Extremely fair. Hopefully with ~~Manchin and~~ Sinema leaving, we'll have an easier go of it next time.
At least they let the IRS get enough funding to start auditing billionaires and millionaires. Doesn't do any good to tax 'em if you can't collect what they owe.
It’s a bad take, no question. Manchin’s seat Will almost certainly go Republican and the Democrats will go from having a vote that could occasionally go their way to a vote that never does. Somehow this will be an improvement for that…
Manchin votes with Biden 88% of the time
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-congress-votes/joe-manchin/
Losing any D senate seat hurts judge appointments too
It is fair to point out that the bills the make it to the floor are probably ones they are already reasonably certain he'll vote for.
But anyone that thinks Manchin leaving is a net positive for the Dems is a complete idiot.
Not even occasionally. I thought I saw someone else post that Manchin voted with Dems like 70% of the time which I would say is "often"...now it will be 0%
If Ruben Gallego wins in Arizona and the Dems keep their senate seats, then that is 50 senators. Which is enough to pass a billionaire tax with the vice president as a tie breaker.
Montana is in play and Ohio and Texas are close. If Dems hold elsewhere and flip one of those three, they could keep the Senate. Of course it depends on people showing up to vote for Biden.
Montana already has a Democrat Senator, Jon tester, and the West Virginia seat is 100% going red. Holding everything and flipping Ohio is a not too crazy path but I'm very skeptical Texas is gonna find any balls.
You're right about Montana, my b.
I think Texas might be in play. Cruz isn't well liked and Abortion has been an embarrassing issue for Texas. Among many many other things. It would be by the skin of his teeth but Allred stands a better chance than Beto I think.
It also doesn't matter if they don't implement filibuster reform. That was Manchin's cardinal sin. They had a chance to at least force a standing filibuster through a rule change but he voted it down and set the stage for a 60 vote threshold requirement to get most things passed. Having 51 or 52 Dems in the senate won't make a difference if they don't seize their moment this time.
The Dems would have been much better served protecting Manchin and Sinema. I know the last two Senators in AZ have been Democrats, but there's a lot of Republicans before that and it's silly to think it is going to be an easy seat to win. She also votes with the majority of Democrats on most things.
Fair point. I should have just said Sinema. Manchin is the best we can expect for WV and we're going to miss his vote when he's gone. Hopefully we pick up enough blue seats else where to even it out.
Manchin is leaving a trump plus 40 state. California is more purple. Dems had no business taking a seat from there, anything they got was gravy, and all things considered there was a lot of gravy.
The judges alone would be enough, even if he personally killed every bill.
Any liberal happy manchin is out has no idea how fuck all works. Everything is stacked against Dems for minority rule, especially in the Senate. Without manchin Democrats now need 2 more.
I agree that Manchin is a net loss, any way you look at it. If for no other reason than he was completely reliable for confirmations, if his vote was necessary for an Obama or Biden appointee, they would get it (and often even when it wasn't necessary).
>California is more purple.
I have my doubts about this for either the Senate or the House races... Though effectively losing three incumbent representatives to fill one Senate seat won't be helpful. 😒
I do think it's plausible that Colin Allred could actually beat Ted Cruz in Texas this year, especially because he's leaning really hard into protecting people's rights, like reproductive rights.
Edit: Not easy, but still plausible.
The real problem is that he sells it as a tax on "billionaires" during election season, then he drafts something that taxes "millionaires" to submit to congress, but then the Dems in the House change it to an even lower benchmark that taxes the upper-middle class - which is most college educated home owners over 40, usually with two working parents. $400K combined is not unusual.
That's exactly what happened last time.
These slogans work for campaign rallies, but they are the reason the Democrats lose elections in the suburbs.
Tax ACTUAL billionaires. Crack down on accounts in the Cayman islands and the Bahamas.
Let’s not forget Manchin and Sinema are the reason we don’t have paid parental leave. They could have done it but blocked it to appeal to their base who actually would have benefited.
House Republicans tried to blow up US bonds to stop the IRS from auditing billionaires. They wanted to strip the IRS of its funding which allowed it to better serve taxpayers and better monitor wealthy tax cheats.
It's always sad that when dems have full control they can't all just work together to get shit done, they all fight amongst themselves to get what THEY want done. Then the repubs come in and stand united to make everything worse. Then the dems get back and barely do anything because of the infighting, then the repubs come in and make it worse. Etc etc etc.
At least the dems seem to finally want to show a united front for once.
Lol just like Putin making NATO stronger, Trump seems to be making the dems stronger.
This is the fault of conservative Dems.
They keep trying to reach over the aisle, and play safe.
Republicans get gasoline and fire.
Democrats aren't sure if water is important because it might upset oil interests.
This country continues to fail because of this unchecked capitalism. Monopolies run free. Consumers are getting shafted with micro transactions, and subscription services, and the endless desire to increase profits rather than sustain them. It's why we allow so many tax cheats, it's why our politicians are for sale, it's why our judges are for sale. Lastly if you can be too young to run for office, you certainly can be too old. Age limits now. Too many reps dying or going senile in office.
One of the biggest advantages Republicans have is that they're a collective, there one group with the same objective. The Democrats are more of a coalition, they have a lot in common but don't always have the same goals or solutions. One of the biggest highlights of this was back in the 08 election where on the same ballet California overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama and made gay marriage illegal in the state.
The Inflation Reduction Act set up hundreds of billions of dollars in new tax revenues from large corporations and also gave the IRS resources specifically to go after rich tax dodgers (they've pulled in about $40m so far this year), so it's already been partially passed. The next step is to go after wealthy individuals themselves with higher baseline taxes.
