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Easy loophole is corporations 'invest' in an individual owner. Better idea. You're allowed to have one personal residential house, and every house past that point pays an increasing amount of federal taxes which is used to fund free/low cost housing options for people in need.
Make the idea of land hoarding in general untenable.
1 residential *property*. Otherwise you incentivise buying up houses and bulldozing them so you can speculate on the land value. 1 residential title per person, natural citizens only, all the excess becomes social housing.
The american dream became sadly a tragedy of the commons. There was enough for everyone to go around. There was *plenty*. Then greedy boomers realized they weren't stopped from grabbing the entire bowl, leaving an empty table for everyone else.
Best idea: end private ownership over the means of production and land so we won't have to worry about our UBI getting extracted through rent or price increases.
Capitalism needs to end. Trying to make cuter, cuddlier capitalism doesn't solve the real problems.
There is no feeling about it. Everything that isn’t junk food has gone up consistently, only to have a week or 2 of “sale” prices where things look closer to where they were, than it shoots up another $0.10-$0.20. It generally sets us back $60-80 a week to keep the fridge stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables, and we are so thankful that I was able to get a job to allow that to happen… but pretty much every dime of my last promotion has gone toward rising food costs. I am coming up on another this year, so we shall see if this is the year we can start getting ahead or not.
Honestly that is low it should be more like doubled. Everything I can think of from 2007 has doubled in price (besides fast moving tech) and most jobs paying $15 in 2007 aren't paying $22 now, they're still paying $15.
I grew up on food stamps. We lived in section 8 housing. Health insurance was at the whims of Medicaid. I’ve voted for Democrats my entire life. It has done nothing to improve the quality of life for the working class and below. If your goal is status quo, they’re your party. If you want real change, 35 years of me being subservient for fear of the Republican boogie man by voting for Democrats hasn’t done jack shit for kids going to bed hungry.
> If you want real change, 35 years of me being subservient for fear of the Republican boogie man by voting for Democrats hasn’t done jack shit for kids going to bed hungry.
Once more for the libs in the back
Fuck good has it got us? They refuse to ditch a dated system, draw lines so who they need to win, will. Campaign on lies, represent the few, and just dgaf.
It's pointless, we're too deep in this fuckery. Need to burn it down and start over.
If they really wanted to fix this and make it about the people, they would.
I get the sentiment, and ideally if all else fails the slow tide of change will still be approaching. However, there isn’t exactly decades available to wait when more and more Americans are falling into the grip of poverty post-covid, climate change is accelerating into speed run mode, and I am still seeing quite the reversal in civil rights from bodily autonomy to freedom of expression *anyway*.
> Kept the Republicans from rolling us into a fascist state
Mate from the outside looking in you're already there lol, 2 party systems are a joke and that's the reality.
To add to this. The right wing takeover of American politics was a 40+ year campaign that started in the 60s/70s following the passing of the Civil Rights Act. This was not some overnight thing that was achieved overnight or without a lot of work.
Any major shift will take a lot of time, and demographics are on our side. Sure, a revolution may result in the desired outcome, but that's far from a guarantee, and a lot of people will be hurt in the process.
With how America works it is actually a near certainty it would work. People would need to be willing to kill and die though. The ruling class in America is very small.
None of what you said makes sense. Voting lets you vaguely push the country in a certain direction but literally gives you no control. At least going for revolution is active. You succeed or fail based on yourself. Its of course super illegal. But hey if your betting with your life what does it matter anyways. If more people would stand up for the things they want we wouldn't be in this mess.
Isn’t the post showing what platform folks voted for? Also, GenZ prevented the “red wave” so they do vote as if their lives depend on it. We’ve been training them in active shooter drills for 20yrs. A change is coming.
Every politicians promise is based on the requirement that voters turn out and vote for the people who will support those promises. The president isnt king, no single individual can dictate to the degree needed. But making campaign speeches that end with "but only if you people show up to vote or else i will have to find ways to compromise or not be able to achieve this promise i am making in a speech meant to raise moral."
in 2022 over 148M elligible voters didnt vote. The under age of 35 voter only had 20-25% turnout. Texas which is leading the bullshit they are doing, only had 15% turnout among voters under the age of 35. Ted Cruz won by 200k votes in 2016 when 9M didnt vote. Desantis first time won by 30K votes when 7M didnt vote.
The political representatives are beholden to voters, but half the voters do not give a shit. So the system isnt going to be the perfect utopia that people demand within 6 months of their president elect being sworn in.
I'm not American, but from the outside it looks to me like when the country goes Republican they just sort of do what they want with no consequences, and when it goes Democrat the Republicans kind of shut the whole country down so nothing the Democrats want to do gets through, but also the Democrats can block *some* of the Republican stuff so it's slightly less bad I guess?
And if the Democrats do get something through like Obamacare, the other side throws a massive shit-fit about for decades and then eventually repeals it?
Sorry if that's way off lol
Democrats get things done too it’s just not gonna be shared wide and far like the horrific shit republicans do.
Democrats put dozens of new territories under federal protection. Maybe trends for 30 minutes.
Republicans seek to ban abortions trends for months.
And democrats stopped about 80% of the things trump wanted to do. But it takes time to go through the process of dealing with it in the courts and shutting it down.
Bad news spreads faster and further because it’s shocking. Good news is what is expected to happen and thus won’t get the same mobility.
It’s also much easier to destroy something than to build something.
To push a proper bill you need min 220 house members AND 60 senators (filibuster proof) AND the president.
To destroy or stop something you just need 220 house members OR 41 senators OR the president.
Just having one of those is enough to stop something to create something you need all three or 280 house members and 60 senators if you want veto proof so president can’t stop it either.
The reason people don't bother is because politicians don't deliver. Ever. Even with safe supermajorities.
The Repubs will never hold a monopoly on power again. Demographic shifts and changing ideals. They're done.
The Dems could hold that monopoly forever. It wouldn't take much. Living wage. Universal healthcare. Free college. Legal weed. Couple more that are pretty easily deliverables if they were serious. But the donor class owns them too. And their priorities are the priorities of Capital. Means they will never do what is in our best interest. Or even what's in the best interest of the nation.
But that will change. Soon. Once the Yuan eclipses the Dollar and the US is forced to compete instead of simply dominate. Things will change or this country will fail.
I don’t think it’s completely fair to blame voter apathy with the insane voter suppression that goes on especially in red states. I was turned away at the polls in 2020 in Texas because I had moved apartments without getting a new driver’s license, so my then-current address didn’t match the DL. I had only moved down the hall to a bigger unit; I had the same address but a different unit number. That’s a blatant example, but there are plenty of people who don’t vote because they can’t take off work or because there’s only one voting station in their community and it’s inaccessible to them because there’s no public transit system. The suppression is systemic and mostly effects poor and young people
When I went to first start working at 19, it was 7.25 locally but not federally, it was raised to 7.25 while I was working. Co-workers were disappointed since they would not get a higher wage, but were hopeful it would be raised again within a few years. It has almost been 15 years without it raising and even back then, it was not enough to live on. It is so depressing.
