They pay $34 for burgers.
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@realtegan the Black Panthers provided free school meals. That was effective. And that was why the government criminalized them. @mekkaokereke
@realtegan since I got your attention, the great singer Chaka Khan was member of the Black Panthers
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@camille @futurebird @mekkaokereke I agree with you, but the flip side is you have to raise taxes broadly on the middle class because of the expense. That's what they do in Scandinavia, but USA federal Democrats are kinda losing their appetite for tax plans that raise taxes not just on the top 0.1%, but the top 20%. The plans from van Hollen and Booker are, sadly, good examples.
We're seeing the consequence of 2024 being the first time in awhile that R's won the working class in the election.
@deskJet95
Well we now have a president *also* arguing for raising taxes. So it is looking like the gang is all here!
@futurebird @mekkaokereke -
@mekkaokereke one of the core lessons of public health is that bureaucracy is _expensive_. The entire “Who should pay what!?” Exercise slows the systems down and costs a ton of money and basically all it produces is spreadsheets that cruel selfish people use to be cruel and selfish, and that crowd can’t wrap their heads around the fact that the other thing that’s great about public services being public services is that it’s cheaper.
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They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.

The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.

️The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."
It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.
"@mekkaokereke If they pay taxes, they pay for preschool . It's better to pay taxes for preschool than for ballrooms or rackets.
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@mekkaokereke
When school lunch programs throw out the "who deserves to get free lunches?" and just provide for every child, the entire program is cheaper due to the lack of an enforcement layer, all children get fed, and children learn more and pay attention better.Being overly concerned that someone might get something they don't "deserve" usually ends up screwing over the ones who need help most.
We're supposed to "promote the general welfare" of the public - not gate-keep who gets help.
@realtegan @mekkaokereke "but then what about all the money wasted feeding rich people??" retort all the rich people, knowing the answer is taxes
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They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.

The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.

️The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."
It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.
"@mekkaokereke I'm just stuck on that $34 isn't all that extreme for a burger in the first place, due to inflation and tarrifs and fuel costs etc. I'm flat out amazed when a diner breakfast is less than $30 at this point.
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They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.

The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.

️The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."
It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.
"“universal child care”
It’s right there in the name … “universal”
If you exclude rich kids it isn’t universal.But once you’ve accepted that some kids aren’t part of “universal” then you have accepted the supremacist frame: that some kids count and others don’t.
It’s a classic bait and switch. Next comes the excuses to exclude poor kids, or black kids, or indian kids, or muslim kids, or whoever they don’t see truly human.
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@futurebird @mekkaokereke means testing is a tax on welfare paid out to bureaucrats. Its mechanical molasses. Its bad
@NocturnalNessa @futurebird @mekkaokereke
It means test the system not the people.

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They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.

The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.

️The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."
It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.
"@mekkaokereke Another angle: What about the children of rich parents who are abused or neglected? The parents may be rich, but that doesn't mean the kids automatically are. What if the parents forget to pay the bill for school lunch? What if they choose not to?
It's not like there aren't high profile cases of ludicrously rich parents who hate their own children.
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They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.

The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.

️The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."
It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.
"@mekkaokereke So the questions about his universal childcare plan are raised by the fact that he actually meant universal childcare when he said it, is that right? Oh noes, a politician who means what he says.
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@rlonstein @futurebird @mekkaokereke Right. When I get food at teh food co-op, I like what I am paying for.
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They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.

The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.

️The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."
It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.
"@mekkaokereke strange that the answer is never, just make sure the rich pay fair taxes so everyone can have access to a standard level of services and expensive means testing is no longer needed.
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@mekkaokereke So the questions about his universal childcare plan are raised by the fact that he actually meant universal childcare when he said it, is that right? Oh noes, a politician who means what he says.
@mekkaokereke I mean, the correct answer to this question should be: "Yes, they're rich, but they also pay more than enough taxes to make good for it", and the true question is why it isn't.
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They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.

The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.

️The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."
It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.
"@mekkaokereke
Just make sure they pay more tax -
@realtegan @mekkaokereke "but then what about all the money wasted feeding rich people??" retort all the rich people, knowing the answer is taxes
@Yza @realtegan @mekkaokereke like most rich people wouldn't instantly get snobby about taking it and start conspicuously consuming something else to distance from it
also like... as if the rich don't already take far more from public funds anyway. drop in the ocean, well worth it for helping everyone
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“universal child care”
It’s right there in the name … “universal”
If you exclude rich kids it isn’t universal.But once you’ve accepted that some kids aren’t part of “universal” then you have accepted the supremacist frame: that some kids count and others don’t.
It’s a classic bait and switch. Next comes the excuses to exclude poor kids, or black kids, or indian kids, or muslim kids, or whoever they don’t see truly human.
@DavidM_yeg
Food is not a privilege.The implications of teaching anything else to kids are really scary.
I mean what ignorant adult would teach our kids that food is a privilege and then grow old and feeble and become a burden on society
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At this point I respond to this stuff with. "It's not gonna work. We're still raising your taxes. Frankly, I'd do it and burn the money at this point."
@futurebird
Taxes literally are burning money, thats what they are. Govt Spending creates money, taxes burn it up so as to prevent hoarding and inflation. #mmt
@mekkaokereke -
@futurebird
Taxes literally are burning money, thats what they are. Govt Spending creates money, taxes burn it up so as to prevent hoarding and inflation. #mmt
@mekkaokereke@dlakelan @futurebird @mekkaokereke
Can work it out with pencil amd paper but popular econ mythology in service of avarice blinds us.
It's like "old time religion."
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@mekkaokereke it's just infuriating. it's not free! it's tax-supported, and if the system is working right, rich people pay more in taxes.
@portlandy @mekkaokereke Rich people don’t necessarily pay more in taxes. There are clever loopholes for rich people to use to avoid paying taxes, where working folks usually bear the biggest burden of taxation
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@dlakelan @futurebird @mekkaokereke
Can work it out with pencil amd paper but popular econ mythology in service of avarice blinds us.
It's like "old time religion."
@Doug_Bostrom
You can, except you need to first shovel all the bullshit out of the way before you can see the sunlight. Try to read what the Fed writes about the origin of money and its intentionally obfuscational. The Bank Of England published a paper a decade ago and its still actively opposed by that "old time religion"
@futurebird @mekkaokereke
