microphone900

joined 1 year ago
[–] microphone900@lemmy.ml 10 points 11 hours ago

For companies in Springfield and in nearby communities that depend on Haitian labor, Trump’s comments could prove damaging. The Haitians who filled thousands of jobs at area packaging and auto plants have helped rejuvenate once-blighted neighborhoods and contributed to the local economy in myriad ways.

...

“I pay thousands of dollars in income and property taxes every year,” said Payen, “and – because I work with Haitians to file their taxes – I see their W-2s and so on. If these people leave, that money is gone from the city and the local economy.”

Looks like the city is gonna get rusty and decay again. I wish Haitians the best of luck in finding new homes, jobs, and starting new businesses elsewhere.

[–] microphone900@lemmy.ml 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Pike allegedly reached for an object on the nightstand while still holding Destinii, when an officer shot the baby in the head and grazed Pike’s neck with the first shot

Greenfield said Pike didn’t have a knife in her hand in the closet, but thinks she may have reached for a knife when the first shot was fired. Pike allegedly attempted to get off the bed. Then a second shot was fired at her, Greenfield said.

[–] microphone900@lemmy.ml 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Specifically about veterans' healthcare: Veterans surveyed supported Trump 61% to 37% Harris with 2% undecided. And it's not like the plan to screw up VA benefits was hidden, it was there in Project 2025.

[–] microphone900@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not once did I see the descriptor "Hamas run." It's about goddamn time Western media started moving away from that to cast aspersions on the truthfulness of Gazan government statements.

Also,

A UN report this week said that nearly 70% of the people killed in the war in Gaza have been women and children.

[–] microphone900@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

They'll just make a whole lot of stuff illegal, selectively enforce those laws, and BOOM increase the prison slave population. Hell, the South did it after the Civil War to get it's slave labor back, how hard would it be to do nationwide now.

[–] microphone900@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 weeks ago

Not quite. From what I've been able to gather, housing in the postwar era was made fast and cheap to ensure everyone could have a place in the immediate aftermath of the devastation. Then, in the sixties, they came up with better building standards, more regulations, and evaluated the lifespan of typical housing. I don't remember the exact number, but they determined a conservative lifespan to be like 20-30 years. With this in mind, they started to constantly update building codes to make new construction safer and more resilient to natural disasters. So, what would end up happening is old homes stay cheap because not many people want to buy at the end of its life, and it's less expensive to build new to modern standards than rehabbing an old home. Side note: recently the old estimated lifespan was re-evaluated and they determined that housing lasts, again I don't remember the exact number, closer to 50 years.

Now, while all this is happening they have a different relationship to zoning than, say, America. What's in America? It's mostly single use zoning. They have a lot more mixed use zoning that allows for building housing where it would be illegal in America like commercial zones or light industrial zones. Side note: America used to build like that too until suburbs were invented and pushed as THE solution to housing people in our postwar era. Think of the older parts of towns with stores on the ground level and housing being 1-4 floors above them. With this freedom to build, they have built way more housing than is actually needed and in places people want to live.

The last point, which was already mentioned above, is that they don't view housing as an investment. It's a place where you raise your family, you store your belongings, and sleep. You don't buy a home with the idea of selling it to make a ton of money in a few years or even decades. With that, there's no incentive to buy up housing and leave it sitting empty for the right time to maximize the investment. It's sort of like we view cars. Cars don't typically increase in value, and the ones that do it's because they're rare, beautiful, or historic. MFers are out here trying to sell the housing equivalent of an '80s Ford Fiesta at 2024 fully loaded Toyota Camry or even Mercedes S Class prices.

Summary: Housing has a shorter lifespan, can be built almost anywhere through more mixed zoning, and it isn't an investment, it's just a place to live.

[–] microphone900@lemmy.ml 10 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Here's a fun thing that happened at the state level when Republicans cut taxes.

The Kansas Experiment

Essentially, the Republican dominated state government in Kansas significantly cut taxes, the 'expected' increase in revenue didn't materialize, the quality and quantity of public services decreased, the state's credit rating went down, and everyone got mad. After a few years, the governor was voted out of office and Republicans 'saw the light' and put the old taxes back in place. What's wild is there are still conservatives who look at that and say 'Well, you guys didn't do it right. I still think it's a good idea.' If it were up to me, we'd go back to the tax levels we had when that antifa commie Marxist-Leninist far left extremist Eisenhower was in office.

Marginal Tax Rate on Regular Income over $400,000: 92% - 91%

Maximum Tax Rate on Long-Term Capital Gains: 25%

Romney's Approx. Tax Bill: $5,250,000

During the administration of Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a 92 percent marginal income tax rate for top earners in the United States remained from the previous administration of Harry S. Truman. At the time, the highest tax bracket was for income over $400,000.

This was nearly the highest tax rate for top earners in the century, just under the 94 percent rate for income over $200,000 instated during World War II under Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency.

In 1954, the 92 percent marginal rate decreased to 91 percent under Eisenhower. The maximum tax on long-term capital gains was 25 percent -- a rate that remained in place for a decade.

And-

Eisenhower explained it this way: The super rich could avoid the high taxes by investing their money in things that make America stronger. If they wanted to avoid high taxes, he said they could invest in business expansions and higher employee wages. They could give a million or two to tax-exempt non-profits that feed, house and clothe poor people of America, among other things.

[–] microphone900@lemmy.ml 23 points 3 weeks ago

Go Japan! Hell yeah!

[–] microphone900@lemmy.ml 62 points 3 weeks ago

Tally Gotliv, a Likud MP, told MEE: “We need to occupy the complete land of Israel. There are no innocent people in Gaza. Everybody who has refused to leave the north is a collaborator.”

Monday's event took place against the backdrop of an escalating military assault on northern Gaza where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remained trapped and subjected to daily air strikes.

The assault came amid reports from Israel that the military has started to implement a strategy known as “the Generals’ Plan” which called for the ethnic cleansing of the north of the territory, and condemnation by aid groups who warned last week that northern Gaza is being “erased”.

This is their plan. They're doing it right now. I can't imagine how folks will deny this, I guess they'll move onto justify.

[–] microphone900@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I think sentiment is changing. Recently I'm noticing more US mainstream media using language like

Since Israel launched its devastating retaliation for the Hamas-led attack just over a year ago

It's a small thing, it's better than the softer language they would normally use. But, damn, it's not enough.

[–] microphone900@lemmy.ml 25 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

How naive of me to think "That can't be a real article. Surely they wouldn't publish themselves saying they crushed living and dead people by the hundreds with an armored bulldozer. They must know how abhorrent, insane, and shocking that sounds. Right?"

No. Of course the worst excesses of violence which had never crossed my mind are being done by the IDF. I'm... I have no words.

[–] microphone900@lemmy.ml 4 points 4 weeks ago

This isn't exactly what the previous comment was talking about, but it's similar. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/14/alabama-immigration-law-workers and there's something similar going on Florida too https://www.npr.org/2024/04/26/1242236604/florida-economy-immigration-businesses-workers-undocumented

These are my go-to articles anytime the subject of undocumented workers comes up. Personally, I think we would go back to the old model. If I remember correctly, the 1930s was when immigration started to be severely restricted; but, before that, temporary workers would come up for a season of employment and then go back home. All of it was done legally. It wasn't until immigration restrictions were enacted that there was an incentive to stay and move their families into the US.

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