Socialism thread

Number 4, bitches!

In all fairness, I think it less like socialism and more like 3rd World Aid.

Number 50!

Go ridiculous (state) taxes!

Haha. I know...Talk about a pyrrhic victory.

Too bad, those red states should just work harder, you know wash more dishes and some day they will be millionaires too!
Or maybe a rich philantrophic state has the graciousness and donates some of its accumulated wealth to a poorer colleague. You know, trickle something down of that elitist east coast money into real Americas pockets?

But taxes are teh devil!!111 Lenin is laughing from his tomb.

I dunno, I wouldn't say Jersey is exactly well off enough to support a "poorer" state. In fact, last time I checked, our State was pretty much broke. Fuck Trenton, Newark, Camden, East Orange, Elizabeth, and Jersey City....we need to help some useless fuck in New Mexico.

You bastards are taking too much of our money, and we don't even have an income tax.

oh no! now it's the republicans that are the socialist!

Truth. No State tax. Us Floridians are very giving apparently. See, something could CAN come out of this phallic swamp populated by pirates and hillbillies!

I'd be curious to see how different the numbers are now that the Dems are in charge of Congress. I think that the trend still holds, even though tax distribution is more evenly split.

Unless I'm reading the chart wrong, this is based on Federal taxes, not State taxes.

The reason Jersey can afford to spend only .61 cents on the dollar of Federal Tax money is because of our ridiculous State taxes.

Part of it is the fact those states at the top: New Mexico, Mississippi and Alaska had senators and other congressmen who have been in their seats for decades. Allowing them to steer shit their way. Especially with Alaska. Ted Stevens was the forth source of revenue for the freakin state.

At what point in American history did "socialist" become synonymous to "evil"? I'm guessing the notion's older than McCarthy etc. Genuinely curious.

Since FL doesn't have State Tax, I'm guessing it's tourism and social security keeping us ahead... oh, and illegal immigration!

Well, our 7% sales tax probably has something to do it (cause we don't have that much of a tourist industry, Philly and NY take those). Along with having the highest property taxes in the Country.

You Floridians only give .3 cents back on the dollar, compared to our .39. Not even close.

Don't forget property taxes. I've always wondered how much Walt Disney, Universal and Busch pay each year for property tax.

While Jersey sure ain't well off enough to support a poorer state, as someone once said, Jersey has other means of contribution, like giving all those elitist New Yorker and Philly workers a place to live!

It's nice that New Mexico is finally number 1 in something besides chile farming and Mexican restaurants per capita.

But we do both, hence our State getting raped in the ass by all the other States.

Let's see how you all do when we secede.

Minsky, in this case, I don't think you want to be #1. How the fuck does NM spend more than twice as much as what their given in Federal tax dollars? Explain this.

NM has the Alamos weapons testing labs. It also had Pete Domincini, a very old and very influental senator. That's how it got the money.

I also believe states with large Native American populations also get larger amounts of federal funding.

It's also a fairly impoverished state with sky-high alcoholism rates. In its defense, it did go blue this time.

Shit, they have weapons testing labs because where the fuck else (aside from West Texas) are we going to blow shit up? It's a desert, with a population of only 2 million people! New Mexican's, go produce something useful so everyone can stop supporting your ass. Sell your cacti or something, I dunno.

*I'm partially kidding. With only 2 million people, NM isn't the biggest offender here. It's states like LA, VA, Bama, Kentucky and Miss. that piss me off.

Florida doesn't have a state tax, but it does have sales taxes on the municipal level, right?

A 1/3 of our state didn't have electricity or running water until the 1940s. Let that one sink in. Honestly, I'm surprised we aren't in the Top 3.

Yes. Varies by county to county (depending on how much the county/city government adds onto the state rate). I think a good average to use is 7%.

Labs in NM have been refitting for real energy work over the last decade (although Los Alamos is still primarily a NW lab). Voltaics and Fusion research are taking center stage. Sandia's Hydrogen Fusion reactor is only four years away. Also, there haven't been nuclear tests in the US in over a decade, and hopefully there won't be any more.

Only a decade? Jeez, I thought they'd stopped that shit a long time ago.

ETA - Hooray for Texas -- we have so much oil money!

Hey, come on, be fair, that's old data. Virginia's blue now, right? We're allowed to be socialists! Can't call us hypocrites no more.

Atmospheric and above ground testing hasn't gone on since the '60s, but underground testing went on as recently as the Clinton administration.

Don't forget about the wondrous widespread corruption in our states' government. Oh, many's the time I used to watch the Sopranos, not as drama but as documentary. Wouldn't be a bit surprised to see names like Jimmy "The Squirrel", Bruno "Three Fingers", "Big" Petey, Joey "The Face" pop up on a ballot here and there in Joisey.

Well, ole' "Really Old" Franky got back in, and "Hit and Run" Johnnie boy ain't going anywhere anytime soon (Nice house in Princeton you got there, John boy). So despite all the recent FBI investigations into political corruption in Jersey, I don't think things are going to be changin' around here.

Tell me about it.Property tax is killing me.Most of my friends and family have moved to Florida.I might be heading down there in a couple years.

Everyone I know is stuck here. Housing market sucks, can't sell. Can't afford to stay either. I live in Hightstown, which has a ton of it's own problems and could very well cease to exist in the future (swallowed up by East Windsor), let alone the problems caused by the state. A square mile town where 65% of it is designated as tax free because of schools pretty much screws over anyone else that lives here (Fuck you, Peddie). I've never seen so many houses up for sale around me, but no ones buying. People are actually starting to board up their houses and just leave.

