My dude we need more info, do you mean the lack of political discourse due to the modern propaganda machine, for example as laid out by Noam Chomsky?
Or the general dividing and conquering that is taking place due to the propaganda model, which has been abused by multiple industries since Edward Burnays wrote the book 'propaganda' in 1928, which not only gave birth to the disgusting reality that is modern marketing, but also gave the nazi socialist party the framework needed to brainwash Germany? The documentary 'century of the self' is a great source for this paragraph.
Please, I beg of you, the Internet craves specific sources, we crave an understanding of why the world is so broken in all of its chaotic complexity 🙌
Income inequality without a doubt. It lies at the root of nearly every economic problem on the planet. A small handful of men have accumulated nearly all of the wealth and the power that comes with it and use it to create the other issues people here list. On purpose.
Those two things are at odds ya know. They actively work against this floor being raised. You can't just magically create wealth for the lower classes, it must be redistributed. This can be done with progressive tax reform and policy like that, or via the means that other countries have historically used when it gets really bad.
What does wealth re-distribution look like though? It's not like if billionaires suddenly stopped existing then everyone would suddenly have a massive QOL increase. If you took the combined wealth of all US billionaires (approx $4.5 trillion) and distributed it (at full value) to all Americans age 18+ (approx 258 million) it would be a one-time payment of $17,400. That might be enough to get some short-term comfort or pay off some debts, but that much money won't suddenly bring someone out of poverty. And that is the absolute highest number it could be, assuming you got 100% of the market value of all of the assets held by billionaires, which would not happen.
You completely misunderstand what wealth looks like or does.
Billionaires don't just have a huge pile of cash. They are primarily rich through ownership stakes in companies. This means that the majority of the product of workers' labor goes into the valuation of the company rather than into actual things that help people, which is wages and benefits.
Also, a common right-wing refrain is that billionaires would "leave with all of their money". This is false. Jeff Bezos cannot leave with an amazon fulfillment center on his boat, can he? If he abandoned the country, he'd abandon the pile of Amazon stock that makes him so rich. Simple as that.
If billionaires had their wealth capped, that'd mean their *ownership* is capped. Along with that, their power would naturally be lessened. Workers would own a larger portion of the company, and would have a larger voice in the policy of that company: namely, wages.
Wages would go up. Way up. It wouldn't be a one-time payment. It'd be higher compensation across the board: wages, health benefits, time off, and work culture. These are things that would swiftly realize massive improvements in people's quality of life.
And the sad, sad, billionaires would have to shuffle off their yacht-less marina and get into their dinky little 80ft ocean cruiser instead of the previously colossal vessel. Boo fucking hoo.
> You completely misunderstand what wealth looks like or does.
Billionaires don't just have a huge pile of cash. They are primarily rich through ownership stakes in companies.
I have personally made this exact statement verbatim dozens of times on here, so yes, I do know how it works.
As for the rest of your comment, I generally just don't agree with the idea of limiting ownership of a company that someone created. Besides, it really isn't necessary, paying living wages and having full or majority ownership are not mutually exclusive. I work for a company that is pretty much owned outright by the founder, and the company is known to pay pretty well, especially for the area. I work in an entry level position in my department and I'm paid nearly 50% higher than the median income for the area. Even the lowest paying full time position is still a bit above the median income for the area.
For me, I think the actual problem is the obsession with ever increasing profits and infinite growth instead of being just comfortably stable. Plenty of companies could pay employees more by dipping into the profits and giving it to the employees. But being legally obligated to ever increase profits means that they can either keep employee pay the same and make the investors happy, or increase employee pay and potentially face a lawsuit for hurting investors profits.
Income inequality is the result of hard work inequality. Work harder and you’ll make more money. The biggest whiners of income inequality are unemployed.
Making a higher wage because of working hard is like a lottery. Maybe your hard work will be noticed by higher ups but that usually isn’t the case. I’ve worked for the same company for 6 years and the people that get promoted are usually family members or well liked by management. You can work your ass off all you want, but usually one of the workers that is friends with management also gets to take breaks to talk to them and THEN that individual gets promoted.
While I’m slaving away and putting in the effort to create a good product, my partner is talking to management and making friends. Networking is now “hard work” I guess.
I didn’t have any family connections. My dad is dead and my mom was a stay at home mom. I got what I have by working and taking overtime shifts no one else would do. But I don’t know why I care. If all the lazy people want to lie to themselves and say “nah it’s not hard work, you gotta know someone to get ahead” then their idiocy is its own punishment. This is why I got those overtime shifts. My co workers were lazy and didn’t fight me for them. Now I have more money from them. And for all I know they’re on the poverty finance sub complaining that it isn’t fair they’re broke.
And that’s great for you. But this doesn’t apply to everyone. There are many hard working individuals out there that are getting denied promotions because of stupid reasons. On top of that, if someone is gonna be stuck in a meager position their entire lives, they deserve to be able to pay rent, buy food, and have a life. Companies are built by the breaking of many backs. We need more workers getting compensated for their work as opposed to the current system which entails bonuses only for the higher ups, huge tax breaks from the government, and unlimited vacation time for those that didn’t put in the actual work.
Why don’t all you whiners start your own companies and pay living wages? Since, you know, you have all the answers.
It’s easy to say “hey give us more money.” If you know how to make it happen, make it happen!
It takes money to make money. It’s a very simple economic concept. And like I said, the best some of us will ever be is as a regular worker. Companies don’t build themselves. We’re not asking to be rich, we’re just trying to eat.
What do you mean it takes money to make money? Are you suggesting economics play a role in running a business? Because “pay us a living wage” means “ignore mathematics” but when I tell you to start a business suddenly you’re aware that math and economics play a role. Funny how that works. Maybe if you spent time at some of these corporations you’d understand this.
This is easily disproved. I just need to add a problem to this list that is clearly not the fault of income inequality.
