Instead of "Murderer catch phrase", this is actually the title of a book calling the insurance industry assholes. After being denied coverage, it is a completely appropriate insult to their process.
I played the game of Clue a couple of times. That too is a murder simulator and "how to cover your tracks" game.
Universal housing can look like the government acquiring existing apartments from disinterested landlords that are out of compliance and then granting them on a $1 lease in perpetuity to local neighborhood coops so long as they maintain it well.
Not a complete fan, except that fines so large as the remedy is confiscation can be appropriate. No need to give away the confiscated property, though UBI would allow for tenant managed coops offering a fair bid. I'd rather see soviet style housing meant to provide a return for the builder, but affordable. UBI means there are no projects with "exclusive access" being for the troubled.
Universal food can look like mandates for grocery stores to provide non-profit collectives unfettered access to discarded items that are still perfectly edible instead of locking up dumpsters full of food that can feed people.
UBI is better. Nothing stopping grocery stores from taking advantage of non-profit collectives, compared to usual for profit alternatives. It's in their interest to provide food quality/value.
Free public transit is another great example. Do you want to have to include bus fare in the UBI? Or would it just make sense to make the buses and trains fare-free.
Free public transit offers denser transit schedules, traffic reduction, better value for work and "touristy" outings. UBI solving homelessness helps avoid turning a "cheap shelter" into a "free shelter" for "undesirables" that may make transit uncomfortable to others.
Why give people a voucher instead of just reimbursing all accredited schools directly and let folks enroll anywhere without having to manage a budget?
Before university grades, you don't need accredited schools as much as accredited testing. Internet/multimedia (30 years old revolution) has expanded education alternatives. Cash instead of vouchers. Spend as much as you want on education.
http://www.naturalfinance.net/2015/05/slashing-public-education-can-provide.html
Just make them tuition free.
For University grades, it is rationed, and there is a minimum aptitude level required to gain from the experience. Would Harvard be allowed to exist alongside a public tuition free abundant system? I support subsidizing post secondary education similar to Canada (maybe outdated) where a summer job could pay for tuition and books. UBI, though, is plenty to afford university dorm + tuition lifestyle, but perhaps, if you can get into Harvard, you might prefer additional student loans if you consider the education worth the tuition price. The magic of UBI, is that you get to consider the overall value of education instead of "student program" scams on the young and foolish.
“Terrorist Organization” Means Whatever The US Wants It To Mean – Caitlin Johnstone
> The US government is simultaneously (A) preparing to remove from its list of designated terrorist organizations the group which led the charge to oust Bashar al-Assad in Syria and (B) justifying Israel’s land grab in Syria by saying the nation has been taken over by terrorists.
The biggest problem in America is the largest most profitable companies pay 21% instead of 15% corporate income tax, apparently. Meanwhile all peeps of no taxes on tips or SS have disappeared.
Is it conspiracy that US hates Maduro/Venezuela???
Disturbing. Biden certainly kept the election interference operations going, and narco gang support. It's hard to imagine a more overt operation than the bay of piglets. Would need to move air carrier battle group away from Israel. Bombing all the things would send immigrant caravans north.
It's same playbook as Ukraine. To destabilize enough to buy everything cheap. With Israel not directly benefitting, it would be a hard media/public sale for such obvious demonic imperialism.
Not American. Ghandi's mission was to give "untouchables" caste some human equality. Technically, women's/lgbtq movements were peaceful. Unlike US/Israel first oligarchy, there is complete/absolute media loyalty for it, in a way that the British Empire is harder to defend as benevolent to Indians. The support for oligarchy's wars and supremacy is unconditional. If we don't give them everything we have then China, Russia and Iran will win, and you all nod along.
Not clear how Russia didn't abide by Minsk. Ukraine/west are the ones who didn't abide. You're saying running out of patience is "not abiding"?
most of the West would’ve preferred neutrality for Ukraine.
While true, just makes a war only for Ukraine's NATO aspiration that much stupider, or more likely dishonest.
The US was very open that they liked Putin because it seemed he would be liberalising Russia for a while
They liked Gorbachoev and especially Yeltsin for being a CIA stooge privatsing Russia with western capital. Putin turned away from that pretty early on.
Anyone supporting war to the last Ukrainian because they want the opportunity to colonize them under NATO are the ones who want Ukrainians to die.
So many US empire simps here mistake opposition to their evil, and counterproductive diminishment of Americans and Europeans who simp for the empire, as supporting the Russian non-empire who needs to defend itself, and understands fully, despite any absurd propaganda to the contrary, that it needs to defend itself from US empire attempting to demonically diminish it.
