We view the late 40s through the 70s as a golden age for the American middle class. People raising families off a single income. Yearly vacations. Affordable higher education.
Know why?
We taxed the ever-loving fuck out of the wealthy back then.
Then the wealthy bought the politicians and stopped that from happening.
And now we’re all sad.
DO. NOT. VOTE. FOR. ANYONE. THAT. DOESN’T. RUN. ON. TAXING. THE. WEALTHY. MORE.
Is absurd that we essentially have a regressive income tax. I also wouldn’t ignore the global environment during that period.
During those decades, the US was effectively the only industrialized nation in the world. Everyone else either never had factories to begin with, or had smoldering piles of rubble where their factories used to be.
I found it astonishing that there isn’t even a 0% tax bracket anymore federally. It starts at 10% when you make your first fucking dollar. We’ve gone batshit backwards in this country to the point where we’re trying to get every last dime from poor people so we can almost afford to have buy-borrow-die oligarchs that never pay a penny in federal taxes.
Technically the standard deduction is the zero tax bracket.
Yep understood but there’s a reason they made the switch and that reason is so they can keep the shit they took out of checks of those who don’t file.
I’m sure they did the math on it, they’re sneaky assholes through and through.
Sales tax as well as VAT are also, by design, regressive taxes.
We turned the planet into a human labour farm.
DO. NOT. VOTE. FOR. ANYONE. THAT. DOESN’T. RUN. ON. TAXING. THE. WEALTHY. MORE.
👏
Fuck everyone who voted for hillary clinton in the 2016 primary.
We need to point many fingers at them and give them the blame they so rightfully deserve.
It’s their fault, and they need to be reminded of it constantly.
There’s plenty of Kamala supporters that don’t see her as just a Hillary 2.0, democrats and MAGA both agree not to go after the rich people robbing them blind.
The pay gap between CEO and ordinary worker was the smallest back there, not because the taxes, there were less taxes back then, but because those CEO were decent people, not predatory like right now. Todays C-Suite are predatory people, they’re not humans, they’re money machines that need every penny. There should be law that don’t allow pay gap between CEO and ordinary worker to be greater than 100k USD or any other currency in other countries. Those who pursue luxury would say that’s very low. Yes it’s very low because everyone who works in successfull company deserve success. Not only small group on top. That is main difference between companies from 40s and 70s and companies right now.
This is also why (white) Boomers struggle to understand how it got so bad. They literally lived in a period where you could often count on and trust your boss.
Nah
Don’t vote for anyone, got it
It gets my vote!
DO. NOT. VOTE. FOR. ANYONE. THAT. DOESN’T. RUN. ON. TAXING. THE. WEALTHY. MORE.
Another liberal telling us to vote for Kamala just because her tax plan looks nice. Disgusting.
Comrade, the present situation ain’t bringing us closer to socialism.
Hello dumb shit or rich person. STFU
Sir that ship sailed months ago, what are you talking about?
Uhh, Kamala didn’t run on a platform of taxing the wealthy either, that would break the contract she has with her corporate sponsors.
https://apps.urban.org/features/2024-candidates-tax-policy/
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party nominee, has proposed several policies that build on President Joe Biden’s recent budget plans. These include higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations and more generous tax breaks for lower-income workers, families, and small businesses.
https://itep.org/a-distributional-analysis-of-kamala-harris-tax-plan/
Taken together, the tax changes proposed by Vice President Kamala Harris would raise taxes on the richest 1 percent of Americans while cutting taxes on all other income groups.
If these proposals were in effect in 2026, the richest 1 percent of Americans would receive an average tax increase equal to 4.1 percent of their income. Other income groups would receive tax cuts, including an average tax cut equal to 2.7 percent of income for the middle fifth of Americans and an average tax cut equal to 7 percent of income for the poorest fifth of Americans.
Regardless of all of this data, Kamala is still a filthy liberal and you shouldn’t vote for her.
I’m over 30 and I’m pretty fuckin’ miserable, too!
But I guess I was actually paying attention to how fucked things have been politically since I was able to start voting pushing nearly 30 years ago now.