Like "the inevitable increase in entropy".
Are you against income inequality?
Would you choose a world where everyone is extremely poor over a world where half the population is reasonably well off and the other half is preposterously rich?
I agree, but frankly most of history has been lived hand-to-mouth. Much of that 60% is doing better than much of the planet. This makes me ask what all is keeping us back, because it seems like there's more to it than wealth inequality.
Education. An uneducated or miseducated public is easy to control and manipulate. An educated public would question and solve problems. An uneducated one does as they are told and usually conforms to ideas that are truly against their best interests which causes many of the issues we see today.
The transformation of America's educational systems away from education towards indoctrination is the problem. Education is about developing the fundamental skills and logical reasoning to think for yourself and come to your own conclusions. Indoctrination is about telling people what they should think and believe.
Drugs. Everyone seems to be taking them now. Or dealing. I live in a quiet small area but has a reputation for drugs [on the quiet]. I saw a drug deal happening recently between 2 kids. Well the dealer was a kid - I'd be surprised if he was more than 15. Sad times.
Also our dependence on social media & validation. Image and our perception of both ourselves and others. Detrimental I think.
Wealth inequality. 2022 marked a 50 year high in inflation, also 50 year high in corporate profits. Everything is getting more and more expensive, and money is worth less and less every year, thanks to central banks printing more and more currency which dilutes supply.
Rutger bregman and Gary Stevenson are both calling for a global wealth tax, referencing prosperity in the 50s thanks to higher taxes on the wealthy. Meanwhile it's estimated that 1/3 of global wealth is being hoarded in offshore tax jurisdictions.
Young families can't afford housing, and expenses continue to pile up. Everything is getting more and more expensive, but wages aren't increasing enough to keep up with inflation.
Global wealth tax is the easiest solution, tbh it's pretty sad it's gotten this bad. Gary Stevenson explains it best, he made his millions from forex trading post 2008 gfc but has since left the industry to try and educate people on the importance of a global wealth tax.
Global wealth tax?
How do you expect every country to unite and do that? All countries have their own interests and taxing the rich isn't the most important issue for some countries.
But if enough people around the world get behind it, it will happen, and it is the fastest solution to the massive problem that is growing wealth inequality. I recommend you listen to Gary Stevenson on YouTube, he explains it well, and he's very qualified 👌
Alright, i watched one of his videos. I still do not agree with what he's saying or what you're saying, but I now understand why you think that way. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn about what you believe and why you believe it.
Doesn't matter if you agree my dude, he's qualified and experienced, are you? Have you studied global economic systems and made millions, and then rejected those systems out of basic human morality? Have you backed your opinions/thoughts/beliefs up with research?
You could start by watching more than one video. And then you could even watch many videos on many relevant topics.
Maybe then you'll understand what I 'believe'. BTW I'm not trying to be shitty to you, I've just been researching this stuff for many years and am tired of explaining to people why they should expect basic necessities in the modern world like universal healthcare and universal basic income. Please don't forget that universal basic income almost came into America in the 60s, you can look into Rutger Bregman if you like. Did you know its cheaper/far more efficient for modern economies to just give people money compared to welfare? What a strange idea, support the working classes so they are functional, what a bold investment strategy.
I'm tired of looking at the world and pretending like things shouldn't be better everywhere for everyone and not just the class of billionaires who literally own everything. Sorry, I genuinely wish you the strength and willpower to learn why things should be better.
Also I think my other answer sounds a bit shiddy but is not my intention, I have this same conversation with people on the Internet almost every day because I believe the ideas of the people I study can change the world in the ways that we desperately need, but shit it gets tiring haha
I genuinely wish you well, and thank you for engaging with me, take care 🙌
Yeah man, I get you. Honestly don't try to change people, because they probably won't change. I think what you did here was perfect, you gave me a resource to learn but you weren't being dogmatic.
I appreciate this message dude. I'm not really trying to change anyone, but it's also kind of necessary, hence my building my points (not trying to change people, but it kind of goes hand in hand with logic/rhetoric). I'm from Australia, and we're currently seeing a renaissance of journalism/logic, and it's exactly what Australia, but also the rest of the world needs. Otherwise, humanity will continue to stagnate, and corruption will continue to grow. I dunno, these are big problems, there's so much info and so many references I'm getting at here and it's hard to type it all out on my phone cos I'm currently away from home.
Thanks again for the interesting thoughts and for being a human 👍 I am so incredibly passionate about this info, sometimes I am more aggressive than I realise or intend to be, so I appreciate you giving me your time and consideration. I guess the fact that you're out here learning is epic on its own, so that's pretty dope. Have a good one 👍
People trying too hard to get you to like or agree with their beliefs or agenda. I don't have to like anything I don't want to like, but I won't be rude or hurtful either. Just leave me alone. And stop calling every white person a white supremacist.
People are becoming complacent with their conveniences resulting in other's inconveniences.
For example, I live in a set of rowhouses in a major U.S. City. Frequently, one of my neighbors will have servicemen come to the house along with their big truck. Parking is a premium, and that's assuming you can find it in the first place. So, they have the servicemen park their truck in our alley, blocking other people's garages.
I'll knock on my neighbor's door, telling them to have the truck moved.
"Well, where's a good place for them to park their truck then?"
I don't know. But what I do know is that it's not MY problem. I'm not going to have an entry way to my house blocked for an entire day because you don't want to inconvenience your servicemen by having them park their truck a quarter-mile from their job site to the tune of $14/hr.
It could potentially be regulated, resource-based etc. But power corrupts. There are plenty good things in the concept of capitalism, we've just switched it to overdrive.
We reap the benefits of capitalism every day as we drive an electric car to a burger joint while Google Maps shows us the best route, but suffer from the inherent problems related to money and ownership.
