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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#266226: Jan 9th 2019 at 6:18:02 AM

[up] It'd be more realistic to find a way to make unions more viable in the USA.

Edited by M84 on Jan 9th 2019 at 10:18:20 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#266227: Jan 9th 2019 at 6:31:03 AM

Last year, Bernie Sanders introduced a number of bills to that effect, including one to disallow "right to work" laws and otherwise weaken the anti-union Taft-Hartley law and another one to make the organization of an union easier. Of course, we all know what Evil Turtle will do to any bill but these might be steps worth trying.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#266228: Jan 9th 2019 at 6:42:35 AM

> that’s why I like the proposal where employees would get to own 40% of the company they work at.

It's a nice proposal but realistically it would be something like 25%-30%, 40% is 10 digets away from owning half the company,don't think any major employer would ever agree to it on the basis that it's too high a number when they want majority control

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#266229: Jan 9th 2019 at 8:15:16 AM

@wisewillow: I can't agree. Employees are wage labor; they get what was promised to them by the contract. Now, the latter should be negotiated with a union and both sides should be regulated by law, but I'm not in favor of mandating that all businesses share out nearly half of their profits to their employees.

Likewise, I'm in favor of capping the top income or capital gains bracket at 70-90%. We are, in fact, a capitalist country, and people have a right to a share of the money that they earn - even if they want to spend it on gold-plated office buildings or swim around in a pool full of stock certificates.

RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#266230: Jan 9th 2019 at 8:16:47 AM

Likewise, I'm in favor of capping the top income or capital gains bracket at 70-90%. We are, in fact, a capitalist country, and people have a right to a share of the money that they earn - even if they want to spend it on gold-plated office buildings or swim around in a pool full of stock certificates.

That's pretty tautological—"we're a capitalist country, so we should be a capitalist country".

danime91 Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#266231: Jan 9th 2019 at 8:55:14 AM

But then the question becomes how much of that money did they actually earn? How much of it is just CEOs giving themselves huge bonuses and salaries that in no way equate to the value of work they do for the company? I'd say day traders and other people who make their living off of buying and selling stocks are an example of this. What value is coming out of third party sales of stocks other than enriching yourself?

Edited by danime91 on Jan 9th 2019 at 8:56:33 AM

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#266232: Jan 9th 2019 at 8:57:45 AM

It's an irony of capitalism ideology that the nature of collective bargaining, "I.e. that the people who work will be able to get a fair wage" is attacked constantly. It's one of the oldest examples of conservative hypocrisy and lies.

Capitalism doesn't function without bargaining.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
math792d Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#266233: Jan 9th 2019 at 8:59:31 AM

Doin' a crosspost from the Psychology Thread because the APA is an American organization with a fair amount of power and because it's kind of a watershed moment for the organization:

APA issues first-ever guidelines for practice with men and boys

For the first time ever, APA is releasing guidelines to help psychologists work with men and boys. At first blush, this may seem unnecessary. For decades, psychology focused on men (particularly white men), to the exclusion of all others. And men still dominate professionally and politically: As of 2018, 95.2 percent of chief operating officers at Fortune 500 companies were men. According to a 2017 analysis by Fortune, in 16 of the top companies, 80 percent of all high-ranking executives were male. Meanwhile, the 115th Congress, which began in 2017, was 81 percent male.

But something is amiss for men as well. Men commit 90 percent of homicides in the United States and represent 77 percent of homicide victims. They’re the demographic group most at risk of being victimized by violent crime. They are 3.5 times more likely than women to die by suicide, and their life expectancy is 4.9 years shorter than women’s. Boys are far more likely to be diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder than girls, and they face harsher punishments in school—especially boys of color.

APA’s new Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Boys and Men strive to recognize and address these problems in boys and men while remaining sensitive to the field’s androcentric past. Thirteen years in the making, they draw on more than 40 years of research showing that traditional masculinity is psychologically harmful and that socializing boys to suppress their emotions causes damage that echoes both inwardly and outwardly.

