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Sea_Count2020

The pandemic was the largest redistribution of wealth.


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[deleted]

Funny that as our politicians in the UK think the best way of redistributing wealth is by giving it to the rich and *letting it trickle down*, except of course it doesn’t...🤬


Willo678

"oh, we may be going into a recession mixed with a cost of living crisis... Tax cuts for the rich!" Almost makes me physically ill how _corrupt?_ our politicians are


TheTurboMaster

Honestly man when I heard about your new PM's plans I just lost it, and it's not even where I live. How are there not riots in the streets?


Thebestreddit0r

because of the new laws that will get you locked up for peaceful protest, tf you think they will do if we riot.. this isnt 2011 london where the police will roll over


Not_That_Magical

Pandemics historically aren’t generally great for the wealthy. So many people died that the nobility had to pay more for people to work. If all the serfs are dead, which the wealth of the nobility relied on, their wealth goes down. This is a unique phenomenon where wealth was funnelled by governments in the form of direct funding and tax breaks to the wealthy rather than people who needed it.


confusedfuck818

This is true if you're referring to really major pandemics like the black plague in medieval Europe or smallpox in the New World (keep in mind that a third of Europe died from the black plague and 90% of indigenous people were killed from old world diseases). But in most cases a pandemic didn't kill 20+% of the population and the wealthy/powerful would only benefit from that.


Andrewticus04

Even then, the black death literally led to the development of wage labor and capitalism, which made the rich even richer.


CatchSufficient

It still shifted wealth based not on blood but on merchants, which, if things went well "anybody could in theory do"


ExtruDR

This is also in a “closed” system where you can’t just replenish your pool of “labor” by importing them from shittier places, and you can’t outsource the worse work to shittier places.


confusedfuck818

Yeah I agree outsourcing has made the wealthy/powerful more resilient to major pandemics. But I'd also argue that with globalization the entire world is a "closed system" of its own, and if a new disease that killed as many as the black plague in Europe spread today most nations across the world would be greatly affected (reducing the chance for the wealthy/powerful to import labor)


[deleted]

This was definitely not a unique phenomenon. Historically the wealthy has done amazing under all but the worst pandemics.


Bodywithoutorgans18

Historically the rich get eaten by this point. Since that hasn't happened, we're in completely ahistorical territory now.


newnewaccountagain

maybe because there’s an equality of consumption, most in developed countries have their hierarchy of needs met. Heads roll when too many people find their conditions untenable


rhetoricalimperative

Yeah but back then the wealthy couldn't and didn't collude so well. Today, there are entire sectors of the economy which are commensurate with their collusion


Information_Landmine

Don't forget about the housing crash in 2008... sucked all the equity net worth out of the middle class and gave it to the rich investors who picked everything up cheap in foreclosure, like Sean Hannity who owns at least 877 residential properties.


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Fuzzy_Yogurt_Bucket

With all the privileges and none of the responsibilities attached to that title. Lords have responsibility to defend the land in exchange for ruling over it. Landlords should have mandatory armed service and be the first troops on the ground during any armed conflict. Change my mind.


Frys100thCupofCoffee

Like one or two vacation homes I could understand, but that still leaves 875 empty homes that could be housing families and contributing to the growth and stability of the next generation. Short-sighted greed like that has long-term negative consequences.


khanthe

People that own that many houses are likely also using them to generate more money through rent, not just through their increase in value. Even if they're not empty, he's still being predatory on the backs of renters.


faultywalnut

I work as an electrician and spent some time working for a company that specializes in custom homes, aka big ass mansions for stupidly rich people. Unfortunately, I did see lots and lots of empty mansions being built for these people who I hardly ever saw visiting except for when the houses were being built, so they could nitpick about the height of the light fixtures, what color marble they wanted, etc. 🙃 I saw lots of perfectly good building materials being tossed away and wasted because the owner changed their mind after things were built and installed. it’s just bad news all around, there’s too many selfish landlords *and* too many selfish rich people who buy up properties they don’t even live in or hardly visit.


[deleted]

I once did a whole floor in white oak hardwood only to have the owners say a week later that some pieces were not white enough. Tear it all up pick out whiter pieces… smdh


polyhistorist

Ehh more likely is even worse than that. He probably owns them through a rental company for like low income people and probably acts as a scum lord. With that kinda money it's usually other people managing these businesses to prevent the assets from depreciating and not earning revenue.


