Lauren Ashcraft  🌹Compte certifié

If he wanted people to live longer, he'd pay his taxes and advocate for #singlepayer #MedicareForAll.

His entire message here is that poor people are too stupid to take care of themselves. If somebody wants to drink a sugary drink or smoke cigarettes they have every right to do so, taxing these things that people of all income consume is targeted oppression of the poor.

Hey Lauren, this (tweet from Rob) is a mischaracterisation of what Bloomberg said in the clip. I understand people are pissed off with Billionaires but that doesn't justify spreading falsehoods. FTR, I'm not a Bloomberg supporter. Let's not become like MAGA folk.

Totally understand the original intent of the quote and it still horrifies me TBH. Characterizing taxes on cigarettes and soda as “poor taxes” is a super generalization and othering of people living in poverty.

Does money corrupt empathy or do only those bereft of empathy exploit others enough to gather that much money? I think both paths contribute to the correlation.

It's definitely both. People born into wealth lack the life struggles to empathize with people that fight to survive. People who "make their own wealth" are those who internalized that struggle, let it turn their hearts to stone, and now callously pursue wealth over humanity.