It's simple: 1. Worker solidarity and poverty cannot both exist at once. 2. The truth to our values lies in the risks we refuse to accept, and it is rising worker power, not continued poverty, that our political and corrupt leaders find unacceptable. Republicans hate welfare for 2 reasons 1. They morally oppose policies which pull people out of poverty and create a middle class 2. Poor people will not work for slave wages if they have government benefits.
I knew this shit since the 90's when I was in college. Going to France, Mexico, Amsterdam and Costa Rica also educated me. They all said the same thing. "How do you live in America?"
People who have never worked a blue-collar job have no clue how horribly they are treated. I worked as a blue-collar man for 45 years and thankfully I survived better than most. Often, the oppression is not seen from the outside because it is more hidden than it was in the gilded age, but it's still there in the underlying attitudes of management and the sneaky ways in which they try to bamboozle the workers. But it gets worse. In my last few years of work, I have also noticed how this oppression is being extended toward lower-level white-collar workers and even middle management. So when we blue-collar workers were complaining to our bosses, we were unknowingly preaching to the choir, and their hands were tied because their livelihood depended on lying to us and carrying the company flag.
I was reading about the end of slavery in the USA yesterday - this amazed me... Towards the end, some southern states increased the regulations on the treatment of slaves. Slave owners very quickly started moving to wage-based employees - especially for the dangerous jobs Cos if you injured a slave you had to take care of him and his family, but if a wage worker got injured you just got another one. And the slave was YOUR property, so why not damage the hired property and hand it back broken instead of risking your OWN property. So you ended up for a short period of time with some states where the chattel slaves did the easy safe work and the “free men” did the hard dangerous work… This woke me up to the attitude of employers SO much.
@@Dodgerzden - Thank yo - though I cant take credit, I only read it. But it really surprised me. And it didnt take a lot of increased benefits for slaves to tip the balance to using wage labour - which shows you how close you are to slave labour in reality. No work on Sundays No working on religious holidays Clothe them Educate the kids That was enough for some slave owners to thing "actually its cheaper and easier just to pay people and have NO obligation to them"
Just yesterday these 2 guys from a hydraulics equipment service contractor were installing a new pump system. They were drilling holes in and through the walls, cutting and installing many feet of pipes, laying out hoses and draining and removing the old equipment. Somebody that I work with had talked to them and the topic of wages came up and then later on he asks me what I think these contractors get paid. I thought like $40/hr but he said they only make like $18/hr and had been working that job for at least 5 years. I said man that's ridiculous.
I worked at the same job for 34 years. I got hurt on the job and while getting pt, they made me work “light duty” where they made do construction projects that hurt the hell out of me. The doctors finally decided I needed back surgery and a shoulder surgery. One week before the surgery, the company fired me with no notice and then their insurance company denied my claim and I was on the street. Some day, I hope, the brain washing will wear off and realize we are living a third world country.
@@SovereignTroll not actually true, I was hurt due to someone else’s negligence. I did my job properly. Part of my job was avalanche control work. Which, by the way, participants to number of injuries and deaths, is the most dangerous job there is, out side of war.
It's not that Corporate Democrats are 'embarrassed' by all the economic issues they 'could' easily run and win on, it's that, if they 'talked' about those issues, they would be expected to 'do something' about the problems they discussed and ran on. They would rather run on 'Republicans very bad', so they don't 'actually' have to 'do anything' which would reduce the ever-growing profits of their 'owner-donors'.
Then why do the rethuglikkkans run similar platforms and still get elected? They point out all the flaws (that they themselves have caused in the first place) and claim to be would-be heroes in fixing the problems when elected again and continue to sit on their arses again and again (along with enacting draconic laws that is anything but "small government"). But you're right: the oligarchs own politics when it's supposed to work for the public good rather than private evil. Most of the time, in my observations, it's institutionalized bigotry that dates back to when America had slaves.
The beautiful thing is that most OECD countries are trying to actively improve the quality of life of their populations while the US is actively doing the opposite. It's pretty incredible how compliant the US worker is.
But Tough Guys don't complain unless it's about the younger generation, immigrants or other minorities that come after them whether that's only in their fevered nightmares or chronologically.
*AS A EUROPEAN* growing up in the 1970's - we genuinely admired America, we wanted our countries to succeed like America - but then you started, collectively, to *WORSHIP MONEY* When Reagan arrived you switched from worshiping opportunity and freedom to worshiping GREED and MONEY. Every decision became about money and we watched you make one dumb decision after another, when we mentioned it you mocked us, pointed to your V8 Truck and your GDP. But it was OBVIOUS where this was leading - *WORKER MISERY* When I tell Americans to protest they always say the same thing "I cant afford the time off work" - the idea of doing without in order to do the right thing is just absent. You would [as a society] rather do without rights than a new iPhone... EDIT: because your worth as a human being is defined by what you own and how much you earn - because money is your God
Unfortunately for me, I work in civil service and there are laws limiting how unions for us can operate. We cannot "stop or slow down the work of government" so it greatly limits our bargaining power without the ability to strike.
I'm only a couple minutes in, but I do want to mention that Belgium, number 1 in wages, has wage indexation where they link wages to the consumer price index so when inflation hits, wages automatically adjust maintaining worker buying power.
That’s interesting, because it’s a practical demonstration that the usual U.S. narrative about inflation is wrong. The people is really only as helpless as it’s tricked into believing it is!
If Republicans already call what the northeast and California does with their economies socialist then yes relatively every EU country are socialists or even communists.
Socialdemocracy is a socialism kind. It is socialism policies in capitalism system. West europe is capitalist countries with socialism policies, i mean until 90's. America New Deal was socialism policies in capitalist Country until Reagan to start neoliberalism regime.
While the UK is far from perfect we have a minimum of 2 weeks paid holiday a year, Easter ,Christmas and bank holidays also paid, health care free at the point of use for everyone rich or poor and we don’t have to worry that our children are going to annihilated at school.
In Canada even McDonald’s workers get at least 2 weeks of paid vacation time for under 5 years of service and 3 weeks over 5 years. 16 months of paid maternity leave and parents with children under 18 get a monthly child benefit.
We also get paid maternity leave and child benefit plus sick pay with the time taken off not coming out of our annual holiday days, like you we work to live not live to work.
The USA is a Capitalist Oligarchy. We aren't workers, so much as we are wage-slaves. The vast majority of people in the Capitalist system, are enslaved to working till they are discarded as broken shells of people. Can the average person get health insurance without a job? Not really, it's so bloody expensive because of our "competitive" market. The laws around how insurance is sold, causes the price to go up considerably. Think about how much money is being wasted on advertising, and that advertising money is pulled from the wages of regular people.
The USA is the perfect example of why unrestricted capitalism does not work. The best compromise is a socialist capitalist democracy. A government must place its people over corporate profits but allow companies to bargain with their workers for wages and benefits. The biggest problem with the USA is its lack of a properly funded and designed public health system. Everyone needs access to health care. The second biggest problem with the USA is its lack of a proper social security system, Australians who are unemployed receive just enough money to live and training to improve their job prospects. There is no point just giving unemployed people money without helping them to get the training needed for the constantly changing job market. In the USA, profits are more important than human lives, but money is just a figment of the human imagination and doesn't actually exist, but people are real and do exist. Just a little fact that Americans struggle with is that the average middle-class Australian earns around 6 times what the average middle-class American earns plus Australians get public health care and subsidised private health insurance. Having the world's largest economy doesn't mean much if the majority of the population doesn't benefit from it.
That's the point. Republicans don't want poor people to be able to buy a house. They complain about poor people dependent on the government, but want them dependent on corporations. Poor people won't work for slave wages if they have government benefits. i made $10.50/hr as a cashier. $900/semester as an intern. Federal work study pays $12-$16/hr, 20 hours a week, no benefits.