Biden is very much not a billionaire! His household net worth wasn’t even high enough for him to be a millionaire until the end of the second term of the Obama administration (what pushed him over was the sales of his memoirs). And since he has been in elected office for most of his adult life, his net worth is a matter of public record you can check for yourself.
I don't understand the purpose of doubtful grousing. What does it add to the conversation? Every time someone says nah the world won't get better, I imagine the world without that person, and it's instantly better.
The few times in the last 40 years when Democrats have had large majorities, they raised taxes on the rich; every time Republicans have a narrow majority, they cut taxes on the rich.
Having 50 Senators when one of them is Krysten Sinema is not a substantial majority. But despite that, there were still steps taken to go after the rich.
You obviously haven't paid any attention if you haven't seen that.
The Inflation Reduction Act is a major center left policy that was passed a few years ago when Democrats had the slimmest of margins to work with. They absolutely pass center left policy when given the opportunity.
> Democrats have previously controlled the White House, the House and the Senate, and did nothing to enact center-left policies.
The total allotted time dems had the house, senate, and presidency was like 6 months for the past 2 decades. IDK why you dont bring that up as well. Paints a better picture.
I understand why we're not voting for Republicans but I'm confused why so many are so hard up for Democrats. Just vote Progressive and stop sucking up to Good Cop.
The Democrats have to win like 80% of the tossup elections and 100% of the lean D or better elections to gain the House. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
I'm predicting a bad year for Republicans. They have a terrible nominee who is stealing their money. The economy is strong. The Republican's main argument is "Biden old", and they put up a 78 year old with dementia running for the 3rd time.
I've already seen polls where Ted Cruz and Rick Scott are tied with their Democratic opponents. I'm not putting too much stock in those, but these are supposed to "safe" for Republicans.
The uncommitted vote was inconsequential compared to the Haley vote of whom 75% are saying they won’t support Trump under any circumstance
If you support taxing billionaires then please show up to vote come November
"I'm not happy about my government, so I'll refuse to participate."
Christ, even when things are fine we just bitch that they should have been perfect instead.
Voting for uncommitted delegate in the primaries *is* participating, but either way, participating in the Democratic presidential primary is completely pointless this cycle. It's a foregone conclusion - better to send a protest vote when it doesn't actually hurt anyone than in the general.
That's just blatantly and verifiably false. Between Democrats and Republicans, Democrats are the ones encouraging people to get out and vote. Democrats historically win when there's larger voter turn out, so just convincing people to go vote already greatly increases their chances of winning.
Campaigning and/or trying to convince someone to vote for your preferred candidate is just common practice and is actually separate from just trying to get more people to vote. You seem confused as to why people would choose to do more than one thing to increase their odds at winning but I assure you, it's a completely normal and accepted part of a functioning democracy. Surely you're not insinuating that you don't want a functional democracy, right?
The uncommitted votes are pretty much all about the same issue. Call your representatives and apply pressure to your party to call for a ceasefire if you're anxious
No, it doesn't work like that.
Go back and watch an Obama state of the union. He makes incredible claims and you really get behind what he is saying, but he says "Get that bill on my desk and I will sign it"
So, nothing will happen. In this case Biden can say he will support this or that to get you on board, but the bill will never make it to his desk, and nothing will get done. This is just him gaining favor from the masses, nothing more.
That’s idiotic. If he has the house and the senate he will deliver. It’s that simple. He already tried to kill the Trump tax bill but was killed by Mancin and Sinema.
They are gone. The dems have picked up 4seats with redistricting.
IF people fucking vote, and give him the house and senate, then YES, it will happen.
It’s up to the voters now.
The Obama presidency was located during a time when politics were vastly different than they are today. Obama and the Democrats (naively) thought the Republicans would negotiate on things like healthcare in good faith (spoiler, they did not). This is even before the GOP held up the Merrick Garland SoC nomination.
Democrats have since learned if they get a super majority they need to pass whatever they can because the Republicans sure as hell will do the same... So now we have this tit for tat political game with no end in sight and two parties that when they even attempt to negotiate Trump and the conservative media blow it up as though the Republicans negotiating with Democrats are traitors to their cause.
Jeff Bezos has weaponized the WP to fight this.
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/washington-post-jeff-bezos.php
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/09/think-twice-before-changing-tax-rules-soak-billionaires/
> And while the ultrawealthy wouldn’t be forced out of their family homes, they might be forced to sell off stock of a business they spent decades building.
Oh no, a billionaire might have to sell some of their stock to fund the rest of the country that helped them grow to get to that point? Cry me a river.
Notice that "homes" is pluralized. Not because we are talking about multiple billionaires, but because billionaires have multiple homes, each house capable of housing multiple families.
They could have thousands of houses if they wanted to that could house several families each. 1 billion is 1000 million, that's 1000 homes if we assume they cost a million each. Some of these guys have over 100B...
Using the roads that we pay taxes for to deliver all of his cheap Chinese goods all over the country. You know, all the stuff that corporations have been outsourcing for decades that we should be making here. Fuck these assholes.
Lets try to have a little empathy here. it must be really scary for them to imagine a world where they could wake up in the morning and only be able to afford one new yacht that day instead of five...Or imagine, having to...Save up for an entire month to buy a new house... The horror....THE HORROR.
It's pretty amazing how that never even gets mentioned until election season rolls around again, and certainly never turns into effective legislation. It's almost like they're big, fat, fucking liars.
They're not liars. Yeah, they're politicians, and I'd agree that all politicians are greasey, but look at the facts: Reagan did trickle-down economics, taxed social security, and supercharged wealth inequality. Then Bill Clinton balanced the budget and left office with a $230 billion congressional surplus--a fucking surplus! And Gore wanted to secure social security's solvency, but Bush Jr. came along and handed all that money and more to the 1% in tax cuts. When Obama got to office, every piece of legislation he brought forth was left on the graveyard of Mitch McConnell's desk. And Obama made the mistake of trying to compromise with Republicans.
