Comments by "Titanium Rain" (@ChucksSEADnDEAD) on "The Hated One"
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@lohphat "Libertarians say that taxation is like theft because it takes property from the unwilling. What they ignore, time and time again, is the crucial role of democratic consent" - when was the last time there was a democratic referendum regarding taxes? Also, democratic consent is a joke. 9 out of 10 people consent to a gang rape. You don't get to consent for me and I don't get to consent for you.
"Taxes are not arbitrary impositions decreed by a faceless government" - they pretty much are. Financial policy is too complex for populist rhetoric and is mostly done behind closed doors. Not only are the hordes of unelected bureaucrats a literal manifestation of a "faceless government" but the taxation is pretty much arbitrary as the politicians in power make decisions based not with infinite wisdom but with personal biases, ideological and political constraints, etc.
"Rather, taxes are the dues we pay in exchange for membership in a society and access to all the services it offers." - How do I revoke my membership? How can I cancel those services? In order for a membership or service to make sense I need to be able to withdraw my money. When dealing with an organization or provider my ability to sever my ties is the only form of leverage I have.
"If you believe the price is too high, you’re free to renounce your membership and leave the club. What you’re not free to do is to refuse to pay, but demand that you still be allowed to sit in the club and use its facilities" - BULLSHIT. The equivalent would be a private club demanding that you pay even if you don't set foot inside the club.
"Nor are you free, if the club doesn’t offer this option, to decide that you only use some of its services – only the swimming pool, say, but not the sauna or the tennis courts – and should therefore have the right to pay a prorated membership fee." - that's fucking ridiculous because there's many health clubs that have pricing systems where you only pay for what you use. Somehow several tiers of a service is a pie in the sky ordeal to the stupid mutherfucker who wrote this article.
"If you don’t want to pay, if you dislike its terms, you can leave that society" - No, you can't. The government is making it harder for you to renounce citizenship by increasing the fees and demanding more bureaucracy such as requiring you to have citizenship in another country before you're allowed to renounce yours. The private club is now holding you hostage, demanding money and saying that you can't leave until you prove that you have bought a membership into another club. THIS IS A CRIME.
"But you are not free to unilaterally demand that society rewrite its terms to favor your particular preferences." - you're not free to unilaterally demand that society rewrite its terms to favor your particular preferences. I'm gonna live in your house and eat your food. You're not free to demand me to leave. Respect your property? That's just your personal preference.
"As centuries of history show, the natural state of an unregulated economy is not free competition, but stifled and constrained competition" - BULLSHIT LOL WE HAD CENTURIES OF MONARCHY AND NO FREEDOM AT ALL AND AS REGULATION INCREASES COMPETITION IS MORE AND MORE STIFLED. All major media companies are owned by like 6 groups. Facebook owns Whatsapp and Instagram. Patreon had competitors killed with the help of PayPal and MasterCard. Look at how Amazon is taking over.
We're living in the age where there's less competition and everything is being owned by the same people but PLEASE tell me how regulation is good and doesn't stifle competition at all.
"Large, established powers, if given the chance, will do everything they can to suppress competition" - such as buying off government officials or blackmailing them with all the revenue and jobs they control.
OH MY GOD THIS GUY IS AN ABSOLUTE MORON:
"industry groups may take a hand in designing regulations that make it all but impossible for new players to enter the field" then later "To maintain the preferable state of a free market, we need structure and regulation from the government" MOTHERFUCKER ADMITS THAT INDUSTRY WRITES REGULATION AND THEN CLAIMS REGULATION IS THE ANSWER
"Outright intimidation, fraud and violence are often used against those who refuse to play along. Even the staunchly libertarian Cato Institute admits this:" - the article he links too and quotes out of context. The article linked is about how corporations use the government as a tool to squash competition and Adam Lee twists it into making you think the Cato institute is pro-government regulation.
"In my experience, most libertarians concede that some regulation is needed, but argue that they should only be taxed for services that benefit them directly. This is like demanding that businesses sell their goods to you for exactly what it cost to make them and no more" - this is garbage. It's not equivalent at all. The price of a service is set at the equilibrium point between where a customer is willing to pay and where a company is willing to sacrifice their margins. If you demand for a cheaper service and the business can't do it or else they can't make money, you either stop consuming or you keep paying. If you're only taxed for the benefits you claimed, you pay fair and square for the cost of those services.
" Just like any business, the government is entitled to “turn a profit”" - BU LL SH IT most governments run on a deficit, they spend every little red cent and then some. They contract debt by running on a deficit which then they try to pay off years later with the growth of the economy. Governments turning a profit? What?
"Just as with a business, these proceeds can be reinvested" - this guy is fucking delusional. Money isn't "reinvested" by the government. It's all spent. Spending on infrastructure are "overhead" costs. When a company saves money and invests it, they're essentially starting "new" business by expanding their capacity or even buying new facilities. Countries don't save money to start more countries. This guy is purposefully conflating the concept of profits with revenue. When a business gets its revenue it """"""reinvests"""""" that money into raw materials, tooling, payroll, etc. but that's not "reinvestment" that's simply paying for the overhead costs. Those costs eat into your margins and thus reduce your profits. Your profits is what you actually take and keep in a war chest or redistribute towards shareholders as dividend, etc. You can then REINVEST into the business by hiring more personnel, buying more machines or even opening a new facility.
And no, building roads and hospitals isn't reinvestment, that's the overhead because you have paying customers who you can't serve and thus you must bear the costs of doing business. Investment means you want to get something out of it, but you won't get something if the people already paid.
"If taxes are spent unwisely or wasted, the answer is to elect better politicians" - JUST VOTE HARDER, PEASANT
TL;DR - the guy who wrote that argument is a total moron and I've defeated all of his arguments
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