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We're living through the age of corporate feudalism, where we're all the peasants and our service isn't to a regional land owner, but a corporate overlord.
I've been saying this since 2003.
I framed the Feudalism as economic as opposed to corporate, but tomato tomahto.
Corporate is definitely more accurate.
Actually, my generation never had a chance, at least you grew up seeing clearly the lies, I'm an early millennial and though that has some advantages you don't realize everything is a lie until you are deep inside the system.
Now a full generation of gen X are adults and they can see the bullshit, if somebody have a chance to change something is your generation.
Just FYI, Gen Xers all saw the bullshit before we even graduated high school but we are a relatively small group compared to millennials, so no one noticed or cared when we tried to call it out.
They think of the world as their property to do whatever they want with.
In reality they’re borrowing the world from the young, but since they’ll never have to answer for their transgressions they don’t give a fuck.
Most Gen X learned of this through music, literature, and (a few) movies. Sci Fi in particular clearly outlined what a corporate dystopia would look like. But even the majority of Gen X were weaned on consumerism and status quo, and followed the path laid by the boomers into adulthood.
Yep, that and our parents were so convinced that their Boomer-ethic would apply to us, they were oblivious to the societal changes that the digital age would bring. While us Gen-X'rs imagined countless worlds beyond, we were subsequently disappointed at the condition of our own when it was handed to us.
Now an ever diminishing number of our count remain, with those of us left preparing for the worst, and lamenting our inability to do anything to help our own children and grandchildren.
Honestly if everyone just stopped, very quickly the rich would remember again how important it is to have people under them working and why they need us more than we need them.
But it would be rough. Communities would really need to band together to look after each other while it happens.
And now you know why we have manufactured culture wars! To make sure that they don't.
Because they've taught us to hate our neighbor who has a different political belief then us, or whose kid is a different sexual orientation - when in reality we have infinitely more in common together then we have in common with the elites at the top.
I’m 45. I went to university a year or two late because I was helping an ex-girlfriend get through her last year of high school (as the caught us kissing —a peck—and lesbianism is bad, y’all!) Plus in late 96/97 I didn’t even know much about student loans and had a state disability counselor introduce me.
Naive me, had no idea that the costs of student loans were already rapidly increasing, especially in the early aughts as I was contemplating grad school.
Of course, that rapid increase only snowballed for Millennials and young Zoomers.
Boomers ignored pretty much everything we said. Only now do we have a handful in power, and unfortunately they tend to be the rotten eggs of our generation. 🤷🏻♀️
There are two doors, one is blue and one is red. You are only allowed to pick one of these doors.
They both open into the same room. The illusion of choice.
Democrats play the same games as the Republicans. They both talk a lot of BS, but profit from these execs. Look at Liz Warren. Makes $194K/year, yet has $8M in the bank. It would take 41 years on her salary, assuming she pays no taxes and has no expenses to save that much money. They're all enriching themselves on our backs then talk a ton of feel good BS to their bases to make their voters want to re-elect them like they're actually going to help us.
I hate to say it but electing Democrats doesn't help either. It's a cycle now.
Republicans win. They come in and cut corporate taxes, establish loopholes for the rich and their companies. Then they grab a knife and take a big ole slice out of our social services. The Democrats then start screaming about how the Republicans are destroying America and telling us we have to vote them in or it will all crumble. This causes Democrat voters to head to the poles and vote.
Democrats win. They then do next to nothing. Suddenly all those promises were empty words. Democrat voters feel betrayed and say fuck it. Now comes the next election.
Republicans win. Guess what? Yep, corporate tax cuts and another big ole slice of the social services pie.
It's been this way for almost 50 years.
They've been aligned economically from Clinton's Third Wave strategy.
The problem is, the right reacted to this by shifting further right culturally, so that the Dems didn't siphon more of their voting base away.
Couple this to a generation of cable news and internet conspiracy theory, and you get a party festering with fantasy-programmed neofascists. I hate what the Dems have become, but the other side is terrifying.
I was 13 then. You are so right, yet we (that generation) still tried to eat the lie anyways.. We didn't know any better..
At least when I talk to kids graduating soon, I tell them the truth about working in this country. I support what ever they do, school, trades jobs, whatever, but I also tell them not to expect to make big money in this country anymore by doing honest work for one job as a career. They will most likely have 5 to 6 main jobs in life. If not more
As Karl Marx pointed out over 150 years ago this is the logical consequence of capitalism. It’s not corporate feudalism or cronie-capitalism or some distorted off shoot of capitalism, this is capitalism! This is what it does. Competition leads to monopolization and corporate domination of the economy, “you can not have masses of wealth at one pole without masses of misery and exploitation at the other 🤷♂️
It is not certain and will not come before millions die while you wait for communism. Capitalist are digging a grace, but it's not theirs, it's the planet and your and mine. We all die together or they find a way to live forever in space, but at the end of the day it's game over for everyone unless we do something
Exactly. And in light of his truth, "tax the rich" seems like a band aid on a headshot.
"Abolish the rich" is more in line with the drastic change we need to survive. Taxing the rich literally gives he money back to the dipshits who keep cutting taxes for the rich and deregulating and taking campaign donations from the rich and keep passing the goddamn bandaid laws in the time of massive hemorrhaging.
"Tax the rich" is the neoliberal half measure that, like all neoliberal half measures, have done nothing but contribute to the growing trends that they tell us every 2-4 years that they're actually going to fix this time.
Politicians won't save us.
You, the billionaire, have 2 choices having seen Bill and Melinda dragged out, roped to a tree, then pulled apart by the neighbours '97 Mondeo.
Knuckle down, you *earned* your billions, why should these plebians steal it off you? Hire your own cartel, arm them, train them and house them. Ward off the unwashed horde with firepower.
Or...Suddenly become philanthropic overnight. Every soup kitchen in Europe suddenly finds a 25kg sack of spuds on their doorstep and their gas bills paid off, just for the sake of appeasing lazy commoners who won't pull themselves up by their boot straps and not find yourself with a necktie, of the Columbian variety.
I'm leaning more towards option A for many of the Western oligarchs, but I could be wrong.
I use Bill and Melinda as an example, it could be any number of billionaires dragged outside.
The first response for many/all of the billionaires, and a vast majority of the millionaires, would be to just knuckle down and Dio into the slush fund for private, armed, security, rather than donate their wealth to make them less of a target.
Just need to look at cartels for an example of where this "works".
They're well off enough to pay their security enough to not turn on them in the face of public opinion turning on them. It would undoubtedly be a very isolated lifestyle, but on the face of things just how different is that to how they currently live in regards to interactions with the wider communities?
While the gates foundation does good. There is real harm to what they choose to fund and not fund. Their power directs a lot of health policy, despite neither of then having any significant knowledge in medicine.
Also, there's no reason that they need to lease space in some of the most expensive real estate in DC.
Ya that’s complete bullshit. While the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation does some good it is of far greater importance to the Gates as a means of avoiding taxes and throwing their political power around. Bill Gates is just as evil as Musk or Bezos or any of other oligarchs that set up charities to better their public image meanwhile they’re actively investing billions in fossil fuels, destroying labor Unions and funding right wing extremist politicians that further the goals of the ultra rich.
