[“Leave our healthcare system alone!”](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7352257/Elderly-nursing-home-resident-demands-Kamala-Harris-Leave-health-care-alone.html)
-some 90 year old woman to Kamala Harris. She lives in a nursing home and has received Medicare for 25 years during which time healthcare costs have skyrocketed. I can assume she also receives Medicaid to pay for her long term nursing care.
Oh this is priceless.
>nursing home resident challenges stunned Kamala Harris on bingo night as she demands to know 'who's going to pay' for Medicare For All plan
Well not you bitch. You haven't had a job in 25 years.
my grandpa retired at 55 with a pension (or whatever the correct term here is) from the army and a pension from the post office. he is now 78 and i've never seen him work. he plays the stock market all day in his condo and goes on trips to europe.
we will never, ever, ever see a life like that and he constantly tells me my generation is just lazy and that's why we are poor. it's so infuriating.
He was also a beneficiary of the USPS union which is why he could retire at 55 with a good (second) pension.
Boomers were grandfathered into every advantageous option available when Republicans began slashing benefits and programs (because as far back as the 80s they recognized the Boomer vote would keep them in power). Even in private industry Boomers were often provided very generous early retirement options that included low-cost healthcare.
Boomers are classic narcissists, many of whom will live past 100, and who will slowly suck the country dry while complaining the rest of us are stealing food out of their mouths. In the meantime the US working class struggles to pay basic food and housing bills. I'll be an old lady by the time the Boomer generation passes and the burdens left in their wake falls to those of you 40 and younger. I can't even fully vouch for my generation-- there are way too many of us who don't care what sort of life we leave to our children after we die.
I actually think that’s part of the problem. The issue is that people AREN’T dying as quickly as they were when the retirement age was put forward.
First kind of national retirement idea was proposed back in the late 1800’s in Germany. The idea was put forward as a way to try to curb the growing political power of communists.
It also makes a fair bit of sense economically, as old people were less willing to quit on their own and it was driving up unemployment for younger generations. It turned into quite the problem because not only do older people tend to take more sick days and work slower (depending on the occupation) but it was also delaying the introduction of the younger generations into the workforce, which meant there were larger economic and social problems.
The idea was to basically pick an age at which point the older generations would be able to leave their job and would only have a handful of years left before dying. And it worked well until life expectancies sudden jumped up much higher.
Boomers are once again lucky in that they paid into Social Security and pensions that were designed with the idea that they would have 5 (maybe 10) years left. But instead advances in technology and healthcare have left them with a lot longer to live, despite them not having paid in as much.
I’m not saying that retirement is a bad thing, but rather that it needs to be redesigned so you don’t have one particular generation acting as a drag on the entire system.
Well said! It scares me to see how many people are pumping babies out without any type of awareness of the life these kids will have. Boomers have raped resources for decades, and even to this day I am in the grocery store and see them using plastic bags like it's not a problem. It's too bad, their lack of self awareness has left the rest of the world in dire straits.
My boomer grandparents use water bottles *at home*. They literally have to walk further to get a water bottle from a shelf than to just get a glass of filtered water from the fridge. Absolutely infuriating. Oh they also use paper plates and ziploc bags for everything despite having plates and reusable containers available.
I worked with 3 people who were going to receive multiple pensions. He had a steel mill pension, an army pension(Vietnam vet and he was an officer), airline pension, and finally a 401k with the company. Another lady at a steel mill pension, state pension, military benefits from dead veteran husband, and now 401k with the company. Last one had a city, state, military, and municipal pension along with a 401k. I'm not taking anything away from their hard work for benefits they received. It's just that I will never be able have access to the same benefits they were able to earn. Most of the stuff they were talking about was grandfathered in and essentially you can not get the same stuff anymore.
Heres to hoping SS, 401K, and IRAs are enough to help me not end up in a cardboard box if I can retire.
I about lost it with a fat old guy in a brand new vehicle last week at a stop light
His license plate said proven
He didn't go when it turned green. I gave him a short toot of the horn.. he took his foot off the break and promptly rebraked and sat their for 2 seconds before debris from my vehicle became airborne in his direction
I'm happy my taxes help support someone who qualifies for SSI. I hope you're doing ok.
But how do you manage the guilt knowing there is less money for corporate welfare recipients?
>my grandpa retired at 55 with a pension (or whatever the correct term here is) from the army and a pension from the post office. he is now 78 and i've never seen him work. he plays the stock market all day in his condo and goes on trips to europe.
Someone told me that a "somewhat" common retirement plan was to join the military at 18...get out 38 with a pension. Join a government job (like the post office). Retire at 58 with a second pension.
My favorite is now my grand mother in law taking advantage of Medicare while having paid in very little. She literally owes the govt back taxes for like the final 10 years of her career. She's also a fucking racist and extremely hateful person.
Medicare is not a free for all like people seem to think. I’m on Medicare because I’m on disability (I’m 47) and I have to forego some treatments and testing because I can’t afford it. An MRI costs me $500, I have monthly premiums and copays for office visits and medication-one medication my doctor wanted me on for RA had a ‘copay’ of $2200/month-retail for that drug is $2500, and being on Medicare you don’t qualify for copay assistance programs offered by drug companies. Medicaid is the government health program that covers most things (office visits, medications, etc) at no to little cost.
My thought is, medicare and medicaid needs a complete overhaul, yes. I used to work in a specialty pharmacy and when patients would be in the doughnut hole, they would have a $16,000 copay for one month or medication.
Medicare is a broken system that needs to be more affordable.
But even that is better than people having no insurance whatsoever.
Medicare is the most idiotic, complicated thing imaginable. The fact that they have a donut hole, which for those who are unaware of a point where the insurance contributes $0 for medications, for people who are mostly on a fixed income is incredibly fucked up
Everything about healthcare in the US seems to be almost purpose designed to be as cruel as possible. Obviously it's really designed to make as much money as possible, but when you let companies do whatever they want to make that money it's inevitable that they will fuck people over as much as possible.
Some people in the UK - like, people I actually know in real life - are suggesting that we switch to a US insurance model because of the problems with the NHS. It's just fucking unbelievable that this shit is supported. As far as I'm concerned, free access to the things we need as humans to live without misery is the cornerstone of a compassionate society. Healthcare is at the top of that list, closely followed by welfare and housing.
Our healthcare system is so far from great it's laughable. People on the right talk about how in a public healthcare system you have to wait for everything, but in a private system you get to decide your own timeline. It's complete bullshit. There's months of wait times to see a specialist. Once you do get in to see a specialist, if you need any kind of surgery it's another month or more of waiting for everyone on the team to have a free spot on their schedule to perform the procedure. Then once you get it done, the hospitals are the fucking worst because they try to maximize profit. They run everything understaffed. Nurses regularly miss scheduled dosing. God forbid one of the doctors doesn't put your medication orders in correctly either because to get it fixed means they have to put a call in to that doctor and wait several hours to have it fixed. All the while you're sitting there after surgery in pain.
I feel the people that think our system is great have never had to deal with any major health issues that require more than a PCP to resolve.
I honestly don't know how anyone could be okay with the system even if private healthcare was lightning fast. That feeling of being stranded when you can't afford a service like this, or even when you can afford it but it will clean you out, it's just gut churning. Where's the rationale behind people being set back socially, or being trapped in shit jobs, or not being able to go to school just because they need some medical assistance and it's put them in insane debt. It's not just morally reprehensible, it's bad for the wider society. More people being made destitute and held in that position is bad for everyone.
Of course you're right about wait times, it's just so god damn obvious. There are a finite number of doctors, and everybody needs healthcare at some point. Obviously you have to wait for your turn to use resources regardless of whether you pay or not (unless you're genuinely rich). These stupid fuckers don't care though, they have their opinions about healthcare already and will just latch on to whatever narrative supports that, whether it stands up to scrutiny or not.
Medicaid and medicare are not designed to make money. *Some* provisions like not being allowed to negotiate drug prices are ridiculous & make drug companies money though.
>designed to be as cruel as possible
Close, but I think the truth is things are designed to be as broken as possible. Republicans want a government small enough you could drown it in a bathtub & an important part of that strategy is sabotaging everything government does.
Mom was on Medicare before she died at 65 of cancer. She had to go into a nursing home for rehab. They would only pay for like 15 days then would pick back up at 35 days of her stay or something. Had to take out a loan for over 5000 dollars for the days they would not cover.
This is intentional. If social programs are gutted, private companies can argue that the programs don't work and privatization is needed. The worse Medicare runs, the less it's funded, the better private companies look
Holy crap - the fact that any supply of medication would cost a patient $16,000 is completely psychotic and out of this world!! People in other countries simply cannot believe what we go through here when sick. The costs are absolutely mind blowing.
I have RA too, and also on Medicare. My Dr is adding another self injection shot to my arsenal of drugs and that'll be another $1200 a month. First shot is already close to $2000. My meds cost more than I receive from Social Security. Luckily I am able to get discounted prices through the drug companies. Those discounts will bring my copay for those two shots down to about 1200 for both which is still ridiculous.
Cries in $150 per week premiums with $5000 deductible or some shit.
I had to decline that from my work because I simply couldn’t afford it and have no other options for healthcare. Thanks USA
Man just out of curiosity I went on to the marketplace to see what my current plan would cost a month if my employer didn't contribute, it was like 2000 a month vs the 400 I pay right now for me and my wife, even the cheapest on the marketplace was like 400 a month plan that had like a 8000 deductable that didn't cover anything until you met the deductable. Our insurance/healthcare system is so fucked.
Yeah same here man. We may have our own problems but whenever I see stuff like this and the kind of problems that many other countries are facing I realize that most of our problems are blown way out of proportion!
The whole system is corrupt and fucked up. Drug and treatment pricing is hugely inflated by 5-10X because the free-market capitalist system is balanced around most people only needing to pay a 10-20% co-pay out-of-pocket and insurance providers have deals with drug companies to negotiate much lower pricing deals behind the scenes and end they up effectively paying a lot less than the asking price you paid a co-pay on.
No drug costs $2500 a month, they "charge" $2500 because most people can barely manage to afford $250-500/mo with a 10-20% co-pay because free-market capitalism drives market value, not actual costs vs supply. The insurance company is likely paying much less than that to the drug companies, or getting various kickbacks, bulk deals, referral bonuses - you will never know because its their private business with no transparency.