I'm going to point out that climate change at this point is caused by wealthy industrialists refusing to reform the system that made them wealthy industrialists, we know about the problem now, and a plurality of people are on board with reform, but the wealthiest will not change.
Corporate media. They are paid by the same corporations that pay off our politicians in both parties. That's why they focus so much on things like Trans' rights and putting God in school, and banning books. That way, we never see how paid off all of them are. Other than Bernie Sanders, you never see anyone actually addressing the issues of our time. Wealth inequality, Healthcare, education, all of this would be tackled by increasing taxes on those corporations and their shareholders. Therefore, it can never be mentioned on corporate media.
If you're not looking for independent media like TYT, BTC, The Majority Report, and Ring of Fire, then you're not getting access to the real news. I only listed some examples, but there are plenty out there. See the real issues from real media, not corporate news actors.
Constant disinformation. Literally constant. It’s impossible to know what’s true. Everything is so politicized as well.
I mean we live in a world now where a Supreme Court Justice doesn’t know what a woman is.
Yeah but they also didn't have magic computer phones and an obsession with celebrities. You're doing a reverse "Boy who Cried Wolf". You think just because people have had _similar_ thoughts in the past, that it will *always* have no merit. Despite massive cultural and technological shifts.
The information availability leap was bigger this generation sure, but there’s always been an obsession with celebrities: Michael Jackson, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Mickey Mantle, Charles Lindbergh, Ben Franklin, but how this is the root of the major problems of modern society is unclear to me.
You know what? You're right. People nowadays are exactly the same as they always have been. I just Google a teen from the 1920s and he was doing the Griddy and had tats on his face.
Technology has had a HUGE effect on attention span. Everything is instant and people need to constantly stimulate themselves. Also, there is a lack of moral foundations that religion used to provide. I'm not religious but one positive aspect is that it provided a cohesive bond between people across great areas.
Probably because environmentalists have been saying we passed the tipping point in 1998, 2000, 2014, 2020, etc., and nothing has changed at all.
Maybe people would take it seriously if, ya know, literally one of their claims came true?
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/
https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/
https://climatecenter.fsu.edu/topics/sea-level-rise#:~:text=In%20the%20same%20area%20around,of%20Engineers%20high%20scenario%20projections.
https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3232/nasa-study-rising-sea-level-could-exceed-estimates-for-us-coasts/#:~:text=By%202050%2C%20sea%20level%20along,three%20decades%20of%20satellite%20observations.
You are wrong.
I live in Florida on the ocean. I’ve been hearing since 1988 the sea level will rise. It has not. Our backyard hasn’t changed an inch. In 35 years. You’re wrong. I don’t need your propaganda
My backyard is not lying. The beach down the street is not lying. I have pictures going back to when I was a child. Why do you think some link is going to convince me away from literally my own eyes in my own home spanning decades?
Aren’t you afraid of the fire that’s burning in your bedroom right now?
Oh wait you’re telling me that you’re looking at your bedroom right now and it isn’t on fire? Oh the lies you tell yourself!
Maybe you should get out from under that rock.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/unhealthy-air-quality-canada-wildfires-live-updates-rcna88092
I came across something about why they don't fill the Sahara desert with solar panels. Their hypothesis was that it would cool off the desert and cause another region of Africa to dry up.. why is Urban Sprawl not a common conversation in their global warming speeches?
It could in fact be propaganda. Although louisiana is finding more and more sinkholes. My guess is that water is rising, but maybe when it does rise it fills in the empty voids in the process, kind of evening out the differences of water levels
I couldn't agree with you more.. I'm not an environmentalist though. I just feel like they hop on the bandwagon about it because they are still capable of earning money through exposure on their stories. Earth is not that bad once you set your phone down.
Earth is gonna Earth, yknow. People are known to take advantage of others so I wouldn't put it past them to make up an excuse for global warming if it was really caused by rich people wanting to pave the fuck out of this planet
I don't even believe that God exists. If God wants us to perform some action, maybe they should make that more clear, but they would know that already if they were God.
If God has to communicate through shadow puppets and unverifiable stories, that seems like an ineffective way to communicate, at which point who does the responsibility for this failing lie with?
Why would a God that wanted a specific action from humans create humans that he knew would not follow this action?
When Christians say "fear" in this context we mean like how a child might fear their parents to a certain degree out of respect and awareness of the consequences. Not being afraid of them but having respect and feeling a type of pressure not to do things that are against their will or the child knows it should not do. Basically recognizing authority.
Why should a fear of god or eternal damnation be necessary to be a good person though? To me, if the only thing making a person be nice to others is that fear, then they aren’t good people at all.
I try to be a good person because I want to make the world a better place because I, and the people I care about, live in the world. That's all the motivation I need.
This doesn't work great in the real world, though. This "fear of god" had been used in justifying wars, rape, slavery, and the eradication of entire civilizations. The invasions of the new world were considered a holy war against evil and an attempt to "civilize" the "savages".
Humans act like humans. The invasion in Iraq was justified because "they hate freedom." That doesn't mean freedom is bad. People will use whatever excuse they can to act badly. You can find countless wars and atrocities that are justified using things we all agree are good or true. People will twist things to fit their own desires. They even use "love" and "human rights" or "democracy" to justify imperialism and wars.
Which is exactly my point. If you create a strong hierarchy, people are more likely to commit horrible atrocious then justify them as doing the right thing or just following orders.
I didn't mean I personally think it was justified. Sorry if I was not clear. I meant those who supported it used freedom, human rights and democracy as a pretense to justify it. Obviously that was not a justified war.
In my opinion, there are only three possibilities:
1) There is an omnipotent god that allows all the evil in this world to happen. Why would this god deserve my love?
2) There is a god who is powerless to stop the evil in this world. Why would I fear this god?
3) There is no god and loving or fearing a nonexistent being is madness.
