This is Ridiculous...

[Different]

By positive feedback, I mean this: you have some process A that causes a process B, which then causes A again, ad infinitum. Again, the more money you have, the more you can make. This is positive feedback, the snowball effect, etc., whatever you want to call it. Btw, the top 1% are people: when I say people aren't doing something, I mean NO ONE, including the top 1%, are doing it. Your words are not being twisted. You're arguing in bad faith again. I'm also making no comments on the overall innocence of the 1%: see what I said to Master Raiden on this.

...And I suppose you're not? Where are your sources? Drop some links so I can see exactly where it is you're coming from.

I thought you meant income tax - I suspect sales taxes have either been dropping or staying relatively constant, but I would have to check. US government websites will actually have data on both income tax rates (tax brackets) and sales tax rates over the years, going pretty far back. You can eyeball them, or if you really want to know for sure, you can do a linear regression to figure out the trend. By the way, aren't you still an undergrad? As far as looking at receipts go, you only have a tiny sample of receipts to pull from, and I can almost guarantee you don't remember the tax rate trend on receipts that you've gotten within that timeframe (especially given that there's so much variance). What you're showing here could be an example of confirmation bias. You seem to put too much trust in what you want to believe being true, rather than what can actually be shown to be true.

For the time being, I'm in undergrad. I'll be done in 4 months. On the other hand, I already did my research, so I know what I'm talking about. If you think it's confirmation bias, then prove it. Go ahead, drop some links in that'll prove me wrong.

I suspect that what you're calling proof is really just a random, possibly quite charming guy on the internet who is just telling you what you want to hear, but feel free to prove me wrong. Research is not just about finding someone who agrees with you and calling it a day, though. This leads to biased results: I mentioned this in the other thread. You need to ask (and find answers to) neutral questions, and find sources that you and others can verify. For instance, search for the average annual tax rates in your state, not "why are the rich making my taxes rise". In this case it's pretty hard to get away with publishing incorrect historical data on a government website. If you really want to know for sure though, why not write down these tax rates for the next 50 years? Then you can do a linear regression and see for yourself. I think that's the only way you'll be convinced.

Nope, no random. I'm talking about the website that's covered up, here. Do you not remember the site I told you about? I can't say it on here. They've given legitimate results to their findings, plenty of times. But you're not a conspiracy theorist, so I can't have this conversation with you; it'd be a waste of time.

This is like the other thread. Research is not about listening to stories or reading hypotheticals that you can't verify. That's just called reading science fiction. They could be true, just like the things you read in some science fiction stories could be found to be viable in the future, but just trusting what people say like this is in general not a smart idea (which I would hope would be something we can agree on, but for some reason you seem to think it's a very clever strategy, unless said person isn't an obscure contrarian).

So what is your suggestion then? Try it yourself to see if what they're saying is true? That may work for some things, but not what I said in the other thread. It's incredibly dangerous to try this stuff at home because it's real, and awful things really do happen. Those weren't hypotheticals or stories... those were facts that I did my research on. If only you knew about this stuff.

I don't read, watch or even really trust the news - especially US news, since I don't live there. I don't visit or get information from news websites, ever. Listen to yourself. Actually look at how you're talking: do you think you're speaking from the perspective of a reasonable, rational person?

So where do you get your facts from?? You can't just pluck unverified information out of the air with no resources to back up your claims. Otherwise, you sound like a hypocrite. Drop some links. Prove me wrong.

Your tactic is, and continues to be, to pressure others into believing your baseless, imaginary conjectures by acting aggressive and appealing to their emotions / insecurities. This is not being an "alpha male", or whatever you called it in that thread from ages ago. By definition, this ironically is an attempt on your part at brainwashing (which is a word I hate to use by the way, but it's one I know you understand), and it's possible that you were the recepient of it too. If you want to argue in good faith, think about what you know, and reason with people based on what you can prove beyond reasonable doubt. I'm more than happy to agree to disagree: if you want to believe in astral projection, for instance, I'm happy for you: I can't say for certain it doesn't exist (although it is overwhelmingly likely that it doesn't exist - but you can say the same about God, which I put my faith in). What I do care about is you trying to pressure others into accepting your opinions as fact when there's no proof.