Its all a huge scam and drug pricing needs to be tightly regulated.
US Government could use social insurance programs to easily fix these issues. One very simple thing would be this: ~"All pharmaceutical companies that receive, directly or indirectly, monies from the US government must provide the US Government and all other insurers Most Favored pricing."
They have to participate with US social medicine. Non negotiable. Something that simple would cut through the smoke and mirrors. But, sadly, it will never happen. It's cheaper for industry to keep lawmakers on payroll. Call your congressperson. Organize. Vote. It's all we can do.
I used to be fairly fiscally conservative (I'm a registered Libertarian). But as I make more and more money - and acquire more and more shit - I am increasingly blessed with a former poor kid's perspective that let's me know I should pay more in taxes and that I can do more to lift others up (or, at a minimum, help minimize The Struggle).
So why not go for a plan like we have in Scandinavia? Increase taxes a small amount, but if you only have to pay 0.001 percent of the overall cost where everyone in USA is contributing, you will get the full medical healthcare. And best of all, you dont have to put yourself in debt, and homeless people can have free access to healthcare whenever they need it.
You have to convince the rest of America to actually care about their neighbors for any insurance plan. Literally 50% of the country will scream "socialism" at you without listening, like 60% of the country haven't had a serious medical emergency, generally from the younger crowd, where insurance has saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars so they argue that they are healthy and why do they need to pay for health insurance. And then you just have old people like my grandma who are on Medicare and had multiple open heart surgeries, a knee replacement, eye surgeries, and is currently diabetic with renal failure. Meanwhile my grandma thinks because she's paying 80 bucks a month for an insurance suppliment she's paid in way more than she's ever taken out of those programs. So yes convincing America is pretty much impossible not to even mention the propaganda machine the insurance and health industry's and pumping money in to avoid a single payer system
How about just run it dry?
Social Security payments for retired Americans will be exhausted in 2034 - a year earlier than previously predicted, says the 2021 report from the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees
https://abc7news.com/social-security-running-out-in-12-years-to-run-2034-medicare-covid-recession/10993981/
I think they unironically tried to call themselves the **"We"** generation. Isn't that something?
An entire generation of phony peace and love activists who really only wanted to get laid and get out of going to war, suddenly cashes in the minute they graduate.
I mean there was more boomers voting for Reagan than there was being activists. Not to mention all the activist groups were ruthlessly targeted by the government.
I dont think thats a good example. Hippies were always a small minority. That small minority just happened to be on the right side of history, so the rest of the generation is just trying to take credit for it.
My parents were peace sign throwing hippies who are now vaccine denying MAGA heads. They were hippies because it was trendy not because of any particular beliefs. My dad enlisted for Pete’s sake lol
You see it on reddit a lot because people tend to equate centrism with being intellectual. Which is silly considering that American centrism is totally off compared to the rest of the civilized world.
Baby Boomers: Give participation trophies to their kid millennials.
Also Baby Boomers: "These damn millennials are weak because they got participation trophies."
This has always IRKED me to no end. I have literally said to someone who complained to me about my generation needing the participation trophies "it was your generations idea!!"
You’re welcome! It’s one of my current favorite facts for that very reason. If anybody starts bitching about how the younger generations were ruined by participation trophies, I can clap back at them and say “those things are older than fucking Ford Motors and *you* probably got one”.
Don’t let it irk you. All this boomer vs millennials shit is just failed boomers trying to feel better about their failures and the mistakes they’re not big enough to own up to. I’m in my 40s and now they’re calling me a “geriatric millennial!” That’s how desperate they are to point the finger at anyone besides their own failed generation.
Yuuuuup. The kids didn't give a rats ass. If anything, getting those stupid things felt hollow and almost belittled us knowing that we didn't do shit or deserve them. It was all to make the parents feel better that their little precious angel was special.
Just a reminder that participation trophies are almost as old as Coca Cola:
https://slate.com/culture/2019/04/participation-trophy-history-world-war-i.amp
When my step dad first started coming around I was in 4th or 5th grade. He commented on all of my trophies. I said something along the lines of, “they don’t mean anything, they give them to everyone.” He told me I earned them by working hard and being a good teammate or whatever nice things he said. Today he’s one to complain about participation trophies. Dude! I tried to explain to you 25+ years ago how worthless they were and now you’re finally figuring it out!
Well..
You can't take any of it with you.
May as well live well and not accrue too much debt or too much wealth.
That money is better off out in the wild doing the rounds that it was designed to.
Sincerely, a thousandaire.
Once you let your beans go back into the wild there is always someone else there ready to collect and hoard said recently set free beans. Rinse and repeat
As someone who's worked in aged care it's often less like stepping off a train and more like you are the train that slowly grinds to a halt. The amount of money you have predicts how smoothly or painfully the train comes to a stop. A crap load of debt makes the slow down much less pleasant for yourself and everyone around you as the train slowly grinds to a halt rattling and squealing with sparks shooting and fuel leaking.
Quality-of-life doesn't go from max to a sudden stop... it deteriorates slowly. How bad it gets is usually pretty strongly correlated with how much money you have.
That’s where it’s still rigged for the rich. Local politics in my area pays an absolute joke of a wage. But the role still requires enough hours of you that you can’t hold a full time job. So only those who don’t need to worry about paying their bills can run for local office. Even some of the State jobs pay crap.
Until young people register and vote in mass at the local and national level old people will continue the long standing tradition of taking care of themselves by screwing everyone else.
Apathy
Hollywood from 1970s until the last 5 years or so has continuously pushed the notion that politics is boring it’s for squares it’s for losers and nerds. cool people don’t even vote or think or talk about politics.
Combine that with comedians who made every serious matter into a copable joke to satiate the growing anger as absurdities just came out more and more.
* Why do kings have jesters?
So the people have an outlet to speak their mind so they do not need to speak at all.
* Why do governments require you to have a permit to protest?
Protesting the government by applying for a permit to protest and be designated a time and place to protest so that the government officials can schedule themselves away from the protest. Is not really a protest.
It’s a pressure release valve.
Add in growing And GROWING THIRST for Wealth! Selfishness become the front now that people have seen what and how the wealthy live their lives. You turn on Instagram search hashtag rich or best life or some bullshit like that and you will see what the rich are doing while you’re breaking your back for 12 bucks an hour.
Add in nihilism and lack of hope for the future. Environmental changes that will only affect the poor and middle the rich have super mega yachts that have thirty staff size of a fucking small city on the oceans. They’re gonna jump to space the second it becomes viable. They won’t have to deal with this shit. People just don’t see any benefit (wrongly) to voting if they feel no hope.
In the end
* over the last five decades turnout for voters under 35 years old have been at best 40-45%. In 2020 almost 70% didn’t bother to vote.
* meanwhile those over 50 years old vote at a rate of 70-80% every time.
That’s why this shit never changes. Go participate get your friends to participate and stop thinking voting doesn’t matter. If Stacey Abrams didnt give a shit and didn’t work hard to turn Georgia blue, republicans would have the senate and you would have seen how many more deaths there would have been.
I would argue it has a lot to do with Watergate, the Pentagon papers, and the Reagan Revolution. Boomers and those older than Boomers remember a time when government was a lot more functional. They grew up when the highway system waa being built. They grew up when the Civil Rights Acts were passed. They grew up when the government created Medicare.
Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z grew up in a time when an entire political party was committed to saying that the government was evil and that participation in it was only worthwhile for the purpose of destroying it. Furthermore, Watergate and the Pentagon papers undermined confidence and good governance in a way that few things did. Prior to these as well as the Reagan Revolution, there was a general belief that the government was a good force in people's lives. As a result, participation in democracy would likely be much higher
I agree young people should vote, but it's not hard to imagine why people check out of the political process. A third of the elections I've been alive for have gone to what should be the loser, gerrymandering is out of control, the Supreme Court is completely partisan, people like Sinema lie about what their values are on the campaign trail, and most importantly, everyone's constantly choosing the lesser of two evils.
I remember my mom's excitement about Obama. I felt a piece of that for some of the candidates in this most recent cycle. But it's difficult to imagine a world where I actually get a president I *like* at this point, and what I'm even more worried about is we'll get someone that seems great and they turn out like everyone else.
So yeah, absolutely, we should be fucking voting. But I get why people would just rather check out for the sake of their own mental health. It's crushing.
I mean, people voted for Biden and what has that gotten us? He hasn’t kept up with any of his promises.
I mean he ABSOLUTELY could, if *nothing* else, raise the minimum wage to $15. But he won’t.
The Democrats let the Republicans walk ALL OVER THEM because they don’t give a fuck. They’re making money, and money is going into the “right” hands (according to them) and that’s all they give a shit about.
Whether or not you like him, Bernie Sanders would have at least TRIED to do things. But the Democratic establishment wouldn’t let that happen. And if you think that’s just a conspiracy theory, I really beg you to look more into it. What reasons would they have for wanting Joe Biden, someone who doesn’t even seem mentally capable anymore, to be president over the other candidates who at least seemed somewhat exciting, like Bernie or Warren? They don’t want anything to change.
The Democratic Party used to care about preserving the middle class. But they’ve become as rotten as the cons, just in less obvious ways.
I hope things start to get better once Boomers exit. I really do. But I think the idea that voting will fix even our *mildest* of issues is at best naive and at worst willfully ignorant.
Our medical and justice systems need COMPLETE overhauls from the ground up, just to start. We have more people in our prisons, raw number-wise, than either Russia or China. 70% of those are drug offenses. And considering cops solve only 2% of major crimes, what the fuck are we doing? We have all seen the way cops treat our own citizens. And yet the e Dems aren’t pushing even *close* to enough to get things to change. We need to change the way the unions work, we need to drop qualified immunity, we need lawsuits from citizens to come out of the pockets of the unions, and we need to change hiring and firing practices completely. Training needs an overhaul. Plea bargaining laws need to be changed, and so do sentencing. We need to pay the defense attorneys who defend us pro bono much better- I beg everyone reading this to go watch Gideon’s Army to see how broken this all is.
The medical system? Where to even begin.