*AS A EUROPEAN* growing up in the 1970's - we genuinely admired America, we wanted our countries to succeed like America - but then you started, collectively, to *WORSHIP MONEY* When Reagan arrived you switched from worshiping opportunity and freedom to worshiping GREED and MONEY. Every decision became about money and we watched you make one dumb decision after another, when we mentioned it you mocked us, pointed to your V8 Truck and your GDP. But it was OBVIOUS where this was leading - *WORKER MISERY*
Worker protection. That’s funny. Since Greg Abbott just took away, water breaks for people working outside in 100+ degree heat. He actually decided that there had to be a law passed about this not about improving infrastructure or energy, but taking away water breaks.
This from someone who worked extensively overseas: We are running a 19th century economy which is meant to keep the rich rich and the rest to support the system. Hence we are the only advanced industrial country without universal healthcare, no guaranteed sick leave, on and on it goes. Note, the countries at the top of the list are frequently former communist countries.
It's horrible when you call your job to say you can't walk cause you have a pinched nerve in your back and they say, I will get you an uber so you can get to work. I'm on my feet the whole day, how does getting me an uber make my back pain go away.
Whenever I hear about the opiod problems in the US I also think of the treatment of workers, homelessness. and the lack of public housing and other supports for those on poverty incomes. Which makes me remember hearing about the Republican candidates, for about 40 years now, promising NEVER to support tax increqses. It all ties together.
Republicans hate welfare for the poor for two reasons 1. They morally oppose policies which pull people out of poverty and create a middle class 2. Poor people won't work for slave wages if they have government benefits 2nd point: if robust welfare programs existed, NOONE would work crappy minimum wage jobs or accept below cost of living wages and non existent benefits.
Just joined a union for this very reason. I hope the workers start rising up en masse to push back because these corporate officers are out of control.
the super sad part THE ABSOLUTE SADDEST PART of this is that you will still get people down below and elsewhere defending this system with their lives and denying that there's anything wrong with it.
Also, both Norway and Sweden, per capita, create more NEW millionaires than the United States. So that argument that Scandinavian social policies stifles entrepreneurs isn't quite accurate.
@@scifirealism5943 I agree though I’m not sure rape is much more significant to them nowadays. Our last president described a sexual assault on tv without consequence. Totalitarianism and mass psychosis’s. Be well.
@@adampeterson8820 I'm saying what this debate over workers is about what deprivation and hardship politicans deem unacceptable. Politicians, but especially Republicans, do NOT want to end poverty. 1. Because they morally oppose policies which pull people out of poverty and create a middle class 2. Because poor people won't work for slave wages if they have government benefits. A guaranteed minimum income would abolish poverty BUT give workers too much bargaining power.
@@scifirealism5943 Again I understand and agree. Poverty must exist as well as the service programs which serve the poor so they can be pilfered. Poverty is profitable. I don’t believe personally they deem anything unacceptable as long as its profitable. Im 100% for UBI. Im a member of a strong labor union myself and fully understand the protections and advantages it provides.
@@herbtapp3031 lmao! No but my last job the boss always said we family and I always thought, no we aren't. The place now is Forbes top place to work so they do take care of us better than most places but not that we family crap
One problem that isn't talked about is the number of workers that go thru temp agencies, and the number of temp agencies in the US. These temp agencies don't provide any real benefits, and the vast majority of temp jobs pay less.
I'll talk about that and poverty in general. Corporations use temp work, part-time work, and HB-1 Visas to pay people less and less and themselves more and more.
When i was a cashier at a supermarket, I made $10/hr. I received no health insurance, PTO, or paid vacation by being kept part-time. I also couldn't pay for college.
Robin Williams had a perfect line in the man of the year the movie that he was in her he stated we should make our politicians dress up like NASCAR drivers and come out in suits with all the their sponsors so we at least know who we voting for
lol I have dreams where I live in a world/country where life was good and could enjoy it then I wake up like cusack from 1408 "I was out, I was out, I was out!!!!"
Yeap I wish they would do that here in NZ as well as studies have shown (even those conducted in america) that keeping the wages the same & removing 1 day of work resulted in more work being done in a week even with 8 to 10 hours less work hours done in that week. When studies show that office workers on average only do 2.6 hours of work per day during their 8 hours & production workers only do 6.3 hours during their 10 hours if workers "Worked" for their full allotted work hours a 3 day working week would still result in all the required work getting done.
@@TheFalconerNZ yes look at Europe one of those country’s moved there school week to something like 2 half days and they changed the hole system and there rates of literacy went though the roof it was like higher university entry and it was so great, if they can do that in the schools what can they really do with workers! And if the shop is open 7 days a week they will have more full time jobs, better for everyone it doesn’t make sense not to brining it in. Do you have Bunnings? Over there as over hear they have said they are rolling 4 day weeks out Australia wide! So keep a day out on them if you have it they might be the job to have… but the ACT are now making it law for a 4 day week as they did there tests of it and now moving to full implementation and several other states are now looking at getting it.
The baby boomers were raised in this golden era. Yet these are the same citizens who are now against the same policies that allowed them to live a good middle class living.
This should be headline news on every major News Network in the New York times and other major news outlets so that the voters can see just how much better is possible.
Spot on, corporations are not equal to people and shouldn't be aloud to donate money at all. They have gained even more rights than individuals, which is insane. Corporations can be owned by anybody like Puten + friends. A corporations number one goal is to make money at any cost. That goal is not the American way, it's to be fair and honest in your pursuit of wealth. We outlawed robber barons more then a 100yrs ago, but their back. Corporations are not supposed to be in charge. The founders never conceive this. It was "We the People. Not "We the Corporations".
If you talk to people in other countries they will tell you they're not stupid enough to give up what they have and move here. The US is in a major decline. We should all be in the streets trying to take our country back.
meanwhile french citizens riot in the streets for five days straight over ONE COP murdering an innocent kid. if we did that we would NEVER DO ANYTHING ELSE. go france!
It also treats the people with disabilities badly because the US want to pay subminimum wages. Economic Opportunity and upward mobility is a myth for most people.
Some American needs to realize that when people talk shit about America it’s not because the hate America but it’s because they want to improve it and also because they care.
In Scandinavian countries, everyone belongs to a union, and pays into it, so when they lose a job, the union pays unemployment until you find another job. That doesn't come from the government.
Janteloven is real and, apparently, effective. Who knew "You're not as special as you think you are" was healthier for a community than "No one matters more than you" could ever be.
@@Ahzpayne When I was growing up, after WW 2, men who worked in factories, and similar jobs, with no college, earned enough for a family. They had a house and one car, and food on the table. They weren't unhappy. Presumably the higher-ups made enough more to make them happy. Now, nothing is enough for them, and let the workers have 2 or 3 jobs to make a living.
You'd think being #1 in militarization that it would at least lead to beneficial economic outcomes for the people. What other arguments are there for the United States to force their "free market" policies on other governments in the guise of aid? Out of 38 developed countries, the United States is #36 in wage policies, #38 in worker protections, and #32 in rights to organization. Although this study came out before the corrupt Supreme Court decreased more union rights. A country isn't thriving when the majority of the population is left behind, let alone a global population. I hate that so many working people vote in the very people who pave the way to our exploitation. Voting for economic policies that benefit us all makes some sense to me. Voting solely on cultural policies when you are working class makes absolutely no sense.
Everyone in the USA is so atomized. We need solidarity back, we need to not just care about ourselves, our families, our region, our clique of people, but as workers, lifting each other up. Until that happens, they (the rich) have us.
