Biden’s $6.8 Trillion Budget Proposes New Social Programs and Higher Taxes on wealthy

[Comrade Luanne Platter]

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/09/us/politics/biden-budget.html

Honestly, at first glance it's a great proposal, sans the expansion of a bloated military budget. A bummer that Republicans are going to block any chance of actually making progress for the American people.

WASHINGTON — President Biden on Thursday proposed a $6.8 trillion budget that sought to increase spending on the military and a wide range of new social programs while also reducing future budget deficits, defying Republican calls to scale back government and reasserting his economic vision before an expected re-election campaign.

The budget contains some $5 trillion in proposed tax increases on high earners and corporations over a decade, much of which would offset new spending programs aimed at the middle class and the poor. It seeks to reduce budget deficits by nearly $3 trillion over that time, compared with the country’s current path.

It reaffirms Mr. Biden’s case that he can prevent the growing debt burden from weighing on the economy while expanding spending and protecting popular safety-net programs — almost entirely by asking companies and the wealthy to pay more in taxes.

The president’s budget proposed $400 billion to deliver affordable child care for parents, $150 billion for home care for older Americans and disabled people, and nearly $400 billion to make permanent expanded health coverage assistance through the Affordable Care Act. He would spend $325 billion to guarantee paid leave for workers and nearly $300 billion combined for free community college and prekindergarten for students. He is seeking $100 billion in additional assistance to lower housing costs for homeowners and renters.

[Trump Is A Maoist]

Sounds good. I'm sure that if you look at it under a magnifying glass, it's not really as progressive as it seems, and the rich and corporations are still getting way more than their fair share. In the context of an establishment Democrat, this is good though. The more progressive, the better.

[インターネット掲示板ユーザー Punxsutawney Phil]

what would the corporate tax rate be under this? 25%?

[Zohranism is OUR future]

We should not have a higher corporate tax right now. Higher income taxes, sure.

[Vosem]

Sounds good. I'm sure that if you look at it under a magnifying glass, it's not really as progressive as it seems, and the rich and corporations are still getting way more than their fair share. In the context of an establishment Democrat, this is good though. The more progressive, the better.

Real progress is when taxes are cut, the social safety net shrinks, and everyone is better off.

[dead0man]

more spending, more taxes, more of the same

[100% pro-choice no matter what]

Sounds good. I'm sure that if you look at it under a magnifying glass, it's not really as progressive as it seems, and the rich and corporations are still getting way more than their fair share. In the context of an establishment Democrat, this is good though. The more progressive, the better.

Real progress is when taxes are cut, the social safety net shrinks, and everyone is better off.

What do you tell the single mother who uses food stamps to feed her kids?

[Trump Is A Maoist]

Sounds good. I'm sure that if you look at it under a magnifying glass, it's not really as progressive as it seems, and the rich and corporations are still getting way more than their fair share. In the context of an establishment Democrat, this is good though. The more progressive, the better.

Real progress is when taxes are cut, the social safety net shrinks, and everyone is better off.

I've never gotten an erection reading Atlas Shrugged. Unregulated capitalism without populist wealth redistribution is an immoral societal cancer.

[dead0man]

Sounds good. I'm sure that if you look at it under a magnifying glass, it's not really as progressive as it seems, and the rich and corporations are still getting way more than their fair share. In the context of an establishment Democrat, this is good though. The more progressive, the better.

Real progress is when taxes are cut, the social safety net shrinks, and everyone is better off.

What do you tell the single mother who uses food stamps to feed her kids?

you're welcome?

[Badger]

Sounds good. I'm sure that if you look at it under a magnifying glass, it's not really as progressive as it seems, and the rich and corporations are still getting way more than their fair share. In the context of an establishment Democrat, this is good though. The more progressive, the better.

Real progress is when taxes are cut, the social safety net shrinks, and everyone is better off.

Cutting taxes has no causation,, and frequently a detrimental effect, to those second two occurrences happening.