APA’s Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Girls and Women were issued in 2007 and, like the guidelines for men and boys, aim to help practitioners assist their patients despite social forces that can harm mental health. Many researchers who study femininity also work on masculinity: Several contributors to the guidelines for girls and women have also contributed to the new guidelines for boys and men.

While the article itself still has some very androcentric verbiage, it's a good step in the right direction for an organization with a lot of influence and a sometimes less-than-stellar reputation among critical psychologists in particular, choosing to wield that power for a common good. Hopefully this gets adopted more abroad as a consequence.

Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#266234: Jan 9th 2019 at 9:16:08 AM

Though an argument against a 100% income tax is that most absurd incomes are not, in fact, subject to an income tax—and all that will happen is moving towards stock options and other less-taxable assets.

Which is more or less what happens anyway, people don't exactly sit on enormous uninvested money piles.

Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#266235: Jan 9th 2019 at 9:41:05 AM

While one might argue nobody 'needs' a billion dollars, I would argue there's no particular gain in preventing people from doing so. Money isn't a definite resource-one guy making a billion dollars does not intrinsically have a negative effect on the amount of money another person makes.

Moreover the logic of 'needing' something has issues as well. A lot of what people spend money on in general is pretty frivolous stuff.

Leviticus 19:34
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#266236: Jan 9th 2019 at 9:49:16 AM

[up]Yeah. I'm pretty sure I didn't need to purchase all of those games on Steam over the holidays.

In my defense, did you see those discounts?!

Disgusted, but not surprised
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#266237: Jan 9th 2019 at 9:51:09 AM

[up][up] One guy making a billion dollars and keeping it does have the effect that it's not being reinvested in the company somehow or used to fund government activity, though. Any impact it has winds up being through the vagaries of the entire economic system and banking.

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#266238: Jan 9th 2019 at 9:53:22 AM

But wasn't the point made that they aren't usually keeping it and are investing it?

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#266239: Jan 9th 2019 at 9:55:10 AM

There's also the point that a lot of those "billions" are tied up in stocks and investments. If they actually want all that cash, they'd have to sell those off. And that means giving up the power and influence and potential for growth that comes with those.

Edited by M84 on Jan 10th 2019 at 1:56:50 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#266240: Jan 9th 2019 at 10:05:19 AM

There is a good case to be made in favor of a total wealth tax, which could be set well below 70% and still increase revenue.

Edited by DeMarquis on Jan 9th 2019 at 1:05:45 PM

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#266241: Jan 9th 2019 at 10:31:16 AM

This sounds Very Bad, just going by the title. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on this.

Edited by MarqFJA on Jan 9th 2019 at 9:31:40 PM

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
TheRoguePenguin Since: Jul, 2009
#266242: Jan 9th 2019 at 11:10:59 AM

Even if he does kill the probe after Rosenstein leaves, that won't stop all the investigations Mueller has already farmed out to other jurisdictions.

Kaiseror Since: Jul, 2016
#266243: Jan 9th 2019 at 11:16:11 AM

Wasn't Mueller the one doing the investigation?

ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#266244: Jan 9th 2019 at 11:18:25 AM

Well, Trump is renewing threats to withhold disaster relief funds from California.

Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen. Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#266245: Jan 9th 2019 at 11:18:29 AM

Now that the Democrats control the House they can just bring him in as an investigator under their backing.

If Trump wanted to stop Mueller he missed the window.

Oh really when?
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#266246: Jan 9th 2019 at 11:22:17 AM

[up][up]. Actually, that’s the second version. The original tweet was:

Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for “Forrest” fires that, with proper “Forrest” Management, would never happen. Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!

Edited by megaeliz on Jan 9th 2019 at 2:22:32 PM

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#266247: Jan 9th 2019 at 11:26:44 AM

If he actually did cut Cali off from FEMA money, that would put lives and property at risk. But I really doubt he will follow through with that.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#266249: Jan 9th 2019 at 11:36:21 AM

Mc Connell is from Kentucky. I take offense to the implication California would ever suffer his existence here and will challenge you to a duel at dawn for her besmirched honor.

Friendperson Since: May, 2018
#266250: Jan 9th 2019 at 11:48:37 AM

I think California's honor is pretty well besmirched already.


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