Forget windfall taxes we need a return of the old top Marginal tax of 90% on annual income above $30 million or so but it had NOTHING to do with tax revenue from the 1% as they were *_supposed_* to avoid paying it. The point was to force the 1% to keep money in the actual economy and in this country rather than hoarding it away hurting everyone else by literally slowing the economy they trapped so much wealth. Corporate tax has always topped out no higher than 50% or so but the CEO, owner or shareholder that decides to wring out every dime and cash out that profit for themselves never used to not when it cost them 90% of that haul in individual tax. So they'd leave most of it in and grow their profit by growing the entire business and enrich everyone along the way just as the top marginal rate was intended to cause. This meant no 1000 to 1 ratio of CEO pay vs their average employees. This mean an equal share of productivity gains without any profit motive to gouge prices but in fact an incentive to keep prices low while wages were very high. So no forty years slide in buying power of stagnant wages. Wages were so high a Boomer could buy a new car, a house and start a family on one "entry level" janitor job. So high that Boomers could actually afford to pay their own four year college bills on a measly *6 hours a week of a **_minumum wage_** job.* Part of that stemmed from the fact that the 1% with no company to reinvest in or who cashed out way too much for it not to hurt society would need to do ate around half of what was over the limit to get the write off. But they had to give it to a real nonprofit library, college or hospital. That semi voluntary donation combined with the fact the top rate made greed 90% less profitable made education and healthcare far more affordable than today. That's what was different. It ALL comes back to the effect of that top Marginal rate with few tightly regulated loopholes. Too bad the 1% spent the 1970s adding loopholes that let them give that money to BS and for profit colleges like Liberty U or think tanks they set up solely to sell the absurdity of Supply Side economics via the "Chicago" theory of economics setting up Trickldown. A few unfortunately timed oil crises that "only coincidentally" helped the oil men dominating the GOP made people scared enough to buy Reagan's magic beans. Overnight it became ten times as profitable to break a union, gouge prices or to ship your job off overseas. Fun facts but Citizens United would hardly even matter if suddenly there were up to 90% less money available to taint politics or bribe the SCOTUS with. You want to know how to fix a hundred separate problems all going the wrong way these last forty years just focus on getting that top Marginal tax back in place and this time make sure we don't let the 1% sabotage it again. Every other one of those issues go from nearly impossible climbs to us all pushing downhill with the wind at our backs. Which is exactly why you will never hear the MSM mention one word of it.
You're absolutely right, and the best part is no right winger will argue with you because they don't have the patience to read something like this, let alone the intellect to understand it.
WOW! That was an excellent essay on the state of the economy in the last 70 years! Maybe you should send this to RFK Jr. and he can use it in his campaign speeches! He might have a landslide victory! That was beautifully put together. Something we would NEVER hear on mainstream media! Well done! 👌
@@TJWinter1221 I'm still waiting to hear you prove him wrong. Either present an argument, or you can just continue opening your mouth and proving just how stupid you are to everyone here.
@@OGCHUCK1Ooo, how original… you coming in with the “you can just leave” and the rest of your tired ole rhetoric. Good lord, ya might wanna think about changing your diet. The propaganda you’re gobbling up is causing brain damage (obviously). 🤦🏽♀️
@@Asha-TheBarefootMuse as someone with brain damage I'm offended you think I'm ^ that dumb XD everytime I see people say dumb stuff like that, I just think "hey buddy S&M is for the bedroom not politics."
*YESTERDAY I WAS READING ABOUT THE END OF SLAVERY IN THE USA* - this amazed me... Towards the end, some southern states increased the regulations on the treatment of slaves. Slave owners very quickly started moving to wage-based employees - especially for dangerous jobs. Cos if you injured a slave you had to take care of him and his family, but if a wage worker got injured you just got another one. And the slave was YOUR property, so why not damage the hired property and hand it back broken instead of risking your OWN property. So you ended up for a short period of time with some states where the chattel slaves did the easy safe work and the “free men” did the hard dangerous work… This woke me up to the attitude of employers SO much.
And of course you’re gonna have Americans out there, saying what were the freest country in the world. But we’re not. and these countries are also free.
What is fascism in simple terms? What does fascism mean? Many experts agree that fascism is a mass political movement that emphasizes extreme nationalism, militarism, and the supremacy of both the nation and the single, powerful leader over the individual citizen.
You 100% laid out America's root problems. We're being lied to by some in government and media, and far too many Americans have lost the will to seek the truth, even when it's not that hard to find. They believe whatever is most expedient to believe.
I have no problem with social security, i mean socialist.The government workers all seem to be in a union or gov.package . I have worked non union 10 years and union 30 years .Organizing is how you get a better deal.THE CEOs have no trouble paying theirself $25 million a year but $ 15 an hr will just bankrupt the place ,not the $25 million for 1 person in a Dunder Mifflin Office.
Corporations have owned our representatives for so long that our representatives don't even see us as citizens first. Most of the time when they refer to us, they call us workers instead of people or citizens. They see us the way their donors tell them to see us, because for the donors we are all just a necessary evil meant to work for them. They even have us trained to see ourselves that way. When we talk about wages or any socioeconomic issue, we completely forget about our rights as citizens of this country or as humans. We all refer to ourselves as workers, hardly ever as people a community, society, or country.
Walmart literally put insurance claims on employees where the company would make money from the death of an employee. They called it “peasant insurance”.
No, they literally don't care. Why should they? Do you "care" about every little bolt & gasket in your car's engine? Does the farmer "care" about every cow in his pasture? Do people even stop to think enough to "care" about every single cell in their body that makes them... Well, them? Of course not. At the end of the day we're just means to an end & there are billions of us, only a few thousand of "them" (the ones who own everything). That's like thinking the king actually "cares" about all of his subjects deeply & personally. It's just not real. They don't care.
Australia is actually far superior to the UK especially England when it comes to safety and personal freedoms. The UK regularly attacks its own citizen’s rights and has been trying to murder its medical system to privatize it vs the island where they sent all their prisoners lol. *edited to remove extra word
This ranking near the bottom is continuing to become a trend in a ton of metrics. I blame our hubris. We thought we were the top dog so to speak n therefore the way we do things are the best and we stopped listening and learning from our allies who have a much longer and storied history. Damn shame. The opportunity has been there to continue to ascend or at the least maintain a top spot but when you stop learning, you start losing. It’s been this way since the 80s when corporate America became our governments primary concern and not the American people
Big surprise!!! NOT!!!!! I hate grocery shopping at Walmart. But, I can't afford the Publix price tag. Aldi's is nice, but don't sell what I eat. I now cook daily as I am on the carnivore diet. No more processed food so have to shop more frequently. But, my gripe is that because Walmart employees aren't paid well and overworked they are miserable and that resentment gets passed on to the customer, which means its unpleasant to shop there. A self fulfilling prophecy. Publix is a much more pleasant shopping experience because they are paid better and have plenty of checkers. If price tag wasnt 35 to 60% more per item bought, I would never go to Walmart. A crappy business model and it means more turnover and a less satisfying experience shopping. My state is doing everything to bust up unions. No union is worse than lousy union.
My family came to this country under the notion that if you work hard in this country, you will reach the American dream: a home, a car, and free time with your family.
I'm betting that the Republican solution to ranking so low among OECD countries will be to withdraw from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Problem solved.🤦♀
Yep. Nice to see you again. Republicans hate workers gaining leverage over employers. Also, Republicans hate welfare for 2 reasons 1. They morally oppose policies which pull people out of poverty and create a middle class 2. Poor people will not work for slave wages if they have government benefits.
Unions in the civilized world not North America are not based on adversity, but based on cooperation a partnership. In Europe unions have a seat on the boards of companies. Pure Capitalism is indistinguishable from a dictatorship, persons with the most wealth make the rules to favour themselves.
