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@Victor-Meldrew said in US Politics:
Not taking the piss here, but I do wonder how long it will be until there's a campaign in the US for white people to pay a "white privilege" tax.
Not far fetched at all. Corporates are welcoming in blatant racism now, governments may not be far behind.
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@Rembrandt said in US Politics:
I'm starting to think there is a parallel here with the turning away from religion. Maybe people really do need something to worship and believe in. I'm no charlie church but give me preachy Christians any day over this mess.
And to be forgiven. The belief that we are sinners (white privilege is one manifestation) seems to go deep (not with everyone but far too many)
If people can't get forgiveness through the church for their 'sinfulness' they turn elsewhere.
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@Rembrandt said in US Politics:
I had lunch with my Zimbabwean friend yesterday. This madness has actually gotten to the point where some of her white friends have messaged her to apologise for their 'white privilege'. The kind of person who demands others take a knee for them are not the kind of people who should have any power at all.
I'm starting to think there is a parallel here with the turning away from religion. Maybe people really do need something to worship and believe in. I'm no charlie church but give me preachy Christians any day over this mess.
What the actual fuck?
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@Rembrandt said in US Politics:
I had lunch with my Zimbabwean friend yesterday. This madness has actually gotten to the point where some of her white friends have messaged her to apologise for their 'white privilege'. The kind of person who demands others take a knee for them are not the kind of people who should have any power at all.
I'm starting to think there is a parallel here with the turning away from religion. Maybe people really do need something to worship and believe in. I'm no charlie church but give me preachy Christians any day over this mess.
Did we see any white feet washing?
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@MiketheSnow said in US Politics:
What the actual fuck?
Indeed.
Have to remember not to take a photo op of a couple of weirdos as representing the opinion of the majority though.
Also have to remember that there is a valid point in here, regardless of the absurd behaviour of some of those who claim to represent that point of view. -
@Victor-Meldrew said in US Politics:
Not taking the piss here, but I do wonder how long it will be until there's a campaign in the US for white people to pay a "white privilege" tax.
Income tax is privilege tax.
When we hit 70K in NZ, we get 33% I think?
You'd probably need to earn quarter of a mill to get near that in the states. -
@reprobate said in US Politics:
You'd probably need to earn quarter of a mill to get near that in the states.
Federal tax (and on worldwide earnings for any US citizen).
41 states have their own tax to add to that. California is something like %7.5 but can be more I think. So not as good as it might appear. Complicated system too. -
I wonder how much of this is driven by Narcism? We had thousands crowding streets across Australia on the weekend during a global pandemic Do they really give a damn about black lives? Or are they more interested in getting that sweet selfie at the protest for facebook. If there is another wave of pandemic deaths (I doubt their will be but that is official advice) would those lives matter?
If official statistical record doesn't back up the claims of the protesters then is their claim then that stats are lies? And the reason they believe those stats are lies is because they would expect crime distribution to equal ethnicity population distribution. Is it too hard to accept that although some groups on average commit disproportionately more crime than other groups that fact should never stop us from striving to treat people as individuals?
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For personal tax, US federal tax has a 32% marginal rate at US$160k.
If you earn US$100k in California you pay 28.94% total tax with standard deductions.
If you earn that amount in NZ (NZ$152k) you pay 28.24% total tax (no payments to kiwi saver).
California state sales tax is 7.25%, with an extra 0.1 to 1.0% depending on local district.
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@Tim said in US Politics:
California state sales tax is 7.25%, with an extra 0.1 to 1.0% depending on local district.
Yeah I deliberately ignored GST, sales tax, VAT, call it what you will, as it is a consumer tax and just mentioned SIT based on income. It is also why I only did my shopping in Alaska.
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As a point of fact, black and white Americans die at exactly the same rate - 100%. /sarcasm
American here, and I can't believe I'm chiming in, because I'm firmly politically independent and never discuss politics online. Never. But here goes...
The crazier this gets, the more damage I think Democrats are doing to their party. For reference, I live in the middle of nowhere, deep in Trump territory, actually, although I'm personally not a fan. When news of George Floyd's death hit the news, it was universally condemned among my friends and family. My mother, who is solidly conservative, always votes Republican, and I'm 98% sure voted for Trump, said those cops should be "strung up". No question, no equivocation. That's just one example. Then the looting started, and cops got killed, and now this #defundthepolice nonsense. My friends and family are still filled with disgust by Mr. Floyd's death, and still think the cops involved should be brought to justice. But it's harder and harder to find common ground with the "movement".
I'll use my own state - Illinois - as an example. It's deep blue when it comes to Presidential elections, and the state legislature has been controlled by Democrats for forever, but the governor's office tends to bounce back and forth. State politics is dominated by Chicago - roughly a third of our population is in the city (Cook county), a third is in the Chicago suburbs (collar counties), and a third is in the rest of the state. Democrats can win the governor's race while losing 98 of 99 counties if they win Cook by a big enough margin. The collar counties, though mostly rich and white, have started to lean slightly blue. But between this, and the governor's response to COVID - largely seen outside the city of Chicago as heavy-handed if not illegal - I can easily see them swinging back red, even though they may not vote for Trump. The idea of defunding the police is not going to go down well with that crowd.
It's really interesting to me to see perspective on American politics from outside this country, especially the media reports. I see articles that refer to the States as being "devastated" by COVID, or "torn apart" by rioting. In my immediate area, you could be forgiven for forgetting that COVID is even happening. We've had very few cases, and almost no deaths. Everyone in my extended family is still employed, except, ironically, my niece who works at a hospital. In rural areas, the vast majority of people work in "essential" jobs or can WFH. As for the other, we've had some peaceful protesting, but no violence within a hundred miles. The BLM march in the closest small city was actually coordinated with and attended by the police in solidarity with the marchers. So in answer to @canefan above, I guess common decency and common sense can still be found here in Smalltown USA.
Also, I don't know anybody in my personal life who is engaged on Twitter. Most people have either never tried it, or think it's a scary cesspool. I wish the media would stop acting like it's representative of all Americans.
Ending my overly long post by saying... I'm humbled by y'all. I wish my compatriots had half the knowledge of and a tenth the ability to peacefully discuss our nation's problems as I've seen displayed in this thread.
US Politics