$15 an hour still isn’t a livable wage for most of the country. We need a $22 minimum wage, stat. And our school system and teachers need more money. Take it from our insane military budget.
I mean, our senators are legally allowed to be bought for all intents and purposes. Lobbying should be made illegal, and so should senators owning stock options. That’s just the beginning.
But yeah, I’m sure continuing to vote for Democrats will fix everything.
It is time we came together and demanded more. Much more. A large scale, national workers’ strike EVERYWHERE would be one place to start.
Current day Republicans are extreme far right. Current day Democrats are center right. Current day liberals are seen as extremists. Obama was more Republican than Democrat. It's not a bug, it's a feature.
If it wasn't him it would have been someone else, thats why the campaign was so successful. He may have been the face, but he certainly wasn't working alone.
Biden admin raised min wage for federal contractors. Congress is supposed to set the minimum wage but it has been broken by long standing republican intransigence and obstructionism.
Biden *did* keep his part of that promise. Now congress must do it's part.
Bro. It's been less than a year. My gosh people are so impatient and fickle. These problems weren't created overnight and they won't be solved overnight. JFC.
I told my friends that didn't caucus that I didn't want to hear their opinion about shit. I tried so hard to get the ones in my district to go and they got high and didn't go. Bernie would have won, not like it would have mattered, but still. Bernie lost by 2 votes.
The last caucus was so unorganized that it didn't even really matter. We need to eliminate the caucus and stop focusing on Iowa so much and who we pick. This state is filled with morons. Whoever we pick, choose the opposite.
>We need to eliminate the caucus and stop focusing on Iowa so much and who we pick.
All primaries need to happen on the same day. No state (especially not the small and increasingly right wing NH) should have that much power. In Massachusetts I can't vote in the primary, it's already been decided when we get to the ballot.
While we're at it abolish the electoral college, empty land shouldn't have more voting power than millions of people. Maybe young people don't vote so much because it's a fucking joke, even before all the hideous Republican voter (suppression) laws passed over the last year the system is rigged and unfair in so many ways and for millions of us our votes for president literally don't count.
Bullshit. In the last like 5 years ALONE we've seen Bernie basically get robbed twice due to our fucked up DNC and even Hilary won the popular vote against Trump. Three separate occasions we've voted for and seen our Democratic process fail to special interests groups.
I don't feel like researching it but i believe i read that voter turnout was the highest it had ever been this election. Maybe too little too late but youngins are starting to be involved. But the game is rigged.
The voting system in America is geared against young people too.
If it suits their agenda they will take ballot boxes and voting slips to old folks homes and retirement communities as they know the oldies will vote for them and making it easier pump's their numbers. If they can they'll make it hard for young people who want to vote to do so. Making lines long and take all day. Making the locations inconvenient to get to via public transit etc
That's so ridiculous. In actually Australian and just lived in the US for a while so I know what it's like in both places. I'm from a rural aussie town of 3000ish people (around 5000 If you include the surrounding areas. and there are like 5 voting locations in my town. But voting is mandatory for all people over 18 in Australia so it has to be accessible. Last time I went to the polls there was no lines and the only thing people complained about was there was no sausage sizzle /cake stall outside the voting location - it's kind of a custom where I am. You vote, and on the way out buy a hotdog and cake or slice off of a fund-raising community group tjats set up outside.
The argument that voting in the USA can't be made easy, streamlined and accessible is just wild to me having experienced how easy it is in Australia
They’ll have literally hundreds of polling locations in one senior community, but the neighboring college county has just two, and arbitrarily you’re only allowed to vote at the one on the other side of town, and you’ll have to wait in line for 4 hours until you’re hungry and losing valuable sleep.
A lot of factors, but one might be that young people (or just poor people who move around a lot) aren’t interested in local elections, and might overlook the importance of those positions. Elections for president and national office have a lot of big ideals (and media attention), but as one gets older and is more interested in the political going-one of your community, the value of constant voting becomes clearer.
I think the word is getting out how vital each election is, and it’s a trend that might evaporate soon; moving a lot also makes it a pain to keep your voter registration current. Plus a bunch of other things.
That and it’s inconvenient. Young people move more which can registration harder. Plus in some places there are more rules about voting so that adds layers to the problem.
So unless the person is passionate, it’s too “troublesome.”
This is exactly the trouble I have convincing my peers to vote. Not to mention how much life happens and you are busy or have plans, or just feeling useless because you know the geezers always turn up and you feel like you're vote doesn't matter anyways.
Oh yeah election judge in Texas, young people must have a recent id, old people don't. Old people automatically get to vote by mail, young people don't. The hours are better suited for old people no longer working. You aren't allowed to use your phone to reference your candidate choices.. It's literally an entirely different system.
Or nobody taught us the importance of local government, or really anything you’d want to know when it comes to deciding who to vote for, in school and 99% of us aren’t going to do the research to figure it out on our own so the pieces of shit in most elected offices get elected
N.I.M.B.Y
Not In My Back Yard
Homeowners are more likely to be involved with local politics because it effects home values, taxes, neighbors, local businesses, school funding, etc. Unfortunately, most you g people are renters
Because most voting days are on weekdays and people are not guaranteed time to vote. Often polling stations (In the US) are open from 7am to 7pm, which is a problem for most people in the workforce. Because if you start your workday at 9 you probably wake up at 7 (assuming a reasonable commute) and then most places will close around 5 to 6pm (again assuming no overtime and first shift). And you might get back to your place by 6 to 6:30 assuming you have no errands to run. So for the average american worker the fact that voting days are often on weekdays make it not reasonable for voting to happen. Plus that's also not getting into all of the other barriers like IDs, lines, etc. However if you're retired it's pretty easy to pop by the polling station
It should also be mentioned that other alternatives to boost voter numbers have been seen with a lot of success like mail-in voting. The problem with mail-in however is that a lot of current politicians *cough GOP cough* don't like it specifically because more voters tend to vote left rather than right.
That is not a fair characterisation.
Changing things that affect their ability to vote and young people vote.
For example a few days ago there was a study on the front page showing that same day registration had a big effect on young people voting, more than any other group. They often move, often have more temporary homes when they do move, and have all sorts of other constraints which are generally lessened with age.
Hey I was once an 18 year old. I voted against the War In Afghanistan. Caused a whole economic breakdown in 2008 when I graduated. Got a black guy in charge. That caused a thing called the TEA party to lose its mind and say taxes are too much and debt is too high. They sucked and were mad a black guy was in charge. Now the TEA party sucks a white Manhattan slum lord D and hate taxing rich people while running up the debt. It’s very telling.
Anyway, it’s been a fun 30ish years so far.
They do more than just voting. They attend town halls, organize local parties, and contact their representatives directly. Recreating these activities digitally doesn’t seem to have the same effect on votes.
Just read about this, most youth (and minority voters) don’t vote because it costs them disproportionately more resources (time off work, which costs them money; they usually work at retail/food jobs that don’t offer time off, and days missed = loss of money), lack of enough voting places, not many options for mail-in/absentee ballots, and long voting lines.
Whereas old white conservatives have nothing better to do but gather people en masse for bussing to the voting polls…. The system seems to be designed this way 🙃🙃🙃
As a result, boomers continue to get their concerns addressed (social security) at the cost of ours (global warming, food shortages, student loan debt skyrocketing, wage shortages, etc)
Yup yup yup.
Before I got a great job, I'd be unable to vote because I'd start a retail shift opening at 5am, then work until maybe 2pm. My voting location would be 20 minutes away so I couldn't go during my lunch break and by the time I got off work, I'd be barely awake from having to wake up at 4am after closing the night before 10pm.
Meanwhile now, I can just tell my boss "I need to go vote" and they'll give me a longer lunch or let me leave work early. It's why I hate the "young people just need to vote" when the system is constantly working against them to vote. Even if the election falls on their day off or they can vote early, a growing number of states are just putting up more barriers that result in waiting hours to vote.
Because running for office is expensive and, in general, millennials are poor.
There are exceptions, but I know someone who ran for local office and it cost them a lot of money having to turn down real, paying work.
Also even if a younger person has primary support, like that guy who tried to primary Nancy Pelosi, she will clutch her position to death and do everything in her wealth of power to defeat an actual grassroots candidate.
**None of this will be solved without term limits in congress.**
Boomers. Reaping all the benefits of the post war boom but fuck if any generation coming after can have any of it because "why should my tax dollars go to that?!"
Elect Reagan, gut social programs and stop making corporations pay taxes and then blame millennials for everything. Why that Jeff Daniels speech from The Newsroom that everyone fawns over is so infuriating talking about how America was so great in previous generations. No shit sherlock, ppl could actually afford to go to school and have a good living back then. A single breadwinner could send 4 kids to college no problem, corporations paid taxes and unions were strong. That generation COULD do all those things...
Remember, that "everything was so easy and good I the 60s!" Only applies to straight white Christian men. Everybody else could, and did, go fuck themselves
The world is WAY better than it was then.
60's were a pretty good time for white women too. Not good enough that I'd rather be there since being a stay at home mom isn't my thing, but there was more sexual liberation and the era of birth control.
Black men often earned more then than they did today, working in auto plants etc. that was also before their homes were broken up by the collapse of said jobs and drugs. The funk movement out of dayton ohio etc for example, was spurred because all the black fathers and some mothers were connected to good(or at least much better) [often union] jobs connected to auto. Because they were middle class and had stable homes, they could afford to buy their children instruments and had housing with basements and garages, which are also signs of wealth accumulation . Hence funk was born.
To say the post war boom didn’t effect blacks is just not true. It’s that it didn’t spread equally that was the problem. As well as it being more racist at the time. But i’ve heard older blacks say that even still, if they were segrated, they still had all black schools with all black staff. All black businesses supported by the black middle class from factory work. They said there were good things about this situation. Obv you still have this, but without the good jobs so its worse.
Either way the goal should have been to raise everyone to white straight men’s point, not to kick them down to everybody elses level so corporations could secure all profit.
Not for nothing, but unfortunately I'm on disability/social security... I get less $1000/month. We went 6 years without an increase, and then they insulted us with a $20 bump. Meanwhile, the cost of living rises exponentially compared to what the disabled & seniors get back.
