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Cartaphilus

macrumors 6502a
Dec 24, 2007
581
65
1) Grandma could die after running a red light and getting t-boned by a semi. They have the same % chance of dying from Covid as getting t-boned.

2) Which omicron variant is deadily? In fact, which variant of SARS-Cov-2 has been deadily? The percentage dead is less than any other so called “pandemic” in history at less than 1%. It’s a cold virus. That’s what a Coronavirus is… And SARS-Cov-2 is a Coronavirus and gives people cold illness symptoms just like any other cold virus.

3) If vaccines worked, people who are vaccinated wouldn’t have to quarantine, even after being exposed. There’s no real evidence to suggest vaccines prevent more severe disease or hospitalization…. Except numbers written by the vaccine manufacturers themselves. There’s never been a vaccine for a cold virus (that’s what Covid 19 is) because they mutate quickly.

4) The fact that you put faith and trust in the government and what they say is hilarious.
There are some 8 billion people living on Earth, some 44% of whom have contracted some form or variant of Covid. That implies something in the range of 30 million people dead from Covid. To put that in comparison, WWII claimed the lives of some 70 million people, military and civilian combined. Unlike WWII, Covid is still counting.
 
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Dark_Omen

macrumors 6502
Jan 31, 2021
371
473
Um, how can you know whether people close around you are contagious or not?

Certainly if you are never within six feet or so from anyone who is contagious, a mask could be unnecessary; if you are surrounded with people in a closed area like a car, packed bus or plane, and those people are contagious, a decent mask used correctly will save you anywhere from feeling crummy for a few days to dying on a ventilator. Of course, if you yourself are contagious, it'd be nice if you stayed isolated, and if you can't, it'd be polite if you would avoid infecting another person with what you have by wearing a mask if you're going to be close to other people--or you could just make other people sick or dead.

If you buy a lousy mask, or if you don't follow the directions to use even one of the best, you'll still be at high risk of illness. If you have a physician ask him or her if masks have been proven to not work. If you're told that they don't work, you have a rotten doctor.

And by the way, all governments control their citizens--that's why we have governments--to defend those who can't defend themselves.
People can carry the cold, the flu, or any contagious germ without knowing it. The difference is, people never used to freak out over it like they do now. Not everyone that carries a cold virus has symptoms... It's been that way since viruses existed. There's this special trait your body has called an immune system and it's something we've used throughout entire human history... It takes the germs you've inhaled and creates defenses for it in the future. These vaccines help boost your immune response to SARS-Cov-2. If the world worked your way, our immune system would be pointless.

All governments have a responsibility to provide for their citizens, not control them. North Korea and China controls their citizens. The U.S Government on the other hand? It's ran by the citizens, so there's legal limitations on how far it can go to regulate the people. We don't want a government like North Korea or China here.
 
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Dark_Omen

macrumors 6502
Jan 31, 2021
371
473
There are some 8 billion people living on Earth, some 44% of whom have contracted some form or variant of Covid. That implies something in the range of 30 million people dead from Covid. To put that in comparison, WWII claimed the lives of some 70 million people, military and civilian combined. Unlike WWII, Covid is still counting.
Your comment makes little sense. 8 billion people, 44% contracted some form of Covid? Yet you count all of those as deaths? I guess I don't understand your logic here.

Are you sure only 44% of the world's population has contracted Covid? What about asymptomatic cases, are those factored in?
 
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GuruZac

macrumors 68040
Sep 9, 2015
3,599
11,488
⛰️🏕️🏔️
There are some 8 billion people living on Earth, some 44% of whom have contracted some form or variant of Covid. That implies something in the range of 30 million people dead from Covid. To put that in comparison, WWII claimed the lives of some 70 million people, military and civilian combined. Unlike WWII, Covid is still counting.
There is no where near 30 million dead from COVID. I assume you weren’t stating that as a fact. There’s been close to 6.5 million deaths total that have been reported. If we assume the reported positive cases to be roughly 586,000,000 (according to the latest statistics I have seen) that would make a mortality rate of 1.1% which is far higher than other coronaviruses that cause common cold etc. (but far lower than SARS-CoV1 and MERS). The problem with those numbers, however, is the actual number of positive cases is most certainly much much higher as many people will not test and if they do test positive (at home kits come to mind) how many will report? I believe the real numbers are much higher and that the mortality is much lower overall.

