Ruth Bader Ginsburg

TIL RBG qualified to become a claims adjuster

I’d rather everyone gets to vote. Even that homeless guy. It helps build trust in the government when we all have a voice. If your goal is minority rule for the benefit of a select group of elites then targeted voter suppression is one of your most important tools. I think our country is much better off without that kind of deliberate disenfranchisement.

It’s great that you and @ViceFleeble feel that way, but that doesn’t mean your opinion is more moral or valid than mine. I personally think that if you can’t exist in our system, which often times requires you to produce an ID, then maybe you shouldn’t be voting on the direction that the system should take in the future.

I also feel that if you aren’t a net contribution to the system (i.e. have a net tax liability), you also probably should not be voting on how to spend the resources of others. If you had a 3 year old, would you let them vote on how you should spend your resources?

Equating the poor to 3 year olds is hardly a convincing argument for how moral your system is.

Only white, male landowners should be able to vote, IMO. HOW THE FOUNDERS INTENDED!!!

Trump paid $0 in taxes for a few years. So he shouldn’t be allowed to vote?

Based on your opinion, not sure I’d be allowed to vote. My license expired in the middle of the pandemic. I don’t even think the DMV was open. I just let it stay expired. I’ll eventually fix it, but I don’t need a valid id to vote in my state and I haven’t actually driven in years.

The main issue I have with this originalist viewpoint isn’t that it’s immoral. I think it’s odious but that’s not the point. I feel like the end result of this system is far worse for the vast majority of people. If only those with power and resources are allowed to vote they will vote for rules that allow them to accumulate even more power and resources, as if that is even a worthy goal. This creates an oligarchy or crony capitalism or whatever name you want to give it. My point is that it’s a deadweight loss for our society. All that money that is being hoarded can be better utilized to improve the lives of everyone. Not to mention the degradation of our environment, which is a burden even the wealthy will have share in eventually. There are, imo, far better outcomes that we can work toward.

@ao_fan I hope you don’t need to fly anytime soon, buy tobacco, alcohol, a lotto ticket, or open a bank account… you kind of need a valid ID to do those things…

Your understanding of taxes is elementary at best. This is an actuarial form… our exams literally cover the differences in various accounting standards and tax treatments, but this somehow escaped you. Trump likely has filed taxes under multiple corporations and separately filed a personal income tax filing. IF they actually have seen one of his filings, and that’s a big if because no one has seen them, it was likely only one of his filings. In addition to that, why are you so jealous of other peoples success that you obsess over trying to discredit them because they were able to legally avoid paying taxes… are you alleging something illegal here?

Could you please provide a PDF link to his tax returns to verify his $0 tax bill… a New York Times article is not irrefutable evidence.

@Triweasel, I can appreciate your point of view and respect it. Thanks for not trying to tell me I am less moral because I disagree.

I believe that resources, like many other natural phenomena take the path of least resistance, and in the case of capitalism, the path to the most efficient use. My personal belief is that if the government and regulation stay out of the way (bank bail outs, political favors, corporatism, etc), once wealth ends up in the hands of people who are not worthy of it (trust funds), they will squander it. A natural life cycle of wealth will slash and burn old money and create growth opportunities for new money. The fact that 50% of present day billionaires are first generation billionaires and that 88% of current millionaires are self-made is my supporting evidence.

@urysohn please tell me more about my systems morals.

I don’t want to extrapolate too much here. I’m simply opining on “If you don’t have a net tax liability, allowing you to vote on spending choices is equivalent to letting a 3-year old vote on the same thing”.

I’m sorry if you misspoke about how you think things should work. I was just reading words you had written and assuming you meant them.

@urysohn, I did… so what about that systems morals?

fairly certain they were accepting expired licenses for a while due to covid to fly. i’m not flying any time soon though.

nobody checks the expiration date on a license to buy alcohol. nobody checks for a license at all to buy a lotto ticket. i don’t smoke, but highly doubt anyone cares about the expiration date.

it’s reasonably to believe he didn’t pay taxes at all.

also, they don’t teach accounting on any of the exams I took. I’m an actuary, not a tax accountant.

who let the troll in? I thought this was supposed to be a troll-free zone.

I don’t think he’s a troll. He just believes all the stories they told him in business school.

not jealous of trump. I think he’s terrible for this country.

He was probably absent the week in Econ 101 when market failures were discussed.

Capitalism has never worked the way you describe. It will always interact with government in the ways you are lamenting. I agree that trust fund kids will generally squander their wealth, and that’s my point. It’s a fundamentally wasteful use of resources.

I meant him attacking my ability as an actuary was trolling.