Then the embezzling politician should face justice and the bs programs should be cut, I suppose. I do understand that it's not that easy, sometimes.

No system is without flaw, and there will always be people who try to abuse whichever rule is in place. I still believe that taxation is a decent way to spread the burden, conceptually. But since people in charge will abuse it if unsupervised, I agree that there should be independant checks and balances.

Who said anything about being virtuous ? I am not taking any moral high ground, I'm just stating my opinion, which is that everyone profits from mutualizing ressources.

Building bridges and roads, running public hospitals and schools, these are things that benefit everyone but cost a lot of money. We can either collectively surrender some of our income to do so, or hope that the richest will be benevolent enough to do it for us all.
History taught me that the most powerful tend to cling to their power and only give scraps to the rest, so I'd rather put my faith in the group. Apes together strong.

But if you believe that in this dog eat dog world, it's everyone for themselves and that you shouldn't pay for other people's problems, that's fine, we just disagree. No need to be so vexed.

What is not to like with universal healthcare ?

I personally don't believe that it is parasitic behavior to benefit from state help. I also don't believe taxation is theft, because I believe that we thrive when helping those in need with the ressources of everyone.

Not saying that there should be no room for personal property in life, not saying either that the US federal budget is well spent and that cuts can't be made.

RIP Miki Matsubara & Batman's parents

Imma give you a free pass on this one, and assume you are just dumb and incompetent.

Imagine different people having diverse opinions and priorities, and yet a similar tendancy to try to care for other people ? Crazy shit.

Pat & Mat !

I am well aware, I was not ironic at all when I said I would be the boomer of the next generation.
I think my parents and grandparents felt the same way with the democratization of the internet. That's why I am hopeful that youngsters who grow up in a world full of AI will know better than me.

But I feel reluctant to embrace AI myself. Whether or not the world survives it, I think it makes me, personally, obsolete. And I don't like it.

Imma be real with you HLers. I feel like AI is what is gonna make me a boomer in the eyes of the next generation.

I don't like it. I don't want to add it in my toolkit. I think it's shit, I think it's lazy, I think it's dangerous, I am both scared and disgusted by it.

In my hopeful moments, I imagine younger generations will grow with it just like I grew with the internet, master it, and hopefully use it to do great things. And they will mock me for my ignorance.

But in the meantime, I just can't get myself to embrace it. I feel like I'm in a Matrix prequel eveytime I feel AI's presence, be it in a funny video or in generated code.

Just wanted to share my anguish with you guys, even though it's not the Friday Feels Bar.

Anyways, have a good one.