Comments by "Ficus-lovin\x27 Capybara N\x27 pals • 🌟 • 25 yrs ago" (@YourCapybaraAmigo_17yrsago) on "More Perfect Union"
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I've long made the case that shoplifting isn't a crime per se as no is harmed, simply annoyed, and provided it's not part of some industrial operation that cleans out a whole business, shouldn't be considered criminal at all, but a civil charge. After all, if small claims court uses $10,000 as a limit, how is helping oneself to some mostly valueless property which is always far below that value any different???
Any low-level nonviolent property offense should be treated as a civil matter not a criminal one. Implying anyone is actually harmed by minor inventory loss is silly. Give someone community service, call it a civil infraction and a low fine and call it a day. Anything more is overkill and unnecessary. Penalizing people for taking things from a store, which already wastes a nonzero amount by choice every week, plus, the total losses of which would add up to no more than a rounding error in the daily ledger, is just wrong as far as I'm concerned. This isn't the same as breaking into someone's home with deliberation or violence and taking someone's personal items of monetary or sentimental value. It is taking something without paying for it, but often times, the price contains an excessive markup margin, and it's taken from a place which is publicly accessible, ie you're not trespassing on private property.
I could go on and on. How about mandating all stores must turn over whatever they voluntarily choose not to sell or have leftover instead of just throwing it out? If sent to a local collection center where they can be donated or resold at a steep discount, the poors (that's me) can go there for what they need instead of trying to palm it out.
I mean considering the amount of goods that virtually all stores either deliberately waste or have in excess to share, even after ensuring high profits - it is obvious they are never harmed in any real way by petty inventory loss. And the dumb thing is, if you've noticed, I almost guarantee all of these stores that invest in security guards and all these elaborate loss prevention schemes, are most likely paying much more for those measures then they would if they just let people do what they needed to do and attended to business as usual.
I got caught taking some tasty snacks from a gas station. The young male who I'm guessing was as assistant manager decided that was something he just couldn't handle. He wouldn't let me buy some beer I was trying to actually buy at the same time and and he banned me from shopping or getting gas there in the future. I see. So what's do a little calculation on this shall we? For a potential loss of $10 to $15 in snacks, he turned away thousands in future sales.
This guy really took it personally like someone had just forced him to swallow a really hard d**k and he just didn't want to.
What an absolute moron. I mean these people don't even succeed at business much less life. Sure, it was a little awkward and embarrassing for me but I got over that in two minutes. This idiot lost all our future sales and for what? Because he couldn't let me take some goddamn snacks??? I guess I just don't get other people I really don't.
Seems like a totally irrational and ridiculous overkill response. Well it doesn't seem, I mean it was.
So yeah all that's to say is I have absolutely no problem with shoplifting. Store owners need to f*cking cope and get a f*cking life. It's called the price of doing business, like any other expense out there. Like car maintenance. And because it is simply the cost of doing business, it shouldn't be criminalized. Sometimes people who help themselves to a few pieces of your inventory, that's just life. So long as they don't take the safe and take the contents of your bank account, you're fine. I've had things taken from me before on a personal level. I didn't love it, but I got over it, and those items are far more important and useful to me, then one of hundreds of thousands of nameless items are to Walmart.
That's how I sincerely feel about it and I'd love to see shoplifting totally decriminalized from the books throughout this state. Meaning it's removed from any misdemeanor classifications and turned into an infraction enlisted as a civil offense. There are enough acts that are perfectly harmless or within the tolerances of everyday risk that are already criminalized, and it's all in an attempt to maintain mass incarceration. Pretty sure we have the most criminalized society in the developed world. That needs to change.
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I'm not even against a decent landlord. If I have an extra room or two, or small property someday, I'm sure I would like to consider renting it out for a little extra money. The problem is Big Business/ corporate landlords who own/ manage complexes, duplexes and individual homes.
If everyone in the public is made to believe that any landlord has the god-given right to charge ANYTHING they want if there's someone fool enough to pay it, and the only people who can afford to rent actual shelter have to make $4000/mo plus, where EXACTLY is everyone else who's not so fortunate to have those means supposed to live?? Visibly homeless persons are already treated as outright criminals or something on the level of invading animals in many municipalities. This of course is a crime against their basic human dignity and civil rights, but who's going to stop it? The Supreme Court just justified it in their eyes (we knew they would, not that that matters to me, as if I would ever allow one of these vipers to dictate my moral code to me), so I doubt any lower court is going to try to stand up for the humanity of those who happen to be in need and have no choice but to seek survival on the streets.
For how much longer should we be having this problem?
I don't know anyone that's asking for totally free housing, although I could think in a few situations where it would be justified as a transition measure. I do know is that all anyone is asking for acceptable or better housing that we can afford, along with basic rights to get some flexibility if we make can't provide the entire rent for any particular reason during our lease, without being instantly evicted. Emergencies and unexpected things happen - people should not be thrown out like trash because something happened that they had no way of predicting. We saw this with COVID and it was disgusting. A medical emergency, an arrest, a job loss, a family emergency- it could be anything!!!! Where are our protections against loss of our income so we don't have to lose our housing!!!???
But unfortunately so many landlords are natural full sociopaths so they don't lose sleep over it, and the law doesn't protect us. Listen to them talk online. Read their comments. these people are devoid of even the barest humanity or desire to understand others' struggles. Their greed is all they know or want to know.
Everyone has a human right to decent shelter, sufficient desirable food and comprehensive medical care. Most people are no are more than willing to pay what they can for these things- yet everyone in this country who has these to provide wants to intentionally keep them out of more and more hands, while at the same time having the nerve to complain about rising poverty and those living on the streets. Where (and when) does this end??? When does access to these building blocks get to be considered a RIGHT, not a privilege for the lucky few!?!
This country is full of evil and greed. Sad.
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@DellikkilleD lol no I just like to help the big box stores help out the non-priveleged in their community which really, they should be happy to do considering their profits. And smaller stores shouldn't sweat the small stuff. I wouldn't. I really wouldn't. Stores can't just give it all away of course but a 1-5% loss is nothing. It's nothing. Only the most reactionary or greedy would want to be upset over that. Hell I ever have my own business I will never care if I lose up to even 10-15% of profits. It won't come anywhere l near that but provided I was in the black and in no financial trouble, that's within a margin I'm willing to tolerate. But I've always been a giving person so... It would be very nice if everyone was less self-focused and more willing to share. There's more than enough to go around. The surplus should go back to the community, not be wasted. I hate waste. If we eliminate resource waste, we mostly eliminate poverty.
Anyways look I agree with what you're saying about work. Nobody should tolerate a bad workplace, for any reason. I have before and it was a very tough time. Sometimes looking back I do wish I walked out much sooner. But its easier for some to quit than others. Especially if you're a single parent, have a disability, are a minority, have no savings or family to fall back on, or anything else which can make it a shittier and less certain prospect to quit a job, even if you're skilled or educated.
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The problem is that every corporation sees workers as slaves and property and they want to keep the vast majority of the profit they make to themselves, their top executives, and their shareholders. Nobody else.
Even those wages and the giveaways that the gentleman at 2:00 what's discussing was nothing but a crumb off of the masters table. I know to him it seemed like a nice gesture and a sizable award, but it was still next to nothing compared to the overall largest and profit that company had made that year. Even back then the company was taken advantage of and stiffing their workers, it just didn't seem that way to that guy because his usual we've all been socialized to accept so little and so when they give just a little bit more than we expect we suddenly feel like the heavens have shined upon us. I mean in the 90s $15 an hour STILL wasn't very much. I guess the cost of living where he lived was low so he could have a reasonable standard of living on that, but the truth is, even back then he was taking it raw from the company. The executives were making six and seven figure paychecks while he was barely topping out at $30 or 50K a year IF he was lucky. So even back in the good old days it WASN'T that good- it was still highway robbery. These corporations will NEVER treat you right or give you anything more than crumbs unless they are legally forced too. It's ALWAYS been a scam. It's always been a criminal enterprise, from Day 1.
Even though the workers are 99% of the reason why the company is successful and profitable, by some sick twist of logic corporate bigwigs don't think workers deserve anything. The workers do almost everything. The c-suite is dependent upon the workers, and yet the workers are the first to go out the window when they need to make "cutbacks". These places just see workers as their objects, as their meat robots to be used as needed and thrown away when necessary. They're angry they even have to pay them at all.
They have this sociopathic sense of entitlement that tells them that they're entitled to everything, and the workers are just something that they have to use in order to get it, but in reality if the world was fair to the poor suffering business owner, then they would bring slavery back so they (corporate boss) could get their labor for free again which is what they really want.
Because even though the collective efforts of their employee base is the ONLY reason the company exists and is staying alive, somehow the company brass who lives off of these selfsame producers doesn't feel they (workers) deserve to see the profits their work has generated.
Everybody else in a company is literally a parasite, wholly dependent on the collective body of the workers, including the upper management, and yet company ownership rarely if ever feels they deserve to be compensated accordingly.
Such is the crime and the gangster nature of every large corporation.
A large company is nothing more than organized crime masquerading as a legal entity.
Its workers are robbed blind everyday and everyone else runs off with the loot. Since this is legal it's considered fair and just; or at least, that's what they keep trying to make us believe. Apparently their constant non-stop brainwashing efforts in western society have yielded great results. Every time we talk about Labor Justice it never fails to provoke one of the brainwashed dogs piping up in opposition- and you just know that fool is either unemployed or makes shit money. The only difference is, we have enough self-respect to know when we're getting fucked, and the other guy seems to love it, as he doesn't seem to want better for himself or for his fellow workers/professionals out here.
In a just world, this would never happen (corporate abuse) because it would be seen for what it is, massive robbery, but there's some kind of evil spirit or dark magic that holds this world together and the good guys don't rule here, the criminals do; the users, the killers, the exploiters, and so on; and all Western governments seem to serve this goal. Hopefully that won't always be true, but that certainly true today, and it's been true for a long time. I mean any so-called divine power didn't seem to care that the new world was being plundered and centuries of slavery and all kinds of crimes against humanity were being happily carried out by many powerful interests; as they are today still.
If by chance we can get real leftists into office we can start instituting hard and fast labor laws that can mandate labor protections of all sorts, but until we do this kind of nonsense will just continue.
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@kevinperry581 I find it hard to believe the beef market could ever be saturated. Everyone wants beef. Well, everyone who's not against eating meat. That is not the problem, I believe. As usual, it's due a mega-corporate takeover. Corporations are always the problem, they always have been and until they're crushed they always will be.
Big Business has always bought the US govt going back to to the days of the industrialists and the robber barons and by doing so has tried to destroy the medium and little guy along the way, and it continues today.
Until we crush the power of the big business cartel savages in this country, who's only credo is infinite greed and will destroy ANYTHING in service that goal, the rest of us will suffer. We already do, in many ways.
It happens across every industry everywhere you look.
In my eyes, corporations are pure cancer.
Not all businesses, just Big Business.
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@smokingfast lol "handouts". That word again. Yes, for those who need them, aka public housing, I most certainly agree with "handouts" as you feel necessitated to call them.
The only reason public housing has failed in this country because it was deliberately CAUSED to fail by corrupt local city leaders or state officials. If you don't water a plant will die. If you constantly starve a housing complex of the basic minimum needed money for it to survive, and neglect its residents of course over time the place will deteriorate. At any time local officials could have decided to manage it like any other property. They deliberately let it fail, they deliberately CAUSED it to fail. if you don't know this, you're not very bright. For a perfect visual explanation of this watch The Pruitt-Igoe Myth.
Social housing can work just as well as anything else if it's managed properly AKA not deliberately and maliciously neglected. Everywhere else in the world where social housing is provided by an ethical government it works wonderfully.
Maybe you honestly don't know but stop trying to gaslight me and spread misinformation in order to justify the fundamentally exploitative nature of landlording, where LLs can charge excessive if not outrageous amounts of rent off the backs of the working and lower middle class, literally stealing the wealth that they could have to stored up for their future. LLs buy off government officials at all levels to make it legal to do what they do, then they charge the maximum they can get away with thereby literally /stealing/ the future savings and potential of each tenant. That's not right.
In a private housing market, the only fair and ethical way to assign rent is by income limit- no more than 20% of a tenant's income in absence of mortgage, OR, a reasonable amount over the amount of the mortgage - I prefer 15% of the monthly amount - when a mortgage is present.
Your point of view is ignorant and very typical of a right-wing person who allows themselves to watch Fox News and lacks awareness.
How is one able to save for a house on a low or average income if the rent I'm obligated to spend is up to 60% of what I make? That's unacceptable and unethical. I don't deserve to be rapidly impoverished just to make some lazy piece of shit rich on MY hard work. That makes me an indentured servant and him a parasite. Now it's true I'm living in a property he owns, but he is morally obligated not to demand excessive rent. If the laws were moral and not completely tilted in favor of the 1%, this would already be in place and be considered the normal way of doing business.
I actually will be moving out of the current complex I'm living in but I have to stay in my area for several reasons, not the least which is my job. Unless I take on a roommate or two, and we may (I have a partner), my rent will not go down very much regardless of where I go right now within my local area. The best I could find at that bogus immoral SCAM con-artist off-the-street"market" rate is $1800 for a standard 2-bdrm.
"Market rate" is a criminal con term and is nothing but an excuse to price-gouge. Imagine letting property owners demand their own rent and disqualified anybody who can't afford to pay whatever hefty amount they choose. so what are poor people supposed to do? I mean people who are very low income? There are some limited resources for the low income but not nearly enough. Market rate leaves out and overcharges at least half of all renters out there. It just should be illegal. it's wrong it's a ripoff it's a gouge it's immoral. Period. Because most landlords are extremely greedy and want to get rich fast they gouge rent as much as they can, leaving poor and lower income people high and dry. This is what happens when private GREED gets to set the agenda. It's WRONG.
I don't usually mind independent landlords IF they don't charge too much for rent and they don't slumlord. Unless you are unethical, you're not the main problem. I'm usually not opposed to single households renting out an extra property to bring themselves a little extra income. Those types aren't the problem- usually.
It's the large corporate holders that I have the problem with. For them, this setup gets them phenomenally rich while we stay increasingly rent-burdened, increasingly impoverished to pay for their lavish and indulgent lifestyles. It's wrong and if you agree with it you're wrong.
I'm not a dumb person, I have a decent amount of skills and education, and I consider myself reasonably intelligent, but not all of us can make 90K+. Rent should be fair and reasonable and sent low enough on a sliding scale so that all can afford it. Housing is a human RIGHT and it should NOT be turned over to be turned into a form of debt-slavery to serve the depredations of those who are ruled by their greed.
You should think about this for a while.
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@AV57 (abc) sounds like a pretty cool system especially given the time period. again, let me be clear, as a far leftist I want maximum public goods and this will partially need public money to fund them aka taxes. I'm not against taxes per se, I'm just against mandatory income taxation for the most part. Again if you read my post I say I'm okay with land taxes, I'm iffy on property taxes and still reconsidering my position on those, and I fully support point-of-use taxes aka sales taxes.
I'm not saying my opinions are going to change anything this is just where I stand and where I hope to move the needle in my lifetime.
Having thousands of elites vote is still not the same as full direct or common democracy. Anything short of full referendums on all public matters isn't democracy its being ruled by an elite and I'm way way past that by now. The only true representation as where I represent myself. Nobody can speak better for me than myself. Also, representatives can easily be co-opted and bought, as ours are.
I believe in majority rule. Why would I support minority rule? Most people are decent, ergo I support majority rule. Especially today when all information is available for all if they wish to look. It's not the 1700s anymore. Anyone who wishes to vote can find all the information out there. Honestly political parties and representatives are way obsolete in my eyes. They never really served the common man in this country anyways (a few exceptions but mostly no imo).
I wouldn't say it's theft not to put in a figurative quarter for the public road. People pay in other ways or for other services, besides what about those who can't afford to pay or are homeless or whatever? Everyone deserves access to all public goods all the time regardless of their ability to pay or whether they paid taxes for it or whatever. I don't think everyone should have to pay for every little thing. Perhaps I help pay for the roads, perhaps tomorrow my neighbor helps pay for the water and so on. We each do our part in our own way. Maybe I don't pay for the water, but I pay for the parks and vice versa. I don't want public goods to run on the "toll" system. I see what you're saying, you feel that everyone should contribute, but everything evens out in the end. Sooner or later, almost everyone contributes to something and that's good enough for me. I don't care if somebody never wanted to pay a dime in taxes- maybe he was a really great friend or helped his family. Sure that's a private matter, but sooner or later that will pay public dividends. That's part of the reason why I don't believe that taxation shouldn't be mandatory for most people. It really should be everyone's personal which public goods they support and how much, for the most part. and absolutely federal taxes should not exist. The federal government is outrageous too demanding. They don't need them, they literally create the money. They don't need to take back money they've already released into circulation. They have an almost unlimited spending capacity so why do they need to take our money?? Well I posit that there is no good reason and it needs to end.
Do I think voluntary taxation would work well in practicality? I certainly do; I think it work way better than the system we have now. Any shortfalls could easily be made up through federal funding or mandated taxation of the 1% and/or corporate bodies, where most taxes belong anyways.
I believe that the common good is most important value but also the individual's rights to have autonomy over their own life and make their own choices without being dictated to by a tyrannical, coercive or overreaching State. Just where I'm at with it.
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Its usually just a fine but it can be a lower misdemeanor charge. Sometimes some pettier jobs and apts might use that as an excuse not to hire or approve you. It's pretty unfortunate but some people are so limited in their worldview that they think store shoplifting is something deserving of some kind of moral judgement. A lot of people don't know how to distinguish between petty theft, "so petty as to be negligible" theft serious larceny, theft from a store, theft from a private person, or theft from place of employment. They want to equate them all the same when they're nowhere near the same but their brain doesn't know how to make the distinction and judge between them. Likewise if they think someone isn't entirely truthful on an inconsequential matter, and/or for a good reason, these people, suffering from a very black-and-white value system, being unable to distinguish or evaluate any kind of shades of grey or nuance or extenuating circumstances, may assume that this kind of person is just entirely untrustworthy or some other kind of person not worth investing in, or a "shady" kind of person, when to most reasonable people who have some life experience would usually believe otherwise.
Most places probably won't use it as any kind of a disqualification measure as they have better things to think about, but a few may. I knew a couple people that ran into that after a local Walmart manager was extremely vindictive and pursued them on a very petty very low-level theft charge. These Walmart senior staff are something else I tell you.
Really I wish I could just call for the immediate shutdown of all 10,000 Walmarts in the US, and the complete giveaway of all of their stock to the needy in their community. Maybe if that happened some of the many thousands of small or regional businesses that Walmart has put out of business over the years would have a chance to come back.
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@youtubesucks1499 I don't care how you slice it. Exploiting workers/employees via bad pay is non-moral and must be stopped by any means necessary. I wish success for any business from the smallest up to a fairly large size, but NOT if that means workers are exploited. Nobody deserves to profit at the expense of workers. Either reduce your number of workers so that each worker can be paid better, or rethink your entire business. I hate to see layoffs and the number of open positions reduced, but I believe it's better for each worker to be adequately paid so they can have financial security versus twice as many workers making half the wages, which keeps them in a perpetual cycle of financial insecurity and struggling to make ends meet.
