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 I wish I could say I was joking, but this is literally what happened nopantsjack posted:Are any of you guys still living in the Philippines at this point? Because if so get out jesus christ Not quite middle-class enough to afford emigration. If I stop posting one day, you'll know why
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Oct 7, 2017 19:22
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nopantsjack posted:Are any of you guys still living in the Philippines at this point? Because if so get out jesus christ While it might look grim, reading Twitter and news stories doesn't always give you the real picture of what it is just being a normal person minding their business in a country. I know several filipinos who just go about their lives as if nothing happened since Duterte; I haven't heard them complain about a single thing. I'm betting it's precisely the same in the USA since Trump came to power; it's 99.9% news media mud-slinging bullshit that has no impact on peoples' everyday lives, unless they read said stupid media stories and let them anger them. The people most annoyed are people who for some reason can't help following the worthless news.
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Oct 7, 2017 22:02
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Pilsner posted:While it might look grim, reading Twitter and news stories doesn't always give you the real picture of what it is just being a normal person minding their business in a country. I know several filipinos who just go about their lives as if nothing happened since Duterte; I haven't heard them complain about a single thing. I'm betting it's precisely the same in the USA since Trump came to power; it's 99.9% news media mud-slinging bullshit that has no impact on peoples' everyday lives, unless they read said stupid media stories and let them anger them. The people most annoyed are people who for some reason can't help following the worthless news. Yeah that's true, people of a privileged class often don't have to worry about whatever terrible human rights violations are happening in their country, good job. Spoiler: You are human garbage for not giving a drat about what's happing and for not having empathy for other human beings.
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Oct 8, 2017 00:58
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Pilsner posted:While it might look grim, reading Twitter and news stories doesn't always give you the real picture of what it is just being a normal person minding their business in a country. I know several filipinos who just go about their lives as if nothing happened since Duterte; I haven't heard them complain about a single thing. I'm betting it's precisely the same in the USA since Trump came to power; it's 99.9% news media mud-slinging bullshit that has no impact on peoples' everyday lives, unless they read said stupid media stories and let them anger them. The people most annoyed are people who for some reason can't help following the worthless news. The people most annoyed in the US are the people who may unexpectedly have their citizenship revoked or have their family or friends suddenly arrested by ICE or even just be denied the ability to afford treatment for their healthcare. You know, people following worthless news.
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Oct 8, 2017 01:00
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Coxswain Balls posted:My cousin is going back to visit for a few weeks with their two year old to meet the family. I think they're going straight to the provinces; is it really bad up there as well? Luzon and Visayas are pretty okay, but there's going to be tight security (theater) and checkpoints in Mindanao owing to the Martial Law. Take your regular tourist precautions and you'll be fine (insofar as anything worse that happens isn't something that you can actively plan for).
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Oct 8, 2017 05:26
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Pilsner posted:I'm betting it's precisely the same in the USA since Trump came to power; it's 99.9% news media mud-slinging bullshit that has no impact on peoples' everyday lives, unless they read said stupid media stories and let them anger them. Yeah, not a lot of general focus on the "bad," outside of, you know, millions worried about losing healthcare, the looming possibility of another, maybe nuclear, war, tons of people concerned about immigration statuses and DACA, consistent mass shootings that seem to outdo the last, the rise of neo-Nazism... Things like that. Other than that, MSM bullshit.
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Oct 11, 2017 05:58
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Palace downplays ‘revocation’ of Philippine membership in UNHRC October 10, 2017 - 12:00am quote:Malacañang yesterday downplayed claims that the Philippines’ membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) may be revoked because of the alleged extrajudicial killings committed under the Duterte administration. Duterte on threat of PH removal from UN: ‘Do it now’ 04:49 PM October 12, 2017 quote:President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday remained unfazed on the threat of international parliamentarians to remove the Philippines from the United Nations (UN) if the government fails to stop the extrajudicial killings. https://twitter.com/inquirerdotnet/status/918414558682689536 https://twitter.com/ANCALERTS/status/918394299309420544
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Oct 12, 2017 11:12
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Time to pack it in and get out guys.