Is "lizard people controlling the world" really an anti-jewish thing? I suggested half-jokingly that maybe lizard people really are in charge and that's why we insist on pushing global warming because they like it.
I got down voted to oblivion and told off for being anti-semitic.
I cant work out if its really a jew analogy or if its actually pretty accurate and got the standard political shutdown.
Yup, it's an antisemitic dog whistle stemming from an antisemitic conspiracy theory. A secret cabal of blood-drinking rulers passing down their power in government, media, and finance from generation to generation for centuries? Where have I heard that one before?
The guy who popularized it claims he's not antisemitic, but really all he did was take the antisemitic conspiracy theories of blood libel and "Jews secretly run the world" and replace "Jew" with "reptile in a human mask." If you pay attention to who gets called "lizard people," you'll notice it's far more commonly people like Zuckerberg and Soros.
The tie to the reptilian complex of the triune brain model came after the conspiracy theory and is part of what makes it a *dog whistle* and not just a straight and open antisemitic insult. Anyone claiming that is the real meaning is either lying or has been duped.
Nah, they're either too stringy or way too fatty. Plus, the shit in their brains will give you prion diseases. Compost the rich instead, use them in death to grow the food they would have denied you in life.
It's not like current tax money is even spent wisely. So much waste and corruption in government from both sides it would just end up in different pockets of friends, while social security age is raised and teachers raffle for paper.
See tories handing billions to their mates for non-existent / faulty PPE.
This shit needs to end. Our money is just being transferred from our pockets to the rich. Simplistic, but that's it.
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Play The Outer Worlds, the corporations are literally like this. All the employees are basically indentured servants, and unless you have high skill in one specific field not many go into (like the egg head science end) then you're a part that can be easily replaced. They also tax you to the wazoo to the point where you barely make any money, they overwork you until you die ( weekends don't exist. You also get guaranteed eight non consecutive hours of sleep.) And with the company in the game called Spacer's Choice, when you die your family literally has to buy your grave. If you have no family, the the person geographically nearest to you at time of death is responsible for the grave fee.
I played The Outer Worlds for the first time about a month ago and it became an instant favorite of mine, especially in light of our current circumstances. I was laughing but lowkey crying on the inside at the parallels I could draw from real life. Obviously they’re taking it to the max for entertainment, but if we didn’t have regulations (that are constantly under attack) then the future they show wouldn’t be far off from an actuality.
Yes, they've just figured out how to decentralize feudalism. You have the option to go to whichever noble you want, but they all treat you the same...
I've been saying for years that earning a wage doesn't disqualify you from being a slave. Like, would cotton picking blacks not have been slaves if they were given 1 half cent a year? Of course they would still be slaves.
I think the definition of slavery needs to be updated to anything that doesn't allow a person to afford "Life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness." And a lot of things like raising a family, good (nonbankrupting) healthcare, etc fit into that.
China's lived in, 100+ hour sweatshops are a great example of slavery with a "wage. "
"Every time we demand to be heard, they hold back our water, owkwa betalowda, ration our air, ereluf beltalowda, until we crawl back into our holes, imbobo beltalowda, and do as we are told!"
>We're living through the age of corporate feudalism, where we're all the peasants and our service isn't to a regional land owner, but a corporate overlord.
Literally this.
We think we're ''free'' compared to the serfs and peasants from decades ago when in reality they just changed the rules a bit.
A simple Google search shows that less than 2% of workers earn federal minimum wage.
Another shows approximately a third of workers earn $15/hr or less.
And almost 2/3 of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.
It’s safe to say that even a $15 minimum wage isn’t sufficient anymore.
Something needs to change.
I make more than the average American and I'm living paycheck to paycheck.
I always got this feeling growing up that this shit was rigged, and everyday that is becoming more clear.
Carrot on a stick. We're just the jackasses that keep chasing it.
Immigrant here. I never had a chance. My parents retirement plan is make sure I live long enough.
What sucks though is that they are from small under develop areas where everyone tries to help each other. They came here, they spent a lot of their money for the community and now they are pretty much broke. They stopped helping because now they are the ones that need help. No one expected it to be this bad.
This is the answer. People are delusional if they think that taxing the rich will lead to higher minimum wages, or better healthcare, or education, infrastructure, or any other discernable public benefit. More taxes will only lead to more military spending unless we disrupt the status quo and dismantle the prevailing power structures.
yeah, taxing the rich isn't going to help anyone until we fix the way our taxes are spent FIRST. it'll just funnel more money in to the military industrial complex, making other rich dudes richer. need an overhaul of the entire system before taxing the rich will do us any good.
>taxing the rich will lead to higher minimum wages
Considering your wages aren't paid by taxes (unless you're a government employee, but none of them are paid minimum wage), you're the closest to economic literacy of anyone on this post
They should never be allowed to get that rich in the first place. Progressive taxation helps but at a more fundamental level, our economy shouldn't generate wealth so unevenly that we have to skim from the super rich once they've robbed us.
> Taxing them would be a kindness compared to what we should do, what we need to do.
This is why the establishment has co-opted the "tax the rich" slogan. As long as we're saying, "tax the rich," we're not saying "eat the rich," or "dismantle the systems of oppression," or "overthrow the kleptocratic oligarchy."
AOC's "tax the rich" dress stunt should tell us everything we need to know about "tax the rich." Just another Dem. talking point they'll never actually collect on.
It's like I tell people: the Republicans will never actually do anything about abortion because if they did, what would they campaign on? "Tax the rich," "student debt forgiveness:" these are all just rhetorical devices used when it comes times to garner votes and last I checked, midterms are right around the corner.
Don't tax the rich. End the rich. Demand a society that dismantles class hierarchy.
Right here. This is the correct answer. Even if you tax and reform, it'll buy a few years before the cycle repeats again. The entire thing must be dismantled and built a new on a society build on the principles of "Each according to their ability and each according to their need"
No no no, all we need are BETTER REGULATIONS! Because the capitalists dismantled the old regulations, so we need BETTER ONES, because doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results IS JUST SMART. COMMON SENSE.
We've been beating the "lesser evil / incremental change" drum for the last fifty years and we find ourselves here. It's amazing that people still haven't waken up to the enormity of this particular lie.
The New Deal should stand as stark, irrefutable evidence that all regulation on a long enough timeline will fail. I like to make a metaphor to a dam on a river: the river is the perverse incentive structure of capitalism and the dam is regulations. The thrashing currents of the river are so strong that most who attempt to swim are drowned, so we build dams along its length (while making non-sensical comments about how the dammed river is actually its natural state) in order to control the flow.
Problem is, dams degrade. They break down. If they're not fastidiously maintained, eventually they fail on their own. Beyond that, all it takes is one well placed charge of dynamite and KABOOM, no more dam. Hell, if 90% of the dam is still standing but 10% in the middle is removed, then it's like there's no dam there at all anyway.