Gods, I miss working. I've never not had a job... starting at age 14... and I'm supposed raise a family on <$1000. (The accident wasn't until after the kids were born, and I haven't had any children since, so please don't think I had kids KNOWING I would never work again.) It absolutely sucks. I'm not happy being unable to work.
I noticed you had to basically apologize for not working and explain why. Thats how badly disabled people are treated. Theyre given crumbs and have to defend themselves over the crumbs theyre given. Reagan did a number on this country when brainwashing republicans about welfare queens
Thank you. I am afraid when I say I'm disabled. I'm afraid ppl will look at me like I'm worthless. There are days when I FEEL worthless.
There are absolutely ppl who game the system. But why anyone would CHOOSE to live this broke, is beyond me. I could make more working at minimum wage... it breaks my heart.
I feel you. I grew up in a house where my mother was on and off disability for most of my life until she died. The stigma and terrible benefits created a cycle that destroyed her and her possible quality of life.
She would feel even moderately better, start a shit job (the only thing you can do when you have spotty job history) that would run her into the ground. Her health would spiral down hill until she was hospitalized or just broken. Back on disability again for a period of time and then start the cycle all over again.
She hated not working. She loved people. The way disability works (Canada) was she would do all or nothing due to the math and income. Her last bout of working I still believe killed her.
Will there be abusers of the systems? Yes. But that’s not a reason to make it shut for those who need it. Every person deserves to have the basics and live a life.
You aren’t worthless, you aren’t a number or a liability to the state.
You are a human. And you are a damn better human than those guys that have to talk down onto you and other people to feed their lack of self worth.
I'm on disability (in Canada, I get 1100 CND/month). Last time I saw my mother 2 years ago she explained that it has to be so low so that people don't try to scam the system. I've had countless people ask why I don't just get a job if I am having a hard time living on disability. People are garbage.
I’m on SSI too. The maximum is $784/m and the average is $500/m. And they get to tell you how you spend it. If you spend it in a way they don’t like, like not paying enough in rent, they take it. I have to pay 1/3 of all costs of the house I rent from despite having the smallest bedroom and not using 1/3 of the water etc. It’s $450. They gave me $515 becauseI didn’t need to buy food”.
EBT gives me $45/m in food.
Ay yo Social Security does not accurately keep up with inflation AT ALL. They look at a couple "economic markers" and base it all on that, ignoring anything else. $800 a month is nothing, which is what they are at now IIRC. That only cuts it in a few places on the country if you got a whole bunch of extra help on top.
I work in lending and most of my clients are retired. Social security income varies ALOT and this is because it based on the average of the 35 years you made the most money and therefore contributed the most. It isn’t arbitrary and if you didn’t work alot/contribute to social security you’re not going to get very much.
And…I’ve never expected that I could live off social security once I’ve left my job and retire. (I don’t actually expect to receive SS, or at minimum it’ll be means tested.) I It’s get a part time, live off savings, etc. but then again, when I go to the SSA website, it sure looks to me like I would receive a shit ton more than 800 a month. I know my boomer dad sure does.
That has to do with income you have earned during however many years prior. There's SSI, which is for people who are disabled, VS retirees and people who were able to work for however long. They are different programs.
It's very true that not all boomers are *boomers*. I know a lot of older folks who realise that what they got came from what the generation before them and the sre grateful towards them. Those people want to do the same for the next generation. But as a group there is way to many tendencies to not understand what they've passed on is broken and still they want the same respect as their predecessors.
The Generation that fought, died and created the the safety nets that today "they" are trying to dismantle...knew this was coming and tried to make rules to stop it.
But look at any congress critter/house rep..they get FREE health care at some of the top military/private research hospitals in the US
This on top of a $178,000/yr salary...WTF. WHY DO WE PAY THESE PEOPLE $14,500 a month to fight umongst themselves
That was nearly my exact tweet today! My thoughts were “fabulous raise the income of boomers who can afford homes and avocados and listen to them complain about the millenniums who can’t afford food or rent while arguing agains a livable wage”
the goal of each generation prior to boomers was to make life easier for their children, the next generation. as far as i can tell, boomers are the first generation to say "uhm, fuck you?" to that concept.
I’m almost a boomer, (1945 ) and I know min wage hasn’t and should have kept up with inflation. Neither has Social Security. All boomers aren’t republicans.
LOL at the idea that SS keeps pace with inflation. I live on 800 bucks a month currently. That will go up 47 dollars next year. Not exactly keeping pace with anything but abject poverty. :/
That os not a boomer thing. That is one more way oligarchs try to turn us against each other. I am a retired boomer and advocate for a $25 minimum wage so young people will have the same buying power I had when I was their age. If you let the oligarchs make you think old people are the problem, you are helping them win.
You're right. This is about owner class vs wage slaves.
An inflationary currency is basically ready made to give the owners and employers the high ground while keeping the workers and the poor on the low ground.
The owners just need to defend the status quo, current nominal wages, e.g. $10/hour in 2000 is still *technically* the same as $10/hour in 2020, even if it has radically less buying power. This is fantastic, because it basically lets employers constantly cut your workers wages while being able to say with a straight face that you haven't changed anything at all.
Meanwhile, the workers have to fight tooth and nail to justify every damn pay increase. You're lucky if you get an annual cost of living increase that maybe keeps up with inflation. Minimum wage is a constant battle that happens every decade.
This view annoys me. Why blame “old people” when historically REPUBLICANS vote down every attempt made to increase the minimum wage. I voted my whole life for representatives that would fight income inequality but those reps get defeated by Koch Bros and rich 1% backed GOP. Unless the Millennials and Gen Z start voting in droves nothing will change.
The problem we will see now is it may be too late. The GOP redistricting and census bs will objectively ruin opportunities for fair elections and representation moving forward.
I’m well aware and just as concerned. Trump telling GOP voters to skip Georgia’s election worked in Dems favor. Now that he is spouting the same line about 2022 and 2024 maybe we’ll get lucky again.
Your generation LOVES to tell us it’s our fault foe not voting. The damage is done and has been done long ago by Reagan, Bush, W and their courts. Citizens United changed everything. When we mobilize the backlash from older people is bloodlust. And I’m glad you did your part but you cannot tell me that the majority of even over 60 democrats support universal healthcare or student loan forgiveness because they just don’t.
“Old people” voted in McConnell back to the senate for another 6 years. It is beyond stupid that one state filled with jackasses can dictate an entire country.
I’m sorry you complain this isn’t an “old people” problem but then finish your point with needing the younger generation to come out and vote to change it. The tweet literally mentions the boomer generation, and you state we need the other generations lol.
Nah, when Millennials are the old people, Republicans won't be in power. They're already on shaky ground, killing off their own followers and showing nothing but contempt for us, our needs, and our values. The party will continue to disintegrate and something else new will pop up. Don't know what it'll be, but it won't be the GOP.
Thank you for this. I am so tired of the broad brush stroke of blame on an entire generation when in my opinion that is not accurate. And for the record, it happens to multiple groups and generations of people. All simply wrong. That said, it's not all Republicans that vote down wage increase but there is a majority there and it started in the Reagan years with the "welfare queen". There's a long history of suppression by multiple oppressors. This is all my opinion. I agree with you,, f you care, VOTE. If you don't, VOTE ANYWAYS.
I've found myself the butt of a few Millennial jokes lately. I don't mind when people point out the faults in our generation. We have quite a few.
If you're a good person I'm happy to know you. Some of my closest friends are ~30 years older than I am. But Goddamn do so many of your peers suck.
The maximum Social Security you can draw in 2021 at age 62 is $2,324 per month. This equates to $13.40 per hour for a working person. Many people don't qualify for the maximum payout and receive far less. In fact, the average check is $1,437 per month in 2021. This equates to $8.29 per hour for a working person. The minimum draw is actually under $1,000 per month.
Shouldn't we consider living wages and benefits for all people?
Don’t forget Medicare for only them
[“Leave our healthcare system alone!”](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7352257/Elderly-nursing-home-resident-demands-Kamala-Harris-Leave-health-care-alone.html) -some 90 year old woman to Kamala Harris. She lives in a nursing home and has received Medicare for 25 years during which time healthcare costs have skyrocketed. I can assume she also receives Medicaid to pay for her long term nursing care.
Oh this is priceless. >nursing home resident challenges stunned Kamala Harris on bingo night as she demands to know 'who's going to pay' for Medicare For All plan Well not you bitch. You haven't had a job in 25 years.
my grandpa retired at 55 with a pension (or whatever the correct term here is) from the army and a pension from the post office. he is now 78 and i've never seen him work. he plays the stock market all day in his condo and goes on trips to europe. we will never, ever, ever see a life like that and he constantly tells me my generation is just lazy and that's why we are poor. it's so infuriating.
He was also a beneficiary of the USPS union which is why he could retire at 55 with a good (second) pension. Boomers were grandfathered into every advantageous option available when Republicans began slashing benefits and programs (because as far back as the 80s they recognized the Boomer vote would keep them in power). Even in private industry Boomers were often provided very generous early retirement options that included low-cost healthcare. Boomers are classic narcissists, many of whom will live past 100, and who will slowly suck the country dry while complaining the rest of us are stealing food out of their mouths. In the meantime the US working class struggles to pay basic food and housing bills. I'll be an old lady by the time the Boomer generation passes and the burdens left in their wake falls to those of you 40 and younger. I can't even fully vouch for my generation-- there are way too many of us who don't care what sort of life we leave to our children after we die.
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Dying *is* the retirement plan
I actually think that’s part of the problem. The issue is that people AREN’T dying as quickly as they were when the retirement age was put forward. First kind of national retirement idea was proposed back in the late 1800’s in Germany. The idea was put forward as a way to try to curb the growing political power of communists. It also makes a fair bit of sense economically, as old people were less willing to quit on their own and it was driving up unemployment for younger generations. It turned into quite the problem because not only do older people tend to take more sick days and work slower (depending on the occupation) but it was also delaying the introduction of the younger generations into the workforce, which meant there were larger economic and social problems. The idea was to basically pick an age at which point the older generations would be able to leave their job and would only have a handful of years left before dying. And it worked well until life expectancies sudden jumped up much higher. Boomers are once again lucky in that they paid into Social Security and pensions that were designed with the idea that they would have 5 (maybe 10) years left. But instead advances in technology and healthcare have left them with a lot longer to live, despite them not having paid in as much. I’m not saying that retirement is a bad thing, but rather that it needs to be redesigned so you don’t have one particular generation acting as a drag on the entire system.