Who says I'm pressuring anybody?? I"m not pressuring anybody into believing anything. My goal is to provide factual information, based on what I know. If you want me to provide sources for this stuff, I can. Also, don't bring this shit up about being an "alpha male" because I'm trying to forget about that thread. I suppose you feel pretty good about yourself, conjuring up something I said in the past, attempting to use it against me here?

Don't make the mistake of thinking I'm the same person as I was, last year. That's one of your biggest mistakes in this preposterous statement. Also, if I really told you where I got my sources from, you would dismiss it and call them ridiculous conspiracy theorists, even though they're legitimate sources that have backed up their claims.

Also, while we're at it, you keep saying you're christian but, how much of a christian are you? A lot of people who say they're christian, end up being hypocrites. I didn't want to challenge you here, but you made me do it, since you want to bring up something I said last year that I'm trying to forget about.

I hope I'm getting through to you here, I really truly believe that the above paragraph in particular is something you need to understand. I don't want you to get mad or defensive, I'm not trying to "rustle your jimmies". This is coming from a place of genuine concern.


All of the claims I made in my previous reply are based on statistics published on US government websites, which you can check yourself; if you want, for sales taxes, you can even at least verify that the recent data agrees with what you've been seeing on your receipts. I can't personally verify it for you because I don't live in the US. Keep in mind that they collect and publish raw data as well, so for things like gasoline prices they won't account for inflation. As for farmers destroying their crops, this is actually up to you to prove. In fact, so is the social groups thing.

Drop the links. I'm not going to go search for them; that's your job. You're the one who needs to convince me, now, here. I figured you don't live in the US because of the times of day, you're replying to these messages online.

I'll be glad to direct you to a website that has information on the gas prices and crops. But again, knowing you, you'll probably dismiss it as misinformed, unjustified, and unethical.

As for the astral projection thread, the only facts I stated were when I was talking about maths. The rest of the time I was trying to get you to understand that what you were saying was not necessarily factual, but rather an arbitrary opinion with no foundation. I specifically mentioned that I didn't say it wasn't real, because a statement like that would require me to be able to prove it wasn't real, and currently it's not something that can be proven or disproven. On topics like that, you can't do research: it's all a matter of opinion. But it's irresponsible (see: definition of brainwashing) to try to forcibly convince others that your personal, unjustified beliefs are undeniable facts (this is why I don't push Christianity on my friends, none of whom are Christians, and why they don't push their beliefs on me). The fact that you're getting so defensive when I talk about this is very telling of your position on these topics.

Who says you can't do research?? Of course you can do research... otherwise you wouldn't know what it's about or if it exists. You can't formulate opinions based on something you didn't do research on. That literally makes zero sense. Also, I wasn't getting defensive at all, period. I was only attacking the fact that you were referring to me as a delusional person who doesn't know what he's talking about.

You see, this is my problem with your preposterous statements: you keep saying that I'm forcing my so-called illegitimate, nonsensical information on the people, when really I'm just educating them on some things that they may not already know. I'm simply informing them about supernatural phenomenon that DOES EXIST. I can drop proof for that too, if you want.

But it'll be too powerful for you to understand, anyway. The reason I held back on that thread is because I knew the people couldn't handle what I was trying to inform them on. If I dive deep and give out sources, it's going to be pretty ugly. You're not going to like what you read, trust me. The truth hurts, pretty bad; Despite your feelings about what I'm saying.

This is a rabbit hole that you don't want to travel down, trust me. If you want me to give you sources that proves the existence of supernatural phenomenon, I'll be glad to. But don't say I didn't warn you. That's why I said before, this isn't for the faint of heart. This isn't something you can play with and ignore its' existence. Everybody has their fair share of demons, and so do you.

It's like the old saying goes... "be careful what you wish for because you just might get it!"

If there's something specific you disagree with, tell me; be specific about what it is and give me solid reasons why you disagree. Show me why I'm wrong, convince me using reliable data that you can vouch for the validity of. Don't throw a blanket "you're wrong because I say so" statement on me. You're not doing anyone any favours by arguing in bad faith.

Same thing goes for you. You've been sitting here running your mouth this whole time and you still haven't given me any direct links to your findings. So don't sit here and try to tell me that I'm arguing in bad faith or pressuring anybody.