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Oct 12, 2017 12:24
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lmao the hits from this one press conference (to unveil a new press room, ffs) just keeps coming: Duterte says he refused '$18-20 million' from UK quote:President Rodrigo Duterte said he has "refused" $18-20 million from the United Kingdom, as he lashed out again at European countries on Thursday, October 12. If it weren't for the fact that we'd already rejected an earlier offer, I'd have thought he was pulling another tall tale out his rear end. Also, guess who came over to visit: Duterte meets with Steven Seagal in Malacañang
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Oct 12, 2017 15:55
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A play in three acts: Full story  Full story  Full story
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Oct 13, 2017 16:44
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The jeepney industry is holding a transportation strike today (Oct 16) and tomorrow, protesting the Duterte administration's jeepney modernization program If you don't know what jeepneys are, wikipedia has a pretty good overview, but a quick briefing is that they're derived from old US Army jeeps that have had their rear-ends extended to become public transportation capable of carrying 10-20 people. They fill a hole between buses (long-haul/main-road trips) and tricycles (one/two-person, short distance transportation). They've been a thing for about 70 years now, and the government wants to replace/modernize them all. The plan is for the government to buy-out all of the existing jeepneys in the country, and have them all replaced with either electric jeepneys, or contemporarily-designed jeepneys that comply with Euro-4 emissions standards. This is as opposed to current jeeps, which "only" comply with Euro-2 emissions standards, and that's if they're relatively new, which a lot of jeeps aren't. Most jeeps are 10 years old, or older. All jeepney owners are going to get their old units bought out from them for 30k PHP / ~590 USD as a "salvage fee", and then they'll have to buy the newer jeeps, estimated to cost around 1.1 to 1.5 million PHP / ~21,500 USD. Since most jeepney drivers are, to be blunt, poor, the new jeep purchases will be subsidized, with something like a 6% interest rate, and the talking point is that a driver would have to allot about 800 PHP / 15 USD per day to pay it off. The immediate problem with this scheme is that, on average, a jeepney driver only makes about 600 PHP / 11 USD per day. So they're being asked to make payments on something that's already larger than what they make total. Another measure included in the plan is to oblige all drivers to be the member of a cooperative or a consortium, in order to be granted a working franchise. That is to say, individual drivers can no longer apply for a franchise by themselves. The issue with THAT measure, is that there's a 20-25 million PHP / 440k USD minimum capitalization amount for any jeepney-operating group, which pretty much means the industry will be forced to concentrate into corporate bodies, since even driver co-ops can't manage that kind of capital. These big private transport companies tend to be bad news for drivers because they use a "boundary system" - the first 500 to 1000 PHP goes straight to the company, and the driver only gets to keep what's made over and above that. Both the bus and taxi industries already do this So the jeepney unions are striking today and tomorrow (and they've already held strikes about this I think 3 or 4 times before earlier this year) to protest the implementation of the plan because it's a financial burden that individual drivers will not be able to meet, it's a gigantic handout to large private operators, it's going to eliminate the "individual driver" as a unit, and the concentration of the industry to private operators will result in drivers being forced to work for employers that engage in predatory labor practices.
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Oct 16, 2017 07:58
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You'd think Duterte would just be too drat dumb to pull this plan out of his rear end but then again he like every other dimestore tyrant in history is presumably advised by people who are using him to make themselves a whole lot of money.