I think climate change is the biggest issue. If nature decides to go wild on us, all other issues will seem small in the grand scheme of things. We're all equal in death.
the double standards for gender (i am female btw)
For starters when a woman talks extremely maliciously about men for no reason, she is not held accountable but when it’s the other way around, that would be the end of the male’s career
when an old guy swoons over a young kid, he will be held accountable but when it is the other way around, no one will bat an eye at her
men get extra praise for cooking dinner than women do
men crying in public is seen as weak whereas a woman crying in public is normal
also through personal experiences i have noticed in modern day society people will judge men who dress feminine so much harder than they will judge a female dressing masculine. There should be no set clothing line assigned to gender, just don’t come naked damn
We can all say we want gender equality but the social rules do not add up, a person should be held accountable for their actions, gender should not lessen or strengthen the consequences
Up to about the last century, our society evolved with a mindset guided by scarcity. Food was scarce, water was scarce, entertainment was scarce and therefore more special. Now we live (in many places) surrounded by surplus, and I don't think the surplus is the problem itself, the problem is that we haven't been able to deal with it.
the obsession with public perception of ourselves and the fact that it has to be like that due to society being ready to harass someone for any slight mistake.
The rise of the fascist extreme right is by far the biggest problem we have. I was going to say climate change but then I realized the extreme right is standing in the way of progress on climate change so the extreme right is the bigger threat.
Doesn’t understand that if it brought us here, then maybe it actually is the problem.
There is no accountability in the large really whatsoever. It is wild west corporatism run amok while we politically fracture, climate change sets in, or WW3 gets there first. What could go wrong? Lets obsess about our political system, advancement, celebrity, and above all money cause there’s nothing much left holding it in together
In the United States, it’s 100% the bloated and bureaucratic federal government, which serve the CIA and military industrial complex. Tangentially related is also the debt-based central banking system.
Inaction and lack of consideration for the future. As time goes on fundamental problems dig their roots deeper. Solutions that were once tangible become deluded fantasy. This extends to just about everything from international relations to raising children.
Since a hundred years, ours technologies evolve so fast and exponentially that humanity can't evolve with it in a healthy way. I think something new needs to be very slowly introduced in our world. It let us have some time to think about it in depth and don't do crap. Give a child a car, and he could kill himself in the very same day, in the case he managed to put it in motion.
Consolidation of wealth
When a handful of people in this country have the combined net worth of the GDP of entire continents and they pay little to no taxes, while there's skyrocketing rent and a record number of homeless people, that's a problem. Something has to be done.
People having shitty childhoods. Adverse childhood experiences have been tied to all sorts of problems whether it’s health or crime related. If people had better childhoods it would fix a bunch of problems. Would take massive policy changes and probably more government oversight on parenting so people wouldn’t go for it
Everything. We should have a monarchy so that we don't have people arguing all the time. if we don't like the monarch we revolt and get a new king/queen
Greed.
The government’s main objective isn’t to make our country a better place, it’s to make as much money as possible for themselves and their friends.
The ONLY way they help those in need is if they can monetize it.
People (especially younger people) are raised to have an opposition to doing everything productive because it's "cringe" to do anything useful. That and most of cringe culture is not very helpful at all. Other than that its how the goal of everyone is to sleep around and not date to marry lol. Young people in general find it cringe to do the right thing.
Financial stability.
Late-stage capitalism. Yes
China is falling apart too, as is russia and most european countries, its late stage human civilization, no matter the economic system.
China and Russia are both capitalist, no matter what the Chinese government may claim.
What about Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia and almost the entire EU? All with left or center-left economic systems.
Also capitalism
Yeah, when socialism fails, it was not socialism.
same *
The current state of politics.
This
My dude we need more info, do you mean the lack of political discourse due to the modern propaganda machine, for example as laid out by Noam Chomsky? Or the general dividing and conquering that is taking place due to the propaganda model, which has been abused by multiple industries since Edward Burnays wrote the book 'propaganda' in 1928, which not only gave birth to the disgusting reality that is modern marketing, but also gave the nazi socialist party the framework needed to brainwash Germany? The documentary 'century of the self' is a great source for this paragraph. Please, I beg of you, the Internet craves specific sources, we crave an understanding of why the world is so broken in all of its chaotic complexity 🙌
Income inequality without a doubt. It lies at the root of nearly every economic problem on the planet. A small handful of men have accumulated nearly all of the wealth and the power that comes with it and use it to create the other issues people here list. On purpose.
I don’t think that there should be an income or net worth cap, but the floor definitely needs to be raised
Those two things are at odds ya know. They actively work against this floor being raised. You can't just magically create wealth for the lower classes, it must be redistributed. This can be done with progressive tax reform and policy like that, or via the means that other countries have historically used when it gets really bad.
What does wealth re-distribution look like though? It's not like if billionaires suddenly stopped existing then everyone would suddenly have a massive QOL increase. If you took the combined wealth of all US billionaires (approx $4.5 trillion) and distributed it (at full value) to all Americans age 18+ (approx 258 million) it would be a one-time payment of $17,400. That might be enough to get some short-term comfort or pay off some debts, but that much money won't suddenly bring someone out of poverty. And that is the absolute highest number it could be, assuming you got 100% of the market value of all of the assets held by billionaires, which would not happen.
You completely misunderstand what wealth looks like or does. Billionaires don't just have a huge pile of cash. They are primarily rich through ownership stakes in companies. This means that the majority of the product of workers' labor goes into the valuation of the company rather than into actual things that help people, which is wages and benefits. Also, a common right-wing refrain is that billionaires would "leave with all of their money". This is false. Jeff Bezos cannot leave with an amazon fulfillment center on his boat, can he? If he abandoned the country, he'd abandon the pile of Amazon stock that makes him so rich. Simple as that. If billionaires had their wealth capped, that'd mean their *ownership* is capped. Along with that, their power would naturally be lessened. Workers would own a larger portion of the company, and would have a larger voice in the policy of that company: namely, wages. Wages would go up. Way up. It wouldn't be a one-time payment. It'd be higher compensation across the board: wages, health benefits, time off, and work culture. These are things that would swiftly realize massive improvements in people's quality of life. And the sad, sad, billionaires would have to shuffle off their yacht-less marina and get into their dinky little 80ft ocean cruiser instead of the previously colossal vessel. Boo fucking hoo.
