Richest country in the world doesn’t take care of its citizens. Funny how that works
Or it’s not actually the richest.
So you’re right. We are number 11 now
From the point of view of most people total country GDP is meaningless (only certain businesses get a “cut” of the total country GDP and hence it matters to them), and per-capita GDP is what matters and even then how much it matters depends on the level of inequality in a country since when a few get most of the wealth that per-capita value (which is the median) is quite different from what actually most people get (the mode).
2 economist walking in the woods.
Economist 1 says to economists 2: I’ll give you $100 if you let me kick you in the balls.
Economist 2 says “sure”
Then economist 1 kicks economists 2 in the balls and gives him $100.
They continue walking and see a big pile of shit.
Economist 2 says to economist 1: I’ll give you $100 if you eat that pile of shit.
Economist 1 says “sure”, eats the pile of shit and economists 2 gives economists 1 his $100 back.
They continue walking, eventually economist 2 asks “What was the point of what we just did?”
Economist 1 responds “We just increased GDP by $200.”
*Country with the richest persons living in it
Technically GDP is just a measure of cash flow. So how much the government, private business and individuals spend all dumped together with all spending on imports subtracted. High GDP means lots of money changing hands but doesn’t necessarily care who’s hands, just that money is flowing.
Last I heard, China is.
It is almost like we are being scammed.
Hunter Thompson wrote “Hell’s Angels” in 1967.
There’s a passage about the economics of being a biker/hippie/dropout.
In those days, a biker could work six months as a union stevedore and then hit the road for two years. A part time waitress could could support herself and a live-in boy freind
Then Nixon/Reagan came in to save us.
you all best buckle up, because it’s gonna get a lot worse
Of course, a true kingdom requires impoverished serfs. Welcome to techno-feudalism.
Peasants had better working conditions under feudalism than workers today. This is capitalism working as intended.
That’s because we haven’t cut taxes for the rich quiiiite enough yet
Those trickle down economics, I’m still waiting on them since the fucker beat Decocus.
Trump is certainly trickling a golden shower upon humanity. The guy is an ass, and will tell us to thank him for the opportunity to eat the few rancid seeds found in his shit.
“The middle class has been declining — we just haven’t recognized it fully,” LISEP Chairman Gene Ludwig told CBS MoneyWatch. "It’s really dangerous because it’s the kind of thing that leads to social unrest, and it’s not fair. The American dream is not that it’s given to you — it’s that if you work hard, you have a chance to get ahead and achieve the things in life that you want to achieve. It’s not living in a tent, not having to steal."
The wealthy always forget this, because they’re convinced they’re a special unique snowflake and smarter than everyone else, instead of understanding they were just lucky.
It’s not because of the wealthy that someone else is poor - it’s the system and regulations that allow people to accumulate that level of wealth. Once you reach a certain point, making more money becomes easier and easier. Going from 1 million to 100 million is often much easier than going from zero to 1 million. If the game is rigged, it’s not the fault of the player for playing it well.
It’s not because of the wealthy that someone else is poor - it’s the system and regulations that allow people to accumulate that level of wealth
This is like saying John Wilkes Booth didn’t kill Lincoln, a gun did…
It’s like saying NFL linebackers don’t cause concussions, rather its the rules and protective gear of professional football which cause concussions
Both ways of seeing it are true - the linebacker is the one actually performing the tackle, but he would not be permitted to cause that damage were he not enabled by the inherently dangerous rules and equipment
Same thing here. Clearly the billionaires are the ones directly causing the harm. But they are only able to do so (and only able to become billionaires in the first place) because of the existing system
It’s not like that.
NFL players don’t design and control the rules around equipment.
Billionaires 100% designed the current system that benefits themselves over everyone else.
The currently alive billionaires largely didn’t design it; previously alive billionaires designed it and the currently alive ones have refined it.
Which is the way capitalism is supposed to work; it’s a society ruled by and for capitalists - aka the billionaires who own the largest units of capital
Regardless, it is this system that is to blame. The actors within the system are also contributors, obviously. But individualizing systemic issues is not an effective way at seeing the solution.
The way to solve the problem of a bad king is not to replace him with a good king; it is to abolish monarchy altogether and replace it with a system wherein the people are the ruling class
Not at all.
We knew this since the 70s
But you have millionaires who play kids games on tv and billionaire celebrities made famous by their looks or money, that go on to play government in real life in all your major political offices. Multi millionaire actors and starving paramedics. What an advanced society.
I have been saying this for a while. It seems like a really bad idea to push the most armed populous on the planet to the breaking point. One day the shooting is going start and it isn’t going to stop.
Theyve been getting away wiith it for so long i’m sure they don’t think anything will ever happen
Currently it looks more like: a fascist government supported by the disenfranchised so they can look down on someone else. Doesn’t really matter who.
Looks like it’s time to eat the rich.
They have too much power and resources now. We aren’t going to get a better quality of life through peaceful means.
There’s a relatively nonviolent solution America can do, but it would be complex to organize. Stop. Anyone that can stop working for even a day, or a week. Just pick a starting point and stop working, buying, consuming. They can’t fire everyone.
I’d love to see it but I think they could outlast us and would love at the chance to buy up failing small businesses and property during that time.
But the whole point of that time is to actually change stuff, so they wouldn’t make nearly as much profit, and maybe not even get to keep it.
It would be like buying a car that’s cheap because it’s on fire. They need us but we don’t need them.
I agree. Only 5% at most would follow through, and most of that 5% are non-vital employees, you don’t even have a union culture to organise this, and the best the democrats have done is stay silent.
Again, I agree, this would work if we organise it.
We need magats to get angry. They’re the reason why this shit show is still going on.
Stock market gambling games and communism for the billionaires.
Social darwinist, survival of the fittest, ruthless exploitative capitalism for the poors.
By design, I’m sure. Can’t have those poors even thinking about saving money.
Can’t have them having the time and education necessary to think. Ideas are dangerous.
No shit….
It takes $44,737 for a one-person household to maintain a “minimal quality of life”?
Stagnation of wages and increasing prices are causing a crisis, no doubt, but is that really the number we’re looking at for a minimum?
According to this, I’ve only ever personally known (at least well enough to know their income) two people affording a ‘minimal quality of life’.
Reverse inflation says that 1970 dollars that would be about $5400. Don’t know how useful that is without knowing (remembering, which I don’t) the cost of things then.
On another note, the current poverty line is $15k for a single person. I can’t see how someone could afford a place to live and eat with that in most places. I guess if you share a place with a few other people.
I live under the poverty line. It’s doable with a ‘nonstandard’ way of life (ie I don’t own a car and work online), a low CoL area (though even here rent eats up most of my income), and government subsidies from living in a Blue State (thank you, Medicaid), but otherwise I’d be screwed.
It’s also not great, in case that needs to be said.
Now imagine being in a red state. Add being a minority in the Deep South. Undocumented immigrant even. No public transportation. Food desserts. This is what hyper -individualism and entertainment culture did for us, on top of how bad it could be for then. Farther south, the worse it gets. That’s why slaves feared being “sold down the river.” Speaking of which check out the difference in prison/jail conditions and treatment the farther south. I won’t speak on more right now except to add women not having bank accounts, charge cards, right to vote or divorce and the legality of beating them by the rule of thumb.
Just having your car breakdown in a red state is a major crisis, debilitating event - There is no walkable infrastructure, no public transportation. But yeah, everything is like that down here.
I didn’t see that value in the article. Did I miss a reference?
The linked report.
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It’s shocking, isn’t it? And yet, consider how many people are living on a USD/day. In that context, I feel incredibly blessed.
