So when politicians go spending taxpayer dollars on lavish parties, us, the public who payed for it, get to find out and will therefore have the right to be able to make enquiries as to the probably ridiculous things the tax money that comes out of our pockets get spent on.

Also, would be kind of cool to walk past a random sidewalk in a city you've never visited and know you helped pay for it. Would also help you feel like tax isn't just money we are forced to give away, but we can be able to the see what we've contributed to.

Introduced: Sponsor: Rep. Jim McDermott [D-WA7]

This bill was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means which will consider it before sending it to the House floor for consideration.

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GOTS, part 1.1

GOTS, part 1.2

GOTS, part 1.3

Hey apes.

tldr: this post is the first section of a long post broken into 3 parts (it's really fucking long). It's about the corruption that almost broke GameStop and is still very much a market issue that we're dealing with as GameStop shareholders. In other words, this post identifies some of the people who've been fucking with our favorite stock, among others, and possibly sheds light on the meaning of some of DFV and RC's recent tweets. Lots of corruption. Seriously disturbing stuff. And I think we're getting set up for a regulatory trap we can side step if we understand the game we've entered. Please take the time for this one.

How many of you have watched the evolving manipulation of the meme stock narrative by hedge fund and bank controlled media outlets since January? I have, and it’s been a fascinating shitshow. One of my serious hopes is that our community is the first step in a legitimized demand for the journalistic integrity we’re showing, especially in market journalism. So as much as we’re memeing Melissa Lee at CNBC and though I think she’s the most beautiful woman in the world when she says “naked shorts” then analyzes her whoopsie with Shocked Pikachu Face retracement indicators that are GameStop bullish, here’s the fucked up thing that I hope we’re all grasping:

Melissa Lee was probably getting ripped to shreds in her earpiece in that moment for telling the truth. Why? Because saying “naked shorting” is probably on a banned speech list at CNBC. Why? Something we should all know by now: the hedge funds and their bank friends actually own the market media outlets (directly; they’re on the paperwork) and, when you’re caught in a bad market yolo, the truth is costly unless you can suppress it or manipulate the people who’ve called your bluff toward wrong conclusions.

That said, and to be transparent, I think what we’re witnessing with companies outside of GameStop in the memes stock event is the set up for a devastating pump and dump that 1) helps hed

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced today that the first monthly payment of the expanded and newly-advanceable Child Tax Credit (CTC) from the American Rescue Plan will be made on July 15. Roughly 39 million households — covering 88% of children in the United States — are slated to begin receiving monthly payments without any further action required.

IRS and Treasury also announced the increased CTC payments will be made on the 15th of each month unless the 15th falls on a weekend or holiday. Families who receive the credit by direct deposit can plan their budgets around receipt of the benefit. Eligible families will receive a payment of up to $300 per month for each child under age 6 and up to $250 per month for each child age 6 and above.

The maximum Child Tax Credit in 2021 to $3,600 for children under the age of 6 and to $3,000 per child for children between ages 6 and 17.

Households covering more than 65 million children will receive the monthly CTC payments through direct deposit, paper check, or debit cards, and IRS and Treasury are committed to maximizing the use of direct deposit to ensure fast and secure delivery. While most taxpayers will not be required to take any action to receive their payments, Treasury and the IRS will continue outreach efforts with partner organizations over the coming months to make more families aware of their eligibility.

Additional information for taxpayers on how they can access the Child Tax Credit will be available soon at IRS.gov/childtaxcredit2021.

My original refund was around 150, but it was reduced to around 30 dollars. The issue is, they already deposited the 150 into my account.

Do I pay back the difference immediately? Or do I wait for them to contact me to repay it?

I've flaired this as Possible DD, and although I don't have the time to get very deep on the topic, I am hopeful some others may be able to pick up on the bread crumb trail left here and quantify some of the assumptions and assertions that are made.

As we have all learned so much about how the financial markets work over the past few months, I decided to take a slight plunge into learning about our general economic policies that the Fed uses to manage our economy. As a lot of the financial market findings connect back to the Fed, I felt that this was a natural next step. Just like to understand how the value of a security changes in the markets you need to understand how the markets operate, to understand how the markets operate you also need to understand the larger macroeconomic picture.

Modern Monetary Theory:

I will be pasting what I consider to be the key points to understand from this article, but definitely recommend reading this any other information on the topic: https://www.investopedia.com/modern-monetary-theory-mmt-4588060

"The central idea of MMT is that governments with a fiat currency system under their control can and should print (or create with a few keystrokes in today’s digital age) as much money as they need to spend because they cannot go broke or be insolvent unless a political decision to do so is taken.

Some say such spending would be fiscally irresponsible, as the debt would balloon and inflation would skyrocket. But according to MMT:

• Large government debt isn’t the precursor to collapse that we have been led to believe it is;
• Countries like the U.S. can sustain much greater deficits without cause for concern; and
• A small deficit or surplus can be extremely harmful and cause a recession since deficit spending is what builds people’s savings.

MMT theorists explain that debt is simply money that the government put into the economy and didn’t tax back. They also argue that comparing a government’s budgets to that of an average household is a mistake.

While supporters of the theory acknowledge that inflation is theoretically a possible outcome from such spending, they say it is highly unlikely and can be fought with policy decisions in the future if required. They often cite the example of Japan, which has much higher public debt than the U.S.

*According to MMT, the only limit that the government has when it comes to spending

As the title states, Mayor Lewis is a corrupt mayor who has been:

1. Committing election fraud to stay in power.
2. Embezzling money from Stardew Valley.
3. Running a monopoly on all public services.
4. Acting as a middleman to illicitly profit off the work of the player.
5. Providing kickbacks and cronyistic treatment to support his ventures.
6. Spending city money on extravagant personal purchases to the detriment of necessary services.
7. Committing bribery and other ethics violations.
8. Controlling the lives of the townsfolk to maintain the status quo.

I had this thought while playing through the amazing game Stardew Valley for the fourth time. From what I can tell, this is not a totally new thought or idea but from searching on the subreddit, I have never seen anyone comprehensively present the evidence.

EDIT: Thank you /u/lilyluc for some corrections!

Election Fraud

One of the things Lewis can say to you is:

>“I've been Mayor of Pelican Town for over twenty years! No one ever runs against me when it's time for an election. I like to think that it means I'm doing my job well. I like being Mayor.”

Lewis has been in his current gig for over 20 years, and somehow nobody runs against him. Maybe that is true, but why is that? It is because there are no elections run in Pelican Town. Mayoral terms in the United States are on average 4 years, with over 99% being 4 years or less. While this is not the United States, we can use that as a frame of reference. To test this theory, I had my game run for over 10 years without a single mayoral election happening or even any discussion. There are literally no elections in which anyone can de-throne Lewis. It is not hard to be a perpetual leader if there is no competition allowed – this is from the dictatorship handbook.

When the topic of how Lewis became mayor in the first place comes up, Lewis avoids the topic and tries to move on, stating:

>“How did I become Mayor in the first place? It’s a long story. We’re both too busy for stories right now.”

He never returns to this subject. There is obviously a story here, and likely a sordid one.

Embezzlement and Monopoly on Public Services

Public services are necessary to run a functioning town. Electrical grids, trash collection, mail services, transportation, law enforcement, building maintenance, sewer system, and more are all necessary. In this town, all of this is run by Lewis himself. Despite profiting off these ventures and having a virtual

Introduced: Sponsor: Rep. Jim McDermott [D-WA7]

This bill was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means which will consider it before sending it to the House floor for consideration.

Rep. Jim McDermott [D-WA7] is a member of the committee.

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