In regards to the actual article:
The researchers say they were able to pick up on the distrust by asking whether or not people believed someone would return a lost wallet. Compared to the Nordic countries, people in the U.S. were more likely to underestimate the kindness of others.
“It requires that strangers are to be trusted, that they will go beyond the call of duty and be kind and try and get it back to the rightful owner, or drop it with the police, which means you need to trust the police,” De Neve says. “That single item of the wallet drop is very powerful.”
There’s literally, literally a flip side to this “lost wallet” equation in the US as well. Have you ever been the person who was kind enough to return a lost wallet? Have you also ever been the person who was accused by the person you returned it to of stealing a bunch of things (like cash) out of the wallet? It’s actually a fairly common occurence in the the US. So not only is there distrust in whether or not others will return a wallet, there is a valid distrust by people who find lost wallets that the wallet owner won’t lie about the original contents of the wallet and accuse them of theft anyway. At what point does it just become pointless to bother with returning a wallet at all if you’re going to be accused of a crime because you did the right thing?
Apologies for (slight retch) a reddit link:
https://old.reddit.com/r/mildlyinfuriating/comments/1j1yqt9/found_a_wallet_with_200_and_i_returned_it_to_its/Bottom line: The US is filled with selfish untrustworthy fucking maniacs.
This lack of trust is literally the main goal of mass media, especially right wing media. When everyone else is your enemy, you won’t work together with them for your own benefit. Instead, you’ll trust the strongman to keep you safe from all the fake danger.
Social media accelerated this by an incredible amount. Today’s America feels like a completely different society from the one I grew up in the 90s.
The only time I found a wallet I returned it to the owner. The owner was suspicious as fuck towards me and treated me like I had stolen it even though everything was still in it. I literally picked it up off the ground, looked at the drivers license, and headed inside the store to see if they could page him and ran into him on the way in. The people I told about it were all pissed towards me for actually returning it and not just stealing the money… It was basically unanimous that I was wrong for doing this and some of these people were friends I thought were good people up until that point. It really fucked up my faith in other people. Next time I’ll just leave it be.
When I find a wallet with no money in it, I put $20 in and give it back. Fuck em.
There was a time when I was a student that I spent a lot of time near a particular coffee shop, and more than you would typically expect for just studying and the like, since it turned into the place where my friend group basically hung out most of the time.
In any case, it was a decently high traffic area and since I was there a lot I found two wallets and a cellphone over the time I was there a lot.One wallet had an emergency contact I was able to call, think it was their mother, and that I’d be at the coffee shop for a bit. They brought me cookies, and I was thrilled.
Next person just had their phone number, and they acted like I was a creep for saying I had their wallet and would like to give it back to them, so I told them I was leaving it with the cashier and left it at that and was a bit sad, since being told off for trying to be nice is a bummer.
Cellphone was the worst. I called their most recent number and told them what was up (this was clearly before ubiquitous lock screens). Owner called me back in the same number and threatened to call the cops on me so I hung up, powered off the phone and put it back where I found it. Felt sad.Given how it seems like everyone has lost their minds now, I’m not sure I would risk letting someone know I found their stuff. I’d still try to return it because that’s the right thing to do, but I’m not sure if I’d be willing to use my own phone number or anything.
If people will shoot you for using their driveway to turn around I can only imagine what they’d do for a bus pass, student ID and a loyalty punch card for a bakery.Wow, how dumb and shitty can people be? Crazy.
You seem like a good person and I’m sorry those assholes treated you like that.
And the part with dropping a found wallet with the police. We all know they’re going to do fuck all to find the owner.
Have you ever been the person who was kind enough to return a lost wallet? Have you also ever been the person who was accused by the person you returned it to of stealing a bunch of things (like cash) out of the wallet?
You’re saying something. I’ve heard first hand stories about angry wallet owners “shooting the messanger” so to speak. I’m from Germany but the saying “No good deed goes unpunished” rings true in most parts of the world, I think. That’s why you throw a lost wallet into the next letter box and don’t bother any further. At least that’s what you’re supposed to do where I’m from and I doubt any of those wallets ever arrived with their full content but that’s not my problem.