[Badger]

Sounds good. I'm sure that if you look at it under a magnifying glass, it's not really as progressive as it seems, and the rich and corporations are still getting way more than their fair share. In the context of an establishment Democrat, this is good though. The more progressive, the better.

Real progress is when taxes are cut, the social safety net shrinks, and everyone is better off.

What do you tell the single mother who uses food stamps to feed her kids?

" now now, it'll all be better in the end. Soon some entrepreneurial receive a hefty dividend and hire you as a part-time housekeeper without benefits!"

( after injected with truth serum) " I got mine so f you"

[Badger]

Sounds good. I'm sure that if you look at it under a magnifying glass, it's not really as progressive as it seems, and the rich and corporations are still getting way more than their fair share. In the context of an establishment Democrat, this is good though. The more progressive, the better.

Real progress is when taxes are cut, the social safety net shrinks, and everyone is better off.

What do you tell the single mother who uses food stamps to feed her kids?

you're welcome?

Ugly look, libertard.

Yeah, I know that term triggers you to no end. But when you earn it, you earn it.

[dead0man]

Sounds good. I'm sure that if you look at it under a magnifying glass, it's not really as progressive as it seems, and the rich and corporations are still getting way more than their fair share. In the context of an establishment Democrat, this is good though. The more progressive, the better.

Real progress is when taxes are cut, the social safety net shrinks, and everyone is better off.

What do you tell the single mother who uses food stamps to feed her kids?

you're welcome?

Ugly look, libertard.

Yeah, I know that term triggers you to no end. But when you earn it, you earn it.

you're projecting again

[Vosem]

Sounds good. I'm sure that if you look at it under a magnifying glass, it's not really as progressive as it seems, and the rich and corporations are still getting way more than their fair share. In the context of an establishment Democrat, this is good though. The more progressive, the better.

Real progress is when taxes are cut, the social safety net shrinks, and everyone is better off.

I've never gotten an erection reading Atlas Shrugged. Unregulated capitalism without populist wealth redistribution is an immoral societal cancer.

Unregulated capitalism, without populist wealth redistribution, is the only way that we ever get new things and the only way that society ever actually progresses. 'Progress' without capitalism is totally meaningless, and has always amounted to vicious enslavement where observed.

Sounds good. I'm sure that if you look at it under a magnifying glass, it's not really as progressive as it seems, and the rich and corporations are still getting way more than their fair share. In the context of an establishment Democrat, this is good though. The more progressive, the better.

Real progress is when taxes are cut, the social safety net shrinks, and everyone is better off.

What do you tell the single mother who uses food stamps to feed her kids?

That she will get a better job, and that her money will go much further, if her benefits are cut. Depending on her race, she very likely already believes this; many of the places with the heaviest EBT use, if they are white, vote for Republicans who are very much not economic populists. Moreover, it is true; her parents are very likely old enough to have experienced it firsthand.

Poverty in the US is strongly associated with obesity and the vast majority of food stamps are not used to buy staples (also, the total amount of food stamp benefits has varied a lot and is routinely significantly increased under Democratic administrations and significantly cut under Republican ones; this has never caused any kind of backlash); there are very, very few, or no, people who are actually dependent on them not to starve.

[Trump Is A Maoist]

Real progress is when taxes are cut, the social safety net shrinks, and everyone is better off.

I always thought that "bootstraps liberartianism / conservatism" was crock of s__t.

The whole idea is that we need to create a system where it is as easy as possible for the people willing to work harder than other people to move up the class ladder. If you look at it in practice and not in theory, it's not nearly as simple or black and white as that.

Furthermore, there are BY DEFINITION only so many people who can work harder than everybody else, and therefore there a bunch of people stuck at the bottom and unable to do better for themselves. You can say "well, that individual should have worked harder", but there will ALWAYS be a certain % of citizens at the bottom, based on the system, no matter what, by definition. Support of bootstraps Reaganism or whatever you want to call it is basically saying "the bottom few rungs on the economic ladder, which is a more or less fixed % of Americans, don't deserve to have as good of a life as they would have in other systems". It's making things easier for people who already have "nicer" lives at the expense of the people who don't.

