barneypiccolo

How you doin'?

I'm with ya.

I deleted my comment after rereading it, and realizing that it could be easily, and rightfully, misconstrued. Thanks for this link, though.

When people say it's about Money, specifically, it is about Profit. They are making obscene profits, and they can't sacrifice one single penny of it; in fact, they have to have even more of it. They can't continue to exist without a constant stream of ever increasing profits, to hear them tell it.

The Federal Minimum Wage has been increased only twice since 1997 for a total of $2.10. It has been at $7.25 since 2009. When people demand an increase in the minimum wage, there are only two outcomes expected from it - higher prices, or lost jobs, and it is always presented as if those are the ONLY two options available. It never occurs to anyone to perhaps demand that corporations should MAKE LESS PROFIT.

That profit should go back to the workers who actually EARNED that profit through their sweat equity. The argument that they already earn enough doesn't wash when employed people are living in their cars as a housing choice. Push those sorts of lifestyle compromises long enough, and they become normalized. Someday soon, we'll have celebrities on TV talk shows going on about how they lived in their car for the first few years they were in town, and it was AWESOME!

Since Covid, Transnational Corporations and their Sociopathic Oligarch owners have reset the costs of living in America, raising prices on everything, without any adjustment on the compensation for labor side.

We've been screwed since Congress redrew the Tax Code in 1974, which baked Trickle Down Economics into the tax code. Ever since then, more and more money is transferred from the middle/working classes to the wealthy. They've been stealing from us for decades, and they just want to keep doing it.

The median salary of $43K in 1975 has increased to only $50K today, while they would have been making $92K if the tax code hadn't been steadily re-written to enrich the wealthy at the cost of the middle class and poor.

In that same time period, the mean income for the top 1% went from $289K to $1.384 million, while they would have been making $630K under the old tax codes.

Thats a 17.4% increase in the lower median, and an increase of 321.6% in the 1% median. Clearly there has been an upwards distribution of wealth at the expense of the middle class since the tax codes started to be re-written in 1974 to favor the top economic tier.

Read more about it :

New York Mag: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/2020/09/rand-study-how-high-is-inequality-us.html

Fast Money: https://www.fastcompany.com/90550015/we-were-shocked-rand-study-uncovers-massive-income-shift-to-the-top-1

Just having a job where you can say No to unreasonable demands makes life a lot easier. That's probably the best benefit of being self-employed - nobody forcing you to do stuff you hate.

I hear you. I was a fairly big poster on Reddit, with a 12 year old account, nearly a million Karma, and a lot of followers. Then I got permabanned during the post-inauguration bloodbath.

Lemmy's reach is growing. It feels very much like Reddit when I first started, and nobody knew what it was. Today, Reddit is on its way down, and will continue to slide as they kick out any MAGA opposition.

I'm still reaching a lot of people, and I believe Lemmy's influence will continue to increase, as Reddit's influence and reputation continue to plunge.

I'm not a Democrat, I'm an Unaffiliated Independent, which makes it almost impossible to win.

Besides, I have too many skeletons in my closet. I would get blown out in a dozen ways. I'm also too radical, I'd say something to end up disappeared to a Black Site.

Keyboard Warriors like me also serve a key role in spreading the message. The MAGA Nazis have the Conservative Propaganda Machine, so I can do my best to do my small part to fight them on the Left. That's my role.

My mid-20s son is energized for the first time. He's been voting all along, but he's been very unmotivated by his choices. This is the first time I've seen him excited to vote (for Zohran).

We are finally seeing progressives, especially YOUNG progressives reaching their breaking point. They are justifiably pissed off at the establishment Democrats who are complicit in the rise and dominance of MAGA, and they are determined to make a change. They fully believe that their futures depend on it, and they now understand that they will get absolutely no help from the Establishment Dems. They know it's up to them to sculpt their own future at the ballot box.

Give them candidates that they can believe in, like Zohran, and Young Progressives will come out big.

I can't believe nobody has said Coco. I dare anyone to get through the end without at least a tear or two.

I knew a guy who said "I've had kidney stones, and I've been shot, and the kidney stones hurt worse."