Posts by restlesssurfer97

stop by if you're into young pups 😂

We're basically just looking at VB16 through the lens of the Champions League 😂

Is Alex Cook not a mod anymore?

Alex Cook totally screwed me over😂

☕

Patrick Martin said:If you ever ran into me in a dark alley, man, I’d have you for breakfast and still be hungry ☕

Man, I’d be serving up my own brain through a straw by then😂

A dark past just completely swallowed him whole🙂.

Man, I'm telling you, those VA16 guys really know their way around a kitchen, whereas our VB16 crew couldn't even manage to wipe their own mouths if they tried, honestly they're such a mess they'd probably end up serving us a burnt steak for lunch 😂

So, did you go with the slow cook or just throw it in a pan to fry?😂

🤣🤣;rofl:;lol:😂😂:rfol:🤣

Honestly, I’m feeling kind of bummed out because it feels like we’re missing some key players on Reddit lately, myself included, I guess.

Snoop Dogg.

Where the hell did Snoop Dogg disappear to? 🙂

Tibog, you’ve really backed me into a corner here, I have to admit, because I honestly never once considered voting through the lens of social utility.

So, what’s your take on all this? If you actually have a solid opinion that you can back up with some logic, do me a huge favor and just lay it all out right here. That way, if what you say sounds reasonable enough to me, I’ll just adopt it as my own view immediately so I don't have to waste any more time overthinking the whole thing.

ps. if you think I’ve already basically voiced my stance in my previous post, you’re dead wrong, since that was totally taken out of context, so feel free to go back and read the whole thread again and you'll see exactly where I was coming from. Or maybe you won't, but either way, I wasn't linking voting to social benefit like you're trying to imply. 🙂

Matthew Anderson4 said:Just realized Carlos is basically calling voting a social service here. If you aren't casting a ballot, you're essentially useless to society 🙏🙏

Man, when you're browsing ESPN, you should probably take off those VB16 glasses, because you clearly can't see what's right in front of you, you know 🙂

Justin James10 said:Oh, please! As if they aren't already being hit with heavy-handed regulations! 👏 👏 👏 It’s almost funny how people try to argue that. Does it really make any sense to claim they're economically free when the red tape is this thick? Honestly, it’s just illogical! 🐔

I’d bet anything that you’re one of those people who thinks the Nordic countries are some kind of socialist paradise!

I cast my vote for Bridge for one simple reason: they disrupt the cozy little status quo maintained by the Republican and Democratic Parties. Don't get me wrong—I'm under no illusions about them either! But honestly, isn't there something deeply satisfying about listening to those party loyalists whine about how these outsiders are "getting in the way" or "don't know how to do the job"? I live for it!

To be fair, Bridge actually doesn't know what they're doing. Back in the previous elections, their economic strategist was Mr. Lovrinović. And Mr. Lovrinović managed to hire 200,000 people into government and local administration jobs, for crying out loud 😂

But yeah, screw them all, including that clown Pernar, let them deal with it, it’s not like it matters much anyway.

James Anderson5 said:

You should have mentioned what you were curious about sooner...

an 18% tax cut

Alex Brown50 said:Economic freedom isn't the same thing as a deregulated market—not even close. A totally deregulated market is basically just a playground for corruption by default, but hey, maybe people will actually realize that one day... hopefully. And look, I'm not a Republican or a Democrat voter—I haven't even touched a ballot in God knows how many elections. That's why I'm pretty sure you're just one of those folks falling for that whole "anti-establishment" nonsense from groups like Live Wall and Bridge.

That's exactly what I was thinking, so basically it's not the GOP-Democrat Coalition, it's not Bridge, it's not LIVE WALL AND BRIDGE, nothing works, nobody gets my vote, I offer zero solutions, I just sit here blathering away and criticizing everything.

Humanity really benefits from people like you, especially the folks who actually need help the most.

Do you even realize that even the capitalist you hate the most probably contributes way more to those in need than you ever will?

Can someone please translate this from amoeba to English?

ruggedjackal46 said:Sure you did, but let's be honest—that wasn't exactly a random thought that just popped into your head, was it? 🙂 After all, they always justify cutting off funding by crying about cronyism and government waste—an argument that holds water sometimes, sure, but often feels like a convenient smokescreen.