With that said, my brother is a critical care doc, and he took care of many people of the course of the last 2 years in the ICU. For much of that time, the unvaccinated were the only ones getting intubated. Especially when it was Delta circulating. However, this is an indictment of the average health status of many Americans. They’re fat, morbid, and seriously metabolically ill. That‘s a recipe for severe disease. I don’t downplay the seriousness of the virus for some demographics, however, I also believe the endless masking, lockdowns, social distancing measures do nothing but prolong the inevitable. And I absolutely believe many of those in power have used COVID for personal and political gain. On both sides of the political spectrum. Which has been muddied by a totally incompetent and dishonest approach by Fauci.
 

Dark_Omen

macrumors 6502
Jan 31, 2021
371
473
There is no where near 30 million dead from COVID. I assume you weren’t stating that as a fact. There’s been close to 6.5 million deaths total that have been reported. If we assume the reported positive cases to be roughly 586,000,000 (according to the latest statistics I have seen) that would make a mortality rate of 1.1% which is far higher than other coronaviruses that cause common cold etc. (but far lower than SARS-CoV1 and MERS). The problem with those numbers, however, is the actual number of positive cases is most certainly much much higher as many people will not test and if they do test positive (at home kits come to mind) how many will report? I believe the real numbers are much higher and that the mortality is much lower overall.

With that said, my brother is a critical care doc, and he took care of many people of the course of the last 2 years in the ICU. For much of that time, the unvaccinated were the only ones getting intubated. Especially when it was Delta circulating. However, this is an indictment of the average health status of many Americans. They’re fat, morbid, and seriously metabolically ill. That‘s a recipe for severe disease. I don’t downplay the seriousness of the virus for some demographics, however, I also believe the endless masking, lockdowns, social distancing measures do nothing but prolong the inevitable. And I absolutely believe many of those in power have used COVID for personal and political gain. On both sides of the political spectrum. Which has been muddied by a totally incompetent and dishonest approach by Fauci.
Not only are the number of cases much higher due to asymptomatic, but the severity of each variant is different. The number of cases and death % are heavily influenced by the original strain. The death rate of Omicron is probably much, much lower than 1%.
 

Razorpit

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2021
1,081
2,242
I didn’t leave Naomi Wolf out. She’s a disgraced anti-vaxxer. They all are. They’ve all never made a correct statement on the topic. And anything they write is only to say “vax bad” without contributing anything to the discussion.

Who I didn’t mention was Jenny McCarthy… now I am. They are as intelligible on the topic as she is, which is to say not at all.

There’s no death from any modern vaccine. Being anti-vax is being a cheerleader of death, though. Bravo.

I trust that someone in government has a brain,
And there's your problem.
 

BuffaloTF

macrumors 68000
Jun 10, 2008
1,771
2,234
And there's your problem.
Not a problem. Trusting someone that’s consistently wrong is a problem though. Like I said. You’ve been duped. Conned. Swindled. Banboozled. And it appears it was easy to do. Might be time for some self reflection on why it was so easy, but first it’s time to admit you’ve been taken advantage of.
 

Razorpit

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2021
1,081
2,242
Not a problem. Trusting someone that’s consistently wrong is a problem though. Like I said. You’ve been duped. Conned. Swindled. Banboozled. And it appears it was easy to do. Might be time for some self reflection on why it was so easy, but first it’s time to admit you’ve been taken advantage of.
🤣 Please give an example.
 

