These popular issues are popular because they serve to divide us and distract us. Some of them are important issues, true, but they are magnitudes less important than the main issue we face, which is the fact that the common people have no leverage.
If you. think what is important is people having power over their own lives...that suggests much about other issues and what is important there.
This means that the goal should be to spread the message: We need a citizen’s dividend, funded by an 85% land value tax. Distraction is the main tactic of those who oppress us, so do not allow yourself to be distracted.
Do not be distracted by quibbles about how we arrived at the 85% figure specifically, or about whether single-home owner-occupiers should have to pay the land value tax or not, or other details that we can work out over time. We will never get something exactly right on the first try, the only important thing is that we do better than we are doing now, and the citizen’s dividend funded by a land value tax is clearly better for workers than what we have now. So don’t get distracted by minor things!
Ah, calls for unity. It seems easier (and have less harder to predict effects) by passing a tax which is more narrow. You care about workers, and it seems like taxes on companies could be higher. (And perhaps the bigger companies are in better positions to pay more.) This has the benefit of affecting workers less. (If you think landlords won’t respond by raising rent—and also, raising rent more when people are getting paid more...)
Also, start raising the minimum wage. Maybe attach it to some measure of inflation.
Every person should have the right to a job, a decent home, a livable wage, medical care, and protection against financial disaster.
The dividend part made more sense—when people have more money, they can spend it on what’s most urgent. And they know that, better than anyone else. For some it will be medical bills. For others it may be the cost of transport, or saving up for a house. That’s not to say that ideas like single payer healthcare have nothing to them—but there are a lot of issues. Taking aim at everything by improving everyone’s lives looks like a good idea (and there’s no reason for conflict here).
The dividend part made more sense—when people have more money, they can spend it on what’s most urgent. And they know that, better than anyone else.
Yes! I apologize that my writing was a bit unclear, I didn’t mean to advocate for specific legal rights such as a right to a decent home, but rather to advocate for a system under which everyone can afford a decent home, if they choose to buy one. That said, I’m not against some of these rights being enforced legally (Canadian here, and a huge fan of our healthcare system, excepting the fact that we don’t include dental or eye care. Are my eyes and teeth not a part of my body?)
It is possible that other solutions would work for solving the problems I outline. Taxing companies more could be a benefit, though taxing companies does lead to a drag on the economy. Also, companies can move overseas, but land cannot. Attaching minimum wage to some measure of inflation I don’t think would work, because landlords can eat the extra wages. I think rents are determined by what people can afford, AKA what landlords can get away with charging.
Sure, but it’s a question of magnitudes. My claim is that what Joe Rogan is saying on his podcast has less impact on your life than the fact that the value of the land is being sucked up by landlords, rather than being shared by all. Of course, this isn’t the only important issue facing our society, I just think it’s one of the most important (aside from existential risks, probably), and that much less important issues only serve as a distraction from the more important ones.
If you. think what is important is people having power over their own lives...that suggests much about other issues and what is important there.
Ah, calls for unity. It seems easier (and have less harder to predict effects) by passing a tax which is more narrow. You care about workers, and it seems like taxes on companies could be higher. (And perhaps the bigger companies are in better positions to pay more.) This has the benefit of affecting workers less. (If you think landlords won’t respond by raising rent—and also, raising rent more when people are getting paid more...)
Also, start raising the minimum wage. Maybe attach it to some measure of inflation.
The dividend part made more sense—when people have more money, they can spend it on what’s most urgent. And they know that, better than anyone else. For some it will be medical bills. For others it may be the cost of transport, or saving up for a house. That’s not to say that ideas like single payer healthcare have nothing to them—but there are a lot of issues. Taking aim at everything by improving everyone’s lives looks like a good idea (and there’s no reason for conflict here).
Yes! I apologize that my writing was a bit unclear, I didn’t mean to advocate for specific legal rights such as a right to a decent home, but rather to advocate for a system under which everyone can afford a decent home, if they choose to buy one. That said, I’m not against some of these rights being enforced legally (Canadian here, and a huge fan of our healthcare system, excepting the fact that we don’t include dental or eye care. Are my eyes and teeth not a part of my body?)
It is possible that other solutions would work for solving the problems I outline. Taxing companies more could be a benefit, though taxing companies does lead to a drag on the economy. Also, companies can move overseas, but land cannot. Attaching minimum wage to some measure of inflation I don’t think would work, because landlords can eat the extra wages. I think rents are determined by what people can afford, AKA what landlords can get away with charging.
Sure, but it’s a question of magnitudes. My claim is that what Joe Rogan is saying on his podcast has less impact on your life than the fact that the value of the land is being sucked up by landlords, rather than being shared by all. Of course, this isn’t the only important issue facing our society, I just think it’s one of the most important (aside from existential risks, probably), and that much less important issues only serve as a distraction from the more important ones.