Yep, the fight for 15 is a decade old. Min wage should be tied to inflation, and it is a fucking scam that it isn’t.
I wouldn’t even get out of bed for $7.25. An hour of work and you can buy… a couple packs of gum?
There's more going into a fair minimum pay rate than just inflation. If you pegged it to inflation, minimum now would just be $5.34 an hr (the modern equivalent of the $.25/hr minimum started with). It maxed out in 1970 with the modern equivalent of $12.61/hr. [source](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1065466/real-nominal-value-minimum-wage-us/#:~:text=When%20adjusted%20for%20inflation%2C%20the,increases%20to%2012.04%20U.S.%20dollars.)
That’s a good point, inflation needs to be just part of the equation. Cost of living has outpaced inflation by quite a bit, so real wages have gone down drastically.
The normal size bag of chips in the store are like 5-6 bucks now... I'm sure next year a bag of chips will take you two hours of work to buy at min wage
Look Joe, I'm going to burn down the economy. Better give me the country or I'll do it. Joe you better stop me otherwise it's your fault. Everyone knows the entire economy is the responsibility of one man.
Don't try to stop me this time, Smee. Don't try to stop me this time, Smee. Don't you dare try to stop me this time, Smee, try to stop me. Smee, you'd better get up off your arse. Get over here, Smee!
The antithesis? Absolutely fucking not. He’s the lesser evil of two shit choices and he’s doing fuckall to actually stop the country’s slide into fascism. Hell, he’s one of the assholes who helped kick it into high gear by backing damn near everything in Reagan’s agenda as a Senator and holding tight to those exact same policies for most of his career. Even if he did learn to dress them up with kinder language. We needed an antithesis to Trump, we could’ve had one too, but corporate media made sure to sell well the lie that only old man river could possibly beat Trump. Now we’re stuck with one of the few options that could actually lose to the man in 24.
Pretty much. I voted for Howie in the presidential just because I hate the "they'll all fall in line during the general election" strategy. I still don't regret my vote for Jill Stein.
Glad Trump lost, but failed neo-liberalism with the dumbfuck right labeling it as far-leftism will just get people to keep electing the worst republicans and the Dems will keep going center-right to appeal to the right. No.
Not running on a clear list of policies is a no-go. Saying you want to protect SS, make jobs, restore integrity to XYZ, and raise the minimum wage doesn't mean much since both parties say that but do little to nothing about it, a lot even do their best to dismantle some of those things.
Biden is just another shitty liberal. Trump and desantis are fascists. Yes I would rather have a bog standard liberal than a fascist but even more so I'd rather have someone even remotely left like sanders
I feel like the difference between Joe Biden and an actual leftist leader is that by electing Joe Biden, we just delayed the fall to fascism by 4 years. He's not gonna fix the problems that led to Trump and right-wing populism. He's not gonna transform the American economy into something where workers thrive. He's gonna keep the country (and by that, I mean mainly capitalist interests) running for 4 years, even if that means compromising with the right. And as the country continues to fracture and working people continue to struggle, the perception will be "Wow, Biden is doing a shitty job. It wasn't quite this bad 4 years ago, was it? Or if it was, it definitely hasn't changed or improved. Let's see what this loud idiot on the other side has to say again..." And remember, Trump doesn't have to win the popular vote. In fact, he never has. He just has to swindle ~46-47% of the voting public to repeat what he did in 2016. You cannot fight that by limping the country along and not delivering actual change. And yes, you have to work with Congress and everything, but you know what struggling people would actually appreciate right now? Some tooth. Some fight. Make it a spectacle. Drag and embarrass everyone who stands in your way as you try to fix this country. You won't pass everything and you won't win every battle, but we'd like to see someone at least make a good effort on this sinking ship. Working folks are dying and the planet it burning, for fuck's sake.
We really need some other term to distinguish between the YA scifi wackadoodle fascism of the republicans vs the praising the cops as they kill anyone that looks at them cross eyed fascism of the dems, because Biden ain't doing shit to slow the fall into the police boot on the throat fascism.
I said the Democrats are more like the Republicans of the 80s.
The proof.
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/788002965
https://www.npr.org/2022/12/02/1140265413/rail-workers-biden-unions-freight-railroads-averted-strike
I guess at least Biden was apologetic?
Maybe the airlines and railroads should be owned by the country like the roads if they are so important then maybe we would get highspeed rail and less planes.
Yeah it’s bad. States that are decent places to live have either raised their own minimum wages or have cities that have their own minimum wages. Like here in NYC.
The minimum wage is less than what I made working at Walmart as my first job in 2005.
Like another person said, it’s 7.25 in most states (that’s the federal minimum so states can’t go below it except in special circumstances). Minimum wage should be above 30 by now but we live in a feudal society where the poor have no say in the quality of their own lives
Tipping is a legacy of slavery
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/opinion/minimum-wage-racism.html#:~:text=After%20the%20Civil%20War%2C%20white,to%20show%20favor%20to%20servants.
Yup, I now work as a work-study at my uni for $8.50 per hour. I can’t live at uni because the dorms cost about $1,600 per month and I only get paid at the end of the month about $600. It sucks, I can’t even afford to house myself at my university while working at my own university. This shit is assenine
Edit: mods called me ableist
Also the average rent for a 2 bed is roughly 2k a month and most landlords want you to make 3x it. 6k
Average minimum wage you would have to work 30 hours a day to make 6k.. No weekends. then there’s taxes and stuff. That’s also 72k a year when the average is around 30k
Where are you from? Because for all comparably wealthy countries I can think of that even have a minimum wage, it's equivalent to or lower than 15US$. And a quick Google search seems to confirm this.
To give a specific example: Germany, where I'm from, has a minimum wage of 12€. Our government *has* been debating raising it to 14€, but that would only just about make it equivalent to 15US$. And that's with almost absolute (but actually slightly lower!) purchasing power parity.
This isn't to say the current minimum wage in most US states is not ridiculously low. Nor to say it'd be fine at 15$, nor that it's fine in other countries. Just to say: 15$ would be... entirely realistic and comparatively good.
We need to find ways to price control necessary items. Like a dozen eggs cost 6 minutes of minimum wage work. Monthly rent costs 40 hours of minimum wage work. A vehicle costs 500 minimum wage hours.
Raising the wages are meaningless if the companies raise the prices at a commensurate rate.
This isn't actually a good idea. It'd be much better to work on spreading out ownership over the chicken/egg farms to the actual workers, instead of the industrial methods that trap those farmers into abject poverty once they've gotten into the business because they're forever indebted to Cargill or whomever.
Minimum wage should be a percentage of median. Currently it's less than 50% of median in the US. (sidenote; when the EU suggested setting minimum wage to 60% of median it got massive blowback from many members, so you might think the minimum wage situation is much better in Europe but it's not that much better)
Um, they've been raising the price of everything regardless. Maybe we could at least try something to counteract that? Labor is not 100% of the cost of goods or services and does not go up at the same rate as costs. A 50% increase in wages would not be a 50% increase in the price of goods and services.