Now that I'm seeing the same old tired stories about corruption and wasted tax dollars everywhere, I’m starting to wonder what’s actually happening behind the curtain. Is it genuine reform, or is it just a cover for something else entirely? Privatization, political vendettas, or maybe just rerouting the cash to different pockets?

The reason that specific example came to mind is because I literally just read it five minutes ago in ZZ's thread, and his post wasn't even about cronyism, it was about something else entirely, so I realized after the fact that I brought it up for no real reason.

But look, let's talk about something that hits everyone, like those water bills, which aren't just an issue for small business owners but for every single person out there, where you see line items that spike your bill by 80% and they look like something straight out of a cartoon like Alan Ford. And then, wouldn't you know it, just two months after they jack up those rates, they hold a local public tender looking for some director for some totally made-up, nonsensical job title.
That's really what you were getting at with transparency, but it also ties directly into these fees that have surged way past anything remotely sustainable, and honestly, it’s the exact same deal when you look at the tax burden being placed on entrepreneurs.

I feel like I made it pretty clear that I was just using non-profit media as a random example, nothing more than that.

But this second part of your post is straight-up about America, and honestly, you're spot on—around here, besides the actual tax rates themselves, the real headache is figuring out where all that cash actually ends up being spent.

Alex Brown50 said:Yeah, sure—because obviously the fix for everything today is just more industrialization, massive military spending, raw capitalism, and social Darwinism. That'll definitely help everyone prosper—the masses, the environment, yeah, everyone. Just keep building and drilling, right?

I actually spent some time digging through your old posts trying to find an actual solution for our modern world, Alex. Honestly, I came up empty-handed; all I found was a mountain of criticism. I mean, if we started handing out all those critiques of yours to people facing actual hardships or struggling to get by, who knows how they’d manage, maybe your opinions would be enough to feed the hungry and the poor.

Alex Brown50 said:Yeah, spot on. The fact that the government scraps by giving basically nothing to the arts or independent media is the real issue here. It’s those political cronies living off taxpayer money who are actually bleeding us dry. Not the top 1% of "business moguls" turning billions—even with all those massive federal subsidies—they aren't the ones sucking us dry. No, it's the people claiming to "work hard and build value." You nailed it—you found the real problem.

And where exactly does it say that government funding for the arts and independent media is the biggest issue here?

Alex Brown50 said:It’s honestly wild how many people have such a shallow, childish view of things—especially those who act like they’re these gritty realists who "get" real life and aren't fooled by the news. They fall for this whole fairy tale about a corrupt elite vs. the free market, or some fantasy about being non-ideological and outside the system, plus all that isolationist nonsense... It's the exact same crowd that thought certain fringe populist movements were the answer back home.

If political correctness is supposedly so toxic and government interference is such a disaster, then why do the most decent, livable countries in the world actually lean into social sensitivity and market regulation?

And look, let's say we're living in an era more like the early days of industrial capitalism (instead of our super messy, globalized reality) and maybe the idea that Trump will use his business savvy to create jobs isn't totally crazy. You don't need to be a political genius or have deep social insight—just a basic grasp of recent history tells you what aggressive industrialization (plus militarization) and slashing regulations at the expense of social safety nets actually does. And we're talking about 2016 here, not the 1930s or the colonial era.

Even if he manages to spark some economic growth, that kind of policy is just destructive in the long run, both at home and abroad. Let's not forget, the guy basically promised a massive military budget hike alongside cuts to healthcare. God forbid we deal with this "entrepreneurial engineer" mindset where the whole world is viewed through nothing but spreadsheets and economic indicators. Honestly, a single lying, bottom-tier member of the hated political establishment is less dangerous than someone like him.

So, are you basically a voter for the Democratic and Republican Parties who would end up voting for Hillary in the USA?

brightpilot6 said:If I left Sid to handle the troll market entirely on his own, the poor guy would probably starve to death. So, from time to time, I find it necessary to provide him with this kind of assistance—what one might call a little bit of social support for the sake of a good laugh.

🤣🤣🤣

I mean, seriously, when does a total facepalm become just too much to swallow? ☕