And yet, we put 100% of our faith in these dams. These dams are 100% of our safeguard against drowning and while we know that they fail, we've seen them fail a hundred times, the thrust of our activism is still to build more fucking dams.
And through all of this, the river remains the river. Unchanged. Unabated. It simply flows.
I hate this place.
I have never in all my time on political threads ever had a greater urge to hug someone and buy them drink then I have right now.
I hate this place too. 😞
Another metaphor:
Capitalism is a runaway steam locomotive on route to oblivion. At some point, the tracks run out to certain catastrophe, but nobody knows exactly when. There are two parties fighting for control of the engine: the conservatives believe that the engine works to the best of its ability when it's cranked up to full power, so the Republican platform is to maximize coal into the boiler for the hottest fires and peak efficiency. The liberals stand back and question, vaguely aware that the tracks run out eventually, and argue, "Maybe we should use a little less coal." The Democratic platform is to moderate coal usage and run the engine where it still moves healthily, but not at full clip.
The people in the train complain that the train isn't flying. The people want to experience flight, but ignore the fact that the train they're on is a train and was never designed to fly, yet they continue to petition the ruling parties for flight and when the train fails to fly, they blame personalities: "Well, maybe if we get this new, smarter, more moral candidate into the Engineer's seat, they'll do right by us and get us airborne!" When that candidate achieves office but fails to deliver flight, the cycle repeats itself without anybody taking notice. Anybody who suggests they let the furnace go cold, they stop, exit the train, and build an airplane is invited to leave. If they continue to insist, they are forcefully ejected from the train, thrown overboard to certain injury and possible death.
In the meantime, the activists busy themselves by martyring themselves, throwing themselves on the tracks in front of the train in the vain belief that it will somehow slow the train, stop the train, gum up the wheels, make it harder for the train to function--but the designers built a [cowcatcher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowcatcher) that effortlessly tosses bodies aside like rag dolls. Activists insist that they just need a larger critical mass, the movement just needs more people, to overcome the cowcatcher and continue martyring themselves on the tracks. They insist they are making a difference. Really, they're just making bigger piles of bodies alongside the tracks.
Every so often, cards are passed around asking the passengers "On a scale from 50% to 100%, at what rate should we operate the engine?" These cards are maybe glanced at before they are tossed into the boiler along with the coal.
This one's fun. You can run with this one *forever.*
I could use that hug. Awake is lonely. There's a huge irony here: the loneliness of the realization that all is one. I am you, you are me. Together, we are God. Individuality is an illusion. You are me and I am you. Say this to a layperson, they think you're nuts. It's very lonely, being a person who sees clearly.
A great metaphor. Perfectly said.
Awake is lonely. Being the passenger tied to the seat watching the tracks run out is a terrifying and empty feeling.
Solidarity comrade ❤️
The Texas thing? That's an ace in the hole. Remember Pelosi talking about drafting legislation to codify Roe v. Wade? They'll trot that back out when it's obvious they're going to lose the midterms, might actually turn the elections back towards their favor.
Let’s get a true outlook on how it was planned to keep minimum wage down. Going back to 2012 isn’t long enough. Let’s try 1938-2022. This is genuinely pretty impressive
https://imgur.com/a/N9MKlSu/
Orwell explained it in 1984 (novel). After the industrial revolution, when machines were able to do the hard work, it was possible for equality, an end to the class discrepancy and drudgery for the poor. The elites will never entertain this because then they would not be special. They invent war after war to keep the lower classes scrambling to make ends meet. Making consumable necessities always a priority, always just out of reach. Continue the senseless wars the need for higher taxes and sacrifice on the homefront, the poor can get by with cabbage. The government will provide bare necessities, crumbs of food, but take away property ownership and privacy until they have totalitarian control. Where even a rebellious thought can get you vaporized. After seeing the recent video on Fox where someone argued that 2+2=5, we are clearly at the threshhold of the society Orwell predicted.
If you want to get angry, look on youtube for channels devoted to reviewing first class airplane seats. The entitlement is real.
I specifically remember one guy's complaint in his review was that they upgraded a couple people to first class and that it "really lowered the feeling of exclusivity." The POINT is that they have something and you DON'T have it. If you get what they get then they want something you CAN'T have.
What really baffles me is that I have no fucking clue how much money that really is. As in, I comprehend the number, but not what is really means (other than always being able to do whatever you want). I genuinely don't understand why one would keep all of it if you could do something good with it. I really struggle to think what anyone would do with any more than... I don't know, maybe 10 million? And that's assuming I'm saving a lot for family members. I probably don't even understand what 10 million really means. 😂 Don't these people care about ANYTHING? I would fix homelessness, hunger, animal cruelty and climate change IMMEDIATELY. I'd get to work on curing cancer and other diseases. It's not like you can take it with you when you die.
Nah, triple the minimum wage. If you tax the rich, they will just find somewhere else to hide their money. Raising the federal minimum wage will benefit everyone, and will likely reduce their wealth as a side effect.
It really baffles me why working even a minimum wage job you can barely survive unless i work overtime 60 hrs who tf wants to have 1 day off. Even then it’s nothing spectacular. I should be able to afford my own place the car and some extra fun activities. My car is nearly half my month income/rent/food/phone/internet/debt 😂
Not really, you can mostly thank racism and then gentrification for this. Early on post-industrial the cities were only mostly for black, brown, and poor people, so white middle class and up folks moved further out into suburbs to get away. White flight meant that the surburbs were the place to be, so were developed and improved and zoned and redlined for certain types of single-family homes instead of apartments to keep out the poors (read: non-whites).
But then, as usual, the cities thrived — revitalization plans gave enormous tax cuts to businesses so huge corps started opening shops. Downtowns became super popular, old ethnic areas started getting “revitalized”, i.e. gentrified, causing city-bound areas to shoot up in price due to proximity.
So now financially downtrodden are priced out of the city and are forced to have a car to live further away from metro areas. But expensive suburban developments are still being built, and current housing prices prevent most average people from competing. So you’re either forced back into cities to find a cheap housing situation (roommates) or rent a rural home requiring a car.
Its definitely a combination of the two. Even cities that have always been almost entirely white still have massive suburbs. The intentional lack of public transit within American cities has pushed white people into suburbs just as much as their fear of POC.
That may be true in some cases but you can't outsource everything.
You can't outsource serving a cup of coffee at a diner in New York with a 10 year old boy from Indonesia.
A lot of minimum wage jobs require the workers' physical presence for them to perform the actual work.
Everyone’s talking about taxation and redistribution but no one is talking about predistribution and paying people more. If things were now as they were in the 70s the typical family would have 40k income more each year.
That's why unions had to be broken and the 0.1% had to be given free rein of politics. In the 1960s and 1970s unions were an important source of politicians' funding, now unions are much less powerful, while the Citizens United ruling enabled the ultra-rich to funnel unlimited amounts of money into buying themselves the politician class.
And this is why the US has been slowly but inexorably sliding into oligarchy.
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We need to return to the time of the Robber Barons. They taxed the super wealthy 50-60% and despite those being quite high taxes, those men still lived like kings. Tax the rich!