My parents raised me to care about my community, at least somewhat, and have empathy for my fellow countrymen. I could never support something like that.

[Vosem]

Real progress is when taxes are cut, the social safety net shrinks, and everyone is better off.

I always thought that "bootstraps liberartianism / conservatism" was crock of s__t.

I've really, really never been able to understand how people don't accept it, and I've never heard of criticisms that -- like Badger in the other thread -- didn't instantly collapse under the weight of their own contradictions.

The whole idea is that we need to create a system where it is as easy as possible for the people willing to work harder than other people to move up the class ladder.

I don't think this is the system at all. The whole idea is that capitalism is a system in which people are rewarded for providing things that others in society want. Of course the people who are better at this than others end up with many more resources than those who aren't; that means the system is working as intended, and people are better. Jeff Bezos creating Amazon and hugely increasing the variety of goods everyone gets to choose from, and then becoming a centibillionaire as a result, means the system is working perfectly. People who do not want Bezos being a centibillionaire are usually advocating for poorer people, who use Amazon, to have to pick from a smaller variety of inferior goods.

Furthermore, there are BY DEFINITION only so many people who can work harder than everybody else, and therefore there a bunch of people stuck at the bottom and unable to do better for themselves. You can say "well, that individual should have worked harder", but there will ALWAYS be a certain % of citizens at the bottom, based on the system, no matter what, by definition. Support of the bootstraps Reaganism is basically saying "the bottom few rungs on the economic ladder, which is a more or less fixed % of Americans, don't deserve to have as good of a life as they would have in other systems".

No, this is the opposite of the argument that is made by conservative Americans. The argument is that if we reward people for making others' lives better, then everyone will have a life better than they would have in other systems. (Indeed, the poorest Americans have substantially greater purchasing power than they do in other modern developed countries, and incomparably greater than they would've had in countries actually trying to enact socialism). But -- and this is crucial -- it is true that the gap between the people at the bottom and the people at the top is much larger than it would be under a different system. The people at the bottom are absolutely better off, though -- they are better fed, and better cared for (under our private system healthcare consumption, and availability, are far higher than under public ones), and have more entertainment and stuff than they would otherwise. The benefits that go to the poor are massive. It's just that the ones that go to the rich, as a byproduct of this system, are even larger.

It's making things easier for people who already have "nicer" lives at the expense of the people who don't.

My parents raised me to care about my community, at least somewhat, and have empathy for my fellow countrymen. I could never support something like that.

I don't think that someone who truly cares about their community would ever actually prefer equality to prosperity. Only someone deeply afraid of change who thinks the worst of others would want that. Empathy means actually putting yourself in another person's shoes and considering how their shoes could be better, not putting yourself in another person's shoes and considering who they should be spending their time hating.

[Badger]

Sounds good. I'm sure that if you look at it under a magnifying glass, it's not really as progressive as it seems, and the rich and corporations are still getting way more than their fair share. In the context of an establishment Democrat, this is good though. The more progressive, the better.

Real progress is when taxes are cut, the social safety net shrinks, and everyone is better off.

I've never gotten an erection reading Atlas Shrugged. Unregulated capitalism without populist wealth redistribution is an immoral societal cancer.

Unregulated capitalism, without populist wealth redistribution, is the only way that we ever get new things and the only way that society ever actually progresses. 'Progress' without capitalism is totally meaningless, and has always amounted to vicious enslavement where observed.

Sounds good. I'm sure that if you look at it under a magnifying glass, it's not really as progressive as it seems, and the rich and corporations are still getting way more than their fair share. In the context of an establishment Democrat, this is good though. The more progressive, the better.

Real progress is when taxes are cut, the social safety net shrinks, and everyone is better off.

What do you tell the single mother who uses food stamps to feed her kids?