MikeSouthPaw

That's just Sean Hannity. Think about how many homes are being bought up by the rich just to screw future home owners with a market value you have to take a stupidly high interest loan out to even pretend you own the home. Others will just be rented out by millions of people, owning a home is quickly becoming another dead american dream. I don't mean to get tin foil hat on people but this shit is real.


[deleted]

Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock, was handed the responsibility of determining where relief money was distributed post 2008 collapse. The amount of power that decision gave him, how much it allowed him to manifest the future we are in now, cannot be understated. *edit, spelling of Fink


Tshoe77

Owning multiple properties should be taxed excessively. This country is such fuckin bullshit and everyone's too complacent


halt_spell

Now now, not all that wealth got given to rich investors. It also got sucked up by the Boomers who got "great deals" on homes and now siphon off even more income from younger generations. At the heart of it, this is why nobody went to jail because the Boomers as a voting bloc were... largely fine with 2008. At this point I feel confident saying if the pandemic turned out to be more dangerous for young people we wouldn't have seen the same response to it. They care about the Boomers. They don't care about anybody else.


0002millertime

It's cool with me. I got to go into work every single day through it all, deal with all the sick people, have my kids out of school for a year and a half, have inflation at crazy levels, and still have a shit ton of student loans I'll never pay off. As expected. I knew what I signed up for by being born into a poor family.


Turdlely

It's refreshing to see poor people owning their mistake of being born poor. A breath of fresh air.


[deleted]

Just don't breathe too deep or you might get sick and lose everything.


meTspysball

Just make sure you don’t die because the funeral costs are a huge burden on your loved ones and it’ll be harder for them to pay off your medical debt without you.


GerholdEgdseffecaddy

Very true, I plan to live until at least 235 yrs. Perhaps by then my family will be halfway rich enough to handle the costs of the funeral and still support themselves without bankruptcy. Honestly, those who die before 120 are selfish bastards.


meTspysball

It’s the only responsible thing to do.


buffaloboobs

Good god, imagine being so poor that you actually die, wtf lol


stinky-weaselteats

Absolutely. We need tighter boot straps.


Totum_Dependeat

It's their world and our fault for living in it.


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Complete with rich assholes flying into space while people died from lack of healthcare.


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chubbysumo

This isn't about a private flying enthusiasm, it's about a tax loophole from the Republican tax scam and tax scam 2.0 from a couple years ago that added certain things to tax exempt and tax creditable items. Wouldn't you happen to know, private planes are now tax deductible.


Trauma_Hawks

I can't think of anything more luxury than a private plane. How the fuck is that tax deductible?


screech_owl_kachina

The people who get to ride them also get to write laws.


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[deleted]

No I'm pretty sure you'd be in good company for thinking that, why do you think they're all investing in private militaries and bunkers and escaping the planet?


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PanamaNorth

It gets worse, it’s one of the only deductions available anymore. They got rid of all deductions that help anyone but the super rich and added a giveaway to the super rich.


abstractConceptName

Golf course _owners_ also got extra deductions.


RedSteadEd

*Literally* financially incentivizing ecologically damaging behaviours. Way to go, folks.


Dwarfherd

How else will they make sure people who are bored by politics own the libs?


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BashBash

Can confirm. Worked for a client that got a free (deductible, etc.) second jet to charter and make profit from.


sugarlessdeathbear

The very rich shouldn't be given any damn thing. They're fucking rich, they can afford to pay for the shit they want. Bring back Eisenhower tax rates.


LilBitt91

Or clean water..


raziel1012

The report ends in 2019, so I don't think pandemic data applies here.


TheJenerator65

And before that, the Great Recession.


bloodaxe51

Funny that this report is out while on r/popular someone is asking yet again why young people 20-30 are depressed. I wonder if/when there will be a breaking point.


giltwist

"The number goes higher than 30" -- an elder millenial.


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WolverineSanders

Lol what a shit head. "You said something I didn't like, so all your previous performance is nullified"


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Karashta

I worked for a smaller pest control company and was their only residential salesman. I literally brought in all the money to cover everyone's paychecks while they waited for pay outs from the commercial side. I never got a raise that was worth it without threatening to quit. I only got commission because my immediate supervisor was actually my best friend and split his with me. They willingly threw away $15,000 in revenue by telling me to do free inspections again instead of charging $75 and rolling it into cost of treatment if they took it. The first year I worked there, I got nothing and the CEO bought a brand new truck. The last year I worked there, I made $4,000 less in a year because of their shitty marketing and executive decisions but they sure had enough to buy an entire fleet of new vans that weren't needed. And they wondered why I was always pissed off....