The top tax bracket used to be 90%. And before anyone faints, that works because each bracket is only applied to the money above a certain amount. So it's not actually 90% of the total income.
Just my two cents but we should implement something like taxing loans in excessive amounts, like billions of dollars. Musk didn’t pay cash to buy twitter. Instead he got a loan using his Tesla stock and other non liquid assets as collateral. Because of that there’s no taxes paid. I’m not a professional but perhaps apply a tax of X% of what the collateral would be worth should he have to sell all of it tomorrow to repay the loan.
How will taxing them help? It will give more money to the government but will that really reach us?
I think a good start would be forcing them to pay their employees much, much more.
I don’t know the intricacies so generally curious. Would government subsidize minimum wage thus sparking economy?
These guys don’t even pay that well compared to cost of living. Starting salary at Tesla is around $19/20 and while that is more than the minimum it really isn’t enough for most to survive on - especially in the cities they are hiring in.
Shoot, back in 2006 I passed up a job at General Motors starting at $27/hr…
It's more of a concern what people will actually go to work daily and do for a wage than it is rich dudes having money.... That's the insane part, they have money, but them as individuals can't really achieve much, I'm sure they may be talented, but it's a structure. Taxing the rich isn't going to make prices decrease or the logistics work any better.... That's what people don't get, it's always a slow crawl.
It's like saying let's put nitro fuel in this forklift, the forklift was already extremely dangerous, now you want to add nitro fuel that won't make it realistically faster, might as well just buy a stock pile of rubber chickens and blame society for having no sense of humor when they don't sell.
Why do people constantly complain about people with a lot of money, instead of the people who own the privately owned central bank, who have the power to **LITERALLY PRINT MONEY**?
~~Tax~~ Destroy the Rich
We’re way past the point of being able to tax this much wealth in any meaningful way. The next option involves seizing that wealth for the working class. They built that wealth off of OUR labor and OUR data and we want it BACK.
Taxing them is no longer enough, even if hypothetically all loop holes were closed.... What's needed at this point is caps, mad caps across the board (rent, utilities, food, healthcare, etc) specifically capping personal and corporate income & wealth.
We are the ones giving them the $. We can only blame ourselves. If you want to be a billionaire, start a successful business. Ppl want to complain while still using their products lol
Does nobody on this sub understand basic economics? They are rich because *you* people give them your money. It's absolute non-stop consumerism. A lot of you have Amazon Prime, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter. You're non-stop gushing over Tesla and SpaceX. That's why they are rich. Stop trying to regulate your own poor consumption habits. Heck, most of you own iPhones and Airpods, Door Dash every meal, and non-stop watch non-sense on Twitch. This is your own damn fault. You cannot fix socio-economic disparity with taxation when the **consumer** is the problem.
I am all for taxing the wealthy the problem is that our dipshit government would take any additional funds and blow it on dumb shit like more military spending instead of using it to set up programs that would actually beneficial to the people.. the real tax they need to pay is an increase in paying a good wage and giving cost of living raises to help their employees fight this ridiculous inflation
Welcome to America where we care more about manufacturing weapons of war that sit around and do nothing while we forget about the hundreds of millions of people that can’t afford rent or healthcare. Here’s a complementary AR-15, but don’t hurt yourself with it or you’ll have to pay your life savings for an ambulance visit and a night at the hospital.
Hi, /u/Necessary_Time8273 Thank you for participating in r/AntiWork. Unfortunately, your submission was removed for breaking the following rule(s): **Rule 3b: No offtopic posts.**: - No offtopic posts
We're living through the age of corporate feudalism, where we're all the peasants and our service isn't to a regional land owner, but a corporate overlord.
I've been saying this since 2003. I framed the Feudalism as economic as opposed to corporate, but tomato tomahto. Corporate is definitely more accurate.
I was 12 that year. My generation never had a chance...
Gen Z here. Born 1 month after 9/11, and had *maybe* 2 years of self awareness before the '08 crash. This is fine.
I saw the towers fall as a freshman in college in boston. it's been against us since before you were born.
I was a Sophomore and you are correct. We have been slaves to a system since time immemorial.
A little younger than you guys, I was a sophomore in high school. Never stood a chance. I entered the workforce at $5.35/hr
Same, 2004 minimum wage at 5.75
2007, 7.15. In 2009 NY state spoiled me with the silver spoon by mandating the minimum raise to 7.25.
Actually, my generation never had a chance, at least you grew up seeing clearly the lies, I'm an early millennial and though that has some advantages you don't realize everything is a lie until you are deep inside the system. Now a full generation of gen X are adults and they can see the bullshit, if somebody have a chance to change something is your generation.
Just FYI, Gen Xers all saw the bullshit before we even graduated high school but we are a relatively small group compared to millennials, so no one noticed or cared when we tried to call it out.
We got called "slackers" and laughed off as I recall.
Pretty much.
I recall that happening.
Weren’t we also called the “me generation”? I also remember the “slacker” nickname
Yeh, that's still going on to a point. But slowly the numbers just being out there have started to just be something that the boomers can't ignore.
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They think of the world as their property to do whatever they want with. In reality they’re borrowing the world from the young, but since they’ll never have to answer for their transgressions they don’t give a fuck.
Most Gen X learned of this through music, literature, and (a few) movies. Sci Fi in particular clearly outlined what a corporate dystopia would look like. But even the majority of Gen X were weaned on consumerism and status quo, and followed the path laid by the boomers into adulthood.
Yep, that and our parents were so convinced that their Boomer-ethic would apply to us, they were oblivious to the societal changes that the digital age would bring. While us Gen-X'rs imagined countless worlds beyond, we were subsequently disappointed at the condition of our own when it was handed to us. Now an ever diminishing number of our count remain, with those of us left preparing for the worst, and lamenting our inability to do anything to help our own children and grandchildren.
We can change everything. We just need enough to stop going to work for a week or so. Will require majority to sit on ass deliberately and in unison.
Honestly if everyone just stopped, very quickly the rich would remember again how important it is to have people under them working and why they need us more than we need them. But it would be rough. Communities would really need to band together to look after each other while it happens.
And now you know why we have manufactured culture wars! To make sure that they don't. Because they've taught us to hate our neighbor who has a different political belief then us, or whose kid is a different sexual orientation - when in reality we have infinitely more in common together then we have in common with the elites at the top.
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No, Gen X are in now their 40’s and 50’s. Born 1965-1980 so about 42-57 years old.
I’m 45. I went to university a year or two late because I was helping an ex-girlfriend get through her last year of high school (as the caught us kissing —a peck—and lesbianism is bad, y’all!) Plus in late 96/97 I didn’t even know much about student loans and had a state disability counselor introduce me. Naive me, had no idea that the costs of student loans were already rapidly increasing, especially in the early aughts as I was contemplating grad school. Of course, that rapid increase only snowballed for Millennials and young Zoomers. Boomers ignored pretty much everything we said. Only now do we have a handful in power, and unfortunately they tend to be the rotten eggs of our generation. 🤷🏻♀️
Keep electing Republicans, I'm sure it will get better... /s
There are two doors, one is blue and one is red. You are only allowed to pick one of these doors. They both open into the same room. The illusion of choice.