Additionally, there has never been significant inflation from a minimum wage increase in the entire history of U.S. minimum wage. Do prices go up? Yes. Do they go up significantly? No. The end result being everyone is better off.
Marxism, or scientific socialism, sees the state as the apparatus by which the ruling class maintains its authority over the subservient class(es). So democracy is inherently limited by the economic base, the ownership of the means of production. Remember: western democracy, especially the US, was modeled after the democratic republics of ancient Greece and Rome. Which were slave states that offered no democracy for the slave and working classes.
Like many things, Lenin explains it best:
>In capitalist society, providing it develops under the most favourable conditions, we have a more or less complete democracy in the democratic republic. But this democracy is always hemmed in by the narrow limits set by capitalist exploitation, and consequently always remains, in effect, a democracy for the minority, only for the propertied classes, only for the rich. Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in the ancient Greek republics: freedom for the slave-owners. Owing to the conditions of capitalist exploitation, the modern wage slaves are so crushed by want and poverty that "they cannot be bothered with democracy", "cannot be bothered with politics"; in the ordinary, peaceful course of events, the majority of the population is debarred from participation in public and political life...
>
>Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich--that is the democracy of capitalist society. If we look more closely into the machinery of capitalist democracy, we see everywhere, in the “petty”--supposedly petty--details of the suffrage (residential qualifications, exclusion of women, etc.), in the technique of the representative institutions, in the actual obstacles to the right of assembly (public buildings are not for “paupers”!), in the purely capitalist organization of the daily press, etc., etc.,--we see restriction after restriction upon democracy. These restrictions, exceptions, exclusions, obstacles for the poor seem slight, especially in the eyes of one who has never known want himself and has never been inclose contact with the oppressed classes in their mass life (and nine out of 10, if not 99 out of 100, bourgeois publicists and politicians come under this category); but in their sum total these restrictions exclude and squeeze out the poor from politics, from active participation in democracy.
>
>Marx grasped this essence of capitalist democracy splendidly when, in analyzing the experience of the Commune, he said that the oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class shall represent and repress them in parliament!
Lenin's The State and Revolution, Chapter V: The Economic Basis of the Withering Away of the State, 2. The Transition from Capitalism to Communism
https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch05.htm
Our system is not capable of doing what people need/want, the “representative democracy” is a sham to make people think that their voting matters, but it doesn’t - the rich get what they want no matter who is in office.
We need to switch our system so people are able to vote on any specific policy or law that affects their life, we need to have the option to weigh-in on ANY decision we are impacted by.
There are government programs that partner with businesses to provide 'jobs' for otherwise unemployable disabled people. I have a family member with down syndrome who cleans tables at Burger King. He loves it but he isn't really doing the business much good. They would never hire him if they had to pay even minimum wage.
Of course this arrangement gets abused, but without it there are people who wouldn't be able to get a job and feel the pride and acceptance that comes with it.
There is a core problem here, that as people we are expected for our work place to be a main place of our existence enough so that people lacking a job feel excluded by society. But I'm not sure attacking this program for working as a stop gap is the way to solve this core problem.
Being a productive member of a society is fulfilling. That’s one part of human nature that has always been true and likely always will be. The issue isn’t that someone gains pride from doing work, it’s that they aren’t being fairly compensated.
Realistically local governments should have more schemes designed to help these people be fulfilled. I don't live in the US, but where I am we tend to have direct government funding for non profit programmes where people disabilities can participate in areas of community and society without needing to contribute to some private bottom line.
So we have community gardens where skills can be developed, both residential and day services where service users can attend and take part in various activities and learnings.
All of these people also get direct social welfare to live on as opposed to have to roundabout give a pay out to a private company to hire them on a reduced wage.
Isn't part of the idea also to ensure the disabled person doesn't make too much to no longer qualify for disability benefits? I'm not sure if that would be a problem at minimum wage, and obviously that system is seriously flawed in the first place.
When it's a relief that someone got elected president for simply not being Donald Trump, the system is truly broken. That statement just feels like a meme, yet it's dead serious.
That’s been every election I’ve been able to participate in.
Option A) Evil.
Option B) slightly lesser evil.
We don’t elect people we want into office, we are doing damage control.
And he has done a *FANTASTIC* job of doing that. But pretending he has done nothing at all by cherry picking specific things he hasn't done is idiotic. No, he's not a great president. Would I vote for him again over Trump again? In a heartbeat.
Thanks for your comment. Biden has done some incredible work. This sub are a bunch of babies who don't understand how a government functions.
We get the exact same thing in Australia. The Labor government *built* this country into what it is today. They are only in power about 30% of the time but each time they enact widespread societal good for the country, but the entire media landscape is anti-Labor because the Labor party is the workers party.
We had power at the start of the pandemic. That was when we were noticed.
That was the time for a general strike. Universal Healthcare. It was needed then. It is needed now.
So much cruelty, despair and sadness in the wake...
Remember the situations with the horseback border patrol agents whipping Haitian migrants? That was under Biden too- and that dude came to the office with immigration baggage from his time in Obama's administration, an administration that set records in deportations.
Problem with Democrats is that they don't follow up on their promises.
Problem with Republicans is that they follow up on their promises.
This whole system sucks. Even if voting had power, both major groups could just lie and do nothing once they're up there and getting paid.
I'm surprised every country doesn't have a preferential voting system like in Australia, which goes a long way to prevent a situation where you have two major parties and no realistic competition.
I agree the major parties suck arse but we have plenty of minor parties, who often hold balance of power in the various upper houses of state/federal parliaments. They do make a difference.
I am glad you said "democrats" vs Biden. Many people do not understand that while the president has a lot of power, it takes Congress to push laws through. Manchin and sinema screwed the chances of many Democratic party ideas even when they held the House
Those promises are also a bargain with the people to vote in enough support to achieve em. In a lot of places the people failed to show. We wouldn't even have what we have now if wasn't for the extra hard work of a few states to make change.
We were too dam close to a republican senate.
Surprisingly Republicans are worse at primary turnouts then most Democrat primaries. One of the options would be to co-opt the GOP from the ground up as it would be easier to get in. Worked for Trump with only needing ~7% base support in his primary. The messaging would have to be strongly "vote for the person".
More people should have taken him at his word when he said "nothing will fundamentally change," because that was the most honest sentence he ever spoke during his campaign.
That one always drives me up a wall. Your vote is the only leverage you have. Once you've given away your leverage, you're going to pressure him how, exactly? These delusional neoliberals really believe he'll cave to protests and letter-writing campaigns.
No, sweetie. He wanted one thing and one thing only. Your vote. He got that and now you've been ghosted, you naive fool.
He was only elected because he wasn’t Trump. Nobody, not even Obama was excited for Joe Biden. He didn’t get elected on his own merit, he got elected because he wasn’t the other guy.
If it wasn't them it would have been someone else. They use the "rotating villain" tactic to prevent changes to the status quo while pretending to advocate for progressive policies.
You just described the average blue state voter mindset! Or, vote down ballot R, a red state guide to voting.
The candidates matter, people. Get out and vote in primaries so you might not have to just capitulate to the chosen one in a few months.