Your propaganda bubble means you cannot and will never have nice things, including any climate supporting human sustainability. Heads are so far empire ass, that advising you it stinks up there, only makes you understand it as an order to move to Russia.
I’ve soured on it recently, if you gave everyone $1000 a month then your landlord is just going to raise your rent by $1000.
UBI empowers tenants and alternate living situations.
- Every neighbourhood is instantly gentrified. That can be higher rents, but its good for shopping deserts and no crime.
- You have "move out" money if the landlord is an asshole.
- Renting rooms to people is lower risk because you know they can pay.
- Home ownership, is more bankable because you have income security independent of your job. Again, subleting/renting parts of home is easier if you lose your job.
- You can move to brand new area, including lower cost "ghost town" areas without having a job lined up first.
- If you don't want to work, you don't really need to be living in high cost city. Smaller/cheaper towns look fine.
Sure people will want nicer places to live, but there's more options than renting with UBI, and other power dynamics that permit tenants to escape due to other options.
No. Failing to praise all US empire efforts to diminish China is "letting China win". There cannot be a "some good some bad" view on China. "all bad only" is allowed.
Unfortunately with our concept of ownership there will be massive resistance to it as “I own the machines that make the products/increase productivity, why should you get anything from my profit?” They’re going to have to relearn the lesson Ford learned about “well paid employees are your customers” the hard way.
The only alternative to UBI, and Trump presidency a big step towards that alternative, is the oligarchy that needs less slaves support genocide and AI/Robotic security for the oligarchy. UBI is similar to that "Ford mythology" of increased sales through population that can afford more cars, and Ford getting plenty rich from more car sales. Still an oligarchy that is hyper focused on slavery instead of that obviousness of making more revenue is not one that reacts to "slavery alternatives" of protecting their existing wealth/power through genocide towards an understanding of a sustainable and prosperous world enriching them too.
Topic of the day is US support for Israel annexing more land. Security pretext. Did Israel do referendums in Golan Heights? Referendums for new territory?
Musk, of all people, put into vernacular UHI (universal high income), which is similar to Andrew Yang's "freedom dividend" in that the goal is not to provide "basic" just above slavery/desperation survivability, but instead leverage the huge economic growth from automation that can provide a dividend to every citizen, who by equal vote, deserve an equal share in the surplus/output of the country.
The Swiss proposal you quoted does seem like crack, for purposes of appearing like crack and not getting accepted. Freedom dividends can grow to that ammount without it being the initial implementation
left vs right
The left tends to offer crack. The crack part that the left distorts UBI with is keeping all of the stupidity of current system. 50%-100% clawbacks on low incomes. Keeping existing welfare systems. Some right wing versions, Milton Friedman from Nixon era, also offer 50% clawbacks on low income. The only other right wing version of UBI is a cardboard box housing alternative that replaces all current government conditional aid with cash for all. The Charles Murray proposal is the least stupid of all of the above.
Centrist/true UBI can leverage above the Charles Murray model, higher UBI for slightly higher tax rates, that leave people with better than cardboard housing far better off than without the UBI/tax rates. People who don't like slavery (nominally left voters) could prefer higher taxes and higher UBI than (right wing) people who love slavery, but left and right politicians want misery (maybe one day the miserable will vote left if Israel first rulership is not dominant left objective) in order to appeal to voters, and so tolerating existing politician/electoral power has 0 chance of getting UBI.
The perfect opportunity to go from "barely above slavery" UBI to UHS, is that even more programs can be cut with higher UBI, and economic growth means higher tax surpluses that we can demand as dividends. At your "Swiss proposal" level of UBI, IDGAF about automation taking my job, I will either play videogames or take whatever useful job I get harassed into accepting all the pay for, but it is very easy to get a $12k-$18k UBI level that is paid for by taxes, and leaves 80%-90% of all taxpayers better off.
That is completely automatic. The "right"/survivability to say no is directly empowering to entire labour force.
On Monday, the US State Department backed Israel's seizure of territory in Syria that came after the collapse of the government of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, framing it as a defensive action. Israel seized a buffer zone between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and the rest of Syria's...
The obvious hypocrisy is that Russia's special military operation in Ukraine is real self defense, including protection of ethnic minorities in Ukraine.
Washington finally completed its dirty war in Syria. What started as a CIA covert operation to smuggle weapons and jihadists from Libya to Syria has - Kyle Anzalone for Antiwar.com
Seems like the new ruler's alliances will be strongest towards Turkey, which is one of the angriest nations vs Israel. It would seem very divisive/factionalizing to become a US/Israel colony like Jordan.