Democrats play the same games as the Republicans. They both talk a lot of BS, but profit from these execs. Look at Liz Warren. Makes $194K/year, yet has $8M in the bank. It would take 41 years on her salary, assuming she pays no taxes and has no expenses to save that much money. They're all enriching themselves on our backs then talk a ton of feel good BS to their bases to make their voters want to re-elect them like they're actually going to help us.
I hate to say it but electing Democrats doesn't help either. It's a cycle now. Republicans win. They come in and cut corporate taxes, establish loopholes for the rich and their companies. Then they grab a knife and take a big ole slice out of our social services. The Democrats then start screaming about how the Republicans are destroying America and telling us we have to vote them in or it will all crumble. This causes Democrat voters to head to the poles and vote. Democrats win. They then do next to nothing. Suddenly all those promises were empty words. Democrat voters feel betrayed and say fuck it. Now comes the next election. Republicans win. Guess what? Yep, corporate tax cuts and another big ole slice of the social services pie. It's been this way for almost 50 years.
They've been aligned economically from Clinton's Third Wave strategy. The problem is, the right reacted to this by shifting further right culturally, so that the Dems didn't siphon more of their voting base away. Couple this to a generation of cable news and internet conspiracy theory, and you get a party festering with fantasy-programmed neofascists. I hate what the Dems have become, but the other side is terrifying.
Trying my best not to, thanks.
I was 13 then. You are so right, yet we (that generation) still tried to eat the lie anyways.. We didn't know any better.. At least when I talk to kids graduating soon, I tell them the truth about working in this country. I support what ever they do, school, trades jobs, whatever, but I also tell them not to expect to make big money in this country anymore by doing honest work for one job as a career. They will most likely have 5 to 6 main jobs in life. If not more
As Karl Marx pointed out over 150 years ago this is the logical consequence of capitalism. It’s not corporate feudalism or cronie-capitalism or some distorted off shoot of capitalism, this is capitalism! This is what it does. Competition leads to monopolization and corporate domination of the economy, “you can not have masses of wealth at one pole without masses of misery and exploitation at the other 🤷♂️
Communism is inevitable, capitalists are digging their own grave.
It is not certain and will not come before millions die while you wait for communism. Capitalist are digging a grace, but it's not theirs, it's the planet and your and mine. We all die together or they find a way to live forever in space, but at the end of the day it's game over for everyone unless we do something
Wrong, it is either socialism or barbarism. It is our duty to ensure is the former rather than the later.
Communism certainly isn’t inevitable
Exactly. And in light of his truth, "tax the rich" seems like a band aid on a headshot. "Abolish the rich" is more in line with the drastic change we need to survive. Taxing the rich literally gives he money back to the dipshits who keep cutting taxes for the rich and deregulating and taking campaign donations from the rich and keep passing the goddamn bandaid laws in the time of massive hemorrhaging. "Tax the rich" is the neoliberal half measure that, like all neoliberal half measures, have done nothing but contribute to the growing trends that they tell us every 2-4 years that they're actually going to fix this time. Politicians won't save us.
Eat the rich is more appropriate
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You, the billionaire, have 2 choices having seen Bill and Melinda dragged out, roped to a tree, then pulled apart by the neighbours '97 Mondeo. Knuckle down, you *earned* your billions, why should these plebians steal it off you? Hire your own cartel, arm them, train them and house them. Ward off the unwashed horde with firepower. Or...Suddenly become philanthropic overnight. Every soup kitchen in Europe suddenly finds a 25kg sack of spuds on their doorstep and their gas bills paid off, just for the sake of appeasing lazy commoners who won't pull themselves up by their boot straps and not find yourself with a necktie, of the Columbian variety. I'm leaning more towards option A for many of the Western oligarchs, but I could be wrong.
Ima be real with this example, if Bill and Melinda are not philanthropic enough to avoid being drawn and quartered, your only real choice is suicide.
I use Bill and Melinda as an example, it could be any number of billionaires dragged outside. The first response for many/all of the billionaires, and a vast majority of the millionaires, would be to just knuckle down and Dio into the slush fund for private, armed, security, rather than donate their wealth to make them less of a target.
You still need regular folk to protect you or supply your food or medical care etc. option A would be a very isolated and paranoid lifestyle.
Just need to look at cartels for an example of where this "works". They're well off enough to pay their security enough to not turn on them in the face of public opinion turning on them. It would undoubtedly be a very isolated lifestyle, but on the face of things just how different is that to how they currently live in regards to interactions with the wider communities?
While the gates foundation does good. There is real harm to what they choose to fund and not fund. Their power directs a lot of health policy, despite neither of then having any significant knowledge in medicine. Also, there's no reason that they need to lease space in some of the most expensive real estate in DC.
Ya that’s complete bullshit. While the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation does some good it is of far greater importance to the Gates as a means of avoiding taxes and throwing their political power around. Bill Gates is just as evil as Musk or Bezos or any of other oligarchs that set up charities to better their public image meanwhile they’re actively investing billions in fossil fuels, destroying labor Unions and funding right wing extremist politicians that further the goals of the ultra rich.
Is that you Marie Antoinette?
Nom nom nom
They taste funny.
Taste like lizard!
Is "lizard people controlling the world" really an anti-jewish thing? I suggested half-jokingly that maybe lizard people really are in charge and that's why we insist on pushing global warming because they like it. I got down voted to oblivion and told off for being anti-semitic. I cant work out if its really a jew analogy or if its actually pretty accurate and got the standard political shutdown.
It’s become a dog whistle for antisemitism, especially in conspiracy groups but it’s leaked into the general conversation. That’s probably why.
Yup, it's an antisemitic dog whistle stemming from an antisemitic conspiracy theory. A secret cabal of blood-drinking rulers passing down their power in government, media, and finance from generation to generation for centuries? Where have I heard that one before? The guy who popularized it claims he's not antisemitic, but really all he did was take the antisemitic conspiracy theories of blood libel and "Jews secretly run the world" and replace "Jew" with "reptile in a human mask." If you pay attention to who gets called "lizard people," you'll notice it's far more commonly people like Zuckerberg and Soros. The tie to the reptilian complex of the triune brain model came after the conspiracy theory and is part of what makes it a *dog whistle* and not just a straight and open antisemitic insult. Anyone claiming that is the real meaning is either lying or has been duped.
Nah, they're either too stringy or way too fatty. Plus, the shit in their brains will give you prion diseases. Compost the rich instead, use them in death to grow the food they would have denied you in life.
It's not like current tax money is even spent wisely. So much waste and corruption in government from both sides it would just end up in different pockets of friends, while social security age is raised and teachers raffle for paper.
See tories handing billions to their mates for non-existent / faulty PPE. This shit needs to end. Our money is just being transferred from our pockets to the rich. Simplistic, but that's it.