Also- reduce high level and executive pay significantly if necessary in order to pay everyone else in the company properly and retain positions. How many times have we seen greedy owners and executives continue to get paid certainly more than was necessary, when all other employees were being told to tighten their belts or that they had to take one for the team because the company has to go through some cutbacks right now, but isn't it funny the cutbacks only happen for the workers and employees not those at the top? Obviously this is totally bogus. I would love to see legal regulations that would stipulate that the highest paid employee/owner of any private business cannot be paid more than 40 or 50 times what their lowest-paid worker receives. The age of out-of-control pay and benefit packages for the executives in large companies needs to come to an end. In this pandemic, thousands of not millions of hard-working low and mid-level employees were let go because of supposed cash flow and profitability problems for certain companies, yet the selfish, self-serving executives and owners impose NO such cutbacks on themselves; gee what a surprise. If they had taken a 50% cut from their already excessively high pay and benefits how many tens, 100s or 1000s of standard employee positions and pay levels would have been able to be retained/saved??? Very many I am sure.
When there's trouble within a large company or firm, it shouldn't be the general employees whose heads are always first on the chopping block.
Perhaps we need laws to prevent this from happening.
I'm sure there are some emergency situations where some positions have to be cut in order to save others, but in general, belt tightening should have to start at the top and work its way down NOT the opposite. It's unfair to always ask the lower level and least paid employees to always take the hit if something within a company goes awry and cutbacks are being considered.
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@tanawilliams7498 well that's well said.
I'm happy to try to work to build up a workable third party but will take time and no guarantee it will be able to change anything. We should still try, but in the meantime we have the same problem.
Yeah it sucks balls. It's a tough one. How to get politicos that aren't in it for themselves, don't want bribes, don't want cushy jobs as lobbyists themselves down the line, and how to stop or at least limit big business from having their lobbyist orderlies write the laws that then get rubber stamped????
Man I straight up don't know.
IS there a way??? I hope so. But your guess is as good as mine.
If politico will ALWAYS sell themselves the highest bidder, then the only surefire way that we have a voice is to demand full direct democracy. EVERYTHING has to be ratified through a public vote or originate thru a ballot measure.
Of course that would take a change in law in the legislature. Lol and when would they vote to remove their own influence? Pretty doubtful.
But IF a ballot measure was put forth under ballot measure rules to insist on those changes and call for a changing to the CA constitution, which necessitates a public vote, it may be possible.
I'd have to look into that because it seems the only way.
Same for insisting on uniform election standards, paper ballots, and strict limits on public campaign financing. The crooks will never vote to un-crook themselves but maybe if Left groups organize together and try to get it passed as a BI, a ballot initiative it may work. I'm sure they'd try to stop it somehow but if all the rules are being followed about BIs, I don't see how legally they could.
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Corporate criminals will never be harmed in this country. NEVER.
I sent 6 weeks in a county jail because I didn't have $250 bail for a driving violation. Now that's a local injustice, but it's what this system is set up to do to its poorest, which is kick them in the face repeatedly while stepping on their neck until they die. THAT'S what the legal system in the US is set up to do.
This legal system is designed to be a form of entrenched slavery, opportunity destruction, and extortion for poor people, usually Black or brown, and has NO desire to target the corporate rich. State and federal prosecutors LOVE those people, they want to BE them. They take massive bribes from them or are partial to politicians who do. They could care LESS about corporate goons' many endless crimes against the public which include endless counts of intentional disregard and depraved indifference to human life, among others.
I don't know how to fix this problem. The red-blue uniparty is bought and paid for by the rich corporate class and is only too happy to serve them, this includes keeping them beyond the reach of the courts, which they gladly do by appointing crooked or outright criminal federal court judges and prosecutors and the same for State AGs (see Billionaires and Ballot Bandits p. 125, top paragraph, for an example of this regarding voting suppression).
THERE ARE NO ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURES FOR THE MASSIVE CRIMINAL CORPORATE CLASS IN THE US- the marriage between big corporate money and the political class is too tight.
I HOPE in the future that can change, but as of right now I'm not sure exactly how.
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@chocomalk well if it is being mismanaged I'm very sorry to hear that but man all I can tell you is private healthcare ain't no panacea. For those of means who want to pay more, in some cases much more, for healthcare they feel they can trust that's fine, but if you're lower-income or no-income what are you supposed to do? There should be robust public healthcare available for everyone as well as private healthcare for those who want it and can afford it.
Once you turn healthcare over to the profit motive things can go downhill fast. I won't say it's always bad but it can get bad quickly. High premiums, getting denied services you desperately need that you were supposed to be covered for, $1000 ambulance rides, unaffordable medication. It's a real mess here for a lot of people. I think it's something like 100,000 people here die every year for lack of healthcare access, millions more struggle to afford their prescriptions and so on. Essential medications are being priced out of reach on purpose by these hyper greedy Pharma Bros. I think if you knew the extent of it you'd be pretty shocked.
It can be a mess. Like I said some people who can afford it might be really happy with their private health provider here in the States and I'm happy for them, but you're just as likely to hear horror stories from people who basically were taken for a ride from their pricey health insurer. There is a patchwork of some forms of state health coverage plus Obamacare but both of those programs have a lot of issues and leave a lot of those who need them unable to qualify. Also I forgot to mention, medical bankruptcy is I think the first or second leading cause of bankruptcy in the US. I think the leading cause of debt overall is student loan debt followed by general credit card debt.
We're kind of a worst-case scenario for a lot of things but my point is, a totally unregulated free-for-all for-profit healthcare system can cause a lot of harm. Now if it was more regulated a lot of those harms would be prevented or at least minimized.
I thought that private healthcare was available in Canada?
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@LRRPFco52 The one child policy had issues but it was understandable at the time, and it's no longer in practice. I'm not sure when it was repealed but I think it's been over for at least 10 years now.
In a nation with over 1 billion people it's understandable they would try to limit reproduction.
It is unfortunate mistakes happen but life is nothing but trial and error, and hopefully learning from past mistakes. This goes for individuals, families, companies, organizations, local groups, or nations. All we can do is try to do better than the past.
Well I guess we won't be seeing eye to eye today. I can see that your mind is made up. I'm very sorry for whatever your family members went through at the time, but just because there were problems under the old USSR, that doesn't mean that a people-first government is not what we want.
Yes, we either run society as best we can for the common good or we let giant multinational corporations set the agenda. There's not much middle ground. Your choice.
Here's the evil that giant corps do, just to keep in mind; and this is just the most recent, naturally there are many decades of other like crimes and nefarious actions:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr6RPTR1TaL9Rts5Llwotd9plCheWx2-4
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@youtubesucks1499 As long as any function is not performed with the desire to exploit it for outrageous profit, I don't see why it can't work well, no matter the specific industry.
I'm not against the private market if it's well-regulated. People who love money can go there. I don't love money. I don't really care about it. I like some things and all that but that's about it. Greed is not anything we should be basing an economy around. If I can ever make 80-90K a year I'll consider myself extremely fortunate. What more is really necessary? Large estates are beautiful but those should be reserved for the very very few. Those shouldn't be everyone's goal, and it's definitely not mine. All I want is a decent house on one acre of land and I'll be happy.
I believe in strong public guarantees and strict caps on personal wealth and corporate expansion.
In the public sphere, we should have a strong universal healthcare system to include mental health care support and substance rehab, subsidized public transit, a public child Care network, subsidized higher public education, stronger K to 12 schools, a large supply of social and subsidized housing for those who need them, and social outreach workers for the sick, the elderly, or those who just need extra support. By generously taxing the corporate sector and the top 10% of incomes and increasing Federal allotments to all 50 states based on need, this can easily be accomplished.
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As long as private equity is still legal, everyone will pay, sooner or later. You can't legalize gross larceny and harmful business practices and expect everything is just going to be okay.
Maybe if every mainline politician wasn't a literal proud blazing psychopath with a low price for ownership, we wouldn't be in this position.
You think it's not as much true of the Democuhnts as the insane nazified GOP? Please, people. How many generations do we have to go through this??? It's a brutal and ruthless Wall Street dictatorship through and through. Is that what we want!?
The two-headed snake will eat your face EVERY time! News flash, they are BOTH the party of Leopards that Eat People's Faces!! Do we really want this?? I'm tired of my face get eaten, in small ways or big, what about y'all???
Vote for the two-headed purple snake (the Red-Blue single-party) and you vote for Wall Street serfdom, zero personal rights, climbing poverty, and an avoidable premature death (unless you're very lucky and the intentional depredations of public policy in this country, state, and your local area pass over your house).
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And this is why price controls and profit controls are so necessary. Market controls easily prevent this. None of which this country has btw because lawmakers are bought and paid for here by big business. So until that changes, big business will continue to run the show.
A rant:
F8ck the "free" and unchecked market. What a misguided phrase that I am so sick of hearing at this point in my life.
Besides, the private sector isn't "free" in the US, it's rigged as hell. It's absolutely rigged in favor of the biggest firms in every industry, and that mean customers, communities and workers LOSE.
These giant corporations don't deserve "freedom", they don't even deserve to exist in their present form as far as I'm concerned. There is such a thing as a business getting too big in my view.
When huge businesses are allowed to 1) exist and 2) be the boss of the economy, we all lose by having less competition and thus greater vulnerability to price hikes and costs.
This is why I believe in heavy market control. It's time to enact some control over these firms. The fact they have been allowed to totally run rampant over the better part of the last 150 years and the last 60 in particular just amazes me.
We either use the State to limit big business and control the market, or they keep running the show and leaving more and more families behind. Its happening across every industry. That, coupled with depressed wages and lack of meaningful public assistance, is why poverty exists as far as I'm concerned.
Wow those letters are really gonna help. I guess you could say it's a good first step but much more is needed. Now if I was in a position to do something, big corps wouldn't exist above a certain size, say 5000 persons, and all larger companies would know REAL fast what would happen if they became too greedy. I'd give them on warning and then they would be shut down until they fixed the problem.
Some profit is necessary and fine, nobody is saying otherwise, but there has to be a limit. Otherwise product quality goes down, customers lose out, prices start going up unreasonably and so on.
Unlimited greed is root cause of all the world's problems in my belief. Hate is a problem too, but I believe all the world's poverty and instability both now and at any time in history can easily be traced back to the unchecked greed of either a ruler or their proxies, the landowning class, or a modern corporation, starting with the British East India company in the 1600s.
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Imagine looking at war as a business. War should be the absolute LAST resort that everyone should want to avoid at all costs- only choosing it when all other avenues have been truly exhausted- especially the way those ZionNazi bloodthirsty thugs and the US security sector wages it- as an intentional and happy bloodbath on non-combatants and civilian infrastructure.
317% of the US economy is based off war. We're not ferengi here or the cartels, we're supposed to be better than this.
Anything for a dollar, eh? But it's still illegal to make money in the drug business because "violence".
Lol both state and federal authorities are the biggest, most ruthless gangsters in town- AND those whose interests they represent. No difference at all- one just wears a suit, and one walks a little closer to the street but inside, they are EXACTLY the same in fact I'd say the govt decision-makers are worse, due to their scale, which is global. Even the most ambitious Latin American cartels only operate in this hemisphere for the most part- and while they might do some very bad things- most people only buy their product voluntarily, and to my knowledge, contrary to some entertainment programs, they do not commonly or willingly engage in wanton violence to general civilians.
I'm not trying to be cynical or edgy it's just a fact. Just like many local cops are on the take, state and federal authorities are some of the most organized gangsters around, but instead of it being about drugs or other contraband it's about fomenting war and destabilization abroad and serving multinational transnational top-of-the-food-chain multicorporate interests.
I'll give them that they got brains that's for sure, they just use them for bad aims unfortunately. They never met a violent ruthless fascist dictator they didn't like, unless that fascist dictator didn't do what they wanted, then of course he had to go.
Just like drugs is one of the most profitable games around, the war businesses clearly going to be extremely profitable for the foreseeable future and as such I do not see the policy of the federal interests changing anytime soon. It's too damn bad.
I envision a much better world without these DC gangster nutcases ruining it for everyone else.
FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸
Now and forever
FUCK OCCUPIERS all 🖕
And yet somehow they still got people convinced stateside that they're the good guys. But that's because propaganda is powerful and far-reaching.
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I knew this was going to happen. I was afraid it was going to happen and sure enough I saw it start to happen over the past 5 years especially.
Of course weed should be legal, ALL drugs should. Nobody should go to fucking prison for wanting to get high or engaging in a consenting drug trade with another freewill adult. It's just NOT government's business- IT'S NOBODY'S BUSINESS! These are OUR bodies and NO ONE has the right to tell us what we can or cannot do with them!!! That is such a vast abuse of power, and look where it's gotten us. Adults have the right to make their own fucking choices when it comes to what they consume or do business in without it being called criminal and viciously attacked by government tyrannical filth. But then again if the drug war and the war on human freedom went away, how would the satanic Street Ferals make billions in pure naked theft??? They couldn't, and there would be no point in being a Pig otherwise because the profit just wouldn't be there. Policing is nothing but organized rank theft. It's nothing but massive legalized organized crime. It's ALL theft. It's not about safety it's about the mass production grand THEFT.
But getting back to this, I knew this was going to happen in the legal weed industry. These corporate vultures skinsacks are ALWAYS ready and poised to jump in the moment the clear. They know that the world is their oyster because all they have to do is wave a few dollar bills under their local politician's nose and they've got him by the balls, and willingly so.
Local city councils seem very willing to bought and paid by these corporate filth and will then be their loyal slave attack dogs towards the smaller operators. They seem bound and determined to drive the small mom-and-pop independent shops out of business. Here in my area they've been conducting raids, claiming that these weed shops are in violation of some intentionally expensive or unclear or complicated regulation, which gives them an excuse to rob these businesses blind and shut them down either temporarily or permanently, all while seizing or freezing their assets. The attack on the independent weed shop is shameless, pure evil and absolutely organized. I see it in this county and I'm sure this isn't the only area this is happening. The Pigs are absolutely shameless here, because why shouldn't they be? Who's going to stop them? Nobody. They are there a legal murder and theft gang, that's what police ARE. They're aggressive and ruthless and they all want the money that these shops have. So they pressure City councils to make it very difficult for these places to operate legally, so they can then swoop in and commit these raids. They don't want weed to be legal at all or to be a normal business to run because they want excuses to steal from them. They aren't stupid- they know what to do. Both of the corporate operators and the local blue criminal filth know just what to do to go after the small shops. They get the councils pass intentionally excessive taxes and excessive and unfair burdensome compliance requirements that only the larger and more corporate-backed weed shops can afford to satisfy. I haven't been out to the weed shops in my area for a while so I'm not sure how bad it's gone but the last time I checked it was getting pretty bad. It's sad when your local politicians are just as shameless, ruthless, criminal and greed-infested as the Blue criminals and corporate skinsacks who lobby them. Local politicians near me have no conscience and no soul they'll just go where the money is, which is very sad. The big money has taken over this industry like they've taken over everything else. I don't think it's too late to push back and and undo this but it's going to take a LOT of work.
I was worried about this happening and sure enough on clockwork, it did and I knew it would. Everyone who runs for office in America is a satanic soulless money-grubbing animal so I mean of course the corporates would be successful in plundering and dominating this industry the same way they've done to everything else- with the full compliance and protection of the political class.
I don't know where it's going to end. Judges are in on this, mayors are in on this, with very few exceptions they're all in on this. They ALL want this attack on the independents to continue. Some local politicians or or judges want some quick money so they'll order the Pigs to to assault a local weed shop, even one that's in perfect compliance, and claim they're in violation but won't tell them what their in violation of. This is how local governments have been fattening their wallets for years now. There's no racket as criminal as the government racket.
They are shameless, and nobody seems willing or interested in stopping them. They are fully in league with the corporate filth to point guns to our heads and to get us out of the way. I'm not sure how to stop this but I hope we can figure out a way.
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@youtubesucks1499 regardless of whether a business has investors or not, and I don't know how many times I have to say this, all workers at any level of the company, skilled or unskilled deserve Fair and livable wages. everybody in the universe can't open a business, it has nothing to do with smarts, it's just not in the interest of a lot of people. For everybody who wants to open their own business, there's a hundred people who don't want that extra responsibility or who just simply don't have the interest. Where does this attitude of yours that is so disrespectful come from? how would any business operate without their workers? You should be getting down on your hands and knees and thanking people who are willing to do the dirty work, the hard work to keep your stupid business moving. Once again I see a complete disrespect and lack of appreciation coming from types like you. Why is this? Also for your information, I'm sure there are plenty of people that have ideas for opening their own business but they're just not ready to for whatever reason, yet it could very well be in their future plans. So nurses in your estimation shouldn't be paid comfortable professional wages for the life-saving and vital work that they do? Their workers. So are teachers. You see not all workers are janitors or street sweepers as you seem to think, not that there's anything wrong with those occupations, after all didn't the pandemic just teach everybody who's an essential worker and who's not? For people who are so essential people like you sure want to pay them slave wages. Is that right? anybody who would deliberately underpay workers at any level is an immoral person and they should be ashamed of themselves. you are completely over valuing the usefulness and the need for fools at the top, the exploiting class, and completely undervaluing the people who make the world turn which is all the rest of us the non-ceos, the actual workers. And if you don't think a lot of jobs require plenty of brain power in addition to muscle power as well, then you don't know much.
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@youtubesucks1499 as I mentioned in my previous statement I'm not referring to recently open businesses for the most part for the purposes of this discussion. I did acknowledge that those who invest usually want a return on their investment, and that is fine. I'm not saying they shouldn't receive that. As for ongoing shareholding, I suppose it's not necessarily a bad thing as long as it's NOT used as an excuse to shaft the workers aka the PRODUCERS, that group of people without which the business wouldn't exist because there would be no labor AKA no work done AKA no profits to distribute.
For the purposes of this discussion being "what is a fair minimum level of compensation for employees?", I'm really not referring to startups, but generally established businesses. Also not all businesses are publicly traded, many businesses are not including small businesses, and many businesses get initial funding either from it's owner's savings and/or a small business loan from a bank or loans/seed money from others they know personally. Not all businesses are gotten off the ground via investor groups.
Your opinion seems to be workers really aren't people and they don't deserve comfortable compensation. I still don't understand why you think that way. Have you never been a worker before? Whether it's from the entry level worker all the way on up to a senior level manager, at the end of the day everyone has to go home and pay their bills and try to live a life worth having. Just because someone is newer on the job and hasn't gained extra skills yet, doesn't mean they should be paid like shit. I'm not saying more senior or skilled persons shouldn't make more than those who are less senior or less skilled, but the minimum level should be ethical. My minimum wage ideally is $24 for every position with a small business exception of $15. If you think that sounds like a lot, that's only bec you and many others have been gaslit and brainwashed from 40 years of anti-worker propaganda which has been successful in getting many people to view abnormally low wages as acceptable and justified.
The minimum wage used to track directly with inflation from its inception in the 1930s until around 1980, not coincidentally when Reagan became into office. You can look this data up yourself, but a properly-adjusted minimum wage today would be $18-24. Why is it that real wages have been virtually unchanged for the last 45 years across most industries for most workers, yet overall net productivity has soared? Where has all that extra profit gone? To the top of course into a tiny, tiny number of hands. In essence a tiny very rich parasite class has managed to legally pilfer gobs of wealth generated via the aggregate labor of millions of workers across hundreds of industries over the last roughly 40 to 50 years.
We want this wealth back and we deserve it. ALL wealth has its origins in the physical and mental work that employees across all sectors produce. therefore it is absolutely wrong that it should be concentrated in outsized proportions in a tiny few filthy rich hands.