In Wisconsin, employers aren’t even required to give adults a break during the day, no lunch break, not even ten minutes. I had to work over eight hours without a break, while working at subway. I could use the restroom during my shift. Needless to say, I didn’t work there very long.
Federal labor law states all employees to get a ten minute break every two hours plus a minimum 20 minute break at the four and eight hour mark. Journal your experiences at the job and take them to the labor board via WAGE & HOUR
When traveling out of the country you can tell the difference of workforce. Starter jobs are held by young adults. Whilst in the US seniors hold these positions to survive.
You listed the top countries in the various categories. Australia was conspicuous by its absence, apart from making it to number 10 on minimum wages. The cause of the problems is the same as it is in the US: corporate, read Murdoch media aided and abetted by the right leaning Facebook and Twitter algorithms and a bunch of bought politicians. (Australia was ruled by a right wing coalition for nearly 10 years, and they shat on all the progress we'd made.) As an Australian, I am ashamed. We could and should do so much better.
Yup. The post-Whitlam Labor party was too scared to fix what the Lib/Nats did. Pikers, or bought into Thatcher/Reagan's swallowing of right-wing "independant" thinktanks "the private sector MUST be more efficient" and "strikes are to be resticted by law." UK has the same problem, but closer to US level. Sadness. Simil
Fun fact, slaves were valued at average of 30k-50k which is interesting because it seems like now we've just become subscription based slaves where companies pay us those wages per year 🤔
@@tschorsch if it wasn't for socialist ideology we'd still be whipped at our jobs along side our children while we worked 80h a week. It's not far off, we are slaves in the practical sense. Our labor is undervalued and gets us barely through the month so that we have no other choice but to work for the rest of our lives.
@ tschorsch: Right! The master is responsible for upkeep of chattel slaves, whereas excess wage slaves can be kicked to the street to die of starvation.
Balance is a beautiful thing. Work is ok, but to live to work is not. Work and barely make it is not. Work and have no healthcare is not. Work and have no life other than to think about work and have no time to enjoy ourselves is not. This is modern slavery.
Before Trickldown was brought in by Reagan we had a top tax rate of 90% that only hit billionaires making over something like $60 million a year. It was intended to prevent Billionaires from hoarding money out of circulation which literally creates contraction and recession. It would also remove up to 90% of the profit motive for a company owner, CEO or shareholders to extract every dime for themselves after screwing workers and gouging customers. Since they *had* to put a lot of it back in it made the most money for them by growing the business most successfully through much higher worker pay AND lower prices. So living wages for everyone with almost no inflation except when the Saudis drove up costs to the delite of GOP oil men. The super rich without companies to reinvest in could only avoid that 90% hit by donating to real nonprofit libraries, hospitals and colleges. Bottom line is that top tax was designed solely to make the greedy 1% share the wealth and that's the only reason a young Boomer could pay their own way through a four year college on *six hours a week* at some minimum wage job or even buy a new car, a house and start a family on one single full time "entry level" job with good benefits and vacation time they could actually go on vacations on. The difference is that top rate and the fact that even the Republicans up until Nixon saw the country as a nation of people with the role of the government to help the majority to prosper where today it's corporate rule with only the interests of the super rich supported by government policies or one entire party and the corporate tools in the other all scream "communism."
@@duppyduppy01 yep. A guaranteed minimum income for the poor would end poverty but would be opposed by politicians for reasons Republicans hate welfare because 1. They oppose policies that pull people out of poverty and create a middle class. 2. Poor people won't work for slave wages if they have government benefits
Labour law in the US is appalling. The richest country in the world, side by side with mass poverty and homelessness. Awful and shameful.
It's simple:
1. Worker solidarity and poverty cannot both exist at once.
2. The truth to our values lies in the risks we refuse to accept, and it is rising worker power, not continued poverty, that our political and corrupt leaders find unacceptable.
Republicans hate welfare for 2 reasons
1. They morally oppose policies which pull people out of poverty and create a middle class
2. Poor people will not work for slave wages if they have government benefits.
I'm not sure how much longer the average American can continue to survive in this corporate greed
Corporations:
Socialism for me
Capitalism for thee
And they can vote now
I knew this shit since the 90's when I was in college. Going to France, Mexico, Amsterdam and Costa Rica also educated me. They all said the same thing. "How do you live in America?"
People who have never worked a blue-collar job have no clue how horribly they are treated. I worked as a blue-collar man for 45 years and thankfully I survived better than most. Often, the oppression is not seen from the outside because it is more hidden than it was in the gilded age, but it's still there in the underlying attitudes of management and the sneaky ways in which they try to bamboozle the workers. But it gets worse. In my last few years of work, I have also noticed how this oppression is being extended toward lower-level white-collar workers and even middle management. So when we blue-collar workers were complaining to our bosses, we were unknowingly preaching to the choir, and their hands were tied because their livelihood depended on lying to us and carrying the company flag.
I was reading about the end of slavery in the USA yesterday - this amazed me...
Towards the end, some southern states increased the regulations on the treatment of slaves. Slave owners very quickly started moving to wage-based employees - especially for the dangerous jobs
Cos if you injured a slave you had to take care of him and his family, but if a wage worker got injured you just got another one. And the slave was YOUR property, so why not damage the hired property and hand it back broken instead of risking your OWN property.
So you ended up for a short period of time with some states where the chattel slaves did the easy safe work and the “free men” did the hard dangerous work…
This woke me up to the attitude of employers SO much.
@@piccalillipit9211 Excellent analogy.
@@Dodgerzden - Thank yo - though I cant take credit, I only read it. But it really surprised me. And it didnt take a lot of increased benefits for slaves to tip the balance to using wage labour - which shows you how close you are to slave labour in reality.
No work on Sundays
No working on religious holidays
Clothe them
Educate the kids
That was enough for some slave owners to thing "actually its cheaper and easier just to pay people and have NO obligation to them"
Most politicans are trust fund babies.
My currewnt "American dream" is to not die of old age at a job that barely covers my bills.
Just yesterday these 2 guys from a hydraulics equipment service contractor were installing a new pump system. They were drilling holes in and through the walls, cutting and installing many feet of pipes, laying out hoses and draining and removing the old equipment. Somebody that I work with had talked to them and the topic of wages came up and then later on he asks me what I think these contractors get paid. I thought like $40/hr but he said they only make like $18/hr and had been working that job for at least 5 years. I said man that's ridiculous.
...what about 'Min wage' BS
It's inhuman😢
Why I moved to Spain 🇪🇸🇪🇸 Paid month off for work ,works for me. And Public health service,no medical debt. Don't need 2-3 jobs to try to survive.
I deal with in USA. no health insurance, minimum wage pay, unaffordable college, unaffordable housing.
I worked at the same job for 34 years. I got hurt on the job and while getting pt, they made me work “light duty” where they made do construction projects that hurt the hell out of me. The doctors finally decided I needed back surgery and a shoulder surgery. One week before the surgery, the company fired me with no notice and then their insurance company denied my claim and I was on the street. Some day, I hope, the brain washing will wear off and realize we are living a third world country.
@@SovereignTroll not actually true, I was hurt due to someone else’s negligence. I did my job properly. Part of my job was avalanche control work. Which, by the way, participants to number of injuries and deaths, is the most dangerous job there is, out side of war.
@@SovereignTroll apology accepted and thank you for the recognition, from a skier that understands, that is very much appreciated.
It's not that Corporate Democrats are 'embarrassed' by all the economic issues they 'could' easily run and win on, it's that, if they 'talked' about those issues, they would be expected to 'do something' about the problems they discussed and ran on. They would rather run on 'Republicans very bad', so they don't 'actually' have to 'do anything' which would reduce the ever-growing profits of their 'owner-donors'.
