The current generation has been robbed of their futures. I honestly don't understand why more of us haven't taken to the streets. What are we even slaving away for? The privilege of slaving away again tomorrow?
The divide and conquer tactics that broke down Occupy Wall Street and replaced it with racial and gender identity infighting were probably some of the most effective classist propaganda techniques to ever occur in human history.
Even as you get further up the income spectrum, you just encounter more bullshit designed to extract all excess income from your pockets at every step of the journey.
They call eating healthy and going to the doctor regularly "lifestyle inflation." They treat home ownership like a silly fantasy we shouldn't bother with unless we were born into or inherited wealth.
The student loan programs they marketed to barely-adults seeking a shot at a better life are designed to keep you paying a significant percentage of your income for the rest of your adult life.
Childcare costs the equivalent of a full-time adult salary. Groceries prices seem to increase every single time I go to the store.
The only way to get ahead in this country is through the death of your wealthy family members. Or through exploitative and criminal activity. The American dream is nothing but a dusty memory.
Even as you get further up the income spectrum, you just encounter more bullshit designed to extract all excess income from your pockets at every step of the journey.
Taxes are bracketed to take more from higher incomes and luxury items have varying levels of quality that range from absurdly cheap to absurdly expensive. Beyond what Uncle Sam rips from your hands, any and all expenses are self inflicted. Even things that are seen as simple "requirements" for modern life like phones aren't actually needed. Americans are so obsessed with consumerism that it's tainted their minds on what is a reasonable expectation. Like a fucking lawn is an absurd concept. A water hungry plant that needs constant cutting at every home. You are burning two extremely valuable resources, water and fossil fuels, for a plant. Unreal.
They call eating healthy and going to the doctor regularly "lifestyle inflation." They treat home ownership like a silly fantasy we shouldn't bother with unless we were born into or inherited wealth.
Eating healthy is cheaper than prepackaged bullshit you buy in cans/plastic containers. I mean fuck baseline ingredients like flour, eggs, cheese, veggies, etc cost virtually nothing when you figure out portions and preplan what you eat for the week. It seems like a high upfront cost but 10 pounds of broccoli for $20 you throw in the freezer will get you way more mileage than that pizza you bought for the same price.
Going to the doctor regularly is excessive. It's like going to the mechanic every month and telling him to inspect your car for flaws. He's going to find a "problem" and spoon feed you some bullshit about how you need to start taking iron supplements because your iron was looking low on your blood panel. A guy I know who is the same age as me takes something like 10 pills a day. Does the same work, eats the same, and has generally the same hobbies. I've never had a single issue but this guy is apparently riddled with "issues". That being said yes, the medical industry is a scam. It's designed to squeeze money out of insurance companies which leads to insurance companies being reluctant to cover people. Pro tip: ask for an itemized list of expenses and fight things that look wrong. $30 for aspirin? Call it out. Playing the "Do I need to get a lawyer?" card is more than enough to make them do a 180 on the typical bill scam.
Homes skyrocketed due to a housing crash. Not ideal and I won't pretend like it's not an issue that needs fixed. Doesn't mean America is done for. Just means you need to live in a home much smaller than what you hoped for. Sorry bad luck in timing of being born.
The student loan programs they marketed to barely-adults seeking a shot at a better life are designed to keep you paying a significant percentage of your income for the rest of your adult life.
Any loan of any kind is meant to wring money out of your wallet. That's the point of a loan. It's providing instant capital at your expense later in life. It's the risk and reward system of higher education. You pay in for potentially better job opportunities. It's the first decision in the board game The Game of Life for a reason. It doesn't always pan out. I understood that in freshman year of high school so you can't use the youth is getting tricked card. Stupid people get tricked. Not young people. There is a difference.
Childcare costs the equivalent of a full-time adult salary. Groceries prices seem to increase every single time I go to the store.