Cartaphilus

macrumors 6502a
Dec 24, 2007
581
65
ePeople can carry the cold, the flu, or any contagious germ without knowing it. The difference is, people never used to freak out over it like they do now. Not everyone that carries a cold virus has symptoms... It's been that way since viruses existed. There's this special trait your body has called an immune system and it's something we've used throughout entire human history... It takes the germs you've inhaled and creates defenses for it in the future. These vaccines help boost your immune response to SARS-Cov-2. If the world worked your way, our immune system would be pointless.

All governments have a responsibility to provide for their citizens, not control them. North Korea and China controls their citizens. The U.S Government on the other hand? It's ran by the citizens, so there's legal limitations on how far it can go to regulate the people. We don't want a government like North Korea or China here.
I don't agree. Since George Washington required smallpox inoculation it has been clear that the government has the right to require its citizens to be inoculated. Polio, the Spanish Flu, and other serious transmittable diseases have all required that citizens take vaccines and otherwise protect themselves and those around them.

Providing inoculations can't be effective without requiring the population to take the necessary measures to avoid the spread of disease. To date, 15 million people worldwide have died of COVID 19 alone. While first-world countries have capabilities to provide effective vaccines and along with masks and isolation, poorer and more crowded countries struggle, even with contributions from wealthier countries and non-profits. The family of diseases we are dealing with are viruses, and one of the more dangerous aspects of viruses is their ability to effect changes that too often create even more dangerous viruses. The longer people think that their government is not on their side, the more people will get sick and die.

The people of the United States are entitled to insist that their government provides well-substantiated information and to protect them from those who, either from ignorance, maliciousness, or self-agrandissement would lead them down a dangerous path.
 

Dark_Omen

macrumors 6502
Jan 31, 2021
371
473
I don't agree. Since George Washington required smallpox inoculation it has been clear that the government has the right to require its citizens to be inoculated. Polio, the Spanish Flu, and other serious transmittable diseases have all required that citizens take vaccines and otherwise protect themselves and those around them.

Providing inoculations can't be effective without requiring the population to take the necessary measures to avoid the spread of disease. To date, 15 million people worldwide have died of COVID 19 alone. While first-world countries have capabilities to provide effective vaccines and along with masks and isolation, poorer and more crowded countries struggle, even with contributions from wealthier countries and non-profits. The family of diseases we are dealing with are viruses, and one of the more dangerous aspects of viruses is their ability to effect changes that too often create even more dangerous viruses. The longer people think that their government is not on their side, the more people will get sick and die.

The people of the United States are entitled to insist that their government provides well-substantiated information and to protect them from those who, either from ignorance, maliciousness, or self-agrandissement would lead them down a dangerous path.
You're comparing viruses that don't mutate quickly compared to a cold virus. Never in human history have we been required to take a vaccine for a cold virus because they don't work that well due to mutations, just like you're not required to take a vaccine for the flu (it's optional and a crapshoot to what actual variants are out there). I'm not saying I'm against vaccines... I'm vaccinated and boosted... And will take another booster in the fall, but let's not pretend a SARS vaccine is the reason why the pandemic has died down.

There's been 6.41 million deaths worldwide (not 15) and 582 million or more cases, which is a 1.1% fatality rate (and likely lower due to asymptomatic and unreported cases). 1.35 million people are killed in car accidents worldwide each year... Should we stop letting people drive cars too?

Here's a note from the CDC:

"Most people get colds in the winter and spring, but it is possible to get a cold any time of the year. Symptoms usually include sore throat, runny nose, coughing, sneezing, headaches, and body aches. Most people recover within about 7-10 days. However, people with weakened immune systems, asthma, or conditions that affect the lungs and breathing passages may develop serious illness, such as pneumonia. Common colds are the main reason that children miss school and adults miss work. Each year in the United States, millions of people get the common cold. Adults have an average of 2-3 colds per year, and children have even more."