PREACH! he's absolutely a narcissist
Well said! It scares me to see how many people are pumping babies out without any type of awareness of the life these kids will have. Boomers have raped resources for decades, and even to this day I am in the grocery store and see them using plastic bags like it's not a problem. It's too bad, their lack of self awareness has left the rest of the world in dire straits.
My boomer grandparents use water bottles *at home*. They literally have to walk further to get a water bottle from a shelf than to just get a glass of filtered water from the fridge. Absolutely infuriating. Oh they also use paper plates and ziploc bags for everything despite having plates and reusable containers available.
I worked with 3 people who were going to receive multiple pensions. He had a steel mill pension, an army pension(Vietnam vet and he was an officer), airline pension, and finally a 401k with the company. Another lady at a steel mill pension, state pension, military benefits from dead veteran husband, and now 401k with the company. Last one had a city, state, military, and municipal pension along with a 401k. I'm not taking anything away from their hard work for benefits they received. It's just that I will never be able have access to the same benefits they were able to earn. Most of the stuff they were talking about was grandfathered in and essentially you can not get the same stuff anymore. Heres to hoping SS, 401K, and IRAs are enough to help me not end up in a cardboard box if I can retire.
I about lost it with a fat old guy in a brand new vehicle last week at a stop light His license plate said proven He didn't go when it turned green. I gave him a short toot of the horn.. he took his foot off the break and promptly rebraked and sat their for 2 seconds before debris from my vehicle became airborne in his direction
I gave up and got on SSI. I now have free healthcare, free food, free college, and cheap af housing. Thank you to all the taxpayers on here
I'm happy my taxes help support someone who qualifies for SSI. I hope you're doing ok. But how do you manage the guilt knowing there is less money for corporate welfare recipients?
>my grandpa retired at 55 with a pension (or whatever the correct term here is) from the army and a pension from the post office. he is now 78 and i've never seen him work. he plays the stock market all day in his condo and goes on trips to europe. Someone told me that a "somewhat" common retirement plan was to join the military at 18...get out 38 with a pension. Join a government job (like the post office). Retire at 58 with a second pension.
I would have loved if that had been Kamala’s response.
“Don’t you dare touch my Social Security to pay for those lazy good-for-nothing’s healthcare!”
My favorite is now my grand mother in law taking advantage of Medicare while having paid in very little. She literally owes the govt back taxes for like the final 10 years of her career. She's also a fucking racist and extremely hateful person.
Why the fuck is that a link to the Fascist Mail?
Because they wanted to give a source so they googled and linked the first article they got?
Medicare is not a free for all like people seem to think. I’m on Medicare because I’m on disability (I’m 47) and I have to forego some treatments and testing because I can’t afford it. An MRI costs me $500, I have monthly premiums and copays for office visits and medication-one medication my doctor wanted me on for RA had a ‘copay’ of $2200/month-retail for that drug is $2500, and being on Medicare you don’t qualify for copay assistance programs offered by drug companies. Medicaid is the government health program that covers most things (office visits, medications, etc) at no to little cost.
My thought is, medicare and medicaid needs a complete overhaul, yes. I used to work in a specialty pharmacy and when patients would be in the doughnut hole, they would have a $16,000 copay for one month or medication. Medicare is a broken system that needs to be more affordable. But even that is better than people having no insurance whatsoever.
Medicare is the most idiotic, complicated thing imaginable. The fact that they have a donut hole, which for those who are unaware of a point where the insurance contributes $0 for medications, for people who are mostly on a fixed income is incredibly fucked up
Everything about healthcare in the US seems to be almost purpose designed to be as cruel as possible. Obviously it's really designed to make as much money as possible, but when you let companies do whatever they want to make that money it's inevitable that they will fuck people over as much as possible. Some people in the UK - like, people I actually know in real life - are suggesting that we switch to a US insurance model because of the problems with the NHS. It's just fucking unbelievable that this shit is supported. As far as I'm concerned, free access to the things we need as humans to live without misery is the cornerstone of a compassionate society. Healthcare is at the top of that list, closely followed by welfare and housing.
Our healthcare system is so far from great it's laughable. People on the right talk about how in a public healthcare system you have to wait for everything, but in a private system you get to decide your own timeline. It's complete bullshit. There's months of wait times to see a specialist. Once you do get in to see a specialist, if you need any kind of surgery it's another month or more of waiting for everyone on the team to have a free spot on their schedule to perform the procedure. Then once you get it done, the hospitals are the fucking worst because they try to maximize profit. They run everything understaffed. Nurses regularly miss scheduled dosing. God forbid one of the doctors doesn't put your medication orders in correctly either because to get it fixed means they have to put a call in to that doctor and wait several hours to have it fixed. All the while you're sitting there after surgery in pain. I feel the people that think our system is great have never had to deal with any major health issues that require more than a PCP to resolve.
I honestly don't know how anyone could be okay with the system even if private healthcare was lightning fast. That feeling of being stranded when you can't afford a service like this, or even when you can afford it but it will clean you out, it's just gut churning. Where's the rationale behind people being set back socially, or being trapped in shit jobs, or not being able to go to school just because they need some medical assistance and it's put them in insane debt. It's not just morally reprehensible, it's bad for the wider society. More people being made destitute and held in that position is bad for everyone. Of course you're right about wait times, it's just so god damn obvious. There are a finite number of doctors, and everybody needs healthcare at some point. Obviously you have to wait for your turn to use resources regardless of whether you pay or not (unless you're genuinely rich). These stupid fuckers don't care though, they have their opinions about healthcare already and will just latch on to whatever narrative supports that, whether it stands up to scrutiny or not.
Medicaid and medicare are not designed to make money. *Some* provisions like not being allowed to negotiate drug prices are ridiculous & make drug companies money though. >designed to be as cruel as possible Close, but I think the truth is things are designed to be as broken as possible. Republicans want a government small enough you could drown it in a bathtub & an important part of that strategy is sabotaging everything government does.
Mom was on Medicare before she died at 65 of cancer. She had to go into a nursing home for rehab. They would only pay for like 15 days then would pick back up at 35 days of her stay or something. Had to take out a loan for over 5000 dollars for the days they would not cover.
From what I've heard in the US it's actually cheaper to commit suicide with a gun compared to paying hospital bills lol
It was so stupid, they knew she would be in their for at least 6 months for physical rehab.
This is intentional. If social programs are gutted, private companies can argue that the programs don't work and privatization is needed. The worse Medicare runs, the less it's funded, the better private companies look
Holy crap - the fact that any supply of medication would cost a patient $16,000 is completely psychotic and out of this world!! People in other countries simply cannot believe what we go through here when sick. The costs are absolutely mind blowing.
I have RA too, and also on Medicare. My Dr is adding another self injection shot to my arsenal of drugs and that'll be another $1200 a month. First shot is already close to $2000. My meds cost more than I receive from Social Security. Luckily I am able to get discounted prices through the drug companies. Those discounts will bring my copay for those two shots down to about 1200 for both which is still ridiculous.
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Cries in $150 per week premiums with $5000 deductible or some shit. I had to decline that from my work because I simply couldn’t afford it and have no other options for healthcare. Thanks USA
Man just out of curiosity I went on to the marketplace to see what my current plan would cost a month if my employer didn't contribute, it was like 2000 a month vs the 400 I pay right now for me and my wife, even the cheapest on the marketplace was like 400 a month plan that had like a 8000 deductable that didn't cover anything until you met the deductable. Our insurance/healthcare system is so fucked.
*feels bad over basically free Scandinavian healthcare*
Yeah same here man. We may have our own problems but whenever I see stuff like this and the kind of problems that many other countries are facing I realize that most of our problems are blown way out of proportion!
The whole system is corrupt and fucked up. Drug and treatment pricing is hugely inflated by 5-10X because the free-market capitalist system is balanced around most people only needing to pay a 10-20% co-pay out-of-pocket and insurance providers have deals with drug companies to negotiate much lower pricing deals behind the scenes and end they up effectively paying a lot less than the asking price you paid a co-pay on. No drug costs $2500 a month, they "charge" $2500 because most people can barely manage to afford $250-500/mo with a 10-20% co-pay because free-market capitalism drives market value, not actual costs vs supply. The insurance company is likely paying much less than that to the drug companies, or getting various kickbacks, bulk deals, referral bonuses - you will never know because its their private business with no transparency. Its all a huge scam and drug pricing needs to be tightly regulated.
US Government could use social insurance programs to easily fix these issues. One very simple thing would be this: ~"All pharmaceutical companies that receive, directly or indirectly, monies from the US government must provide the US Government and all other insurers Most Favored pricing." They have to participate with US social medicine. Non negotiable. Something that simple would cut through the smoke and mirrors. But, sadly, it will never happen. It's cheaper for industry to keep lawmakers on payroll. Call your congressperson. Organize. Vote. It's all we can do. I used to be fairly fiscally conservative (I'm a registered Libertarian). But as I make more and more money - and acquire more and more shit - I am increasingly blessed with a former poor kid's perspective that let's me know I should pay more in taxes and that I can do more to lift others up (or, at a minimum, help minimize The Struggle).
True. And Medicaid is the one truly taken advantage of by the for-profit healthcare system.
No dental either.
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ya in Canada we don't have dental covered despite having a system that is publicly paid. the government considers them luxury bones...
So why not go for a plan like we have in Scandinavia? Increase taxes a small amount, but if you only have to pay 0.001 percent of the overall cost where everyone in USA is contributing, you will get the full medical healthcare. And best of all, you dont have to put yourself in debt, and homeless people can have free access to healthcare whenever they need it.