Some years back i was leaving the gym (I live in the US by the by) and I found a debit card. Now the only identifying info on it was the bank associated and the name and such. I wasnt going to take it home and try and track down the person who owned it. So I took it to the associated bank, grabbed a deposit slip and wrote a note on it and dropped in the deposit box. I assume it was returned, but I honestly don’t know. Felt this was the best approach given the circumstances.
The one time I’ve found a dropped wallet, it had ID for like 5 different people in it. I dropped that off at the local police station and walked away.
My partner lost wallet at a bus stop. It got buried under snow for a season and when the snow melted a month later it was turned in to the police station, who called partner. All his (by then cancelled) cards were still in the wallet, plus what felt like the right amount of cash.
On that topic, Japan is 100% reliable for returning a dropped wallet.
No shit, we’re being taken over by literal nazis. This place sucks.
To be fair, a non-insignificant amount of the men under thirty think things are so bad because the Nazis aren’t taking over fast enough.
Yeah, ladies under 30, please adopt a never-fuck mindset toward any conservative. Those things tanked the country and deserve 0 pussy.
Edit: Should blanket just be any Trump voter. Knowing who you’re fucking is as important as using STD and pregnancy protection.
Honestly I’m surprised anyone would even want to sleep with a trumper. Like, what’s the appeal? It’s not like they treat women (or anyone, really) well
Usually religious brainwash
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That’s funny about you because you assume if they don’t say they’re a woman they must be a man
Please don’t let that reddit mindset take off here.
To clarify Im talking about assuming everyone is a man if not stated otherwise.
As do a significant amount of the women. Like yeah, there’s a slight gender gap in trump voters, but it’s not nearly as big as you’d think or hope.
Democrats need to stop being controlled opposition to nazis.
They need to start being the good guys. We need to stop voting for people like hillary clinton and joe biden in primaries.\
Shame everyone who has supported either candidate in the primary.
Almost zero chance of buying a home or affording rent. Prices going out of control on almost everything. A Nazi in the White House and social media so toxic it melts your mind. The beatings will continue until morale improves. What a terrible place we have created for the next generation.
Also your minimum wage is shit for a “first” world country. $7.25?
In the state with the highest minimum wage in the country, Washington currently at $16.66, you can still work full time and be unable to afford a 300 square foot studio on your own. It’s nigh impossible to work full time at minimum wage in any state in the US and actually be able to get an apartment on your own.
Further, many rentals are increasing required income levels and instead of requiring your monthly income to be three times the cost of rent, they’re pushing for your monthly income being four times the cost of rent. Also, renters insurance has become a requirement, not just a nice thing to have. If you let your renters insurance lapse, you’re breaking your lease.
16.66 for min wage but all the jobs are part-time with no scheduling sanity so holding two jobs is difficult to impossible. Anyone realizing this isn’t an accident?
The US hasnt been in first place at much of anything for a long time.
Minimum wage is a joke. It only exists so corporations can say they’re not paying you minimum wage.
It’s actually quite funny, and sad. This generation sucks so bad. Too many punk-ass bitches just trying to look good in front of their peers and afraid of conflict at all costs.
War or bust in my opinion. Those pigs need to be fed waste. Grab the giullotines.
It pisses me off so much because the goddamn problem is RIGHT IN FRONT of everyone’s eyes and yet so much energy is spent on bullshitting the masses…I want off this ride
How else make line go up?
Is it that clear? What is the problem and what would be your aproach to a solution?
The problem is the entrenchment of authoritarian techno-feudalism combined with the hubris of “might makes right”. The solution is wildcat strikes.
I’d say the solution is a cultural shift.
We need to value different things.
- Stop thinking those who have more deserve more (shut up, most of you do it.)
- Stop thinking those who have less deserve less.
- Stop thinking products are priced according to what they cost to bring to market. They are priced according to what our dumbasses are willing to pay.
- Stop spending money on things you can be getting for free.
- Stop praising people for what they spend their money on.
- Stop expecting praise for what you spend your money on.
