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"It's unaffordable" is, in the context of the wealthiest country on earth, a statement of priority, not of capability.
Every time.
Every time.
We can take care of every single sick person the minute that we decide that “taking care of sick people” is a basic function of a healthy society rather than a profit center.
We don’t do this because powerful people don’t want a healthy society; they want wealth.
Every time.
We don’t do this because powerful people don’t want a healthy society; they want wealth.
Every time.
And so with education.
And so with infrastructure.
And housing the houseless.
And food for the hungry.
And prison reform.
And so with sustainable energy.
We can have a healthy and just society, but powerful people have convinced too many of us to fear it.
And so with infrastructure.
And housing the houseless.
And food for the hungry.
And prison reform.
And so with sustainable energy.
We can have a healthy and just society, but powerful people have convinced too many of us to fear it.
We're told a person living in a house they didn't pay for is a moral hazard—an offense far greater than watching that person die on streets made deliberately hostile to them.
They say we can't afford it—though houses lie open and unused, though ignoring them actually costs more.
They say we can't afford it—though houses lie open and unused, though ignoring them actually costs more.
To be clear, this lie—that we can't afford to house the houseless—is an *expensive* lie. Not just the considerable moral cost of living in a heartless society: cash on the barrel.
We believe this expensive lie because we believe a deeper lie: that life is something earned.
We believe this expensive lie because we believe a deeper lie: that life is something earned.
The person quite obviously hasn't earned what they don't have, which is shelter. You, housed, quite obviously have.
How terrible, how offensive, to just *give* somebody life you worked for when they've not earned it.
A statement designed to make you want to keep working.
How terrible, how offensive, to just *give* somebody life you worked for when they've not earned it.
A statement designed to make you want to keep working.
And so with education.
And so with infrastructure.
And food for the hungry.
And prison reform.
And so with sustainable energy.
And on and on
Better do without a good thing if someone gets it unearned.
Expensive, expensive lies.
Wasteful lies.
And so with infrastructure.
And food for the hungry.
And prison reform.
And so with sustainable energy.
And on and on
Better do without a good thing if someone gets it unearned.
Expensive, expensive lies.
Wasteful lies.
If you think someone should be denied a basic good on the basis of cost, you believe an expensive lie.
A desire to withhold life from the undeserving will be used to withhold it from all.
The act of withholding will be expensive.
The expense will create a profit opportunity.
A desire to withhold life from the undeserving will be used to withhold it from all.
The act of withholding will be expensive.
The expense will create a profit opportunity.
There are powerful thieves, skilled at turning righteous blades into their owners' bellies, happy to pocket the profits from expensive lies.
Afford?
We can afford anything we decide to.
The powerful thieves, for example, and their expensive lies.
We manage to afford them.
Afford?
We can afford anything we decide to.
The powerful thieves, for example, and their expensive lies.
We manage to afford them.
Expensive lies.
“We can’t afford it” is a statement of priority, not capability.”
https://twitter.com/propublica/status/1207140961228337153?s=21 https://twitter.com/propublica/status/1207140961228337153
“We can’t afford it” is a statement of priority, not capability.”
https://twitter.com/propublica/status/1207140961228337153?s=21 https://twitter.com/propublica/status/1207140961228337153
Expensive lies. https://twitter.com/lydiadepillis/status/1207991973765951488?s=21 https://twitter.com/lydiadepillis/status/1207991973765951488
Expensive lies. https://twitter.com/amikegreen2/status/1208582366630821889?s=20
Expensive lies.
We can't afford these lies anymore. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/11/09/im-gonna-lose-everything/?arc404=true
We can't afford these lies anymore. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/11/09/im-gonna-lose-everything/?arc404=true
Again, "it's unaffordable" is, in the context of the wealthiest country on earth, a statement of priority, not of capability.
Every time.
What is the cost of an uninhabitable planet?
https://twitter.com/heidinbc/status/1235899997381591040?s=21 https://twitter.com/HeidiNBC/status/1235899997381591040
Every time.
What is the cost of an uninhabitable planet?
https://twitter.com/heidinbc/status/1235899997381591040?s=21 https://twitter.com/HeidiNBC/status/1235899997381591040
Again, "it's unaffordable" is, in the context of the wealthiest country on earth, a statement of priority, not of capability.
What is the cost of accommodating disabled people? Wrong question.
Better question: What is the cost of neglecting them?
https://twitter.com/karriehiggins/status/1235694684707663873?s=21 https://twitter.com/karriehiggins/status/1235694684707663873
What is the cost of accommodating disabled people? Wrong question.
Better question: What is the cost of neglecting them?
https://twitter.com/karriehiggins/status/1235694684707663873?s=21 https://twitter.com/karriehiggins/status/1235694684707663873
The lies we believe are *expensive* lies.
How can we afford universal healthcare? Wrong question.
Better question: how can we afford allowing profiteering off of sickness and desperation? https://twitter.com/paulgottinger/status/1235818607327588352?s=21 https://twitter.com/PaulGottinger/status/1235818607327588352
How can we afford universal healthcare? Wrong question.
Better question: how can we afford allowing profiteering off of sickness and desperation? https://twitter.com/paulgottinger/status/1235818607327588352?s=21 https://twitter.com/PaulGottinger/status/1235818607327588352
These lies we’re told are expensive lies.
But how can we afford debt relief? Wrong question.
Better question: how can we afford the cost of generations of highly educated people, shackled for decades to debt?
But how can we afford debt relief? Wrong question.
Better question: how can we afford the cost of generations of highly educated people, shackled for decades to debt?
The outraged question of cost arises for every $1 spent feeding a child.