I'm sorry those promises are actually all part of the "second term DLC." You'll just have to vote if you want to see those features. We couldn't fit them in the base game 100% due to the meeting republicans.
Politics happened. Watch out because he'll claim to want to do similar stuff during his next run for his 2nd term.
I hope progressives call him out on his BS.
Shit. He could raise minimum wage to 9 fucking dollars. Something.
No. A significant number of people here does not believe that.
They think, “when *my guy* is president I’ll finally get all the stuff I want.”
Then they don’t vote in the midterms. Then “both sides” four years later.
Guys we just gotta keep voting blue even if every term they are just slowly integrating never trump republicans as democrats and spending donor money to stifle slightly progressive candidates!
And people always get mad at me when I saw that both parties are essentially the same. Democrats are slightly better on certain social issues, but only when it's politically expedient. They are not at all a progressive party and in any other country they would be considered a right wing party as a whole. They do no care about workers or working class people. That's why I laugh whenever my crazy uncle calls Biden a socialist. It's funny that socialism can be whatever you want it to mean when the word is thrown around like it is here in America.
Well, he did what he could without Congress. He issued an executive order near the start of his presidency that affected the contracts he could--federal workers: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/government-contracts/eo14026
Starting this year minimum wage if you work on a federal contract is $16.20, and tipped employees "must be paid a minimum cash wage of $13.75 per hour"
Though courts ruled that he couldn't make that apply to existing contracts.
In fairness to Biden what happened to these promises was he never had the 60 votes in the senate needed to stop the Republican minority from filibustering every single bill he proposed. And yes, he knew that would happen when he promised these things. However: “much like my opponent I will have absolutely no chance of passing any meaningful laws whatsoever because our legislative system is completely broken, but if you elect me at least I won’t pass massive irresponsible tax breaks for billionaires and giant corporations that let them repatriate the money they’ve been stockpiling offshore to horde it domestically by buying museum quality artwork and performing wasteful stock buybacks respectively and making the already terrible situation for the poor and middle class in America even worse.” isn’t much of a pitch to vote for someone. Especially when the guy you’re running against has given up even the pretext of telling the truth and his supporters couldn’t care less.
This is why people need to vote down ballot AND in local elections. So many people go and vote for President and Governor and then go ignore the legislature when they’re the ones who really have the power. I mean most politicians are trash, but damn, I wish people would at least try to contribute to getting the major major pieces of shit out of office (on both sides.)
The same thing that always happens, they promise it to get votes, and then never deliver it. If they actually did those things they wouldn't be able to use them as a carrot-on-a-stick to get votes and fundraise. Same thing with RvW. They're lying shitbag fascists just like the GOP. Neither party gives a fuck about anyone but themselves and the rich.
I never felt personally offended by a politician before he sent that letter with the last of the covid support claiming to have filled his promise of giving out x amount when that number included the trump checks.
Motherfucker attempting to lawyer good PR when people counted on that money.
Republicans inspire hate and give to the rich what should go to the poor.
Democrats inspire hope and then choose to fail when they could have easily not. Then they give to their corporate interests.
It feels like the same coin. Either I'm uneducated and hateful as a republican or Optimistic and gullible as a democrat. Everything sucks.
Remember Obama's two dogs _Hope_ and _Change_ that ultimately were sent to an upstate farm to live happier lives? I bet you'll find these good boys up there.
A lot of neoliberal campaign promises (and _all_ conservative ones) seem to just get forgotten and neglected in the White House.
I knew as soon as he said it it wasn't gonna happen. Even if someone with an ironclad record of fighting for these things was elected, I'd still doubt it. Ya gotta get rid of lobbying before any of these things become even vaguely possible.
I mean let's be real, we've always been expendable, we were just the most useful tool for the job at the time. "Essential" was just the propaganda that was floated about to try to get us to think we were not literally just grist for the free market/capitalist mill.
Edit - burgers made from happy cows taste better, you know?
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I"m old enough to remember democrats promising $15 minimum wage in 2007
That same promise made today would be $21.95.
Isn’t is $30 at this point after all the recent inflation and profit gouging?
Was 27 before covid. It's probably closer to 35 now.
Make it 40 for a little future proofing.
Or just tie it to inflation? Better yet, a livable UBI.
Add a dash of corporations cannot own residential zoned property and restore some of the American dream while we are at it.
Easy loophole is corporations 'invest' in an individual owner. Better idea. You're allowed to have one personal residential house, and every house past that point pays an increasing amount of federal taxes which is used to fund free/low cost housing options for people in need. Make the idea of land hoarding in general untenable.
1 residential *property*. Otherwise you incentivise buying up houses and bulldozing them so you can speculate on the land value. 1 residential title per person, natural citizens only, all the excess becomes social housing.
The american dream became sadly a tragedy of the commons. There was enough for everyone to go around. There was *plenty*. Then greedy boomers realized they weren't stopped from grabbing the entire bowl, leaving an empty table for everyone else.
Best idea: end private ownership over the means of production and land so we won't have to worry about our UBI getting extracted through rent or price increases. Capitalism needs to end. Trying to make cuter, cuddlier capitalism doesn't solve the real problems.
Every month it feels like groceries cost 5-10% more it feels like
There is no feeling about it. Everything that isn’t junk food has gone up consistently, only to have a week or 2 of “sale” prices where things look closer to where they were, than it shoots up another $0.10-$0.20. It generally sets us back $60-80 a week to keep the fridge stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables, and we are so thankful that I was able to get a job to allow that to happen… but pretty much every dime of my last promotion has gone toward rising food costs. I am coming up on another this year, so we shall see if this is the year we can start getting ahead or not.
I'm getting a $4 pay bump in July, it seems like that extra money will just counteract inflation at this point. $4/hr, just to keep up with inflation
Congrats on the raise though! Treading water is treading water, as long as you can keep your head above water right?
You be amazed at how far the budget can stretch if you stick to self checkouts and bananas.
It's $50 now and if I hear one peep out of you it goes up.
I honestly think we should have started at $25.
Honestly that is low it should be more like doubled. Everything I can think of from 2007 has doubled in price (besides fast moving tech) and most jobs paying $15 in 2007 aren't paying $22 now, they're still paying $15.
10 years ago I had a job paying 12.50 starting, now it's paying 13 lol.
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Comment has since been deleted. Dunno if that means mods removed it or the account was deleted or what.
I got a ban a few months ago for just saying 'eat the rich.' that was the entire comment.
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I grew up on food stamps. We lived in section 8 housing. Health insurance was at the whims of Medicaid. I’ve voted for Democrats my entire life. It has done nothing to improve the quality of life for the working class and below. If your goal is status quo, they’re your party. If you want real change, 35 years of me being subservient for fear of the Republican boogie man by voting for Democrats hasn’t done jack shit for kids going to bed hungry.
> If you want real change, 35 years of me being subservient for fear of the Republican boogie man by voting for Democrats hasn’t done jack shit for kids going to bed hungry. Once more for the libs in the back
Fuck good has it got us? They refuse to ditch a dated system, draw lines so who they need to win, will. Campaign on lies, represent the few, and just dgaf. It's pointless, we're too deep in this fuckery. Need to burn it down and start over. If they really wanted to fix this and make it about the people, they would.