- Start praising people for what they do, not what they buy (notice there’s a lot less praise to go around now.)
- Value modesty. Consume less. Spend less. Do more.
Pretty much all the hippie-psychedelic counterculture that was snuffed out in the 80s was correct. Grow your hair out, guys. You’ve been conditioned to keep it short, and it looks like shit.
I think you may be correct in the sense that a great cultural change needs to occur for people to even contemplate that a wildcat strike as an option exists and is viable in halting the mechanisms of oppression/repression.
When asked how miserable millennials are, the response was overwhelmingly unchanged, in-fact the generation regards itself as having the shittiest life experience marked by late-stage capitalism, and the adoption of a boring cyberpunk dystopia. US millennials largely see retirement as something impossible, as many cannot afford homes, cars, or healthcare.
See, that’s why they just mention under 30s, because it’s far worse for the rest of us.
I am in my mid 20s and Gen Z. Most under 30s are Gen Z now.
Yes, I know, thats why in my made up quote I talked about millennials.
We’ve been suffering for a hell of a long time. A lot of us were young children when we watched the planes slam into the world trade center on the morning news before going to school and acting like we didn’t see the most horrific thing in the world.
Right after Columbine of course. And can’t forget about the Oklahoma bombing. It’s… Been rough
At least the 90s were somewhat stable I guess? I was only two when 9/11 happened but I remember Hurricane Katrina and the Recession vividly. America has always been one disaster away from ruining your life. Lately tornados have been happening all around me and there ain’t a damn thing I can do about it.
Not sure where you are, but I grew up in tornado alley. After a while, you just get used to it.
Like, I distinctly remember being in a car dealership (think massive plate glass walls) when a tornado siren went off, and most of the sales drones were basically nose on the glass looking out at the green sky. I was very amused when the manager walked out and gave the professional equivalent of ‘dudes, what the actual fuck are you doing?’
It’s one of those things you learned the danger of. If it was raining hard, you didn’t fuck around.
The siren always goes off once the rotation is detected by radar. You got a little bit of time to dick around because unless it’s EF3 or above it’s unlikely to start damage that quickly.
Plus if it’s an EF3, you’ll find out pretty quick. EF4s you’re gonna need luck on your side and EF5s? Well. Just hope it isn’t an EF5.
I remember a post where people were asking millennials what their retirement plans were.
Vast majority of it was either suicide or hoping work would let them clock out before they dropped dead.
Fuck this shithole of a country and fuck the wealthy in my parents generation who threw away my future. Damn right young people are miserable.
I will never forgive the Baby Boomers for gleefully throwing every successive generation off a cliff while Boomers failed upwards through life.
yeah, people always come at me with “don’t blame generations, it is a distraction meant to divide us and besides there are plenty of older people who got screwed too”…
…and yes, this is vitally important to recognize, especially as a leftist that at least claims to be focused on building solidarity and refocusing the conversation on wealth inequality…
…however damn, if you meet wealthy baby-boomers or even “temporarily embarassed” wealthy baby-boomers who aren’t even rich just made it more than their peers… it makes it DAMN HARD not to hate baby-boomers sometimes.
This isn’t a generational thing, this isn’t even new, but the shear AMOUNT of narcissistic completely ideologically lobotomized wealthy baby-boomers there are actively strangling their kids futures in the US is fucking disgusting and it makes it hard not to hate the whole fucking generation.
I don’t, there are plenty of good people in the baby-boomer generation, but baby-boomers dont make it easy not to hate their fucking guts sometimes like holy shit.
I disagree. I think it IS a generational thing.
It is only ok to think of it this way though if you immediately qualify that with it is a problem with a specific subsection of a generation within colonial powers who are or believe they are middle-class, upper-middle class or wealthy.
I guess that can seem like a pedantic qualification, but it actually isn’t because all of the energy in people’s agitation just siphons off into hating old people from a perspective that doesn’t illuminate anything, and it REALLY isolates older people who weren’t included in that collective selfish foreclosure of our future. All the seniors who are forced to work, living in poverty or alone. Even if they have shitty politics, when we just talk about it as a generational problem we deny their agency and potential as individual human beings.
