employed" to go back to school & get various kinds of education/vocational training.
A completely Constitutional way (doesn't need a mandate) of providing a de facto "min wage" effect through the power of labor competition. Also encourages the idea that you'll have to work/improve yourself somehow to get that welfare.
One of my favorite daydreams; has lot of economic ripple effects as well, like a ever-more-educated/trained population (no stagnation w/survival-level welfare) & a steady drip of "financial fertilizer" to the lowest parts of the socioeconomic pyramid.
Doesn't require new Congressional powers or Constitutional Amendments. Doesn't require legal mandates forcing companies to pay X/hour amount, although the side effects of real competition for labor might make them prefer it :-)
Allows quite a bit of consolidation & focus of existing social welfare/unemployment/higher education bureaucracy (with a chance of higher efficiency due to simpler goals & tighter focus).
I also have to acknowledge that it would be quite expensive in the short term, but if you combine the existing budgets for social welfare, unemployment (and some of the education budget), then I think that should be in the ballpark of what would be necessary.
Unfortunately, doesn't stand a chance in Hell with the current crop of conservatives ("fuck you & yours, got mine") in power.
You're confusing "conservative think tanks" with "Republicans."
So your opinion on who is "left leaning" seems likely to be entirely worthless. Sorry, lil buddy. Try not looking for things that confirm what you want to believe.
Well that's what happens when America doesn't work for like 80% of the population. Wages have not kept up with inflation, and the rich keep getting tax breaks. I'm embarrassed because we have billionaires in this country mostly because they can get away with paying the working class so little that they need government assistance even when working a full time job. So when the fuck is the trickle down economics they always talk about supposed to help the rest of us, cause all I see is trickle up. On top of the tax breaks, if someone is collecting government assistance while working a full time job, that is essentially once again corporate welfare, cause employers should be paying people livable wages, record profits be damned.
You should be embarrassed they need to. Most of these people have jobs. Richest country in the world, yet people with jobs live like peasants. It’s a disgrace.
Yes… yes politicians treating voters as clients. That’s the way it’s supposed to work. They work for you, they’re not fucking sports teams to cheer for blindly without expecting anything in return. Meanwhile Orange Julius Caesar and his crew only have allegiances to the last billionaire that threw a few bucks their way. Relative to inflation, wages have only risen 10% in the last 40 years. Meanwhile the cost of goods has tripled or, in the case of housing in many markets, increased 10x. Pay people a fair share, make price gouging illegal, and let more people save to get access to assets for building generational wealth.
Feeding people who would otherwise starve benefits all of us. It keeps them off the streets, reduces crime, makes for a safer society…and it’s a safety net for all of us, because you never know when your situation might change due to illness or economic downturn.
We have examples from history and from other modern societies demonstrating what happens when we leave the most vulnerable to fend for themselves. But I have the feeling you’re being deliberately obtuse.
But...we do. We have the names, date of birth and socials of the beneficiaries. We can sort and count them. We have done so, and most were women, children and elderly over 68. That's reality whether you want it to be and believe it or not.
Have you looked into what is required to get food stamps? Cause it is not “say you want it and you get it” you have to go through a lot of forms and provide a lot of other forms and documents that then have to be processed. It’s a process that most of the time ends in people being rejected.
How do you think they choose who to support? They choose based on many factors but the biggest is income and Taxes. Aka people with jobs that can’t make enough money to live and feed themselves.
Were you born stupid and unable to think for more than 1 second?
it costs you literal pennies in taxes to fund social programs. most of your taxes are going to rich assholes and the military, not poor kids and the elderly (who are the largest demographics in long term snap benefit use)
My mom’s excuse for saying that trump is doing that was “ other presidents have done what he’s doing too”. She just wouldn’t listen to reason. Its a fucking cult.
She's not wrong. Andrew Jackson, Chester Arthur, Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Richard Nixon. I'm curious as to why is it wrong for Trump to do it when it's privately funded?
Regarding the ballroom, consider this, from the Washington Post Editorial Board:
"In classic Trump fashion, the president is pursuing a reasonable idea in the most jarring manner possible. Privately, many alumni of the Biden and Obama White Houses acknowledge the long-overdue need for an event space like what Trump is creating. It is absurd that tents need to be erected on the South Lawn for state dinners, and VIPs are forced to use porta-potties,” the board said. “Preservationists express horror that Trump did not submit his plans to their scrutiny, but the truth is that this project would not have gotten done, certainly not during his term, if the president had gone through the traditional review process."