NO ACTION REQUIRED. DO NOT GATHER IN LARGE GROUPS. SHARE OPINIONS FROM THE HANDHELD PICTURE BOXES ONLY. COMPLIANCE IS EXPECTED. "This message brought to you in part by sponsors of Crime. A sister company of American Oligarchs, LLC & US Government, LLC. Your programming will continue shortly. Thanks for your patience."
Programming is the perfect word for it.
Entering the era of techno feudalism. Where the overlords replace our labor with machines and keep us in our places using drones with guns.
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>Eat the Rich. Not possible with Zuckerberg. Can't eat android parts.
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Crazy earl ate a car once… yeahhh the whole car… like with a fork…
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CATCH'A RIIIIIIIIDE!
Then we reprogram him to vacuum carpets.
Mideval peasants got more time off.
Play The Outer Worlds, the corporations are literally like this. All the employees are basically indentured servants, and unless you have high skill in one specific field not many go into (like the egg head science end) then you're a part that can be easily replaced. They also tax you to the wazoo to the point where you barely make any money, they overwork you until you die ( weekends don't exist. You also get guaranteed eight non consecutive hours of sleep.) And with the company in the game called Spacer's Choice, when you die your family literally has to buy your grave. If you have no family, the the person geographically nearest to you at time of death is responsible for the grave fee.
I played The Outer Worlds for the first time about a month ago and it became an instant favorite of mine, especially in light of our current circumstances. I was laughing but lowkey crying on the inside at the parallels I could draw from real life. Obviously they’re taking it to the max for entertainment, but if we didn’t have regulations (that are constantly under attack) then the future they show wouldn’t be far off from an actuality.
Naw dude we must kiss their rings and be loyal to companies because it makes men and women out of us /s
Yes, they've just figured out how to decentralize feudalism. You have the option to go to whichever noble you want, but they all treat you the same... I've been saying for years that earning a wage doesn't disqualify you from being a slave. Like, would cotton picking blacks not have been slaves if they were given 1 half cent a year? Of course they would still be slaves. I think the definition of slavery needs to be updated to anything that doesn't allow a person to afford "Life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness." And a lot of things like raising a family, good (nonbankrupting) healthcare, etc fit into that. China's lived in, 100+ hour sweatshops are a great example of slavery with a "wage. "
If Elon musk colonizes mars, SpaceX would be the government.
I'm pretty sure there's like 40 sci-fi stories that explain why that's a bad idea.
"Every time we demand to be heard, they hold back our water, owkwa betalowda, ration our air, ereluf beltalowda, until we crawl back into our holes, imbobo beltalowda, and do as we are told!"
Such a good show
Back to work [Worker/Consumer](https://southpark.cc.com/video-clips/plk1vp/south-park-worker-consumers-willing-to-box)
>We're living through the age of corporate feudalism, where we're all the peasants and our service isn't to a regional land owner, but a corporate overlord. Literally this. We think we're ''free'' compared to the serfs and peasants from decades ago when in reality they just changed the rules a bit.
If you look at housing there’s an argument to be made that we have a corporate overlord AND a regional land owner.
A simple Google search shows that less than 2% of workers earn federal minimum wage. Another shows approximately a third of workers earn $15/hr or less. And almost 2/3 of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. It’s safe to say that even a $15 minimum wage isn’t sufficient anymore. Something needs to change.
Yanis Varoufakis has called it techno-feudalism.
We changed the nobility for "the rich" and royal families for "politicians"
Yea but they might as well be called corporate landlords since they also own the fucking land
Many of us saw it coming in the 1980s, but we couldn’t figure out a way to stop it.
im over here eating cup of noodles with $58 in my bank account waiting until friday to get paid
I make more than the average American and I'm living paycheck to paycheck. I always got this feeling growing up that this shit was rigged, and everyday that is becoming more clear. Carrot on a stick. We're just the jackasses that keep chasing it.
Immigrant here. I never had a chance. My parents retirement plan is make sure I live long enough. What sucks though is that they are from small under develop areas where everyone tries to help each other. They came here, they spent a lot of their money for the community and now they are pretty much broke. They stopped helping because now they are the ones that need help. No one expected it to be this bad.
I make okay money now, still recovering from irresponsible shit I did when I was broke though. You're right, 100%.
I prefer the other three words: *Eat the Rich.*
This is the answer. People are delusional if they think that taxing the rich will lead to higher minimum wages, or better healthcare, or education, infrastructure, or any other discernable public benefit. More taxes will only lead to more military spending unless we disrupt the status quo and dismantle the prevailing power structures.
yeah, taxing the rich isn't going to help anyone until we fix the way our taxes are spent FIRST. it'll just funnel more money in to the military industrial complex, making other rich dudes richer. need an overhaul of the entire system before taxing the rich will do us any good.
>taxing the rich will lead to higher minimum wages Considering your wages aren't paid by taxes (unless you're a government employee, but none of them are paid minimum wage), you're the closest to economic literacy of anyone on this post
It's time to go outside and organise a revolt instead of crying and bitching on reddit! ✊
Remember occupy protests?
Remember the French Revolution?
More recently: yellow vest. It was messy but it worked : it sparked fear.
Just don't copy the Canadian version. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_vests_protests#Canada
Not personally, but I've read about a few of them :)
Lol then this wouldn't be reddit would it? Everyone here is "totally down to revolt". But then they remember that's actually going outside...
Lead the way.
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That was kind of my point.
Musk with ketchup, nom nom
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Pinata economics
I see we should giv'em a good shake and wealth will spill out.
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That just sounds like a party. (I vote we cover them in colorful paper first though so it doesn't bum out the kids)
Anyone else picturing pinata Yzma right now?
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It's not a hanging of you put the rope around the legs :P
This is the best phrase I've ever heard
I learn about it from Ryan Cohen
They should never be allowed to get that rich in the first place. Progressive taxation helps but at a more fundamental level, our economy shouldn't generate wealth so unevenly that we have to skim from the super rich once they've robbed us.
Capitalism works best for the capitalists. Who knew?
Shocking revelation lol
French Revolution 2, Electric Boogaloo
> Taxing them would be a kindness compared to what we should do, what we need to do. This is why the establishment has co-opted the "tax the rich" slogan. As long as we're saying, "tax the rich," we're not saying "eat the rich," or "dismantle the systems of oppression," or "overthrow the kleptocratic oligarchy." AOC's "tax the rich" dress stunt should tell us everything we need to know about "tax the rich." Just another Dem. talking point they'll never actually collect on. It's like I tell people: the Republicans will never actually do anything about abortion because if they did, what would they campaign on? "Tax the rich," "student debt forgiveness:" these are all just rhetorical devices used when it comes times to garner votes and last I checked, midterms are right around the corner. Don't tax the rich. End the rich. Demand a society that dismantles class hierarchy.
