My dad learned his trade in the Air Force, which he joined straight out of high school, just after WWII. He worked a union job and supported mom and four kids in relative comfort. We weren’t rich, but we never suffered. We had full health coverage, including dental. We all went to the dentist twice a year, my mom was adamant about that. And, my dad retired with a pension and healthcare, having paid off the house many years before, which had greatly increased in value over the 50 years he owned it. Looking back, of course, we were rich, compared to how things are today.
It takes a whole lot of poor people to make one filthy rich person. And, yes, they’re stealing from us. Billionaires especially are just leeches on society. They add nothing of value.
Agreed. I do believe that if a billionaire were drowning in a river, it would be morally incorrect for a person to intervene.
Even if they’re a lottery winner?
I’m willing to discuss various circumstances while they’re out there haha
Sure, why not? Unless they’re actively unbecoming a billionaire by giving a lot of that away what should make them so special?
In one sense this is very true- the wealth of the American worker has been stolen over time by capitalists.
But the truth is that one person supporting a family of five has never been sustainable. It was only possible in an era when the American lifestyle was heavily subsidized by the rest of the world through post-WWII economic domination.
As worker productivity continues to rise, we can hope for a future where 1 person’s work can support 5. But, at least for the near future, the math simply doesn’t work out.
Worker productivity has increased by a factor of several thousand since before the industrial revolution.
If the fruits of that productivity were spread equally, we could live in a society where no one is forced to work at all.
Because for the small workforce needed, there are enough people who would work voluntarily for bonus wealth above the universal basic income, for recognition or as a hobby.
Imagine a world where everyone can live a comfortable middle-class life without a job, and to become wealthy you’d have to volunteer as a plumber, elderly care worker or roofer.
Currently, the majority of jobs doesn’t even add any real world value, and people whose entire life is consumed by their job can’t even afford to go to the doctor, own their home or buy healthy fresh food.
Homer Simpson used to be normal, not an unrealistic economic fantasy.
Where meme?
It isn’t a meme; it was a block of text.
But was it sustainable?
Literally conservative bullshit. You want to Make America Great Again?
So uh…when was this normal? And where?
Oh, just after WW2? When there were too many women folk in regular employment and folks needed a way to get them back in the homemaking more babies to fight future wars? Babies that could put in their “time” with the military for a promise of a middle class life? What’s a few years of doing the dirty work of the empire if it gets your that middle class dream?
Or did many women just go back into the informal labour market so they could do domestic labour for their own homes or others? Idk where you grew up I always saw women working - childcare, cleaning ladies, etc.
Where did this prosperity come from? Oh, from producing things other countries couldn’t? And once other countries could it kind of all broke down? Hey, those people who make your cheap goods want a better quality of life too…
Capitalism is evil, no doubt - but the post war boom american dream is propaganda, comrades. It makes the individual an accomplice to capitalism, for a few more crumbs than those who don’t fall in line.
People watched too many movies where everyone had a house and family. This is all upper class POV. This hasn’t changed. You can still do that, if your dad gets you a high position in his company.