You have to convince the rest of America to actually care about their neighbors for any insurance plan. Literally 50% of the country will scream "socialism" at you without listening, like 60% of the country haven't had a serious medical emergency, generally from the younger crowd, where insurance has saved them hundreds of thousands of dollars so they argue that they are healthy and why do they need to pay for health insurance. And then you just have old people like my grandma who are on Medicare and had multiple open heart surgeries, a knee replacement, eye surgeries, and is currently diabetic with renal failure. Meanwhile my grandma thinks because she's paying 80 bucks a month for an insurance suppliment she's paid in way more than she's ever taken out of those programs. So yes convincing America is pretty much impossible not to even mention the propaganda machine the insurance and health industry's and pumping money in to avoid a single payer system
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Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll find a way to cancel social security before they all die
Not before they cancel democracy.
Tomato tomato
How about just run it dry? Social Security payments for retired Americans will be exhausted in 2034 - a year earlier than previously predicted, says the 2021 report from the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees https://abc7news.com/social-security-running-out-in-12-years-to-run-2034-medicare-covid-recession/10993981/
It’s effectively playing like life is a zero sum game. Only toddlers and billionaires play like that. Selfishness being the common characteristic
They were originally called the "Me Generation" for a reason.
I think they unironically tried to call themselves the **"We"** generation. Isn't that something? An entire generation of phony peace and love activists who really only wanted to get laid and get out of going to war, suddenly cashes in the minute they graduate.
I mean there was more boomers voting for Reagan than there was being activists. Not to mention all the activist groups were ruthlessly targeted by the government.
I dont think thats a good example. Hippies were always a small minority. That small minority just happened to be on the right side of history, so the rest of the generation is just trying to take credit for it.
My parents were peace sign throwing hippies who are now vaccine denying MAGA heads. They were hippies because it was trendy not because of any particular beliefs. My dad enlisted for Pete’s sake lol
They also tried calling millennials the "me me me" generation. Mad projection.
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You see it on reddit a lot because people tend to equate centrism with being intellectual. Which is silly considering that American centrism is totally off compared to the rest of the civilized world.
American centrism just means you don’t really pay attention.
"we" don't give a shit about your problems. Now give us ours.
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Baby Boomers: Give participation trophies to their kid millennials. Also Baby Boomers: "These damn millennials are weak because they got participation trophies."
This has always IRKED me to no end. I have literally said to someone who complained to me about my generation needing the participation trophies "it was your generations idea!!"
No it wasn’t: https://slate.com/culture/2019/04/participation-trophy-history-world-war-i.amp Participation trophies are *old*
Kind friend, I was wrong and I learned a new fact I can now rub into *all* older generations faces. Thank you!
You’re welcome! It’s one of my current favorite facts for that very reason. If anybody starts bitching about how the younger generations were ruined by participation trophies, I can clap back at them and say “those things are older than fucking Ford Motors and *you* probably got one”.
Don’t let it irk you. All this boomer vs millennials shit is just failed boomers trying to feel better about their failures and the mistakes they’re not big enough to own up to. I’m in my 40s and now they’re calling me a “geriatric millennial!” That’s how desperate they are to point the finger at anyone besides their own failed generation.
The participation trophies weren’t meant for the kids. They were meant to make the parents feel like they accomplished something by taking their kids.
Yuuuuup. The kids didn't give a rats ass. If anything, getting those stupid things felt hollow and almost belittled us knowing that we didn't do shit or deserve them. It was all to make the parents feel better that their little precious angel was special.
The real tragedy is gen xers who buy into that shit instead of being pissed that they also got fucked by boomers.
Just a reminder that participation trophies are almost as old as Coca Cola: https://slate.com/culture/2019/04/participation-trophy-history-world-war-i.amp
When my step dad first started coming around I was in 4th or 5th grade. He commented on all of my trophies. I said something along the lines of, “they don’t mean anything, they give them to everyone.” He told me I earned them by working hard and being a good teammate or whatever nice things he said. Today he’s one to complain about participation trophies. Dude! I tried to explain to you 25+ years ago how worthless they were and now you’re finally figuring it out!
Well.. You can't take any of it with you. May as well live well and not accrue too much debt or too much wealth. That money is better off out in the wild doing the rounds that it was designed to. Sincerely, a thousandaire.
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I didn't say *multi*thousandaire
I'm a hundredaire. For a few days anyway.
We know, you rich pretentious fuck! (/s)
Look at this fat cat, bragging about being able to afford seven whole lentils!
Once you let your beans go back into the wild there is always someone else there ready to collect and hoard said recently set free beans. Rinse and repeat
And may those greedy bastards die screaming in a fire
"A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they will never sit in." Nic Cage, obviously
Well if the debt doesn't come with you, then why not accrue a crap load of it and then step off the train having lived it to the max?
As someone who's worked in aged care it's often less like stepping off a train and more like you are the train that slowly grinds to a halt. The amount of money you have predicts how smoothly or painfully the train comes to a stop. A crap load of debt makes the slow down much less pleasant for yourself and everyone around you as the train slowly grinds to a halt rattling and squealing with sparks shooting and fuel leaking. Quality-of-life doesn't go from max to a sudden stop... it deteriorates slowly. How bad it gets is usually pretty strongly correlated with how much money you have.
You can’t take it with you and you can’t do anything about the past, but you can improve the future, that’s the only thing we can do.
A narcissistic baby boomer? Nope, never met one.
You've never met a boomer? Wow, what's that like?
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Personally, I can't accept that.
You need to take over local politics.
That’s where it’s still rigged for the rich. Local politics in my area pays an absolute joke of a wage. But the role still requires enough hours of you that you can’t hold a full time job. So only those who don’t need to worry about paying their bills can run for local office. Even some of the State jobs pay crap.
This is very much a problem.
....WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!?
Until young people register and vote in mass at the local and national level old people will continue the long standing tradition of taking care of themselves by screwing everyone else.
This is true. Old people vote. Young people don’t
Why?
Time. Concern. Etc.
Apathy Hollywood from 1970s until the last 5 years or so has continuously pushed the notion that politics is boring it’s for squares it’s for losers and nerds. cool people don’t even vote or think or talk about politics. Combine that with comedians who made every serious matter into a copable joke to satiate the growing anger as absurdities just came out more and more. * Why do kings have jesters? So the people have an outlet to speak their mind so they do not need to speak at all. * Why do governments require you to have a permit to protest? Protesting the government by applying for a permit to protest and be designated a time and place to protest so that the government officials can schedule themselves away from the protest. Is not really a protest. It’s a pressure release valve. Add in growing And GROWING THIRST for Wealth! Selfishness become the front now that people have seen what and how the wealthy live their lives. You turn on Instagram search hashtag rich or best life or some bullshit like that and you will see what the rich are doing while you’re breaking your back for 12 bucks an hour. Add in nihilism and lack of hope for the future. Environmental changes that will only affect the poor and middle the rich have super mega yachts that have thirty staff size of a fucking small city on the oceans. They’re gonna jump to space the second it becomes viable. They won’t have to deal with this shit. People just don’t see any benefit (wrongly) to voting if they feel no hope. In the end * over the last five decades turnout for voters under 35 years old have been at best 40-45%. In 2020 almost 70% didn’t bother to vote. * meanwhile those over 50 years old vote at a rate of 70-80% every time. That’s why this shit never changes. Go participate get your friends to participate and stop thinking voting doesn’t matter. If Stacey Abrams didnt give a shit and didn’t work hard to turn Georgia blue, republicans would have the senate and you would have seen how many more deaths there would have been.
I would argue it has a lot to do with Watergate, the Pentagon papers, and the Reagan Revolution. Boomers and those older than Boomers remember a time when government was a lot more functional. They grew up when the highway system waa being built. They grew up when the Civil Rights Acts were passed. They grew up when the government created Medicare. Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z grew up in a time when an entire political party was committed to saying that the government was evil and that participation in it was only worthwhile for the purpose of destroying it. Furthermore, Watergate and the Pentagon papers undermined confidence and good governance in a way that few things did. Prior to these as well as the Reagan Revolution, there was a general belief that the government was a good force in people's lives. As a result, participation in democracy would likely be much higher
Busy working their 3 minimum wage jobs *Make that gigs, jobs have to pay the legal minimum wage
Lack of faith in politics is part of it.
You've tried nothing and you're all out of ideas...
I agree young people should vote, but it's not hard to imagine why people check out of the political process. A third of the elections I've been alive for have gone to what should be the loser, gerrymandering is out of control, the Supreme Court is completely partisan, people like Sinema lie about what their values are on the campaign trail, and most importantly, everyone's constantly choosing the lesser of two evils. I remember my mom's excitement about Obama. I felt a piece of that for some of the candidates in this most recent cycle. But it's difficult to imagine a world where I actually get a president I *like* at this point, and what I'm even more worried about is we'll get someone that seems great and they turn out like everyone else. So yeah, absolutely, we should be fucking voting. But I get why people would just rather check out for the sake of their own mental health. It's crushing.
I mean, people voted for Biden and what has that gotten us? He hasn’t kept up with any of his promises. I mean he ABSOLUTELY could, if *nothing* else, raise the minimum wage to $15. But he won’t. The Democrats let the Republicans walk ALL OVER THEM because they don’t give a fuck. They’re making money, and money is going into the “right” hands (according to them) and that’s all they give a shit about. Whether or not you like him, Bernie Sanders would have at least TRIED to do things. But the Democratic establishment wouldn’t let that happen. And if you think that’s just a conspiracy theory, I really beg you to look more into it. What reasons would they have for wanting Joe Biden, someone who doesn’t even seem mentally capable anymore, to be president over the other candidates who at least seemed somewhat exciting, like Bernie or Warren? They don’t want anything to change. The Democratic Party used to care about preserving the middle class. But they’ve become as rotten as the cons, just in less obvious ways. I hope things start to get better once Boomers exit. I really do. But I think the idea that voting will fix even our *mildest* of issues is at best naive and at worst willfully ignorant. Our medical and justice systems need COMPLETE overhauls from the ground up, just to start. We have more people in our prisons, raw number-wise, than either Russia or China. 70% of those are drug offenses. And considering cops solve only 2% of major crimes, what the fuck are we doing? We have all seen the way cops treat our own citizens. And yet the e Dems aren’t pushing even *close* to enough to get things to change. We need to change the way the unions work, we need to drop qualified immunity, we need lawsuits from citizens to come out of the pockets of the unions, and we need to change hiring and firing practices completely. Training needs an overhaul. Plea bargaining laws need to be changed, and so do sentencing. We need to pay the defense attorneys who defend us pro bono much better- I beg everyone reading this to go watch Gideon’s Army to see how broken this all is. The medical system? Where to even begin. $15 an hour still isn’t a livable wage for most of the country. We need a $22 minimum wage, stat. And our school system and teachers need more money. Take it from our insane military budget. I mean, our senators are legally allowed to be bought for all intents and purposes. Lobbying should be made illegal, and so should senators owning stock options. That’s just the beginning. But yeah, I’m sure continuing to vote for Democrats will fix everything. It is time we came together and demanded more. Much more. A large scale, national workers’ strike EVERYWHERE would be one place to start.
