• jsomae
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      8 months ago

      This is aggravating. It’s a carefully considered plan designed to avoid the ghoulish scenario of “poor people selling their kidneys,” evidently designed by someone smarter than either of us.

      • FuckyWucky [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        8 months ago

        a government purchase program for kidneys isn’t really that innovative. Many governments procure food grains, wool etc at a floor price.

        the issue is with getting money involved. under capitalism, you have a class of unemployed, underemployed and underpaid workers who are desperate for money. it doesn’t matter if Government is buying kidneys and distributing it through a fair lottery system, the coercive element is still there.

        • jsomae
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          8 months ago

          But the system is designed to avoid the scenario of poor and desperate people selling their kidneys.

          • FuckyWucky [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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            8 months ago

            His organization’s proposal, for example, would split the $50,000 payment into installments arriving only around tax season to weaken donation as a get-rich-quick scheme. Even now, donation requires a weeks- to monthslong process of physical and psychological evaluation.

            the compensation is still there. i meant that any compensation, whether in form of tax credits, installments or even a house is coercive under the capitalist system.

            who do you think will be giving kidneys for $50,000? a person who earns $10k a year or a person earning $1m a year?

            • jsomae
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              8 months ago

              I’ll admit I don’t know much about American taxation, but in Canada someone who earns $10k a year pays $0 in taxes, and therefore would gain $0 from selling their kidneys under this scheme.

              I reckon this option would mostly be considered by people who earn $80k a year or more. We should encourage more people in this bracket to be donating their kidneys.

              • Rx_Hawk [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                8 months ago

                It doesn’t really matter how its designed. The reality is that only desperate people are going to sell their organs.

                • jsomae
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                  8 months ago

                  How could it “not matter how it’s designed”? Do you realize how limiting that statement is? You’re saying there’s literally no way to ethically encourage people to donate their kidneys no matter how hard you try.

              • whogivesashit@lemmygrad.ml
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                8 months ago

                So in the US there are tax credits (work the way you said) and also refundable tax credits. Refundable tax credits will end up paying you money if you don’t owe anything.

                • jsomae
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                  8 months ago

                  I didn’t realize this distinction. I am not sure the article specifies. I think the charitable interpretation then is that it’s the non-refundable kind, otherwise it would be a stupid system.

                  • whogivesashit@lemmygrad.ml
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                    8 months ago

                    One organization called the Coalition to Modify NOTA hopes to legalize compensation and then pass a federal law it has titled the End Kidney Deaths Act. As it’s written, it would award living donors $50,000 over five years — $10,000 per year — through refundable tax credits.

                • jsomae
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                  8 months ago

                  And yet there are already people who donate their kidneys even without any incentive at all. Are you suggesting that with this incentive, fewer people will donate?

                  • FuckyWucky [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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                    8 months ago

                    Maybe, it certainly reduces the altruism motive. People would see kidney donations as a transactional thing.

                    I said it before, I’m not against it in a more just world. In the USSR, there were medals given for various good deeds and these medals carried benefits such as better housing, allowance etc.

                    I could see something like this for kidneys happening in a more equal world where people were awarded a medal for kidney donations (good for social standing, seperates it from purely being transactional) with the medal benefits like more vacation days, better housing or a bonus on your existing salary.

                    Keep in mind in this world, everyone has a home for free and all the basic needs are met by the state already.

        • jsomae
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          8 months ago

          Thst’s cool! I didn’t know that.

          • AOCapitulator [they/them, she/her]@hexbear.net
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            8 months ago

            This is a joke mocking liberals and their terrible ideas that help no one but rich people

            I think this is a dangerous place for you if you’re this gullible and this politically illiterate

            Fair warning so you don’t end up getting yourself dog piled for posting more shit takes, post carefully

            • IzyaKatzmann [he/him]@hexbear.net
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              8 months ago

              Seems like most recognize he is genuine and not sh*tposting or trolling… I have to admit I thought it was an elaborate bit (it still might be, I honestly cannot tell)

              • Rx_Hawk [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                8 months ago

                Pretty sure it’s genuine. I can imagine someone with family or a close friend on a donation list or someone who works for an organ donor organization trying to see this in a good light.

                But yeah I was a little suspicious at first too.

        • jsomae
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          8 months ago

          “The holocaust was also a carefully considered plan” is a fully-general rebuttal to any carefully considered plan.

          A move like this will definitely decrease the suffering of people who lack functioning kidneys. It will not affect the suffering poor and desperate.

          Obviously, we should abolish capitalism entirely, because capitalism causes suffering. I’m not advocating for capitalism here.

          • AOCapitulator [they/them, she/her]@hexbear.net
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            8 months ago

            It will not affect the suffering poor and desperate.

            you realize that hundreds of poor and desperate people would die from this procedure if this saw mass adoption right? Even if relatively safe it is a MAJOR procedure, and carries risk of death or complications.

            You would condemn them to die?

            • jsomae
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              8 months ago

              They should be well informed. The risk of dying is around one in ten thousand – less than the risk of death giving birth.

              • AOCapitulator [they/them, she/her]@hexbear.net
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                8 months ago

                and there are MILLIONS of desperate people for whom 50k would be immensely tempting

                I also don’t think we should exploit desperate people as surrogates, so idk how that affects anything that is also not a good thing

                • jsomae
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                  8 months ago

                  …and they wouldn’t get a penny from donating their kidney under this system. Desperately poor people don’t benefit from tax credits.

                  • AOCapitulator [they/them, she/her]@hexbear.net
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                    8 months ago

                    Weren’t we talkin about payments of 50k? If its actually, no joke, for real, 50k in tax credits, this is a worthless gambit

                    there are so few people for whom 50k in TAX CREDITS maters in the slightest