Does that sound like Covid-19? Because that's exactly what Covid-19 is. You're never going to stop it completely and shouldn't go way out of your way to wear a mask just because the media and the government inflame every issue these days.
 
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I7guy

macrumors Nehalem
Nov 30, 2013
34,303
24,032
Gotta be in it to win it
[...]

Does that sound like Covid-19? Because that's exactly what Covid-19 is. You're never going to stop it completely and shouldn't go way out of your way to wear a mask just because the media and the government inflame every issue these days.
I'm going to wager that those who have died due to complications from covid-19 have had at least one cold or one case of flu in their lifetimes prior to getting covid. (of course I can't prove it, but show me someone who has never been sick with a cold or flu) For me a mask will be a permanent part of what I wear, in certain situations, for the foreseeable future.
 

Cartaphilus

macrumors 6502a
Dec 24, 2007
581
65
Your comment makes little sense. 8 billion people, 44% contracted some form of Covid? Yet you count all of those as deaths? I guess I don't understand your logic here.

Are you sure only 44% of the world's population has contracted Covid? What about asymptomatic cases, are those factored in?
You had suggested that less than 1% of those who contracted Covid would die. 44% of 8 billion is 3.5 billion. 1% of 3.5 billion is 350 million. In fact, however, WHO reports world-wide deaths at just under 6.5 million with the caveat that certain areas of the world have not been reported. That's pretty close to the population of Indiana.

The point is that simply ignoring Covid and its variants would be a disaster, and it's worthwhile to take vaccines and mask up.
 

PinkyMacGodess

Suspended
Mar 7, 2007
10,271
6,226
Midwest America.
And there's your problem.

So republicans will spend hundreds of millions of dollars, EACH, to get elected to national office to prove their mantra that government doesn't work, am I right? They seem to be doing everything they can to damage our government, from bungling the pandemic to refusing to do anything to support the country.

Government is not the problem, it's the quality of the people that are elected to it and the people that back them that are the real problem. They want a full on authoritarian government (Hungary, and Viktor Orbán with a side of brutal theocracy). One that controls every facet of our lives, and distorts the truth to cover their reckless disregard for human life, and appoints itself to be rulers for life, extremely hard to remove, or change.

I don't think many people would look back at the Dark Ages and the Aristocracy with fond thoughts, but that seems ever more likely with a minority of this country. It's sad that so many people are being mislead at where they want to take the country, and people should know where they will be if this nightmare comes to fruition. Human life has little value in a totalitarian government.
 

Razorpit

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2021
1,081
2,242
So republicans will spend hundreds of millions of dollars, EACH, to get elected to national office to prove their mantra that government doesn't work, am I right? They seem to be doing everything they can to damage our government, from bungling the pandemic to refusing to do anything to support the country.

Government is not the problem, it's the quality of the people that are elected to it and the people that back them that are the real problem. They want a full on authoritarian government (Hungary, and Viktor Orbán with a side of brutal theocracy). One that controls every facet of our lives, and distorts the truth to cover their reckless disregard for human life, and appoints itself to be rulers for life, extremely hard to remove, or change.

I don't think many people would look back at the Dark Ages and the Aristocracy with fond thoughts, but that seems ever more likely with a minority of this country. It's sad that so many people are being mislead at where they want to take the country, and people should know where they will be if this nightmare comes to fruition. Human life has little value in a totalitarian government.
I didn’t mention a party.

I’m guessing you won’t like who said it, but he was 100% right.
 

Dark_Omen

macrumors 6502
Jan 31, 2021
371
473
You had suggested that less than 1% of those who contracted Covid would die. 44% of 8 billion is 3.5 billion. 1% of 3.5 billion is 350 million. In fact, however, WHO reports world-wide deaths at just under 6.5 million with the caveat that certain areas of the world have not been reported. That's pretty close to the population of Indiana.

