Darius Longfellow

Arguing when bored. Semi-anon because I don't like getting fired.

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@EricWasiko68045 @AmazingLucas007 I read and follow a lot of what I disagree with...only the ignorant stay in their own echo chamber.

I want to challenge, not just reinforce, the things that I "know".

Normalize reading other points of view and changing your mind when it makes sense.

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@1096lol @mcuban Let me know what the wait time is for someone without insurance.

America's wait times are shorter due to people not showing up because they couldn't afford it.

Their wait time is effectively infinite.

It's a crappy system for a not-insignificant portion of the population.

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

I'd much rather have a bloated, inefficient system that private citizens aren't forced into bankruptcy or GoFundMe campaigns just to afford their cancer treatment.

Even if we have M4A and it saves zero dollars in healthcare costs it'll STILL be a win for the average citizen.

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

We only think it'll be cheaper because it is. Everywhere else.

Government bloat? Have you seen how much of healthcare cost *already* goes to "administration" and other not-health-related things?

Private industry doesn't work for healthcare. It's already bloated and inefficient.

[Matt Toresco @matttoresco52]

@mcuban I still cannot believe Americans think MfA will make healthcare less bureaucratic and cheaper. Because government bloat isn’t a problem in every department!?

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@mcuban It's still worth trying; it's obvious that the current system doesn't work.

The "well we're different" argument is tired. It works everywhere, we can figure it out. And, if we don't, and we end up with a more expensive worse version so what? It's what we have now anyways.

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@PerAndelius And that's the point, if you see a guy like Elon parking the $10B he paid in 2021 it's because they had no choice...they're trying their best to pay $0. Not earning a salary and not selling shares.

Elon had no choice in 2021 because his stock options would've expired.

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@PerAndelius No. He wouldn't have to sell.

The loans wealthy people have access to are much lower rates than normal people get. And MUCH lower than what they'd pay on tax...give the bank 2-3% instead of giving the government 15% in capital gains.

And yes, he can just pay it with a new loan

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@PerAndelius He wouldn't have to sell, that's the point. These guys aren't selling when they need liquidity, they take out loans so they can spend their money tax-free.

If their asset value is ok to finance their entire life (as most people's income does), then it's ok to pay taxes on it

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@SamLesante2 @philthatremains @grok The average middle class family pays a higher percentage of their net worth, annually, to taxes than Elon pays.

And Elon doesn't even do it annually. Maybe a big tax bill once every few years.

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@SamLesante2 @philthatremains @grok Elon's COMPANY pays payroll taxes; Elon does not.

Elon's companies are also highly subsidized by the government.

I wouldn't be surprised if the net balance of cash flow between Elon and his companies is that they've RECEIVED more from the Government than they've paid.

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@SamLesante2 @philthatremains @grok And, to be clear, Gavin Newsom's salary is higher than the salaries of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Larry Ellison, Warren Buffet, etc. COMBINED.

These guys aren't paying income tax. Newsom is.

The income tax doesn't apply to that level of wealth.

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@SamLesante2 @philthatremains @grok He probably *could* but the fact that he's currently the Governor let's me know that he still earns a salary.

And honestly I'd strengthen requirements for public employee financial disclosures as well to remove all speculation🤷‍♂️

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

I was using Fable 5 for a random coding project, came back and it was gone 😢

I wish I knew more about what the actual risks are. Has AI become too advanced already that it can break containment? And if it does, what's the worst that it could do?

[Anthropic @AnthropicAI]

The US government, citing national security authorities, has issued an export control directive to suspend all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by any foreign national, whether inside or outside the United States, including foreign national Anthropic employees.

The net effect of this order is that we must abruptly disable Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all our customers to ensure compliance.

Access to all other Claude models is not affected.

We apologize for this disruption to our customers. We believe this is a misunderstanding and are working to restore access as soon as possible.

Read our full statement: https://t.co/bwn0sximKZ

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@SamLesante2 @philthatremains @grok Gavin still earns a salary and pays income tax though.

The purpose of the wealth tax would be to target the ultra wealthy who pay themselves $0 incomes and try their best to avoid capital gains.

So Elon might have 1 year where he pays A LOT but he has a lot of years paying $0.

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@JamesSpillaneNH @GunnelsWarren @elonmusk @grok So Elon pays himself zero salary and can finance large purchases without liquidating assets.... How else would he pay taxes?

The idea of a wealth tax doesn't sound great but what else is there if people are avoiding income and capital gains?

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@Mopar @JamesSpillaneNH @GunnelsWarren @elonmusk @grok That's the exception not the rule.

And then he just had his XAi buy X/Twitter, along with all of it's debt, then had SpaceX buy THAT company.

Most of us don't have the luxury of buying ourselves out of our own stupid decisions.

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@PerAndelius 90% of the time they aren't turning it into money. They hoard the wealth and passing it on, finding ways to also avoid inheritance and other taxes even in death.

Elon might pay a TOTAL of MAYBE 5% by the time he's gone. A few billion dollar tax years and a lot of $0 tax years.

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@PerAndelius He could just "repay" it with another loan...

Buy. Borrow. Die.

That's the strategy at this level of worth. The goal is to forgo as much capital gains as possible. They really try their hardest to avoid any sale of assets unless absolutely forced into the situation.

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

@JamesSpillaneNH @GunnelsWarren @elonmusk If Elon wants to buy something for $1 billion does he liquidate stock or would he take out a loan?

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

They don't pay income tax: I have a higher salary than Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos etc. Any middle class person does.

They don't pay capital gains tax: They take loans instead of selling assets.

If they can use loans to live off of they can use the loan to pay taxes.

[Darius Longfellow @LongFellaDarius]

We need a wealth tax. 1-2% on net worth over $100 million.

It shouldn't hit the high income earners who pay income tax but invested/saved a few million.

The goal is to target those who can afford to pay themselves $1 salary and live off loans backed by their assets.