We also feed into an unspoken centering of the experience of people in colonial powers and ignore the colonized who have been excluded categorically.
At the same time I also bristle when people get upset at people exclaiming shit like “gahh man, fuck boomers” without an acknolwedgement that… yeah I mean fuck boomers kinda…
It is like if someone says “fuck men” in exasperation nearby me, yeah well I am a man and in my heart I try to be a good person and I know there are good men who are loving and mature… but like… I join in with the vibes because I know they aren’t talking about me (or if they are maybe I need to take a step back, breathe, and listen?). I don’t say “not all men!!!” and I think there is a tiny bit of that in the response people have to shutting down people exasperated with boomers because the truth is complicated.
TL;DR Vent, be wary of people who snap at you the moment you vent about something understandable, but also be wary of narratives simplifying to a hurtful point
Ok there’s a point when you get so obsessed about shoving colonialism into EVERY conversation it just gets funny. It’s like you’re a fresh faced college kid who just learned a New Thing and it blew your mind so now you have to talk about it all the time.
Ok there’s a point when you get so obsessed about shoving colonialism into EVERY conversation it just gets funny.
aw thank you, that is a very sincere compliment, as cynical as I can be sometimes it feels good to know I haven’t lost a youthful perspective : )
Does Britannia, when she sleeps, dream? Is America her dream?-- in which all that cannot pass in the metropolitan Wakefulness is allow’d Expression away in the restless Slumber of these Provinces, and on West-ward, wherever 'tis not yet mapp’d, nor written down, nor ever, by the majority of Mankind, seen,-- serving as a very Rubbish-Tip for subjunctive Hopes, for all that may yet be true,-- Earthly Paradise, Fountain of Youth, Realms of Prester John, Christ’s Kingdom, ever behind the sunset, safe til the next Territory to the West be seen and recorded, measur’d and tied in, back into the Net-Work of Points already known, that slowly triangulates its Way into the Continent, changing all from subjunctive to declarative, reducing Possibilities to Simplicities that serve the ends of Governments,-- winning away from the realm of the Sacred, its Borderlands one by one, and assuming them unto the bare mortal World that is our home, and our Despair.
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Not just under 30. My husband is disabled and if ACA or VA benefits get cut he will die. Horribly but slowly, in our house where I will have to take care of him until the end. And pray we still have enough of a functioning society to bury him when the time comes. How I am supposed to feel anything other than horror and dread for the future!?
I’m sorry. I wish I could continue paying to keep your husband alive. It’s what a fellow countrymen would do. But half of our electorate is filled with sociopaths.
Fuck this place.
dude…americans OVER 30 are miserable too
It is normal for older people to be jaded. Having the young, idealistic age start out life jaded and miserable really drags the average down.
I was miserable when I was younger too, I’m just really good at it now.
It is normal for older people to be jaded
google “is ought”
Why?
What’s “is ought” bro? You can’t just say random stuff and expect us to finish your thought, elucidate.
I have literally no clue how it applies to this but there is an is ought fallacy that because something is the way it is that is the way it is supposed to be.
Doesn’t apply here though because no one said that old people are supposed to be jaded just that they are a lot of the time.
I’m 41 and I’ve been miserable since elementary school.
Its me, hi, im the problem it’s me
I think you should identify as a problem instead of identifying as the problem if possible. The former attitude has more ‘spunk’ as the yanks say.
“but look how much technology you’ve gotten to see as it evolved every 3 years.”
Tech can fuck off. All these technological advances have served some Capitalist at the expense of imploding the middle class, or distracting the masses with some shiny bauble while shareholders extort more flesh each quarter.
If tech advances don’t create a rising tide, they’re just a tool for exploitation.
Are you me?
They’re me too. Hello, us!
Could be, we’re are these voices coming from?
anyone paying attention in the US should be
this country has been fucked since at least 9/11 and citizens united
so starting collegish for you but all the younger generations
Definitely, I remember being a senior in high school the day 9/11 happened and even then I felt that the world was going to change and not change for the better.