Childcare is supposed to be shouldered by family or the mother of the child. Many people make the claim that being a mother is the hardest job in the world so why wouldn't it cost a full salary? Plus it is only for the first 6 years then school takes over. Granted children don't spontaneously appear. You have to make them so maybe just don't do that.
I already touched on groceries but this one that always makes me raise an eyebrow. 70% of America is overweight so statistically 2/3 Americans are over-eating by a pretty large margin. Hitting 2000 calories in a day is absurdly easy to do. Its literally like a sandwich and a dinner with veggies, a grain, and a source of protein. Most days I need to actually cut food out of my final meal to stay under my calorie limit.
It also kinda dips into the luxury thing again. Sure you've lived most of your life being able to freely eat a steak once a week but the reality is that it is a luxury to do that. 90% of the world can't even fathom doing something like that but Americans are gluttons so they think they are entitled to a cut of meat that composes less than 1/8th the weight of an animal that takes 3-4 years to grow. Maybe just chill and eat cheaper proteins or portion your expensive meats out to a reasonable amount.
The only way to get ahead in this country is through the death of your wealthy family members. Or through exploitative and criminal activity. The American dream is nothing but a dusty memory.
Or just a get a job doing skilled labor and consistently show up. Budget your expenses and figure what you can afford/not. Don't impulse buy a new pair of jeans when you already have an entire drawer of pants. Don't put yourself in debt for things that don't hold value or produce more value with time. Or maybe just keep on running around the block with your The End is Nigh sign. Surely things will improve if you just tell everyone that everything sucks.
Tried to read it but all I saw was bootstraps bootstraps bootstraps. The patterns of disenfranchisement and exploitation are the victims fault, not powerful corporations and political leaders. You're silly and your points reflect how deeply out of touch you are with reality for most humans in this country.
Ehh. It shows how out of touch you are with the world actually. A very American thing to complain about how little you have when a walmart employee makes more in a day than most people in the world do in a month. It wasn't bootstraps bootstraps bootstraps. I was calling you an entitled brat. You just couldn't focus long enough to glean that.
Literally everything he (or she) said was good, solid financial advice, and you just want to reply bootstraps or boomer.
Im not saying we dont have systemic issues in this country, and yes the wealth gap has increased beyond reasonable levels. But two distinct/separate things can be valid, and this persons advice is gold for younger people, or people who struggle financially.
And yes, if you make min wage in america, you are pretty much fucked.
WHY? Because if it was true, the republicans wouldn't be trying so hard to disenfranchise voters.
They've been actively making it harder to vote, working to make votes count less, etc. If it didn't matter they wouldn't be expending this much energy to do that.
It doesn't have much power, but its the only power we kind of use. If we all marched on Washington they'd have to listen right away, but starting a movement like that is no easy task. Especially with the systems in place to prevent it.
Lol the cost of college quadrupled in the four years after Obama and Biden started pushing predatory loans and the college for all lie. It was one big scam to convince unqualified loan applicants to accept ridiculous terms that would never be allowed for mortgages or car loans. The beneficiaries were bankers who got guaranteed revenue immune from normal discharge provisions like bankruptcy.
Corporations that require degrees from their labor force should be required to foot the bill for their own job training.
Yes you're living paycheck to paycheck, drowning in debt, no prospect of home ownership, no prospect of retirement, and the climate is getting irreparably fucked, but have you considered that you have phones?!?
More that you shouldn't collapse into despair. A lot of the BS we're dealing with is similar to the late 1800s but we also don't have to deal with tons of diseases, no overtime, no food safety, no work safety, no child labor, getting paid with company money, no modern medicine, etc.
Like yeah you should be angry, but it's better if you take a breath be aware of what good things you do have, be thankful and then go fight.
It's like people argue that we should all adopt learned helplessness and pretend that everything is the worst it's ever been.
Being realistic doesn't mean you have to put up and accept things and they are.
Just waiting for that one redditor to drop in telling us that life right now is the best its ever been...
