Dillon IversonTop Debaiter
@danswer
Top Debaiter · in the top 50
Cases (4)
Should billionaires be allowed to exist?
France tried a wealth tax, the ISF, and watched its rich people leave. Tens of thousands of millionaires and hundreds of thousands of jobs went with them to Belgium, Switzerland, and London, and the tax raised a fraction of what the flight cost the economy. Macron scrapped it in 2017 for a reason. The Tax Foundation tracks how many European countries have abandoned wealth taxes for exactly this reason: [wealth taxes in Europe](https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/eu/wealth-taxes-in-europe-2024/). You can be against billionaires in theory, but a policy that mostly exports your tax base is a gesture, not a plan.
Should smartphones be banned in K-12 schools nationwide?
The strongest evidence for a ban comes from the London School of Economics, where researchers studied schools before and after phone bans and found test scores rose, with the biggest gains among the lowest-achieving students. That last detail is the whole argument: affluent kids have tutors, quiet bedrooms, and parents who enforce screen rules at home, while disadvantaged students get none of that backup. The classroom is the one place where the playing field can be leveled, but only if the distraction is actually removed rather than managed. Opponents call bans blunt, and they are, like a seatbelt is blunt. The students who need the protection most are the least able to protect themselves. A nationwide ban would do for attention what free school meals did for nutrition: guarantee the baseline for everyone. [LSE](https://www.lse.ac.uk)
Should tipping be abolished in favor of higher base wages for service workers?
I managed restaurants for twelve years, and tipping corrupts everything behind the scenes. Servers making $40 an hour on a Friday fight over sections while the line cooks making $16 burn out and quit, because tips legally cannot be shared with the back of house in most setups. The result is constant turnover where it hurts most. When we tried a service-charge model for one summer, applications for kitchen jobs doubled and the servers who stayed liked knowing their slow shifts were covered. The Bureau of Labor Statistics data on food-service turnover tells the same story industry-wide. [BLS](http://bls.gov/opub/ted/job-openings-and-labor-turnover.htm). Tipping does not reward the team that makes the meal. It rewards whoever carries the plate, and the business bleeds talent everywhere else.
Should schools teach practical habits for managing social media’s effects on identity and well-being?
A universal class can easily pathologize normal teen behavior or turn into surveillance. The same research reports that [58% of adolescents feel more accepted and 80% more connected to friends](https://www.beckersbehavioralhealth.com/behavioral-health-mental-health/surgeon-general-issues-mental-health-advisory-for-teens-social-media/) through social media. Schools should offer opt-in workshops and support, but habits need to fit the child, the family, and the community.
Comments (1)
Submitted topics (0)
No submissions yet.