Checking in with the chorus of over 30s that basically don’t expect good things to happen again.
Well over 30.
I’m 95% certain our quality of life is going to degrade for the remainder of our lives in this country.
I’m not even going out of my way to be pessimistic. I’ve been alive for a while now and all the signs point to this being our future.
And it was all easily avoidable with even just a little common sense and critical thinking skills from average Americans.
Needless to say, I’m not really a fan of humans anymore. We’re pretty stupid animals.
I often wonder where we would be at if the hanging chads went the other way.
I wonder that, myself, but I am not at all sure how Al Gore would have handled the aftermath of 9/11. (I don’t mean the crisis itself, but rather the blame game that was sure to come afterwards).
While Dubya was a big fat liar, we might have gotten some even worse Republican in 2004, and then Barack Obama would probably never have become President. (But it is possible he would stay in the Senate and be the current Democratic leader).
No, the timeline shift I wonder about is what would have happened if Democrats let Bernie win in 2016, instead of being in the tank for Hillary. If Trump was never President, he would probably be in jail by now.
I don’t think 9/11 would have been successful under him. The Clinton administration was well aware of the danger but the bush administration refused to talk to the outgoing administration. Heck the patriot act was only necessary because the bush administration was not doing its job and bringing together the information it received from various agencies. The patriot act was basically a work around against incompetent presidential administrations.
It doesn’t matter who the president is when the country is actually controlled by wealthy oligarchs. We cannot solve that problem by voting.
Vote with your wallets. Bring back ownership.
Stop subscribing to dumb shit you can be getting for free. Use your brains before your wallets.
And stop saying sigh, Amazon and Bezos suck, but I simply cannot live without throwing my money at them. I tend to hate to be judgy about it, but I think the time has come to pass judgement, for people to put up or shut up. Yes, all corporations are bad. That means we should all be consuming less. But some corporations are definitely worse than others, and every single person who voluntarily gives them money is complicit. They have the power because we give it to them.
I totally agree with what you’re saying.
If we keep rewarding people with social praise every time they contribute to the problem, they’re going to keep contributing to the problem.
This is what I mean by changing as a culture. We need to value different things.
You nailed it with your username.
(I also hate that I agree with everything you said. It’s so hard to be hopeful these days.)
Yeah I don’t know who these over 30 happy people are. The pres just said he plans to rendition citizens to a foreign prison anytime he reasons they did something to warrant it. My brother with kids is super worried. I don’t have kids but still not likin it.
We’re moving with as many of our adult children as we can convince and logistically manage out of this place. The US is losing two STEM PhD holders, multiple bachelors in engineering, and other bachelors degree holders. Yes, we’re stupidly lucky to have the resources to make the move, but it’s going to basically destroy my retirement resources. It’s worth it if my children have a chance of a better life. We’re racing the clock to get out before the borders are closed.
Fuck the Nazis in charge of this place and the people who voted them into power.
You’re a good parent.
Meanwhile, my (immigrant) partner and I opened up about our fears to my family last Christmas, and my mom told me not to worry because my partner is “one of the good ones.” Ugh.
So yeah, thank you for being rational.
They were lucky enough to have bought houses during the great recession.
Mystery solved.
Yeah that about sums up how I view the rest of my life playing out.
The other day, I did some quick math to figure out what my family of five driving four cars across the country would look like. Several days and probably upwards of $5000 in fuel, if we can find it, and if cash is worth anything. I have a motorcycle that I would sell to fund part of that, and I’ve already decided which of the four cars would be first to sell on the road.
I am fully expecting things to escalate to the point where any time we have to leave the house to get groceries, fuel, medicine, two people will be required. One to do the shopping, the other to be an armed guard.
This chapter in American history is about as fucked up as it’s been in living memory, and we have a very long way to go yet.
Only good thing that happened in awhile was the united healthcare CEO getting what was coming to him.
We need more rich people to suffer the same fate if we ever want things to change. Arguing isn’t going to work because they control the discussion.