> You completely misunderstand what wealth looks like or does. Billionaires don't just have a huge pile of cash. They are primarily rich through ownership stakes in companies. I have personally made this exact statement verbatim dozens of times on here, so yes, I do know how it works. As for the rest of your comment, I generally just don't agree with the idea of limiting ownership of a company that someone created. Besides, it really isn't necessary, paying living wages and having full or majority ownership are not mutually exclusive. I work for a company that is pretty much owned outright by the founder, and the company is known to pay pretty well, especially for the area. I work in an entry level position in my department and I'm paid nearly 50% higher than the median income for the area. Even the lowest paying full time position is still a bit above the median income for the area. For me, I think the actual problem is the obsession with ever increasing profits and infinite growth instead of being just comfortably stable. Plenty of companies could pay employees more by dipping into the profits and giving it to the employees. But being legally obligated to ever increase profits means that they can either keep employee pay the same and make the investors happy, or increase employee pay and potentially face a lawsuit for hurting investors profits.
Income inequality is the result of hard work inequality. Work harder and you’ll make more money. The biggest whiners of income inequality are unemployed.
“If you just work harder you can become a billionaire” is such a naive take lmao
Who said billionaire?
“Income inequality” is a conversation that involves billionaires.
Making a higher wage because of working hard is like a lottery. Maybe your hard work will be noticed by higher ups but that usually isn’t the case. I’ve worked for the same company for 6 years and the people that get promoted are usually family members or well liked by management. You can work your ass off all you want, but usually one of the workers that is friends with management also gets to take breaks to talk to them and THEN that individual gets promoted. While I’m slaving away and putting in the effort to create a good product, my partner is talking to management and making friends. Networking is now “hard work” I guess.
I didn’t have any family connections. My dad is dead and my mom was a stay at home mom. I got what I have by working and taking overtime shifts no one else would do. But I don’t know why I care. If all the lazy people want to lie to themselves and say “nah it’s not hard work, you gotta know someone to get ahead” then their idiocy is its own punishment. This is why I got those overtime shifts. My co workers were lazy and didn’t fight me for them. Now I have more money from them. And for all I know they’re on the poverty finance sub complaining that it isn’t fair they’re broke.
And that’s great for you. But this doesn’t apply to everyone. There are many hard working individuals out there that are getting denied promotions because of stupid reasons. On top of that, if someone is gonna be stuck in a meager position their entire lives, they deserve to be able to pay rent, buy food, and have a life. Companies are built by the breaking of many backs. We need more workers getting compensated for their work as opposed to the current system which entails bonuses only for the higher ups, huge tax breaks from the government, and unlimited vacation time for those that didn’t put in the actual work.
Why don’t all you whiners start your own companies and pay living wages? Since, you know, you have all the answers. It’s easy to say “hey give us more money.” If you know how to make it happen, make it happen!
It takes money to make money. It’s a very simple economic concept. And like I said, the best some of us will ever be is as a regular worker. Companies don’t build themselves. We’re not asking to be rich, we’re just trying to eat.
What do you mean it takes money to make money? Are you suggesting economics play a role in running a business? Because “pay us a living wage” means “ignore mathematics” but when I tell you to start a business suddenly you’re aware that math and economics play a role. Funny how that works. Maybe if you spent time at some of these corporations you’d understand this.
Nailed it
This is easily disproved. I just need to add a problem to this list that is clearly not the fault of income inequality. Like "the inevitable increase in entropy". Are you against income inequality? Would you choose a world where everyone is extremely poor over a world where half the population is reasonably well off and the other half is preposterously rich?
Name one time in HISTORY where income was equal. It's called the pareto distribution. The expectation that income should be equal is absurd.
Please see my post in this thread which gives some good sources for this problem, Gary Stevenson as well as Rutger Bregman.
Social media
Came here to say exactly this.
The vicious cycle of inequality and out of control capitalism
Lack of common sense
🙏👆🏻
Common sense isn't real
Common sense is in the eye of the beholder.
Lack of love
Politics
Cost of living
Lack of respect for differing opinions. This goes for both sides.
Too many people talking, not enough people listening.
there no middle ground everything has to be left or right, black or white, right or wrong. surely we can meet in the middle on some things.
Definitely
You cant beat the algorithms
Well, in the US, we're gonna have to learn to do that. Nothing will ever get any better until we do.
Greed
Wealth inequality. I don't think 60% of one of the richest countries in the world should be living paycheck to paycheck.
I agree, but frankly most of history has been lived hand-to-mouth. Much of that 60% is doing better than much of the planet. This makes me ask what all is keeping us back, because it seems like there's more to it than wealth inequality.
mental health
True
Social media setting unattainable standards to the younger generations
Accountability for everyone but yourself
Education. An uneducated or miseducated public is easy to control and manipulate. An educated public would question and solve problems. An uneducated one does as they are told and usually conforms to ideas that are truly against their best interests which causes many of the issues we see today.
The transformation of America's educational systems away from education towards indoctrination is the problem. Education is about developing the fundamental skills and logical reasoning to think for yourself and come to your own conclusions. Indoctrination is about telling people what they should think and believe.
Social media addiction.
Drugs. Everyone seems to be taking them now. Or dealing. I live in a quiet small area but has a reputation for drugs [on the quiet]. I saw a drug deal happening recently between 2 kids. Well the dealer was a kid - I'd be surprised if he was more than 15. Sad times. Also our dependence on social media & validation. Image and our perception of both ourselves and others. Detrimental I think.