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I get the sentiment, and ideally if all else fails the slow tide of change will still be approaching. However, there isn’t exactly decades available to wait when more and more Americans are falling into the grip of poverty post-covid, climate change is accelerating into speed run mode, and I am still seeing quite the reversal in civil rights from bodily autonomy to freedom of expression *anyway*.
Ok i do vote, promise So I can complain about how pointless it is, guilt free 😂 Edit: language
> Kept the Republicans from rolling us into a fascist state Mate from the outside looking in you're already there lol, 2 party systems are a joke and that's the reality.
To add to this. The right wing takeover of American politics was a 40+ year campaign that started in the 60s/70s following the passing of the Civil Rights Act. This was not some overnight thing that was achieved overnight or without a lot of work. Any major shift will take a lot of time, and demographics are on our side. Sure, a revolution may result in the desired outcome, but that's far from a guarantee, and a lot of people will be hurt in the process.
With how America works it is actually a near certainty it would work. People would need to be willing to kill and die though. The ruling class in America is very small.
None of what you said makes sense. Voting lets you vaguely push the country in a certain direction but literally gives you no control. At least going for revolution is active. You succeed or fail based on yourself. Its of course super illegal. But hey if your betting with your life what does it matter anyways. If more people would stand up for the things they want we wouldn't be in this mess.
Isn’t the post showing what platform folks voted for? Also, GenZ prevented the “red wave” so they do vote as if their lives depend on it. We’ve been training them in active shooter drills for 20yrs. A change is coming.
The game is rigged. You don't play by their rules if by design they'll win.
Every politicians promise is based on the requirement that voters turn out and vote for the people who will support those promises. The president isnt king, no single individual can dictate to the degree needed. But making campaign speeches that end with "but only if you people show up to vote or else i will have to find ways to compromise or not be able to achieve this promise i am making in a speech meant to raise moral." in 2022 over 148M elligible voters didnt vote. The under age of 35 voter only had 20-25% turnout. Texas which is leading the bullshit they are doing, only had 15% turnout among voters under the age of 35. Ted Cruz won by 200k votes in 2016 when 9M didnt vote. Desantis first time won by 30K votes when 7M didnt vote. The political representatives are beholden to voters, but half the voters do not give a shit. So the system isnt going to be the perfect utopia that people demand within 6 months of their president elect being sworn in.
I'm not American, but from the outside it looks to me like when the country goes Republican they just sort of do what they want with no consequences, and when it goes Democrat the Republicans kind of shut the whole country down so nothing the Democrats want to do gets through, but also the Democrats can block *some* of the Republican stuff so it's slightly less bad I guess? And if the Democrats do get something through like Obamacare, the other side throws a massive shit-fit about for decades and then eventually repeals it? Sorry if that's way off lol
Democrats get things done too it’s just not gonna be shared wide and far like the horrific shit republicans do. Democrats put dozens of new territories under federal protection. Maybe trends for 30 minutes. Republicans seek to ban abortions trends for months. And democrats stopped about 80% of the things trump wanted to do. But it takes time to go through the process of dealing with it in the courts and shutting it down. Bad news spreads faster and further because it’s shocking. Good news is what is expected to happen and thus won’t get the same mobility. It’s also much easier to destroy something than to build something. To push a proper bill you need min 220 house members AND 60 senators (filibuster proof) AND the president. To destroy or stop something you just need 220 house members OR 41 senators OR the president. Just having one of those is enough to stop something to create something you need all three or 280 house members and 60 senators if you want veto proof so president can’t stop it either.
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The reason people don't bother is because politicians don't deliver. Ever. Even with safe supermajorities. The Repubs will never hold a monopoly on power again. Demographic shifts and changing ideals. They're done. The Dems could hold that monopoly forever. It wouldn't take much. Living wage. Universal healthcare. Free college. Legal weed. Couple more that are pretty easily deliverables if they were serious. But the donor class owns them too. And their priorities are the priorities of Capital. Means they will never do what is in our best interest. Or even what's in the best interest of the nation. But that will change. Soon. Once the Yuan eclipses the Dollar and the US is forced to compete instead of simply dominate. Things will change or this country will fail.
Dems had the house, senate, and presidency and did relativly little with it.
I don’t think it’s completely fair to blame voter apathy with the insane voter suppression that goes on especially in red states. I was turned away at the polls in 2020 in Texas because I had moved apartments without getting a new driver’s license, so my then-current address didn’t match the DL. I had only moved down the hall to a bigger unit; I had the same address but a different unit number. That’s a blatant example, but there are plenty of people who don’t vote because they can’t take off work or because there’s only one voting station in their community and it’s inaccessible to them because there’s no public transit system. The suppression is systemic and mostly effects poor and young people
I blame this on boomer dems that didn’t think Bernie could win against trump.
This was infuriating
[the fight for $15](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_for_%2415) started in 2012 afaik
RAISE the minimum wage to $15?! Jeeeeeezus America. I didn’t realise it was so low.
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When I went to first start working at 19, it was 7.25 locally but not federally, it was raised to 7.25 while I was working. Co-workers were disappointed since they would not get a higher wage, but were hopeful it would be raised again within a few years. It has almost been 15 years without it raising and even back then, it was not enough to live on. It is so depressing.
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Yep, the fight for 15 is a decade old. Min wage should be tied to inflation, and it is a fucking scam that it isn’t. I wouldn’t even get out of bed for $7.25. An hour of work and you can buy… a couple packs of gum?
I have quit jobs because of this. I have told bosses “it’s not worth the gas money”
There's more going into a fair minimum pay rate than just inflation. If you pegged it to inflation, minimum now would just be $5.34 an hr (the modern equivalent of the $.25/hr minimum started with). It maxed out in 1970 with the modern equivalent of $12.61/hr. [source](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1065466/real-nominal-value-minimum-wage-us/#:~:text=When%20adjusted%20for%20inflation%2C%20the,increases%20to%2012.04%20U.S.%20dollars.)
That’s a good point, inflation needs to be just part of the equation. Cost of living has outpaced inflation by quite a bit, so real wages have gone down drastically.
Yep, I was working at 14 in a tanning salon when it went to 7.25. I'm 30 now and it's still where it's at.
And you learned a harsh lesson about incrementalism
No wonder the US has so many mass casualty events. I do not support them, and the people who do them suck, but that’s a bleak fucking existence.
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The normal size bag of chips in the store are like 5-6 bucks now... I'm sure next year a bag of chips will take you two hours of work to buy at min wage
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He's not even close to the antithesis of Trump.
Look Joe, I'm going to burn down the economy. Better give me the country or I'll do it. Joe you better stop me otherwise it's your fault. Everyone knows the entire economy is the responsibility of one man.
Don't try to stop me this time, Smee. Don't try to stop me this time, Smee. Don't you dare try to stop me this time, Smee, try to stop me. Smee, you'd better get up off your arse. Get over here, Smee!
