<story><title>California tried to save the nation from tax filing, then Intuit stepped in</title><url>https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-10-21/california-tried-to-save-the-nation-from-the-misery-of-tax-filing-then-intuit-stepped-in</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jjcon</author><text>&amp;gt; The &amp;quot;left&amp;quot; that has power in the US (establishment dems) barely qualify as being left at all&lt;p&gt;So when the left does something you dont like, they must not be left? Smells of no true scottsman to me.</text></item><item><author>thebigman433</author><text>This is so important and I think a lot of people miss it. The &amp;quot;left&amp;quot; that has power in the US (establishment dems) barely qualify as being left at all. They are very much invested in protecting power and wealth.&lt;p&gt;The only &amp;quot;left&amp;quot; that would push against the rentiers are people who will almost never see power. However, I wouldnt say AOC winning is a &amp;quot;fluke&amp;quot;. Its definitely the exception, but progressives have been able to repeat it a few more times in democrat strongholds that have historically kept establishment candidates.&lt;p&gt;Right now the only &amp;quot;power&amp;quot; the real left has is withholding their votes from corporate dem bills like we&amp;#x27;re seeing with the BBB Act. This only even works because the rest of the party is interested in protecting power&amp;#x2F;wealth and is pretty inept at actually winning races.</text></item><item><author>pydry</author><text>The left doesnt really have any power in the US.&lt;p&gt;What passes for the left (the socially liberal corporate elites that run most of the democratic party) are pretty much just as invested in protecting the rentiers as the right wing.&lt;p&gt;Rentier money is structurally geared towards destroying any populist politicians who threaten their rents. It was a fluke that AOC won given her &lt;i&gt;Democratic&lt;/i&gt; opponent (when she was unknown) outspent her something like 7:1. People like her arent supposed to slip through the early stage political filter.&lt;p&gt;If they do slip through there&amp;#x27;s also an enormously powerful and effective propaganda machine dedicated to character assassination.</text></item><item><author>ashtonkem</author><text>Going to paraphrase a quote from a podcast that stuck with me.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; What (the left) needs to do is clear out rents. Not just housing rents, but rent seekers. The economy is riddled through with people who do nothing, but get paid because structurally that’s who gets paid.&lt;p&gt;Intuit is one of those companies. They produce a few real products, QuickBooks for businesses and Mint, but overwhelmingly their money comes from the fact that they charge rent on filling your taxes. They’re a parasite on our society.&lt;p&gt;Fortunately the podcaster wasn’t talking about the US; their country was worse off than America in this area by far. But unfortunately it seems like we’re on the same glide slope if we don’t do something about it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>thebigman433</author><text>Im mostly comparing it to the politics of the &amp;quot;left&amp;quot; in most other first world countries. In my opinion, candidates who arent willing to support guaranteed family leave, single payer healthcare, and more progressive taxes, arent very far left.&lt;p&gt;Of course you could definitely make an argument for that being no true scottsman, so I guess it just depends on opinion.</text></comment>
<story><title>California tried to save the nation from tax filing, then Intuit stepped in</title><url>https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-10-21/california-tried-to-save-the-nation-from-the-misery-of-tax-filing-then-intuit-stepped-in</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jjcon</author><text>&amp;gt; The &amp;quot;left&amp;quot; that has power in the US (establishment dems) barely qualify as being left at all&lt;p&gt;So when the left does something you dont like, they must not be left? Smells of no true scottsman to me.</text></item><item><author>thebigman433</author><text>This is so important and I think a lot of people miss it. The &amp;quot;left&amp;quot; that has power in the US (establishment dems) barely qualify as being left at all. They are very much invested in protecting power and wealth.&lt;p&gt;The only &amp;quot;left&amp;quot; that would push against the rentiers are people who will almost never see power. However, I wouldnt say AOC winning is a &amp;quot;fluke&amp;quot;. Its definitely the exception, but progressives have been able to repeat it a few more times in democrat strongholds that have historically kept establishment candidates.&lt;p&gt;Right now the only &amp;quot;power&amp;quot; the real left has is withholding their votes from corporate dem bills like we&amp;#x27;re seeing with the BBB Act. This only even works because the rest of the party is interested in protecting power&amp;#x2F;wealth and is pretty inept at actually winning races.</text></item><item><author>pydry</author><text>The left doesnt really have any power in the US.&lt;p&gt;What passes for the left (the socially liberal corporate elites that run most of the democratic party) are pretty much just as invested in protecting the rentiers as the right wing.&lt;p&gt;Rentier money is structurally geared towards destroying any populist politicians who threaten their rents. It was a fluke that AOC won given her &lt;i&gt;Democratic&lt;/i&gt; opponent (when she was unknown) outspent her something like 7:1. People like her arent supposed to slip through the early stage political filter.&lt;p&gt;If they do slip through there&amp;#x27;s also an enormously powerful and effective propaganda machine dedicated to character assassination.</text></item><item><author>ashtonkem</author><text>Going to paraphrase a quote from a podcast that stuck with me.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; What (the left) needs to do is clear out rents. Not just housing rents, but rent seekers. The economy is riddled through with people who do nothing, but get paid because structurally that’s who gets paid.&lt;p&gt;Intuit is one of those companies. They produce a few real products, QuickBooks for businesses and Mint, but overwhelmingly their money comes from the fact that they charge rent on filling your taxes. They’re a parasite on our society.&lt;p&gt;Fortunately the podcaster wasn’t talking about the US; their country was worse off than America in this area by far. But unfortunately it seems like we’re on the same glide slope if we don’t do something about it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rrrrrrrrrrrryan</author><text>&amp;gt; The &amp;quot;left&amp;quot; that has power in the US (establishment dems) barely qualify as being left at all&lt;p&gt;You seem to interpret that statement as an opinion, but it is not a subjective statement. [1]&lt;p&gt;The U.S. isn&amp;#x27;t the only democracy in the world, and if we compare the Democratic party with other political parties around the world, they are indeed barely left-of-center.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;archive.md&amp;#x2F;PjNEF&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;archive.md&amp;#x2F;PjNEF&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>