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#election

Edited by Spawn: 1/28/2016 1:46:17 AM
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Bernie Sanders' Economic Policy explained in Destiny Terms

Bernie Sanders' campaign is built on what he and many others call wealth inequality, his entire economic policy is built on addressing this "issue". In an effort to promote understanding of his widely popular policies I will now explain them and how they work within the scope of Destiny. Let's begin.. Commander Zavala's term is finished and elections are in process to select a new commander of the Vanguard. The Speaker tried running but was deemed "out of touch and too old" for this young generation of guardians. In a close election between Bernie Sanders and Cayde-6, Cayde-6's past habits of boozing and womanizing come out after a string of sexual harassment accusations from Petra Venj and Amanda Holliday. Bernie Sanders ends up pulling ahead and winning after this information becomes public. Sweeperbot mounts an unsuccessful 3rd party campaign. Bernie Sanders is sworn in as Commander of the Vanguard and vows to tackle the problem of wealth inequality among Guardians. Wealth in Destiny consists of a combination of exotics, god-roll legendaries, strange coins, and light level (among other things). Let's face it some guardians are much wealthier than others! Bernie vows to fight this wealth inequality "these 1-percenters have way too much wealth, why does a guardian need a last word, a black spindle, and a chaperone? They can't even equip all of them at once!" Bernie goes on to say "I've seen these 1-percenters, some of them have two Twilight Garrisons, Thorns, Party Crashers with rangefinder and rifled barrel, and HUNDREDS of strange coins. How can an up and coming guardian ever attain that sort of wealth when they're only getting 30 or so strange coins a week? These 1-percenters have all the exotics they could ever need and yet they still horde hundreds of strange coins and three of coins, it's not fair!" To make things "fair" Bernie hikes taxes on guardians that have an "excessive" amount of exotics and strange coins, if you have over 15 exotics you are hit with a 45% tax. You must pay the new Vanguard gov't 45% of your exotics or strange coins. If you have 20 exotics you pay a 60% tax on your exotics and strange coins, and if you have 35+ exotics you pay a 75% tax. It's only "fair". The new gov't then begins to subsidize Xur. As a result, Xur now provides two exotics and 10 three of coins a week to underprivileged guardians for "free". Regular guardians notice a spike in prices for exotics from Xur, armor prices rise to 18 strange coins a piece, weapon engrams rise to 25 strange coins, three of coins are now 10, and legacy engrams (a luxury item) come up to 50 strange coins a piece. Guardians who worked hard for their exotics and strange coins are ridiculed for being "wealthy", they were simply "lucky" they had RNG on their side. Never mind the fact that they spent hours raiding and grinding in Iron Banner, their high light level and collections of exotics/strange coins aren't the result of their hard work, they only have all that because of "luck" and it's "unfair". Bernie's economic policy and crippling taxes destroy all the incentive to raid and grind Iron Banner. "Why would I spend all that time and energy raiding when Bernie is just gonna tax and take most of my hard earned loot?" guardians ask. "Hell I could just sit back, pound some beers, and shoot dregs on patrol while collecting those "free" exotics and three of coins from Xur every week" other guardians say. As a result, wealthy guardians leave the tower, swear their allegiance to the Queen, and move to Reef (taking their exotics, strange coins, and possessions with them). Suddenly, no one is left to pay for the expensive subsidies and programs that supply underprivileged guardians with "free" exotics and three of coins. Without the "wealthy" to tax and pay for the gov't programs, these social programs go insolvent and suddenly Xur stops providing goods to underprivileged guardians. Meanwhile since their is still so much debt the higher prices on Xur's goods remain, sparking a revolt. Both the underprivileged and middle class guardians are unable to afford these high priced exotics and three of coins. The remaining guardians have become dependent on government and expect to be provided with something, however, Bernie's new Vanguard gov't is reeling in debt from providing all these "free" goods and services. The people begin to uprise (just like in every other example of socialism) and a coup is organized to oust Bernie from the Vanguard. One morning Bernie is walking outside with his bodyguard and is attacked by Cayde-6, Bernie and his bodyguard both fire their shotguns but Cayde-6 is 10 feet away and just outside of range. Cayde then quickly dispatches both of them from 10 feet away with his 1000YS sniper. Cayde-6 then embarks on a campaign to make the Vanguard great again. Meanwhile, the Reef has transformed into an economic powerhouse where guardians are eager to work hard, take risks, and keep the rewards of their work. The Reef has low taxes but because there is so much wealth their revenues remain strong, couple this with the fact that the Reef doesn't blow money on redistribution and social programs, and what do you know... They're running a budgetary surplus!! Moral of the story: Capitalism > "Democratic" Socialism Rand Paul 2016 ...and if he doesn't get the nomination any other Republican 2016, they're all more economically literate than Bernie! Edit: Lots of people showing love and lots of people hating. To the haters all I gotta say is supply and demand is LAW. Learn it, live it, love it. Bernie sure doesn't... Edit 2: Over-regulation is a bad thing. In Destiny terms, was Destiny better when it first came out or after all of Bungie's various nerfs and buffs? I think we know the answer... Edit 3: This post sure got crazy, kinda like Bernie Sander's economic policies. For all the haters I have one statement, supply and demand determines value. This is an irrefutable economic truth. Bernie's policies attempt to assign value in opposition to supply and demand. That is why his policies are guaranteed to fail. To everyone that showed some love, YOU ROCK!!