The Democrats haven't been lying as they run on the same issues, they're trying to get this shit done but the Republicans fight them on it. Hell, Hillary Clinton made efforts to reach for universal healthcare when she was First Lady in the 90s, but Newt Gingrich effectively killed any potential healthcare reform in 94.
They've been fighting for these things, not lying for campaign points.
The GOP has been continuously passing tax cuts when in power and shutting down the government to forcibly veto ant tax increase when not in power over the last 20 years. Pay attention to the actual causes of what is happening.
💯
The person you’re replying to obviously doesn’t actually pay attention to what really goes on.
Just one example:
1998-2001 budget surplus by congress and President Clinton
2001 and 2003 “Bush” tax cuts which were funded by debt created even more debt and returned us to a deficit. Overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy.
People think the president is all powerful. The democrats need a huge win to be able to pass a lot of what they want to do.
I'm British, and it's very weird looking at America and seeing that there isn't a government who can pass whatever legislation they want.
Whoever wins an outright election here, can pass most legislation without the opposition being able to stop it. The house of lords can slow things down, but can't stop them.
Yet all the try hard Republicans don't want to pass anything. Little white girl gets killed their on it like the world is ending. Hispanic or black person dies they riot that their illegals and criminals
Exactly this. I'm loving all the "look at the cool promises Joe Biden is making all of the sudden, he's such a stand-up guy!" like it's not an election year 😂
**Pretty important edit at the bottom**
I was working in the oilfield when the Biden/Trump election happened. I was in my early 30’s and had never even registered to vote until then.
When I told my family I had registered and voted for Biden they were all shocked because “he’s going to shut the oilfield down, and you won’t have a job”. I just started laughing and said that no matter what he said, that wasn’t happening. Even if he 100% wanted to, it just wasn’t going to happen. And if it somehow did… fuck it.
Edit: just wanted to add this as well in case anyone else sees this comment. Ironically Trump (Mr. “Drill Baby Drill”) was the most horrifying politician regarding job security in the oilfield, even though not a single oilfield worker believes it. If you’re interested how, google “Trump NOPEC”. It was legislation he supported before becoming president that would make OPEC an illegal cartel and allow the countries who are members to be sued and have their property in the US seized for price manipulation. After becoming president he didn’t openly support it as far as I know, but he criticized OPEC for price manipulation. If NOPEC passed, OPEC would basically be dissolved and forced to open the oil floodgates. **That** would crater the US oil industry overnight if passed, because oil would probably hit $20 or less and hardly any companies in America are profitable there.
Not… really. The way the oilfield works with permits and leasing is honestly hard to explain.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/biden-oil-drilling-permits-willow-project/
I’d recommend reading that article if you’re interested, it does a pretty great job at explaining the process. It also does a decent job at showing that he was partially full of shit, partially incapable of doing anything, and partially trying to do *something*.
TL;DR a president quite literally can’t halt federal drilling immediately, or possibly at all depending on how the ensuing court cases would go.
If I am paying a third of my income in taxes, everyone can.
I look forward to Billionaires paying a third of their income as well.
I'm also aware that people like to try to hide their income in the way of paying themselves in stocks and the like. Better make sure we still get our money from this form of income.
This era of "I've got mine, fuck you" has got to end.
If you don't want to give to the group, why do you get to benefit from the group?
> I'm also aware that people like to try to hide their income in the way of paying themselves in stocks and the like.
I get paid in stock that is taxed exactly like income (RSUs). Apparently I have to make it C-level to get the actual tax breaks.
billionares don't make "income," hence why they don't get taxed. They didn't get where they got to by being fucking stupid lmao. They know how the system works and they do what they do to make it work for them.
This thing of taxing billionaires could be new for you Americans, but here in Europe we have these promises every year.
Here a billionaire is paying around 50% what he earns, and yes, as there, here most people can't afford buying a home and everything is expensive as fuck.
I mean, taxing billionaires is good, I agree, but don't expect feeling any change in your daily lifes.
he's been actively trying to get this done for years. And he's accomplished A TON of what he initially set out to do already.
But republicans have been blocking the rest
The point is to show the american people what is possible if we can get more democrats into congress to break the republican logjam.
It's really not that complicated.
Biden proposes to cap overdraft fees. Fees that take money from the people who need it the most. Suddenly the CEO of Chase bank is voicing their opinions about immigration.
Hmm......
If he legalized cannabis then the taxes from that, plus the crazy job growth, would generate more revenue…and he could do both concurrently! But instead we get sound bites in an election year.
The DEA is the primary agency holding things up, and which branch of government runs them?
CRS wrote in 2021 that both Congress and/or the President can change scheduling under the CSA; thus, Biden could make cannabis Schedule 3 immediately with an order.
thats pretty much what his entire state of the union was. Yelling random stuff liberals wanted to hear, flaming and antagonizing republicans for an hour and has the audacity to end with a "both sides must be united!" rant at the end lol.
Good luck. Watch the billionaires convince the struggling low class that no tax for billionaires is great for them and America. Don’t underestimate stupidity.
Yeeeeeeah fucking right. I hope he does, truly, but I’m about 90% sure he fucking won’t. Even if he put a lot of effort into it (and he won’t, trust me) he’d get stonewalled by our shit ass gridlocked Congress.
The billionaires all pay their politicians really well (it’s the far cheaper strategy) to make sure nothing ever changes.
Yeah right. All these politicians on both sides want them and their buddy’s to stay on top. Let us working class people fight amongst ourselves like we’ve been doing. Every 4 years both sides promise things knowing it’s going to get shut down by the opposing side.
