Quote (SBD @ Feb 1 2024 09:31am)

Your surrounding may also dictate. I live in a place of 78% unemployment, meanwhile there's tons of job vacancies but why work when you get a home for nominal $48 dollars per month rent, child tax payments, social security. You have all your major needs take care off and never have to work a day in your life.

I paid over 100K in taxes this year because I get up everyday and go to something I don't really even like so they can sit at home, perfectly sound fit people.

Am I for the abolishment of social security, social housing, child tax, etc. No. I am for the re-organization of its administration though, there's no enforcement for abuse, this includes EI, there's no structure forcing these people to act and eventually move away from those safety nets, its just here's your monthly money and a roof over your head , compliments of the guy who goes to work.

Quote (Jupe @ Feb 1 2024 09:31am)

I would gladly take glee in the suffering of free-riders

Quote (Thor123422 @ Feb 1 2024 09:32am)

The reason humanity isn't gonna make it in the very long term is our inability to see very basic things beyond ourselves. Time and time again it's shown that people will pick the worse path for society as long as they aren't hurt as much as their neighbors. Being higher on the pole than others is prioritized even if the pole as a whole got lower.

Quote (Handcuffs @ Feb 1 2024 10:40am)

There's surely conversations to be had about how taxation and social programs are administered, no doubt. I'm just speaking to the folks who oppose taxation as a whole.



I'd make sure some of my taxes go towards you getting to enjoy some anime, gamer.



Staunch Libertarians have such an optimistic view of human behavior, bordering on the delusional.

Quote (Handcuffs @ Feb 1 2024 11:40am)

Staunch Libertarians have such an optimistic view of human behavior, bordering on the delusional.

Quote (SBD @ Feb 1 2024 09:45am)

Actually if you make close to the median income in the country , Ontario and BC and all three territories are cheaper from a provincial tax perspective, you do save on GST/HST.

At 50K for instance you're looking at around 15.91% average tax rate in berta while BC you're looking at 14.14, Ont. 14.09, etc.

Alberta only starts to be come cheaper from a income tax level once you start surpassing the 150K annual taxable income mark.

Really its housing in Alberta that is attractive. You can live close to Calgary, just outside Edmonton, hell even in Edmonton for sub 50% of what it would cost to live in the GTA, Vancouver, etc.

The same Alberta property in Rocky Mountain View would cost 30% more on the BC side if not more since the typical Alberta properties down in that area are multi-acre properties. Granted you're that much closer to a ski-hill and that type of mountain lifestyle on the BC side vs driving an extra 40mins to an hour.

I tell most young individuals who still want to live by a city to get out of the GTA and try Edmonton or Calgary where you can easily afford a starter home.

Quote (SwamiVivekananda @ Feb 1 2024 07:17am)

My dads worked for the Chicago Tribune newspaper for over 35+ years. On the press line with a hardhat and ear plugs. He literally used ONE sick day in all that time.

In all that time he was never given an HONEST wage bump and never bitched ONCE. He joined the Tribune in the 80's before I was born(I'm 34).

When the Tribune got bought out they started laying off massive amounts of people and after 30 years doing the same shift(3:30am-1:30pm) they tossed him to the nightshift and it totally has AGED my dad 10 years. Treated my dad like shit.

My dads been dealing with depression because he knows his pension is in jeopardy and the company is doing anything to try and find an excuse to fire him or give him a severance package.

My mom is telling my dad he needs to get a new job after he technically retires soon.

That is the definition of wage slavery and mental slavery. My dad would tell you that bud.

In the 1950's post WW2 every person basically made the same wage(except doctors/lawyers) and they were able to raise a family of 5+ have a house and only 1 person had to work full time. The value of the dollar since then cratered.

I worked blue collar jobs too bud. In fact from the age of 14-25 me and a friend managed to build a relatively large lawn maintenance business which we later ended up selling to a larger landscaping company.

We worked 8 months out of the year and easily 60-80 hours a week cutting grass only. We didn't pay a DIME in taxes. Got paid cash/check only and would always put less then 10k into the bank at once. Uncle Sam didn't know a thing. I was able to buy a car/condo outright and pay for my associates degree(which I never used) and then join a philosophical organization and traveled around the world from temple to temple and got to see and experience some amazing things.

Because I never paid taxes I was basically able to retire(stop working for going on 7-8 years now) because Uncle Sam didn't get 50% of my money he got ZERO. Now this year I'm restarting a lawn maintenance business with my godson(he's 10) and I will repeat the same process because it will be years before we have even 100$ clients and the amount of money will be minimal and go right under Uncle Sam and the IRS's nose.

The only reason I made the slavery comparison was because a friend of mine(African American) was joking how he'd rather be on the cotton field again because at least they'd pay for his housing/food/water/etc. and basically his standard of living would be better because he wouldn't be mentally stressed out of his mind. He works for Target corporate and makes 150k a year. Says he's a slave to the system all the time. Got an uncle whose a pipefitter in the union and he makes 250k. Calls himself a slave too.

Sorry if I hit a string buddy. My dad probably won't live to see his pension because they worked him like a dog for 35+ years. That bothers me bud.

edit: Almost every man I know who worked a blue collar job for that amount of time basically died right after they retired. Most didn't make it to the age of 65 or whatever age it is to start collecting social security.

Here the same story a few times a year. So and So a blue collar millionaire DEAD before he could even enjoy the wealth that took him a life time to save for.

edit2: Why would anyone fucking think that somehow our generations are going to be better off? The baby boomers were the last generation to have some opportunity to own their own home and so many other things.

Quote (Tear @ Feb 1 2024 01:36pm)

true, it also helps that almost every profession out here makes more in berta than elsewhere, at least starting.
or you can go and work some manual labour and net 150k a year without even trying.

and not to also mention, connections out here make drastically better out comes, you can fall into positions out here so easy just by making good connections and networking.

Quote (ChocolateCoveredGummyBears @ 1 Feb 2024 15:13)

not a string man, just logic. it's a comparison that undermines what happened during slavery when the comparison falls flat. your dad wasn't forced to work somewhere for 35 years, respectfully.

also, back then pensions were insanely good relative to now. nowadays the private sector doesn't even get them (or extremely rare), and the gov ones are gimped af vs what they used to be. a pension or lack of one has no basis in making a comparison to working at amazon as "slave labor"

Quote (Bazi @ Feb 1 2024 09:15am)

What you mean sir

Quote (Santara @ Feb 1 2024 05:57pm)

A baby.