Keep in mind, rich people kill poor people every day. Directly, and indirectly. Someone died in a robbery because a poor person was chasing that rich lifestyle? Blame the ruling class. Someone committed suicide because they have no prospects in life other than serving in dead-end jobs? Blame the ruling class. Somebody shot up a school because they have no prospects in life other than serving in dead-end jobs? Blame the ruling class.
Why don’t we have the resources to build and repair communities? Because any excesses we have go to the ruling class, not the people who actually need it.
It’s fucked. I genuinely hope we have mass executions for the ruling class and their children at this point if they do not willingly give over their wealth.
It would be a small price to pay for all the damage they’ve done over generations that will take generations to fix.
Those of us in our mid-50s aren’t exactly happy either right now.
You still at least had the option to buy a house. But yeah I get it.
Oh and it isn’t like Americans over 30 are any happier?
I’m here to assure you that we’re not. The only ones who are happy are boomers who lucked into an impossibly good economy that will never return. They amassed wealth and think it’s because they worked hard while in conditions that only existed because multiple economies were destroyed by war while USA was untouched. And now they continue to hoard power in government and refuse to let younger generations have a seat at the table. Fuck them.
TIL I’m under 30
38 and not doing great.
Boomers maybe?
Most boomers are miserable even if their purported political desires have dominated elections for forty years mostly uninterrupted.
How sad, so much winning and not happy.
What they were hoping for: Their voted party to make things miserable for their enemies and for them to benefit since they voted.
Reality: Their voted party is going around dismantling, liquidating and destroying safety nets that said voters rely on. Everyone is screwed.
Not bright thinking, not bright.
I’m European, and I get miserable reading about the USA.
It’s also quite telling that I see so many American expats here nowadays. It used to be quite rare, usually if you met an American living here they would be either working for an American company, or have a relationship with a local.
Now, I’m just meeting a lot of super talented and smart Americans who took a major paycut just to not live in the US anymore.
I’ll be real, it really bugs the shit out of me that the affluent would rather just bail to Europe and leave the most vulnerable of us behind. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
As long as they personally can escape somewhere safer, they don’t give one single fucking shit about what happens to their less fortunate fellow countrymen. Not all poors are Trumpers. Some of us got fucked by *checks notes… cancer drugs that cost $18k a month. Ask me how I know.
I sneer and look down on every single one of those “talented and smart Americans” who leave their talented, smart, empathetic, and fucked by the economic system of the US brethren behind to rot.
If you don’t feel like you have any power to influence anything it’s normal to bail.
Clearly the US wants to be fucked up. I’ve been trying to stop that for decades. When should I admit that this is what the country wants and that it’s foolish to think otherwise.
People put their own oxygen masks on first for a reason. If I could leave I’d be gone, too.
Feel free to sneer at me, though. People are all terrible and I’m one of them.
Why should they go down with the ship?
Put your energy here.
Why should I go down with the ship? What did I do to deserve it?
That’s some soulless selfish bullshit you’re peddling.
I guess sticking around to try to improve things, or hell, working to have improved it before it got this bad, are just too much to ask.
America is not fixable right now. The majority of voters supported a Nazi. The population has to age out before any change can come and that could take 50 years.
The majority of voters supported a Nazi.
Factually wrong. A plurality of voters supported a Nazi. The majority, 50.2%, voted for other candidates. Pedantic, yes, but meaningful nonetheless.
Gotcha, fuck the poor, they can die under Nazis. Thanks for your valuable input.
I would like to point out that all the people with halfway decent politics leaving is only going to accelerate how bad things are in the US. You get that, right?
How did things work out for the people that stayed in Nazi Germany? I think people can see where things are going and if they can they are getting out. Life is not fair but you have to do what is best for you and your family.
I’m stuck here with you, living in a red state.
I spent years trying to convince people to vote. Not just presidential elections, the yearly local shit too. It’s become one of the big things I’ve been doing a lot.
When I had people I respected proudly tell me they didn’t vote either way, I lost hope for this damn country that if one this fucking important couldn’t get them to bother, nothing will.
I can’t blame people for leaving after that, I’m not sure I have the energy in me to keep beating the drum if I’m completely surrounded by people who are in far more danger than I am giving far less shits than I do.