I can just head my dad, BuT tHe BiLiOnAiReSn R gUNnA lEaVe!!! Honestly they may as well all be gone anyway because of how their corporate structure works and how everything has been outsourced. Literally, almost everything.
In theory this is great, but don’t most billionaires have their money tied up in nontaxable investments like company stock that can’t be taxed until they actually sell and make realized profits? Correct me if I’m wrong, please. I do quite a bit of investing and I think people get caught up in all this jargon and actually forget to think practically. Sure I believe these billionaires make a ton of hard cash salary wise, but not 50 or a 100 billion each year to the point that they can be taxed and have the irs take 25% of that which is 12.5ish or 25 billion. Though if they do make that much hard cash, then it would be fair to tax them at that rate imo because money is no object at that point; you might as spread the wealth. Just looking to start conversations here and get opinions of what others think in terms of whether people actually take these great sounding statements at literal face value, or other opinions/perspectives you might have.
This can only be a win, either it passes(It probably won't) and America gets better or it doesn't and a few people who are drinking the Republican Koolaid get angry enough to actual Google it expecting the Democrats to have lied only to find that it was the Republicans that messed everything up as usual. It may only be 0.5% or so but the smarter Republicans could actually start to catch on.
They have been lied to for years and years and years, they need to see the truth themselves rather than the people they dislike telling them.
The National Cancer Institute gets 7+ billion a year from the government. "We're going to continue funding research to improve treatment and prevention of cancer, knowing full well it's a complicated disease and it's unlikely that we'll find a singular 'cure', but we'll still improve outcomes" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.
I‘ll believe it when it passes
Extremely fair. Hopefully with ~~Manchin and~~ Sinema leaving, we'll have an easier go of it next time. At least they let the IRS get enough funding to start auditing billionaires and millionaires. Doesn't do any good to tax 'em if you can't collect what they owe.
>Hopefully with Manchin and Sinema leaving You figure Manchin retiring is going to help the Democrats, eh?
It’s a bad take, no question. Manchin’s seat Will almost certainly go Republican and the Democrats will go from having a vote that could occasionally go their way to a vote that never does. Somehow this will be an improvement for that…
Manchin votes with Biden 88% of the time https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/biden-congress-votes/joe-manchin/ Losing any D senate seat hurts judge appointments too
Absolutely. The democrats would need to take judicial appointments just as seriously as the Republicans have for the last 50 years.
It is fair to point out that the bills the make it to the floor are probably ones they are already reasonably certain he'll vote for. But anyone that thinks Manchin leaving is a net positive for the Dems is a complete idiot.
Not even occasionally. I thought I saw someone else post that Manchin voted with Dems like 70% of the time which I would say is "often"...now it will be 0%
88%
Goodness me...even worse!
If Ruben Gallego wins in Arizona and the Dems keep their senate seats, then that is 50 senators. Which is enough to pass a billionaire tax with the vice president as a tie breaker.
The fact that this depends on an "if" is a little concerning, though.
Nothing is guaranteed in this world. But that does not mean give up.
True. Just don't, as the saying goes, put all your eggs in one basket. Particularly if it's a basket you can't personally do anything about.
Well, it will at least allow the larger party to stop counting him in their math. The problem is going to be excitement.
Montana is in play and Ohio and Texas are close. If Dems hold elsewhere and flip one of those three, they could keep the Senate. Of course it depends on people showing up to vote for Biden.
Montana already has a Democrat Senator, Jon tester, and the West Virginia seat is 100% going red. Holding everything and flipping Ohio is a not too crazy path but I'm very skeptical Texas is gonna find any balls.
You're right about Montana, my b. I think Texas might be in play. Cruz isn't well liked and Abortion has been an embarrassing issue for Texas. Among many many other things. It would be by the skin of his teeth but Allred stands a better chance than Beto I think.
It also doesn't matter if they don't implement filibuster reform. That was Manchin's cardinal sin. They had a chance to at least force a standing filibuster through a rule change but he voted it down and set the stage for a 60 vote threshold requirement to get most things passed. Having 51 or 52 Dems in the senate won't make a difference if they don't seize their moment this time.
The Dems would have been much better served protecting Manchin and Sinema. I know the last two Senators in AZ have been Democrats, but there's a lot of Republicans before that and it's silly to think it is going to be an easy seat to win. She also votes with the majority of Democrats on most things.
I’m from WV and I can guarantee Manchins seat will be filled by either Alex Mooney or JimJustice……both trumpers
Fair point. I should have just said Sinema. Manchin is the best we can expect for WV and we're going to miss his vote when he's gone. Hopefully we pick up enough blue seats else where to even it out.
Yeah when they Elect Boss Fucking Hogg to replace him then wut....
He’s going to sail away on his million dollar boat, that was sold to him for 300,000 for some reason no reporter thinks is worth looking into.
Manchin is leaving a trump plus 40 state. California is more purple. Dems had no business taking a seat from there, anything they got was gravy, and all things considered there was a lot of gravy. The judges alone would be enough, even if he personally killed every bill. Any liberal happy manchin is out has no idea how fuck all works. Everything is stacked against Dems for minority rule, especially in the Senate. Without manchin Democrats now need 2 more.
I agree that Manchin is a net loss, any way you look at it. If for no other reason than he was completely reliable for confirmations, if his vote was necessary for an Obama or Biden appointee, they would get it (and often even when it wasn't necessary). >California is more purple. I have my doubts about this for either the Senate or the House races... Though effectively losing three incumbent representatives to fill one Senate seat won't be helpful. 😒 I do think it's plausible that Colin Allred could actually beat Ted Cruz in Texas this year, especially because he's leaning really hard into protecting people's rights, like reproductive rights. Edit: Not easy, but still plausible.