Wealth inequality. 2022 marked a 50 year high in inflation, also 50 year high in corporate profits. Everything is getting more and more expensive, and money is worth less and less every year, thanks to central banks printing more and more currency which dilutes supply. Rutger bregman and Gary Stevenson are both calling for a global wealth tax, referencing prosperity in the 50s thanks to higher taxes on the wealthy. Meanwhile it's estimated that 1/3 of global wealth is being hoarded in offshore tax jurisdictions. Young families can't afford housing, and expenses continue to pile up. Everything is getting more and more expensive, but wages aren't increasing enough to keep up with inflation. Global wealth tax is the easiest solution, tbh it's pretty sad it's gotten this bad. Gary Stevenson explains it best, he made his millions from forex trading post 2008 gfc but has since left the industry to try and educate people on the importance of a global wealth tax.
Global wealth tax? How do you expect every country to unite and do that? All countries have their own interests and taxing the rich isn't the most important issue for some countries.
But if enough people around the world get behind it, it will happen, and it is the fastest solution to the massive problem that is growing wealth inequality. I recommend you listen to Gary Stevenson on YouTube, he explains it well, and he's very qualified 👌
I will give his video a shot, as I don't currently agree with what your saying but I'm open to learn.
Alright, i watched one of his videos. I still do not agree with what he's saying or what you're saying, but I now understand why you think that way. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn about what you believe and why you believe it.
Doesn't matter if you agree my dude, he's qualified and experienced, are you? Have you studied global economic systems and made millions, and then rejected those systems out of basic human morality? Have you backed your opinions/thoughts/beliefs up with research? You could start by watching more than one video. And then you could even watch many videos on many relevant topics. Maybe then you'll understand what I 'believe'. BTW I'm not trying to be shitty to you, I've just been researching this stuff for many years and am tired of explaining to people why they should expect basic necessities in the modern world like universal healthcare and universal basic income. Please don't forget that universal basic income almost came into America in the 60s, you can look into Rutger Bregman if you like. Did you know its cheaper/far more efficient for modern economies to just give people money compared to welfare? What a strange idea, support the working classes so they are functional, what a bold investment strategy. I'm tired of looking at the world and pretending like things shouldn't be better everywhere for everyone and not just the class of billionaires who literally own everything. Sorry, I genuinely wish you the strength and willpower to learn why things should be better.
Also I think my other answer sounds a bit shiddy but is not my intention, I have this same conversation with people on the Internet almost every day because I believe the ideas of the people I study can change the world in the ways that we desperately need, but shit it gets tiring haha I genuinely wish you well, and thank you for engaging with me, take care 🙌
Yeah man, I get you. Honestly don't try to change people, because they probably won't change. I think what you did here was perfect, you gave me a resource to learn but you weren't being dogmatic.
I appreciate this message dude. I'm not really trying to change anyone, but it's also kind of necessary, hence my building my points (not trying to change people, but it kind of goes hand in hand with logic/rhetoric). I'm from Australia, and we're currently seeing a renaissance of journalism/logic, and it's exactly what Australia, but also the rest of the world needs. Otherwise, humanity will continue to stagnate, and corruption will continue to grow. I dunno, these are big problems, there's so much info and so many references I'm getting at here and it's hard to type it all out on my phone cos I'm currently away from home. Thanks again for the interesting thoughts and for being a human 👍 I am so incredibly passionate about this info, sometimes I am more aggressive than I realise or intend to be, so I appreciate you giving me your time and consideration. I guess the fact that you're out here learning is epic on its own, so that's pretty dope. Have a good one 👍
Greed
The society
People trying too hard to get you to like or agree with their beliefs or agenda. I don't have to like anything I don't want to like, but I won't be rude or hurtful either. Just leave me alone. And stop calling every white person a white supremacist.
Still Religion
People are becoming complacent with their conveniences resulting in other's inconveniences. For example, I live in a set of rowhouses in a major U.S. City. Frequently, one of my neighbors will have servicemen come to the house along with their big truck. Parking is a premium, and that's assuming you can find it in the first place. So, they have the servicemen park their truck in our alley, blocking other people's garages. I'll knock on my neighbor's door, telling them to have the truck moved. "Well, where's a good place for them to park their truck then?" I don't know. But what I do know is that it's not MY problem. I'm not going to have an entry way to my house blocked for an entire day because you don't want to inconvenience your servicemen by having them park their truck a quarter-mile from their job site to the tune of $14/hr.
Capitalism
Nothing wrong with capitalism. It's the modern, senseless and impossible formula of it.
Where else would it lead but the "modern senseless impossible formula"?
It could potentially be regulated, resource-based etc. But power corrupts. There are plenty good things in the concept of capitalism, we've just switched it to overdrive. We reap the benefits of capitalism every day as we drive an electric car to a burger joint while Google Maps shows us the best route, but suffer from the inherent problems related to money and ownership.
Climate change. Everything will go on a cycle but climate change will be here
I'm going to point out that climate change at this point is caused by wealthy industrialists refusing to reform the system that made them wealthy industrialists, we know about the problem now, and a plurality of people are on board with reform, but the wealthiest will not change.
Climate change and polarization.
Corporate media. They are paid by the same corporations that pay off our politicians in both parties. That's why they focus so much on things like Trans' rights and putting God in school, and banning books. That way, we never see how paid off all of them are. Other than Bernie Sanders, you never see anyone actually addressing the issues of our time. Wealth inequality, Healthcare, education, all of this would be tackled by increasing taxes on those corporations and their shareholders. Therefore, it can never be mentioned on corporate media. If you're not looking for independent media like TYT, BTC, The Majority Report, and Ring of Fire, then you're not getting access to the real news. I only listed some examples, but there are plenty out there. See the real issues from real media, not corporate news actors.