But we’ll find $100 to drug test each parent, simply to establish worthiness to access that $1
The outrage was never about cost.
It’s certainly never about hungry children.
These are *expensive* lies.
But we’ll find $100 to drug test each parent, simply to establish worthiness to access that $1
The outrage was never about cost.
It’s certainly never about hungry children.
These are *expensive* lies.
Somehow we manage to afford the profiteers but never the solution they provide at a markup.
We can afford prison profiteering, never justice
Healthcare profiteering, never healthcare
Education profiteering, never education
Energy profiteering, not a biosphere
Expensive lies
We can afford prison profiteering, never justice
Healthcare profiteering, never healthcare
Education profiteering, never education
Energy profiteering, not a biosphere
Expensive lies
Also no one ever asks "what is the cost of an unvaccinated population?"
Expensive, expensive, expensive lies. https://twitter.com/WesHagerman/status/1237115548061716480?s=20
Expensive, expensive, expensive lies. https://twitter.com/WesHagerman/status/1237115548061716480?s=20
The cost of solving a problem is the cost of solving the problem.
The cost of avoiding a solution is often higher, and then you still have the problem, which has its own costs—and the interest, compounded daily, of being a society that avoids problems rather than solves them.
The cost of avoiding a solution is often higher, and then you still have the problem, which has its own costs—and the interest, compounded daily, of being a society that avoids problems rather than solves them.
Someone that's telling you that the solution to a problem is unaffordable while ignoring that the problem is unaffordable is telling you an expensive lie.
It's a statement of priority, not capability.
Every time.
It's a statement of priority, not capability.
Every time.
What is the cost of emergency paid sick leave?
Wrong question. And an expensive lie.
Better question: What is the cost of spreading a virus?
We can’t afford any longer these expensive lies, nor the liars who tell them. https://twitter.com/public_citizen/status/1237819685456023552?s=21 https://twitter.com/Public_Citizen/status/1237819685456023552
Wrong question. And an expensive lie.
Better question: What is the cost of spreading a virus?
We can’t afford any longer these expensive lies, nor the liars who tell them. https://twitter.com/public_citizen/status/1237819685456023552?s=21 https://twitter.com/Public_Citizen/status/1237819685456023552
What’s the cost of maintaining a global pandemic team and national capacity to provide needed testing to all citizens regardless of their ability to pay?
Wrong question.
Better question: What is the cost of shuttering your country because you didn’t?
Expensive, expensive lies.
Wrong question.
Better question: What is the cost of shuttering your country because you didn’t?
Expensive, expensive lies.
We spend $10 to avoid sending $5 to somebody we consider unworthy.
Expensive, expensive lies. https://twitter.com/ericlevitz/status/1240695602616229888?s=21 https://twitter.com/EricLevitz/status/1240695602616229888
Expensive, expensive lies. https://twitter.com/ericlevitz/status/1240695602616229888?s=21 https://twitter.com/EricLevitz/status/1240695602616229888
Here we see the bill for our expensive lies, which, like the lie itself, reflects priority far more than capability.
https://twitter.com/rbreich/status/1249069139974443009?s=21 https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1249069139974443009
https://twitter.com/rbreich/status/1249069139974443009?s=21 https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1249069139974443009
Here we see the bill for not paying to maintain a pandemic response team, for not paying the price to institute an early aggressive coordinated response.
This is the bill for believing our expensive lies. https://twitter.com/nprpolitics/status/1257430816642260992?s=20
This is the bill for believing our expensive lies. https://twitter.com/nprpolitics/status/1257430816642260992?s=20
The cost of not paying this "hefty price tag" is another year of pandemic, with all that implies.
Affordability is a statement of priority, not capability, every single time.
Expensive lies. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/15/opinion/universal-basic-income-comes-with-mammoth-price-tag/
Affordability is a statement of priority, not capability, every single time.
Expensive lies. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/15/opinion/universal-basic-income-comes-with-mammoth-price-tag/
What is the cost of sustainable energy? Wrong question.
Right question: what is the cost of not developing sustainable energy?
We have believed expensive lies. https://twitter.com/tomaskenn/status/1304802511963017216
Right question: what is the cost of not developing sustainable energy?
We have believed expensive lies. https://twitter.com/tomaskenn/status/1304802511963017216
What is the cost of not doing this *in the first place?*
Hundreds of thousands of lives lost.
A year of everybody's time.
A broken country.
And we still have to do the thing we tried to avoid.
We're being told expensive, expensive lies. https://twitter.com/CNBCPolitics/status/1326656986784686080?s=20
Hundreds of thousands of lives lost.
A year of everybody's time.
A broken country.
And we still have to do the thing we tried to avoid.
We're being told expensive, expensive lies. https://twitter.com/CNBCPolitics/status/1326656986784686080?s=20
Expensive lies, costing us all benches, when it would be cheaper to simply provide housing to those without—all because the sight somebody suffering needlessly offends, but the thought of somebody receiving life without "earning" it offends far more. https://twitter.com/AshAgony/status/1358853894156259329?s=20
Occasionally they'll slip and state the expensive truth behind their expensive lies.
Every once in a while, they'll give you a peek. https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1341468875007930368?s=20
Every once in a while, they'll give you a peek. https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1341468875007930368?s=20
But we go on believing their expensive lies, perhaps because to reject them would be to let go of the idea that we have earned our own lives.
And so: we'd rather not have an effective immunity program if it means somebody "undeserving" gets vaccinated. https://twitter.com/ketvlincoln/status/1346130986971574273?s=20
And so: we'd rather not have an effective immunity program if it means somebody "undeserving" gets vaccinated. https://twitter.com/ketvlincoln/status/1346130986971574273?s=20