We are living in a new gilded age, even worse than the first one. There is more outrageous wealth concentrated in a relatively very few hands at the very top right now than ever before in US history. This must end. In my lifetime, I pledge to do whatever it is within my power to do to retake most if not all of this excess wealth and get it redistributed back down throughout the middle and lower working classes where it belongs.
That's why I stand for socialism and justice, prosperity for all by any means necessary. It's not radical, it's just right. It's Justice that's all. it's fairness. Nothing weird or exotic or extreme about it. Paying all workers fairly, and making sure all households receive at least a small portion of the excess profits from some of our wealthiest industries, in the form of dividend payments the way shareholders receive, and/or the company in which they work.
That's the kind of socialism that I believe in and will work towards. Prosperity and security for all, not just a lucky few, or even one half.
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I'm really sorry that happened to you, but you should feel good that you stood up for yourself. And once you got back on your feet you should have tried to find an employment lawyer, and sued them. Perhaps your friend would have been willing to work on contingency.
I'm sorry your other friend chose to work 20 years for some place where he's being exploited and used. I'd rather flip a burgers than tolerate that for five minutes. If that company wants to close their plants so much, the employee should force their hand.
It's almost always a bluff.
I would rather go hungry and live out of my car then be a slave.
If I'm not treated with dignity in the workplace I won't work their simple as that. My pride and my dignity mean more to me than all the money in the universe.
I'll never work somewhere where I'm treated like a slave or like shit. Sometimes I think people just like to suffer.
There are so many other options in life than putting up with that. Your friend chose his fate. The company is mistreating him, but like a battered wife he sticks around. That's his choice. The more people choose to accept that kind of treatment, that just tells the company that they can get away with it. It just reinforces that bad behavior. If everybody quit and nobody tolerated that well guess what the company would be forced to change.
It would be nice if the government and the laws were on our side, but they're not. And nobody wants to come out as a communist or socialist so nothing's going to change. Do you know that by voting Republican or Democrat this is exactly what we asking for?? You think either of those Thugs and those parties give a flying F about the working man? If you believe that I got some waterfront property in Arizona to sell you.
By being weak, fearful and ignorant, we decide our future. We vote for the same corporate-protecting parties and wonder why nothing ever changes in public policy. We do this to ourselves. We accept these atrocious conditions at work and then complain about them as if we deserve sympathy.
But we don't become communist or socialist and organize for better. We don't walk away. We don't accept responsibility for the fact that we have a lot to do with this by accepting this madness.
We could also try to start our own businesses. I know it's hard. I know it's not a level playing field. I know the system is against us and everything is unfair. However, if we don't even try, we only have ourselves to blame.
There are good jobs in good employers out there. If we don't even try to find an alternative, whose fault is that?
So we have a choice. Do we stick around in one of these abusive work relationships, or do we do what's necessary and find something better, weather in pay or treatment or both, no matter how long it takes? Well it's up to each person to decide that for themselves. I'm not excusing this horrible company behavior- no they shouldn't get away with it, but since they are, what are we going to do about it???? Sometimes our only option is to walk away. If a person isn't willing to do that then I'm sorry but they're choosing to accept this kind of treatment. I know I wouldn't. I'll live on the street if I have to but I won't be anyone's slave and I sure as hell won't work for peanuts.
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@tsbrownie this is why laws are so fkg necessary, and grossly, so far we haven't been able to get them. These FILTH will never do the right thing. Their greed is beyond anything and they will NEVER serve anyone but themselves. The predatory sociopathy is stunning. What's gross is that we can't get decent people elected who will curtail this.
Mass poverty, limited means and insecurities exist the world over for one main reason, an owner or executive class at the top that refuses to pay anything but asshole lint to the vast majority of their employees / producers / workers. Even for those with higher skills and education are affected by this.
Without iron fist laws that recognize that all workers are firstly, HUMAN, and secondly, as a group and individually,
equal to if not superior to ANYONE in that c-suite, nothing will change! It's been a fight since the dawn of the industrial age if not before. Even many educated workers are not getting paid their due- just look around, proof it's not hard to find. Prophets, labor value, and wages have been stolen for generation upon generation in this country and it's going on right now to most of us because the people who set the wage level (employers, companies) do not care, are selfish, and have huge personal greed and self-interest to satisfy first. So when laws don't step in to curtail this, we get what we have now- 80% of the world's population (hell maybe more) being cheated out of a fair return of their labor efforts.
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@tsbrownie I don't know what the hell I always say that triggers the censorbot but it's a real shame because I feel these conversations are important. One of us is going to get elected to public office one of these days and push for changes. In the meantime it's important to try to have these conversations so other people can understand WHY it's wrong to belittle, take advantage of, exploit, abuse, dehumanize and/or underpay workers of all stripes, all backgrounds, ALL educational levels. The fact that predatory business practices have been normalized in our culture for so long is one of the greatest sins of this entire country's existence.
Using or abusing a given business's workforce are social evils that need to end. Should have ended a long time ago. Using or exploiting someone else for personal gain is wrong, especially in the workplace, and it should never be legally sanctioned.
Everyone has a right to be happy where they work, to be treated well, to have positive working conditions, to receive all possible safety measures, and to be rewarded properly for the effort they provide.
Another problem- a lot of companies are not set up to receive and consider input from all employees. The middle and lower ranks might have many valuable ideas all day long but if they don't feel empowered to pass them on, what good is that? It's true that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link- and leadership should not be afraid to consider act on ideas from anyone- all while giving proper credit where it's due. In most operations only the executive board gets to make major decisions, rarely hearing from or considering what the lower ranks have to say. I don't think this works very well, and I don't agree with it. For one, if there is a decision that affects everyone, shouldn't everyone, at least those above a certain level, get a vote?
There's got to be a better way where everyone in the company feels open to giving their suggestions or requests through the proper channels with at least some assurance they will be considered by an appropriate person.
In many cases when there is a suggestion box or feedback system in place it's more performative than actual. It would be nice to change this. With humane and respectable people at the helm, it can.
In larger companies it's rare to have a workforce or employee representative on the governing board as is the law in Germany. That should be the law HERE. Who's going to stick up for the workforce's interests better than themselves? Can't count on higher management, they may or may not care or have any awareness. There are extremely moral and ethical ways to run a business, from small to super size, but without hard and fast laws I don't see how we're going to get there. If most businesses were capable of caring about their employees and their in-company practices I would think they would be doing it already. I am sure a few do but it seems to me that most do not.
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@lukazupie7220 for one you don't know anything about me. Two, I'm glad you could live frugally and I do know all about that. I've been doing that most of my life. Perhaps costs of living are much cheaper where you live here in the US, I'm sure they are.
I'll reiterate this to you again. In a small number of cases I'm sure people are choosing to live above their means or are not making smart choices with their money, HOWEVER, based on my life experience, my opinion, and all the information I've gathered to date, I do not believe this is the main reason why material conditions for many people where I live are getting worse. Again- this is a broad generalization. Some people are doing just fine, others are doing very well- there's always going to be a mixture of experiences. However, I live here, so you don't have to tell me how it is just as I wouldn't presume to tell you what the average experience is where you live. More and more people here are falling through the cracks or just barely managing to get by- I'm one of them and it has nothing to do with poor spending habits. I've got excellent spending habits and I've always been smart with my money. The politicians here are trash in both both mainstream parties. Covid was handled horribly and probably worse than any other place on the planet, which we have no excuse for as supposedly the resources here are among the best in the world- yeah we couldn't stop over 1M from dying from it due to lack of a capable national healthcare service and stupidity from certain groups. The amount of financial assistance provided to those affected by the disease was minimal and pathetic.
Look with enough determination and resolve a person can overcome just about anything. But you can take it from me and you don't have to only believe me, check around, the truth is that American public policy exists to serve the desires of the filthy rich and the financial elites from banking and big business. It can be a struggle even for middle-class homeowners sometimes to maintain what they have (again I could go into all the details why but that's really not necessary right now).
There are 1000 other causes for poverty and insecurity in the US that stem directly from laws and public policy as drafted by politicians who are 100% in service (paid for by generous campaign donations AKA bribes and promises of future favor) to very wealthy interests here that I could go into, but it's not really necessary. I do know what I'm talking about that's all that matters.
I can see I'm not going to change your mind but again it's just common sense. Sure, there's always an element of personal responsibility to any situation we face in life but you have to ask yourself, what is the systemic broad overarching cause of the issue that we are discussing here? And I'm trying to tell you that at least where I live, its government policy and how it doesn't serve the vast majority of us who live here. I can't speak to where you live, maybe everything's perfect by you. All I know is my experience with this general region. It's very simple. In the US government serves the big Banks and big business and nobody else. Occasionally they throw the common person a very tiny crumb but that's about it. Those of us with brains have a problem with this. It really isn't that hard to change but it's very hard getting different and better people into public office to push for those changes here, for a few reasons. That is the ongoing difficulty that those of us who have these opinions face. It shouldn't be that hard, "change public policy", but it's a lot harder than it looks. There are many many barriers here for an outsider people-first candidate to get into office. In the meantime, public voting via public ballot measures do happen every 1-4 years and can help to an extent.
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@lukazupie7220 @lukazupie7220 for one you don't know anything about me. Two, I'm glad you could live frugally and I do know all about that. I've been doing that most of my life. Perhaps costs of living are much cheaper where you live here in the US, I'm sure they are.
I'll reiterate this to you again. In a small number of cases I'm sure people are choosing to live above their means or are not making smart choices with their money, HOWEVER, based on my life experience, my opinion, and all the information I've gathered to date, I do not believe this is the main reason why material conditions for many people where I live are getting worse. Again- this is a broad generalization. Some people are doing just fine, others are doing very well- there's always going to be a mixture of experiences. However, I live here, so you don't have to tell me how it is just as I wouldn't presume to tell you what the average experience is where you live. More and more people here are falling through the cracks or just barely managing to get by- I'm one of them and it has nothing to do with poor spending habits. I've got excellent spending habits and I've always been smart with my money. The politicians here are trash in both both mainstream parties. Covid was handled horribly and probably worse than any other place on the planet, which we have no excuse for as supposedly the resources here are among the best in the world- yeah we couldn't stop over 1M from dying from it due to lack of a capable national healthcare service and stupidity from certain groups. The amount of financial assistance provided to those affected by the disease was minimal and pathetic.
Look with enough determination and resolve a person can overcome just about anything. But you can take it from me and you don't have to only believe me, check around, the truth is that American public policy exists to serve the desires of the filthy rich and the financial elites from banking and big business. It can be a struggle even for middle-class homeowners sometimes to maintain what they have (again I could go into all the details why but that's really not necessary right now).
There are 1000 other causes for poverty and insecurity in the US that stem directly from laws and public policy as drafted by politicians who are 100% in service (paid for by generous campaign donations AKA bribes and promises of future favor) to very wealthy interests here that I could go into, but it's not really necessary. I do know what I'm talking about that's all that matters.
I can see I'm not going to change your mind but again it's just common sense. Sure, there's always an element of personal responsibility to any situation we face in life but you have to ask yourself, what is the systemic broad overarching cause of the issue that we are discussing here? And I'm trying to tell you that at least where I live, its government policy and how it doesn't serve the vast majority of us who live here. I can't speak to where you live, maybe everything's perfect by you. All I know is my experience with this general region. It's very simple. In the US government serves the big Banks and big business and nobody else. Occasionally they throw the common person a very tiny crumb but that's about it. Those of us with brains have a problem with this. It really isn't that hard to change but it's very hard getting different and better people into public office to push for those changes here, for a few reasons. That is the ongoing difficulty that those of us who have these opinions face. It shouldn't be that hard, "change public policy", but it's a lot harder than it looks. There are many many barriers here for an outsider people-first candidate to get into office. In the meantime, public voting via public ballot measures do happen every 1-4 years and can help to an extent.
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@danf4447 it can and that needs attention under the law. I am researching currently to find out if I can legally bring a very serious civil lawsuit against a city that did exactly that to my father 30 years ago - and it caused a lot of strain and a long cascade of problems in our family. However, my parents did not sue at the time, which they certainly should have, no two ways about it. This is still something we have never really talked about. I still don't know why they didn't fight it. He was cheated out of a very good job AND his unemployment compensation at the time. He should have sued for wrongful termination, but for some reason did not.
If there's any legal way for me to get his long-denied compensation and wrongful termination awarded, inflation-adjusted for the present, I'm going to try. My intent is to split it equally with my parents who are still alive. Split, bec some long family issues they owe me for, and because it affected my future at the time too. But even if I didn't see a dime, I would pursue this. It was a completely unethical thing to do to someone and unless there's something huge I don't know, totally unjustified. I want this made right.
Stronger UI laws are needed in cases of quitting and firing too and I'll defend this from any opposition. Not all firings are justified and many quittings are essentially forced.
Then again, standard UBI would serve this purpose and not be dependent on one's qualified job loss reason or job status. If you're under a baseline income for any reason, you get it. End of fucking story. Or we could just do both. Fair UBI, and fair UI. You get to keep whichever is higher.
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Yes it must be a real struggle.
Not to get you down but everything in this country is fucked. A lot of jobs, a lot of wages, social security, all of it. I don't want you to have a bad day but the truth is I would say, 60% of people in this country are getting fucked in one way or another right now.
Government is not a positive force in this country government is a ruthless gangster that will throw us all in a pit for the big Banks and big corporate profit and they sure as hell won't help people get decent benefits if they're on public assistance. They already destroyed most welfare and what remains is pathetic and so minimal as to be useless.
The government structure in this country only serves the top 1%, both parties are the same party behind the scenes, don't believe their lies. There's not a Democrat or Republican currently live that has any intention of trying to change this.
Soap the rest of us are stuck in constant and poverty and/or insecurity. They won't bring down the cost of rent, they won't do anything. There are some housing assistance programs out there and Senior living which is usually lower cost than elsewhere, and perhaps something like that might help you, but you have to look in your area and try to find a resources may be available.
I don't mean to end on a negative but unfortunately this is where a lot of us are at right now.
I don't even think they give food stamps to those who are on social security. These people are very evil and very sick in the head. They seem to think that a person can survive perfectly fine paying for rent and food and anything else out of 700 or 900 or $1200 a month, which in most cases and most areas is impossible. And then of course if you're on disability there are low limits to how much you can have in the bank at any given time.
So. Their agenda seems to be to kill us all through slow starvation or homelessness. I guess they feel for those who reach a certain age or those that are disabled don't have a right to live anymore. I guess that's their philosophy. And of course even for those that do work a huge number of people live under the poverty line because wages are so pathetic, and rent is going up; even some professionals don't make a secure salary anymore.
Yep it's pretty sad times. I've never seen it even near this bad in all my life.
Meanwhile we're a wash and plenty, the stores have much more than they need, but instead of donating it back to their community it all goes to waste. All that food all those useful household goods, right in the trash because there are no laws against it.
We live in mad times and I don't know when it's going to get better.
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@sodman4874 well without being legally sanctioned by a judge it's hard. If a group of people try to march on Nestle for instance, they would just call the local cops and say 'hey we're being threatened by these people we demand to be defended' and next thing you know cops show up and order everybody to disperse or threaten trespassing charges.
Protests matter. I could see a citizens' movement being made right outside the front gate of every Nestle facility that's using water taken from the local aquifer. I would definitely support something like that so long as the people involved are in it for the long haul and know that they may have to be there for months and months before anything happens. The problem is these big corporations expect to be protected by either local cops or the national guard. If they feel threatened they get special treatment that we as citizens don't have access to. If they feel threatened they'll just straight up call 911 or the mayor's office and the cops will rush over like they're defending the baby Jesus. Local cops don't care about their local community. They don't care where the orders come from. They are robots and they'll follow any order they're given because one, it's much easier than thinking for themselves and two, it's easier than having to work. And that's exactly why they became street cops to begin with. You do NO work, you get a good paycheck, and you pretty much have legal impunity from any bad behavior. What more could it good-for-nothing want?
Street cops are the laziest bitches EVER!! They do NO work and just menace people for a living. (Truthfully they shouldn't exist but people have been brainwashed for so long that they're necessary for safety sl they keep getting funded and re-funded and so on.)
So if they're ordered to go protect the Nestle plant from local citizens demanding action, they'll do it.
If they're it's a larger movement depending on how far it goes, Nestle might call up the governor's office and request backup by the National Guard and most likely the governor will only be too happy to grant their request, cuz all governors in this country are exceedingly corrupt and super bought-and-paid-for by billionaires and large corporations.
So any large corporate boss knows that all he has to do is call the local mayor or governor for some muscle and they'll get it.
So it's definitely an uphill battle to fight these kinds of interests because they have access to support systems that we don't have.
Still, sooner or later we should fight them. Doing nothing should not be an option. We can fight them on the street and we can also take them to court. Both ways are important and both ways matter. I would say the courts are probably the one to focus on more just because protests on the street can be forcibly dispersed by cops if they choose to, although if it's a large enough crowd the cops may have less success. Also, provided the protesters aren't on privately property, the cops have no legal basis for ordering any removal.
But I would say to focus on lawsuits and courtroom battles is the way to go. I wish we could overwhelm these folks with force but we just don't have it. Most people aren't plugged into this these issues. It is possible we could temporarily take over a plant if we had enough numbers however eventually, a local SWAT team or the National Guard would just remove those people.
So fighting these people in the courtrooms is the way to go. And it may take a very long time because obviously Nestle has very deep pockets but as far as I know that's the only other option. Sure a group could do guerilla terrorist actions such as stealth bombings and such on their property, taking care to avoid any human life, but Nestle would probably just step up security in response to that. I doubt that would be enough on its own to force them to shut down that particular location. Nonetheless for me it's a great adjunct tactic to deploy in addition to a long-term courtroom strategy.
And that's how you got to do it. It's kind of a triumvirate. Organized public protests, guerilla tactics possibly, and long-term lawsuits.
Does that help?
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@Joce123 your attitude is a big part of the problem thinking all they want to do is be on drugs. You have no idea what some of these people have been through. Just one of incident of what some of these people have experienced would probably drive a lot of us to seek out drugs to numb our feelings. Any one of us could end up in that situation if enough things go wrong in our life. You have no compassion and therefore no solutions and no right to be part of this discussion. Contrary to popular and ignorant belief, the majority of people experience homelessness on or off the street are not addicts. looking down on them as animals who only want drugs is a convenient way to excuse you from having to understand how easy it is for anyone to become homeless and excuses you from caring and seeing them as human beings. For the record, we all deserve a free social services.
Just another brainwashed brainlet out there sucking up typical MSM agenda.
Every homeless person was once upon a time someone's daughter, father, husband, best friend or mother. They deserve our compassion and our help.
It really could easily be any one of us if just one thing went wrong. I hope you're rich beyond belief because your tone deafness on this issue is cute.
And even if they do want to be on drugs, how does that affect me? Or you? That should be their right. They should be allowed to live in a tent if that's what they want, unmolested by local city gestapo, as long as they're minding their own business. There's literally nothing inherently wrong with wanting to live outside the mainstream, it's a right we all should have! But the vast majority of people on the street do not want to continue in that way, they want a more normalized existence and permanent housing and they should receive it. If local city authorities really wanted to help the homeless as they claim they would but all they really want them to do is go away and die quietly. There is no humanity in any politician in this country not locally or on Capitol Hill or anywhere in between. If I ever saw it I think I would die of shock because I haven't seen it yet. I will certainly acknowledge it if I do, and I'm eagerly awaiting that day..... Still waiting.