Then why do the rethuglikkkans run similar platforms and still get elected? They point out all the flaws (that they themselves have caused in the first place) and claim to be would-be heroes in fixing the problems when elected again and continue to sit on their arses again and again (along with enacting draconic laws that is anything but "small government").
But you're right: the oligarchs own politics when it's supposed to work for the public good rather than private evil. Most of the time, in my observations, it's institutionalized bigotry that dates back to when America had slaves.
To be fair, America is the BEST at being the WORST!
The beautiful thing is that most OECD countries are trying to actively improve the quality of life of their populations while the US is actively doing the opposite. It's pretty incredible how compliant the US worker is.
But Tough Guys don't complain unless it's about the younger generation, immigrants or other minorities that come after them whether that's only in their fevered nightmares or chronologically.
This country should take some guidance from the French. When any BS comes down the pike society is shut down.
This is what happens when you mix church and country.
*AS A EUROPEAN* growing up in the 1970's - we genuinely admired America, we wanted our countries to succeed like America - but then you started, collectively, to *WORSHIP MONEY*
When Reagan arrived you switched from worshiping opportunity and freedom to worshiping GREED and MONEY. Every decision became about money and we watched you make one dumb decision after another, when we mentioned it you mocked us, pointed to your V8 Truck and your GDP. But it was OBVIOUS where this was leading - *WORKER MISERY*
When I tell Americans to protest they always say the same thing "I cant afford the time off work" - the idea of doing without in order to do the right thing is just absent. You would [as a society] rather do without rights than a new iPhone...
EDIT: because your worth as a human being is defined by what you own and how much you earn - because money is your God
@@piccalillipit9211yup, srsly, fxvk Reagan and his evangelical yuppies. May they freeze in the ninth layer of hell or forever rest in p!ss.
I just walked out on a 12 year serving job at a state park. Management, and especially corporate was nothing but shit!
If you don't like the company you work for the answer is simple.
Join a union and fight for workers' rights.
Unfortunately for me, I work in civil service and there are laws limiting how unions for us can operate. We cannot "stop or slow down the work of government" so it greatly limits our bargaining power without the ability to strike.
@@SundayMorning91 I am also a civil servant, but in my country we are allowed to strike, and we do so (not that that helps you). My sympathies.
@@TRD-667 Thanks. Hopefully at some point we'll have that ability as well.
I'm only a couple minutes in, but I do want to mention that Belgium, number 1 in wages, has wage indexation where they link wages to the consumer price index so when inflation hits, wages automatically adjust maintaining worker buying power.
That’s interesting, because it’s a practical demonstration that the usual U.S. narrative about inflation is wrong. The people is really only as helpless as it’s tricked into believing it is!
We have poor working conditions, terrible food, healthcare and education... we are the haiti of the industrialized world
Every EU country is still capitalistic, but we have provisions not to abuse workers, social democracy is not socialism.
hence the term "mixed economies".
If Republicans already call what the northeast and California does with their economies socialist then yes relatively every EU country are socialists or even communists.
Socialdemocracy is a socialism kind. It is socialism policies in capitalism system. West europe is capitalist countries with socialism policies, i mean until 90's. America New Deal was socialism policies in capitalist Country until Reagan to start neoliberalism regime.
An Englishman who lived in Illinois for twenty years said that in the US You have to work until you drop. and you have no rights as a worker
While the UK is far from perfect we have a minimum of 2 weeks paid holiday a year, Easter ,Christmas and bank holidays also paid, health care free at the point of use for everyone rich or poor and we don’t have to worry that our children are going to annihilated at school.
Man mass shootings happen all over the world it's not just America, criminals will always find a weapon
In Canada even McDonald’s workers get at least 2 weeks of paid vacation time for under 5 years of service and 3 weeks over 5 years. 16 months of paid maternity leave and parents with children under 18 get a monthly child benefit.
We also get paid maternity leave and child benefit plus sick pay with the time taken off not coming out of our annual holiday days, like you we work to live not live to work.
You stay on your guard. The neoliberals are trying their best to sell your healthcare system to US conglomerates. Don't you dare let them.
Something about working hard, and not being able to purchase your own home, but instead help to make someone else rich doesn't sit right with me
You got to have wage slaves in order for corporations to remain powerful
The USA is a Capitalist Oligarchy. We aren't workers, so much as we are wage-slaves.
The vast majority of people in the Capitalist system, are enslaved to working till they are discarded as broken shells of people.
Can the average person get health insurance without a job? Not really, it's so bloody expensive because of our "competitive" market. The laws around how insurance is sold, causes the price to go up considerably.
Think about how much money is being wasted on advertising, and that advertising money is pulled from the wages of regular people.
The GOP screams about socialism but they love their socialized wages and free health care and perks just fine...
socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor.
The USA is the perfect example of why unrestricted capitalism does not work. The best compromise is a socialist capitalist democracy. A government must place its people over corporate profits but allow companies to bargain with their workers for wages and benefits. The biggest problem with the USA is its lack of a properly funded and designed public health system. Everyone needs access to health care. The second biggest problem with the USA is its lack of a proper social security system, Australians who are unemployed receive just enough money to live and training to improve their job prospects. There is no point just giving unemployed people money without helping them to get the training needed for the constantly changing job market. In the USA, profits are more important than human lives, but money is just a figment of the human imagination and doesn't actually exist, but people are real and do exist. Just a little fact that Americans struggle with is that the average middle-class Australian earns around 6 times what the average middle-class American earns plus Australians get public health care and subsidised private health insurance. Having the world's largest economy doesn't mean much if the majority of the population doesn't benefit from it.
Well said! Thank you.
couldn't have said it better myself
Great nations don't have to tout that they're great... actions speak louder than words.
Some more fun statistics. The US is 46th in life expectancy and 52nd in both infant and maternal mortality. All three are also in a downward trend.
Yup, and imagine the impact of abolishing abortion of those already awful health outcomes
I make over 25 per hour and I can't afford to buy a house. How tf is someone on min wage gonna buy a house? Shits wild
That's the point. Republicans don't want poor people to be able to buy a house. They complain about poor people dependent on the government, but want them dependent on corporations.
Poor people won't work for slave wages if they have government benefits.
i made $10.50/hr as a cashier. $900/semester as an intern. Federal work study pays $12-$16/hr, 20 hours a week, no benefits.
*AS A EUROPEAN* growing up in the 1970's - we genuinely admired America, we wanted our countries to succeed like America - but then you started, collectively, to *WORSHIP MONEY*
When Reagan arrived you switched from worshiping opportunity and freedom to worshiping GREED and MONEY. Every decision became about money and we watched you make one dumb decision after another, when we mentioned it you mocked us, pointed to your V8 Truck and your GDP. But it was OBVIOUS where this was leading - *WORKER MISERY*
Worker protection. That’s funny. Since Greg Abbott just took away, water breaks for people working outside in 100+ degree heat. He actually decided that there had to be a law passed about this not about improving infrastructure or energy, but taking away water breaks.
That is messed up.
Finally! Someone else said that the "American dream" is dead! I've been saying that for the last 30 years! And I just turned 50.
This from someone who worked extensively overseas: We are running a 19th century economy which is meant to keep the rich rich and the rest to support the system. Hence we are the only advanced industrial country without universal healthcare, no guaranteed sick leave, on and on it goes. Note, the countries at the top of the list are frequently former communist countries.
I'll make a guess before I watch any further: Where we rank Dead Last is workplace safety, isn't it?
If not that, it has to be job satisfaction.