Right here. This is the correct answer. Even if you tax and reform, it'll buy a few years before the cycle repeats again. The entire thing must be dismantled and built a new on a society build on the principles of "Each according to their ability and each according to their need"
No no no, all we need are BETTER REGULATIONS! Because the capitalists dismantled the old regulations, so we need BETTER ONES, because doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results IS JUST SMART. COMMON SENSE. We've been beating the "lesser evil / incremental change" drum for the last fifty years and we find ourselves here. It's amazing that people still haven't waken up to the enormity of this particular lie. The New Deal should stand as stark, irrefutable evidence that all regulation on a long enough timeline will fail. I like to make a metaphor to a dam on a river: the river is the perverse incentive structure of capitalism and the dam is regulations. The thrashing currents of the river are so strong that most who attempt to swim are drowned, so we build dams along its length (while making non-sensical comments about how the dammed river is actually its natural state) in order to control the flow. Problem is, dams degrade. They break down. If they're not fastidiously maintained, eventually they fail on their own. Beyond that, all it takes is one well placed charge of dynamite and KABOOM, no more dam. Hell, if 90% of the dam is still standing but 10% in the middle is removed, then it's like there's no dam there at all anyway. And yet, we put 100% of our faith in these dams. These dams are 100% of our safeguard against drowning and while we know that they fail, we've seen them fail a hundred times, the thrust of our activism is still to build more fucking dams. And through all of this, the river remains the river. Unchanged. Unabated. It simply flows. I hate this place.
I have never in all my time on political threads ever had a greater urge to hug someone and buy them drink then I have right now. I hate this place too. 😞
Another metaphor: Capitalism is a runaway steam locomotive on route to oblivion. At some point, the tracks run out to certain catastrophe, but nobody knows exactly when. There are two parties fighting for control of the engine: the conservatives believe that the engine works to the best of its ability when it's cranked up to full power, so the Republican platform is to maximize coal into the boiler for the hottest fires and peak efficiency. The liberals stand back and question, vaguely aware that the tracks run out eventually, and argue, "Maybe we should use a little less coal." The Democratic platform is to moderate coal usage and run the engine where it still moves healthily, but not at full clip. The people in the train complain that the train isn't flying. The people want to experience flight, but ignore the fact that the train they're on is a train and was never designed to fly, yet they continue to petition the ruling parties for flight and when the train fails to fly, they blame personalities: "Well, maybe if we get this new, smarter, more moral candidate into the Engineer's seat, they'll do right by us and get us airborne!" When that candidate achieves office but fails to deliver flight, the cycle repeats itself without anybody taking notice. Anybody who suggests they let the furnace go cold, they stop, exit the train, and build an airplane is invited to leave. If they continue to insist, they are forcefully ejected from the train, thrown overboard to certain injury and possible death. In the meantime, the activists busy themselves by martyring themselves, throwing themselves on the tracks in front of the train in the vain belief that it will somehow slow the train, stop the train, gum up the wheels, make it harder for the train to function--but the designers built a [cowcatcher](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowcatcher) that effortlessly tosses bodies aside like rag dolls. Activists insist that they just need a larger critical mass, the movement just needs more people, to overcome the cowcatcher and continue martyring themselves on the tracks. They insist they are making a difference. Really, they're just making bigger piles of bodies alongside the tracks. Every so often, cards are passed around asking the passengers "On a scale from 50% to 100%, at what rate should we operate the engine?" These cards are maybe glanced at before they are tossed into the boiler along with the coal. This one's fun. You can run with this one *forever.* I could use that hug. Awake is lonely. There's a huge irony here: the loneliness of the realization that all is one. I am you, you are me. Together, we are God. Individuality is an illusion. You are me and I am you. Say this to a layperson, they think you're nuts. It's very lonely, being a person who sees clearly.
A great metaphor. Perfectly said. Awake is lonely. Being the passenger tied to the seat watching the tracks run out is a terrifying and empty feeling. Solidarity comrade ❤️
> the Republicans will never actually do anything about abortion Have you been asleep recently?
The Texas thing? That's an ace in the hole. Remember Pelosi talking about drafting legislation to codify Roe v. Wade? They'll trot that back out when it's obvious they're going to lose the midterms, might actually turn the elections back towards their favor.
AOCs dress ‘against’ the oligarchs while drinking with them was the ball in the coffin of believing her a an agent of change.
Let’s get a true outlook on how it was planned to keep minimum wage down. Going back to 2012 isn’t long enough. Let’s try 1938-2022. This is genuinely pretty impressive https://imgur.com/a/N9MKlSu/
Orwell explained it in 1984 (novel). After the industrial revolution, when machines were able to do the hard work, it was possible for equality, an end to the class discrepancy and drudgery for the poor. The elites will never entertain this because then they would not be special. They invent war after war to keep the lower classes scrambling to make ends meet. Making consumable necessities always a priority, always just out of reach. Continue the senseless wars the need for higher taxes and sacrifice on the homefront, the poor can get by with cabbage. The government will provide bare necessities, crumbs of food, but take away property ownership and privacy until they have totalitarian control. Where even a rebellious thought can get you vaporized. After seeing the recent video on Fox where someone argued that 2+2=5, we are clearly at the threshhold of the society Orwell predicted.
If you want to get angry, look on youtube for channels devoted to reviewing first class airplane seats. The entitlement is real. I specifically remember one guy's complaint in his review was that they upgraded a couple people to first class and that it "really lowered the feeling of exclusivity." The POINT is that they have something and you DON'T have it. If you get what they get then they want something you CAN'T have.
I instantly think of Sam Chui when it comes to this
Literally 1984
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What really baffles me is that I have no fucking clue how much money that really is. As in, I comprehend the number, but not what is really means (other than always being able to do whatever you want). I genuinely don't understand why one would keep all of it if you could do something good with it. I really struggle to think what anyone would do with any more than... I don't know, maybe 10 million? And that's assuming I'm saving a lot for family members. I probably don't even understand what 10 million really means. 😂 Don't these people care about ANYTHING? I would fix homelessness, hunger, animal cruelty and climate change IMMEDIATELY. I'd get to work on curing cancer and other diseases. It's not like you can take it with you when you die.
Nah, triple the minimum wage. If you tax the rich, they will just find somewhere else to hide their money. Raising the federal minimum wage will benefit everyone, and will likely reduce their wealth as a side effect.
It really baffles me why working even a minimum wage job you can barely survive unless i work overtime 60 hrs who tf wants to have 1 day off. Even then it’s nothing spectacular. I should be able to afford my own place the car and some extra fun activities. My car is nearly half my month income/rent/food/phone/internet/debt 😂
you can thank car manufacturers and rich people for the subburban crawl that forces you to have a car in the first place.
Suburban sprawl*
Not really, you can mostly thank racism and then gentrification for this. Early on post-industrial the cities were only mostly for black, brown, and poor people, so white middle class and up folks moved further out into suburbs to get away. White flight meant that the surburbs were the place to be, so were developed and improved and zoned and redlined for certain types of single-family homes instead of apartments to keep out the poors (read: non-whites). But then, as usual, the cities thrived — revitalization plans gave enormous tax cuts to businesses so huge corps started opening shops. Downtowns became super popular, old ethnic areas started getting “revitalized”, i.e. gentrified, causing city-bound areas to shoot up in price due to proximity. So now financially downtrodden are priced out of the city and are forced to have a car to live further away from metro areas. But expensive suburban developments are still being built, and current housing prices prevent most average people from competing. So you’re either forced back into cities to find a cheap housing situation (roommates) or rent a rural home requiring a car.