The point is that simply ignoring Covid and its variants would be a disaster, and it's worthwhile to take vaccines and mask up.
So in other words, you squash your own argument by stating the current rate is 1%
So republicans will spend hundreds of millions of dollars, EACH, to get elected to national office to prove their mantra that government doesn't work, am I right? They seem to be doing everything they can to damage our government, from bungling the pandemic to refusing to do anything to support the country.

Government is not the problem, it's the quality of the people that are elected to it and the people that back them that are the real problem. They want a full on authoritarian government (Hungary, and Viktor Orbán with a side of brutal theocracy). One that controls every facet of our lives, and distorts the truth to cover their reckless disregard for human life, and appoints itself to be rulers for life, extremely hard to remove, or change.

I don't think many people would look back at the Dark Ages and the Aristocracy with fond thoughts, but that seems ever more likely with a minority of this country. It's sad that so many people are being mislead at where they want to take the country, and people should know where they will be if this nightmare comes to fruition. Human life has little value in a totalitarian government.
and the Dems want to spend money the government doesn’t have when inflation is through the roof. What happens when you print more money? More inflation… But that’s the politician’s apparently don’t understand.
 

PinkyMacGodess

Suspended
Mar 7, 2007
10,271
6,226
Midwest America.
I didn’t mention a party.

I’m guessing you won’t like who said it, but he was 100% right.

Yet one of Reagan's best quotes was "Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives".

I think that was before his dementia kicked in and he lost all sense of what he was, and the power that he had. Dark forces controlled much of his tenure as president due to his disease. He slept through cabinet meetings. Using him to defend the end of American Western Democracy is weak.

As his terms progressed, and his disease too, he also said a lot of things about the mixing of government and religion.

Government is not religion, and religion is not government. The melding of the two was what the founding fathers experienced first hand and sought to specifically forbid. That is the reason why the 'establishment clause' was in the very first amendment, right after the part where people should not be punished for calling their leaders crooks, liars, incompetent and criminals. Religious 'leaders' sought to prove that their god would save people from the coming 'end times'. The pandemic played large in a lot of that quackery.

Government malfeasance played a huge role in the United States, with a low percentage of population compared to the world, having a larger amount of people that died from the virus, and continue to die.

I am ashamed that so many have bought into the idea that the pandemic is over. It's entirely possible that it's only just begun. And Reagan was a figurehead for the government that gave us Iran/Contra, and so many other crimes that were dramatically under-investigated and under-prosecuted.
 

PinkyMacGodess

Suspended
Mar 7, 2007
10,271
6,226
Midwest America.
So in other words, you squash your own argument by stating the current rate is 1%

and the Dems want to spend money the government doesn’t have when inflation is through the roof. What happens when you print more money? More inflation… But that’s the politician’s apparently don’t understand.

So claw back the trump tax breaks!

In the past, the tax rate on the 'rich' was over 80%. It's now somewhere around 20%.

Beware of ANY politician saying they want to cut your taxes if they win the elections. Beware of any politician claiming to back a 'flat tax'. You paying more does not make up for the really insanely rich paying a hell of a lot less.

If the 'flat tax' is passed at 20%, then everyone will pay, let's say 20%. People that make $15,000 a year will pay 20%, and the people making billions will pay 20%.

So 20% of $15,000 is $3,000. 20% of $1.5 billion is $300,000,000. Current taxes are for $15,000 -> 0. For $1,5 billion, around 45%, so they will pay $675,000,000. If I made 1.5 billion dollars a year, I'd love for someone to cut my taxes by over 50%. The poor will pay more, and yet not enough to support the MILLIONS showered on the very rich, so tax cuts DO NOT PAY FOR THEMSELVES, and the government ends up bankrupt, busted, and easy picking for any foreign country.
 

TheMacDaddy1

macrumors 6502a
Aug 17, 2016
812
1,493
Merica!
Positive cases don’t and have never mattered. What has always mattered were hospitalizations, and at our hospital system and my brother’s in a different state, they aren’t seeing any hospitalizations due to COVID. People are incidentally testing positive. Most are mildly or completely asymptomatic.
I work at a company in the Midwest, with just over 5000 employees. We had zero deaths, a few in the hospital in 2020 and those people you could have predicted. Despite vaxing basically company wide, multiple times, probably 98% of us have had it.