It's horrible when you call your job to say you can't walk cause you have a pinched nerve in your back and they say, I will get you an uber so you can get to work. I'm on my feet the whole day, how does getting me an uber make my back pain go away.
Whenever I hear about the opiod problems in the US I also think of the treatment of workers, homelessness. and the lack of public housing and other supports for those on poverty incomes.
Which makes me remember hearing about the Republican candidates, for about 40 years now, promising NEVER to support tax increqses.
It all ties together.
Republicans hate welfare for the poor for two reasons
1. They morally oppose policies which pull people out of poverty and create a middle class
2. Poor people won't work for slave wages if they have government benefits
2nd point: if robust welfare programs existed, NOONE would work crappy minimum wage jobs or accept below cost of living wages and non existent benefits.
Just joined a union for this very reason. I hope the workers start rising up en masse to push back because these corporate officers are out of control.
the super sad part THE ABSOLUTE SADDEST PART of this is that you will still get people down below and elsewhere defending this system with their lives and denying that there's anything wrong with it.
Nobody says the United States is perfect, but it's the best.
@@bartdoo5757 At what sucking? Yey were the largest SUB 3rd world nation on earth!
This is what happens when we live in an oligarchy that disregards the will of the people.
don't call them socialist. Ana is right, mixed economy.
Corporations be like
Socialism for me
Capitalism for thee
And corporations can vote now
Socialism isn't Communism.
@@therealjammit well look who passed the 8th grade 😂
*And yet we have millions of poor people that defend billionaires everyday.*
because poor people are deluded into believing they will be rich one day.
Also, both Norway and Sweden, per capita, create more NEW millionaires than the United States. So that argument that Scandinavian social policies stifles entrepreneurs isn't quite accurate.
Unfettered capitalism will always exploit. Duh
Capitalism always leads to this, just slower if ypu regulate it. You'll have to overcome it altogether, if you want real change.
So how many decades of voting will it take to change this? At this point does awareness even matter? Thanks TYT. Appreciate your work.
Lots of people think there's no point in voting. They feel their vote doesn't count
No amount of voting will change anything: it has to do with values: politicans do not find poverty unacceptable like they do rape.
@@scifirealism5943 I agree though I’m not sure rape is much more significant to them nowadays. Our last president described a sexual assault on tv without consequence. Totalitarianism and mass psychosis’s. Be well.
@@adampeterson8820 I'm saying what this debate over workers is about what deprivation and hardship politicans deem unacceptable.
Politicians, but especially Republicans, do NOT want to end poverty.
1. Because they morally oppose policies which pull people out of poverty and create a middle class
2. Because poor people won't work for slave wages if they have government benefits.
A guaranteed minimum income would abolish poverty BUT give workers too much bargaining power.
@@scifirealism5943 Again I understand and agree. Poverty must exist as well as the service programs which serve the poor so they can be pilfered. Poverty is profitable. I don’t believe personally they deem anything unacceptable as long as its profitable. Im 100% for UBI. Im a member of a strong labor union myself and fully understand the protections and advantages it provides.
I work for a company that does more for their employees than most and it could still be better
What your boss tells you that you are all one big family at the pizza parties?
@@herbtapp3031 lmao! No but my last job the boss always said we family and I always thought, no we aren't. The place now is Forbes top place to work so they do take care of us better than most places but not that we family crap
One problem that isn't talked about is the number of workers that go thru temp agencies, and the number of temp agencies in the US. These temp agencies don't provide any real benefits, and the vast majority of temp jobs pay less.
I'll talk about that and poverty in general.
Corporations use temp work, part-time work, and HB-1 Visas to pay people less and less and themselves more and more.
You left out the most important list life expectancy. USA ranked number 55. 76.3 years Japan 84.5 years.
and the worst part. US male life expectancy s reducing, and has been for 20 years
Didn't mention USA lack of: paid Public holidays, maternity & paternity leave, paid vacation & sick days.
Horrible. I feel for the U.S. workers.
When i was a cashier at a supermarket, I made $10/hr. I received no health insurance, PTO, or paid vacation by being kept part-time. I also couldn't pay for college.
The US *is* the best -- at marketing itself as the best.
Robin Williams had a perfect line in the man of the year the movie that he was in her he stated we should make our politicians dress up like NASCAR drivers and come out in suits with all the their sponsors so we at least know who we voting for
Never saw that movie, but that is one of his staple standups off weapons of mass deception i believe.
As an American who moved to Netherlands and will never return I can attest to there is a much better way to run a society...
If I win the lotto I'm moving away
lol I have dreams where I live in a world/country where life was good and could enjoy it then I wake up like cusack from 1408 "I was out, I was out, I was out!!!!"
Yep! 100 percent!
American workers are GETTING SCREWED,
SO VOTE 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊
BLUE 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
Broken in now
In Australia we have several places moving to a 4 day work week for the same pay it’s been very interesting
Yeap I wish they would do that here in NZ as well as studies have shown (even those conducted in america) that keeping the wages the same & removing 1 day of work resulted in more work being done in a week even with 8 to 10 hours less work hours done in that week. When studies show that office workers on average only do 2.6 hours of work per day during their 8 hours & production workers only do 6.3 hours during their 10 hours if workers "Worked" for their full allotted work hours a 3 day working week would still result in all the required work getting done.
@@TheFalconerNZ yes look at Europe one of those country’s moved there school week to something like 2 half days and they changed the hole system and there rates of literacy went though the roof it was like higher university entry and it was so great, if they can do that in the schools what can they really do with workers! And if the shop is open 7 days a week they will have more full time jobs, better for everyone it doesn’t make sense not to brining it in.
Do you have Bunnings? Over there as over hear they have said they are rolling 4 day weeks out Australia wide! So keep a day out on them if you have it they might be the job to have… but the ACT are now making it law for a 4 day week as they did there tests of it and now moving to full implementation and several other states are now looking at getting it.
we are back to the days of the robber barons. history repeats itself when forgotten.
The American dream is to keep dreaming while the world passes by you.
The Citizens elect them, the Corporations own them.
The Corporations elect them, the Corporations own them.
The baby boomers were raised in this golden era. Yet these are the same citizens who are now against the same policies that allowed them to live a good middle class living.
This should be headline news on every major News Network in the New York times and other major news outlets so that the voters can see just how much better is possible.
Spot on, corporations are not equal to people and shouldn't be aloud to donate money at all. They have gained even more rights than individuals, which is insane. Corporations can be owned by anybody like Puten + friends. A corporations number one goal is to make money at any cost. That goal is not the American way, it's to be fair and honest in your pursuit of wealth. We outlawed robber barons more then a 100yrs ago, but their back. Corporations are not supposed to be in charge. The founders never conceive this. It was "We the People. Not "We the Corporations".
If you talk to people in other countries they will tell you they're not stupid enough to give up what they have and move here. The US is in a major decline. We should all be in the streets trying to take our country back.
There are just too many uneducated people in America who vote against their best interest.
meanwhile french citizens riot in the streets for five days straight over ONE COP murdering an innocent kid.
if we did that we would NEVER DO ANYTHING ELSE.
go france!
It also treats the people with disabilities badly because the US want to pay subminimum wages. Economic Opportunity and upward mobility is a myth for most people.
There's only so long you can spend on a plantation, before you realise you're working on a plantation.
Some American needs to realize that when people talk shit about America it’s not because the hate America but it’s because they want to improve it and also because they care.
Corporate greed is rampant here and out of control
In Scandinavian countries, everyone belongs to a union, and pays into it, so when they lose a job, the union pays unemployment until you find another job. That doesn't come from the government.
Janteloven is real and, apparently, effective. Who knew "You're not as special as you think you are" was healthier for a community than "No one matters more than you" could ever be.