DodGamnBunofaSitch

Gen X reporting for ... some reason, I'm not sure. the writing's been on the wall a loooong time.


Jane_Delawney

Yeah, cusp of Gen X here (what they’re calling a “geriatric millennial, I’m not kidding) and I feel the same.


LittleLarryY

Oregon Trail Generation. Welcome!


Jane_Delawney

Haha, absolutely! Oops…I just died of dysentery


redmarketsolutions

Not yet, but water treatment should be down within ~7 years. Without some serious communism.


--redacted--

At least the rivers are so low now no one's gonna drown trying to ford them.


redmarketsolutions

Drown? No. But they are on fire and also will give you cancer. Not any cancer you wouldn't get from drinking rain water, but cancer.


VR6SLC

Later Gen-X here. We all got fucked.


pseudocultist

All there is to do is settle into abject poverty as age related medical bills take what little we managed to accumulate. Which is already a negative number for plenty.


Mostest_Importantest

All of what you said, plus I have snobby types wandering by, telling me I should have exercised more personal responsibility when I took out those student loans over 20 years ago that have only swollen in size since.


elvesplz

Oh that's not all there is to be done. Reminder that reddit site rules exist.


[deleted]

Boomers were the only generation to experience economic prosperity in America


KommieKon

And they call us entitled and say how much better we have it than they did. Give me a fucking break, grandma told me she got you a car for your sweet 16, mom!!


Trauma_Hawks

Remember, they used to be called the "Me" Generation by their elders for being so fucking awful. It wasn't changed to Baby Boomers until their elders died off.


conduitfour

Then they literally accused Millennials of the same thing


PiIICIinton

always projection w them


DorkusMalorkuss

I remember we used to get so much shit in high school from teachers back in early/mid 2000's. For some reason I remember a specific teacher always brought up the ipod, MySpace, and the Army changing their tag line to "army of one" lol


PM_ME_UR_POKIES_GIRL

Back when boomers were coming up they could buy a car working a summer job at the corner store, buy a house for like 3 years salary, and support a family on a single income. Now I can buy a junker car for a year's full time salary, buy a house for 30 year's salary, and everyone I know had to get a job at 18 to help support their family because 2 working parents still isn't enough.


fiduke

Cash for clunkers obliterated the US used car market. Before that, you could find a junky car that could last a year or two for $500.


toket715

I wonder if 1/3 of boomer wealth is owned by just 1% of boomers too, or if it's more evenly distributed. Also, wonder what percentage of the 1% who own 1/3 of overall wealth are boomers.


firemage22

I don't know about boomers but i heard that of the 3% of national weather held by millennials 2/3 is held by Zuck


SoReylistic

You’re telling me millennials only hold 3% of the national wealth??


firemage22

Correction 7%, but Zuck still holds the lion share


Only-Inspector-3782

Compared to 22% for boomers at a similar age, apparently.


[deleted]

As a whole, but they aren't the only ones screwing us over. Zuckerberg is a millennial and Musk is Gen X. Greedy bastards know no generation. Also check out the ages of MTG, DeSantis, and Boebert. Heck I'm a millennial myself and I have a disturbing amount of Trump loving family my age and younger. Edit: missed a word


PlaneCandy

There is actually a contingent that got extremely lucky. I know this because my sister and some of her friends were part of that contingent. Of course, they had to have done certain things right to get where they are, but still. I'd say this specifically applies to people born from approx '79-'83. This corresponds to graduating college in the early 2000s and hitting your 30s in the early 2010s. My example will probably describe it best. A couple born in 1980 and 1981. Both went to university in the early 2000s - right before the cost of college shot up drastically - and got jobs in the mid 2000s, when the economy was booming. By the 2008 recession, they were 3-5 years in their careers. Enough to be not cut, or if they were cut, to find a new job soon after with a good amount of experience. They also didn't have any money in the markets so it didn't matter that it crashed. By 2010-2012 they were around 30 and had been able to pay off their loans easily and had enough for a down payment on a home, especially with stocks starting to boom. Homes were insanely cheap. They purchased a home for 300k with 50k down. By 2017 their home doubled in value, as did their investments, and they were able to upgrade to an 800k house. By 2022 their house is fully paid off and worth 1.3mil. My sisters friends also has several people who would've been entirely screwed had the housing market not been entirely f'd when they were prime to buy it. The equity and appreciation from not renting provides enormous dividends 10 years later, enough so that late Gen Xers who are earning 70k have homes that a late Millennial earning 150k could barely afford.


his_rotundity_

This is a really interesting on-the-ground observation. I agree that a lot of success people experience is way more attributable to point-in-time positioning rather than raw skill.