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Oct 16, 2017 08:05
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In other news, the two leaders of the Maute uprising in Marawi were reportedly killed this morning in a firefight with the military. We can expect a MISSION ACCOMPLISHED speech sometime this week, if not later today. I'm hoping that this also means Duterte finally lifts the Martial Law order over Mindanao, but I know he could just as easily turn around and keep it going under the guise of "continued peacekeeping operations" or whatever. FAUXTON posted:You'd think Duterte would just be too drat dumb to pull this plan out of his rear end but then again he like every other dimestore tyrant in history is presumably advised by people who are using him to make themselves a whole lot of money. It's kind of sad really, because the jeepney industry is such an ingrained part of the Philippine public transportation system that only an authoritarian iron fist like Duterte's could force-through the kind of one-shot, top-down reform that it needs. A more liberal administration like Aquino's wouldn't be able to pull this off, what with lobbyists holding up the process and technocrats squabbling over implementation details. So then Duterte is trying to do it ... but it's some free-market bullshit anyway instead of nationalizing the entire industry or even just buying out and replacing the jeepneys, period.
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Oct 16, 2017 08:20
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I can't imagine the jeepney thing goes anywhere, it really is central to a lot of commuting and dare I say it even national identity. When I lived there and wanted to head to SM in QC I'd just jump on one and Bam 20 pesos later, the occasional car accident and fist fight later you're there. I'd also be sad to not see things like badly off model Goku, sonic, Jesus and various family members air brushed on a side panel any more.
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Oct 17, 2017 00:03
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Scaramouche posted:I can't imagine the jeepney thing goes anywhere, it really is central to a lot of commuting and dare I say it even national identity. When I lived there and wanted to head to SM in QC I'd just jump on one and Bam 20 pesos later, the occasional car accident and fist fight later you're there. I'd also be sad to not see things like badly off model Goku, sonic, Jesus and various family members air brushed on a side panel any more. My alma mater's neighborhood had a jeepney with the Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil cover spray-painted on it. It was pretty rad.
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Oct 17, 2017 07:44
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topical: https://twitter.com/mlq3/status/925197184353558533
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Oct 31, 2017 11:28
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Trump coming to PH next week right in the middle of the Russian collusion scandal is gonna be good. There's gonna be an intense re-focus on PH by the international community. To speculate on some of the talking points, both Trump and Duterte seem to have signaled they're gonna be best buddies. This will be to suggest the narrative that strained U.S. relations with PH was evil Obama's doing all along (and not Duterte being an utter buffoon). Both of them have their distracting war on drugs; Trump's is just getting started, and somewhat amusingly in this situation against opioids like Fentanyl. Both of them got into power thanks to massive social media manipulation aka bots. More investigation went into Trump's win; ongoing investigations that have of course unearthed that Russia was behind much of the manipulation. On Duterte's side he's admitted spending at least $200k on bots too. Over 20% Twitter mentions of Duterte are from bots and with free Facebook in PH (without free access to other sites), social media manipulation is extremely powerful here. Afaik, no concrete evidence shows foreign agents swung the election for Duterte, but it seems possible Russia or China were involved, considering for example Duterte's infamous and egregious u-turn on the South China Sea. The American left and PH 'yellows' are presumably united in their revulsion of both Trump and Duterte. I'm not sure about the MAGA and DU30 teams - there may need to be some cognitive dissonance for some, trying to work out who they're meant to be rooting for here. Trump bad Duterte good? Duterte good Trump good? :/ Presumably the botnets will be fired up to remind people how to think.
