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But he was only talking about income inequality in that sentence...not overall quality of life.

However, you all are in agreement what he said was actually brilliant and the D's are just stupid.

Why is it when D's or I's say something stupid or taken out of context by R's, is it R's feel the need to hear it explained away or deciphered?

But most definitely - whatever Bernie says is Gospel for all.

I get it, you don't like Bernie or Hillary or any Democrat. Fine.

Show me where I have excused any Trump stupidity.

But this term, "Democratic Socialism", has come up several times in the last few weeks. I am trying to determine what it means.

I am told it is Norway or Sweden, but as I previously pointed out, neither of those countries call their governments "Democratic Socialist" and bristle at the characterization, while countries like Venezuela do embrace the term.

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Of course it was founded in bullshit.

There's a big difference between lessening inequality and centralizing all sources of production. He's certainly not to the Left of FDR and Roosevelt accurately claimed that his greatest accomplishment was, "Saving Capitalism." We face similar problems today in the US and throughout the world. The incompatibility of Democracy and Capitalism (Mercantilism) was understood by the greatest minds in history, all the way back to Aristotle.

In the US we've just conveniently redefined political terms to fit the narrative of those in power. This has been done successfully throughout history.

Here's a quote I found from Aristotle:

"When they till the ground together the question of ownership will give a world of trouble. If they do not share equally in enjoyments and toils, those who labor much and get little will necessarily complain of those who labor little and receive or consumer much . . .

Property should be . . . as a general rule, private; for when everyone has a distinct interest, men will not complain of one another and they will make progress, because everyone will be attending to his own business . . ."

Of course some things should be socialist in nature, such as infrastructure, but capitalism with the proper regulation is still the best economic system yet devised.

addressed the importance of reducing inequality for democracy to survive. Otherwise he felt that you would need to reduce democracy to control the population. No one would be dis-incentivized if they made 40 billion instead of 60 billion. There comes a point of marginal return for each dollar earned because you just can't spend or realize the utility of it all. If you want a stable society in which you can build a 40 billion dollar empire it's best that the gap not become too wide. That's the problem with privatizing basic necessities such as education, infrastructure and healthcare. They are regressive taxes on the poor but they aren't counted as taxation. However, there's no doubt they are a form of taxation because they are costs that are shifted from those who can easily afford them to those who can't even survive.

As I like to say, the Bell Curve doesn't go away just because you call the system Capitalism. Everyone can't be a billionaire in a system based on scarcity. Those who call the shots clearly understand this and try to propagandize it away by branding what they don't like as Communism or Socialism. That's just disingenuous bullshit.

Simplified tax code, eliminating deductions, higher rates at the top end.
There probably is some rational limit that could be placed on how much a person could earn in a year, $10M? $20M? At some point it just becomes obscene.
Higher taxation on capital gains other than retirement accounts.
Limit on inheritance.

Maybe so. Lots of threads go unread (by me).

But I’ve pointed out that that old loon honeymooned in the Soviet Union. That alone should disqualify him, if only for lack of romantic imagination.

Plus, he’s not a Democrat.

He’ll go nowhere this time, hopefully.

Yes. That bad.

I might sit out the election rather than vote for Kang or Kodos, but I’d never vote Trump.

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