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@weirdshibainu in agriculture? I can think of a lot. Maximum acreage limits. Last in line for local water use after local small farmers; must pay fair market rate or better for all local water use, bans on harmful pesticides ie glyphosate; minimum land area set aside for natural practices (ie 15% total crop area); chemical input limits, natural pest control encouraged, high animal welfare standards for all livestock on corporate animal farms, mandates against animal waste leakage and secure storage with severe financial penalties to be paid to the surrounding locality if violated, animal feed minimum quality standards, no loopholes, minimum standards for free movement of all animals, bans on antibiotic use (creates zombie resistant strains that transfer to humans), minimum grass space and outside access for livestock; sunlight, green space, and free movement requirements for all poultry, strong safety standards for all staff, maximum line speeds, extremely strong farm worker protections, no exploitative business arrangements with small independent farmers/suppliers; etc..
Big corps will never do right by themselves. I wish they would but I've never seen it. Strict regulations allow them to operate but in a way that is not abusive or harmful to the community, workers, animals if applicable, or the general environment.
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@weirdshibainu in agriculture? I can think of a lot. Maximum acreage limits. Last in line for local water use after local residents; must pay fair market rate or better for all water, bans on harmful pesticides ie glyphosate; minimum land area set aside for mandated natural practices (ie 15% total crop area); chemical input limits, natural pest control encouraged, high animal welfare standards for all livestock on corporate animal farms, mandates against animal waste leakage and secure storage with severe financial penalties to be paid to the surrounding locality if violated, animal feed minimum quality standards, no loopholes, minimum standards for free movement of all animals, bans on antibiotic use (creates zombie resistant strains that transfer to humans), minimum grass space and outside access for livestock; sunlight, green space, and free movement requirements for all poultry, strong safety standards for all staff, maximum line speeds, extremely strong farm worker protections, no exploitative business arrangements with small independent farmers/suppliers; etc..
Big corps will never do right by themselves. I wish they would but I've never seen it. Strict regulations allow them to operate but in a way that is not abusive or harmful to the community, workers, animals if applicable, or the general environment.
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We CAN'T continue to allow the psychopaths to set the agenda. None of this shocks me. I can only imagine the amount of legal food wastage that happens at these satanic shitholes. I've seen them with literally security guards out front (this is how deep we fallen into the moral abyss, hungry desperate people don't have the right to take a few ounces of food if it'll put something in their stomach that day- never mind that every store, Whole Foods especially but any chain really, makes money hand over fist and could EASILY donate half of their products and still make a very significant profit).
Hopefully in our lifetime we can push for actual laws that have teeth and real force behind them that can crack down on every company, EVERY business that conducts itself in an unacceptable way in regards to consumers or workers.
There should be a strict legal code of conduct and laws that every business has to abide by or else it gets one warning, one give me and that's it it's shut down and slapped with massive fires and upon repeated violations, whoever is at the top goes to jail. If you don't play extremely ruthless and hardcore with the vast majority of businesses out there they will do anything they want, and they will be menaces instead of benefits to their community.
BUSINESSES NEED TO LEARN THAT THEY ARE HERE TO SERVE, YES AT A PROFIT THAT'S WHAT A BUSINESS IS- BUT ULTIMATELY THEY ARE HERE TO SERVE THEIR COMMUNITY NOT SHIT ALL OVER IT OR USE IT OR ANY OTHER PSYCHOPATHIC SICK VENAL MALIGNANT NARCISSIST MORALLY BANKRUPT IDEOLOGY THAT THEY'VE TOLD THEMSELVES!
Too bad we have a completely psychopathic state and government at all levels in this godforsaken shithole fourth-world country. That's why 70% of this country is either deep in poverty or literally one wrong move away from it! Meanwhile the waste of food and usable products is off the charts and the 1% are taking everything!!!! And I really do mean everything. I predict a complete failed state of this so-called United States within 100 years. I have zero doubt at this point. The demons have completely taken over. Homelessness and poverty are out of control and continue to be enforced on greater and greater numbers of the population and those caught in it's wake are increasingly criminalized. There's only one step that the authorities have left to go in this country and that's death squads and concentration camps. I wonder when that will happen???
As for now, all we need is extremely strict standards of business upheld under law. Etched in stone comprehensive Labor rights AND consumer rights, signed into every state's Constitution (yeah I'll hold my breath). The more these standards are enumerated in black and white and passed as legal bills, the more these misgotten Satan's-anus companies can be crushed with the iron fists of law, ie courts. Look, I think most of the courts in this place are a disgrace against humanity but they COULD actually work for good if ever operated by people of conscience for laws created also by those of conscience.
It all depends who's making the so-called laws and policies, and what kind of judges get on the benches. (Individual judges shouldn't have any authority anyways. This literally turns a judge into an absolute tinpot dictator psychopathic DESPOT and I thought that's everything this country stood against? Whatever happened to absolute power corrupts absolutely??????!? It's certainly everything I believe against. There should be no "King" judge or "emperor" judge, not here not anywhere not EVER. But that's a separate discussion)
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@waspwrap1235 well I don't disagree but i think that's kind of a tautology. Wealthy business owners have the most control because they buy people who are open to being bought.
We agree, but it's as if you're implying there's some other cause going on here than bribery (promises of favor, jobs, gifts, patronage, donations, etc). It's very simple. Everyone who gets into office in this country wants to serve the "Big Money" (as you say, the elite money class) because it's profitable for them. They want to take bribes. If they didn't want to take bribes, then they could not be bribed. Very simple. However, because they do want to take bribes, then those who can bribe them the most will obviously get ahead. Obviously this would include all those who represent interests of the wealthy business class and/or those with high personal wealth like billionaires.
Occasionally some law or public policy measure gets through that has some benefit for the average person but I don't see this happening too often.
This is also why I want to do away with politicians all together which sadly, won't happen in my lifetime. An elite political class is only going to serve the elite business class leaving the other 90+% of the public unrepresented.
Without direct voting on every law basically we're fucked. How can we possibly expect justice for the common person when we're held hostage by a tiny political elite that doesn't care if we live or die? They are good liars tho...that's how they keep getting re-elected. If we bought red or blue we're voting for a gun to our heads essentially. We're voting for people who do not care if we live or die. The red or blue party is a unibody/uniparty that takes its dictats from their wealthy patrons of the 1%. Do we really think they're going to serve us? It would be nice if they would but they don't.
Only direct democracy fixes this. Until the public seizes or earns the right to vote on every single public policy measure ALL the time, then the more or less status quo will just continue.
Alternatively we could create a powerful left, socialist Communist / Labor FIRST party in the US that seizes enough seats at all levels of government to make a difference and..... Yeah. Well I won't hold my breath. I think advocating locally at the county level for left policies can have a lot more effect, however, unfortunately the red-blue uniparty machine has a stranglehold on all seats at all levels of gov at this moment in time.
So if we want friendlier laws that help people live easier lives of greater dignity I see no other way forward then pushing for full public voting on everything. In fact a lot wouldn't have to change. We can keep the loser government bodies as now but in order for any measure to pass as so-called law it would have to be ratified through a full public referendum. Also, anybody or any organization should be able to suggest a policy or change to law. There should be a process before it gets to the ballot, perhaps a preliminary public voting and debate session, but yes.
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@waspwrap1235 well I don't disagree but i think that's kind of a tautology. Wealthy business owners have the most control because they buy people who are open to being bought.
We agree, but it's as if you're implying there's some other cause going on here than bribery (promises of favor, jobs, gifts, patronage, donations, etc). It's very simple. Everyone who gets into office in this country wants to serve the "Big Money" (as you say, the elite money class) because it's profitable for them. They want to take bribes. If they didn't want to take bribes, then they could not be bribed. Very simple. However, because they do want to take bribes, then those who can bribe them the most will obviously get ahead. Obviously this would include all those who represent interests of the wealthy business class and/or those with high personal wealth like billionaires.
Occasionally some law or public policy measure gets through that has some benefit for the average person but I don't see this happening too often.
This is also why I want to do away with politicians all together which sadly, won't happen in my lifetime. An elite political class is only going to serve the elite business class leaving the other 90+% of the public unrepresented.
Without direct voting on every law basically we're fucked. How can we possibly expect justice for the common person when we're held hostage by a tiny political elite that doesn't care if we live or die? They are good liars tho...that's how they keep getting re-elected. If we bought red or blue we're voting for a gun to our heads essentially. We're voting for people who do not care if we live or die. The red or blue party is a unibody/uniparty that takes its dictats from their wealthy patrons of the 1%. Do we really think they're going to serve us? It would be nice if they would but they don't.
Only direct democracy fixes this. Until the public seizes or earns the right to vote on every single public policy measure ALL the time, then the more or less status quo will just continue.
Alternatively we could create a powerful left, socialist Communist / Labor FIRST party in the US that seizes enough seats at all levels of government to make a difference and..... Yeah. Well I won't hold my breath. I think advocating locally at the county level for left policies can have a lot more effect, however, unfortunately the red-blue uniparty machine has a stranglehold on all seats at all levels of gov at this moment in time.
So if we want friendlier laws that help people live easier lives of greater dignity I see no other way forward then pushing for full public voting on everything. In fact a lot wouldn't have to change. We can keep the loser government bodies as now but in order for any measure to pass as so-called law it would have to be ratified through a full public referendum. Also, anybody or any organization should be able to suggest a policy or change to law. There should be a process before it gets to the ballot, perhaps a preliminary public voting and debate session, but yes.
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@waspwrap1235 @waspwrap1235 well I don't disagree but i think that's kind of a tautology. Wealthy business owners have the most control because they buy people who are open to being bought.
We agree, but it's as if you're implying there's some other cause going on here than bribery (promises of favor, jobs, gifts, patronage, donations, etc). It's very simple. Everyone who gets into office in this country wants to serve the "Big Money" (as you say, the elite money class) because it's profitable for them. They want to take bribes. If they didn't want to take bribes, then they could not be bribed. Very simple. However, because they do want to take bribes, then those who can bribe them the most will obviously get ahead. Obviously this would include all those who represent interests of the wealthy business class and/or those with high personal wealth like billionaires.
Occasionally some law or public policy measure gets through that has some benefit for the average person but I don't see this happening too often.
This is also why I want to do away with politicians all together which sadly, won't happen in my lifetime. An elite political class is only going to serve the elite business class leaving the other 90+% of the public unrepresented.
Without direct voting on every law basically we're fucked. How can we possibly expect justice for the common person when we're held hostage by a tiny political elite that doesn't care if we live or die? They are good liars tho...that's how they keep getting re-elected. If we bought red or blue we're voting for a gun to our heads essentially. We're voting for people who do not care if we live or die. The red or blue party is a unibody/uniparty that takes its dictats from their wealthy patrons of the 1%. Do we really think they're going to serve us? It would be nice if they would but they don't.
Only direct democracy fixes this. Until the public seizes or earns the right to vote on every single public policy measure ALL the time, then the more or less status quo will just continue.
Alternatively we could create a powerful left, socialist Communist / Labor FIRST party in the US that seizes enough seats at all levels of government to make a difference and..... Yeah. Well I won't hold my breath. I think advocating locally at the county level for left policies can have a lot more effect, however, unfortunately the red-blue uniparty machine has a stranglehold on all seats at all levels of gov at this moment in time.
So if we want friendlier laws that help people live easier lives of greater dignity I see no other way forward then pushing for full public voting on everything. In fact a lot wouldn't have to change. We can keep the loser government bodies as now but in order for any measure to pass as so-called law it would have to be ratified through a full public referendum. Also, anybody or any organization should be able to suggest a policy or change to law. There should be a process before it gets to the ballot, perhaps a preliminary public voting and debate session, but yes.
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@WobiKabobi sure that's fine. I mean some Leftists quibble with that but I understand the difference. Obviously it's not business itself that is the problem, I mean, business is just another form of trade, and I fail to see how modern life can exist without complex networks of trade. However we both know that the bigger a business gets, the more likely they are to engage in dirty tricks, monopolization, shady business practices, and essentially buying the political protection they want in order to fuck over everyone else in the industry and never be held accountable for anything.
This is bad.
If I had a magic wand I would place hard and fast limits on the maximum size any business could grow, market share limits, price markup limits, and I would go so far as to place a minimum 20-50 year freeze on corporate expansion where I live. I would place limits on numbers of locations and maximum employee number.
I don't think most of us have a problem with independent businesses and small businesses it is the big boys that are pretty much ruining it for all of us. Anytime they move into a new area, they place a stress on the surrounding commercial locations. Walmart is the most infamous example of this but it happens across industry.
Large corporate entities should be extremely limited in my opinion.
If all businesses had an upper limit that they were bound by and could not expand beyond then this would ensure that they would not be able to unfairly dominate in their particular field, the field would remain more competitive, and this would be better for workers and consumers.
I just don't understand why any larger corporate entity has been allowed to run roughshod and just grow beyond all reason. It's crazy to me. Especially in heavy industry, they buy local and state politicians and they are allowed to absolutely run the table and dictate public policy. It's really sad. When this happens we all lose.
Corporate greed is the giant drooling boogeyman that is causing all of the problems in the private sector, as far as I can see.
There are other changes I would make to the public ie non-profit sector but this is just regarding the private sector. I think it's pretty clear that the large corporate class is the cancer that is eating the private sector from the inside out.
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@WobiKabobi @WobiKabobi sure that's fine. I mean some Leftists quibble with that but I understand the difference. Obviously it's not business itself that is the problem, I mean, business is just another form of trade, and I fail to see how modern life can exist without complex networks of trade. However we both know that the bigger a business gets, the more likely they are to engage in dirty tricks, monopolization, shady business practices, and essentially buying the political protection they want in order to fuck over everyone else in the industry and never be held accountable for anything.
This is bad.
If I had a magic wand I would place hard and fast limits on the maximum size any business could grow, market share limits, price markup limits, and I would go so far as to place a minimum 20-50 year freeze on corporate expansion where I live. I would place limits on numbers of locations and maximum employee number.
I don't think most of us have a problem with independent businesses and small businesses it is the big boys that are pretty much ruining it for all of us. Anytime they move into a new area, they place a stress on the surrounding commercial locations. Walmart is the most infamous example of this but it happens across industry.
Large corporate entities should be extremely limited in my opinion.
If all businesses had an upper limit that they were bound by and could not expand beyond then this would ensure that they would not be able to unfairly dominate in their particular field, the field would remain more competitive, and this would be better for workers and consumers.
I just don't understand why any larger corporate entity has been allowed to run roughshod and just grow beyond all reason. It's crazy to me. Especially in heavy industry, they buy local and state politicians and they are allowed to absolutely run the table and dictate public policy. It's really sad. When this happens we all lose.
Corporate greed is the giant drooling boogeyman that is causing all of the problems in the private sector, as far as I can see.
There are other changes I would make to the public ie non-profit sector but this is just regarding the private sector. I think it's pretty clear that the large corporate class is the cancer that is eating the private sector from the inside out.
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We need to though (discriminate based on wealth) especially when it comes to fundamental resources like water. We're not talking about Big Macs here. It is a fundamental principle of humanist socialism that every human being who is alive should have access to clean water, enough food, decent housing, educational opportunities, medical care, social welfare care, and so on. These are my values.
Learn more about these issues and realize that thinking WE might be in their shoes someday is a harmful and deceptive belief prevents us from taking necessary action right now that benefits thousands or millions. It is a virtual statistical impossibility that any human being will become a multi-millionaire or billionaire, but even if it's true that a very few might end up with that kind of wealth, that still does not give them a right to monopolize a basic resource, at the cost of many thousands.
Also, I do not believe that any human being should be legally allowed to accumulate that much wealth in the first place. They don't need it and they'll never need it, so for me, that makes it morally wrong. I support legal limits on personal wealth and business size.
We all deserve a fair share to the resources out here. Nobody has the right to monopolize large swaths of our water supply. Water is a fundamental human need and a human right for all people. We need to distribute it fairly and equitably for all farmers and all our communities.
Bottom line, these people shouldn't be setting water policy or anything else. Neither they nor other elites or large corporations deserve preferential or monopolistic water privileges.
Watch more videos about these topics you'll see that and many of the elites are robbing the rest of us by buying off politicians in order to hog up huge chunks of water resources, or to demanding unfairly generous business deals or loosening of business restrictions which always end up harming the environment, the community, other industry competitors, or the state as a whole. Just keep learning more about this subjects. It's important information to be aware of.
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@jjoohhhnn I agree. I have a basic strategy that goes a little something like, unite the left and other compatible outsider parties, as you allude, compose EVERY piece of legislation and reform we want to see, from A to Z, draw everything up in full detail; this will be a long process of collaboration and back and forth and adjustment, once it's done get it printed and have on hand for reference,
Then,
start organizing for more ballot measures in CA, where I live and bec it's the most populous, organize to win seats on county boards in populous counties, which will be hard to do as outsiders, and just go from there.
I recommend a county by county methodical approach. Far more effective than shooting for the state House where we will be far outnumbered even if we managed to get in.
Pushing for more ballot measure access and frequency puts policy power more in the hands of the people and sidesteps the big money-owned state legislature. Not sure if that change would have to come from inside the legislature which is a bit of a Catch-22, but one that eventually be overcome I'm sure.
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@jjoohhhnn all that information is gold, the first off I just want to agree with you that it is a 100% insane how at least some people or more accurately, the intent to rile up some people through stupid reactionary issues, continues to push the obsession with trans or gay people or gay sex.
And of course this abortion issue now is back in everyone's face, as if the interests behind taking away one of women's most fundamental healthcare rights gives a flying shit about fetal life or any other life for that matter.
People's private sex-related decisions are a major obsession for the curiously freedom-obsessed Right. Very interesting that one. I guess it's only their freedom to discriminate or their own freedoms they're too concerned about. Why is this such a bone of contention for some of these people?? What other consenting adults do in the privacy of their own home, whether YOU think it's gross or not, is no concern of yours. I mean this is kind of a basic statement of fact. The fact that people couldn't even be gay in public, or in bars, for so long without the threat of violence either from the Pigs or from some random reactionary, is just gross.
The fact consenting sex work among adults is still criminalized I find completely unacceptable. Emphasis of course, on the words consenting and adult. It is no business of the State what I do with my body if I freely choose to do it! Good god, such a 1984 country.
I find it appalling that any person in this country would dare to think they have a right to control the private lives of another consenting adult, whether or not sex or sexual choices are involved.
We have a lot of bizarre sexual fascists in this country, and just fascists period. I don't think they're anywhere near the majority but I do think some of them are a very vocal minority. Frankly, I'm disgusted by it. Gay people had to endure violence throughout the 60s and 70s because of these pieces of shit, mostly the cops, and now millions of women from coast to coast are finding a fundamental right to control their own bodies and futures ripped away, which is vile. And it's not that I don't think that later turned fetal life is precious, I very much do, but I don't put the fetus, or the blastocyst for that matter, before the life of the woman who is carrying it. I think it's very unjust for anyone to do so.
Trans athletes are getting maligned, which is an issue I hope people get tired of soon because it's all much ado about nothing.
There is a very appalling desire from the fascists in this country to completely control other people and their private non-violent choices. Consenting drug use and drug trade amongst adults is the single biggest reason PD's and mass incarceration exists. Now they're attacking kratom, a wonderful natural substance, out of ignorance and malice. Freedom of choice regarding health and food have been under attack for quite some time.
