If a Democrat put an exact copy of the Japanese healthcare system into a bill before US Congress, Republicans would be screaming it’s socialism.
The main reason Japan has such a low crime rate is its very conservative society.
South Africa has a very conservative society too.
Look into Trofim Lysenko and Lysenkoism. His theories helped starve 30 million people.
We are full on in a constitutional crisis. Have been for a while.
I think most people would point out their successful, homogeneous culture
Their culture isn’t any more homogenous than US culture. What you probably mean is they are racially homogenous, but it would be bad to imply that is superior.
The subways there are also private
Japanese trains were state owned until 1987. Once the majority of the tracks were laid (the expensive part), they handed it over for private management.
Another important element to Japans succes is that after WW2 they were banned from building a military which freed up a lot of money for social programs.
Japan doesn’t have socialized medicine. They havle universal care. The government pays 70%.
So the payment for healthcare is socialised. In low income households the government waives the 30% copay. Everyone is covered by law and fees are set by the government. All hospitals must be run as non-profits.
Guns are not banned but heavily restricted.
Handguns are completely banned which are the type of gun used in most crimes in the US. Rifles and shotguns are heavily restricted.
Guns are banned, they have strong environmental protection laws, and they have socialized medicine.
Efficiency and resilience are opposing forces. Think of the spare tire on a car. Is it efficient to carry around a fifth wheel all the time? No. But it is resilient because it will make it possible to quickly recover from a disruption (i.e. a flat tire).
The housing system needs a certain degree of resilience or people end up homeless. If that costs landlords money, too damn bad. It’s the job of government to force them.
I’m not necessarily saying rent control is the best response. It’s just that raising property taxes is going to raise rents which is exactly what the city doesn’t need.
That assumes market forces are doing what you want. There are always levers that can encourage the market to move where you want it to go. For example raising property taxes but giving a 10 year tax break to converted office spaces (and changes to zoning of course).
Then there is the BMW i3 which is fully electric with an optional “range extender” which is basically just a gas generator that charges the battery while you drive.
Until now it has been claimed by manufacturers that the vehicles used only a little or almost no fuel when in the electric mode.
I have a PHEV and the gas engine shuts off completely when in electric mode. I don’t see how it could be using gas when it’s not running. Are they confusing the hybrid mode with electric mode?
Under what definition of fascism do Democrats qualify?
The fact that one of those two parties will win does not mean we need to accept the DNC as a valid representative of the working classes, as they fix nothing and maintain imperialism.
They may or may not fix anything, but the RNC will make things worse. The RMC has enabled a fascist takeover that is stripping rights from LGBT people, spreading contagious diseases with antivax policy, abusing and shooting people dead in the street in the name of border security, initiating a coup in Venezuela by kidnapping a national leader, murdering sailors with drone strikes, and denying the basic civil liberties of millions of residents. You can tell me all day about how bad the DNC is but at the end of the day they are the least worst choice.
Every fascist government in history has taken power in large part because the opposition was too busy fighting amongst themselves. There need to be only to sides right now - fascism and anti-fascism.
Both the DNC and GOP are far-right parties of genocidal imperialists
And one of these will be running the country in 2028. Forming a coalition to fight them is a great long term goal, bit it takes time and momentum.
We need to stop treating capitalist-controlled and run elections as our primary political outlet
As of September 2025, 54% have a positive view of capitalism compared to 39% with a positive view of socialism. Those numbers are converging, but we have at least a decade or two before they cross. We just don’t have the numbers to pull it off.
revolutionary working class parties.
Unions. We need to build unions. When a majority of people see unions working for them against the capitalists, then they will be ready to accept something new.
Another way of looking at this is landlords won’t be able to fancy up units and jack up prices which push out low income renters. Also, if landlords can’t make a profit, they will sell which will allow more people to buy rather than be forced to rent. This does decrease the number of rental units in the future which could drive up prices, but it could be combined with a plan to renovate office spaces into apartments to counteract this.
Rent control works in specific applications. First, it must be short term as a response to market shocks (like a sudden tax increase). It also must have a graduated taper off period where prices are allowed to gradually increase to meet the market rate. With the dramatic increase in work-from-home, office spaces are going empty. This creates an opportunity to counteract the usual reduction in the quantity of rental units that comes with rent freeze. Reductions of red tape and streamlining conversion of office spaces into apartments would stabilize or even increase the number of rental units.
The entire point is that there needs to be a comprehensive strategy, not just a simple tax.
Better pass a rent freeze first or that property tax increase will just get passed on to the people who can afford it least.
Oh look, a meme HELPING fascism.
Give the Taiwanese people Alabama and move them there. Then give China an empty island