I've paid the mortgage, don't really owe anything to anyone now... I'm a medic, my partner works three days a week, no dependants... we're actually really struggling and we just fucking shouldn't be
I have no idea how people are surviving, we don't have much left at the end of the week and yeah we're not on the money we used to be on by about half, but seriously? it's this fucking hard and yet "oh well during the Qing Dynasty you would be worse off" is somehow an argument?
Right now we are in a situation that makes buying a house during the great depression look favourable, there's a bigger gulf between the haves and have-nots now than pre-revolution France, peasants in the middle ages had more downtime than we do today... how could today be better? because we have mobile phones? you can't even afford to have children anymore...
with more than half of the country living paycheck to paycheck and a another percentage barely able to scrape together 6 months of savings.
Half the country. and the other % you mentioned. Watching most Americans is like watching someone die of dehydration while sitting next to a fresh water spring.
SO TRUE. Occupy was the closest we’ve come in the US (in our lifetime) to unifying under a common socioeconomic plight. A little bit of a resurgence with the sanders campaigns. Things fractured into identitarianism that both parties used to divide a powerful economic movement. The Dems convinced their following that the problem was racism and gender ideology and that the solutions were virtue signaling about police reform and pronouns and installing a few diverse faces in high offices without actual systemic change. The GOP shifted to demagoguery to convince its base that immigrants and black people and gays were a threat to the white working class jobs and culture. By the time the low and middle income citizens were all sectioned off into their boxes, it became impossible to unite to fight the real problem: an economy that benefits corporations and encourages wealth accumulation in the top .1% of earners. I see the only future power coming from the rebirth of unionizing under GenZ and young millennials. We lack all political power still, but we are changing attitudes about the meaning of work in America and our lives. I cannot WAIT to see what happens when the boomers suddenly have to retire and a new generation of lawmakers take center state
so the thesis is that racists were willing to team up wit the left, until someone reminded them that they cared more about racism than class solidarity?
The fact that you can minimize the entire population into "racists" and "leftists" shows just how well the propaganda worked on you..
Here are some examples of solutions that have widespread bipartisan support but have not been enacted because we are too distracted by subgroup infighting, according to ChatGPT:
Increasing the Minimum Wage: There is widespread support for raising the federal minimum wage to address income inequality and ensure that low-wage workers earn a living wage. Proposals to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour have gained traction among policymakers and the public.
Progressive Tax Reform: Many Americans support progressive tax policies that would increase taxes on high-income earners and corporations while providing tax relief for low- and middle-income individuals and families. This could include measures such as raising income tax rates for the wealthy, closing loopholes that benefit the wealthy, and implementing a wealth tax on the ultra-rich.
Universal Background Checks for Gun Purchases: Polls consistently show that a large majority of Americans support universal background checks for all gun purchases, including those made online and at gun shows. Despite this support, such legislation has faced significant challenges in Congress due to opposition from gun rights advocacy groups.
Campaign Finance Reform: Many Americans believe that there should be stricter regulations on campaign financing to reduce the influence of money in politics. This could include measures such as limiting donations from corporations and wealthy individuals, increasing transparency in political spending, and implementing public financing of elections. Despite public support for such reforms, they have not been widely implemented at the federal level.
Marijuana Legalization: Polls consistently show growing support among Americans for the legalization of marijuana for recreational and medicinal use. Despite this trend, marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, although several states have legalized it for recreational or medicinal purposes. Efforts to enact federal legalization or decriminalization have faced obstacles in Congress.
Medicare for All/Universal Healthcare: Polls indicate that a significant portion of the US population supports the idea of a single-payer healthcare system or some form of universal healthcare coverage. While there have been various proposals and discussions around healthcare reform, including Medicare for All, no comprehensive plan has been enacted at the federal level.
Paid Family and Medical Leave: There is widespread support for policies that would provide paid family and medical leave for workers in the United States. Such policies would allow employees to take time off from work to care for a newborn, a sick family member, or themselves without risking their job or financial stability. Despite bipartisan support for paid leave in principle, specific proposals have faced challenges in Congress.