It’s a cold for most people and we got rid of masking the moment the county stopped enforcing it. Most simply ignored it.

We NEED to stop letting this thing control us. The debt the US incurred from this is simply staggering.

Get in shape, stay in shape, eat well and LIVE your life.
 

PinkyMacGodess

Suspended
Mar 7, 2007
10,271
6,226
Midwest America.
I work at a company in the Midwest, with just over 5000 employees. We had zero deaths, a few in the hospital in 2020 and those people you could have predicted. Despite vaxing basically company wide, multiple times, probably 98% of us have had it.

It’s a cold for most people and we got rid of masking the moment the county stopped enforcing it. Most simply ignored it.

We NEED to stop letting this thing control us. The debt the US incurred from this is simply staggering.

Get in shape, stay in shape, eat well and LIVE your life.

All nice talk, but the virus isn't done. There are variants that heven't hit humans that have been found in sewage in New York. Variants that if they were released on the population could be a huge hit for people, massive deaths. It is entirely possible that the worst is yet to come. Another variant could be the 'third wave' and wipe out billions of people. China knows this. I wonder if they have found a more deadly variant that has caused them to appear to overreact. The first waves of the 1918 flu were easy, but the last wave was devastating. We can't be lulled into a point of not caring. We will pay for dismissing the virus, and it could be beyond epic. I feel that the worst is yet to come. Heck, who thought that Monkey Pox would be a thing. Who thought that Polio would do active in this country. We need to be vigilant, we need to be prepared to lockdown yet again. The virus doesn't care about economies, and lives. It cares about spreading and mutating.

At least keep that in mind.
 

gwhizkids

macrumors G4
Jun 21, 2013
11,717
18,447
All nice talk, but the virus isn't done. There are variants that heven't hit humans that have been found in sewage in New York. Variants that if they were released on the population could be a huge hit for people, massive deaths. It is entirely possible that the worst is yet to come. Another variant could be the 'third wave' and wipe out billions of people. China knows this. I wonder if they have found a more deadly variant that has caused them to appear to overreact. The first waves of the 1918 flu were easy, but the last wave was devastating. We can't be lulled into a point of not caring. We will pay for dismissing the virus, and it could be beyond epic. I feel that the worst is yet to come. Heck, who thought that Monkey Pox would be a thing. Who thought that Polio would do active in this country. We need to be vigilant, we need to be prepared to lockdown yet again. The virus doesn't care about economies, and lives. It cares about spreading and mutating.

At least keep that in mind.

No. We need to move on. All the fearmongering needs to stop. This is not 1918.
 

Razorpit

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2021
1,081
2,242
Yet one of Reagan's best quotes was "Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives".

I think that was before his dementia kicked in and he lost all sense of what he was, and the power that he had. Dark forces controlled much of his tenure as president due to his disease. He slept through cabinet meetings.
You think his dementia was bad, wait until you learn about Biden and how his administration kept the country shut down for the flu. 😂
 

Razorpit

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2021
1,081
2,242
All nice talk, but the virus isn't done. There are variants that heven't hit humans that have been found in sewage in New York. Variants that if they were released on the population could be a huge hit for people, massive deaths. It is entirely possible that the worst is yet to come. Another variant could be the 'third wave' and wipe out billions of people. China knows this. I wonder if they have found a more deadly variant that has caused them to appear to overreact. The first waves of the 1918 flu were easy, but the last wave was devastating. We can't be lulled into a point of not caring. We will pay for dismissing the virus, and it could be beyond epic. I feel that the worst is yet to come. Heck, who thought that Monkey Pox would be a thing. Who thought that Polio would do active in this country. We need to be vigilant, we need to be prepared to lockdown yet again. The virus doesn't care about economies, and lives. It cares about spreading and mutating.

