I agree with you. Many people aren't doing well, and I empathize with them, but there are varying reasons why they've fallen into financial hardship - much of which, according to the data, stems from poor money management. The evidence supporting this is overwhelming.
Furthermore, when people make bad financial choices that lead to difficult circumstances, they rarely take responsibility - even when it lies squarely in their own lap. Instead, they tend blame others.
I'm not saying that's always the case, but it is true most of the time.
Who is telling you that others and I are worse off? Are you psychic or do you have schizophrenia or something? I just retired comfortably at 57 in the Trump economy. I've never been doing better."
While he actually did say that quote, the context of this meme completely twists what he meant. The meme frames it like a rich guy gloating over the poor, but Warren Buffett and his late wife, Susan, have always been outspoken leftwing progressives.
He wasn't bragging about a victory - he was calling out inequality as a problem that needs fixing. As a conservative myself, I don't agree with his stance on progressive taxation policies, but by misframing his quote like this, you're actually shooting one of your own progressive allies in the foot.
The point of this meme flew right over your head and out the window.
Comparing a standard of modesty to the Taliban is a lazy false equivalence fallacy designed to avoid moral accountability. There is a vast chasm between saying a person deserves to be stalked or harassed (which no legitimate Christian or conservative argument claims) and recognizing that hyper-sexualized clothing provokes carnal attention.
From a biblical and historical perspective, actions have consequences. Men are called by God to exercise strict self-control and purity of mind, and any man acting like a pervert is sinning and failing in his duty. But women also bear a moral responsibility before God regarding how they present themselves.
Scripture commands modesty (1 Timothy 2:9) precisely because human beings are fallen and easily inflamed by lust. Throwing fuel on a fire by promoting or approving of immodest dress and then acting shocked when it provokes aggressive attention is disingenuous.
True freedom isn't the license to manipulate others' basest instincts for validation, as the woman in the bottom half of this split meme is clearly doing, it's exercising the self-control to honor God with both our bodies and our gaze.
You are completely misrepresenting the meme to invent a ridiculous straw man.
Nobody claimed Elon Musk or any individual pays 97% of their personal income or net worth in taxes. The macro IRS statistic is straightforward: out of all the federal income tax revenue collected by the U.S. government, 97% comes from the top 50% of income earners.
Whether you're genuinely confused by basic tax stats or just deliberately twisting the math, claiming "he'd still have money left over if he paid 97%" isn't tax policy - it's an argument for arbitrary capital confiscation. In a real economy, taxes are calculated on earned income under the law, not on a goal post of "we'll keep taking your money until we decide you've had enough.