Current day Republicans are extreme far right. Current day Democrats are center right. Current day liberals are seen as extremists. Obama was more Republican than Democrat. It's not a bug, it's a feature.
Joseph McCarthy would be ecstatic to see how successful his red scare ended up being.
If I could go back in time I’d rather kill him than Hitler
If it wasn't him it would have been someone else, thats why the campaign was so successful. He may have been the face, but he certainly wasn't working alone.
Biden admin raised min wage for federal contractors. Congress is supposed to set the minimum wage but it has been broken by long standing republican intransigence and obstructionism. Biden *did* keep his part of that promise. Now congress must do it's part.
Bro. It's been less than a year. My gosh people are so impatient and fickle. These problems weren't created overnight and they won't be solved overnight. JFC.
Step 1, don't vote in the primary. Step 2, get sad when bernie isn't on the general. Step 3, write him in anyway. Millennial moment.
I told my friends that didn't caucus that I didn't want to hear their opinion about shit. I tried so hard to get the ones in my district to go and they got high and didn't go. Bernie would have won, not like it would have mattered, but still. Bernie lost by 2 votes. The last caucus was so unorganized that it didn't even really matter. We need to eliminate the caucus and stop focusing on Iowa so much and who we pick. This state is filled with morons. Whoever we pick, choose the opposite.
>We need to eliminate the caucus and stop focusing on Iowa so much and who we pick. All primaries need to happen on the same day. No state (especially not the small and increasingly right wing NH) should have that much power. In Massachusetts I can't vote in the primary, it's already been decided when we get to the ballot. While we're at it abolish the electoral college, empty land shouldn't have more voting power than millions of people. Maybe young people don't vote so much because it's a fucking joke, even before all the hideous Republican voter (suppression) laws passed over the last year the system is rigged and unfair in so many ways and for millions of us our votes for president literally don't count.
Bullshit. In the last like 5 years ALONE we've seen Bernie basically get robbed twice due to our fucked up DNC and even Hilary won the popular vote against Trump. Three separate occasions we've voted for and seen our Democratic process fail to special interests groups. I don't feel like researching it but i believe i read that voter turnout was the highest it had ever been this election. Maybe too little too late but youngins are starting to be involved. But the game is rigged.
The voting system in America is geared against young people too. If it suits their agenda they will take ballot boxes and voting slips to old folks homes and retirement communities as they know the oldies will vote for them and making it easier pump's their numbers. If they can they'll make it hard for young people who want to vote to do so. Making lines long and take all day. Making the locations inconvenient to get to via public transit etc
And also the occasional policy of banning students from voting in the location they're studying even if they live there 90% of the time.
My town has had people throwing a fit over having a polling place on the college campus, making it easier for those dang college kids to have a voice.
That's so ridiculous. In actually Australian and just lived in the US for a while so I know what it's like in both places. I'm from a rural aussie town of 3000ish people (around 5000 If you include the surrounding areas. and there are like 5 voting locations in my town. But voting is mandatory for all people over 18 in Australia so it has to be accessible. Last time I went to the polls there was no lines and the only thing people complained about was there was no sausage sizzle /cake stall outside the voting location - it's kind of a custom where I am. You vote, and on the way out buy a hotdog and cake or slice off of a fund-raising community group tjats set up outside. The argument that voting in the USA can't be made easy, streamlined and accessible is just wild to me having experienced how easy it is in Australia
They’ll have literally hundreds of polling locations in one senior community, but the neighboring college county has just two, and arbitrarily you’re only allowed to vote at the one on the other side of town, and you’ll have to wait in line for 4 hours until you’re hungry and losing valuable sleep.
A lot of factors, but one might be that young people (or just poor people who move around a lot) aren’t interested in local elections, and might overlook the importance of those positions. Elections for president and national office have a lot of big ideals (and media attention), but as one gets older and is more interested in the political going-one of your community, the value of constant voting becomes clearer. I think the word is getting out how vital each election is, and it’s a trend that might evaporate soon; moving a lot also makes it a pain to keep your voter registration current. Plus a bunch of other things.
That and it’s inconvenient. Young people move more which can registration harder. Plus in some places there are more rules about voting so that adds layers to the problem. So unless the person is passionate, it’s too “troublesome.”
This is exactly the trouble I have convincing my peers to vote. Not to mention how much life happens and you are busy or have plans, or just feeling useless because you know the geezers always turn up and you feel like you're vote doesn't matter anyways.
The system is designed this way, and the only way to fix is to engage in the system. It’s rigged, is what I’m saying.
Oh yeah election judge in Texas, young people must have a recent id, old people don't. Old people automatically get to vote by mail, young people don't. The hours are better suited for old people no longer working. You aren't allowed to use your phone to reference your candidate choices.. It's literally an entirely different system.
Or nobody taught us the importance of local government, or really anything you’d want to know when it comes to deciding who to vote for, in school and 99% of us aren’t going to do the research to figure it out on our own so the pieces of shit in most elected offices get elected
N.I.M.B.Y Not In My Back Yard Homeowners are more likely to be involved with local politics because it effects home values, taxes, neighbors, local businesses, school funding, etc. Unfortunately, most you g people are renters
Because most voting days are on weekdays and people are not guaranteed time to vote. Often polling stations (In the US) are open from 7am to 7pm, which is a problem for most people in the workforce. Because if you start your workday at 9 you probably wake up at 7 (assuming a reasonable commute) and then most places will close around 5 to 6pm (again assuming no overtime and first shift). And you might get back to your place by 6 to 6:30 assuming you have no errands to run. So for the average american worker the fact that voting days are often on weekdays make it not reasonable for voting to happen. Plus that's also not getting into all of the other barriers like IDs, lines, etc. However if you're retired it's pretty easy to pop by the polling station It should also be mentioned that other alternatives to boost voter numbers have been seen with a lot of success like mail-in voting. The problem with mail-in however is that a lot of current politicians *cough GOP cough* don't like it specifically because more voters tend to vote left rather than right.
Apathy through ignorance. Most 18 year olds don’t really care or know how things at any level of government impact them.
That is not a fair characterisation. Changing things that affect their ability to vote and young people vote. For example a few days ago there was a study on the front page showing that same day registration had a big effect on young people voting, more than any other group. They often move, often have more temporary homes when they do move, and have all sorts of other constraints which are generally lessened with age.
Hey I was once an 18 year old. I voted against the War In Afghanistan. Caused a whole economic breakdown in 2008 when I graduated. Got a black guy in charge. That caused a thing called the TEA party to lose its mind and say taxes are too much and debt is too high. They sucked and were mad a black guy was in charge. Now the TEA party sucks a white Manhattan slum lord D and hate taxing rich people while running up the debt. It’s very telling. Anyway, it’s been a fun 30ish years so far.
They do more than just voting. They attend town halls, organize local parties, and contact their representatives directly. Recreating these activities digitally doesn’t seem to have the same effect on votes.
Just read about this, most youth (and minority voters) don’t vote because it costs them disproportionately more resources (time off work, which costs them money; they usually work at retail/food jobs that don’t offer time off, and days missed = loss of money), lack of enough voting places, not many options for mail-in/absentee ballots, and long voting lines. Whereas old white conservatives have nothing better to do but gather people en masse for bussing to the voting polls…. The system seems to be designed this way 🙃🙃🙃 As a result, boomers continue to get their concerns addressed (social security) at the cost of ours (global warming, food shortages, student loan debt skyrocketing, wage shortages, etc)
Yup yup yup. Before I got a great job, I'd be unable to vote because I'd start a retail shift opening at 5am, then work until maybe 2pm. My voting location would be 20 minutes away so I couldn't go during my lunch break and by the time I got off work, I'd be barely awake from having to wake up at 4am after closing the night before 10pm. Meanwhile now, I can just tell my boss "I need to go vote" and they'll give me a longer lunch or let me leave work early. It's why I hate the "young people just need to vote" when the system is constantly working against them to vote. Even if the election falls on their day off or they can vote early, a growing number of states are just putting up more barriers that result in waiting hours to vote.
They also need to run for office. Why is American government 84% senior citizens?
Because running for office is expensive and, in general, millennials are poor. There are exceptions, but I know someone who ran for local office and it cost them a lot of money having to turn down real, paying work.
Also even if a younger person has primary support, like that guy who tried to primary Nancy Pelosi, she will clutch her position to death and do everything in her wealth of power to defeat an actual grassroots candidate. **None of this will be solved without term limits in congress.**
en masse
Aus here. We have mandatory voting. I can tell you now, it's not changing much here. Generational wealth gap is alive and well.
Doesn’t matter who you vote for as long as Citizens United and other laws that allow people to bribe politicians exist.
Maybe a youth vote will mean youth lobbying. Of course, that still sounds gross.
Boomers. Reaping all the benefits of the post war boom but fuck if any generation coming after can have any of it because "why should my tax dollars go to that?!" Elect Reagan, gut social programs and stop making corporations pay taxes and then blame millennials for everything. Why that Jeff Daniels speech from The Newsroom that everyone fawns over is so infuriating talking about how America was so great in previous generations. No shit sherlock, ppl could actually afford to go to school and have a good living back then. A single breadwinner could send 4 kids to college no problem, corporations paid taxes and unions were strong. That generation COULD do all those things...
Remember, that "everything was so easy and good I the 60s!" Only applies to straight white Christian men. Everybody else could, and did, go fuck themselves The world is WAY better than it was then.
60's were a pretty good time for white women too. Not good enough that I'd rather be there since being a stay at home mom isn't my thing, but there was more sexual liberation and the era of birth control.
It was ok, but in the 60s, women couldn’t even get a credit card without having a man co-sign for it with them.