These fascists just don't think anybody should have the right to choose or think anything for themselves. And they call themselves defenders of freedom??? Freedom for who? Freedom to do what?
Yeah we have a hell of a fight ahead of us. The ignorant fascists who have connections to public office or deep pockets are well-organized. Here's hoping in our lifetimes they can be put down once and for all. These people are just gross and so far out of bounds and they just drive me nuts.
Really smart other comments you made there. I'll have some feedback for those later.
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@Daveeeeeeyhowyoudoing if that is true that is indeed a serious drop. Of course it's vitally important that we preserve our natural resources for future generations. Regulating fishing like anything else makes sense as long as it's done fairly and not to greatly benefit just a few well-connected players.
By the way that last part based on my observation is exactly what's been happening over the last 5 years in California in the medical and now fully legal cannabis industry. Not much I can do about at the moment but I am very concerned about.it. we used to have a great variety of small weed shops throughout this county now I see far less and many more professional, chain or well-heeled ones. This doesn't happen by accident. Ask anyone who's connected to the industry who isn't backed by deep pockets; they've probably been harassed, raided, or out and out shut down based on spurious or outright bogus reasons. I see it happening in my county and it seems to be more or less statewide, depending on one's local county tyrants.
Selective regulation, spurious regulations, and unjust enforcement- THAT'S how they kill the little guy EVERY time; on purpose, maliciously. It's pretty appalling. Gangsterism doesn't just happen in organized crime, it happens every day in local, state, and federal jurisdictions.
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Free and low-cost/affordable child care and Pre-K should be the national standard. It was once before and it never should have been taken away. But even if it never was, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be now.
The priorities of where federal and most state funding goes in this country is extremely sad for anyone who has a conscience and a sense of social responsibility.
There's always infinite money for oppression, locking people up for bullshit, and waging death aroaund the world, also massive handouts to Wall Street, aka the wealthiest companies and the various robber barons who are always holding us over a barrel, but there's never much for the little guy- isn't that funny??
Either people matter or they don't.
So do they???? Do we???? Of course we do, but duopoly politicians say no, so where does that leave us? As always, help for the common person and the working class is rarely if ever going to come from these red-blue vampire bats, so we need new actual Left political parties and other options.
There are two ways to pay for basic services for the general public; increased federal funding, which doesn't rely on taxes but Congressional appropriation (Washington DC prints and creates it's own money, that's where all the money comes from), or increases in state or local funding, which DOES rely on taxes. So where should we place these taxes? On the poor? On the middle class? Or on big business and the rich- where they belong? Well I think the answer is clear.
Bottom line, unless we can get our Congressional scumbags to set aside more funding for social needs, we HAVE to get it from our counties and states- unfortunately, they don't care about us either. If they did, they would tax at the top and redistribute this money downwards as needed.
So we have some choices, either we can elect better people who will care about us not just big business (which we do need to do), OR we can push for public ballot measures which call for better social services, including affordable & free childcare. These are our options; not just on this issue but on every political issue.
To recap, our options for any political change are-
1) get better people elected from the Left (duopoly serves Wall Street/big $$$ and no one else, so we need something else)
2) use ballot measures to push our constructive agenda
3) use the courts- sometimes lawsuits can be helpful
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@siobahnhurley85 well that's not entirely true, there were millionaires but I don't think there were any billionaires yet. Not sure when the first billionaire was created but I'm sure a quick Wikipedia search could tell me; but both parties are full of people that serve themselves and the elite now. In truth, elite big money interests have always pretty much pulled the strings of the political structure here. There have been some notable exceptions along the way, but this is/was generally true.
Even local government in major and medium tier cities are run now and usually have been run by heartless self-serving money-seeking elitists who serve developers and big real estate and keep funding their local PDs and local lockup generously while working-class communities struggle, who utterly refuse to do local rent control (because in most cases they're taking bribes and payoffs from the local corporate landlord class), who hate the homeless and pretty much want them all to go away and die quietly out of sight.
As a far-left communist-lite civil libertarian, who now sees the idiocy of the red-blue game, I'm far beyond it all now. They are two sides of the same coin. To think there's any such thing as good Democrat today I feel is delusional. That hasn't been true for a long long time. Yes Bernie is a good man but he's also weak, and he's getting old and needs to rest. And so on. There might be some individual nice Dems but they can't do much good from where they're at, and most of them propose such weak tea neoliberal policies that even if they were passed, which they won't be, wouldn't change much.
One party is insane yes and that's the GOP but both parties are in it for themselves by serving elite big money interests. That's what they're there for and they take their orders from their party boss who takes it from whoever pays them, the big money. They're not in it to do good, there in it to make money and they and they do, via favors, outright bribes, insider stock tips and the like. It's a fantastic system for those who are unconcerned about anyone welfare. You look out for yourself, and everyone else is on their own. You may talk the talk of helping the little guy on the campaign trail but of course you don't mean it.
The Dems are hardly much better. They're corporate servants too. I mean they're basically just an interest group for Wall Street and continued militancy abroad.
There are competing no people's parties, aka socialists or communists or Labor-first parties, we would have to try to build them up again. Unless somebody is already wealthy they should not be voting for either the red or the blue team, because there is nothing in the party agenda for any ordinary person, absolutely nothing. All they have is a hundred years of excuses why they can't give the rest of us a better deal. I think sooner or later we have to stop being Charlie Brown with the football.
Besides, so long as we have other people making decisions for us, esp corrupt politicians, these problems aren't going to change. Only direct voting on all policies AKA public referendums do that and even then that's no guarantee but it's better than the current alternative imo. At least then we all get a direct vote,, but they don't want that because then there would be some control on corporate greed and we can't have that. We could easily revamp our tax system to supply plenty of funding for public needs in perpetuity, but not if our political class is a criminal rogues' gallery proudly in the pocket of 0.1% interests. Same for other issues.
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@kevlar7669 funny thing about government not taking care of people, if you ever were really really hard up your tune would change in a jiffy.
So if a governmental system doesn't exist to help us, who do they exist for??? Oh I know! The red-blue uniparty grift machine exists maximize the massive endless superprofits of the business executive class of big business. Ah!!! Got it! In other words they are in bed with, take massive bribes from and will do anything to protect and represent the interests of the large corporation over everyone and anyone else. Nobody and nothing else matters and both parties do this although the GOP seem to be especially aggressive about it.
Do you think with those economic objectives in mind they give a fukk about you??? Or anyone like you? Or anyone like me?
Or anyone not in that elite class???
No of course they don't. And if you know this, which I'm not sure you do, why is this okay with you?? Why should I tolerate or respect or feel favorable to an association of people, the political class in this country, who dont care if I live or die?? That wouldn't be very smart.
All red-blue purple politicians in country don't work for me OR you, they work for big business and that is all.
This is bad for the rest of us. I guess I have the weird idea that if I'm being mandated to pay taxes and subject to these ridiculous laws I deserve something from my government, or am I really just a slave??
Tldr: we definitely need a national healthcare service, its inhumane not to have one. For those who want to stay private I'm not suggesting that they'd be forced to switch.
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Yep, in any industry that's legal the corporate vultures will be poised to come in and pull the same organized gangster takeover bullshit that they do everywhere else.
I'm not sure how to stop it but I'd like us to get together and figure out a way, otherwise the average person doesn't have a future in this industry.
Any business that's legal is all the same to these Wall Street criminals. All they see is green. All they want to know is how they can most quickly take over 90%+ of market share and establish a monopoly. Bribing and paying off local and state politicians is by far the most efficient way to achieve this.
The war against the small and independent weed shop is real, as it is across every it has been going on for some years now. It's happening where I live in southern CA. Sometimes there's a news segment that I can easily read between the lines and see what's happening or sometimes I can just drive around see less small shops that I used to, and more of the slick, obviously well-funded, obviously corporate-backed, upscale shop. Sometimes I walk by a recent small shop that I patronized and really appreciated and was hoping to see you again, and I see that it's been raided and shut down by the local Gestapo filth, no. Looking to make a huge score in the process. It's very sad. Local politicians using their control of the local gangster Pigs to do their evil bidding. Really crazy and sad. The sad thing is that human beings in this country have been sold a crock of shit since day one that police are necessary for safety and yet all they do is cause and cover up more crime than most gangs out here. It's so sad.
When politicians are more shameless, more brazen and more aggressive than most of the criminals and organized crime operators out there, than yeah, our life is cheap and our business entities are NOT secure because the politicians who control the Blue Filth are always against us.
So yeah, as always, the bottom 70-80% loses in this arrangement. It's up to us to try to fight back and to try to find a way to reverse this. I do believe it's possible I just think it's going to be very hard. The political scum in this state and country just want is the money. We can't afford to buy them, and that's all it comes down to. So now what?? We can't afford to be the highest bidder so we lose in a competition it comes down to how much you can pay for political favor/protection.
I'm not sure what the way out of this is but I do hope we find it. It's not just about weed it's about small operators being allowed to exist and even prosper in every business where the big players are without soul, without conscience and will do everything legal or illegal to exterminate them.
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@yvetteschneider5172 out of my private home??? Probably not. nowhere did I say I agree that casual home invasion or violating private property with the intent to do harm or steal is okay. Out of a publicly operated store, dealing in general merchandise?? Probably. It depends how valuable the items were. If I caught someone on the way out and was able to take back whatever they were trying to nick I would just tell them to leave and don't come back until they intended to pay, and go on about my day. Shit happens. Some people are kleptos, some people are desperate, some people are looking for cheap thrills, either way, there's a lot worse going on in the world.
If somebody took the safe, or cleared out a whole floor overnight AKA a professional operation, well that's a different matter. No I wouldn't concern myself with minor leaks, they're bound to happen sooner or later it's just another cost to doing business. As long as my profits were in the range I wanted them to be it's nothing I would stress over. Besides don't all stores carry loss insurance?? So even if significant losses happen they're covered are they not??
I imagine that a typical medium or large size store would have to lose a truly massive amount of inventory to threaten their viability, possibly the whole entire store. Small leaks don't threaten the store. They might be annoying but we both know they don't threaten a store. Stores have thousands and thousands of items, there's no way the loss of a negligible amount is going to put them in the red. I understand nobody likes to lose money I'm not saying it's everyone's favorite situation from the perspective of an owner, I'm just saying it's it's negligible and it's not a threat. Every chain store I know is a mess of brand and is making billions. The whole store could be blown off the face of the map and it wouldn't affect the company in any way to my knowledge. They could have a new one built an up and running tomorrow with negligible comparative loss.
I don't understand why everyone loses their s*** over negligible Petty shoplifting in this country. I'm not talking about professional hit jobs on talking about the penny-ante stuff that mostly homeless people do (or kleptos). I believe at last study that I read it was less than 1% of total sales and the average store? Is that something we should really be focusing on, investing thousands and thousands rent-a-cops and loss prevention measures? I don't think so. No maybe a jewelry stores it's different, because most likely they would be targeted by professionals and it would be more than a minor loss if someone successfully pulled a job on them, but I'm talking about mostly chain convenience stores and big box stores and really poor people - not heist masters.
I'm sure can't speak for every business but other than the very tiny stores who don't experience a lot of foot traffic, I imagine the vast majority of stores have quite high profit margins. If they didn't, why would they willingly waste so much?? I understand with food there are food safety laws that mandate certain items must be disposed of by a certain date but I'm talking about still salable food items or non-food items. All the research I have read has claimed that the amount of willful waste by private businesses in this country is truly embarrassing. At a minimum if those items are just destined to feed landfill worms shouldn't they go back into their community first? I would certainly say so. Willful commercial waste is bad, there should be regulations against it.
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Well, maybe if we had labor laws in this country this wouldn't happen. Every single worker deserves overtime. I don't care their title, their function, their industry, it DOES NOT MATTER. Also OT should begin an hour 33 not 41.
Company executives are the demons' semen spawn and will do everything to cheat anyone. They should have no legal status.
ave never been more than slaves in america. Slavery never ended. This country was built on the concept that it's okay to own and use another human being for your gain and profit, regardless of the harm caused to that person, and that belief from a tiny psychopathic elite has never gone away. Now it's just moved into our business sector where it has been for the last 200+ years.
Until the whole concept of worker or employee is synonymous with "human being" and "hunan rights" in this country nothing will change. Only hard leftists in the political sphere will demand this.
Voting Red or Blue is the height of lunacy if we want change. They will NEVER see us as human and care about our rights. So we're back to the same old bullshit of being stuck with no active viable political parties to defend the 95% of people in this country that work for a living. Until that changes we will all live under the thumb of psychopathic demons who see us as objects to be used, abused, and the vast majority of our profits stolen from, until we are no longer useful and then thrown away like the nothing's we are. I mean these political satanic ghouls won't even pass national healthcare so people can reach their best health so they CAN keep working. I mean these demons are so evil they're even illogical! The Red and Blue parties see us as less than ants and that will NEVER change so I guess this is our fate and this is what we're stuck with, cuz voters are ignorant things easily emotionally controlled and constantly thrilled and ecstatic to vote for people who will take the knife to their throat. We get the government and the laws we deserve. People clearly want to suffer so they keep voting for the political parties that represent their enemies. And we get exactly what we deserve to get, what we asked for- a political structure that doesn't care if we live or die. (Oh sure the lips on those subhuman politicians might say one thing but how long are we going to keep falling for that? 200 more years????)
If we want a better life for us and our descendants, and a better life in our workplace, the Red and Blue party doesn't care if we live or die so they're not exactly the ones we should be voting for are they????!? But try telling that to 100M totally ignorant, low IQ, dumber than dogshit voters. Good luck!
People vote for their own pain in this country. If they didn't like pain maybe they would vote for people that actually cared about them and wanted to give them a better living experience aka people-first cmmunists and socialists. But they won't because they're ignorant, they're lemmings, they're asleep, their slaves, and their propagandized. They want a master even if that Master completely cuts their throat every time. They don't want to have to think for themselves even if by thinking for themselves they could have a better life and change the political structure that's been keeping them down all their life.
So I guess we're stuck with the demons that we have. Sure seems that way to me. I don't see a way out because of public weakness and ignorance, do you???
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Well don't you think it's a problem that you don't get better wages? Don't you think it's a problem across the entire employment sector that wages are being kept unfairly low?; you probably are being cheated, but that's a political problem. Why don't we have politicians that want us to have a better life, and that starts with getting better wages in our jobs? Why is it okay to pay people poverty wages in this country in this year???
I mean, a person can't always find a better job that easy. Maybe there aren't enough better jobs to go around.
All I know is, if you guys want a better life you're going to have to go socialist and hard left, there is no way that any Republican or Democrat will ever stick up for you making a better wage. They don't care about ordinary people and they've proved that for many decades now if any of you have been paying attention.
Bernie might say all the right things but he can't do it by himself. His colleagues have shown they do not care about people on the ground and will not vote for his bills.
if you think working ans average people deserve a better quality of life, which starts with a better deal in the workplace, then you should become politically motivated and demand that actual Left parties come out of the woodwork and represent us. The red and blue duopoly serve Wall Street and rich employers, they will never stand up for the bottom 90% of the population that works for a living and doesn't own a business. Actually, they won't even stand up for small business owners. They stand for big business and that's all.
So if you vote Republican or Democrat congratulations, you're voting for people that don't care about you and will never care about you. Something to think about I'd say.
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Big facts. Mass incarceration is for the poor, the average income, and the marginalized. It's today's slave plantation system. The crimes might be truly heinous or massive from a corporate or political or well-connected big shot, or a Pig, but they will NEVER see the inside of a jail cell. N-ever! DA's, AGs, judges, and some probably stacke5 juries just utterly REFUSE to hold Nazi Bluethugs or big business corporate top-levels accountable. Blatantly refuse! It's absolutely beyond. The most heinous crimes against the public by corps are routinely are given mere fines as punishment. And where does that money go btw??? Nobody ever asks that, whether the state courts or federal courts- where the HELL does all this supposed good money go?????? Does it go to the victims of whichever latest corporate crime du jour has happened, or do their partners in crime, the federal or state authorities themselves just pocket it and move on????
Our court and court procedures are absolute jokes, for several incredible reasons such as judicial conduct and powers, the absolute appalling ease of stacking juries, the lack of qualified standards for one to be a jurist, the absolute lack of guaranteed powerful representation for the defense, and so on. The list just goes on forever. They need to be completely overhauled, but I doubt they will be. They're working extremely well for the agenda they were designed for- total injustice, mass incarceration of the masses, alongside total impunity for "protected classes"- copfilth, politicians, DAs, judges, big biz big shots, banking big names; etc.
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Big facts. Mass incarceration is for the poor, the average income, and the marginalized. It's today's slave plantation system. The crimes might be truly heinous or massive from a corporate or political or well-connected big shot, or a Pig, but they will NEVER see the inside of a jail cell. N-ever! DA's, AGs, judges, and some probably stacke5 juries just utterly REFUSE to hold Nazi Bluethugs or big business corporate top-levels accountable. Blatantly refuse! It's absolutely beyond. The most heinous crimes against the public by corps are routinely are given mere fines as punishment. And where does that money go btw??? Nobody ever asks that, whether the state courts or federal courts- where the HELL does all this supposed good money go?????? Does it go to the victims of whichever latest corporate crime du jour has happened, or do their partners in crime, the federal or state authorities themselves just pocket it and move on????
Our court and court procedures are absolute jokes, for several incredible reasons such as judicial conduct and powers, the absolute appalling ease of stacking juries, the lack of qualified standards for one to be a jurist, the absolute lack of guaranteed powerful representation for the defense, and so on. The list just goes on forever. They need to be completely overhauled, but I doubt they will be. They're working extremely well for the agenda they were designed for- total injustice, mass incarceration of the masses, alongside total impunity for "protected classes"- copfilth, politicians, DAs, judges, big biz big shots, banking big names; etc.
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Big facts. Mass incarceration is for the poor, the common person, and the marginalized. It's today's slave plantation system. The crimes might be truly heinous or massive from a corporate or political or well-connected big shot, or a StreetPig, but they will NEVER see the inside of a jail cell. N-ever! DA's, AGs, judges, and some probably stacked juries just utterly REFUSE to hold N.azi Bluethugs or big business corporate top-levels accountable. Blatantly refuse! It's absolutely beyond. The most heinous crimes against the public by corps are routinely are given mere fines as punishment. And where does that money go btw??? Nobody ever asks that, whether the state courts or federal courts- where the HELL does all this supposed good money go?????? Does it go to the victims of whichever latest corporate crime du jour has happened, or do their partners in crime, the federal or state authorities themselves just pocket it and move on????
Our court and court procedures are absolute jokes, for several incredible reasons such as judicial conduct and powers, the absolute appalling ease of stacking juries, the lack of qualified standards for one to be a jurist, the absolute lack of guaranteed powerful representation for the defense, and so on. The list just goes on forever. They need to be completely overhauled, but I doubt they will be. They're working extremely well for the agenda they were designed for- total injustice, mass incarceration of the masses, alongside total impunity for "protected classes"- copfilth, politicians, DAs, judges, big biz big shots, banking big names; etc.
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Big facts. Mass incarceration is for the poor, the common person, and the marginalized. It's today's slave plantation system. The crimes might be truly heinous or massive from a corporate or political or well-connected big shot, or a StreetPig, but they will NEVER see the inside of a jail cell. N-ever! DA's, AGs, judges, and some probably stacked juries just utterly REFUSE to hold Bluethugs or big business corporate top-levels accountable. Blatantly refuse! It's absolutely beyond. The most heinous crimes against the public by corps are routinely are given mere fines as punishment. And where does that money go btw??? Nobody ever asks that, whether the state courts or federal courts- where the HELL does all this supposed good money go?????? Does it go to the victims of whichever latest corporate crime du jour has happened, or do their partners in crime, the federal or state authorities themselves just pocket it and move on????