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  • I n the world of destiny every player has an opportunity to obtain these exotic items. They will be there as long as the proper quests are completed. In real life capital is scarce and most at the top get to keep all of it. In the real world, if the exotic item is owned by someone, there is a very slim chance you will not get to own it.

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  • I find is stupid. I remember back in year one when I had 8 ghorns and a bunch of my friends had none. I would gladdy give away all the ghorns so everyone had a chance to get it instead of hording them for no god damn reason. It's called being human and treating other people right. Simple as that. I feel like people that are all about trickle down economics dont like people. They enjoy hearing about people starve. Or to be fair they never had to struggle so they dont understand. Did you know that almost 50,000 people in America, "The Greatest Country in the world" die every year because they don't have access to medical care? Thats -blam!-ed. Take a stab at how many people in canada die a year from that same reason? Hmmm.... NONE! NO one.

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  • Life isn't RNG. You're an idiot and Libertarian ideas are dumb. #FeelTheBern

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    • Edited by chittyshwimp: 1/28/2016 8:14:48 AM
      I'll just leave this video here, because op put economic inequality in quotes as if it isn't real. How the wealth actually IS in the US, using destiny terms (but not really because the world is much more intricate than a game, I'm just hoping this dumbed-down response will get OP's attention since he's been dodging these questions like Republicans being asked if they'd be comfortable if someone with a gun walked into their government office building) The tower requires that you pay 300 strange coins a week. For food, storage, living space, etc. The weekly heroic strike will earn you roughly 305. But! You can get an education, so you can go into more intricate strikes and earn more strange coins. Sounds great, right? Well, it costs thousands of strange coins. "But how will I pay for education if I only get to keep 5 of my coins? Well, the tower can loan you with interest. And even after you finish, you aren't guaranteed more strange coins. You have to get into a good group first. But if your 6 months is up before you find a group, tough luck. There goes the 300 coins you'd get weekly. Oh, and there's part of the population, born into families with billions of strange coins. But despite having earned those extra coins by paying other guardians as little as legally allowed, they "worked hard" for it.

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      • Edited by Colonel Roy Mustang: 1/28/2016 11:13:25 PM
        OP is an idiot.

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      • What I thought of when I read that sexual harassment part.

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      • Edited by Comptonburger: 1/27/2016 7:41:19 AM
        The trickle down economics that you advocate are a farce invented by Reagan. Tax breaks for the rich are responsible for the explosion of our national debt, extreme income inequality, and death of the middle class. When you give tax breaks to the rich, they do not hire more employees, they do not pay their employees better - they save that money, invest it, do share buybacks, all while laying off employees. This is all easily proven. No actual economist would ever advocate trickle down economics. You need only look at the picture I have provided. The explosion in our national debt begins during Reagan's presidency in the early 80s when several of the top tax brackets were eliminated. There's no debating this.

