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Did you know that the income tax amendment enacted 1913 was temporary or that income taxes are theft? Income taxes are voluntary because they are illegal. How about there is no need for property taxes even though they have funded local education since the 1840s?
Oh, Social Security is a scam. If you die early all you get is $250 and the government takes the rest of your money. If “they” hadn’t stolen the Social Security funds, we wouldn’t have a problem today. Did you know we seniors paid our dues and therefore have no more obligation to pay taxes!
Where did I get this nonsense? Not nonsense, it’s on social media thoughtfully posted (and too often believed) by the experts among our citizenry so it has to be true, right? And we are concerned about the lack of financial literacy😳 Perhaps ignorance about how government and taxes interact and what they provide is more of a concern?
Hey, the federal government spends about $18 billion a day, mostly on programs directly benefiting Americans, but tariffs can replace the income tax, right?
Estimates suggests that monthly tariff revenues might rise toward $40–$50 billion/month at peak levels which is about $1.6 billion per day – a tad short of $18 billion. Of course, the $18 billion being spent is about $5 billion a day more than revenue. The gross interest on debt alone is about $3 billion a day.
Between the uninformed, naive, gullible people reflected on social media and the real fiscal state of government finances, it’s not a pretty picture.
We are all in the same pickle jar and it’s really sour.
Here are two examples from today on FB of how out of touch people are with no concept of how paying for things is connected. Each of these received thousands of “likes” and hundreds of favorable comments.
“Our parents deserve to retire with dignity. If we can afford massive giveaways, we can afford to increase Social Security for seniors.”
“Seniors should not have to pay for Medicare out of their very small amount of money. They have already paid Medicare taxes during their working life.”
I HAVE TO ASK, who should pay for Medicare “the government?” 😎
Financial literacy on full display.
I agree with Mr. Quinn, it’s not a pretty picture.
There are certainly some weird and uninformed folk in the world. I suspect that has always been the case. Personally, I take a view that I can’t educate or inform the whole world, so I probably shouldn’t let it bother me.
I like social media, but carefully curate it so my feed represents things I want to see – Major League Baseball, cricket, multitools and local news. Anything that creeps into my feed outside that gets very quickly booted.
There is a fellow on FB that follows me but is so off the wall, so subject ignorant and at times nasty, other people ask why I don’t block him.
I tell them and him the reason I don’t block him is because I want other people to see what ignorance, extremism and in this case xenophobia is like and what it can create.
Does it help, probably not, but I feel I have to do something to counter misinformation. He makes sure he tells everyone Congress stole the SS funds and Medicare is socialized medicine.
Dick, I think in life you have to pick your battles. And, personally, I think that trying to educate people on Facebook is way too big a battle.
Perhaps you are right, but maybe there are times one reasonable person will see the nonsense corrected and learn the truth. Hope springs eternal.
I was in a FB group of retirees from my former employer and one guy complaining the company health benefit subsidy was inadequate because his wife was paying $750 a month for Part B Medicare yet $0 for Part D.
Other retirees were giving him sympathy and bad mouthing the company. The fact is there is no IRMAA that high and to reach the highest level you need income of $750,000 and Part D is never $0.
I explained what was possible and questioned his numbers. I hope other retirees in the group get the message.
I’ve been wondering when HD readers would begin to suggest that RQ give up social media. I suspect wallowing in misinformation online is not just a waste of time, it may damage mental health. And why rehash the false material on HD? I see no point to that exercise.
Just a guess, but I believe RDQ is strong mentally and what he reads on social media does not affect his mental health.
The best offense is a good defense. The fact this stuff is on social media does not change the damage it can do. It may help (a little) to present the facts.
There was an article in our local paper regarding extreme partisan positions and the amount of time people spend on social media. It’s no surprise that there is a correlation between time spent on social media and extreme and hateful politics. I’m sure it’s also true for conspiracy theories and the mis-information you cite in your post.
Other than HumbleDollar, I am on Facebook. It’s awesome for keeping in touch with old friends and to follow certain non-political content that I enjoy. I don’t post garbage, and if a friend does, I have their posts hidden from me.