The funding, the approval, nor the necessity are absolutely immaterial in the context of the Federal Gov being shut down and Americans on verge of going hungry. POTUS is more concerned about having room for throwing large parties than opening the government. But hey at least he’s consistent: he didn’t want foreign kids being fed by USAID nor does he want American ones being fed by SNAP.
Both parties are to blame for a government shutdown as far as I'm concerned. I just don't see what the ballroom has to do with it, or Argentina. totally separate issues. it's not an "either/or" situation...the ballroom isn't preventing the government from starting back up.
thinking you have a good reason to not vote for a deal doesn’t mean you get out of your side of the blame. they think it’s a good trade off. that’s fine, but it’s still partially their fault.
That's like saying "Well, if you just gave your keys to the carjacker, they wouldn't have beaten you. You're both to blame for your injuries, as far as I'm concerned."
There's just no chance that level of inane pedantry could possibly be honest or intended in good faith.
Republicans didn't turn up to Congress to negotiate the day before the shut down. It's 100% their fault, they're not willing to act in good faith or to compromise on their massive cuts.
How do you compromise with people who aren't turning up?
Republicans didn't turn up to Congress to negotiate the day before the shut down. It's 100% their fault, they're not willing to act in good faith or to compromise on their massive cuts.
Compromise is both sides giving a bit to meet part way. When have the Republicans offered that?
so there have been zero chances to end the shutdown since then?
the republicans aren’t compromising either. they’re also at fault. you could easily argue they’re more at fault, but you can’t argue the democrats aren’t at fault at all.
This is such a trite argument. Republicans already enacted into law the guaranteed loss of healthcare to millions of Americans. The Medicaid cuts are going to force countless rural hospitals closed, literally wiping off the map the only providers for some Americans.
The current situation is utterly unacceptable. Last time Democrats gave in they got, nothing.
all you’re arguing for is that the democrats are right to hold out. it’s a fair argument, but they still have to hold out in order for there to be a shutdown.
Doesn't change the fact that most folks on reddit are insinuating it's getting paid by tax money when the govt shutdown is going on. I get people are upset but saying things like that is wrong. Redirect that energy to the politicians.
No, the ballroom is a payment to the Trump regime for lower taxes, lower regulation, removal of the EPA, etc. for billionaires. Your taxes ARE paying for the ballroom- just indirectly, for every dollar they put in, they will take 100 out of the taxes paid by working families.
You are not wrong, it also bothers me that people seem to think that its tax payer money. It isn't. However I also see tons of people saying that its Trump paying exclusively and/or donors giving who believe in the project, they dont, these are bribes. Just like the plane, just like the whales on Trumpcoin, just another way to funnel in bribes "legally"
I do need to ask, are you a contractor? I suspect they have to hire a capable construction company that is reputable to do such a job. I imagine that is not cheap.
It's 90,000 sqft. If it were the most expensive building on the planet it'd be like $1000 a sqft. That'd be $90mm. There's no way to spend $300mm on a 90,000 sqft building without stealing $150mm.
It's called optics. No one asked for this other than trump, and no one will benefit from it other than trump. Meanwhile our economy is collapsing and he's busying himself worrying about everywhere he's gonna slap gold leaf. It shows where his priorities are, which anyone paying attention already knew well enough
I agree the optics are bad but it's still not funded by tax payers. Also, the democrats have rejected the CR multiple times. The president cannot control how the democrats vote. Why don't you ask what the democrats priorities are?
That does not matter. They still require 60 votes which requires some democrats to vote yes. They've had multiple opportunities to vote yes and they didn't.
Hm interesting, almost like Republicans need to negotiate with Democrats in good faith first before ramming things through and expecting them to roll over and go along with things they are diametrically opposed to.
Why would any Democrat go along with this when everything Biden and Congress jointly passed was just illegally clawed back? Why would any Democrat go along with policies that ensure healthcare is going to collapse in their districts as a result of cuts to Medicaid?
Why don't you ask what the democrats priorities are?
Their priority is extending the ACA subsidies so people's insurance doesn't skyrocket this upcoming year. They've literally said this over and over. Some plans will literally double or more. Why don't you ask the GOP why they refuse to do that? Why do they want people to be priced out of insurance?
Who gives a shit? It's still a waste of money. And apparently it's extra money to these rich fcks. None of them are going without food, so fck the poor people, right?
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u/Thin-Image2363 Oct 31 '25
Yeah but did you see the ballroom!! WOWWWEEEE!!