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Nov 1, 2017 02:01
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chird posted:The American left and PH 'yellows' are presumably united in their revulsion of both Trump and Duterte. I wanted to add some background to this. There are two large and formally-defined opposition groups to Duterte: Movement Against Tyranny and "Tindig Pilipinas" (Stand Up, Philippines) Movement Against Tyranny is largely composed of/supported by left groups - labor unions, workers groups, militant farmers, and the 7-member bloc of Congressional representatives under the Makabayan banner, loosely-but-deniably tied to the militant leftists of the CPP-NPA. One thing I will note about this wing of the left is that: * there is a stain of compromise and sell-out with the older members and leadership of the Makabayan bloc, such that they once campaigned with none other than Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself during earlier elections. * they compromised with Duterte during the campaign period, offering tacit approval of his candidacy in exchange for a promise of having leftists appointed to his cabinet. Those cabinet members were then later rejected by Congress's Commission on Appointments * the Congressional members specifically did not break away from the Duterte-supporting majority bloc until early Sep this year. All these taken together, along with your garden-variety redbaiting and hatred of socialism among the lay population, casts a discrediting pall over the group. Tindig Pilipinas, on the other hand, is the rough equivalent to the #resistance and the Democrats, with all the timid rhetoric and performative opposition that that implies. They're liberals, including sitting Congressional members of the LP as well as persons from the previous administration such as Benigno Aquino himself. Duterte, of course, loves to weave a narrative that both these groups are in-league with each other, but then also especially loves to remind us that should the leftists cross-over into violence, that he will declare martial law. Such statements also serve as cover for centrists and liberals to decry the left for instigating such things.
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Nov 1, 2017 04:02
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I wonder how many decades of infrastructural, economic and/or social buildup will be necessary for the Philippines to stop being a dictator-magnet.
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Nov 1, 2017 04:11
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Grouchio posted:I wonder how many decades of infrastructural, economic and/or social buildup will be necessary for the Philippines to stop being a dictator-magnet. Didn't help the US as it turns out.
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Nov 1, 2017 05:59
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Lazada is like Alibaba (which itself is like Amazon for Asia). Or rather, was recently bought out by Alibaba, so it's pretty much one and the same thing. https://twitter.com/jcmaningat/status/925198290823479296 quote:Contractor nets P174,000 for a three-week production of 100 bags, while worker earns only P7,205. Worker has to work 14 hrs/ day
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Nov 1, 2017 06:34
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Was that in a PEZ? Ive heard similar horror stories about the Christmas light factories
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Nov 1, 2017 19:55
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Duterte threatens to slap UN rapporteur if she probes drug warquote:Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to slap United Nations Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard if she investigates him for the extrajudicial killings being linked to his war on drugs. Duterte claims he stabbed someone to death as a 16-year-old quote:To prove he's not scared of going to jail, President Rodrigo Duterte claimed on Thursday, November 9, that he stabbed someone to death at the age of 16. https://twitter.com/Joseph_Morong/status/928587279156658177 https://twitter.com/Joseph_Morong/status/928587528021598208 Translation: "These EU people, and Obama, you are so very black, and so arrogant. Son-of-a-bitch, don't reprimand me because I'm a President of a country." [later] "That's why now I'm really too popular" gradenko_2000 fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Nov 9, 2017 |
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Nov 9, 2017 16:09
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HEY GUYS WHO'S EXCITED TO HEAR WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY?? https://twitter.com/rapplerdotcom/status/929217376020709376
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Nov 12, 2017 11:48
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I wonder how that went. Specifically if they got into a brawl.
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Nov 12, 2017 13:22
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Argue posted:HEY GUYS WHO'S EXCITED TO HEAR WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY?? sandwiched in-between those two assholes, ol' malcom turnbull positively looks like a saint by comparison
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Nov 12, 2017 13:52
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Argue posted:HEY GUYS WHO'S EXCITED TO HEAR WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY?? Oh cool the Australian Prime Minister too.
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Nov 12, 2017 14:01
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Grouchio posted:I wonder how that went. Specifically if they got into a brawl. I've been waiting for this for a year. Everybody always knew they would either love each other or hate each other.
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Nov 12, 2017 15:50
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BBC - Duterte sings duet on Trump's request
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Nov 13, 2017 00:13
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This is the most bizarre thing I've seen in a long time. What the gently caress?!
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Nov 13, 2017 01:02
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Nov 13, 2017 02:28
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I am fuckin' dying over here. I don't know why this is so macabre and funny to me.
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Nov 13, 2017 02:34
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Finally the Trump administration gets a foreign policy triumph.
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Nov 13, 2017 02:44
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He should've rapped the Judge Dredd theme in Tagalog.
