Charlie ⁺ Alex

[Charlie ⁺ Alex @Chexander]

@SStricklandMMA @CambrinNolan What about Slaneesh?

[Rothmus 🏴 @Rothmus]

“Capitalism is not a profit system, it is a profit and loss system, and the losses are more important than the profits.”
—Milton Friedman

But the US education system runs on the exact opposite principle.

No failure allowed. Instead of closing or losing funding, failing schools get more taxpayer money, more administrators, and more programs.
And bad teachers rarely face real consequences thanks to tenure and union protection. The “customers” (parents and kids) have almost no exit.

Real per-pupil spending has nearly tripled since 1970 after inflation. NAEP scores flat or eroding in core skills for decades. PISA rankings middling at best, with math especially weak.

Thomas Sowell diagnosed this in Inside American Education, asserting that the system is morally and intellectually bankrupt.
It has turned into a propaganda operation more than an educator primarily pushing ideology, feelings, and self-esteem over knowledge and competence.

With endless public money and zero market test, there is nothing forcing correction. Unions buy political protection so the failure machine keeps running.

Friedman and Sowell both identified the same disease and the same cure, namely real competition and choice.

Vouchers or education savings accounts let parents take the money and flee failure. Good schools grow, while bad ones finally face losses and must improve or die.

Without the discipline of losses, mediocrity is subsidized forever. And the kids, especially in the worst districts, pay the permanent price.

But that’s just the system working exactly as designed.

[Mark J. Perry @Mark_J_Perry]

@DrCameronMurray Here's the original "Chart of the Century"

[Charlie ⁺ Alex @Chexander]

@SStricklandMMA https://t.co/pqmJd89yyx

Cathedral Station 😂

[Charlie ⁺ Alex @Chexander]

@joerogan @Spotify Great episode!

[Charlie ⁺ Alex @Chexander]

@Arteezy @MagnusCarlsen @TeamLiquid We need more of this. Let's see how far you can level your rank!

[Maria Davidson @MariaDavidson]

Florida and Texas have the lowest state spending per person in the US.

They're also 2 of the 5 states that had the highest population growth in the last decade.

State spending ≠ quality of life improving.

[Charlie ⁺ Alex @Chexander]

@pickover A. The second lady's hair seems to fall down to the floor with gravity's while all other long haired ladies hair is all touching the wall. All other evidence can be explained by using muscle tension ie. Standing on tip toes or arms away from the wall

[Charlie ⁺ Alex @Chexander]

@danturrentine @theDChuddle @CNN @ErinBurnett @MSNOWNews @KatyTurNBC @seanspicer @NewsNation Congrats 🎉. Minor feedback I would revisit the capitalization of the x name. Reading it as camelCase it says "the D Chuddle". Probably should just stick to PascalCase and spell it TheDCHuddle it reads better imo. I initially saw it and was confused.

[The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter]

BREAKING: The US Treasury budget deficit surged +67% YoY in December, to $145 billion.

However, for the first 3 months of FY2026, the deficit fell -15% YoY, to $602 billion, the lowest start to a fiscal year since 2023.

This comes as government revenue rose +13% YoY, to a record $1.23 trillion.

This was boosted by tariff revenue, which surged +333% YoY, to $90 billion.

At the same time, government expenditures increased +2% YoY, to a record $1.83 trillion, with interest costs jumping +15% YoY, to $355 billion.

Health and Human Services, Social Security, and debt interest combined totaled $1.27 trillion, representing 69% of total spending.

Still, the US government is on track for a near-$2 trillion deficit this fiscal year.

Deficit spending far too high.

[Terraformation @TF_Global]

The Porcupine Mountains Wilderness in Michigan is home to North America's largest stand of old-growth hardwood-hemlock forest west of the Adirondacks. This area is considered one of the Midwest's last great wildernesses, featuring ancient trees over 500 years old.