That she will get a better job, and that her money will go much further, if her benefits are cut. Depending on her race, she very likely already believes this; many of the places with the heaviest EBT use, if they are white, vote for Republicans who are very much not economic populists. Moreover, it is true; her parents are very likely old enough to have experienced it firsthand.

Poverty in the US is strongly associated with obesity and the vast majority of food stamps are not used to buy staples (also, the total amount of food stamp benefits has varied a lot and is routinely significantly increased under Democratic administrations and significantly cut under Republican ones; this has never caused any kind of backlash); there are very, very few, or no, people who are actually dependent on them not to starve.

What do you tell the single mother who uses food stamps to feed her kids?

" now now, it'll all be better in the end. Soon some entrepreneurial receive a hefty dividend and hire you as a part-time housekeeper without benefits!"

( after injected with truth serum) " I got mine so f you"

Jesus, even when I try to parody Vosem as an utterly heartless rangian fanatic with no connection to the realities of poverty, and he actually outdoes me

Well plates sir.

[Vosem]

Jesus, even when I try to parody Vosem as an utterly heartless rangian fanatic with no connection to the realities of poverty, and he actually outdoes me

Well plates sir.

I might have to start using 'well plates'.

Have you ever met or spoken to someone who receives EBT? Have you ever wondered why communities that receive EBT support, like, Thomas Massie and Rand Paul? Unfortunately for you, poor people often do understand exactly how the world works.

[Trump Is A Maoist]

I don't think that someone who truly cares about their community would ever actually prefer equality to prosperity. Only someone deeply afraid of change who thinks the worst of others would want that. Empathy means actually putting yourself in another person's shoes and considering how their shoes could be better, not putting yourself in another person's shoes and considering who they should be spending their time hating.

I never advocated for "equality" (whatever that means in economic terms). I'm simply saying that the bottom rungs of the ladder aren't getting enough and the top rungs are getting too much. You said I was wrong, we disagree. Fine. And who said anything about hating anybody? I don't even know where you're going with that.

[Trump Is A Maoist]

Unfortunately for you, poor people often do understand exactly how the world works.

Yes. The poorer people in my community and the homeless people I see at my job every day definitely know what's up. That's why they make sure to vote Conservative and keep copies of Atlas Shrugged in their shopping carts, next to their winter coats and canned foods. They curse Biden / Trudeau every chance they get, as do the voices in their heads.

[Vosem]

I don't think that someone who truly cares about their community would ever actually prefer equality to prosperity. Only someone deeply afraid of change who thinks the worst of others would want that. Empathy means actually putting yourself in another person's shoes and considering how their shoes could be better, not putting yourself in another person's shoes and considering who they should be spending their time hating.

I never advocated for "equality" (whatever that means in economic terms). I'm simply saying that the bottom rungs of the ladder aren't getting enough and the top rungs are getting too much. You said I was wrong, we disagree. Fine. And who said anything about hating anybody? I don't even know where you're going with that.

I think believing that someone who has helped others is 'getting too much' is basically hate and a call for violence, yes.

Unfortunately for you, poor people often do understand exactly how the world works.

Yes. The poorer people in my community and the homeless people I see at my job every day definitely know what's up. That's why they make sure to vote Conservative and keep copies of Atlas Shrugged in their shopping carts, next to their winter coats and canned foods. They curse Biden / Trudeau every chance they get, as do the voices in their heads.

IDK about Canada, but in America this is generally true both in my experience and in the actual electoral results that this website was founded to discuss, particularly if you control for race.

[Badger]

Jesus, even when I try to parody Vosem as an utterly heartless rangian fanatic with no connection to the realities of poverty, and he actually outdoes me

Well plates sir.

I might have to start using 'well plates'.

Have you ever met or spoken to someone who receives EBT? Have you ever wondered why communities that receive EBT support, like, Thomas Massie and Rand Paul? Unfortunately for you, poor people often do understand exactly how the world works.

If patriotism is the last Refuge of a scoundrel, i guess trying to make a joke about a voice text app error is the last Refuge of an ass.