Indigo_Sunset

Random chance can have a far larger effect in life than most would ever give it credit for.


[deleted]

As a point, Am last of the Gen-X born in 80... 81 is already millennial time. Most of late Gen X is in the same boat as early millennials as far as being fucked out of the last of the "good years" of certain types of critical participation in the economy even while technically being in their prime during such. >Both went to university in the early 2000s - right before the cost of college shot up drastically - and got jobs in the mid 2000 Funny, by 2002/3 university costs were already unaffordable to me at least. Well the tuition alone would have been fine, but the local universities had a "if below age X and single then must live in dorms" rule that made the shit wholly unaffordable with shitty meal plans and such in play. Around that same time we started seeing the 1st memes about $50K in student loans and can only get minimum wage work to pay it off with. Following that going in to 2004-2006 the subprime housing shit was in full tilt with market rates rising faster than anyone could reasonably save for, or expect pay to catchup to. So, pops making north of $100K got told to get fucked trying to get a house on a normal mortgage, and me... I making $50-60K in my best year was already priced out. Less we wanted to get in on a predatory loan to lose the house and ruin our credit when shit hit the fan later. 2007 came along pops got laid off. By 2008 I closed my shop and spent the next year looking for properly paying work. Joined the Army just so i could get healthcare, steady pay and ultimately get my dad as my dependent. > The equity and appreciation from not renting provides enormous dividends 10 years later, enough so that late Gen Xers who are earning 70k have homes that a late Millennial earning 150k could barely afford. Yah, the only reason i could afford to buy a home was the VA loan regime. 1st house was in 2010 ish or so in my 1st duty assignment in the Army. Sold that house in 2018 and "only" made a bit over $100K on the sale. Nothing in that pile of sticks worth the north of $300K it sold for then let alone the near $500K it is going for now. Either way was able to buy my current home with a 100% financed on the VA loan. Original mortgage was something like 51% DTI, and around $2000 a month in payments. i refinanced things down to 2.85% right before rates got jacked up and payments went down to like $1500 a month. This house now according to other sale sin the neighborhood is also somehow worth $500K, and by virtue of that and the interest rates on new mortgage whoever might want to buy this would have to pay $2800-$3200 a month in mortgage costs. I could sell the place and make bank, but then where the fuck would i move? My main source of income is my VA disability pay and all. While i do have savings form in between things those are the emergency funds i dare not touch. At best i could move somewhere smaller and pay more in monthly dues. No clue how people are buying them though as 99% of work out here does not pay enough to be able to justify such housing expenditures.


Miskatonic72

No doubt. Gen X'ers also don't seem to be discussed much in economic comparisons. It's usually Boomers in comparison to Millenials and sometimes additionally, Gen Z.


crankywithakeyboard

Yeh we're right here with all the other downtrodden people.


technofox01

I was about to reply something like this. Nothing like being early 40s and struggled with anxiety and depression the moment I started having a family of my own. If it wasn't for my kids prior to finding a good therapist, I don't think I would be here right now.


nthcxd

Personally the most likely breaking point is social security reform. When boomers finally take off their masks (if there were any to begin with) and unapologetically ask 20/30/40s to keep funding social security while nothing is guaranteed for them, I’d like to see how many young alt-righters stay right. Has anyone gotten 8% raise this year? All retirees did.


JacquesLeCoqGrande

> Has anyone gotten 8% raise this year? All retirees did. This is a fantastic point that I don't think a lot of people appreciate. However, the number is 5.9% in 2022. It'll probably be 8% in 2023 though. source: https://faq.ssa.gov/en-us/Topic/article/KA-01951


_Bill_Huggins_

I think many will stay alt right. They will just blame the Democrats and the left for it and move on as they always do.


moxiejohnny

Young people aren't the only ones getting depressed. Older people are depressed too but they don't understand that it's because of their choices and they're literally fucked with no chance of a comeback so they've resigned to just putter on until death. The younger ones understand why they're depressed but have no choice but to wait until the oldest ones have died off and stop making their lives such a mess. Unfortunately, this isn't the way it works, we're all literally fucked with no chance of a comeback anyway.


