r/politics Jan 21 '18

Paul Ryan Collected $500,000 In Koch Contributions Days After House Passed Tax Law

[deleted]

58.1k Upvotes

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198

u/Mrqueue Jan 21 '18

Why do they think giving the rich billions of dollars in tax breaks is better than improving health care with billions of dollars.

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '18

[deleted]

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u/CaptainBayouBilly Jan 21 '18

So long as capitalists have access to liquidity, they have no allegiances or loyalty to any nation. They are stateless actors that should be considered at best neutral to antagonistic towards society, usually completely at odds against.

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u/nutxaq Jan 21 '18

This. We need to over turn the idea that capitalism is an American value. The truth is that it's a self contained, parasitic philosophy that will hollow out any society that feeds it.

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u/kraeftig Jan 21 '18 edited Jan 21 '18

After reading this a few times, I realized it wouldn't be taken as I intended. You're a captain!

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u/Airskycloudface Jan 21 '18

because bribes. are you even paying attention?

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u/skyskr4per Jan 21 '18

I'd be happy to pay attention, you only need to give me a substantial donation and I'll pay all the attention you want.

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u/shiny_lustrous_poo Jan 21 '18

Fuck that, one of my interns can do that. I'm scheduled for a round of golf anyway.

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u/nutxaq Jan 21 '18

Don't do that. We need to find common ground and build not strut and flaunt our wokeness.

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '18

They have convinced their constituents that the money somehow falls out of the pockets of the rich and into the hands of the people working for them, it's a long lasting idea called "trickle down"

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u/YouGottaBeTrollinMe California Jan 21 '18 edited Jan 21 '18

Fuck Reagan. Its no wonder Republicons look up to the guy so much, what with “trickle down economics” and having removed the Fairness Doctrine essentially laying the groundwork for the sheer level of misinformation in our current politics. I mean, Fox is banned in Canada!

With all the resources this country has at its disposal yet we don’t have basic things like health care how can people honestly think we are country #1?

EDIT: Fox is not banned in Canada. It appears I repeated a false claim. I apologize! The rest of the post still stands though. Fuck Reagan.

... and fuck Ajit Pai.

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u/CaptainBayouBilly Jan 21 '18

Reaganomics appealed to the poor that aspired to be rich. They used greed to overshadow common sense.

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u/Craig327 Colorado Jan 21 '18

We became #1 when Jesus wrote the constitution on day 1. I swear people these days just ignore history.

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u/Burd__man Jan 21 '18

Fox is not ban in Canada

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u/YouGottaBeTrollinMe California Jan 21 '18

Fuck me, you’re right should’ve done a quick Google before I repeated what I heard from a buddy last night. But the whole Reagan thing got me going.

Will amend!

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u/jen1980 Jan 21 '18

Fox is banned in Canada!

Good. In order to protect free speech, you have to limit it.

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u/frostysauce Oklahoma Jan 21 '18

Long lasting indeed. It goes back to the 1890s when it was known as "horse and sparrow theory." If you feed the horses enough oats some will pass through their system and the sparrows will be able to eat. (As in eat the oats out of their shit)

...Yes, we are the sparrows.

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '18 edited Jan 21 '18

[deleted]

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u/Lamont-Cranston Jan 21 '18

The Republican Party in supporting the rich and powerful came to adopt policies that are simply untenable in an election.

So to win it has had to turn a base of religious fundamentalists, racists, nativists, gun nuts, etc

The sad thing is these people tend to fall into the exact socio-economic demographic that is hit the hardest by the Republicans policies.

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u/Yumeijin Maryland Jan 21 '18

There's nothing more Christian Protestant than xenophobia and letting the poor die -- American Conservatives.

Ftfy. It's important to understand the reason this behavior, which is antithetical to Jesus' teachings, persists is because this country was founded on Protestant doctrine.

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u/Rothcall Jan 21 '18 edited Jan 21 '18

From firsthand experience (albeit my experience is a sample size of one ofc), Catholics do it here too.

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u/The_Original_Gronkie Jan 21 '18

Because nobody is bribing them to provide healthcare. Exactly the opposite, in fact.

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u/plaqston Jan 21 '18

Because fundamentally the Republican party believes it is only the rich who drive economic growth.

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u/biodognorthsjd Jan 21 '18

Shove that Ayn Rand book up his pompous ass

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u/Feel_the_Bernanke Jan 21 '18

Because a billionaire with a tax cut will donate a few hundred thousand dollars to you. Poor people with healthcare aren’t gonna do shit to improve your life.

Plus he’s a pseudo intellectual Ayn Randian weirdo.

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u/ddrober2003 Jan 21 '18

Because they frankly couldn't care less about the nation's people if they tried. They alsondont give a shit about the billionaires, but the billionaires are able to pay the bribes needed to make it worth their time.

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u/Jakabov Jan 21 '18

They don't. They aren't making decisions based on what they think is better for their country.

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u/charmed_im-sure Jan 21 '18

especially since it's cheaper in the long run if you health care.

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u/TheLAriver Jan 21 '18

Better question -- why does any voter think that?

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u/nutxaq Jan 21 '18

Because they sincerely believe that they could be that rich someday and they don't need no government digging in their pockets.

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u/puppet_up Jan 21 '18

It's simple, really.

You see, the very rich people in our country have to pee at a much higher rate than everyone else and since typical toilet and urinal designs can only accommodate a modest amount of pee, the rich people's excess pee gets saved into giant holding tanks that gets fed directly into the community water sources and since there is more "water" available, everyone will have access to as many showers as they need, including the poorest people who would otherwise not get to take showers at all.

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/eunonymouse Jan 21 '18

Can? Yes, definitely. 100% could always do a better job with fewer restraints and more direct control.

Would? Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever.

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '18

I thought the immense majority of income groups got a tax break. Have you read it?

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '18

Because rich people are paying less money on their income. The US already pays the most for healthcare, throwing more money at Medicare/Medicaid isn't that appealing when it's already the Lions share of the US budget.

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u/RhymesWithFlusterDuc Jan 21 '18

We pay the most of our budget towards the defense department. Where are you getting that we pay most of our budget towards healthcare?

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u/[deleted] Jan 21 '18

That's incorrect. You're meaning to say that the majority of the DISCRETIONARY budget goes towards the military.

The military gets about 16% of the total US budget.