Our court and court procedures are absolute jokes, for several incredible reasons such as judicial conduct and powers, the absolute appalling ease of stacking juries, the lack of qualified standards for one to be a jurist, the absolute lack of guaranteed powerful representation for the defense, and so on. The list just goes on forever. They need to be completely overhauled, but I doubt they will be. They're working extremely well for the agenda they were designed for- total injustice, mass incarceration of the masses, alongside total impunity for "protected classes"- copfilth, politicians, DAs, judges, big biz big shots, banking big names; etc.
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@goodun2974 big facts. Mass incarceration is for the poor, the common person, and the marginalized. It's today's slave plantation system. The crimes might be truly heinous or massive from a corporate or political or well-connected big shot, or a StreetPig, but they will NEVER see the inside of a jail cell. N-ever! DA's, AGs, judges, and some probably stacked juries just utterly REFUSE to hold Bluethugs or big business corporate top-levels accountable. Blatantly refuse! It's absolutely beyond. The most heinous crimes against the public by corps are routinely are given mere fines as punishment. And where does that money go btw??? Nobody ever asks that, whether the state courts or federal courts- where the HELL does all this supposed good money go?????? Does it go to the victims of whichever latest corporate crime du jour has happened, or do their partners in crime, the federal or state authorities themselves just pocket it and move on????
Our court and court procedures are absolute jokes, for several incredible reasons such as judicial conduct and powers, the absolute appalling ease of stacking juries, the lack of qualified standards for one to be a jurist, the absolute lack of guaranteed powerful representation for the defense, and so on. The list just goes on forever. They need to be completely overhauled, but I doubt they will be. They're working extremely well for the agenda they were designed for- total injustice, mass incarceration of the masses, alongside total impunity for "protected classes"- copfilth, politicians, DAs, judges, big biz big shots, banking big names; etc.
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@RextheRebel that is completely bizarre you would argue that people shouldn't have freedom to go where they wish. That's pretty fash of you. You want people to have LESS freedom??? Why? I mean that's pretty 1984 of you to say that people shouldn't be able to emigrate where they wish.
I get your sensitive about immigration but I hope you don't feel that people should be prisoners of their stupid government. Obviously citizens should be able to leave their home country whenever they want and reenter whenever they want. Maybe you were trying to say that immigration should be controlled but not emigration- the outflow of citizens from a given country to another nation for temporary travel or permanent move (legal immigration or passport travel)
But I get it you're afraid of outsiders and non-whites. That's too bad. That's just so unnatural for me. I'm Wht but my partner is Black. I've been around other races all my life.
I don't know what to say to change your mind & I probably won't today but these are just insights into my values. I'm not xenophobic so I mean I don't understand why people are afraid of other people who were born elsewhere; doesn't really make sense to me. We're all human beings. There are different cultures with different belief systems, I don't agree with every type of belief but I try to respect other cultures.
This country is currently full of people from dozens and dozens of racial and ethnic backgrounds, including Native Americans whose roots go back 10-20,000 years. This country was built on non-stop immigration since 1609 (& no one asked the natives if they minded if other people came here). Now you act like we should put up a wall. That's just crazy. For positive or negative reasons people have always moved around. I understand in the ancient world they had walls but it was a completely different world, a simple world. Those measures were to try to keep out military invasions, not regular people. (And then there was the Berlin Wall which was a unique situation)
This country is extremely racially diverse right now, and while it's certainly not evenly distributed, overall it's a melting pot; and you're worried about adding other non-white people into our mix?? I hate to break it to you but you're too late. Diversity is here.
Yes it's a finite planet but there is more than enough to go around in my belief. We have so much wealth in this country; most of it gets horded amongst the ultra-wealthy or wasted, which is pretty sad, but even what remains is still plenty. I don't know how to prove this to you but I know it's true.
You think there's millions of migrants coming in? Lol no. You are misinformed. There's 10-40K a year max. Now that is a number that can be verified.
We COULD accept millions comfortably but there's only 25K roughly give or take each year, a tiny fraction. Even if it were true, 10M is nothing in a country as large as ours. There's 330M people in this country among mostly 48 lower contiguous states. You really think we don't have room to put people?? Obviously they're not going to be evenly distributed but we certainly have room for people to spread out.
As far as physical resources we have those coming out the yin yang. There's more than enough raw materials, housing, & food to go around. The problem is as I said too much is being wasted, a disgraceful reality, but believe me it's there. This is the most abundant (or at least one of the most abundant) nations in earth. I mean if our population jumped up 10M over the next two years we could easily accommodate that. After all, 20 years ago the population was maybe 290M. How did we possibly accommodate 40M new people in just 20 years; People who were born here and legal immigrants? Well we did. They're out here & the world didn't end or the sk fall down. So what does it matter if we add 2M more next year? Provided they don't all converge in one town or city it would be fine. Again I'm not suggesting we take in 2M tomorrow, but I believe we could easily accommodate that much & more, especially if they were given transitional assistance including financial benefits meaning they would be able to buy what they needed thus providing commerce and consumption locally.
The point is there's no magical number that this ginormous piece of land we call the US can comfortably accommodate. We could probably easily double our current population if resources were more efficiently allocated.
You're welcome to believe as you wish, I don't think I'm going to be changing your mind tonight but I am telling you that you believe a myth that we have scarcity in this country, or even the world. There are stats on this, I don't have them in front of me but if you're curious the videos are out there and they're very informative.
Fact is there's no need for anyone to be poor in this country. ALL poverty here is artificially created either directly or indirectly, via things like piss poor wages, lack of healthcare, no job security, lack of psych support, lack of affordable housing, unaffordable higher ed, etc.
Something like 40% of all food produced is wasted via various means. Supposedly we have something like 5 or 6 housing units for every homeless person. Oh we have plenty here to go around you can best believe me on that, or look it up yourself. It's just being misused.
Secondly, consider appreciating diversity. Wouldn't it be boring if everyone was the same? I live in San Diego which is close to the US/Mexican border. I've lived around diverse regions all my life, to me it's natural.
Maybe it's time to try to expand your horizons a bit. Like it or not the US has been racially diverse since before it was even created. Not as much so as today ofc but increasingly so every year.
Just some stuff to keep in mind. I know it's tempting to always want to be afraid of something out there but to me that's just not a very constructive attitude. It's not empowering. I mean aren't we all more or less the same on the inside? Yeah yeah I know that's a trite saying but isn't it true?? Aren't we all human beings? Does national origin even matter? Well it doesn't matter to me- at all. I don't care where someone's from I just need to know that they don't mean me any harm and as long as I can be assured of that then I welcome them to this land and I wish them well. I mean people bring their hard work, their talents, and their contributions. You act like all they do is take. Sure they take but they pay for what they use in most cases and they give their work and their various knowledge bases in return. Same as the rest of us. Life is a never-ending cycle of give and take with everyone.
You shouldn't look at legal versus illegal immigration any differently. It should all be legal because the door should be open to everyone. I want everyone to feel like like they have a place here. Why would I want some people to feel shut out, especially if they're desperate?? If we have the means to help, them we should. That's my value. Of course we should help our own people too and I talk about that all the time but regarding outsiders we should just open the goddamn borders, let everyone come through and help those who need it. I mean we could get this done tomorrow. I just want to get it done! I can't believe our gross political system is stretching out this issue for votes. That's really disgraceful. People will spread out & filter out just the way that local domestic citizens do now. They're not all going to go to one city or town, it's not going to be a glut, if that's what you're worried about. Plus we can set up efficient temporary housing near the border while we're processing everyone. They do this elsewhere to handle large temporary population. Plus, with better urbanism and city management we can safely house and service more people more efficiently in denser areas- which would benefit local populations as much as immigrants.
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Lol yeah. 100%.
Government shouldn't be picking winners or losers in anything but of course that's the only reason why they exist in this country- to serve and protect elite business interests in every industry, at everyone else's expense. Just look at the violence and MASSIVE property theft and displacement these demons caused to random homesteaders and Native Americans because they send the US army to protect the massively predatory railroad rail baron interests as they built the first Transcontinental railroad in the 1870s. People who were unfortunate enough not to warrant government protection lost their lives, their homesteads, or their livelihoods, all because the sociopath railroad barons didn't want to stop for one second or tolerate any delays in construction because they saw that as a loss to their already outrageous profits that almost no one other than they would even be seeing. In order to satisfy their endless filthy greed, thousands upon thousands of workers will worked very heavily and paid peanuts for their efforts, labor strikes were met with violence or stonewalling.
Everybody lost during the construction of the Transcontinental railroad other than the political trash in Washington who tirelessly worked for the elite money of the rail barons, who stood to profit millions from railroad expansion while undergoing minimal risk to themselves. This type of crony elite back-and-forth is what this government has been since Day 1. Government is nothing but a shameless and brazen and ruthless mostly criminal organization composed of, by and for the elites.
What is government but an assembly of force and political propaganda to protect elite business interests? When has it ever been otherwise????
Politicians hire themselves out like good whores to the big money in every industry and promise them fealty, lifelong service and protection. This is as true as much today as it was 150 and 200 years ago.
It's a sweet racket. I sure wish I could get that some sort of service and protection, but I can't afford a fancy lobbyist and I'm not an elite business interest so you know, no political protection for me! Essentially that means I have no real rights in this so-called bullshit republic that works of, by and for the elite money only.
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@youtubesucks1499 excuse me I don't work at McDonald's but I AM going to stick up for workers no matter where they work. I understand we're talking about primarily lower skilled positions but most of these people still need to live and support themselves, they don't all live at home with Mommy and Daddy and come from comfortable upper middle class backgrounds like people like you assume.
Minimum wage should be at LEAST $18 an hour across the board. I told you I don't have the stats in front of me, but you can go look it up. Go look up when minimum wage used to track with inflation, and then when they started letting it fall behind right around 1980, unsurprisingly when that shit-sandwich Reagan and his filthy fascist dirtbag robber barons came into office. And it's never caught up since.
If a business can't meet that standard, perhaps they shouldn't be in business. You seem to forget that LABOR is made up of human beings, not robots. You are dehumanizing them, do you understand? Workers are you and me; are everybody that isn't privileged with a silver spoon in the mouth. How dare you ask labor to be content with poverty wages! You should be ashamed of yourself. EVERYONE DESERVES FAIR WAGES, EVERYONE. NOT JUST THE WHITE COLLARS BUT ALL BLUE COLORS AND UNSKILLED WORKERS TOO. I DON'T GIVE A SHIT IF YOU'RE SCRUBBING TOILETS BECAUSE THAT STILL WORK, YOU DESERVE A GOOD WAGE!!! OTHERWISE WHY WORK IF YOU'RE JUST GOING TO BE EXPLOITED? SELLING DRUGS OR SOME OTHER HUSTLE WOULD BE MUCH MORE PROFITABLE.
No business has the right to stay profitable on the backs of employee exploitation. WORKERS CREATE EVERYTHING THE BUSINESS HAS. WAGES SHOULD AT A MINIMUM BE LIVABLE. YOU WANT WORKERS TO BE SLAVES HAPPY WITH CRUMBS. YOU ARE WRONG.
I am not saying a doctor and a janitor should make the same wage, but the lowest wages should be fair and livable, period. Doesn't that janitor have to live? Don't people on the bottom have bills to pay? Yeah I think so. They're not all teenagers living at home, not by a long shot.
And that is why unions are so goddamned necessary. Finally after decades of suppression, unions are growing again in the United States and they need to grow a hell of a lot faster and they will. How dare you suggest a business should balance its books on the backs of workers? Perhaps prices need to be raised modestly or executive pay needs to be cut back. Either way in most cases there's plenty room to pay frontline workers a good wage. Must be nice to see workers as slaves and expendable objects as you seem to. Unfortunately, that denies them their rights. It is wrong and YOU are wrong if you support it.
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@youtubesucks1499 Yes. Where would you be without the workers????? I understand- nobody wants to share. That's a value we've been taught in this society, to take as much as you can, f*ck your neighbor and sharing is for weak p8ssies. I get that. I also reject it.
Under hyper-capitalism, workers are devalued in some cases almost to the level of indentured servants. This is wrong.
Frontline workers, the upper management, and the owners, are all working to the same end (in the private market): a profitable business. Each deserves relevant and fair compensation for their part of the effort. Not 99% for some owner who doesn't do shit but decorate up an office, not 99% for faceless investors, but an equitable distribution of the profits among EVERYONE. It doesn't all have to be the same, but I'd say it should be fair. It can decrease or increase proportionately based on a given employee's seniority, position, and job difficulty.
All workers, based on their level, deserve a piece of the profits. Hourly wages are fine, altho for most people they are too low, but why shouldn't they receive an additional bonus from the the profits at the end of given cycle? Didn't they help create those profits?
I understand initial investors, if there are any, eventually want a return on their investment. I suppose that makes sense. But after that? After that time period is passed?
The workers are also taking a risk. If it doesn't work out they need to find a new job. they say up to 60% of America citizens cannot afford a $400 emergency. Is this because everybody is just blowing their whole paycheck at the casino? Hardly it's because most people who work for average or lower than average wages can hardly afford to save anymore. This is mainly due to rising rents, stagnating wages and other rising costs of living. so if somebody without significant savings suddenly finds themself without employment I'd say that they are in a much more difficult than urgent position that somebody who is already rich who supposedly took on some limited financial risk. As for the owner of said company and other higher level persons, I never suggested that they shouldn't be fully compensated based on their position and hopefully, whatever contributions they were making to the company. I don't agree with outrageous compensation for corporate executives however not at ALL, not ever, and I could go on about that another time.
Anyhow most workplaces are well established by now. I'm not talking about brand new companies, I'm talking about the majority of workplaces from small size to large corporates than have been around for some time, when this risk factor that you refer to is no longer relevant.
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@youtubesucks1499 I understand some skills are more valuable or entertaining or rare than others. So be it. Haven't I already addressed this several times by now? Look, professional athletes make what they make due to the popularity of sports, and the willingness of many people to pay a certain price for admission to sports games. It's not just because that level of talent is very rare, it's that there is a hefty base of the public, including myself, who appreciates sports and are willing to pay for the privilege of experiencing them. In short they have strong popularity. If a certain sport does not have strong popularity it's players or owners could not make as much. So clearly in the world of private professional sports and many private businesses in general, desirability and popularity are the determining factors in a given business's ultimate success. Now within that single business entity, whether it's a large corporation or a mom and pop shop, as I've already stated pay can be determined along seniority, responsibility, and skill level. So I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but I am claiming that your view is incomplete. Again, whether at a lower or higher skill level, my minimum wage, if I had my wish right now, would be $24 an hour (or $15 for a small independent business under 25 employees).
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@youtubesucks1499 Your constant desire to use McDonald's as a catch-all example of an unskilled worker is getting tiresome. There are hundreds of other better examples. Not all low-skilled jobs are McDonald's or food service. Many are I grant, but many are not.
But on this I've made my position clear. Unskilled or low skilled labor still deserves a decent wage. Your issue is that you seem to think it's still 1980 where $12 an hour can get somebody an acceptable standard of living. I wish that were true; but with a few exceptions in perhaps some rural regions, that has not been true for a long time.
Did you know that many nurses in the county where I live have had to go on strike one or more times over the past 5 years? Turns out that even though registered nurses are considered professionals they are STILL exploited and taken advantage of by greedy for-profit hospital owners. Now isn't that a shame? First of all, I'm morally opposed to a for-profit hospital. I oppose all forms of a for-profit healthcare system. We should have universal healthcare from coast to coast to coast in all 50 states and all US territories. We should have had that decades ago. But for the time being, sadly this gross ultra-profitized system has infiltrated all sectors of our society, much to the harm of the rest of us, and some of these ridiculous hyper-greedy owners have found their way into the medical industry, where they have bought hospitals which may have been non-profit previously and are using any number of methods to unscrupulously extract maximum profits. This then often includes medical understaffingand underpaying nursing staff to a greater or lesser degree.
This has led to nursing staffing shortages which impact nurses heavily and patients both. So really it should be illegal because worst case scenario this can result in wrongful patient death, which besides causing wrongful loss of life, could end up harming the hospital if it results in successful malpractice suits against it from the grieving family. So these unscrupulous managers now blatantly allow understaffing because they don't want to hire more nurses and they don't want to adequately pay the ones that they do have. So even these professionals have been disrespected by their unethical greed-seeking management group, which has led to various strikes within the industry of nurses and nursing-related technicians in recent years.
I'm glad you value our noble nursing professionals. Clearly not everyone does. Clearly even highly educated higher-skilled professionals are not always safe from the threat of various levels of exploitation by those at the top, in the cases where a hospital has been bought by these types of greedy business interests.
It seems to be that there are many instances of even higher- skilled and/or experienced workers having trouble getting their due.
Clearly some or many owners/managers are allowing their personal greed to take over and are refusing to adequately compensate even their skilled Labor.
It's nice that you claim to value skilled labor but clearly even skills aren't enough to protect those who do the work in many different workplaces across the us. I wonder why this is? Could it be perhaps an ideology amongst those in private business that justifies, as you seem to do, shafting workers as often as possible, whether it is the unskilled ones or in these other cases even those who bring skills and trained knowledge to the table??? That ideology that says it's okay to exploit workers or cheetah or pay them as little as you can legally get away with after all they're not really people and the only people that matter are owners and shareholders? Does this seem fair?
Well it doesn't to me.
Skilled and experienced labor will naturally be valued at a higher level than unskilled and inexperienced; no one really disputes this. But if a strong high floor is not set for minimum wages, then even those who bring skills and experience and education to the table will, in some or many cases, be at risk of being paid less than what they deserve. In a sense it's like a trickle up effect. If it's okay to shaft unskilled labor. Sooner or later it's going to be okay to shaft those who perform skilled labor.
It seems only logical to me that setting a ridiculously low minimum wage under values everyone's perspective wages, because the minimum wage is the starting point that all other wages are compared to. If an hourly wage was compared to $8 an hour then it would look a lot better, then if that same wage was compared to $20 or $24 an hour.
I suppose some business owners will always want to take it all and will always foolishly and unjustly refuse to appreciate the Labor pool where the totality of their skilled, semi-skilled, or unskilled workers comprise the engine that makes their entire business possible, and will thus try to devalue their wages as much as they can get away with.
I say that's a damn shame.
Owners and executive level managers need to stop feeling so entitled, stop seeing greed as some kind of virtue, and gain some more basic respect and appreciation for their workforce. I don't understand why this doesn't come naturally to these people, it's easy to sit around in a suit at a desk and do nothing all day. I mean I understand that some desk jobs do require mental effort, but I wager it's far easier to be a pretty-face executive and wear a fancy suit all day, then do the real work, skilled or unskilled, on the factory floor, or in the classroom, or in the community, i.e. a field repair technician for example.
The workforce IS the business. All profits and end products generated FIRST has to be work exerted by the labor pool (skilled or less skilled). Trying to suppress the wages of these people under any justification is completely unjust. Instead, owners and managers should be grateful for these people and respect them, for where would their business be without them?
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@youtubesucks1499 and this goes to show the lack of ethics amongst the ownership class sadly. I guess we need laws to prevent your class's greed.