Oh Vosem, you sweet summer child. Are you really that separated from the realities of American politics to understand that the reason such communities vote Republican have next to nothing to do with economics? Are you really even in your libertarian bubble of assuming everything the Invisible Hand of the market performs is completely rational, that issues of abortion, immigration, wokeness, religion, and general cultural and Timothy play far far more of a role in such voting in Kentucky then economics? I mean sh**t, even Thomas Massey almost lost in 2018!

Oh my god, if you really believe that Rand Paul and Thomas Massey's constituents are out there reading works from the Misses-Hayak caucus rather then just absorbing what Fox News and Facebook memes tell them, man you are even more clueless than I would have believed. Oh but wait. I almost forgot your other defining feature on Atlas isn't just being the poster child for FTW dystopian libertarianism, I IRC you adamantly utterly refuse to acknowledge that there's any history in the last few decades, let alone in present, of the Republican Party using racist dog whistles against blacks and hispanics. Put these two beliefs together and your cluelessness is doubled down and suddenly makes sense.

And yes, you self-righteous smug twit, I have had close friends go on public assistance thank you very much. Something I sincerely doubt you can say. Though If you can it hardly impacted you as a person.

[Trump Is A Maoist]

I think believing that someone who has helped others is 'getting too much' is basically hate and a call for violence, yes.

So... Bernie Sanders is a stochastic terrorist, trying to do to the oligarchs what Walsh and Carlson have been trying to do to the LGBTQ community?

[Vosem]

Jesus, even when I try to parody Vosem as an utterly heartless rangian fanatic with no connection to the realities of poverty, and he actually outdoes me

Well plates sir.

I might have to start using 'well plates'.

Have you ever met or spoken to someone who receives EBT? Have you ever wondered why communities that receive EBT support, like, Thomas Massie and Rand Paul? Unfortunately for you, poor people often do understand exactly how the world works.

If patriotism is the last Refuge of a scoundrel, i guess trying to make a joke about a voice text app error is the last Refuge of an ass.

Oh Vosem, you sweet summer child. Are you really that separated from the realities of American politics to understand that the reason such communities vote Republican have next to nothing to do with economics? Are you really even in your libertarian bubble of assuming everything the Invisible Hand of the market performs is completely rational, that issues of abortion, immigration, wokeness, religion, and general cultural and Timothy play far far more of a role in such voting in Kentucky then economics? I mean sh**t, even Thomas Massey almost lost in 2018!

He won 62%-35%.

Anyway, yes. These people vote in referendums consistently with ideas like this; it is poorer, not wealthier, areas, that even vote against Medicare expansion. I've had friends that are professionals at running campaigns in places like this, and have won. Poor people in the US blame government activity for their poverty. My understanding is that this is uncommon outside the US but spreading.

I know that you believe that these people are ignorant racist rubes. You do not have to remind us how low your opinion of American voters is, and that you know what policies would help them. In your wisdom you do not ever have to speak to, or meet, people to know what is good for them!

Oh my god, if you really believe that Rand Paul and Thomas Massey's constituents are out there reading works from the Misses-Hayak caucus rather then just absorbing what Fox News and Facebook memes tell them, man you are even more clueless than I would have believed. Oh but wait. I almost forgot your other defining feature on Atlas isn't just being the poster child for FTW dystopian libertarianism, I IRC you adamantly utterly refuse to acknowledge that there's any history in the last few decades, let alone in present, of the Republican Party using racist dog whistles against blacks and hispanics.

There is not! We have been over this many times. over multiple years. You need this to be true because you need there to be a reason which isn't the actual one, and you will strain your interpretations of every possible counterexample so that it fits your worldview. Every instance of a minority community which is assimilated enough moving rightwards, or minority politicians and celebrities being popular in "red" places, will be dismissed as irrelevant, and every gesture will be reinterpreted as evidence that you were right all along, first gradually and then suddenly.

Put these two beliefs together and your cluelessness is doubled down and suddenly makes sense.