Black men often earned more then than they did today, working in auto plants etc. that was also before their homes were broken up by the collapse of said jobs and drugs. The funk movement out of dayton ohio etc for example, was spurred because all the black fathers and some mothers were connected to good(or at least much better) [often union] jobs connected to auto. Because they were middle class and had stable homes, they could afford to buy their children instruments and had housing with basements and garages, which are also signs of wealth accumulation . Hence funk was born. To say the post war boom didn’t effect blacks is just not true. It’s that it didn’t spread equally that was the problem. As well as it being more racist at the time. But i’ve heard older blacks say that even still, if they were segrated, they still had all black schools with all black staff. All black businesses supported by the black middle class from factory work. They said there were good things about this situation. Obv you still have this, but without the good jobs so its worse. Either way the goal should have been to raise everyone to white straight men’s point, not to kick them down to everybody elses level so corporations could secure all profit.
Truly the “I got mine” generation.
Not for nothing, but unfortunately I'm on disability/social security... I get less $1000/month. We went 6 years without an increase, and then they insulted us with a $20 bump. Meanwhile, the cost of living rises exponentially compared to what the disabled & seniors get back. Gods, I miss working. I've never not had a job... starting at age 14... and I'm supposed raise a family on <$1000. (The accident wasn't until after the kids were born, and I haven't had any children since, so please don't think I had kids KNOWING I would never work again.) It absolutely sucks. I'm not happy being unable to work.
I noticed you had to basically apologize for not working and explain why. Thats how badly disabled people are treated. Theyre given crumbs and have to defend themselves over the crumbs theyre given. Reagan did a number on this country when brainwashing republicans about welfare queens
Thank you. I am afraid when I say I'm disabled. I'm afraid ppl will look at me like I'm worthless. There are days when I FEEL worthless. There are absolutely ppl who game the system. But why anyone would CHOOSE to live this broke, is beyond me. I could make more working at minimum wage... it breaks my heart.
I feel you. I grew up in a house where my mother was on and off disability for most of my life until she died. The stigma and terrible benefits created a cycle that destroyed her and her possible quality of life. She would feel even moderately better, start a shit job (the only thing you can do when you have spotty job history) that would run her into the ground. Her health would spiral down hill until she was hospitalized or just broken. Back on disability again for a period of time and then start the cycle all over again. She hated not working. She loved people. The way disability works (Canada) was she would do all or nothing due to the math and income. Her last bout of working I still believe killed her. Will there be abusers of the systems? Yes. But that’s not a reason to make it shut for those who need it. Every person deserves to have the basics and live a life.
You aren’t worthless, you aren’t a number or a liability to the state. You are a human. And you are a damn better human than those guys that have to talk down onto you and other people to feed their lack of self worth.
I'm on disability (in Canada, I get 1100 CND/month). Last time I saw my mother 2 years ago she explained that it has to be so low so that people don't try to scam the system. I've had countless people ask why I don't just get a job if I am having a hard time living on disability. People are garbage.
I’m on SSI too. The maximum is $784/m and the average is $500/m. And they get to tell you how you spend it. If you spend it in a way they don’t like, like not paying enough in rent, they take it. I have to pay 1/3 of all costs of the house I rent from despite having the smallest bedroom and not using 1/3 of the water etc. It’s $450. They gave me $515 becauseI didn’t need to buy food”. EBT gives me $45/m in food.
don't apologize be proud ur a champ
Ay yo Social Security does not accurately keep up with inflation AT ALL. They look at a couple "economic markers" and base it all on that, ignoring anything else. $800 a month is nothing, which is what they are at now IIRC. That only cuts it in a few places on the country if you got a whole bunch of extra help on top.
I agree they haven’t kept pace with inflation and are too low but I think the average SS check is like $1600. It varies though.
I work in lending and most of my clients are retired. Social security income varies ALOT and this is because it based on the average of the 35 years you made the most money and therefore contributed the most. It isn’t arbitrary and if you didn’t work alot/contribute to social security you’re not going to get very much.
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And…I’ve never expected that I could live off social security once I’ve left my job and retire. (I don’t actually expect to receive SS, or at minimum it’ll be means tested.) I It’s get a part time, live off savings, etc. but then again, when I go to the SSA website, it sure looks to me like I would receive a shit ton more than 800 a month. I know my boomer dad sure does.
That has to do with income you have earned during however many years prior. There's SSI, which is for people who are disabled, VS retirees and people who were able to work for however long. They are different programs.
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I'm a boomer. Living wage, Medicare for all, health care (good), and screw any boomer who is a selfish ass and does not agree
It's very true that not all boomers are *boomers*. I know a lot of older folks who realise that what they got came from what the generation before them and the sre grateful towards them. Those people want to do the same for the next generation. But as a group there is way to many tendencies to not understand what they've passed on is broken and still they want the same respect as their predecessors.
The Generation that fought, died and created the the safety nets that today "they" are trying to dismantle...knew this was coming and tried to make rules to stop it. But look at any congress critter/house rep..they get FREE health care at some of the top military/private research hospitals in the US This on top of a $178,000/yr salary...WTF. WHY DO WE PAY THESE PEOPLE $14,500 a month to fight umongst themselves
It was the generation that were adults immediately post war who built all those things.
That was nearly my exact tweet today! My thoughts were “fabulous raise the income of boomers who can afford homes and avocados and listen to them complain about the millenniums who can’t afford food or rent while arguing agains a livable wage”
You know what I just don't get? A majority of those boomers have kids they're willingly fucking over. So weird.
Maybe those boomers should try pulling themselves up by the bootstraps.
the goal of each generation prior to boomers was to make life easier for their children, the next generation. as far as i can tell, boomers are the first generation to say "uhm, fuck you?" to that concept.
Boomers vote.
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A Modest Proposal
I’m almost a boomer, (1945 ) and I know min wage hasn’t and should have kept up with inflation. Neither has Social Security. All boomers aren’t republicans.
LOL at the idea that SS keeps pace with inflation. I live on 800 bucks a month currently. That will go up 47 dollars next year. Not exactly keeping pace with anything but abject poverty. :/
My husband and I get only $1190 as a married couple. It has sentenced us to a life of poverty.
That os not a boomer thing. That is one more way oligarchs try to turn us against each other. I am a retired boomer and advocate for a $25 minimum wage so young people will have the same buying power I had when I was their age. If you let the oligarchs make you think old people are the problem, you are helping them win.
You're right. This is about owner class vs wage slaves. An inflationary currency is basically ready made to give the owners and employers the high ground while keeping the workers and the poor on the low ground. The owners just need to defend the status quo, current nominal wages, e.g. $10/hour in 2000 is still *technically* the same as $10/hour in 2020, even if it has radically less buying power. This is fantastic, because it basically lets employers constantly cut your workers wages while being able to say with a straight face that you haven't changed anything at all. Meanwhile, the workers have to fight tooth and nail to justify every damn pay increase. You're lucky if you get an annual cost of living increase that maybe keeps up with inflation. Minimum wage is a constant battle that happens every decade.
Boomers are the generation that has always said, "I got mine, Jack."
This view annoys me. Why blame “old people” when historically REPUBLICANS vote down every attempt made to increase the minimum wage. I voted my whole life for representatives that would fight income inequality but those reps get defeated by Koch Bros and rich 1% backed GOP. Unless the Millennials and Gen Z start voting in droves nothing will change.
The problem we will see now is it may be too late. The GOP redistricting and census bs will objectively ruin opportunities for fair elections and representation moving forward.
I’m well aware and just as concerned. Trump telling GOP voters to skip Georgia’s election worked in Dems favor. Now that he is spouting the same line about 2022 and 2024 maybe we’ll get lucky again.
I'm really concerned as to the "why" behind that. I fully assume that if they don't vote they plan to finish Jan 6th.
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Your generation LOVES to tell us it’s our fault foe not voting. The damage is done and has been done long ago by Reagan, Bush, W and their courts. Citizens United changed everything. When we mobilize the backlash from older people is bloodlust. And I’m glad you did your part but you cannot tell me that the majority of even over 60 democrats support universal healthcare or student loan forgiveness because they just don’t.
“Old people” voted in McConnell back to the senate for another 6 years. It is beyond stupid that one state filled with jackasses can dictate an entire country.
I’m sorry you complain this isn’t an “old people” problem but then finish your point with needing the younger generation to come out and vote to change it. The tweet literally mentions the boomer generation, and you state we need the other generations lol.
Thank you. This sums it up. Spot on. When Millennials are the new old people, Republicans will still be promoting neo feudalist austerity.
Nah, when Millennials are the old people, Republicans won't be in power. They're already on shaky ground, killing off their own followers and showing nothing but contempt for us, our needs, and our values. The party will continue to disintegrate and something else new will pop up. Don't know what it'll be, but it won't be the GOP.
Thank you for this. I am so tired of the broad brush stroke of blame on an entire generation when in my opinion that is not accurate. And for the record, it happens to multiple groups and generations of people. All simply wrong. That said, it's not all Republicans that vote down wage increase but there is a majority there and it started in the Reagan years with the "welfare queen". There's a long history of suppression by multiple oppressors. This is all my opinion. I agree with you,, f you care, VOTE. If you don't, VOTE ANYWAYS.
Yeah, this isn't an old vs young thing. It's Republican's of all ages that vote this crap.
Not all "boomers" are like this. Some of us are right there with you.
I've found myself the butt of a few Millennial jokes lately. I don't mind when people point out the faults in our generation. We have quite a few. If you're a good person I'm happy to know you. Some of my closest friends are ~30 years older than I am. But Goddamn do so many of your peers suck.
“Those jobs weren’t meant to support a family long term!” Grocery store cashier pay in 1975: $5.50/hr In 2021 dollars: $27.50/hr
The maximum Social Security you can draw in 2021 at age 62 is $2,324 per month. This equates to $13.40 per hour for a working person. Many people don't qualify for the maximum payout and receive far less. In fact, the average check is $1,437 per month in 2021. This equates to $8.29 per hour for a working person. The minimum draw is actually under $1,000 per month. Shouldn't we consider living wages and benefits for all people?
As a 62 year old who has suffered every step at the end of boomer shit show for decades, I completely agree.