Luckily, I live in Europe. I got free healthcare, free education, have okay workers rights and not so much rising facism than you gals and guys overseas.
Well, i haven’t nearly payed as much taxes as I received stuff for free from the community. I am from a lower class family, low income, psychological illness, etc. I got free healthcare my whole life, including about two month hospital time in total, 52 session of behavioral psychotherapy, all the vaccines, all the checkups, some MRT-scans, a fair amount of medication (some with a small fee). Then, i got free primary and secondary education. Then, I got 5 years at university for about 3000€ (but i got a ticket with which i could take any public transportation, which is good here). Additionally, because I’m from a poor family, the community payed me for studying. I got around 700€ a month, 350 as a gift, 350 as a 0% loan. Yes 0%. And then I had kids. While I was studying. My partner was also studying and getting free money because poor parents, and because we had small kids we got an extra 800€ every months just because we were students with small children. And 200€ for each child. Have i mentioned that I got 200€ for just being a my parents children from 18 til i was done with university? A few months on unemployment also.
So until now I’ve only payed back a fraction of what the community gave me in taxes. Regarding that these taxes also pay police, roads, parts of the punlic transportation, cultural stuff, and all the other shit a good country does. Only a fraction. Soon, i will have to start paying back the 0% student loan. But now I’m earning loads of money (in fact, we earn loads of money), our children can live free of financial fear in a fairly sizeable house in a nice neighbourhood woth lots of diverse and friendly people. When they want to go to university, they’re parents aren’t poor though, so we’ll have to support them (we’re even legally obliged, which is a good thing)
Probably i will pay back all the community did for me since I have to pay a fair amount of taxes. But what they leave me is enough for a luxorious lifestyle or a buying a house. Maybe even both.
We do have our problems here and there. But compared to the dystopia you have going on, I’m really really happy to not have to fuck with that.
The American Dream ™ is the biggest scam in the history of America. It’s the land of opportunity for some. Ever since the change in corporate greed in the late 70s and early 80s (especially fucking Reaganomics), the wealth has been accumulating more and more among fewer and fewer and workers are being treated as resources instead of people. Pensions used to be much more common. Now the US (or at least one party and mich of another) has effectively convinced a large portion of the populace that literally trying to protect workers is evil. The lions share of profit used to go to actual workers with investors taking a cut off the top. Now the investors take most and barely pay workers. A vast majority of Americans are part of a system where they don’t get to keep what they rightfully earned with their work. Instead poor people give a larger and larger portion of their work value to investors. It’s fundamentally unsustainable and people keep believing they might be one of the people who have a chance to make it big (even though they’re more likely to win the lottery than to make it on their own).
I think the dream is still achievable, but I agree with your points. Pensions are good/bad. They’re good because they were meant for retirement but bad because so many companies dumped them for the 401k. The 401K was meant to supplement are retirement, not be the retirement. I do think companies should be forced to match a 401K. That way, people would have something more akin to a pension plan.
Profits have always gone to the investors. That is nothing new. I would say the largest issue is companies are more heavily leveraged than they use to be. They’re carrying a lot of debt where even when they have a good year, they’re still one step from bankruptcy.
deleted by creator
Luckily, I live in Europe. I got free healthcare, free education, have okay workers rights and not so much rising facism than you gals and guys overseas.
deleted by creator
What logic?
deleted by creator
Well, i haven’t nearly payed as much taxes as I received stuff for free from the community. I am from a lower class family, low income, psychological illness, etc. I got free healthcare my whole life, including about two month hospital time in total, 52 session of behavioral psychotherapy, all the vaccines, all the checkups, some MRT-scans, a fair amount of medication (some with a small fee). Then, i got free primary and secondary education. Then, I got 5 years at university for about 3000€ (but i got a ticket with which i could take any public transportation, which is good here). Additionally, because I’m from a poor family, the community payed me for studying. I got around 700€ a month, 350 as a gift, 350 as a 0% loan. Yes 0%. And then I had kids. While I was studying. My partner was also studying and getting free money because poor parents, and because we had small kids we got an extra 800€ every months just because we were students with small children. And 200€ for each child. Have i mentioned that I got 200€ for just being a my parents children from 18 til i was done with university? A few months on unemployment also.
So until now I’ve only payed back a fraction of what the community gave me in taxes. Regarding that these taxes also pay police, roads, parts of the punlic transportation, cultural stuff, and all the other shit a good country does. Only a fraction. Soon, i will have to start paying back the 0% student loan. But now I’m earning loads of money (in fact, we earn loads of money), our children can live free of financial fear in a fairly sizeable house in a nice neighbourhood woth lots of diverse and friendly people. When they want to go to university, they’re parents aren’t poor though, so we’ll have to support them (we’re even legally obliged, which is a good thing)
Probably i will pay back all the community did for me since I have to pay a fair amount of taxes. But what they leave me is enough for a luxorious lifestyle or a buying a house. Maybe even both.
We do have our problems here and there. But compared to the dystopia you have going on, I’m really really happy to not have to fuck with that.
Don’t believe the internet whiners. We are not a dystopia by any stretch of the imagination.
We can do better but overall it’s a great place to live.
Personally I want a single payer system here. I think insurance through your employer is just a stupid idea.
Your former president is Donald Trump. That is objectivly already a dystopia.
And don’t get me started on all the other shit.
deleted by creator
The American Dream ™ is the biggest scam in the history of America. It’s the land of opportunity for some. Ever since the change in corporate greed in the late 70s and early 80s (especially fucking Reaganomics), the wealth has been accumulating more and more among fewer and fewer and workers are being treated as resources instead of people. Pensions used to be much more common. Now the US (or at least one party and mich of another) has effectively convinced a large portion of the populace that literally trying to protect workers is evil. The lions share of profit used to go to actual workers with investors taking a cut off the top. Now the investors take most and barely pay workers. A vast majority of Americans are part of a system where they don’t get to keep what they rightfully earned with their work. Instead poor people give a larger and larger portion of their work value to investors. It’s fundamentally unsustainable and people keep believing they might be one of the people who have a chance to make it big (even though they’re more likely to win the lottery than to make it on their own).
I think the dream is still achievable, but I agree with your points. Pensions are good/bad. They’re good because they were meant for retirement but bad because so many companies dumped them for the 401k. The 401K was meant to supplement are retirement, not be the retirement. I do think companies should be forced to match a 401K. That way, people would have something more akin to a pension plan. Profits have always gone to the investors. That is nothing new. I would say the largest issue is companies are more heavily leveraged than they use to be. They’re carrying a lot of debt where even when they have a good year, they’re still one step from bankruptcy.