Examples like Yellen below making Millions from the very companies she regulates, are not the exception. They are the rule for those who live in and out of Government life.


Whether it is 100% true or not, not that long ago serving in gov't was considered something to do that was a sacrifice. Many wealthy "could not afford to run" as the opportunity cost was just too high as they lived on a Public servant salary while missing out on private sector opportunity.

Something happened, and I do not think it is just a change in perception.

Gov't now attracts everyone from the Super wealthy to the poor because at all levels, if you understand the game you can either make immense wealth while in gov't or set yourself up to profit after.

Ex Presidents just line up to get their cozy positions on the Boards of massive PE Firms like BlackStone Group or Carlyle Group.

Government has devolved into the ultimate grift one can grab a ride on in society. There literally is no position better one could gain if you are looking for a grift gravy train.

Agree or disagree?

The revolving door is a bigger problem. Regardless of how much extra money they make (and I'm not defending excessive speaking fees or whatever), most people in government could earn more outside of government. But doing a hitch in government is often a path to big bucks after you leave, which is why you have the revolving door problem.

Government was, is, and always shall be the Grift that keeps on grifting.

we need justice, and people wonder why i don't trust the government. never will again

Cuepee, you strike me as the ultimate champagne socialist.

Haha kind of fair.

I am very fortunate through out my career and while i do like nice things, I am not defined by them. I've spent my time volunteering in Soup kitchens and donate a lot. I had a gang of Edmonton homeless who would approach me when they would see me coming as they know I would never refuse to buy them a meal. No cash, but pop in a local fast food place or coffee shop and I am buying.

I got in a big argument with a good friend of mine as I believe the wealthy need to be taxed WAY higher, especially on things like Capital Gains which is where both he and I make more money than in any work we do.

He gave the 'but that is taxing me twice' argument saying he was already taxed when he earned it, but I quickly pinned him on how his gains are re-invested for ever more gains and thus were not taxed twice. And asked him 'why he believed that should be taxed less then someone who breaks their back to earn less money'.

He got huffy and called me a socialist. We still hang out.

Agreed Cuepee. Its a grift. Everything is a grift. Mina Chang grifting the white house. Wondered if they all have resumees like this in the white house https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile...ke-time-cover/

i agree with capital gains needs to be tax more esp if ur a multi millionaire or billionaire.
Its sad that i know rich people who knows how to game the system and pay little taxes while the middle and lower class gets f once again.

good for u cuepee acquiring karma points is very important. I do the best i can with my energy n time n resources n wisdom.

The homeless thing is something that speaks to me a bit. When I was with my ex, we talked about maybe how on xmas day we should go and volunteer in a soup kitchen. What did we end up doing? Getting drunk and ****ing. Also, I think we went to some restaurant that charged like 200 a seat on xmas day. For like 2 years.

So, yeah, I mean, if you actually help out with the less fortunate, much respect. I have a lot of experience of talking about helping, and doing **** all about it.

sounds like this: "Why is the FDA funded in part by the companies it regulates?"
stupidist grift ever lol. How the f is this possible?
https://theconversation.com/why-is-t...gulates-160444

I won't pretend I was a mainstay at the Soup Kitchen but I did go help prep food and serve on various occasions and allowed them to put me on their call list for emergency help when they were short staffed or users were surging since I lived near enough by, I could just get up and go in, if I was not already out doing something.

That experience solidified my view as to why people should not hand cash to the homeless. We had multiple homeless who they counseled and were trying to break addiction and they would tell us how they 'fell off the wagon' when some well meaning person handed them a $20 or $50 bill tempting and allowing them to binge like they won the lottery. Completely set back by someone elses good will.

One thing you can do easily is find the local Men's support centre and donate your used clothes that you do not wear anymore as Men's clothes is always in shortage. I would take a garbage bag full of clothes and shoes at least once a year in my spring closet purge. And yes that speaks to me buying too much clothes and my champagne socialism. But that Support Center loved when they would see me come in as I am a big guy (6'4", 195lb) and that clothing was always in shortest supply.

Clothing and toiletries are always welcome as donations at homeless shelters.

I have a friend who gives Subway Restaurant gift cards (instead of cash) to homeless people.

I like the Food Gift Card idea but I could see that becoming easilyt becoming exploited in bigger communities, with an emerging black market for those type of gift cards if that type of 'gift' became to common.

Meaning that a $20 gift card is sold for $15 cash or more to someone who actually will use it for food. Or perhaps a Subway affiliated person will buy it for $10 bucks and just destroy it as the easiest way for a store to make profit without incurring any costs.