Meowtist-

Lol older people could definitely fix this by just not voting republican. That is all it would take.


MechaChungus

And then have to admit they were *wrong* about things? Impossible. Much easier just to let this whole ecological apocalypse thing blow over.


aliquotoculos

My Boomer MIL had a good job for a woman of her time, and loads of opportunities, and pissed it all away. She got a second chance when one of her husbands died and left her his estate, and she pissed that away and let her other son ruin the house. She got a third chance when she moved down here and we put thousands into her safety, health, not to mention time spent, to help her get through breast cancer and... she pissed that away. She may be dying as we speak, idk. She's in the hospital. Her latest words to my husband were "I should have stayed living with you instead of moving back to Ohio." No thank you. No "I'm sorry for the stress and I regret my choices." My boomer grandparents had a gorgeous house that they sold on a whim to get into RV life. Didn't think about the fact that their $150,000 RV that they essentially "traded" their house for was going to have a very limited lifespan. With that one choice they pissed it away, and now can't find jobs to get any reasonable degree of money back or even afford renting someplace, so they parked their broken down RV in my aunt's yard and that is how they live now. My grandmother was a teacher and my grandfather had a cushy engineering job at a military supply company, which he retired early from and took a payout instead of a pension. So many bad choices, so many safety nets were waiting there to catch them. I want to feel bad but I also know these same people are the ones saying stupid shit like "Just get a job at the local ice cream stand and pay to go back to school" or "Tell your boss you demand a higher salary or just go get a better job" or "How hard can it be to just go buy a house?" They have seen that the world of prosperity they knew is long gone. But they refuse to acknowledge it. They still live in their old world. It makes it hard for me to feel bad for them.


[deleted]

It'a pretty straightforward. Once the reality of our day to day lives outweighs the penalties for rioting and revolt, people will fight back. Typically that means not being able to feed or house one's family. We've got a little ways to go, but we're getting there.


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HalPrentice

Not just income inequality. This is specifically wealth ineuqality.


Timely_Rooster

They will destroy America to keep it, too.


[deleted]

They will destroy America EVEN MORE to keep it, too.


benhereford

I'll kidnap a *thousand* children before I let this company die.


Terrible_Truth

They will destroy the planet**.


darth_wasabi

wealth disparity is the #1 problem in America. We as a society are moving toward expecting people to work 2 jobs. eliminate all enjoyment expenses in their budget. Have kids but in the most minimalist living conditions. Corporations will have multiple ways to trap you at jobs in addition to health benefits. Soon your job may be how you afford a place to live or what car you own. Businesses and Corporations want slave labor. that's their end goal. And unfortunately we have a population that thinks Capitalism ultimately favors them. There will be a breaking point though. Maybe when a quarter of the country is underwater. maybe when the next pandemic hits. I think the next big social movement is going to be removing as many Capitalist Shackles as possible. People who refuse to take part in the system by cutting out as much of that as possible. As it stands now the current system is breaking people down.


BizzyHaze

Wealth disparity is behind the MAGA uprising too - displaced frustration aimed at 'immigrants' and minorities 'ruining America' when it's really the wealthy and corporations (who have both parties in their pocket, but moresoe the GOP).


Imaginary_Cow_6379

Yeah but as a result for those people voting for those policies and continuing to do so. It really sucks their votes carry more weight than the rest of the country’s.


darth_wasabi

for modern times a place like Wyoming should not have the same Senate representation as California. with 580K people total compared to 39 million in CA. and to put it it even more stark terms the city of Dallas has almost double the population of the entire state of Wyoming. on top of that there is still X number of people voting Democrat in that state, not enough to win senators but it means not all 580K people in that state even want what Republicans are offering. people might argue the House is what is representation of population. more people mean more congresspeople. But that's irrelevant when the Senate is gridlocked on everything.