@@Ahzpayne When I was growing up, after WW 2, men who worked in factories, and similar jobs, with no college, earned enough for a family. They had a house and one car, and food on the table. They weren't unhappy. Presumably the higher-ups made enough more to make them happy. Now, nothing is enough for them, and let the workers have 2 or 3 jobs to make a living.
You'd think being #1 in militarization that it would at least lead to beneficial economic outcomes for the people. What other arguments are there for the United States to force their "free market" policies on other governments in the guise of aid? Out of 38 developed countries, the United States is #36 in wage policies, #38 in worker protections, and #32 in rights to organization. Although this study came out before the corrupt Supreme Court decreased more union rights. A country isn't thriving when the majority of the population is left behind, let alone a global population. I hate that so many working people vote in the very people who pave the way to our exploitation. Voting for economic policies that benefit us all makes some sense to me. Voting solely on cultural policies when you are working class makes absolutely no sense.
Hey say what you will but we are number one in guns and prisons, oh and mass shootings and obesity, oh and stupidity...now im depressed.
4 Day work week
Everyone in the USA is so atomized. We need solidarity back, we need to not just care about ourselves, our families, our region, our clique of people, but as workers, lifting each other up. Until that happens, they (the rich) have us.
Forget windfall taxes we need a return of the old top Marginal tax of 90% on annual income above $30 million or so but it had NOTHING to do with tax revenue from the 1% as they were *_supposed_* to avoid paying it. The point was to force the 1% to keep money in the actual economy and in this country rather than hoarding it away hurting everyone else by literally slowing the economy they trapped so much wealth.
Corporate tax has always topped out no higher than 50% or so but the CEO, owner or shareholder that decides to wring out every dime and cash out that profit for themselves never used to not when it cost them 90% of that haul in individual tax. So they'd leave most of it in and grow their profit by growing the entire business and enrich everyone along the way just as the top marginal rate was intended to cause.
This meant no 1000 to 1 ratio of CEO pay vs their average employees. This mean an equal share of productivity gains without any profit motive to gouge prices but in fact an incentive to keep prices low while wages were very high. So no forty years slide in buying power of stagnant wages. Wages were so high a Boomer could buy a new car, a house and start a family on one "entry level" janitor job. So high that Boomers could actually afford to pay their own four year college bills on a measly *6 hours a week of a **_minumum wage_** job.*
Part of that stemmed from the fact that the 1% with no company to reinvest in or who cashed out way too much for it not to hurt society would need to do ate around half of what was over the limit to get the write off. But they had to give it to a real nonprofit library, college or hospital. That semi voluntary donation combined with the fact the top rate made greed 90% less profitable made education and healthcare far more affordable than today. That's what was different. It ALL comes back to the effect of that top Marginal rate with few tightly regulated loopholes.
Too bad the 1% spent the 1970s adding loopholes that let them give that money to BS and for profit colleges like Liberty U or think tanks they set up solely to sell the absurdity of Supply Side economics via the "Chicago" theory of economics setting up Trickldown. A few unfortunately timed oil crises that "only coincidentally" helped the oil men dominating the GOP made people scared enough to buy Reagan's magic beans.
Overnight it became ten times as profitable to break a union, gouge prices or to ship your job off overseas. Fun facts but Citizens United would hardly even matter if suddenly there were up to 90% less money available to taint politics or bribe the SCOTUS with.
You want to know how to fix a hundred separate problems all going the wrong way these last forty years just focus on getting that top Marginal tax back in place and this time make sure we don't let the 1% sabotage it again. Every other one of those issues go from nearly impossible climbs to us all pushing downhill with the wind at our backs. Which is exactly why you will never hear the MSM mention one word of it.
You're absolutely right, and the best part is no right winger will argue with you because they don't have the patience to read something like this, let alone the intellect to understand it.
WOW! That was an excellent essay on the state of the economy in the last 70 years! Maybe you should send this to RFK Jr. and he can use it in his campaign speeches! He might have a landslide victory! That was beautifully put together. Something we would NEVER hear on mainstream media! Well done! 👌
@@TJWinter1221 I'm still waiting to hear you prove him wrong. Either present an argument, or you can just continue opening your mouth and proving just how stupid you are to everyone here.
Commenting for the algorithm. I'm still waiting for my fellow Americans to wake up and realize just how badly we are all getting shafted.
If you don't like you can move there nothing to change in this country everything is great you Just spoiled leftist Who want everything for free.
@@OGCHUCK1Ooo, how original… you coming in with the “you can just leave” and the rest of your tired ole rhetoric. Good lord, ya might wanna think about changing your diet. The propaganda you’re gobbling up is causing brain damage (obviously). 🤦🏽♀️
@@Asha-TheBarefootMuse as someone with brain damage I'm offended you think I'm ^ that dumb XD
everytime I see people say dumb stuff like that, I just think "hey buddy S&M is for the bedroom not politics."
*YESTERDAY I WAS READING ABOUT THE END OF SLAVERY IN THE USA* - this amazed me...
Towards the end, some southern states increased the regulations on the treatment of slaves. Slave owners very quickly started moving to wage-based employees - especially for dangerous jobs. Cos if you injured a slave you had to take care of him and his family, but if a wage worker got injured you just got another one. And the slave was YOUR property, so why not damage the hired property and hand it back broken instead of risking your OWN property.
So you ended up for a short period of time with some states where the chattel slaves did the easy safe work and the “free men” did the hard dangerous work…
This woke me up to the attitude of employers SO much.
And of course you’re gonna have Americans out there, saying what were the freest country in the world. But we’re not. and these countries are also free.
THIS is why fascism creeps forward here. Because cash is speech and corporations are people.
What is fascism in simple terms?
What does fascism mean? Many experts agree that fascism is a mass political movement that emphasizes extreme nationalism, militarism, and the supremacy of both the nation and the single, powerful leader over the individual citizen.
@@undrwatropium3724 Yes AND complete corporate monopoly and control over all possible competition.
@@yetanotherjohn Uh... Actually Fascism is Government controlled Industry.
Well... that and everything evil.
@@undrwatropium3724 It's about economics. Communism is citizen ownership, Capitalism is individual, Fascism is state.
...and people her keep thinking we're the greatest country on earth 🙄🙄🙄
You 100% laid out America's root problems. We're being lied to by some in government and media, and far too many Americans have lost the will to seek the truth, even when it's not that hard to find. They believe whatever is most expedient to believe.
Thank you for saying "mixed economy" very true stmt
I have no problem with social security, i mean socialist.The government workers all seem to be in a union or gov.package .
I have worked non union 10 years and union 30 years .Organizing is how you get a better deal.THE CEOs have no trouble paying theirself $25 million a year but $ 15 an hr will just bankrupt the place ,not the $25 million for 1 person in a Dunder Mifflin Office.
What about automation? A lot of good paying roles no longer exist because companies moved to automated production
Corporations have owned our representatives for so long that our representatives don't even see us as citizens first. Most of the time when they refer to us, they call us workers instead of people or citizens. They see us the way their donors tell them to see us, because for the donors we are all just a necessary evil meant to work for them.
They even have us trained to see ourselves that way. When we talk about wages or any socioeconomic issue, we completely forget about our rights as citizens of this country or as humans. We all refer to ourselves as workers, hardly ever as people a community, society, or country.
and consumers... dont forget that when the labor isn't working, it's consuming. Capitalism is great, if you're the capitalist...
It's not that they don't care about their workers here. It's that they care about money waaaaay more.
Walmart literally put insurance claims on employees where the company would make money from the death of an employee. They called it “peasant insurance”.
No, they literally don't care. Why should they? Do you "care" about every little bolt & gasket in your car's engine? Does the farmer "care" about every cow in his pasture? Do people even stop to think enough to "care" about every single cell in their body that makes them... Well, them?