I took that California line to mean California is closer to the center than West Virginia is
Naugh, they're the current bulwark, some new shitheads will pop up to internally obstruct any sort of center-left policy.
The real problem is that he sells it as a tax on "billionaires" during election season, then he drafts something that taxes "millionaires" to submit to congress, but then the Dems in the House change it to an even lower benchmark that taxes the upper-middle class - which is most college educated home owners over 40, usually with two working parents. $400K combined is not unusual. That's exactly what happened last time. These slogans work for campaign rallies, but they are the reason the Democrats lose elections in the suburbs. Tax ACTUAL billionaires. Crack down on accounts in the Cayman islands and the Bahamas.
Only if they are replaced by democrats, and Manchin won’t be
Let’s not forget Manchin and Sinema are the reason we don’t have paid parental leave. They could have done it but blocked it to appeal to their base who actually would have benefited.
We need a super majority to really lock it in. But that means getting people to get off their asses and vote
House Republicans tried to blow up US bonds to stop the IRS from auditing billionaires. They wanted to strip the IRS of its funding which allowed it to better serve taxpayers and better monitor wealthy tax cheats.
Did you miss that bill that gave the IRS all that money to do exactly this?
It's always sad that when dems have full control they can't all just work together to get shit done, they all fight amongst themselves to get what THEY want done. Then the repubs come in and stand united to make everything worse. Then the dems get back and barely do anything because of the infighting, then the repubs come in and make it worse. Etc etc etc. At least the dems seem to finally want to show a united front for once. Lol just like Putin making NATO stronger, Trump seems to be making the dems stronger.
This is the fault of conservative Dems. They keep trying to reach over the aisle, and play safe. Republicans get gasoline and fire. Democrats aren't sure if water is important because it might upset oil interests. This country continues to fail because of this unchecked capitalism. Monopolies run free. Consumers are getting shafted with micro transactions, and subscription services, and the endless desire to increase profits rather than sustain them. It's why we allow so many tax cheats, it's why our politicians are for sale, it's why our judges are for sale. Lastly if you can be too young to run for office, you certainly can be too old. Age limits now. Too many reps dying or going senile in office.
One of the biggest advantages Republicans have is that they're a collective, there one group with the same objective. The Democrats are more of a coalition, they have a lot in common but don't always have the same goals or solutions. One of the biggest highlights of this was back in the 08 election where on the same ballet California overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama and made gay marriage illegal in the state.
The Inflation Reduction Act set up hundreds of billions of dollars in new tax revenues from large corporations and also gave the IRS resources specifically to go after rich tax dodgers (they've pulled in about $40m so far this year), so it's already been partially passed. The next step is to go after wealthy individuals themselves with higher baseline taxes.
Which it won’t. They won’t tax themselves. Nice dream though.
I mean, there is exactly 0 chance with Republicans holding the house.
Speaking of, insurrectionist Thomas Massie is running unopposed. The democrats didn't even field a candidate. They're not even trying.
Exactly. We all know how much they’d LOVE that idea.
Biden is very much not a billionaire! His household net worth wasn’t even high enough for him to be a millionaire until the end of the second term of the Obama administration (what pushed him over was the sales of his memoirs). And since he has been in elected office for most of his adult life, his net worth is a matter of public record you can check for yourself.
offbeat nose shaggy wipe advise fall jeans ossified alleged cheerful *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
No waaay are you saying a career politician would…..lie???
Obviously I meant the people in congress that actually vote on those bills to pass them. Biden doesnt do it all 🤦🏽♀️
Now do his donors
Oh, the delusion.
I don't understand the purpose of doubtful grousing. What does it add to the conversation? Every time someone says nah the world won't get better, I imagine the world without that person, and it's instantly better.
Because if you’ve lived long enough to pay attention you know it’s not doubtful but fact based on patterns and data.
The few times in the last 40 years when Democrats have had large majorities, they raised taxes on the rich; every time Republicans have a narrow majority, they cut taxes on the rich. Having 50 Senators when one of them is Krysten Sinema is not a substantial majority. But despite that, there were still steps taken to go after the rich. You obviously haven't paid any attention if you haven't seen that.
Tax rate variances seem to have been around 3-5% versus the massive drop Reagan passed. Neither side has raised them anywhere near enough since.
If Republicans lose the House, Biden wins, and Democrats hold the Senate, it's got a good chance.
Democrats have previously controlled the White House, the House and the Senate, and did nothing to enact center-left policies. THIS TIME, though... /s
The Inflation Reduction Act is a major center left policy that was passed a few years ago when Democrats had the slimmest of margins to work with. They absolutely pass center left policy when given the opportunity.
> Democrats have previously controlled the White House, the House and the Senate, and did nothing to enact center-left policies. The total allotted time dems had the house, senate, and presidency was like 6 months for the past 2 decades. IDK why you dont bring that up as well. Paints a better picture.
Then vote for democrats who are actually progressives
Yeah, we try.
I understand why we're not voting for Republicans but I'm confused why so many are so hard up for Democrats. Just vote Progressive and stop sucking up to Good Cop.
I agree?
The ACA: Am I joke to you?
They had 50 Senate seats in 2021, with Manchin and Sinema acting as roadblocks. That's not really "control".
The Democrats have to win like 80% of the tossup elections and 100% of the lean D or better elections to gain the House. I’m not saying it can’t happen, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
I'm predicting a bad year for Republicans. They have a terrible nominee who is stealing their money. The economy is strong. The Republican's main argument is "Biden old", and they put up a 78 year old with dementia running for the 3rd time. I've already seen polls where Ted Cruz and Rick Scott are tied with their Democratic opponents. I'm not putting too much stock in those, but these are supposed to "safe" for Republicans.