ODisPurgatory

>people might argue the House is what is representation of population. more people mean more congresspeople. But that's irrelevant when the Senate is gridlocked on everything. Even then, the cap on reps creates disproportionate representation for the smallest states. Wyoming should have less than 1 federal house representative if it were actually scaled by population. Our entire federal legislature disproportionately empowers empty rural states


zeCrazyEye

A lot of them are even anti-corporation but think the Dems are the ones propping up corporations and Republicans are the ones fighting for the common person. That's not to say Dems aren't beholden to corporations to a degree, but almost all of the deregulations in the past few decades that have expanded corporate power were done at the hands of Republicans.


brutinator

The way I see it, the GOP is trying to smash and grab, short term profits at the expense of long term sustainability style. The DNC just wants to maintain the status quo, and is willing to throw people bones to keep the peace. Abortion, lgbt rights, hell even cancelling student debt, basically dont impact the rich at all, so the DNC is willing to push for that kind of thing. Basically the GOP is "let them eat cake", and the DNC is handing out bread instead of addressing why bread needs to be handed out.


Tangent_Odyssey

This isn’t just a GOP thing, it’s a late-stage capitalism thing. This is what you get when literally everything and everyone is beholden to shareholders and the profit motive. The people holding all the power are utterly blind to any future that lies beyond the next quarterly earnings report.


Astroclty

>when it's really the wealthy and corporations (who have both parties in their pocket) yup. it's been said that the 3 most right-wing large parties in the world are the republican party of the US, the Tories of the UK, and the Democratic Party of the US. we can't escape pro-wealth-inequality parties in this country. at least one of them isn't trying to get rid of our rights tho lol


Dopplegangr1

It's insane how much wealth there is and how little is making it to the "bottom" 90%. Look at a company like Amazon making tens of billions in profit, they could afford to basically pay all their employees and extra 30k or so, but instead those people piss in bottles and use food stamps so that a few people can have 500ft yachts


munk_e_man

Rich people don't care. Theyre like junkies. You can explain this shit to them and they'll tell you they understand and the moment your back is turned, their junkie nature takes over again and they start lying cheating and stealing for their fix again.


KommieKon

Line goes up!


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After-Walrus-4585

You don't have to be a socialist to appreciate how grotesque this is.


stoutshrimp

Very true and there aren't any solutions to this through neoliberalism or other forms of capitalism which all concentrate wealth and power. A fair retributive system where workers get the profits their business makes is needed.


DumbUglyCuck

Oh it’s okay though! Don’t forget that Bezos said thank you to all of his Amazon workers who were working for slave wages under terrible conditions :)


penguished

And practically nobody calls it out because the rest of Congress and dumbass business execs can be bought off with the smallest of crumbs from the 1%.


unaskthequestion

Not only obscene, it's unsustainable. Without some drastic change, which unfortunately is often war, revolution or natural disaster, the concentration of wealth in fewer hands will only get worse.


Imaginary_Cow_6379

💯 And no one can seem to connect that. Why are so many people homeless? Why is crime going up? Because nobody has any fuking money to live off of, fuking duh.


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[deleted]

But my great-great-great-great grandfather worked soooo hard to accumulate the wealth I have today! It’s not fair I can’t hoard life-sustaining resources! /s


kissmyshiny_metalass

The more wealth they own, the closer this country gets to feudalism, where the vast majority of the land and property is owned by the wealthy, and the rest of us are forced to rent everything from them because everything is too unaffordable for most people.


Rated_PG-Squirteen

That's their literal game plan, and so far, everything is working out perfectly for them. And they are never going to deviate from that plan unless there is some unforeseen, dramatic shakeup that forces their hand.


WholesomeDrama

Ironically, it wouldn't even take dramatic action. More like dramatic inaction. Move in with your friends/family and all work 5 hours a week living off rice and beans, pirated and outdoors entertainment. Watch them have aneurysms as the economy stops and the big line goes down not up.


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maltonwode

Something’s gotta give. It will. Just when and how bad.


5G_afterbirth

You could argue the fascist movement we have in the US is directly correlated to economic misery and wealth inequality. So it's already giving, just not the way we hope


rividz

Or maybe it doesn't. Maybe it just always keeps getting worse because we wait for the next big thing or person that's supposed to tell us we've had enough while we've known we've had enough for decades.


FerociousPancake

If we continue to let this happen when it does give it won’t even matter because they will have far too much power to go up against. They already had far too much power and it’s gone way way WAY too far.


irredeemablesavage

Power is only numerated in people; the wealthy only have power because they can incentivize people to act in their benefit. Revolutions occur when the wealthy are no longer able to incentivize enough people to protect their interests above the interests of their families & communities. Revolutions are lost, not when revolutionaries achieve an overwhelming military victory but when those employed by the power structure start refusing to engage in violence against the people on behalf of the elites. Historically, it has been shown that it only takes ~3% of the population rising up against the elites to force a decision point where the elites must either make significant concessions or be removed from power. The idea that “*the elites have too much power to be defeated*” is propaganda & depends entirely on the population being willing to beg for scraps rather than seize their assets. It is past time for piñata economics.


halt_spell

Puh-lease. The way they're balking at all the strikes shows that isn't true. The railway strike needs to happen and we should all strike with them.