[david friedberg @friedberg]

why not just raise income tax rates?

because your real intent is not to just “provide healthcare”.

you’re masking that you are proposing the creation of, for the first time in the 250 years of this American republic, an organized government seizure of private property from citizens.

you’re calling it a “wealth tax” or a “billionaires tax” or “millionaires tax” or whatever nom du jour polls well. but at the end of the day, it’s the seizure of private property from citizens by the government. citizens that earned money, paid their fair taxes on those earnings (53% if they live in California) and are now being told they need to hand over after-tax assets because the government has failed to provide promised services with the revenue it’s collected, and are now re-casting their own failure to be a socio-economic inequity that must be justly resolved... a slippery slope that has never gone anywhere good (see economic effects in USSR, Cuba, Venezuela, France and Norway wealth tax etc.)

the American founders fled tyranny in Europe and this amazing nation was populated by immigrants (myself and your parents) from around the world not just looking for a “better life” but for a place where they could have freedom from tyrannical governments that can take what they want from private citizens. a great nation borne of property rights, the rule of law, and endowed freedoms to believe, speak, or act. these principles led to the greatest run of innovations, successes, and widespread increase in prosperity, for all citizens, ever seen.

the citizens, the individuals, not the institutions, delivered this progress. those who invented, who toiled, who bled, who sacrificed, who took risk and persevered, who led, and who changed the world, are not charlatans, kleptocrats, or oligarchs. they’re what made us all better off. prosperity is a measure of america’s success, not its failure.

it is your principle that is so offensive, as evidenced by the broad disdain for your flippant flirtation with the darkest of human fantasy - socialism. you and other neo-socialists have led so many of us to reflect on America’s history and what it is becoming. that now leads so many to consider, so unnecessarily, leaving their homes for a place where everyone stands up to shout down the principle you suggest. because if your ideas are now considered moderate, it’s clear this titanic is sinking.

that a “simple tax” of taking assets that have been earned, through toil and tribulation, rightly taxed, and preserved, should now be unjustly seized, is your solution to a problem of obvious government mismanagement and outright fraud, tells us that your true motivation lies not in giving people healthcare but in cutting down success and deleting the system of prosperity and opportunity for all.

i don’t care, and neither should anyone else, what the sum total market value of a private citizens private assets might be. it is none of my business and should be none of yours. because, again, once you open that pandora’s box, we might as well study Lord of the Flies … there is literally nothing stopping 51% of citizens demanding that their government go out and seize 100% of the private property of the 49%.

want to give healthcare to people in need? do your job and fix healthcare. make it affordable. want to be lazy about it? then do your job lazily and raise income taxes.

want to take private property from private citizens who have paid their fair share of taxes and legally earned their property, then honestly declare that it is envy, not inequity, that you strive to resolve…

[Per Bylund @PerBylund]

If you're interested specifically in why the American healthcare system is screwed up (because it is *not* a market system), check out this great @econtalker episode with @SurgeryCenterOK . https://t.co/AhAbUeKAN6

[Charlie ⁺ Alex @Chexander]

@netcapgirl We all know Randy is the real Lorde

[American Nostalgia @AmericanNstlg]

remember?

[Charlie ⁺ Alex @Chexander]

@micsolana 🚂🚆 🫛

[Midwest Modern @JoshLipnik]

@m_shelor There are a few interior pics at the top of this page, but none of the bedroom unfortunately https://t.co/7CJuySdl9X

[Charlie ⁺ Alex @Chexander]

@RussoAlmostDead @CasinoBallroom @CCMelodyTent Whenever I see these maps with Michigan always do a double take... One day, good things come to those who wait they say

[Charlie ⁺ Alex @Chexander]

@bryan_johnson instead of almond milk ever try hemp milk (protein, omega3s, arginine, ..)?

Maybe your thinking the hemp seeds covers it

[The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter]

BREAKING: The US budget deficit hit a massive $711 BILLION for the first 3 months of Fiscal Year 2025.

This is ~$200 billion, or 39%, higher than in the same period last year.

The deficit reached $2.0 TRILLION for the full calendar year 2024, up $248 billion YoY.

Also, deficit spending rose from 6.4% to 6.9% GDP in 2024.

Such a high percentage has never been seen outside of wars or major economic crises.

The US budget deficit is at crisis levels.