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  • 17 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • Redscare867@lemmy.mltoMemes@lemmy.ml*Permanently Deleted*
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    1 year ago

    Even if it’s not, houses appreciate 5% a year on average. Assuming average appreciation over 10 years that house is now worth ~163% of its original value. That means that the mortgage was taken out for ~61% of what a comparable house would go for today which assuming the same interest rate would be a fairly significant reduction in the monthly payment. You also have the potential to refinance to further reduce that monthly payment.

    Or you could sell it and get that 10 years of equity + appreciation out in cash and that might be enough for a sizable down payment elsewhere.

    TL;DR unless your parent’s place is a dump in a low demand area it’s an asset even if it isn’t paid off.




  • I know how pitiful our rail networks are. I take Amtrak regularly. It’s faster to drive. It shouldn’t be, but it is. Obviously I’m not talking about today, but building improved rail infrastructure over the next decade is very realistic and a worthwhile investment. Unfortunately the investment Amtrak has gotten isn’t enough to modernize our rail network, and a lot of that money is being used to improve privately owned rail lines that Amtrak leases for their passenger service.

    My point was that the US doesn’t have distances that are insurmountable that can only be traveled via plane. It’s an investment issue.


  • Redscare867@lemmy.mltoMemes@lemmy.mlPlane goes brrrr
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    1 year ago

    A lot of those flights could be replaced with high speed rail. Maybe not New York to LA, but a lot of people live in the cities in the northeast and travel between those cities would be very feasible at reasonable travel times with high speed rail.


  • Redscare867@lemmy.mltoMemes@lemmy.mlTankies
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    1 year ago

    Capitalist forces absolutely are not inevitable with scarcity. Native Americans lived in societies that have been described as primitive communism. Did they not have scarcity?

    Further, mass murder is not a prerequisite for communism.


  • Redscare867@lemmy.mltoMemes@lemmy.mlTankies
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    1 year ago

    You really are not as informed on communist thought as you think you are. Nor are you very informed on the very real problems with the IMF or WTO saying that these organizations save countries from “communist policies” is so hysterically wrong that I can’t believe it’s an actual thought that someone had. This discussion clearly isn’t going anywhere because it’s like I’m talking to a brick wall. Have a nice life.


  • Redscare867@lemmy.mltoMemes@lemmy.mlTankies
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    1 year ago

    Social democracy does not fix every problem communism claims to because it preserves capitalism. Social democracy, but without capitalism is no longer social democracy. That is socialism. Believe it or not, communists are pro-socialism.

    All of the Scandinavian social democracies that are supposedly the gold standard are former colonial powers. Colonial powers extract wealth from their colonies to the detriment of the indigenous inhabitants of the colony. This is referred to as primitive accumulation and is a direct precursor to capitalism. These nations built their wealth through colonialism and continue to maintain wealth through neocolonialism. This is really only unheard of or controversial if you have your head in the ground. Look up the WTO and the IMF and how they fuck over the global south at the benefit of wealthy nations if you’re interested in more information (spoilers: you’re not)

    Where are your sources that all communists are fascists? Are the communists in the Philippines fighting their fascist government also fascists? What about in India? The list goes on. You’ll find that neither of these groups of communists are particularly fond of China by the way.


  • Redscare867@lemmy.mltoMemes@lemmy.mlTankies
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    1 year ago

    Communists are very aware that social democracy exists. Social democracy very famously split out of socialist thought. Originally social democracy was another term for socialism.

    Communists take issue with the very real fact that social democracy preserves capitalism and thus the exploitation that comes with it. Social democracy simply exports that exploitation. Without the subjugation of the global south, social democracy could not exist. Just because you have exported that exploitation doesn’t mean it went away.




  • This is generally the thought process that Marxists have. The USSR definitely wasn’t perfect, but it is the first real example that the proletariat was capable of uniting and other throwing the capitalist system. The USSR is fantastic to study to try and determine why it failed. Similarly China is a great resource to study to understand how capitalism can be re-established from within the party.

    Most modern communist groups actively engaging in an attempt at revolution were inspired by the Chinese revolution and the cultural revolution that came after it, but none of them are trying to recreate the USSR or China because as we can clearly see those states failed to maintain a socialist character.


  • A lot of these cars are starting to get massive touch screens too. I’m looking at buying a Prius and several of the trims have a 12 inch touch screen. Why would I ever need that as a driver? Why would I ever possibly want that? Pedestrian and cyclist deaths keep skyrocketing and we continue to out these massive screens in cars that in many cases can’t be turned off. Lawmakers really need to make auto manufacturers responsible for the part they are playing in enabling distracted driving.