The schools are another issue entirely. We pay taxes equivalent to those of West Windsor and, if you've ever seen those schools, you can see the difference.

So basically, I think it's time for you other states to send a little help our way.

Also, there's the hotel occupancy tax (or tourist tax), which is technically a tax on any dwelling rented out for less than six months but which amounts to a tax on every single hotel and motel room in the state. One thing all those tourists are good for.

I haven't heard of a state, yet, that doesn't have an occupancy tax. Texas state is 6% -- this city is 7% on top of that. That's actually pretty middle of the road as far as those go.

To the tune of 11% (if I remember correctly).

Same here in Jackson; we've pretty much got an equal reach to NYC, Philly, and Atlantic City, so we've had a ton of families move here over the past 10 years or so. Lots of housing and condos, strip malls, etc., which meant a lot of good forest land, etc. got the axe. Nowadays, I'm seeing more and more abandoned houses and "for sale" signs. Pisses me off.

My cousin just got married and moved to Jackson, down the highway from the Jackson Outlets. His wife is a Home Ec teacher at the HS. I spent my younger days cruising around your neighboring Millstone, since they don't have a police force outside of the Staties (and crazy little Roosevelt kids went to my HS). But yea, the "for sale" signs is a trend I've been noticing throughout this area.

I grew up in PA and lived there for 30 years. I would assume (from personal experience and anecdotally, alas) that most people who commute between the 2 states live in PA and work in NJ and not the other way around. Property tax and real estate is just too high in the Garden State. I lived in Easton (north of Philly near Allentown/Bethlehem) and the Pocono areas.

As a matter of fact, it eventually caused some hikes in real estate in the Lehigh Valley. People who lived in NJ and NYC got smart and moved to PA and were willing to pay more for PA property, b/c it was still lower than what they were used to in their native state. Screwed over native Pennsylvanians in the process who now can't afford to buy a home.

Not so much "gentrification" (as they weren't really making improvements), but it had the same effect.

I been saying that for years. Republicans are corporatist, much in the same vain as the Nazi party. I am not saying that Republicans are Nazis just saying they both have the same brand of socialism.

I don't know which part of that I find funny, but something is.

Despite these calls of "socialism" (which it is, to an extent), we are the United States of America. I guess that means we're required to help one another out.

yeah, its just one state helping the next. its how this country runs right? can't let one go under and not do anything about it.

Actually that line of thinking does not jive with what the founding fathers had in mind. They were advocates of states rights and individual experiments in liberty.

If South Carolina, the target state of a Fundamentalist group that would like its members to move here and vote locally in such a way as install like minded politicians and to secede from the union as a Theocratic state, were to become as such then fine.

New Hampshire is the target of a similar proposition by a Libertarian group where they want Libertarians to move there, install Libertarian politicians and secede.

If California wanted to run itself as a purely socialist or communist state then so be it. I think secession is a bit rough if you look at the way our founders wanted the states to have the kind of autonomy they should be provided.

50 individual experiments in liberty protected from common threats by a decentralized federal government. The Interstate Commerce clause has been incorrectly interpreted to allow for widespread, overarching powers granted to the federal government that it has no business being a part of.

The reason the founders wanted these individual experiments to take place is so that the best form of government would attract the most amount of populace and the people who wanted to be socialists/theocratists(?)/capitalists, etc. could live in peace with like minded individuals.

I'm the opposite - I live in NJ and work in PA. The commute takes me 45 minutes, through lovely Trenton(!), by the stadium. Ah, but there's a silver lining - the horkin' huge tax refund I get from PA after April 15th is much, much larger than any NJ tax debt I owe.

Shadows: No shit? Which HS - Jackson Memorial (my alma mater) or the new one, Jackson Liberty?

I think it's the new one, but not 100% on that. I gotta babysit their kid next weekend so I'll ask her then.

The fact that you believe this is both disturbing and laughable.

The founders agreed on very little and in retrospect it is amazing they were even able to replace the Articles of Confederation.

So, awesome story happened to me last night when I went to the local gas station to buy a historic newspaper to keep around:

This gas station has a small grille inside it. I stepped in and went to the newspaper rack which of course by 7:15pm was empty. The guy working the grille counter, wearing an Obama "Hope" shirt, proceeds to have the following conversation with me:

"I can get you one."

I turn to him and ask him, "What."

"A newspaper, that's what you're looking for right?" (pulling out his cell phone)

"Yes it is. You have them behind the counter?"

"No, it will be a minute and cost you a dollar but I can have one brought here."

(pointing at his shirt) "You do realize you voted for the wrong guy if you want to be a capitalist, right?" (completely flys over his head as a female patron turns from the gas station register and asks if he can get her a paper as well)

"Yes, I can get you one too, it's a dollar though."

(female patron goes slightly insane)"What you mean a dollar, you bought all the newspapers? Why you going to try and sell me a newspaper for a dollar?"

At this time a young lady walks in clutching approximately 30-50 newspapers looking like someone is going to shoot her in the head for carrying them. She realizes the conversation that is occurring and he tells her no one is going to take them from her and the insane lady asks her how much. The girl tells her a dollar. She proceeds to bitch them both out.

All the while I am standing there willing to pay the dollar and go back to my dinner across the street with my paper. I tell the young lady as much, hand the guy my dollar and take the paper from her. As I am walking out of the gas station I turn back to this enterprising, yet obviously misguided individual and tell him, "Good on you man. Way to take advantage of an opportunity."

I love it.