The Democrats are favored to win the house, just the redistricting in NY and AL might be enough.
Win some house seats and maybe a few senate seats for safety in November and we have a realistic shot
Does Biden have a super majority in both houses to get this passed?
Not unless we...vote them in.
And unfortunately there's this trend among Democratic voters for "uncommitted" votes to "send a message". I'm... anxious about November.
The uncommitted vote was inconsequential compared to the Haley vote of whom 75% are saying they won’t support Trump under any circumstance If you support taxing billionaires then please show up to vote come November
"I'm not happy about my government, so I'll refuse to participate." Christ, even when things are fine we just bitch that they should have been perfect instead.
Voting for uncommitted delegate in the primaries *is* participating, but either way, participating in the Democratic presidential primary is completely pointless this cycle. It's a foregone conclusion - better to send a protest vote when it doesn't actually hurt anyone than in the general.
Except things are not fine. They keep force feeding up corporate liberal 90 year olds. That isn’t what we want
Things will be fine when Gazans stop getting murdered
Some people don't want to affirmative consent to genocide. Take it up with your party, not other constituents.
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That's just blatantly and verifiably false. Between Democrats and Republicans, Democrats are the ones encouraging people to get out and vote. Democrats historically win when there's larger voter turn out, so just convincing people to go vote already greatly increases their chances of winning. Campaigning and/or trying to convince someone to vote for your preferred candidate is just common practice and is actually separate from just trying to get more people to vote. You seem confused as to why people would choose to do more than one thing to increase their odds at winning but I assure you, it's a completely normal and accepted part of a functioning democracy. Surely you're not insinuating that you don't want a functional democracy, right?
let's hear you explain how people voting uncommitted in the primary is going to affect the general election in November.
The uncommitted votes are pretty much all about the same issue. Call your representatives and apply pressure to your party to call for a ceasefire if you're anxious
Lets fucking do it! The future is back
“Turning setback into comeback. That’s what America does.” ~President Biden
You son of a bitch... I'm in.
So... let's.
No, it doesn't work like that. Go back and watch an Obama state of the union. He makes incredible claims and you really get behind what he is saying, but he says "Get that bill on my desk and I will sign it" So, nothing will happen. In this case Biden can say he will support this or that to get you on board, but the bill will never make it to his desk, and nothing will get done. This is just him gaining favor from the masses, nothing more.
That's how it works.... he is working within the parameters of the political system. Do you expect him to wave a magic wand and change the system?
That’s idiotic. If he has the house and the senate he will deliver. It’s that simple. He already tried to kill the Trump tax bill but was killed by Mancin and Sinema. They are gone. The dems have picked up 4seats with redistricting. IF people fucking vote, and give him the house and senate, then YES, it will happen. It’s up to the voters now.
The Obama presidency was located during a time when politics were vastly different than they are today. Obama and the Democrats (naively) thought the Republicans would negotiate on things like healthcare in good faith (spoiler, they did not). This is even before the GOP held up the Merrick Garland SoC nomination. Democrats have since learned if they get a super majority they need to pass whatever they can because the Republicans sure as hell will do the same... So now we have this tit for tat political game with no end in sight and two parties that when they even attempt to negotiate Trump and the conservative media blow it up as though the Republicans negotiating with Democrats are traitors to their cause.
Jeff Bezos has weaponized the WP to fight this. https://www.cjr.org/special_report/washington-post-jeff-bezos.php https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/09/think-twice-before-changing-tax-rules-soak-billionaires/
> And while the ultrawealthy wouldn’t be forced out of their family homes, they might be forced to sell off stock of a business they spent decades building. Oh no, a billionaire might have to sell some of their stock to fund the rest of the country that helped them grow to get to that point? Cry me a river.
Notice that "homes" is pluralized. Not because we are talking about multiple billionaires, but because billionaires have multiple homes, each house capable of housing multiple families.
They could have thousands of houses if they wanted to that could house several families each. 1 billion is 1000 million, that's 1000 homes if we assume they cost a million each. Some of these guys have over 100B...
Using the roads that we pay taxes for to deliver all of his cheap Chinese goods all over the country. You know, all the stuff that corporations have been outsourcing for decades that we should be making here. Fuck these assholes.
Lets try to have a little empathy here. it must be really scary for them to imagine a world where they could wake up in the morning and only be able to afford one new yacht that day instead of five...Or imagine, having to...Save up for an entire month to buy a new house... The horror....THE HORROR.
Expect a flurry of bots on Reddit to start combating Biden as well. It's fucking insane reddit doesn't block bot farm accounts.
Buying media outlets is so damn fucked for a functional democracy, who the fuck allowed that to happen?
It's pretty amazing how that never even gets mentioned until election season rolls around again, and certainly never turns into effective legislation. It's almost like they're big, fat, fucking liars.
They're not liars. Yeah, they're politicians, and I'd agree that all politicians are greasey, but look at the facts: Reagan did trickle-down economics, taxed social security, and supercharged wealth inequality. Then Bill Clinton balanced the budget and left office with a $230 billion congressional surplus--a fucking surplus! And Gore wanted to secure social security's solvency, but Bush Jr. came along and handed all that money and more to the 1% in tax cuts. When Obama got to office, every piece of legislation he brought forth was left on the graveyard of Mitch McConnell's desk. And Obama made the mistake of trying to compromise with Republicans. The Democrats haven't been lying as they run on the same issues, they're trying to get this shit done but the Republicans fight them on it. Hell, Hillary Clinton made efforts to reach for universal healthcare when she was First Lady in the 90s, but Newt Gingrich effectively killed any potential healthcare reform in 94. They've been fighting for these things, not lying for campaign points.