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        • Typical American. Still believing your capitalist ideals are "justifiable" or "sustaining". [spoiler]Some socialism and capitalism is great when practiced in equal measure. The rich MUST be kept in check to prevent corruption, and the poor has to be given an opportunity for a better life. That is the concept you spoiled brats never seem to grasp.[/spoiler]

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          • Respectfully, this is a lot of work to support a really asinine comparison. (disclaimer: I am an independent voter with zero party affiliations - or love, but I am a 48 year old guardian who reads a lot of political thought. I'm adding this only for the sake of intelligent conversation) Don't play into the dumbed-down narrative on either side of U.S. politics. The problem is not "rich people," its that the global economy is being stripped clean by a teeny, tiny fraction of financial institutions and billionaires because they can manipulate both the stock market and world governments. That is Sanders' platform: we have an environment where a wealthy person or firm can not only rig the market to accumulate tax-free wealth, but also manipulate policy to keep the cash flow constant. America is basically like a Big Fat Guy, with "the fat" being the non-producing financial class. It's important to have some fat, because it keeps the whole organism healthy. Fat is really good at protecting itself though, because it sees itself as the energy reserves the body will need if there's no food. The US is more profitable than ever, but these "fat pockets" have diverted so much wealth into accounts that just sit there - so the rest of the body starts to break down trying to carry its huge ass around. Logic dictates that if you're fat, you need to shake that energy loose so the rest of the body can utilize it, but your fat cells will throw warning signals into the system because that's what fat does - it insulates itself. People start to get scared about their overall well-being, and ultimately vote against their best interests in exactly the same way that a Big Fat Guy stays on the couch, for fear that he might have a heart attack. Sanders isn't going to confiscate bank accounts - his point is that if billions are being maneuvered around the stock market, then by taxing stock market transactions incrementally we can help the body of our society to repair itself. If you're a regular person and maybe doing hundreds or thousands of dollars in investing, it might cost you a few bucks. If you're using millions or billions of dollars like chess pieces, you'll be helping society - and also abusing the system less because its no longer free to do so. If you think it's a crock of shyt that corporations are buying and selling the government that's supposed to keep your interests first, then pay attention to the background of each candidate and see where they got their money - and even if you don't agree with all of their positions, pay close attention to the ones who are clearly just telling you whatever you want to hear to get elected, and the ones who really give a damn about creating a government that works for everyone, regardless of income level. Destiny is a game. This isn't.

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            • People born in high status will always love wealth inequality. Try living on the streets a few days. People work two jobs and still can't afford to feed their families only because they weren't born rich. No ability to get that degree with no money. Republicans and democrats are both wrong. US needs a whole new house and senate. These assholes are outdated and selfish rich pigs.

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            • Edited by CitrusTheNile: 1/28/2016 4:30:39 PM
              Nice try. In Destiny there is no advantage to having more exotics than another person unless you have the exotics that are a part of the meta. After you have those the rest don't matter. There is no widening gap between new players and older players since there is a physical cap in progression in this game. Everyone has access to obtain the things in game as opposed to people who are systematically oppressed. There is no systemic oppression in Destiny and no biased wages i.e. in Destiny it doesn't matter if you are human, awoken, exo, male, or female. All of the game is equally accessible to everyone. I will also call you out on the [b]death threat on Bernie Sander's life. [/b] Considering in the real world there are much less extreme actions, but you choose in your story to go with the death of Bernie Sander's. [spoiler]#FeeltheBern[/spoiler] Side note: If the US can afford to spend ~10 times more than the second most expensive military power in the world, there is no reason college and healthcare shouldn't be free. For example, the numbers average around 600 billion for the US. Russia, the most cited second place, has a measly ~70 billion.

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              • the thing is the 1% are literally so rich they wouldn't notice the taxes, you could take a million dollars away from a billionaire and they still wouldn't notice. do you even know how much a billion is?