At least keep that in mind.
😂 You can find anything in NYC sewers.

And are you referring to the same China that had videos of people falling down dead in the middle of the street back in December 2019? You don’t want to take anything they say or do too seriously. They have a tendency to lie about stuff like this.
 

Dark_Omen

macrumors 6502
Jan 31, 2021
371
473
So claw back the trump tax breaks!

In the past, the tax rate on the 'rich' was over 80%. It's now somewhere around 20%.

Beware of ANY politician saying they want to cut your taxes if they win the elections. Beware of any politician claiming to back a 'flat tax'. You paying more does not make up for the really insanely rich paying a hell of a lot less.

If the 'flat tax' is passed at 20%, then everyone will pay, let's say 20%. People that make $15,000 a year will pay 20%, and the people making billions will pay 20%.

So 20% of $15,000 is $3,000. 20% of $1.5 billion is $300,000,000. Current taxes are for $15,000 -> 0. For $1,5 billion, around 45%, so they will pay $675,000,000. If I made 1.5 billion dollars a year, I'd love for someone to cut my taxes by over 50%. The poor will pay more, and yet not enough to support the MILLIONS showered on the very rich, so tax cuts DO NOT PAY FOR THEMSELVES, and the government ends up bankrupt, busted, and easy picking for any foreign country.
Doesn't matter. Increase the tax on the rich and they'll just squash the middle and lower class even more with higher prices and moving more jobs overseas. I mean these people didn't get rich because they're stupid. A country doesn't really have a Capitalist economy if taxes are high. Where else in the world is a tax on the rich at 80%? Even the richest Australians pay 44% of their income in taxes, and the Australian government does a lot more for their people than the U.S Government does.

Gas taxes are a great example of how taxes cripple the economy. Since the government likes to stick their paws in every source of income, gas prices are increased by not only local, but also state and federal governments. When all said and done, I could save about $10 a fill up if it weren't for gas taxes. It doesn't end there, though. Sales tax is a fraud since you're being taxed on income you've already been taxed on by another 8% or so. When you utilize cable and a cell phone, the government has to add multiple taxes to those bills. Don't nickel and dime people in taxes and they wouldn't be so poor. I understand there needs to be money to pay for roads and such, but that's what income and property tax are for. Together, every government in this country collects a total of some $5.3 trillion each year... You can't budget that properly and not spend more than you have?

The poor don't pay any taxes except sales tax and an extremely small amount of property tax since their property is often not worth that much, or they rent. Income tax is taken out when they're paid and basically reimbursed in full with EIC's and childcare credits come tax time. These people also get tax money towards their college education, food stamps, and significant help with health insurance that the middle class doesn't get. When all said and done, the poor not only don't pay taxes, but they bleed the system dry. Either the entitlements need to be cut, or the lower class needs to pay higher taxes.

You can't school me on economy and politics... I went to school for this stuff.
 

JoeShades

macrumors 68000
Sep 1, 2010
1,553
798
Williamstown, NJ
All nice talk, but the virus isn't done. There are variants that heven't hit humans that have been found in sewage in New York. Variants that if they were released on the population could be a huge hit for people, massive deaths. It is entirely possible that the worst is yet to come. Another variant could be the 'third wave' and wipe out billions of people. China knows this. I wonder if they have found a more deadly variant that has caused them to appear to overreact. The first waves of the 1918 flu were easy, but the last wave was devastating. We can't be lulled into a point of not caring. We will pay for dismissing the virus, and it could be beyond epic. I feel that the worst is yet to come. Heck, who thought that Monkey Pox would be a thing. Who thought that Polio would do active in this country. We need to be vigilant, we need to be prepared to lockdown yet again. The virus doesn't care about economies, and lives. It cares about spreading and mutating.

At least keep that in mind.
This is complete nonsense
 
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