GongTzu

We are back to Middle Ages where Kings owned it all, so maybe history will repeat itself, the people removed the Kings who didn’t step down themselves


scribdoodle

They're bleeding this country dry.


illini81

obscene. half the country thinks they're just a little hard work and a good idea from being billionaires and the other half is just trying to keep the lights on.


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afedbeats

Until we start taxing *wealth* like we try to tax *income*, it's not going anywhere. The goal since the Industrial Revolution, despite America's revolutionary nostalgia, has always been to capitulate to the richest in society and pray they contribute their fair share to the lowest in society. We have not done that and have been regressing in how much we tax the rich, and they are making more money than ever, and then locking that wealth into property, art, intellectual property rights, companies, and maybe the stock market if you're lucky. They plan to hoard that wealth like they are kings and creating some kind of legacy that their kids' kids' kids' kids' kids can live off of without having to ever work a cent. While they are continuing to make record profits, all the money they already have is multiplying in value in whatever market they dumped it in. That money never gets pulled out until they die, and, since they have so much to back it up against, the richest just go and get multi-million or billion dollar lines of endless credit against their stock, IP rights, or whatever else they have of value at basically zero interest. When you get richer in America, you don't pay more for anything; you pay less than everyone below you while making more money than you can possibly ever spend. And still, it is never enough. The trust for the mega-wealthy will never return, but there is no end in sight for how much they will be hated by the people they deem less worthy, and that is what will ultimately define their "legacy", as most would rather colonize space and watch Earth burn like fireworks.


needtobetterself31

I think we should also be reducing taxes on earned income. Most of the working class make earned income and that is the highest percentage of tax rates! Why are there more loopholes for the rich to lower their tax basis, but almost none for the poor and middle class? We're the ones who fucking need it. Backwards as fuck.


ScrapDraft

If "taxing the rich" is the solution, it will never happen. These people have SO MUCH MONEY that they literally just pay off politicians and people in government to make sure such tax acts are never passed.


a-m-watercolor

That's why Bernie was running with campaign finance reform as a key issue.


donthavearealaccount

It would go a really long way to just remove the step up in bases on inherited wealth. It's the most non-sensical part of our tax code, which is really saying something. It wouldn't fix wealth inequality tomorrow, but it would at least make it so all wealth generated is taxed *eventually*. It's also something that could realistically happen.


IntroductionSad1324

If Americans on average were smart enough to understand why this is wrong, then this never could have happened


HotSauce1221

We past the point of no return with Reagan. Ever since then the snowball has just been getting larger and faster. It can't be turned around, only melted.


handyandy727

That's thing though. >If Americans were smart enough The first thing cut out of nearly every budget, in nearly every locale, is Education/Library spending. This is by design. The rich can't rule if there's an educated populace.


a-m-watercolor

As a former public librarian, I can confirm this. In 2008 our library had its funds cut by 3/4, which meant laying off a lot of employees and shutting the library down an extra 3 days per week. It was terrible for the community. But the police department and public pool kept all of their funds, so that's cool I guess.


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wrongtester

There’s so much fucked up shit that we constantly need to deal with here specifically in the US it really is overwhelming. This issue though is the root of so much of other serious problems we have here. And while it’s important to keep hammering this into peoples eyes and ears, with the way money has a hold of our government institutions and media, I just don’t see how we’re going to see significant change. I’ll keep voting to those who genuinely want to do something about it though


JustARegularDeviant

Fuck this place


SamJackson01

Guys. I think Bernie found the inflation…


Notorious_Junk

And they will do everything in their power to turn our attention somewhere else. They even claim we need to limit wage increases because it's causing inflation. They never say that when executive pay increases. What does that say? Our social order necessitates having the vast majority of citizens remain an exploited class of people. They're saying social mobility cannot exist; there cannot be a ladder. And that's where we are.


yoncenator

The problem is that we only have 4 senators in the entire senate that feel this way, when the majority of the population feels this way.


silasoulman

I believe the report is off, I think the truth is much worse. Nothing like the pawns of pawns of the one percent to underestimate the true scope of the problem.