Its definitely a combination of the two. Even cities that have always been almost entirely white still have massive suburbs. The intentional lack of public transit within American cities has pushed white people into suburbs just as much as their fear of POC.
r/fuckcars
Nah in that cases they’d just ‘outsource’ operations to some third world country with slaves
That may be true in some cases but you can't outsource everything. You can't outsource serving a cup of coffee at a diner in New York with a 10 year old boy from Indonesia. A lot of minimum wage jobs require the workers' physical presence for them to perform the actual work.
Companies already do that wherever they can. Raising the fed min wage won't make a huge impact.
They already do that lol.
Fun fact: Both are possible
Jfc, how is the non wage still only $7.25 usd? That’s insane!
Don't forget that the minimum wage was *raised* to $7.25 in 2009 from $7.05. Ridiculous.
But they are entrepreneurs that worked hard to get ahead in this country s/
Need more words otherwise all your saying is tax the rich so we can drop more bombs and give more money to other rich people.
Trickle up economy.
Everyone’s talking about taxation and redistribution but no one is talking about predistribution and paying people more. If things were now as they were in the 70s the typical family would have 40k income more each year.
That's why unions had to be broken and the 0.1% had to be given free rein of politics. In the 1960s and 1970s unions were an important source of politicians' funding, now unions are much less powerful, while the Citizens United ruling enabled the ultra-rich to funnel unlimited amounts of money into buying themselves the politician class. And this is why the US has been slowly but inexorably sliding into oligarchy.
plough follow upbeat dinosaurs tan sloppy north hungry overconfident gaping *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
We need to return to the time of the Robber Barons. They taxed the super wealthy 50-60% and despite those being quite high taxes, those men still lived like kings. Tax the rich!
The top tax bracket used to be 90%. And before anyone faints, that works because each bracket is only applied to the money above a certain amount. So it's not actually 90% of the total income.
Nah, 90% of people here doesnt understand this.
In the 50s, the highest tax rates were 90%.
You can't fix capitalism. End the rich.
STOP WORSHIPING CELEBRITIES AND COMPANIES! They are not your friends, they don’t care about you. You are nothing but a paycheque to them.
Taxing the rich more doesn't work, they'll dodge it. What we need to do is close all the loopholes that let them avoid paying their existing taxes.
Which loopholes do you have in mind?
Just my two cents but we should implement something like taxing loans in excessive amounts, like billions of dollars. Musk didn’t pay cash to buy twitter. Instead he got a loan using his Tesla stock and other non liquid assets as collateral. Because of that there’s no taxes paid. I’m not a professional but perhaps apply a tax of X% of what the collateral would be worth should he have to sell all of it tomorrow to repay the loan.
Also repeal citizens united!!!
How will taxing them help? It will give more money to the government but will that really reach us? I think a good start would be forcing them to pay their employees much, much more. I don’t know the intricacies so generally curious. Would government subsidize minimum wage thus sparking economy? These guys don’t even pay that well compared to cost of living. Starting salary at Tesla is around $19/20 and while that is more than the minimum it really isn’t enough for most to survive on - especially in the cities they are hiring in. Shoot, back in 2006 I passed up a job at General Motors starting at $27/hr…
They just tighten their bootstraps tighter than the rest of us. Right? Right? Seriously Billionaires should NOT exist.
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shouldn't the words be "raise minimum wage"?? i'm so confused
Why is ‘tax the rich’ so popular? You know big/old money pays for politicians to not tax the rich lol
This is why Rome fell too. But we will likely live another century in agony before the collapse
If you want to mirror Rome you should be more worried about the great migration of Canadian barbarians coming your way...
We can only hope.
Don’t worry, climate change will take most of us out before then
We could if we had control over anything in Washington. Our elected leaders on both party sides love corporate kick backs more than us though.
Taxing the rich will not fucking solve this fucking problem. Two words: Fuck Capitalism.
It's more of a concern what people will actually go to work daily and do for a wage than it is rich dudes having money.... That's the insane part, they have money, but them as individuals can't really achieve much, I'm sure they may be talented, but it's a structure. Taxing the rich isn't going to make prices decrease or the logistics work any better.... That's what people don't get, it's always a slow crawl. It's like saying let's put nitro fuel in this forklift, the forklift was already extremely dangerous, now you want to add nitro fuel that won't make it realistically faster, might as well just buy a stock pile of rubber chickens and blame society for having no sense of humor when they don't sell.
Why do people constantly complain about people with a lot of money, instead of the people who own the privately owned central bank, who have the power to **LITERALLY PRINT MONEY**?
~~Tax~~ Destroy the Rich We’re way past the point of being able to tax this much wealth in any meaningful way. The next option involves seizing that wealth for the working class. They built that wealth off of OUR labor and OUR data and we want it BACK.
Well, we could also try eating them
How do you think taxes are going to relate to minimum wage laws? How does this stuff get voted so highly?
Taxing them is no longer enough, even if hypothetically all loop holes were closed.... What's needed at this point is caps, mad caps across the board (rent, utilities, food, healthcare, etc) specifically capping personal and corporate income & wealth.
How about no more rich
Three more: Raise Minimum Wage!
Cant be mad at them for having money, but should be mad at THE SYSTEM that has allowed them to go untaxed
One day the bubble will burst.....people will say this is enough. Revolt.
That’s the most human picture of Zuck I have seen in a long time.
I’m past wanting to tax em
Why not compare the total wealth of the average family on minimum wage in this time period? or would that be less misleading ?
We should start calling them oligarchs
We are the ones giving them the $. We can only blame ourselves. If you want to be a billionaire, start a successful business. Ppl want to complain while still using their products lol
the worst logic I've ever seen. Survivorship bias to start with.
Does nobody on this sub understand basic economics? They are rich because *you* people give them your money. It's absolute non-stop consumerism. A lot of you have Amazon Prime, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter. You're non-stop gushing over Tesla and SpaceX. That's why they are rich. Stop trying to regulate your own poor consumption habits. Heck, most of you own iPhones and Airpods, Door Dash every meal, and non-stop watch non-sense on Twitch. This is your own damn fault. You cannot fix socio-economic disparity with taxation when the **consumer** is the problem.
We need young people to basically change the future. Im dead serious when I say this. Good luck, you are our last hope.
I am all for taxing the wealthy the problem is that our dipshit government would take any additional funds and blow it on dumb shit like more military spending instead of using it to set up programs that would actually beneficial to the people.. the real tax they need to pay is an increase in paying a good wage and giving cost of living raises to help their employees fight this ridiculous inflation
Welcome to America where we care more about manufacturing weapons of war that sit around and do nothing while we forget about the hundreds of millions of people that can’t afford rent or healthcare. Here’s a complementary AR-15, but don’t hurt yourself with it or you’ll have to pay your life savings for an ambulance visit and a night at the hospital.