A truly seismic change in the Middle East appears to be happening very fast. At its heart is a devil’s bargain – Turkey and the Gulf States accept the annihilation of the Palestinian nation and creation of a Greater Israel, in return for the annihilation of the Shia minorities of Syria and Lebanon a...
Written before fall of Damascus, but prescient.
Maybe still unclear what happens to Allawite region.
Despite funding the coup, Israel/US influence over power may be limited other than funding an invasion of Lebanon, though still not a stable without longterm blowback operation.
Turkey/Islamist control may still be as willing to cooperate with Russia/Iran as the US. But author's supposition of separating middle east into Sunni Jihadist and Israel rule is most likely. US does not have kingmaker power as it did in Iraq.
in soviet EU, NATO votes for you
The move comes after allegations of Russian influence via social media on the first round of voting.
Romania elections annulled, because court didn't like result. infinite US/EU influence allowed, but it failed. NATO sucks.
This originally appeared at Consortium News. A day after Israel agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon last week the long dormant war in Syria reignited as - Ray McGovern for Antiwar.com
The president-elect wrote that the coalition of non-Western countries “should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy” if it backs a currency other than the U.S. dollar.
Headline is a bit inaccurate. "If they use anything other than dollar" is the quote.
While neocon colonial handlers have been making the west puppets fall over themselves over offering more war, there was already a strong division in the world.
Trade prevents wars. The world becoming more divided will make the US more isolated, and anger the low hanging fruit of dealing with decline. Investment outside of the US and its influence have already taken off. This posturing is not significantly different than the path the Biden administration set on, but there is a matter of style that will cause the US colonies to choose between dignity and extreme ever subjugated diminishment to US control and profits, even as the US itself causes its own decline.
Submission: Canada says North American free trade partners should be fully aligned on China
NATO and other US colonies submitted harder to US under Biden. In part, it made political sense to boost US in order to prevent Trump again. The CIA loyal colonial institutions that made that happen though, are pushing for total capitulation instead of the escape hatch that China/world provides.
Fentanyl, FYI is used in hospitals extensively because it is a cheaper opiate on a per dose basis. It is not a cause of opiate addiction, but instead has a high risk of overdose death as a result of typically accidental use instead of heroin. Anti-immigration positions in Canada are gaining strength mostly because of the systemic collapse of the last 4 years of subjugation creates pessimism over sustainability that is required for policies like education or immigration to eventually pay off.
Instead of banning fentanyl, and growing opium in Canadian greenhouses for traditional opiate industry, and limiting immigration even more, including visa requirements from countries Trump hates, Canada is begging for the privilege of funding perpetual Ukraine war, and acting as force multiplier on war with China.
OTOH, this latest call is a ploy to get US-Canada to jointly isolate from the world. Mexico has already been cooperative with China, and has a massive opportunity to become Central and South American manufacturing hub in addition to significant cost of living comparative advantage.
Even if US accepts Canada as part of its island, it will continue escalation of demands.
BYD launches sodium-ion grid-scale BESS product - 30gwh annual capacity factory
BYD has launched what it claimed is the 'world's first high-performance' sodium-ion BESS product, using its Long Blade Battery cell.
Norway is on the cusp of completing a transition away from combustion cars thanks to targeted incentives that made electrics an easy choice
Atlanticists mobilise to salvage NATO as Russia toughens its stance - Indian Punchline -- ie EU madness in sycophancy is planned response to Trump
Parts of the ballistic missile named Oreshnik (hazelnut) that Russia used in a strike on Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, November 22, 2024 The American film maker and philanthropist who created the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, George Lucas, once said, “Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear lea...
> However, petrified that Trump may turn his back on the war, there is a school of thought in Europe that they could offer something interesting to incentivise him other than the carrot of Ukraine’s vast stores of critical minerals that Americans lack — eg., more trading incentives for America; greater spending on NATO; more pressure on Iran; “peacekeeping boots on the ground” inside Ukraine; help in Trump’s upcoming economic skirmishes with China and so on.
and US volunteering their sycophancy under similar lines: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/how-europe-can-save-nato/
While much of the world has long recognized that the U.S. has been fighting a proxy war against Russia by arming Ukraine to the teeth, proof of a new twist in that story emerged recently from no other a source than the savagely pro-business Wall Street Journal.
Ukraine was always a primarily a war on subjugating Europe. Energy focused as usual.