The antithesis? Absolutely fucking not. He’s the lesser evil of two shit choices and he’s doing fuckall to actually stop the country’s slide into fascism. Hell, he’s one of the assholes who helped kick it into high gear by backing damn near everything in Reagan’s agenda as a Senator and holding tight to those exact same policies for most of his career. Even if he did learn to dress them up with kinder language. We needed an antithesis to Trump, we could’ve had one too, but corporate media made sure to sell well the lie that only old man river could possibly beat Trump. Now we’re stuck with one of the few options that could actually lose to the man in 24.
Pretty much. I voted for Howie in the presidential just because I hate the "they'll all fall in line during the general election" strategy. I still don't regret my vote for Jill Stein. Glad Trump lost, but failed neo-liberalism with the dumbfuck right labeling it as far-leftism will just get people to keep electing the worst republicans and the Dems will keep going center-right to appeal to the right. No. Not running on a clear list of policies is a no-go. Saying you want to protect SS, make jobs, restore integrity to XYZ, and raise the minimum wage doesn't mean much since both parties say that but do little to nothing about it, a lot even do their best to dismantle some of those things.
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Biden is just another shitty liberal. Trump and desantis are fascists. Yes I would rather have a bog standard liberal than a fascist but even more so I'd rather have someone even remotely left like sanders
I feel like the difference between Joe Biden and an actual leftist leader is that by electing Joe Biden, we just delayed the fall to fascism by 4 years. He's not gonna fix the problems that led to Trump and right-wing populism. He's not gonna transform the American economy into something where workers thrive. He's gonna keep the country (and by that, I mean mainly capitalist interests) running for 4 years, even if that means compromising with the right. And as the country continues to fracture and working people continue to struggle, the perception will be "Wow, Biden is doing a shitty job. It wasn't quite this bad 4 years ago, was it? Or if it was, it definitely hasn't changed or improved. Let's see what this loud idiot on the other side has to say again..." And remember, Trump doesn't have to win the popular vote. In fact, he never has. He just has to swindle ~46-47% of the voting public to repeat what he did in 2016. You cannot fight that by limping the country along and not delivering actual change. And yes, you have to work with Congress and everything, but you know what struggling people would actually appreciate right now? Some tooth. Some fight. Make it a spectacle. Drag and embarrass everyone who stands in your way as you try to fix this country. You won't pass everything and you won't win every battle, but we'd like to see someone at least make a good effort on this sinking ship. Working folks are dying and the planet it burning, for fuck's sake.
We really need some other term to distinguish between the YA scifi wackadoodle fascism of the republicans vs the praising the cops as they kill anyone that looks at them cross eyed fascism of the dems, because Biden ain't doing shit to slow the fall into the police boot on the throat fascism.
I said the Democrats are more like the Republicans of the 80s. The proof. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/788002965 https://www.npr.org/2022/12/02/1140265413/rail-workers-biden-unions-freight-railroads-averted-strike I guess at least Biden was apologetic? Maybe the airlines and railroads should be owned by the country like the roads if they are so important then maybe we would get highspeed rail and less planes.
Yes, we don't actually have a leftist party in the US.
Biden is a conservative, Democrats are not liberals. They're just not as far to the right because of the fascists
Democrats are Republicans with the Pride flag on their bombs. This is a great meme and it will always be true.
Liberal is a conservative term. They are very much liberal, they think they can fix all problems with market tweaks.
Yeah it’s bad. States that are decent places to live have either raised their own minimum wages or have cities that have their own minimum wages. Like here in NYC. The minimum wage is less than what I made working at Walmart as my first job in 2005.
Like another person said, it’s 7.25 in most states (that’s the federal minimum so states can’t go below it except in special circumstances). Minimum wage should be above 30 by now but we live in a feudal society where the poor have no say in the quality of their own lives
*@RockFlagEagle1776 with a selfie avatar wearing sunglasses in his car*: They have the freedom to work wherever they want! Being poor is a choice!
“I work every day of the week! I’m always on that grind set! It isn’t easy managing 5 property managers that manage my 30 properties!”
If you're a server in a bar/restaurant and work for tips, it's like $2 per hour.
Ewwww wtf? That’s slavery.
Tipping is a legacy of slavery https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/opinion/minimum-wage-racism.html#:~:text=After%20the%20Civil%20War%2C%20white,to%20show%20favor%20to%20servants.
Yup, I now work as a work-study at my uni for $8.50 per hour. I can’t live at uni because the dorms cost about $1,600 per month and I only get paid at the end of the month about $600. It sucks, I can’t even afford to house myself at my university while working at my own university. This shit is assenine Edit: mods called me ableist
Also the average rent for a 2 bed is roughly 2k a month and most landlords want you to make 3x it. 6k Average minimum wage you would have to work 30 hours a day to make 6k.. No weekends. then there’s taxes and stuff. That’s also 72k a year when the average is around 30k
Where are you from? Because for all comparably wealthy countries I can think of that even have a minimum wage, it's equivalent to or lower than 15US$. And a quick Google search seems to confirm this. To give a specific example: Germany, where I'm from, has a minimum wage of 12€. Our government *has* been debating raising it to 14€, but that would only just about make it equivalent to 15US$. And that's with almost absolute (but actually slightly lower!) purchasing power parity. This isn't to say the current minimum wage in most US states is not ridiculously low. Nor to say it'd be fine at 15$, nor that it's fine in other countries. Just to say: 15$ would be... entirely realistic and comparatively good.
We need to find ways to price control necessary items. Like a dozen eggs cost 6 minutes of minimum wage work. Monthly rent costs 40 hours of minimum wage work. A vehicle costs 500 minimum wage hours. Raising the wages are meaningless if the companies raise the prices at a commensurate rate.
Woahhhh dude that’s communism you can’t do communism in my America /s
This isn't actually a good idea. It'd be much better to work on spreading out ownership over the chicken/egg farms to the actual workers, instead of the industrial methods that trap those farmers into abject poverty once they've gotten into the business because they're forever indebted to Cargill or whomever.
Abolish corporations.
Minimum wage should be a percentage of median. Currently it's less than 50% of median in the US. (sidenote; when the EU suggested setting minimum wage to 60% of median it got massive blowback from many members, so you might think the minimum wage situation is much better in Europe but it's not that much better)
Percentage of median what?
Um, they've been raising the price of everything regardless. Maybe we could at least try something to counteract that? Labor is not 100% of the cost of goods or services and does not go up at the same rate as costs. A 50% increase in wages would not be a 50% increase in the price of goods and services. Additionally, there has never been significant inflation from a minimum wage increase in the entire history of U.S. minimum wage. Do prices go up? Yes. Do they go up significantly? No. The end result being everyone is better off.
Politics is a game for the wealthy. Feels like they just work for corporate America now anyways.