Gift cards are massively +EV for retailers. I have no idea what you're talking about.

hes talking about the homeless selling it back for cash and not using it for food, i think u misread his post

i don't have a problem with being a champagne socialist, if you work hard to make good money you deserve luxuries. if you could buy a 1000$ meal or w/e but instead buy 500$ cuz u donated the other 500$ seems fair to me. It just when u are selfish and don't donate anything.

Thanks. Even given that explanation, I don't see the problem. Especially the part about a 'Subway-affiliated person' buying the $20 card for $10 and then destroying it. Homeless guy gets a free $10 and Subway makes a free $10. Guy who originally bought the card is out $20 no matter what happens to it later.

hes trying to say homeless will use that 10$ for drugs so its counter productive to give them gifts card. Just buy food instead of giving them the opportunity to use it on drugs esp when they are trying to quit and or let 3rd party profit from his good deeds

I agree that buying the food directly for the poor person is the best route. But the card is better than the straight cash route.

i agree with that statement

i still sometimes give cash cuz i don't have time or and energy to go get food with them but its probably a mistake to give them cash.
I probably should stop giving cash n go the gift card route which i agree is a better option.

Yes I was just saying if gift cards for food for homeless became common and wide spread I suspect that a blackmarket would evolve where they would just flip them for cash, at the going rate and buy drugs with the cash. Or you might even see drug dealers accept them as payment at the going rate and then monetizing them.

At that point rather than giving the homeless a $20 gift card, he gets $12 for and having $8 eaten up by the profiteers, just hand the homeless guy the $12 instead.

But yes gift cards for food would be better than cash unless you knew that type of blackmarket existed.

Well said, sir.

go help out at a soup kitchen on some random day. they get tons of volunteers on holidays but are often short staffed otherwise.

This thread hasn't gone the direction I expected from the title, but personally I think I've wasted too much time thinking about what's the best thing to do for a homeless person you pass by. I don't know if you have anything like it but I know there are charities here where if you give them a call and an approximate location they'll send someone out to try and engage the person and provide resources to them.

The other thing I've read from charities, and based on a good friend who works for one, is that just as much as what you give them taking the two minutes to treat them like an actual person is a huge thing. We've probably all done it, so I'm not judging, but how many people walk past a homeless person everyday and refuse to look at them, refuse to converse with them, won't even give a polite "No, sorry" when asked for change. It's thoroughly demoralising and demeaning to be in their situation. Even if you don't always give them food or money, being someone who gives a smile and a nod as you walk by is invaluable.

There's a Big Issue seller (a charity project where they give homeless people magazines to sell to help them get a little bit of an income going) near me, and I ended up talking to her and finding out she was getting the train into town everyday because where she was already had too many sellers. Turned out she was getting accommodation finally, on the way up financially, and had a kid on the way. Anyway, my Mum's an avid knitter and always has stacks of useless stuff she's waiting to gift, so I took her a baby blanket. I didn't think anything of it, but it meant the world to her that someone had taken the time to talk to her and remember something personal.

Went on one of anecdotal rambles again, but point is you can waste an awful lot of time thinking about the "best" way to give to homeless people when if you're concerned about their mental health the best thing you can do is give whatever you were thinking of and then treat them like a person for five minutes.

Thats crazy, that is the exact amount that I gave the last homeless. 20 euro, I think if had given a gift card he would have lost it imo or not know what to do with it. It def would have been of less use to him. Only cash as a hard currency is what theses folks can use. He was drunk and was looking for a place to sleep. Giving him 20 Euros made him smile. So yes, good thing you guys brought it up.

I did think he was gonna buy alcohol with it, and he did. I know because I hang out with him for 30 min. Whatever they do they are doing anyways, be it buy drugs or alcohol. Im living near a park where homeless people are looking for a place to sleep. Whenever I see someone that looks really f up I give him some money. Mostly 5 or 10 Euro. I know what I do most people arent doing. But I do it. Last time I passed a old guy with a shopping cart in the middle of the night and thought wtf is this guy doing there. He was pushing this cart and was barely getting forward. So I turned and handed him 10. It was in the middle of winter, minus outside. F man I felt bad for this guy. Sometimes people dont apreciate what they have. They always are smiling when I give them something, I have not seen one rude homeless that I helped and you can see those are humans with bad luck.

Anyways, are you guys telling me that is getting me karma points? Because I honesltly think so. Whenever I do it, I think Im running better at poker.