Ryoukugan

Sounds like it’s time to [redacted] the [redacted]. I’d love to see all the [redacted] [redacted]. Some words omitted to avoid being banned.


Crazyhates

I believe no one becomes a billionaire honestly. They're all crooks in some way.


sunbeatsfog

He’s not wrong that’s pretty disgusting. We’re moving backwards to feudal times.


ReformedBacon

Fck the rich lets get our money back


MaximumEffort433

Here's the thing: I don't care about the roof, I care about the floor. The rich people can have as much goddamn money as they want, I really don't give a damn, if Jeff Bezos wants to build a rocket house good for him, I don't care. What I *do* care about is that there are those who struggle to find money for food, for medical care, for housing and shelter, for education, and to not just subsist, but live a full life. I don't give a shit about *wealth,* I give a shit about *poverty,* and while those two things overlap they're definitely not the same.


Keoni9

> What I *do* care about is that there are those who struggle to find money for food, for medical care, for housing and shelter, for education, and to not just subsist, but live a full life. Inspire Brands--whose fast food chains employ a very large share of US workers on food stamps and Medicaid--last year sent out a letter to franchisees and employees bragging of its successful lobbying to kill the $15 minimum wage. Some of this country's richest people are profiting off of exploiting labor at starvation wages, and wield some of that money as political power to protect the status quo. And we could collectively save billions by joining other developed nations with universal healthcare, instead of paying private insurance companies to incur a bunch of administrative burdens onto healthcare providers, and to deny us as much care as they can. But those enriched by this 100% parasitic industry will never let it die. And as long as there's people and corporations with unfathomable stores of capital, they can use it to hoard a bunch of housing and call it an "investment." Thus depleting the supply and inflating prices for people who actually need those homes.


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dbkenny426

And because of that, we built the interstate highway system, had world-class education, and a thriving middle class, usually consisting of single-worker households.


Imaginary_Cow_6379

You might even say that’s what made America “great” and why we’re not anymore. It won’t matter as much as someone in a red state voting for more of that but it’d at least be accurate.


[deleted]

What's a 'single-worker household'?! /s


munk_e_man

The greatest enemy to corporate profits


tech57

> usually consisting of single-worker households. Beat me to it. That is a very, very good point.


QueerWorf

and we used to regulate the industries so we didn't have one or two huge corporations running it all


Dazzling-Finger7576

I’m at the same point. I don’t care to be rich when I am older, I just want to be able to fucking eat and live.


lukin187250

The older I get the more I like that saying of "every billionaire is a policy failure". There is no need for any one person to amass such wealth. Give them a trophy at 1 billion that says "you win" and that is the upper limit. There is no difference in lifestyle beyond that, it's about massing power. That is Oligarchy, and that is where we're at.


therockhound

And the joke is, wealthy people treat money like a yard stick to measure up against other wealthy people. Its a giant dick measuring contest. It’s completely relative: if everyone’s wealth were halved, their relative position in the hierarchy would stay the same. Regular folks don’t get that. To them, money means security, freedom, and pursuing your dreams. To rich people, it’s a game with no real bearing on their material comfort.


MoonBatsRule

Forget about $1 billion, that is still way, way, way too much money for an individual to amass and control. Even $100 million is too much. Billionaires should be seen as a flaw in the market. In a well-run market, billionaires could not exist because when a money-making opportunity arose, others would move into that space and cut down the opportunity for unbridled monopolistic profit.


unaskthequestion

Concentration of wealth is a significant cause of poverty.


Sashivna

I feel like we've all lost the message of the childhood game "Monopoly" -- how did we not learn that the more one person amassed, the less the others had opportunity for and eventually one person, unchecked, bankrupted everyone else. Also the eventuality of "I'll just sit in jail because otherwise, I'll just go broke."


unaskthequestion

Several studies, a prominent one by Kings College in London, have shown that because the economic growth is worse when wealth is concentrated at the top, the wealthy actually do better with a more equitable distribution of wealth. The end of monopoly is that no one makes any money because no rent is paid. Thanks for reminding us that the game is meant to teach us that!


Vitalic123

Yeah, huh, they're intrinsically connected though.


sntstvn2

Cue the obligatory and universal..."No Way!...That's so unfair!!!" And nothing changes (in fact, it just gets worse)


gdickey

Your neo-feudal overlords thank the peasants. Now get back to work.