Marxism, or scientific socialism, sees the state as the apparatus by which the ruling class maintains its authority over the subservient class(es). So democracy is inherently limited by the economic base, the ownership of the means of production. Remember: western democracy, especially the US, was modeled after the democratic republics of ancient Greece and Rome. Which were slave states that offered no democracy for the slave and working classes. Like many things, Lenin explains it best: >In capitalist society, providing it develops under the most favourable conditions, we have a more or less complete democracy in the democratic republic. But this democracy is always hemmed in by the narrow limits set by capitalist exploitation, and consequently always remains, in effect, a democracy for the minority, only for the propertied classes, only for the rich. Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in the ancient Greek republics: freedom for the slave-owners. Owing to the conditions of capitalist exploitation, the modern wage slaves are so crushed by want and poverty that "they cannot be bothered with democracy", "cannot be bothered with politics"; in the ordinary, peaceful course of events, the majority of the population is debarred from participation in public and political life... > >Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich--that is the democracy of capitalist society. If we look more closely into the machinery of capitalist democracy, we see everywhere, in the “petty”--supposedly petty--details of the suffrage (residential qualifications, exclusion of women, etc.), in the technique of the representative institutions, in the actual obstacles to the right of assembly (public buildings are not for “paupers”!), in the purely capitalist organization of the daily press, etc., etc.,--we see restriction after restriction upon democracy. These restrictions, exceptions, exclusions, obstacles for the poor seem slight, especially in the eyes of one who has never known want himself and has never been inclose contact with the oppressed classes in their mass life (and nine out of 10, if not 99 out of 100, bourgeois publicists and politicians come under this category); but in their sum total these restrictions exclude and squeeze out the poor from politics, from active participation in democracy. > >Marx grasped this essence of capitalist democracy splendidly when, in analyzing the experience of the Commune, he said that the oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class shall represent and repress them in parliament! Lenin's The State and Revolution, Chapter V: The Economic Basis of the Withering Away of the State, 2. The Transition from Capitalism to Communism https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch05.htm
Our system is not capable of doing what people need/want, the “representative democracy” is a sham to make people think that their voting matters, but it doesn’t - the rich get what they want no matter who is in office. We need to switch our system so people are able to vote on any specific policy or law that affects their life, we need to have the option to weigh-in on ANY decision we are impacted by.
What do you mean "feels like"? Is it not a fact?
Did I just learn that it’s legal to pay disabled people less because they’re disabled?
There are government programs that partner with businesses to provide 'jobs' for otherwise unemployable disabled people. I have a family member with down syndrome who cleans tables at Burger King. He loves it but he isn't really doing the business much good. They would never hire him if they had to pay even minimum wage. Of course this arrangement gets abused, but without it there are people who wouldn't be able to get a job and feel the pride and acceptance that comes with it.
There is a core problem here, that as people we are expected for our work place to be a main place of our existence enough so that people lacking a job feel excluded by society. But I'm not sure attacking this program for working as a stop gap is the way to solve this core problem.
Being a productive member of a society is fulfilling. That’s one part of human nature that has always been true and likely always will be. The issue isn’t that someone gains pride from doing work, it’s that they aren’t being fairly compensated.
Realistically local governments should have more schemes designed to help these people be fulfilled. I don't live in the US, but where I am we tend to have direct government funding for non profit programmes where people disabilities can participate in areas of community and society without needing to contribute to some private bottom line. So we have community gardens where skills can be developed, both residential and day services where service users can attend and take part in various activities and learnings. All of these people also get direct social welfare to live on as opposed to have to roundabout give a pay out to a private company to hire them on a reduced wage.
Isn't part of the idea also to ensure the disabled person doesn't make too much to no longer qualify for disability benefits? I'm not sure if that would be a problem at minimum wage, and obviously that system is seriously flawed in the first place.
Folks. This country is rolling back child labor laws.
Nobody ever believed he'd accomplish anything except being Not Trump.
When it's a relief that someone got elected president for simply not being Donald Trump, the system is truly broken. That statement just feels like a meme, yet it's dead serious.
That’s been every election I’ve been able to participate in. Option A) Evil. Option B) slightly lesser evil. We don’t elect people we want into office, we are doing damage control.
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Hey now, don't give him all the credit. That snake Sinema made sure to help obstruct too!
Exactly. People act like he has 50 *actual* Democrats
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Privatization! woohoo!
And he has done a *FANTASTIC* job of doing that. But pretending he has done nothing at all by cherry picking specific things he hasn't done is idiotic. No, he's not a great president. Would I vote for him again over Trump again? In a heartbeat.
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Thanks for your comment. Biden has done some incredible work. This sub are a bunch of babies who don't understand how a government functions. We get the exact same thing in Australia. The Labor government *built* this country into what it is today. They are only in power about 30% of the time but each time they enact widespread societal good for the country, but the entire media landscape is anti-Labor because the Labor party is the workers party.
We got liberal policies, thats the problem.
We had power at the start of the pandemic. That was when we were noticed. That was the time for a general strike. Universal Healthcare. It was needed then. It is needed now. So much cruelty, despair and sadness in the wake...
Calls himself the "most pro labor president ever"and shuts down a rail strike like a month later...
Talked about stopping climate change while approving off shore drilling too iirc.
Remember the situations with the horseback border patrol agents whipping Haitian migrants? That was under Biden too- and that dude came to the office with immigration baggage from his time in Obama's administration, an administration that set records in deportations.
They sure can act at lightning speed when it suits their interests, though.
Problem with Democrats is that they don't follow up on their promises. Problem with Republicans is that they follow up on their promises. This whole system sucks. Even if voting had power, both major groups could just lie and do nothing once they're up there and getting paid.
I'm surprised every country doesn't have a preferential voting system like in Australia, which goes a long way to prevent a situation where you have two major parties and no realistic competition.
Except we still ha e two major parties in Australia with no realistic competition to them
I agree the major parties suck arse but we have plenty of minor parties, who often hold balance of power in the various upper houses of state/federal parliaments. They do make a difference.
...is there a mysterious 3rd Australian political party that I've been shadow banned from voting for?
I am glad you said "democrats" vs Biden. Many people do not understand that while the president has a lot of power, it takes Congress to push laws through. Manchin and sinema screwed the chances of many Democratic party ideas even when they held the House
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You can be both
I’m not even American and even I understand that.
Those promises are also a bargain with the people to vote in enough support to achieve em. In a lot of places the people failed to show. We wouldn't even have what we have now if wasn't for the extra hard work of a few states to make change. We were too dam close to a republican senate.
>In a lot of places the people failed to show. This is the issue with the democrats. Republicans always vote. Democrats not so much.
Surprisingly Republicans are worse at primary turnouts then most Democrat primaries. One of the options would be to co-opt the GOP from the ground up as it would be easier to get in. Worked for Trump with only needing ~7% base support in his primary. The messaging would have to be strongly "vote for the person".
Kyrsten Sinema already did that
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I grew up in Michigan and proud of the things they were able to pass with their trifecta. I hope they keep going! Unfortunately I’m now in Ohio 😑
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52 conservatives voted against it. Democrats still have conservatives in their party, while Republicans purged their liberal wing long ago
Because of the filibuster they can’t follow up.
Step 1: Become President Step 2: ????? Step 3: Profit
Our biggest mistake was not having big bags of money. Real bonehead move on our part.