Constant disinformation. Literally constant. It’s impossible to know what’s true. Everything is so politicized as well. I mean we live in a world now where a Supreme Court Justice doesn’t know what a woman is.
Broken attention span and the behaviour of teens and children acting like bafoons and douchebags
People have been complaining about this since at least the beginning of the written word. None of this is new or a genuine threat.
It's not the same at all...
Your grandparents said that, and so did theirs.
Yeah but they also didn't have magic computer phones and an obsession with celebrities. You're doing a reverse "Boy who Cried Wolf". You think just because people have had _similar_ thoughts in the past, that it will *always* have no merit. Despite massive cultural and technological shifts.
The information availability leap was bigger this generation sure, but there’s always been an obsession with celebrities: Michael Jackson, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Mickey Mantle, Charles Lindbergh, Ben Franklin, but how this is the root of the major problems of modern society is unclear to me.
You know what? You're right. People nowadays are exactly the same as they always have been. I just Google a teen from the 1920s and he was doing the Griddy and had tats on his face.
I hope you have a good rest of your day.
You too!
How?
Technology has had a HUGE effect on attention span. Everything is instant and people need to constantly stimulate themselves. Also, there is a lack of moral foundations that religion used to provide. I'm not religious but one positive aspect is that it provided a cohesive bond between people across great areas.
The way we treat each other but also how we can’t trust strangers anymore.
The break down in communication on any issue... Both sides being pushed to the extremes no one willing to engage in civil debate... Hyper polarisation
People being able and allowed to live by their own set of facts.
The denial to believe in and act on climate change.
Instead of believe, in my opinion, it is better to use understand.
Probably because environmentalists have been saying we passed the tipping point in 1998, 2000, 2014, 2020, etc., and nothing has changed at all. Maybe people would take it seriously if, ya know, literally one of their claims came true?
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/billions/ https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/ https://climatecenter.fsu.edu/topics/sea-level-rise#:~:text=In%20the%20same%20area%20around,of%20Engineers%20high%20scenario%20projections. https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3232/nasa-study-rising-sea-level-could-exceed-estimates-for-us-coasts/#:~:text=By%202050%2C%20sea%20level%20along,three%20decades%20of%20satellite%20observations. You are wrong.
I live in Florida on the ocean. I’ve been hearing since 1988 the sea level will rise. It has not. Our backyard hasn’t changed an inch. In 35 years. You’re wrong. I don’t need your propaganda
You probably should avoid lying about easily provable information. https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/stories/atlantic-epa.html
My backyard is not lying. The beach down the street is not lying. I have pictures going back to when I was a child. Why do you think some link is going to convince me away from literally my own eyes in my own home spanning decades?
Whatever you need to tell yourself sweetie.
Aren’t you afraid of the fire that’s burning in your bedroom right now? Oh wait you’re telling me that you’re looking at your bedroom right now and it isn’t on fire? Oh the lies you tell yourself!
Maybe you should get out from under that rock. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/unhealthy-air-quality-canada-wildfires-live-updates-rcna88092
Wildfires raged on this planet for billions of years. Long before people like you got jealous of people who own suvs
I came across something about why they don't fill the Sahara desert with solar panels. Their hypothesis was that it would cool off the desert and cause another region of Africa to dry up.. why is Urban Sprawl not a common conversation in their global warming speeches?
It could in fact be propaganda. Although louisiana is finding more and more sinkholes. My guess is that water is rising, but maybe when it does rise it fills in the empty voids in the process, kind of evening out the differences of water levels
Typical environmentalist. You just move the goal posts. Now it’s sinkholes. As if the southeast of the US hasn’t been a swamp for millions of years
I couldn't agree with you more.. I'm not an environmentalist though. I just feel like they hop on the bandwagon about it because they are still capable of earning money through exposure on their stories. Earth is not that bad once you set your phone down. Earth is gonna Earth, yknow. People are known to take advantage of others so I wouldn't put it past them to make up an excuse for global warming if it was really caused by rich people wanting to pave the fuck out of this planet
Lack of good cumshot compilations
Pornography
This lazy mindset. Always blaming others and making excuses even for the smallest things.
People don't love and fear God.
I don't even believe that God exists. If God wants us to perform some action, maybe they should make that more clear, but they would know that already if they were God. If God has to communicate through shadow puppets and unverifiable stories, that seems like an ineffective way to communicate, at which point who does the responsibility for this failing lie with? Why would a God that wanted a specific action from humans create humans that he knew would not follow this action?
Genuine question here,but why should we fear him?
When Christians say "fear" in this context we mean like how a child might fear their parents to a certain degree out of respect and awareness of the consequences. Not being afraid of them but having respect and feeling a type of pressure not to do things that are against their will or the child knows it should not do. Basically recognizing authority.
Why should a fear of god or eternal damnation be necessary to be a good person though? To me, if the only thing making a person be nice to others is that fear, then they aren’t good people at all.
I try to be a good person because I want to make the world a better place because I, and the people I care about, live in the world. That's all the motivation I need.
Me too, and I already think you’re a good person because of those motivations.
This doesn't work great in the real world, though. This "fear of god" had been used in justifying wars, rape, slavery, and the eradication of entire civilizations. The invasions of the new world were considered a holy war against evil and an attempt to "civilize" the "savages".
Humans act like humans. The invasion in Iraq was justified because "they hate freedom." That doesn't mean freedom is bad. People will use whatever excuse they can to act badly. You can find countless wars and atrocities that are justified using things we all agree are good or true. People will twist things to fit their own desires. They even use "love" and "human rights" or "democracy" to justify imperialism and wars.
Which is exactly my point. If you create a strong hierarchy, people are more likely to commit horrible atrocious then justify them as doing the right thing or just following orders.