Of course not. At the end of the day we're just means to an end & there are billions of us, only a few thousand of "them" (the ones who own everything).
That's like thinking the king actually "cares" about all of his subjects deeply & personally. It's just not real. They don't care.
The US has not on top of anything for so many years that at 50 I can't remember when we were in the top 10 in anything
We are definitely top 10 in claiming we are the best.
The Wealthy wouldn't be able to get away with most of the crap they do if they didn't have so many eagerly willing "accomplices" among the poor.
rich people thrive off of poverty
Thanks!
Wish I had been born in Australia or the UK. Mercia is NOT the best or freest country in the world.
Australia is actually far superior to the UK especially England when it comes to safety and personal freedoms. The UK regularly attacks its own citizen’s rights and has been trying to murder its medical system to privatize it vs the island where they sent all their prisoners lol.
*edited to remove extra word
This ranking near the bottom is continuing to become a trend in a ton of metrics. I blame our hubris. We thought we were the top dog so to speak n therefore the way we do things are the best and we stopped listening and learning from our allies who have a much longer and storied history. Damn shame. The opportunity has been there to continue to ascend or at the least maintain a top spot but when you stop learning, you start losing. It’s been this way since the 80s when corporate America became our governments primary concern and not the American people
My grandparents' generation would be ashamed of our government right now...
A+ for breaking down the methodology instead of mindlessly throwing out statistics
Big surprise!!! NOT!!!!! I hate grocery shopping at Walmart. But, I can't afford the Publix price tag. Aldi's is nice, but don't sell what I eat. I now cook daily as I am on the carnivore diet. No more processed food so have to shop more frequently. But, my gripe is that because Walmart employees aren't paid well and overworked they are miserable and that resentment gets passed on to the customer, which means its unpleasant to shop there. A self fulfilling prophecy. Publix is a much more pleasant shopping experience because they are paid better and have plenty of checkers. If price tag wasnt 35 to 60% more per item bought, I would never go to Walmart. A crappy business model and it means more turnover and a less satisfying experience shopping. My state is doing everything to bust up unions. No union is worse than lousy union.
My family came to this country under the notion that if you work hard in this country, you will reach the American dream: a home, a car, and free time with your family.
always a false goal.
So, came here under a false bill of sale.
The lies of the American dream are spread by the oligarchs, whom we should conquer.
I'm betting that the Republican solution to ranking so low among OECD countries will be to withdraw from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Problem solved.🤦♀
Yep. Nice to see you again. Republicans hate workers gaining leverage over employers.
Also, Republicans hate welfare for 2 reasons
1. They morally oppose policies which pull people out of poverty and create a middle class
2. Poor people will not work for slave wages if they have government benefits.
Unions in the civilized world not North America are not based on adversity, but based on cooperation a partnership. In Europe unions have a seat on the boards of companies.
Pure Capitalism is indistinguishable from a dictatorship, persons with the most wealth make the rules to favour themselves.
Minimum wage was the minimum required to buy a house and raise a family. It was so every hard working person could have a piece of the American dream.
Enter the speculators.
*was
In Wisconsin, employers aren’t even required to give adults a break during the day, no lunch break, not even ten minutes. I had to work over eight hours without a break, while working at subway. I could use the restroom during my shift. Needless to say, I didn’t work there very long.
Federal labor law states all employees to get a ten minute break every two hours plus a minimum 20 minute break at the four and eight hour mark. Journal your experiences at the job and take them to the labor board via WAGE & HOUR
It also treats its veterans poorly
What's that got to do with wage earners?
Slavery never ended. Taylor swift tickets are 3000 dollar each There paying $13 an hour to clean up after. Cincinnati
When traveling out of the country you can tell the difference of workforce. Starter jobs are held by young adults. Whilst in the US seniors hold these positions to survive.
Not true
@@Dream-Catcher_69 entirely true
elderly baggers, elderly fast food workers, elderly store employees
@wattlyfe6060 I just got back to the States from Thailand. Bangkok, Japan, Canada, then Colorado. A vast difference in the workforce.
@d3tuned378 I don't know what fantasy world you live, but thats not the case here.
@vnnyavalos Okay what's your point?
For most of us here in America our insurance is tied to our jobs. That sucks.
You listed the top countries in the various categories. Australia was conspicuous by its absence, apart from making it to number 10 on minimum wages.
The cause of the problems is the same as it is in the US: corporate, read Murdoch media aided and abetted by the right leaning Facebook and Twitter algorithms and a bunch of bought politicians. (Australia was ruled by a right wing coalition for nearly 10 years, and they shat on all the progress we'd made.)
As an Australian, I am ashamed. We could and should do so much better.
Yup. The post-Whitlam Labor party was too scared to fix what the Lib/Nats did. Pikers, or bought into Thatcher/Reagan's swallowing of right-wing "independant" thinktanks "the private sector MUST be more efficient" and "strikes are to be resticted by law."
UK has the same problem, but closer to US level.
Sadness.
Simil
1930's to 1970's everybody gained but blacks were excluded in all of those benefits and give-aways.
yes. it's sad.
Now, now. We are number 1, or closer to it, if you count from the bottom up.
Fun fact, slaves were valued at average of 30k-50k which is interesting because it seems like now we've just become subscription based slaves where companies pay us those wages per year 🤔
Nonsense, equating employment to chattel slavery is absurd.
@@tschorsch if it wasn't for socialist ideology we'd still be whipped at our jobs along side our children while we worked 80h a week. It's not far off, we are slaves in the practical sense. Our labor is undervalued and gets us barely through the month so that we have no other choice but to work for the rest of our lives.
@ tschorsch: Right! The master is responsible for upkeep of chattel slaves, whereas excess wage slaves can be kicked to the street to die of starvation.
Balance is a beautiful thing. Work is ok, but to live to work is not. Work and barely make it is not. Work and have no healthcare is not. Work and have no life other than to think about work and have no time to enjoy ourselves is not. This is modern slavery.
Before Trickldown was brought in by Reagan we had a top tax rate of 90% that only hit billionaires making over something like $60 million a year. It was intended to prevent Billionaires from hoarding money out of circulation which literally creates contraction and recession. It would also remove up to 90% of the profit motive for a company owner, CEO or shareholders to extract every dime for themselves after screwing workers and gouging customers. Since they *had* to put a lot of it back in it made the most money for them by growing the business most successfully through much higher worker pay AND lower prices. So living wages for everyone with almost no inflation except when the Saudis drove up costs to the delite of GOP oil men. The super rich without companies to reinvest in could only avoid that 90% hit by donating to real nonprofit libraries, hospitals and colleges.
Bottom line is that top tax was designed solely to make the greedy 1% share the wealth and that's the only reason a young Boomer could pay their own way through a four year college on *six hours a week* at some minimum wage job or even buy a new car, a house and start a family on one single full time "entry level" job with good benefits and vacation time they could actually go on vacations on.
The difference is that top rate and the fact that even the Republicans up until Nixon saw the country as a nation of people with the role of the government to help the majority to prosper where today it's corporate rule with only the interests of the super rich supported by government policies or one entire party and the corporate tools in the other all scream "communism."
slavery is the point. Politicans have no desire to end poverty, because, without it, corporations couldn't control workers.
@@scifirealism5943 You got it. Corporate rule.
@@duppyduppy01 yep. A guaranteed minimum income for the poor would end poverty but would be opposed by politicians for reasons
Republicans hate welfare because
1. They oppose policies that pull people out of poverty and create a middle class.
2. Poor people won't work for slave wages if they have government benefits
I hope I’m alive to see the corporate zit finally pop.