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                • I also like to look at it like this. Some people buy Destiny, and they already have friends who have the game. They are easily carried and assisted through everything in the game, given the best tips and methods to reach a high light level quickly. Then there are those who don't have friends who play, some might not even have Xbox Live/PS plus, and are forced to figure out everything themselves, which leads to a longer grind which is frustrating and eventually leads to player to stop playing (or in real world terms- turn to crime) Some people are born into enviorments that they can easily achieve great thing, some cannot. It's pretty easy to become a multi-millionaire when you had a small loan of a million dollars compared to someone who had none.

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                  • I never understand poor people defending rich people and their abuses of our political and economic systems. This post is either a rich person (or more likely someone with rich parents) or a deluded moron. Probably both. Go get educated and stop filling these forums with Fox news propaganda. What a dumbass you have proven yourself to be.

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                    • There's a massive difference between exotics in a video game, and having money to pay rent.

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                      • So Republicans are so good with money that is why that Democrats pay 70% of taxes and Republicans pay 30% and Republicans get 80% on tax return while Democrats get 20% so why would Republicans know what to do with money

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                        • As someone with a Bachelors in Economics, an MBA and soon to be CPA.....wow.......just wow....... So many false causalities..... So many incorrect assumptions...... So little understanding of how a demand economy with a regulated money supply works...... Supply and Demand determines value....that's so precious....so adorable..... Have a cookie for making me smile with your infantile economic reasoning.

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                          • Your analogy is false. The fundamental problem with your manifesto is that everyone who purchases this game and drops the disc into their console of choice starts at the same point. Nobody gets more starting gear than anyone else, everyone has the same opportunity to grind for stuff, and nobody gets a de facto advantage in acquiring loot. This is not the case in reality and your failure to recognize this demonstrates a juvenile understanding of the world you live in. Whether it is an underfunded, dilapidated school system, a background of absolute poverty, or a social stigma that removes opportunity, not everyone in the real world had the same starting point or the same opportunities to succeed. Not everyone has a father that can give them a 'small loan' of a million dollars. I don't agree with everything Sanders has to say, but comparing a video game economy to the real-world complexities of poverty, discrimination, and economic equality is just about the dumbest thing I have seen this year. So....kind of what I would expect from a Paul supporter.

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                            • Checking in. Yep, everyone still disagrees with OP. *leaves*

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                            • Edited by VisageOfAnAngel: 1/28/2016 1:52:43 AM
                              It must torment you knowing that Bernie Sander is going to win. Western Illinois University picked him as the clear winner by a threefold landslide victory and they've been accurately predicting (as in 100% accuracy) these elections for 40 years now. #FeelTheBern

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                            • So inaccurate. I'm afraid to comment because I don't want any more young people reading this horseshit.

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                              • "It wasn't easy for me, my father gave me a small loan of 1,000,000 strange coins"

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                                • Stop this. Your rudimentary understanding of economics is embarrassing. Dont politicize Destiny. If you dont like Socialist programs so much, dont you dare use freeways, roads, dont go to public universities, no public school for you! Play your game and let the adults vote.

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                                  • The republican establishment made a deliberate, conscious decision to court the ‘racist white asshole’ vote that the democratic party establishment lost after a democratic president signed off on the Civil Rights Act The republican establishment embraced and promoted ‘prosperity theology’ to let the super-rich claim divine right to excuse the even increasing inequality that resulted from their policies, to put a ‘Christian’ stamp on their most un-christ-like behavior and economic philosophy, and to encourage their base to seal their right-leaning political affiliations behind an unthinking unreasoning shell of faith that would allow neither self criticism nor compromise. The republican party establishment specifically rejected, and encouraged its voters to reject, rationality and science when those things proved to be at odds to the profit interests of their corporate sponsors or the fundamentalist dogma of their prosperity theology spokesmen. And now, the Republican establishment is shocked to find their voting base utterly overrun with unthinking racist assholes who cannot be reasoned with, desperate to hand the reigns of power over to a super-rich megalomaniac.

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                                    • I'm a college student who is not blinded by this "free tuition" BS. Vote Republican

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