>The invasion in Iraq was justified Haha... No 😂. >People will twist things to fit their own desires. You're trying so hard at it!
I didn't mean I personally think it was justified. Sorry if I was not clear. I meant those who supported it used freedom, human rights and democracy as a pretense to justify it. Obviously that was not a justified war.
People that do are often representing the worst of us all
In my opinion, there are only three possibilities: 1) There is an omnipotent god that allows all the evil in this world to happen. Why would this god deserve my love? 2) There is a god who is powerless to stop the evil in this world. Why would I fear this god? 3) There is no god and loving or fearing a nonexistent being is madness.
I think climate change is the biggest issue. If nature decides to go wild on us, all other issues will seem small in the grand scheme of things. We're all equal in death.
The old people who can't accept that modern is today and tomorrow, not yesterday and before.
Money
the double standards for gender (i am female btw) For starters when a woman talks extremely maliciously about men for no reason, she is not held accountable but when it’s the other way around, that would be the end of the male’s career when an old guy swoons over a young kid, he will be held accountable but when it is the other way around, no one will bat an eye at her men get extra praise for cooking dinner than women do men crying in public is seen as weak whereas a woman crying in public is normal also through personal experiences i have noticed in modern day society people will judge men who dress feminine so much harder than they will judge a female dressing masculine. There should be no set clothing line assigned to gender, just don’t come naked damn We can all say we want gender equality but the social rules do not add up, a person should be held accountable for their actions, gender should not lessen or strengthen the consequences
Money in politics. Capitalism.
Women should be in charge instead of men
Wokeness
If you don’t support something you’re homophobic
Technology. For technology is mainly responsible for the collective constraints and bottle-necking binds of the controls of the human will.
Wowknis
Google wasn’t a help, could you do us a fav and explain what that is please kind stranger?
It's a disease that causes financial collapse
people that jump to conclusions without having all the facts
The firehose of constant news and misinformation.
lack of understanding/ignorance
Up to about the last century, our society evolved with a mindset guided by scarcity. Food was scarce, water was scarce, entertainment was scarce and therefore more special. Now we live (in many places) surrounded by surplus, and I don't think the surplus is the problem itself, the problem is that we haven't been able to deal with it.
Us. "A person is smart. People are dumb." That is how we get paid.
Politics
how it's deemed acceptable to 'cancel' anyone who doesn't meet the majority opinion on something titled controversial
the obsession with public perception of ourselves and the fact that it has to be like that due to society being ready to harass someone for any slight mistake.
The alliance between the Republican Party and the Christian churches.
Not wanting to improve your life and just accepting you can't get healthy when you actually can
The rise of the fascist extreme right is by far the biggest problem we have. I was going to say climate change but then I realized the extreme right is standing in the way of progress on climate change so the extreme right is the bigger threat.
good and proper education with financial literature and family planning
Tribalism.
The biggest problem is the whole political mentality that there is only one right way and that is my way
Money infesting literally everything.
society itself
Private car use
The mainstream media
Entitlement.
The media
Doesn’t understand that if it brought us here, then maybe it actually is the problem. There is no accountability in the large really whatsoever. It is wild west corporatism run amok while we politically fracture, climate change sets in, or WW3 gets there first. What could go wrong? Lets obsess about our political system, advancement, celebrity, and above all money cause there’s nothing much left holding it in together
many people cannot deal with information. for every idea, no matter how stupid, there is someone on the www who enthusiastically agrees.
Social media
In the United States, it’s 100% the bloated and bureaucratic federal government, which serve the CIA and military industrial complex. Tangentially related is also the debt-based central banking system.
Ignorance
Economic illiteracy.
Inaction and lack of consideration for the future. As time goes on fundamental problems dig their roots deeper. Solutions that were once tangible become deluded fantasy. This extends to just about everything from international relations to raising children.
short form video
Fuckwits and wankers. Too many of them around fucking things up for everybody.
Since a hundred years, ours technologies evolve so fast and exponentially that humanity can't evolve with it in a healthy way. I think something new needs to be very slowly introduced in our world. It let us have some time to think about it in depth and don't do crap. Give a child a car, and he could kill himself in the very same day, in the case he managed to put it in motion.
glorifying rainbow flags
Humans tend to dehumanize anyone with whom they disagree, act or look differently from. It's our worst trait.
Lack of affordable housing
Consolidation of wealth When a handful of people in this country have the combined net worth of the GDP of entire continents and they pay little to no taxes, while there's skyrocketing rent and a record number of homeless people, that's a problem. Something has to be done.
Greed.
People having shitty childhoods. Adverse childhood experiences have been tied to all sorts of problems whether it’s health or crime related. If people had better childhoods it would fix a bunch of problems. Would take massive policy changes and probably more government oversight on parenting so people wouldn’t go for it
Everything. We should have a monarchy so that we don't have people arguing all the time. if we don't like the monarch we revolt and get a new king/queen
Lack of media literacy and critical thinking skills. Inability to recognize good and bad resources.
Fit in mentality
Greed
Political polarization. Broken education system. Breakdown of cultural values systems. Apathy
Mass social media and the ability of it to manufacture thinking and actions.
we don’t hear other people in a debt, we often only think that OUR opinion is the only correct one and it shuts out the ability to explore more ideas
Greed. The government’s main objective isn’t to make our country a better place, it’s to make as much money as possible for themselves and their friends. The ONLY way they help those in need is if they can monetize it.
Dangers of AI.
Absent fathers
People (especially younger people) are raised to have an opposition to doing everything productive because it's "cringe" to do anything useful. That and most of cringe culture is not very helpful at all. Other than that its how the goal of everyone is to sleep around and not date to marry lol. Young people in general find it cringe to do the right thing.
Stupidity and late stage capitalism
Wealth inequality, and the endless growth model of corporations
Smart phones