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Nov 13, 2017 03:03
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https://twitter.com/raisaserafica/status/929898127246508032 https://twitter.com/raisaserafica/status/929898963003510786 https://twitter.com/raisaserafica/status/929899231216668673 https://twitter.com/raisaserafica/status/929900260629012481 The rhetoric seeping into the captioning of these pictures is gross.
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Nov 13, 2017 03:36
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So my Sauron's gaze of political interest has been drawn away to the U.S. of late. Only now reading about the TRAIN tax bill. It seems OK on the face of it, especially when compared to the republican party's poo poo sandwich. I also see people saying it craps on the poor whereas I read it as swiping more from the middle class and taking less from lower income households. It seems to be lowering a low of taxes and expecting the revenue to be made up from increased tax on gas/electricity/sugar/cars/plastic surgery. That seems hopeful; does this tax plan increase national debt or something? Otherwise I'd be willing to say its a good tax plan. This doesn't mean I will be immediately buying a huge DU30 bumper sticker.
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Dec 23, 2017 07:55
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gradenko_2000 posted:https://twitter.com/raisaserafica/status/929898127246508032 yeah this is strange, of course the police are outnumbered, its a protest
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Dec 23, 2017 15:16
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chird posted:So my Sauron's gaze of political interest has been drawn away to the U.S. of late. I have a number of problems with the tax bill: http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/12/19/17/duterte-signs-tax-reform-2018-budget-into-law It creates this zero-tax bracket for people earning less than 250k PHP per year, but people who make minimum wage or less, or who are informal workers, already don't pay taxes anyway ... ... but then cost-of-living is going to go up with the new excise taxes on gasoline and diesel. It's technically a tax increase at the very top, since the highest bracket is changing from 32% marginal beyond 500k of yearly income, to 35% marginal beyond 8 million of yearly income, with everyone else getting a tax cut ... ... but they also removed the progressive brackets on the estate tax and donor tax, and changed it from a top marginal rate of 20%, to a 6% flat rate. That's an enormous boon to the rich. The excise tax on cars is also hosed as far as raising the price of most cars under 2.5 million, but decreasing them beyond that point. It's hardly coincidental that this is to benefit of folks who are going to buy SUVs. It's not rape-and-pillage levels of extortion as with the 2017 GOP tax bill, but it's still a fairly conservative bill, and still amounts to a wealth transfer from the poor (via consumption taxes) to the rich. It's more akin to the Bush tax cuts.
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Dec 24, 2017 01:01
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Hmm I can see how someone on minimum wage who currently pays no tax could be worse off due to increased tax on gas and coal (therefore electricity). Napkin math shows me a full gas tank for a compact SUV will go up from 2200php to 2650php by 2020. Due to coal tax rise, a 5000php electricity bill will likely rise to 5400php by 2020. Electricity is already hella expensive. Agree the estate tax is a sneaky, but they've also increased the exemption from $1m to $10m which presumably helps middle class people. gradenko_2000 posted:The excise tax on cars is also hosed as far as raising the price of most cars under 2.5 million, but decreasing them beyond that point. It's hardly coincidental that this is to benefit of folks who are going to buy SUVs. Top Gear doesn't show a drop in taxes (but I do recall seeing something about exemptions for pick-ups).  I'll put my giant DU30 foam finger on hold for now.
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Dec 24, 2017 03:10
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That Top Gear article is from Feb 2017. Look at this instead: Comparing the grey/current SRP version to the blue/House version of the TRAIN bill does show an across-the-board increase in car prices, but that's because the House version is a lot closer to the proposals put forward by the Dept of Finance. But the Senate version, in yellow, modified the measure substantially, to the point where cars below that red line that I drew see a reduction in their price, relative to what the excise taxes are like nowadays. And the changes that the Senate did weren't reversed in conference, so that's what made it to the final version of the bill.
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Dec 24, 2017 04:51
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