If it's going to take the force of law to keep your class from exploiting us then we will keep fighting until we get the laws on OUR side for a change.
Outside of that I have already acknowledged that in the long run I believe it's worth it to lose a few positions so that all the remaining positions can be paid at the proper level. However if this can be achieved just as easily through cutbacks to the probably-not-essential executives then that should be done first and foremost without hesitation.
We will most certainly win. LABOR has all the power. LABOR can walk out anytime it wants. It's true it's not always easy, but this is why strikes happen. And the more we're willing to strike the more we show that we aren't to be f*cked with and that we mean business and that you give us our due or find someone else willing to accept exploitation. More and more won't.
It is sad you see this as a competition. You do not respect your labor force. Shame on you.
Therefore you don't deserve to have a business because your labor force is literally GIVING you your business and you do not want to compensate them more fairly for their efforts. I suppose that's unsurprising. That seems to be a bizarre longstanding idea that's been around since the dawn of industrialization, hell maybe before. Somehow the people who perform the mental or physical Labor aka the work itself isn't seen as vital human resources worthy of the highest respect and fair pay. Somehow this wacky pernicious idea trickled through all of the private business community long ago and unfortunately still seems to be kicking around. One of these days it'll die a bloody and long overdue death.
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ALL labor deserves an EQUAL voice at the negotiating table with FULL veto power and this is why we need a new union movement in this country.
It's obvious to any politically active person that we need many reformations to pre-existing labor law and new labor laws put in place in this country. We will get those once we kill the amoral and sociopathic GOP for all time and get genuine Leftists into office that represent the PEOPLE for a change, not the bloodsucking elites. It's true that this process of political change won't happen overnight; the well-connected and entrenched interests aren't going to give up easily, but we will never give up and will do whatever is necessary to bring positive change to this country for those who work for a living.
All Labor (skilled or otherwise) and it's genuine representatives deserves fair and quality pay, and in most cases, an equal voice to management. Anyone who opposes this is my enemy and I will fight them. I'm a very politically active person and I will only continue to be more so in the future.
There's truly no need to even fight over this issue. People like you just need to do what's right and there would be no conflict at all. When it comes to business, we should be partners not opponents. There is enough to go around for everybody, but if Some people want it All and are willing to shaft others to take it, this is going to lead to problems.
If people in your position continue to deny half of the workforce their due, or more, then you leave us no choice but to fight back. It's a shame though because it shouldn't even come to that. We're all on the same team- but if you choose to underpay or undervalue anyone who works for you, you are doing wrong and should stop immediately. We all want the same thing, a profitable return. But if you think that workers only deserve some piss-poor or mediocre wages and that's all, then you are wrong. ALL workers deserve a say in the conditions of their workplace. ALL workers deserve a vote and say in issues relating to pay and benefits, and then from there, let the majority win.
I suppose unscrupulous owners want workers to be content with being treated like slaves or indentured servants. Well sorry, we won't. Treat us like human beings, meet our fair and justified demands, or we can go round and round and have conflict for the foreseeable future. I would prefer to avoid that, but if we have to fight and strike for what we believe we deserve, we'll do it. If some workers want to accept a shit deal, that's their business. But the more Labor as a whole organizes and the more militant we become, the lower and lower the chance of settling becomes for any given lower-skilled jobseeker.
Stop trying to f*ck your workers. It makes you a bad person. Do what's right. You owe everything you have to your workers, skilled or unskilled, so why do you think it's okay to mistreat them and pay them crap or, less than what you could? And I would say the same to any senior decisionmaker within any business organization.
You can try to justify it any way you want but it's never morally okay to pay people shit wages, I don't care if they're entry level or not.
No matter how long it takes, ALL of us out here will do whatever is necessary to put workers on the equal par with anyone who would make decisions above them. This is primarily accomplished through unions. So if you unethical owners want to f*ck US, you're going to have to go through the Union, and; (provided the union is working the way it's supposed to); that's NOT going to work.
A strong federal minimum wage of say, $22/hr with a small business exception, and limits on executive pay (and remember my limits are pretty generous- up to 50 times what the lowest paid worker gets, that adds up to a heck of a lot); would solve all these problems. Why go round and round in circles forever just because you people want to be stubborn? If your people just do the right thing then there's nothing to fight about.
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@youtubesucks1499 who says they have to risk everything? Who's asking them to put their entire life savings in? Isn't that their choice to risk everything? Again my aim of this debate wasn't really to focus exclusively on startups.
I failed to see how a salary at 50 times a person making $10 an hour is insufficient to live the high life. Are you telling me a yearly salary that breaks down to $500 an hour, isn't a phenomenal salary?? Because if that's not sufficient for somebody then I see that as a personal problem. I mean how much money are we talking about here? A zillion borZacks a year? Is that enough? I mean when is enough ENOUGH?
You're really going to love this next part. As you know by now I am a hardcore Socialist so, naturally, I believe in wealth caps. Not to have personal wealth caps by law is obscene to me. Of course I always strive to be reasonable. I do not feel I am extreme in any way. My chosen personal wealth cap would be a yearly income NOT to exceed 10M per year, and a net worth after taxes of no more than 100M.* Now, please entertain me with your retorts of how a filthy rich asshole can't live like an emperor on 100M net worth????? And you expect me to listen to that with a straight face when the median income in America is something like $55,000????? And everyone else is supposed to be happy and satisfied with that but some freaks who hit the lottery, figuratively speaking, don't have to be satisfied with untold millions, and it's okay for them to demand more?? That may make sense to you but I'm sorry it does not to me.
If I had my honest to god most truest wishes I would set the limit at 50M. You tell me how a net worth of 50M isn't an incredible amount of wealth. Unless you're trying to buy a yacht a minute who in the world couldn't live like a king on that kind of money?? Honestly nobody deserves more than that. Nobody in the world does. If a person can't be happy on THAT kind of money there ain't NO amount of money in the world that's going to fix their problem. That kind of a problem can't be fixed by money.
Where do you people, or people that you evidently look up to, get off being so greedy? I would just like to know. Who in the world gave them that kind of entitlement? Or is that just what you aspire to have later in life sometime, some kind of ridiculous wealth and you think it'll make you happy, correct? Are you that empty inside and you think that if you just keep stuffing more money inside, it'll somehow bring you a fulfillment that you've never felt? News flash- material things can't do that for you. That's a spiritual problem.
The problem with this culture we live in is that people like you (or at least people that you look up to) worship money as an end to itself. That's where the problem starts. I agree that in our modern society money is necessary to live, for good or for ill, but for you people that's your entire reason for living! I think that's a real shame. I can't imagine that's a very fulfilling way of life, and I wouldn't want to live that way. I've been flat broke for a large chunk of my adult life, other times I've had an okay amount of money. I've never had a lot and I can't imagine I ever will have a lot and you know what- I'm okay with that. I grew up middle class, my parents came up from the working class, and if someone threw a million dollars in my face I wouldn't know what to do with it. I probably give most of it away to people who are worse off than I was. And that's what I want, to make sure others have enough. I'm sure I'd save some for the future and I probably buy myself a few things that I've always wanted but I've never been able to afford, including most likely, a house. But after that? Why would I need much more than that? I can't speak of you personally, cuz I don't know anything about you, but the greed in this country for a certain % of the population is out of f-king control. Money accumulation for people that you seem to aspire to be like is an addiction. I think that's insane. It's literally an addiction.
When is enough enough? When is it ever enough lives are being destroyed all across America because some very rich people are mentally sick because no matter how much they have they always want MORE. There's a hole inside of them that cannot be filled with physical things but they are not well, so they think it can so they keep on grasping and grasping and grasping, and they seek all kinds of manipulative ways in the private business world to impoverish others on a mass scale, in hopes of filling that hole all to no avail; such as the disgusting trend that's happening right now with a bunch private equity criminals from back East, who are buying up vast tracks of single-family homes and mobile home parks, jacking up the rents out of range of most of these residents who are low or modest income, slumlording in some cases, and forcing thousands into homelessness and destabilizing thousands of innocent lives in the process. This is a slow moving crime, a crime against humanity. All for what? The perversion of infinite greed that refuses to be satisfied.
WHEN IS ENOUGH ENOUGH?
Well I suppose that's a philosophical question now isn't it?
I stand by my standards. I feel they are very sensible, and quite generous. Maybe it's because I don't love nor worship nor even desire money very much. I mean why would I? What's the point? I love things as much as the next person but I don't make my whole life about THINGS. I wouldn't mind having more than I have now, but I wouldn't need THAT much more to feel satisfied, and believe me at the moment I don't have that much. I've gone through some unfortunate loss incidents, and I used to have more in the past, but I've made my peace with those and I'm doing fine.
A whole society based on greed is very unhealthy, and causes a great amount of harm to many millions of good people, ALL of which is avoidable. I don't agree with that, and I don't like seeing it. Unlimited greed by relative tiny few is causing the bottom 40 to 50% in this country to be pushed further and further into poverty and insecurity. And yeah I stand against that 100% I feel that is so deeply wrong. I stand for a moral redistribution of wealth that eliminates poverty once and for all and that stands against the mindless, endless, pathological accumulation of the crazy few at the top. I wouldn't say I'm a communist per se, I don't feel that label fully describes me, but I am most certainly very much a Socialist.
Getting back to the hard data for a minute-
Prior to 1980 based on my research it was common for CEOs and execs in larger companies not to make more than 40 to 50 times their lowest paid workers. They were living pretty high on the hog and didn't seem to feel deprived. Now it's out of control thanks to 40+ years of plundering by the 2% class. I'm asking for the bare respectable minimum for the people on the bottom, you seem to feel that's excessive; yet you're arguing for unlimited riches in fir those that occupy the most senior levels in a given firm? So those who are already well off if not quite rich they deserve [unlimited], but those on the very bottom who are barely scraping by (set aside teenage minors who live at home with their parents in the comfortable suburbs for a minute- that is not the population that needs the help nor are they the cases in point that I'm debating about right now, okydoke?) don't deserve better wages, which btw has a nice knock-on effect of raising all other wages on the lower end as well.
Recall I did not say that all compensation should be equal. I never said that I said it should be proportional to the level of one's position. But yes the floor should be exactly where I said it should be in the ceiling, if it was all up to me, would be exactly where I want it, which is 50 x LPW. Obviously I can't wave them actual wand and make this the law of the land right now but yes I believe this is where we need to have our limits. I don't accept your claim that that suddenly makes some businesses not worth the effort. That doesn't sound straight to me. You're trying to tell me that those returns for a given investor wouldn't be high enough? Huh. Sounds like that investor has a greed problem to me.
Again, I'm really not trying to debate the finer points of the minimum standards necessary to make startup successful. I'm referring to the 90+ percent of businesses that have already been open for at least one year and are projected to continue for the foreseeable future. Maybe the startup sector requires a slightly modified approach, maybe I'm sure it depends on many factors, but let's set that aside for a minute as I've asked you to do already, and focus on stable businesses. Startups are one thing that is a niche sector I'm not really trying to debate those right now. I'm willing to grant that under limited circumstances, maybe MAYBE, there may need to be some exceptions to my preferred requirements. Fine, now that I've granted that, let me refer back to the rest of the private sector which is NOT a startup, ok?
In the case of businesses that have already reached a reasonable level of stability, I demand a much higher minimum wage for their entry level workers. That is my position. I need the working class and those on the bottom to get a bigger piece of the pie right now, and this is the most effective way to do that.
*I understand that this requirement might have to have exceptions for those who have irregular income such as professional athletes or film stars. Nonetheless, the overall net worth limit could certainly still apply.
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@youtubesucks1499 If you stand against workers and unions you are an immoral person. In which case I suppose this conversation is over. I did hope you were able to listen to reason and had a decent heart inside of you, I suppose I was wrong. I believe I've said all that I came to say.
You wish to dehumanize workers, at least unskilled ones. That is immoral. You should change. If that's how you treat your own workers, guess what? Your business deserves to fail. If only you could see reason, you wouldn't not deny that workers have rights and you are wrong to deny those rights. If you are doing well, that's all well and good, but if that is at the expense of your workers, then that's not so well.
I hope in time you choose to see the error of your ways and gain a moral sense of right and wrong. Workers are people. We have rights and we will demand what is our due. If you don't like that that's too damn bad. It's no longer legal to own slaves in America. Guess you were born too late. Sucks to be you.
I believe any business can succeed and be profitable while paying its workers $20-25 an hour or $15 if they are legitimate small business. You are trying to tell me that's not the case, but I've seen no proof of that just your opinions based on the fact that you don't want to share a LITTLE bit more out of the amount that you are currently taking for yourself.
Sure of course you love capitalism because unlimited capitalism plays to immoral people because it says go ahead and exploit workers, keep all the profits for yourself. It justifies the shafting of workers and calls it "good business sense". Since you stand to benefit from this arrangement of course you defend it. You don't care if others lose so long as you win. Well that's wrong.
If a deal isn't win-win it's not ethical and it's worth having. Both parties deserve to receive a fair deal.
You're not more special than anybody else. That's great that you started the company if he did but you're not the first mfer to start a business and you're certainly not going to be the last.
Workers deserve a say in their workplace and to be paid well, according to skill level yes, I never said differently, but well. and that's the difference between you and me, because you think just because somebody doesn't have a college degree or advanced skills they deserve poverty or slave wages. They do not. especially in today's world, all wages must become living wages and I've told you for me what I consider to be a living wage.
And that's the bottom line and there's nothing in the world you could say or ever will say that will make me change my mind on that because that is one of THE most fundamental core values that I could ever have regarding economic justice.
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@youtubesucks1499 I can't talk to anybody says unions are worthless. I can only talk to people that recognize human worth and human rights. How can you say unions are worthless? Look man I- I'm sorry I like to think I can have a good faith debate with anybody but it looks like we have differences that we cannot bridge. Unions are the ONLY thing that have preserved human dignity from the evil capitalistic predators that that would have used and abused them for decade after decade after decade, that clearly clearly you seem to think are perfectly good people. It's like you're trying to tell me Nazis are really just misunderstood and in actuality they're actually pretty decent people. You may think what you're saying is entirely reasonable but from my worldview and my value system, I'm hearing the statements as extreme thoughts and value judgments that I stand totally opposed to.
Its like we're speaking two different languages man. It's like you're saying "uh you know slavery ain't that bad slaves aren't really people it's perfectly okay to own other human beings".
there comes a point where my moral system is just incompatible with somebody else's and it seems pretty clear that there's just no room for compromise.
I'm glad you recognize that nurses are valuable professionals, I appreciate it hearing you say that, but you still think it's okay to take advantage of people who haven't had a chance to gain that same level of ability, knowledge, or experience; aka the low-skilled worker. I feel that's completely wrong, I don't accept that and I don't believe any employer should do that. all workers have value within an organization. ALL workers are entitled to Fair working conditions, Fair wages, and to be free from any kind of exploitation or taking advantage of.
I'd like to think I could at least attempt to form common ground with almost anybody if they generally mean well, but sometimes there's no common ground to be found. It seems this is one of those times.
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@youtubesucks1499 I get the basic mathematics that go into running a business for profit and what a profit margin is. I respect all successful businesses at most sizes. Only ones I really have a problem with are the large corporates. I oppose very large businesses, possibly all large businesses. They're too big, they exploit their workers, they put smaller businesses out of business, they criminalize and over-criminalize poor people and homeless people, and depending on their industry they caused massive levels of harm to the environment. In some cases they're irresponsibility has literally killed their employees and poisoned or killed tens of citizens in the public. How many oil spills has the fossil fuel industry been responsible for? Ecosystems decimated? Corporate greed and corporate malfeasance has caused intractable damage to our communities, mostly from heavy industry but I don't have any love for the retail giants either, AND the country at large, and they will CONTINUE doing so until we get a political class that isn't their b*tch.
No offense to business owners but I don't think it's exactly brain surgery to understand the basics of running a business. If you know how to add and subtract, if you know what being in the red and being in the black means, I think one has the basics down.
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@nateb118 With 12 100M, or 300M. 400M maybe at most. There has to be a limit somewhere. To allow unlimited wealth while 40-50% of the planet, maybe more, live in some level of poverty and/or recurring insecurity is madness.
If you're not worried about the rest of the globe then just focus on the situation here at home. I assume you live in the US. If not you can correct me. we have the worst rates of poverty and inequality in the developed world. This does not need to exist. There's more than enough to go around but there NEEDS to be better rules to ensure everybody has enough and nobody has stratospheric sums that boggle the mind. If somebody can't be happy with 300M then doesn't that sound like insanity to you? Would an extra 100M make the magical difference??? If someone can't be happy at 50 or 250 or 300M, that's not a problem money can fix.
What entitles someone to that kind of money anyways? Nothing I can think of.
I'm not opposed to all wealth but I am opposed to nonsense levels of wealth. They serve no useful purpose.
We should get to work on meeting everyone's basic needs. We can do it. People can't strive towards their potential if they're constantly worried about going without one or more basic material needs, ie food, shelter, medical care, transportation, childcare, mental health support, etc.
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@youtubesucks1499 With a basic plan of some startup capital and the ability to follow through anyone could start a small business. Who knows what the future holds? I may choose to do that at some point. I'm a little busy right now and it's just not something that I feel the need or the desire to do at the moment. But that may change, who knows? I understand the allure of working for oneself. I'm sure it's very rewarding.
I agree a business has to remain profitable over the long-term in order to stay in business. I'm sure you can't stay in the red forever and not eventually fold. A major part of the problem is medium- and large-scale landlords who provide rental units. They seem to think there's no limit to the kinds of rents they can charge. Without a flattening and a sharp decrease of rents, all that's going to do is put pressure on the working class and while in the short term it's going to cause them lots of problems, it's also going to cause an overall demand for higher wages because that's the only way that working class people are going to be able to afford to keep their housing.
So who's really that fault here? Obviously everybody would like to make more money as a matter of principle, but it's not just that. What's the root cause? If you're looking for someone to blame look no further then property owners who rent out rental units, especially large holders. They're the ones that constantly want to more money and constantly charge an arm and a leg for rent. My current rent is outrageous. The only way I'm able to make it currently is because I have somebody else in my household who is also contributing to it. If there was hard and fast rent control from coast to coast, and it can be county adjusted because COL does vary by ZIP code, but nonetheless overall, if rent control was a thing then it wouldn't be as critical to raise wages on the bottom. So if you want to consistently pay people on the bottom low wages, which I disagree with but if you want to continue that ethically, then the first thing you should support is aggressive and universal RENT CONTROL. Forget about your business personally, there are people from all backgrounds without a college degree who start at these lower positions and yet most of them still have bills to pay and are trying to support themselves. We both know a lot of these people are not just teenagers living at home in a nice house in the burbs.
Even if rent was cheap, I would still support better wages at the bottom because it raises wages overall, and everybody who works for a paycheck below the executive level deserves more as far as I'm concerned. We all deserve more security. There is such a thing as saving for the future, to buy a house, provide for a family, or have an emergency fund.
You seem to think only people at the top deserve any money. That's just not fair. Well news flash, so long as money exists, we all need money to live.
The point is, I may even be inclined to deal with a lesser wage if I felt it was something people could reasonably expect live off of, but that is not really the case anymore, at least in a growing number of counties. When the owners of rental units consistently increase rents because they want to make big profits, and lawmakers refuse to put a limit on this to protect those who rent, then that leaves workers no choice but to demand higher wages so that they can pay this and not be forced to leave their home.