Dude, I understand your frustration.
But these people just want to be safe and raise their kids without worrying that some neo-nazis are going to harm them or their kids for having the wrong race or creed.
They aren’t necessarily affluent, though not poor either. Just middle-class progressive people that need to have both parents working to afford a house, car, groceries.
Yes, I am sorry you got f-d by the medical costs. I really wish it were different.
just want to be safe and raise their kids
If they really cared about that, maybe they could have tried harder to prevent this from happening in their home country, yeah?
That’s such a cop out. “I just want to raise my family in peace” but not enough to work to create a peaceful society for them. Americans are so god damned selfish and thoughtless about anyone’s future but their own.
Why didn’t you try harder to stop this from happening if that’s all it takes?
You have no idea what they did or did not do.
You have no idea what they went through in the USA.
Look, I get you. I come from a family that actively resisted the Nazi occupation with guns, smuggling and at great risk.
And if it ever came to it, I would stay to fight. That’s just my nature.
But it’s not for everyone.
Look. I get you. But, it it were up to me, I’d have been gone during the Bush II years and I’m still stuck here.
This place has fucked me up enough already. Despite doing “everything right” in my studies, my first career, in scientific research, died before it began, thanks to the ultra-wealthy causing a global recession. Every day I wonder if it’s going to be the day that I hear that my trans sibling has been taken or died a death of despair. I lost a cousin to cancer because she couldn’t get treatment due to the nazi’s handling of COVID. I’m in therapy because of serious childhood trauma. I’m childless, despite wanting to have children my whole life (have never been in a position to afford them and my spouse is disabled, so, I’ll likely never have the energy to parent anyway). I know that, no matter how much I put into a 401k, it’s never going to be enough for me to retire. The current head of the CDC has suggested putting people like me in forced labor camps.
I spent decades being politically active and trying to get others active, voting, and engaging with reps only to have tankies and centrists actively sabotage any attempt to realistically pull the country Left without the massive amount of death and suffering (especially experienced by vulnerable people) that tankies circlejerk about trying to cause.
Nothing that I do here has any ability to change things in the country for the better within my lifetime, which is likely to be cut short due to living in this country during the ongoing fascist coup that everyone around me is still in denial about. Sure, I help out neighbors and the like as they need it and I’m able. If we meet and you need help, I’ll absolutely help you if I can.
I’m not going to Luigi someone or join the Maquis - I am needed too much by my family. Nor am I going to opt-out - I’m too filled with spite over what was stolen to make things any easier for them. And I’m sorry but, if I can get my family out, I will.
I feel you. I’ve been thinking a lot about my options lately (as I’m sure we all are.) As appealing as the idea to leave the country is, there’s some part of me that’s screaming, “No. Our place is here. These is our home. These are our neighbors. This is our fight.”
I hope those most vulnerable can find a way to stay safe… But as for myself, this system has kept me too poor to afford having kids, let alone owning a house, or any other assets, without hope of affording retirement, trapped in a system where I’m basically a slave running in a hamster wheel… So what have I got to fear? I’m going to stay here and organize.
“We’ll defend those who are less fortunate than us!”
[Loses one (1) election]
“Welp I’m gonna leave the country, and not do anything to help anyone on my way out. I never actually liked any of you, you were just useful tokens for an election.”
They want the poor, disabled, queer, BIPOC, and anyone who is stuck in this hellhole to burn alive. They don’t actually care. If they cared they’d try to help, not leave the country and pretend it’s for our own good. Anyone who can leave the country right now is in a better place than 90% of the people they “care about”.
One election?
Yeah they lose every election unless its handed to them on a platter like Biden v Trump.
Love how I’m getting downvoted for pointing out how the well of liberals are leaving the country while acting like its for the good of the poors they browbeated into supporting their bad candidates.
“You’re just not voting hard enough!”
“It’s your fault you only voted every time you were asked to vote! Every knows you can vote to stop police, landlords, mass media, and fascist neighbors!”
Yee that tracks. I can already see the brain drain