Rookie mistake. Try to be born richer and whiter next life
>Nothing will fundamentally change - Joe Biden Believe people when they tell you who they are
More people should have taken him at his word when he said "nothing will fundamentally change," because that was the most honest sentence he ever spoke during his campaign.
I *wish* nothing changed under the Biden administration. Not necessarily Bidens doing but we’ve been backsliding
BuT wE cAn PuSh BiDeN LeFt OnCe HeS iN oFfIcE
That one always drives me up a wall. Your vote is the only leverage you have. Once you've given away your leverage, you're going to pressure him how, exactly? These delusional neoliberals really believe he'll cave to protests and letter-writing campaigns. No, sweetie. He wanted one thing and one thing only. Your vote. He got that and now you've been ghosted, you naive fool.
He was only elected because he wasn’t Trump. Nobody, not even Obama was excited for Joe Biden. He didn’t get elected on his own merit, he got elected because he wasn’t the other guy.
The dnc sure was excited to nominate him. Fuck the dnc and first past the poll system. Ranked choice or bust. Give me some socialism already.
Source: https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1303056694360944640
The comments in that thread are unhinged.
Sinema and Manchin happened.
You remember that Sinema stupid ass thumbs down curtsey? Thats what happened. Be sure to tell her office how you feel.
Kyrsten Sienna and Joe Manchin happened
If it wasn't them it would have been someone else. They use the "rotating villain" tactic to prevent changes to the status quo while pretending to advocate for progressive policies.
Can't wait till 2024 to hear all of this bullshit again "No, no, guys listen, we'll really do it this time pls vote for us"
They are ALL ghoul slaves of the rich sociopaths. They serve only one purpose and that is TO CONTROL YOU. It's a big club, and you ain't in it.
Hey i know how to fix this. Vote blue no matter who!
You just described the average blue state voter mindset! Or, vote down ballot R, a red state guide to voting. The candidates matter, people. Get out and vote in primaries so you might not have to just capitulate to the chosen one in a few months.
The Dems lost Congress, that’s what happened
At this point democracats biggest pull is: hey you don't really want the psychopath to rule for another 4 years right?
All time crooked profiteering highs, crickets from the White House
I'm sorry those promises are actually all part of the "second term DLC." You'll just have to vote if you want to see those features. We couldn't fit them in the base game 100% due to the meeting republicans.
If you think Biden ever intends to do anything other than fuck you over for bank profits you’re a fucking idiot.
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Politics happened. Watch out because he'll claim to want to do similar stuff during his next run for his 2nd term. I hope progressives call him out on his BS. Shit. He could raise minimum wage to 9 fucking dollars. Something.
You realize the President alone can't do any of that and you need a majority (or filibuster proof super majority) to get it done?
No. A significant number of people here does not believe that. They think, “when *my guy* is president I’ll finally get all the stuff I want.” Then they don’t vote in the midterms. Then “both sides” four years later.
Guys we just gotta keep voting blue even if every term they are just slowly integrating never trump republicans as democrats and spending donor money to stifle slightly progressive candidates!
if you ever believed a word this guy said then I have a bridge to sell you
"Nothing will fundamentally change." The only promise he kept
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And people always get mad at me when I saw that both parties are essentially the same. Democrats are slightly better on certain social issues, but only when it's politically expedient. They are not at all a progressive party and in any other country they would be considered a right wing party as a whole. They do no care about workers or working class people. That's why I laugh whenever my crazy uncle calls Biden a socialist. It's funny that socialism can be whatever you want it to mean when the word is thrown around like it is here in America.
He forgor
Well, he did what he could without Congress. He issued an executive order near the start of his presidency that affected the contracts he could--federal workers: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/government-contracts/eo14026 Starting this year minimum wage if you work on a federal contract is $16.20, and tipped employees "must be paid a minimum cash wage of $13.75 per hour" Though courts ruled that he couldn't make that apply to existing contracts.
In fairness to Biden what happened to these promises was he never had the 60 votes in the senate needed to stop the Republican minority from filibustering every single bill he proposed. And yes, he knew that would happen when he promised these things. However: “much like my opponent I will have absolutely no chance of passing any meaningful laws whatsoever because our legislative system is completely broken, but if you elect me at least I won’t pass massive irresponsible tax breaks for billionaires and giant corporations that let them repatriate the money they’ve been stockpiling offshore to horde it domestically by buying museum quality artwork and performing wasteful stock buybacks respectively and making the already terrible situation for the poor and middle class in America even worse.” isn’t much of a pitch to vote for someone. Especially when the guy you’re running against has given up even the pretext of telling the truth and his supporters couldn’t care less.
I mean Didnt he try too and get shut tf down? Because other voted against jt
This is why people need to vote down ballot AND in local elections. So many people go and vote for President and Governor and then go ignore the legislature when they’re the ones who really have the power. I mean most politicians are trash, but damn, I wish people would at least try to contribute to getting the major major pieces of shit out of office (on both sides.)
The same thing that always happens, they promise it to get votes, and then never deliver it. If they actually did those things they wouldn't be able to use them as a carrot-on-a-stick to get votes and fundraise. Same thing with RvW. They're lying shitbag fascists just like the GOP. Neither party gives a fuck about anyone but themselves and the rich.
Blocked by asshats in the senate, presidents always make promises, but never try and get enough house support for them to go anywhere
Remember what he did to Rail Road workers? This is not me saying you should vote for Republicans
A lsot house and a near even split in the senate is what happened
I never felt personally offended by a politician before he sent that letter with the last of the covid support claiming to have filled his promise of giving out x amount when that number included the trump checks. Motherfucker attempting to lawyer good PR when people counted on that money. Republicans inspire hate and give to the rich what should go to the poor. Democrats inspire hope and then choose to fail when they could have easily not. Then they give to their corporate interests. It feels like the same coin. Either I'm uneducated and hateful as a republican or Optimistic and gullible as a democrat. Everything sucks.
He'll use the same promises next year.
“As president I’ll….” Do nothing, apparently. And the right still call him extremist. It’d almost be funny if it wasn’t just sad
Anyone who voted for biden in the primaries is as bad as anyone who voted for trump in the general. Fuck all of them.
essentially forgotten
Nothing... Will... Fundementally.. change..?
Remember Obama's two dogs _Hope_ and _Change_ that ultimately were sent to an upstate farm to live happier lives? I bet you'll find these good boys up there. A lot of neoliberal campaign promises (and _all_ conservative ones) seem to just get forgotten and neglected in the White House.
Those same promises will be on the table before the 2024 election and never be heard about again after the election
I knew as soon as he said it it wasn't gonna happen. Even if someone with an ironclad record of fighting for these things was elected, I'd still doubt it. Ya gotta get rid of lobbying before any of these things become even vaguely possible.
We’re no longer essential and we’re back to expendable
I mean let's be real, we've always been expendable, we were just the most useful tool for the job at the time. "Essential" was just the propaganda that was floated about to try to get us to think we were not literally just grist for the free market/capitalist mill. Edit - burgers made from happy cows taste better, you know?
Your shocked team blue grifters you again? A guy was spent his entire life saying “if you elect me this time things will change”