And yes, you self-righteous smug twit, I have had close friends go on public assistance thank you very much. Something I sincerely doubt you can say. Though If you can it hardly impacted you as a person.

Of course I have friends on public assistance; I attended a public school in the United States and there were plenty of people who I am still in touch with who did not have good outcomes. (I have friends on public assistance who think public assistance should be abolished, though IME being super-unapologetic about this and not thinking it's hypocritical is unusual outside of the Russian-American community). I'm asking you if you have friends who aren't from the United States; if you have friends that don't speak English; if you have friends that have ever lived through a famine, or if you have ever even met anyone who has made their living through subsistence farming or pastoralism. My assumption is that you have not.

[Badger]

Jesus, even when I try to parody Vosem as an utterly heartless rangian fanatic with no connection to the realities of poverty, and he actually outdoes me

Well plates sir.

I might have to start using 'well plates'.

Have you ever met or spoken to someone who receives EBT? Have you ever wondered why communities that receive EBT support, like, Thomas Massie and Rand Paul? Unfortunately for you, poor people often do understand exactly how the world works.

If patriotism is the last Refuge of a scoundrel, i guess trying to make a joke about a voice text app error is the last Refuge of an ass.

Oh Vosem, you sweet summer child. Are you really that separated from the realities of American politics to understand that the reason such communities vote Republican have next to nothing to do with economics? Are you really even in your libertarian bubble of assuming everything the Invisible Hand of the market performs is completely rational, that issues of abortion, immigration, wokeness, religion, and general cultural and Timothy play far far more of a role in such voting in Kentucky then economics? I mean sh**t, even Thomas Massey almost lost in 2018!

He won 62%-35%.

Anyway, yes. These people vote in referendums consistently with ideas like this; it is poorer, not wealthier, areas, that even vote against Medicare expansion. I've had friends that are professionals at running campaigns in places like this, and have won. Poor people in the US blame government activity for their poverty. My understanding is that this is uncommon outside the US but spreading.

I know that you believe that these people are ignorant racist rubes. You do not have to remind us how low your opinion of American voters is, and that you know what policies would help them. In your wisdom you do not ever have to speak to, or meet, people to know what is good for them!

Oh my god, if you really believe that Rand Paul and Thomas Massey's constituents are out there reading works from the Misses-Hayak caucus rather then just absorbing what Fox News and Facebook memes tell them, man you are even more clueless than I would have believed. Oh but wait. I almost forgot your other defining feature on Atlas isn't just being the poster child for FTW dystopian libertarianism, I IRC you adamantly utterly refuse to acknowledge that there's any history in the last few decades, let alone in present, of the Republican Party using racist dog whistles against blacks and hispanics.

There is not! We have been over this many times. over multiple years. You need this to be true because you need there to be a reason which isn't the actual one, and you will strain your interpretations of every possible counterexample so that it fits your worldview. Every instance of a minority community which is assimilated enough moving rightwards, or minority politicians and celebrities being popular in "red" places, will be dismissed as irrelevant, and every gesture will be reinterpreted as evidence that you were right all along, first gradually and then suddenly.

Put these two beliefs together and your cluelessness is doubled down and suddenly makes sense.

And yes, you self-righteous smug twit, I have had close friends go on public assistance thank you very much. Something I sincerely doubt you can say. Though If you can it hardly impacted you as a person.

Of course I have friends on public assistance; I attended a public school in the United States and there were plenty of people who I am still in touch with who did not have good outcomes. (I have friends on public assistance who think public assistance should be abolished, though IME being super-unapologetic about this and not thinking it's hypocritical is unusual outside of the Russian-American community). I'm asking you if you have friends who aren't from the United States; if you have friends that don't speak English; if you have friends that have ever lived through a famine, or if you have ever even met anyone who has made their living through subsistence farming or pastoralism. My assumption is that you have not.

Why don't you put some more exclamation points on your assertion that there's no such thing as racial dog whistling by conservatives. Might make it more true.

Man, this is now two points on which you are utterly ridiculous.