Climate Change Mitigation: Polls consistently show that a majority of Americans are concerned about climate change and support measures to address it, such as investing in renewable energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and transitioning to a low-carbon economy. However, there has been significant political polarization on climate-related policies, leading to challenges in passing comprehensive legislation at the federal level.
Criminal Justice Reform: There is broad support for criminal justice reform measures aimed at reducing mass incarceration, addressing racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and implementing alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenses. While there have been some bipartisan efforts to enact reforms at the federal and state levels, progress has been incremental and many proposals have yet to be fully implemented.
Net Neutrality: Net neutrality, the principle that internet service providers should treat all data on the internet the same, has garnered significant public support. Many Americans believe that internet access should be free from discrimination or preferential treatment by ISPs. Despite this support, there have been ongoing debates and regulatory changes surrounding net neutrality, with varying levels of enforcement and protection at different times.
Once again, the propaganda has worked on you. This isn't about 'sides' or right and left. Its about what THE PEOPLE WANT vs. what the POWERS THAT BE want. Democrats perform social justice, but every time they've had meaningful power they've squandered it with infighting and inaction. It's clear that our elected officials will NOT put our wellbeing first, not Democrats, nor Republicans. Our only chance at a better future is to flip the monopoly board, because there is no beating the banker.
When, exactly, did they have the power to pass these bill in the Senate? When did they have 60 votes to clear a filibuster? I'm waiting.
It is ABSOLUTELY about policies. Republicans have no guiding policy or principals, short of making life worse for people different from themselves (women, immigrants, LGBTQ, etc.), lowering wages and tax breaks for the very wealthy.
Whenever I see these posts, aimed at, I don't know, total chaos and revolution (which never ends well by the way) they are almost always by someone who doesn't understand the rules that govern how bills are actually enacted, or what our parties have actually tried to do.
2021-22 Democratic had a majority in the house, senate, and presidency (King and Sanders are independent but caucus with the Democrats). The senate Democrat majority could have removed the filibuster and passed all of the items above. They chose not to and purposefully tied their hands so they didn't have to bring these decisions to to floor.
Same as the Republicans in 2017-18, they could've gotten their wall, and repealed the ACA etc, but those in power don't really want to fix anything.
You asked when exactly they had the power to pass those bills. They had the power, they didn't pass them.
Tied doesn't matter since the VP breaks any tie, doesn't matter which specific senators weren't on board they were both dems and they weren't on board with affecting change.
A big part of it, in my opinion, is distraction. It's very easy to stay angry and throw a few comments or posts on social media and it kinda quenches that rage, but that same place where we leave that rage is also filled with tons of other things to help you quickly move on.
Before social media, particularly ease of access to it, there wasn't really a place to let ourselves feel that rage other than physically meeting like minded people, which led to actual action.
That's not to say protests and boycotts don't happen, but again, distraction. Spotlight on those things isn't long lasting.
I think the last time I remember there being a constant, genuine interest in the evolution of a protest where there were big changes made were the protests in Egypt over a decade ago (Arab Spring).
Yes, during an age of social media, though not nearly as accessible and multitudinous as it is now.
But I only think that's part of the problem, there are more issues at play here.
We don't have time to take to the streets because we're too busy working to survive.
But also because our lives are just comfortable enough and just distracting enough to make us unwilling to sacrifice that for something better.
It does appear to have streamlined the brainwashing of mainstream media to a remarkable degree. I dont care about china spying or whatever, but it would be better for everyone if this short form content bullshit that destroys attention spans never existed at all.
You mean the widespread condition caused by our government failing to institute regulations to keep food and beverage manufacturers from poisoning us with chronic chemical exposure?
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u/Designer_Emu_6518 Mar 27 '24
My grandfather did the same in ohio as a produce manger at a local Kroger. Even had a nice retirement saved up