Hello all

I've had this idea I don’t see a lot of people discussing but wanted to get some feedback.

So, I work with a lot of elderly people in their homes as well as talk with several different grandparents and it seems like it’s the same story everywhere. "I know I have way more house than I could need, I don’t EVER go upstairs to my 4 bedrooms upstairs" due to safety concerns. Or just like my grandmother tells me "I have all these bedrooms furnished, if I left my home, I’d have to dispose of all the stuff I don’t use!"

Point is they are sitting on this asset most people my age (M31) are dying to get their hands on to start a family etc. And the thing I keep noticing is as prices go up, new buyers if they can even manage to get into one of these places... Will be expected to pay 4 times the property taxes their elderly neighbors are paying. So, it’s just one more impediment to getting young people in, and a great reason for the old not to sell. In fact, their hesitancy to sell further increases the value of all homes on the market.

We sit down and go through their bills, and they are outraged they are seeing their 70k valuation go to 130k valuation and being expected to pay 1-2% of that. And I get it. But did they jump on Zillow and see what their neighbors comparable home is going for? 400K? Basically, I’m coming to the simplest way to fix these imbalances might be to fix our property tax structure. Everyone pays the same 1% of their primary residence, valuations are leveled out, no sweetheart deals for any age bracket. There are many state exemptions over certain ages in many states.

And my other thing is I keep seeing tons of homes just sitting empty all over the place!? Oh, that’s such and such company, that someone’s third vacation home, etc. etc. Like how hard would it be to generally lower everyone’s primary residence taxes to a minimum (sorry folks but they tend to pay for 75% of most city budgets we're not getting away with zero prop taxes). But put that number to a minimum and then hike up anything that you could remotely say was an investment / single family. I wouldn’t mess with apartments etc. because it wouldn’t make sense to have anyone else run those. But single family homes should be easily accessible by single families? Or am I just crazy. I’m not a communist or something before everyone just dog piles on me sounding like a socialist etc. etc. but frankly I believe if something doesn’t change soon, we will watch a continued massive population collapse that will lead to further upheaval in the future. Not to mention the lack of purpose and direction currently being experienced by the youth as most get priced out of the most basic things.

My idea is that the general population should make the final call during their taxes for any kind of corporate welfare and large grants programs targeted at corporations. A profit seeking corporation is not an entity the government represents and therefore the government’s role shouldn’t be to directly support them either financially or through regulation. Especially as there is too much potential to undermine the people the government represents through corruption. The general population and largely the workers are who the government represents and the role of the government should be to provide services to them. I think it often gets confused that corporations will bring jobs and boost the economy which will make communities wealthier but in reality they are just trading partners with the labour force that the government represents. I think the labour force should get to decide whether they want to give their tax money away for a job in the future as they’re the main partners in the deal. It would be nice if the representatives in government could make the decision but I think their power should be limited on this. There is too much potential for manipulation, bias, and corruption. What do you think?

The day of the election

I really thought that Javier Milei was going to win, but when it actually happened, it was unbelievable. It was a mix of feelings: I was happy, then I was worried because hyperinflation was coming and if it happened, Javier Milei was going to be kicked out of office and libertarianism would NEVER EVER be seen again in Latin America. But that madafucker shut my mouth and it never happened. I’m really happy about it (after all, I’m poor and if hyperinflation had hit, I would’ve had to do some crazy shit to eat).

First three months:

It was hard, but necessary, obviously. For example, he cut subsidies to transportation, and prices skyrocketed. So I had to quit the gym because it was in another town and I depended on public transport. Besides that, living with 25% monthly inflation was CRAZY. Clearly, it wasn’t his fault, but I’m just narrating what actually happened.

Six months:

WTF, I NEVER THOUGHT THIS GUY WAS GOING TO PULL OFF THIS SHIT. He went all out: inflation went down from 25% to 4.2%, then the country risk dropped from 3000 to 1000. He ACTUALLY fired 30,000 public employees who really, but REALLY, did nothing and didn’t even go to work... With just 15% of Congress and 10% of the Senate (in terms of representation of his party), he was able to pass the biggest reform in Argentina’s history. That reform included a regime to encourage massive private investment, with tax reductions, legal certainty, and a lot of other things. Literally a month after that reform, a bunch of big companies started announcing huge investments in the country.

One year in:

According to the newest data, Argentina’s poverty went down from 57% to 38.9%. Apart from that, inflation is now 2.4%. He has cut two major taxes and is planning to cut even more. He says he wants Argentina to be the freest country in the world, and he’s actually going down that path. I’m so happy, guys. I’ve been writing a book this year talking in depth about how Milei won, what Argentina was like a year before Milei, how it is now, and how you can replicate this in your own country. It would be a pleasure if you want to buy it, here it is: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DRDHN5SJ

So this 16 year old kid came up with an idea for “inclusive Christmas products” and it’s all over the news. It’s considered a great idea and customers seem to like it too. Great story right? My take on it that whatever the story or product a 16 year old kid cannot start a business without financial backing. How did he get the money to produce his inventory and shipping materials? The answer is nowhere to be found but I would guess he’s backed by his wealthy family. So this means that kids who have $$ can start businesses and kids without cannot, no matter what their great ideas are. It’s a story that has happened many times but it shows that the concept of the level playing field is deeply flawed. Not everyone who works hard and has a new product can be a success.

So recently I have started to view things differently, realising that capitalism is evrywhere, even in things that I have thought only promoted good values.

I am a big fan of hello Kitty and sanrio characters, but I have started to think that the creation of the character and the feeling it brings me is only a strategy to push me buy their stuff . And it's the case for everything, why do I need to buy ? To fulfill the satisfaction to own merch ?

What are your thoughts ?

People have been saying that the market is going to crash forever now, is it ever going to? Everything is so expensive and it feels like inequality is just going to keep continue growing

I am writing an essay on how AI will impact the future of global capitalism, and I’m really struggling on where to start. Does anybody have some readings and sources to help me get started?

Thanks! :)