My post was not about social media, but rather what people believe incorrectly about important topics that affect us all.
How do we get acceptance of a needed change if people believe what is not true. Social Security and healthcare are two good examples. It’s no wonder politicians are not willing to tell us the truth- because we don’t want to hear it or won’t believe it.
I know what your post is about, and I agree with you. Everyone reading HD agrees with you. Even the readers who give you guff about rehashing these issues agree with you.
But listen, I’ve introduced hundreds of people to HumbleDollar either through sharing my or other writers’ articles on Facebook. This would include a few from RDQ. Guess what, I’ve not converted even one of them to regular followers of the blog. It’s rare for me to get more than a couple likes on FB.
Why is that? To get most people to read something, you need to condense it so it fits on a bumper sticker. It also can’t exceed the reading level of a 4th grader. It also helps to express hatred for the same stuff that your intended audience hates.
This is just my opinion. I could be wrong.
Humble Dollar is the ONLY social media I partake in.
Dave, if you can only pick one, you made the right choice.
Ok, as I was reading this, I was laughing so hard thinking “Dick has been spending a lot of time on social media”. LOL! Chris
You learn a lot about people reading that stuff. It says a lot about people and society. No doubt it was always present but silent. Now all the wash is hanging on the line and it’s not pretty.
what concerns me is how easily people accept something as fact without the slightest effort to check facts
If you insist on being terminally online there’s plenty of other stuff to read instead of this garbage. Actual, physical, books still exist, too.
I don’t see any of this rubbish that gets your blood pressure up. Sounds like you need a version of AA for social media addicts. Having typed that I took a look: here you are, Media Addicts Anonymous.
what gets me upset is not the point. The point is what people believe, readily pass around and sometimes lobby for or even vote for. They don’t think things through, they don’t consider consequences.
That should concern every one. This type of misinformation is what impacts social security and Medicare and local school funding.
Because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it is not there.
Firstly, you are not going to change anyone’s mind by consuming this slop, even if you post in opposition.
Secondly, you are increasing these sites’ page counts, which is what makes them attractive to advertisers and other readers.
Thirdly, if you really want to have some very slight chance of effecting change, you should be spending your time lobbying your representatives to put meaningful controls in place. And good luck with that…
I spent several years walking the halls of Congress lobbying. I got warn out by Members lying to my face or a 20 something trying to demonstrate how much smarter they were than me. I once was asked to the White House for a meeting on Hillary health care. At the meeting I quickly learned they only wanted people speaking who didn’t criticize any part of the plan.
As I said, very slight chance. Still more useful than reading garbage.
Welcome to the world of politics! A friend of mine is the head of media relations for one of our political parties. The insider stories he shares with me are eye-opening.
I don’t have any social media accounts, so I’m probably not the most qualified to offer an opinion. When my daughters or people I know offer me insights from their feeds that pique my interest, my default response is to ask what citations the information has. I’ve yet to be given one instance of this. It seems to me critical thinking and scrolling social media are mutually exclusive. Assigning any weight to these utterances is illogical and a complete waste of my time. I could be doing something more productive…possibly stabbing myself in the eye would reach that criteria.
You make a good point. Just as in the old days, you could go to a newsstand and pick up a copy of Scientific American, or you could pick up a copy of a tabloid and get the latest update on space aliens taking over our cities. So it remains today on the internet. I’ve been rehabbing for the last year due to a serious illness. On the internet I have watched world class medical authorities from major medical institutions discuss the latest data, or I could choose to listen to laymen discuss how the right herbs would magically cure me. I think we’re responsible for what we choose to consume. For the discerning seeker, I continue to be amazed at the high quality information available for free via the internet. Of course, (as has always been the case) the opposite is also true.
I think you need to take a leaf out of my book: stop looking at social media. Your going to give yourself high blood pressure 😂
You have a good point, I’m an addict. When I see what people believe and pass around it is frightening and frustrating and then politicians play to the ignorance.
To finish your last sentence:
, or are are just ignorant themselves.