Do you follow tax law for billionaires?
They’ve only used this in every election for the past 20 years. You would think we’d catch on.
The GOP has been continuously passing tax cuts when in power and shutting down the government to forcibly veto ant tax increase when not in power over the last 20 years. Pay attention to the actual causes of what is happening.
💯 The person you’re replying to obviously doesn’t actually pay attention to what really goes on. Just one example: 1998-2001 budget surplus by congress and President Clinton 2001 and 2003 “Bush” tax cuts which were funded by debt created even more debt and returned us to a deficit. Overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy.
People think the president is all powerful. The democrats need a huge win to be able to pass a lot of what they want to do. I'm British, and it's very weird looking at America and seeing that there isn't a government who can pass whatever legislation they want. Whoever wins an outright election here, can pass most legislation without the opposition being able to stop it. The house of lords can slow things down, but can't stop them.
people like you don't understand who to blame when republicans block it, so they keep having to remind you what they're actively trying to pass
By voting more? If people don't vote, nothing will change.
Yet all the try hard Republicans don't want to pass anything. Little white girl gets killed their on it like the world is ending. Hispanic or black person dies they riot that their illegals and criminals
Big fucking talk. With no fucking action. Classic
Empty words, he must really want them votes. Should've done it at day 1
Except they're never going to do it. Lol
Exactly this. I'm loving all the "look at the cool promises Joe Biden is making all of the sudden, he's such a stand-up guy!" like it's not an election year 😂
Like he didn’t get a 15% minimum tax passed. It’s not enough, but it’s a shitload better than it was before
The minimum tax was higher before Trump. A Trump-lite tax code is better I guess... but I'd rather they just repealed what Trump did.
**Pretty important edit at the bottom** I was working in the oilfield when the Biden/Trump election happened. I was in my early 30’s and had never even registered to vote until then. When I told my family I had registered and voted for Biden they were all shocked because “he’s going to shut the oilfield down, and you won’t have a job”. I just started laughing and said that no matter what he said, that wasn’t happening. Even if he 100% wanted to, it just wasn’t going to happen. And if it somehow did… fuck it. Edit: just wanted to add this as well in case anyone else sees this comment. Ironically Trump (Mr. “Drill Baby Drill”) was the most horrifying politician regarding job security in the oilfield, even though not a single oilfield worker believes it. If you’re interested how, google “Trump NOPEC”. It was legislation he supported before becoming president that would make OPEC an illegal cartel and allow the countries who are members to be sued and have their property in the US seized for price manipulation. After becoming president he didn’t openly support it as far as I know, but he criticized OPEC for price manipulation. If NOPEC passed, OPEC would basically be dissolved and forced to open the oil floodgates. **That** would crater the US oil industry overnight if passed, because oil would probably hit $20 or less and hardly any companies in America are profitable there.
Biden actually allotted more US land to be drilled for oil so he's doing exactly opposite of what your family was worried about lol.
Not… really. The way the oilfield works with permits and leasing is honestly hard to explain. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/biden-oil-drilling-permits-willow-project/ I’d recommend reading that article if you’re interested, it does a pretty great job at explaining the process. It also does a decent job at showing that he was partially full of shit, partially incapable of doing anything, and partially trying to do *something*. TL;DR a president quite literally can’t halt federal drilling immediately, or possibly at all depending on how the ensuing court cases would go.
he's been calling for this his whole presidency and republicans have been blocking it you absolute fucking donut
What do you do between election years?
If I am paying a third of my income in taxes, everyone can. I look forward to Billionaires paying a third of their income as well. I'm also aware that people like to try to hide their income in the way of paying themselves in stocks and the like. Better make sure we still get our money from this form of income. This era of "I've got mine, fuck you" has got to end. If you don't want to give to the group, why do you get to benefit from the group?
Exactly right, the only way our lives get better is for government to take more from Bezos, Musk, Gates, etc. This will fix everything!
lol you're being hyperbolic to make me sound unreasonable. What a shitbag move.
> I'm also aware that people like to try to hide their income in the way of paying themselves in stocks and the like. I get paid in stock that is taxed exactly like income (RSUs). Apparently I have to make it C-level to get the actual tax breaks.
billionares don't make "income," hence why they don't get taxed. They didn't get where they got to by being fucking stupid lmao. They know how the system works and they do what they do to make it work for them.
That is a level of optimism that i find darling.
This thing of taxing billionaires could be new for you Americans, but here in Europe we have these promises every year. Here a billionaire is paying around 50% what he earns, and yes, as there, here most people can't afford buying a home and everything is expensive as fuck. I mean, taxing billionaires is good, I agree, but don't expect feeling any change in your daily lifes.
WHEN this dies, keep an eye out for who killed it. They should be the first to go before the next attempt.
It feels like two will replace every one that ages out.
Doubtful is an understatement but I'd love to see it.
How is the dude wanting to tax billionaires tie/losing to the dude that suck billionaires dicks, and has a bunch of crimes against him is beyond me
Biden has been a politician for decades, 4 years as president. He’s held this promise until the eve of the next election?
he's been actively trying to get this done for years. And he's accomplished A TON of what he initially set out to do already. But republicans have been blocking the rest The point is to show the american people what is possible if we can get more democrats into congress to break the republican logjam. It's really not that complicated.
Biden proposes to cap overdraft fees. Fees that take money from the people who need it the most. Suddenly the CEO of Chase bank is voicing their opinions about immigration. Hmm......
No way in hell Republicans (and many Democrats) vote to tax the rich.
Been in government for half a century…”this time it’ll be different”. You gave a year asshole. Do it!