It's all connected and it's not rocket science. I'm sure you can see that.
People understand more education and higher skills will almost always lead to better pay and benefits from an employer. That's fine. But those who work the first level jobs have no choice but to demand better wages. They have a right to be able to pay all their bills AND have a little left over at the end of the month AND support their families too. Perhaps in the past they could do this but more and more this is getting to be impossible for the reasons I've already said, mainly the continually rising costs of food and rent.
Obviously those costs are outside of their control. So don't blame the workers. Blame the other large companies that are continually choosing to raise end costs, including the grocery stores but mostly the suppliers to the stores, and of course the landlords themselves. Landlords are demanding massive rents because of their greed. Well shit rolls downhill. You demand massive rents of people who work for modest money of course you're going to cause a lot of harm in the short-term, and the people who work for those modest wages have no choice but to demand more from employers. Would you not deny that someone who's willing to work for their money deserves a home? Of course they do. (I believe everyone deserves a home but that's a separate discussion. We're just talking about working people right now)
So the root cause is landlords as usual. So if you're looking for someone to blame, blame them. Even if rents were cheap I would support better wages as I told you, but I could be persuaded to accept not-so-great wages if rents were stable and cheap. This really isn't the case anymore.
People on the bottom deserve I respectable wage regardless of what's going on in the broader economy. That's a principle that I'll always fight for. But it's a practical matter now because landlords, for lack of better word, are getting extremely greedy. They're leaving people no choice but to demand better wages because they're demanding higher rents. It's a one-to-one relationship. So if you think higher wages for the unskilled worker is a problem, don't blame the unskilled worker. He usually doesn't have much of a choice anymore. Blame his landlord.
If lawmakers recognized that safe and quality housing was a human RIGHT, and limited rents to a decided upon amount based on relative COL in each county, then perhaps people could afford to be satisfied with being paid less. I shouldn't have to spend $2000 for a below average box where I live when it's worth $650 at most. I'm going to have to try to get around this unjust system because I would like to own a house someday, unless my parents leave me theirs which I'm expecting. However if that doesn't happen then I'm mostly screwed. I'll figure out something but that's another problem right now- homebuying cost , but that's a separate discussion.
My fundamental principle is that every worker no matter how lowly deserves a good wage. There is some work which is pretty easy that may not necessarily justify 25 bucks an hour but we have to set the standard somewhere. I don't see how practical it is to apply a different wage for "easy" work versus hard work or more demanding work. Once we set the wage by law that wage applies to all positions. So it's true a few people might be getting an extra advantage for work that may not seem to justify it, BUT overall I believe most people deserve that wage because I believe MOST jobs at the lower level do involve some level of labor and/or tedium and aren't always easy.
Secondly, there's never been more practical need for better wages than now because landlords in my lifetime have never been more aggressive and unreasonable about jacking up the rents. So you can set principles aside and just look at this from a dollars and cents POV. People at the lower end of the work ladder are being squeezed by very greedy and demanding landlords. That's out of their hands. Most people prefer to stay housed so without help from the government, they have no choice but to try to pay these, and they are human beings they shouldn't have to work 25 hours a day. they need to sleep, eat, relax, and haven't at least some time with their family too. That leaves no choice but to demand better wages. I'm sure you can understand this.
Think about all this.
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@radishpineapple74 property taxes support public schools, which should be generously supported, but not through property taxes alone, but through a combination of federal funding and other monies from the general fund. If PT should exist, and I'm not so sure they should, they should be less than what they are now, no more than 1%, and become optional after 5 or 10 years. At a minimum, no authority should ever be able to take your primary home if you can't or won't pay them; at least if you cant. Think about it, for perhaps a claimed debt of $10,000 they're going to take a home worth $400,000? I presume they then auction it and give you back the difference, but it's still a cruel inhumane process. And what if they don't give you back the difference? I haven't researched it specifically yet, so I'm not even sure if they do, which makes it all the more evil and criminal. But for the moment, for the sake of argument, let's say they do. Let's say you received the difference in money that they received from the sale. So you're not left completely penniless but I doubt you received the full value of what that home is worth from said sale, so now in addition to being temporarily homeless you have lost some value of your home most likely in some level of excess from your original alleged tax debt. IE, if your home was fully worth $400,000 but only sold for $310,000 and your tax debt was only $10,000, you have lost $80,000 above and beyond what you ever legally owed.
If you owe me $500 would I be justified in taking your car worth $20,000, selling it and then giving you back the difference? That wouldn't be moral. Or even worse, not giving you the difference back at all? So that essentially I stole your car from you??? I took a huge asset from you for a tiny fraction of its actual worth- now that's a crime.
People want to be out here literally screaming about poor people taking toothpaste and baby formula from Walmart or clothes from some random big box store, stores that could give away 80% of their inventory and still make a profit, absolutely minor meaningless street level petty theft from multi-millionaire stores and billionaire chains, but people don't seem to realize the massive amounts of government theft and crime that we have to live with every day.
Even if those rules exist for the purposes you claim, it hasn't stopped anything. Billionaires and mega millionaires can still easily buy as much land or property as they want, and they are. Bill Gates owns more land than 60% of the population put together. Corporations own the rest.
So if that was its purpose, it's not working. There are plenty of land monopolies out here. There are quasi- monopolies of property in rental housing, including SFDHs, by mega corporate bodies like Black Rock. The corporate mega-consolidation of all our essential resources is well underway.
Land taxes may be fair if they are progressive and rise as a proportion based on the value and amount of land, but I would have to look into them further. Again, the same principle applies- they have no right to take the land if you're unable to pay these taxes. The land might be worth 2m, the tax that on it may be 20,000; they are in no way equal and then no moral universe does one equate to the other.
Seizing your two most important assets, your land and/or home, is just another way publicly-funded criminals (govt bureaucrats) destroy you for sport and profit. It's certainly inhumane and causes a lot of harm to people. I imagine most people who haven't paid their recent property or land taxes do so more out of lack of ability than personal opposition. Anything to keep government thugs out of our lives is probably an expense most people would be willing to pay IF they could afford it. What hardship programs exist for those who literally just don't have the means at the moment? Are there any? I don't know the answer to this but I'm willing to bet the answer is no. How easy it is for a megabank to foreclose on one's home??? All too easy, as too many good people found out in the wake of 2008, and this is by design.
Human well-being and personal property rights are a joke in a society administered by bloodthirsty tyrants who want material accumulation by any means necessary. It's far too easy to evict a rental tenant and with a little extra effort, a homeowning family, and this is very MUCH by design. Families' lives can be upended for years and years, their future renting or home purchasing ability can be seriously affected, so they stay in the cycle of homelessness and destabilization sometimes for decades but certainly for some years, unless they are fortunate and have a family to reach out to or get lucky in some way.
As a humane person I find this wrong, I find this unjust, and I demand a different system of laws which haven't been bought-and-paid-for by big banks and corporate rental landlords, and supported by greedy ruthless local municipal government officials.
We can discuss tenant and rental reform later but at a minimum homeowner and land-owning reform seems urgently needed.
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I talked to one person who tried to justify this exact pov, saying "what do you expect? The company doesn't exist to adopt you it exists to pay you a wage."
And yes, that's true, but usually these wages are piss poor and come with few to no benefits unless you are a higher level professional.
We have no protections against sudden or automatic layoffs, no guarantees of severance, piss-poor sick days, unfair attendance policies, no protection against unfair firings, I mean it's literally indentured servitude today. Not everywhere, but a lot.
Unfortunately our human rights don't matter to the politicians in this country as both parties are shamelessly owned and operated by this self-same large corporate class.
This person I was debating with didn't seem to understand why all job positions, including the rank and file, everyone, deserved to make a decent livable wage under good conditions. We didn't get around to talking about workplace safety and a positive work environment, although I imagine his attitude would have been the same.
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State and local authorities always have three choices regarding this issue. Help those in need get rehoused by making the necessary resources available, including mental health supports and drug treatment if necessary; do nothing and ignore the problem (a perennial favorite), or allow and perpetrate abuse and discrimination of these innocent people by passing abusive local dehumanizing bylaws and encouraging disgusting police violence and/or harassment.
Hmmm, three guesses which one every single central municipality that I've ever known has chosen?
Obviously ONLY (A) should be seen as the morally acceptable solution in this so-called enlightened first-world country we all like to pretend we're a part of.
I mean when you think of what large cities finance it is beyond shameful that they do so little for their local homeless and poor. The resources are ALWAYS there, it's just how they will be appropriated. But that's all by design, friends. Make no mistake people, poverty in America is ALL BY DESIGN. ITS VERY MUCH INTENTIONAL. IT IS PLANNED AND ENFORCED DAILY VIA MANY MEANS.
I think we all know that the political structure works for the top 1-5% in this country with everyone else being aggressively left to sink or swim on their own on a highly unlevel playing field. Where the political will is, so also are the solutions. Simple as. When a politician wants something done and they have the votes, it gets done- good, bad or otherwise. So isn't it curious that this issue just continues year after year, everywhere, never getting better? Gee I wonder why that is??
Given all that, isn't it interesting that this measure is going on the public ballot? It's just like Prop 1 here in CA about making billions available to help homeless veterans. Now who could oppose that? Of course no one with a decent heart would so that leads me to my next question, WHY then are these measures on the ballot in the first place?? I mean isn't that curious? Something that is so self-evidently humane and life-affirming and necessary, where there can be no debate amongst decent people; where's the need for it to go on the ballot? Why take the chance of it not passing? Why allow deep pocketed issues to even know about it and to oppose it publicly? Now isn't that interesting??
Could it BE... that our elected leaders are so cold-hearted and corrupt that they don't WANT these bills to pass and they're hoping that enough reactionary people will defeat them in a public vote, thus relieving them of the burden of looking like the villain if they vote against it in council chambers? NO! THESE guys?!
I mean I don't think that's too paranoid to think that that's how these people are. It's how they always are are. MAKE NO MISTAKE- THE HYPER CORRUPT POLITICAL SLIME IN THIS COUNTRY IS THE REASON WE HAVE THESE PROBLEMS IN THE FIRST PLACE. (We would never have gotten to here if we'd had even a tiniest shred of more humane public management over the decades.)
ANYHOW YES I HOPE IT PASSES OF COURSE BUT IT'S A SHAME THAT THE PUBLIC HAS TO ACTUALLY WEIGH IN ON A MEASURE LIKE THIS. THIS IS SOMETHING THAT THE LOCAL LEGISLATION SHOULD ALREADY HAVE VOTED ON BY NOW AND HAVE BEEN WELL PAST THE EARLIEST STAGES OF IMPLEMENTATION.
Lastly, just a word, ALWAYS know who your friends are and who your enemies are when it comes to these issues. Here's a hint, our friends are NEVER in elected office in this country. Maybe one day, but not today. (And please don't think red or blue makes a difference; they are identical behind the scenes; everything they do that indicates otherwise is strictly for public performance. They are ALL OWNED by the big $$$.)
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The best contract that unions will be able to extract will pale in comparison to what the law will demand if we could ever get anyone elected in this crazy 10th-world s-hole that cared about working people.
It's going to be hard, but labor laws is what it's going to take. I appreciate unions that try to help, but what they get is crap. 25% raise..... Over four years????
I mean I don't know maybe I'm just the one that's out there but that doesn't sound like anything to celebrate. I mean to me it just sounds like you got a few more crumbs. They didn't get their 32 hour work week, they didn't demand a doubling or tripling of salary, they they didn't get better work days or more PTO, they still were begging for mere minor increases. I mean I think even for the most positive worker empowerment groups, ie these unions, we still seem to have this idea that we don't deserve anything! What good are unions if even at their most aggressive all they get are five more crumbs, not real gains???
I don't care if these workers are only taking out the trash. Their collective labor is generating 100% of the profits this company has and they're getting back about 2%. With a union's help they might be able to get back about 10%.
That still leaves 90% still being sucked up by the top 1% of the company and passive shareholders. I'm sorry, I just find that highway robbery and I cannot approve of that. It's still the business model that is based on watered down institutionalized slavery, ie Labor should be slaves and they don't deserve to be properly remunerated.
Even with all the incredible nose to the grindstone hard grinding efforts from a union, it looks to me that you don't get more than shit. IS THAT KIND OF DISAPPOINTING PAYOFF WORTH ALL THAT EFFORT? I don't think so.
I appreciate what Sean Fain tried to do but I heard their final contract was not all that impressive, especially given all of their effort. So it seems to me even under the BEST of conditions the most aggressive and militant of unions are not able to force these companies' hands. So what's the other option? Only laws.
WHAT ELSE IS THERE? WE CAN'T TAKE IT BY FORCE, THEY'LL BE ABLE TO CALL ON STATE FORCE IN RESPONSE.
And if unions have been so watered down or infiltrated, or weekend in other ways that even at their best they're barely getting out anything worth writing home about, then that doesn't seem to be the way anymore either. So what does that leave us? Only laws.
So let's get back to the political organizing the previous generations knew they needed in order to secure their rights under law.
Never vote red or blue again. They are for the 1%. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise, they are either lying or misinformed.
Go socialist or communist if you really care about this issue. They're the only ones that put workers first.
Finally, just don't work for these slavers anymore. If you have to live in poverty or on the edge, at least do that at a better workplace. Go for the job satisfaction and the positive work environment first, and then if you still get paid poorly at least it's easier to put up with. Work somewhere that takes less of a toll on your body. Seek public assistance if you have to. Reach out to your community and your family if you have one to count on
Don't let one of these evil workplaces ruin your life and DON'T work for one any longer than absolutely necessary because they will NOT treat you right. It's not just Toyota, its industry-wide. It's everywhere. A big corp almost never wants to properly remunerate their staff. Its owners and top decision makers want to see all of the profit for themselves and they honestly don't care if every single one of their workers drops dead because they see them as expendable. There are other options out there I am sure so sometimes walking away is the best option. If that means you encounter more financial struggles so be it at least you'll know that you'll have your self-respect intact and you won't be putting up with substandard treatment or exploitation by a company. There are some good places to work even though sometimes it seems like they don't exist anymore, but they're out there sometimes they're just hard to find. Sometimes a public sector job can be the answer. Of course our individual solutions will depend on our individual situations but, being unwilling to constantly put up with these types of workplaces I think is the first step. If we cannot force them to change and to value and care about those who generate the profits they demand, then our only real choices to walk away. The more people walk away from this crap, the sooner these companies will learn that it's not okay to treat people this way. All workers deserve generous profit share and high base wages for their labor.
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Here's all any of you need to know. Of course we're not going to have a perfect world or a Utopia but we could have a far better one no doubt if all these thuglife fake-smoothie fuckers weren't in charge.
Half to 2/3 of the world lives in some level of poverty and I don't accept that that's just the "natural order of things" because it doesn't have to be.
The ultimate goal of the vast majority of local city governance here in the US is pleasing rich local business owners and wealthy business interests, chiefly real estate developers, plus giving the local cops everything they want while screwing over anyone else; or more accurately, giving schools and social needs whatever's leftover. This is usually accompanied by increasingly inhumane policies towards the local homeless.
The main agenda of state politicians is pleasing top-of-the-food-chain corporate interests especially the ones that funded their campaigns. These be anything but they're the big ones. This is 100% bipartisan. All internal state authority goes towards protecting big corporate interests within said state. They almost always oppose prison or court reform and reducing the prison population. Mass incarceration starts within each of the states first.
The main agenda of the federal apparatus is protecting the largest transnational corporate interests especially fossil fuels by any means necessary and any body count necessary, and to keep their boot on the neck of the rest of the world with either with a light touch or a very heavy touch, but make no mistake - the security state is designed to keep the US government as the ONLY boss on the playground. Anybody that doesn't do what we say has to be taken out or taught a lesson. It starts with lessening trade, trying to trash talk said nation in the eyes of other nations to foment discord, then sanctions, then it progresses to coups, then finally invasions if necessary.
Fascists love this while big fat commies like me think this is bad because we recognize the rights of other people and we have utopian visions of fair trade and peaceful resolution.
The end. So that's basically the entirety of local plus global geopolitics in a nutshell. It may seem complicated but trust me, it's really not it's not at all. It's pretty simple. It's just gangsterism for Big Money and the police State, just scaled up a bit. Other details may vary along the way but it all mainly boils down to that.
Questions? As a giant vegetarian rodent I love to talk so fire away.
Solutions vary but unless we're planning on running for office there's not much we can do besides getting ourselves together and engaging in mutual aid - which does vital life-saving work and we should all be proud of.
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@WestTexasSmallTown they do have an unlimited budget that's their dirty little open secret. All currency-issuing federal governments do. I'm sure that they can't print out a trillion dollars every single day but I'm saying within reason, within a very high bar, for all intents and purposes, they essentially have an unlimited budget.
They just don't have an unlimited budget for you and me, but they have an unlimited budget for their criminal buddies on Wall Street, for the business of war and death and world domination, and for endless massive gravy train corporate welfare handouts to the richest multibillion-dollar corporations aka "subsidies", a cute word that just means welfare for the rich, or federal money for the rich.
So there's no limit on how much they want to spend on that; now for social needs or ethical purposes that's true, they have a very relatively low budget for that but that's not because they have to that's because they WANT to.
They could pump virtually as much money into the economy as they wanted and that money would be transferred into work hours and materials.
Don't buy the lie that social spending causes inflation that's just bogus. It's a lie, like so much else that comes out of the government's mouth. Money is money. If unlimited spending for Wall Street, war business, and mega-rich handouts doesn't cause cost inflation, which it doesn't, or if it did they don't care about (but it doesn't), then how could a tiny bit of social spending do so? Well of course it can't.
As usual those assholes in DC are lying to you they're all lying to you. Everyone has an agenda and if its mainstream news weather at CNN or Fox or anything else there's a good chance that they're either lying or not giving you the whole truth.
Within the states (who do not make their own money) and have to fund themselves through internal taxes, with a relatively small percentage of redistribution from the top to the bottom, all essential lacks could be filled.
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@Dragoon91786 thank you for this sad story. Yes we live in a cruel society; the people in charge have embraced cruelty and neglect. It doesn't matter what political party both have done it gladly. Red or Blue, both are clowns. Voting for either is throwing a vote away at this point. They're BOTH criminal they're BOTH on the take, they BOTH don't care if any of us live or die- these are the hard facts and I wish more people would face them.
There is only ONE option- provide the funds necessary to meet everyone's minimum material needs by any means necessary. Either we resolve to do this or we don't.
Anything else is BS. I'm not ready yet but I'm getting organized so that in a few years I'll be ready to start stepping out on the political stage locally; small races at first, nothing big. I'll be way out here on the Left, I'll be all on my own I won't have any special connections so it's going to be a challenge. But I have to do it because nobody else is doing what needs to be done, nobody else is ensuring people get their basic material needs met.
There isn't a middle ground. It's kind of like parents; either you're loving and self-sacrificing or you're not. Sure parents are going to make mistakes, but either you love your children and put them ahead of yourself, or you don't. Either they matter to you and you're willing to do what's necessary for them, or you're not.
There's not much in between.
You can't be a little bit pregnant.
I'll do whatever's necessary within my jurisdiction within my power to provide for everyone's "BMNs", basic material needs.
Things like this should be considered to be minimum tasks of a governmental body. MINIMUM. Not optional, not considered above and beyond, but MINIMUM. What else is govt for????? To provide positive public spaces, to provide a minimum of safety, and to provide for material needs. That's IT. (Well a few other more specific things but mainly those)
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