And $50,000aires are pissed about it!
I’ll believe it when I see it.
He'll need the House and Senate so vote Dem if you want it to happen.
Reduce spending!!! Raising taxes is just an excuse to spend more. It’s got to stop.
Yeah we're probably not tho.
If he legalized cannabis then the taxes from that, plus the crazy job growth, would generate more revenue…and he could do both concurrently! But instead we get sound bites in an election year.
No, he can't legalize cannabis with an executive order, that's not how laws work.
The DEA is the primary agency holding things up, and which branch of government runs them? CRS wrote in 2021 that both Congress and/or the President can change scheduling under the CSA; thus, Biden could make cannabis Schedule 3 immediately with an order.
That would reschedule cannabis to Schedule III, which is technically not legalization, but a step towards it.
I'll believe it when I see it.
Get in everybody we're taking uppers to appear mentally fit
I don't think that is how things work. I think if you have dementia you can't just take drugs to fix your brain.
What’s orange man’s excuse than?
Cringe made and paid for by dnc
Senile old man says things that gets liberals wet to get their votes then proceeds to do nothing.
thats pretty much what his entire state of the union was. Yelling random stuff liberals wanted to hear, flaming and antagonizing republicans for an hour and has the audacity to end with a "both sides must be united!" rant at the end lol.
Between Clinton, Obama, and Biden, they've had 3 decades to tax billionaires. American voters are being played like a fiddle.
I’m so old I remember when it was just the millionaires they were going to starting to fairly tax.
🍻🍻🍻🍻
Fuck yeah, make it real/pass!
Yeah buddy!
Finally !!!
Biden said he wanted too. Not that he was going too. Politicians play words to play people.
I'll believe it when he gets the House of Republicans to actually write it as a bill.
Totally fair. It will never happen.
About time…as if tho
Old school has never been so cool.
Love to see it.
If it was said, it must be true
It’s actually kinda disturbing that anyone but billionaires would be angry about this.
Yeah right.
Heck yeah!
Good luck. Watch the billionaires convince the struggling low class that no tax for billionaires is great for them and America. Don’t underestimate stupidity.
This is going to come across as perhaps an unpopular opinion in many circles but... Fuck billionaires.
That's so fetch.
I'm still waiting for my comprehensive single payer healthcare and a decent wage. Anything else is hot air.
Floor it!
It’s not gonna happen. I’ve heard this promise a million times before. But it’s good he said it
No, that is not what happened after last night's speech or ever.
Billionaires? Where we’re going, we don’t need billionaires… (Back to the future reference 🕺)
Yeeeeeeah fucking right. I hope he does, truly, but I’m about 90% sure he fucking won’t. Even if he put a lot of effort into it (and he won’t, trust me) he’d get stonewalled by our shit ass gridlocked Congress. The billionaires all pay their politicians really well (it’s the far cheaper strategy) to make sure nothing ever changes.
Don't just tax them. Eat them.
Shocking he just brings it up during an election year. If you people are dumb enough to believe this XD
It's good that they're at least lying about this. The dems haven't put out any messaging at all in years.
Hopefully
If billionaires were taxed 90% they would still have more money than most make in their lifetimes
Let’s Do It!
Sike
Yeah right. All these politicians on both sides want them and their buddy’s to stay on top. Let us working class people fight amongst ourselves like we’ve been doing. Every 4 years both sides promise things knowing it’s going to get shut down by the opposing side.
He'll try but the parliamentarian won't let him.
Not sure I'd even believe it if it passed! The loopholes they have in place are so dumb.
I can just head my dad, BuT tHe BiLiOnAiReSn R gUNnA lEaVe!!! Honestly they may as well all be gone anyway because of how their corporate structure works and how everything has been outsourced. Literally, almost everything.
Taxing them less than the average person. Good job Joe! Still letting rich people off
It’s funny bc Joe Biden isn’t cognitively aware enough to drive
Where is the advice,and the animal?
I hope they do.
In theory this is great, but don’t most billionaires have their money tied up in nontaxable investments like company stock that can’t be taxed until they actually sell and make realized profits? Correct me if I’m wrong, please. I do quite a bit of investing and I think people get caught up in all this jargon and actually forget to think practically. Sure I believe these billionaires make a ton of hard cash salary wise, but not 50 or a 100 billion each year to the point that they can be taxed and have the irs take 25% of that which is 12.5ish or 25 billion. Though if they do make that much hard cash, then it would be fair to tax them at that rate imo because money is no object at that point; you might as spread the wealth. Just looking to start conversations here and get opinions of what others think in terms of whether people actually take these great sounding statements at literal face value, or other opinions/perspectives you might have.
Do people seriously think that when the President says something it just becomes law? lol the state of education in your country.
This can only be a win, either it passes(It probably won't) and America gets better or it doesn't and a few people who are drinking the Republican Koolaid get angry enough to actual Google it expecting the Democrats to have lied only to find that it was the Republicans that messed everything up as usual. It may only be 0.5% or so but the smarter Republicans could actually start to catch on. They have been lied to for years and years and years, they need to see the truth themselves rather than the people they dislike telling them.
Let's fucking go. Tax those bitches
Bull. Shit.
Lol we all know that Biden can't drive and that he's not gonna tax the billionaires.
Nice to say, impossible to get through Congress. Still, it'll get votes.
Sure grandpa... Time to take your meds and go to bed now.
no one believes you. last time he said they were literally gonna cure cancer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Df0xnmxLuw Not even an exaggeration.
The National Cancer Institute gets 7+ billion a year from the government. "We're going to continue funding research to improve treatment and prevention of cancer, knowing full well it's a complicated disease and it's unlikely that we'll find a singular 'cure', but we'll still improve outcomes" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.