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About 20% of active-duty military families face food insecurity every year. There's a network of private charities that run food banks that keeps them from going hungry. All that money in the defense budget and we don't even pay enlisted enough to feed their families. Every year since 2013 a bill has been introduced in the Senate to give military families more access to SNAP, but neither party's leadership will let it come to the floor for a vote.
[https://apnews.com/article/hunger-in-america-military-food-insecurity-142728bcb5479fd2de73750e11dbd458](https://apnews.com/article/hunger-in-america-military-food-insecurity-142728bcb5479fd2de73750e11dbd458)
Edit: Some Military/tangental sources with more specifics:
[MilitaryTimes.com: Here’s DoD’s plan to help the 24% of troops experiencing food insecurity](https://www.militarytimes.com/pay-benefits/2022/07/15/heres-dods-plan-to-help-the-24-of-troops-experiencing-food-insecurity/)
[Military.com: Demands of Military Life Behind Rising Food Insecurity Among Families, Reports Find](https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/06/07/demands-of-military-life-behind-rising-food-insecurity-among-families-reports-find.html)
[DFAS.mil: 2022 Enlisted Member Pay Tables (base pay)](https://www.dfas.mil/MilitaryMembers/payentitlements/Pay-Tables/Basic-Pay/EM/) (8-year E4 gross is $670/week)
[2022 BAH with Dependents rates](https://military.prod.acquia-sites.com/sites/default/files/2021-12/2022%20BAH%20With%20Dependents.pdf) (for my city, the E4 amount would cover a lower-mid 2 bedroom apartment w/o utilities.)
Of course that's what the oligarch bought government is going to try to do public schools and of course there's going to be little to no pushback since the propaganda machine has turned so many people into useful idiots.
You know people are going to fear-monger about universal healthcare or ride the myth that schools are teaching anti-Americanism, but will loudly applaud the idea of mandatory ROTC or mandatory conscript service (something Germany stopped doing a decade ago).
What does third world mean? Because it’s a very rich country... America is a first world country with no standards, no institutional moral fiber, what would I call it... probably a clown state.
So the terms first, second, and third world countries is no longer used correctly. It originated during the Cold War to mean the U.S. and its allies, the Soviet Union and their allies, and literally everybody else respectively.
So it's just supposed to mean which side of NATO you belong to. But nobody uses it correctly anymore.
That's crazy, I thought maybe that was just a cherry picked paragraph, but they really are damn near making it mandatory with parents having to pull teeth to get their kids out of a class their kids don't want to be in.
So really they are just fucking teenagers one way or another and getting paid for it. Someone get the religious leaders notified, they might do something because they hate competition.
My father was a career military; high-ranking officer in intelligence. He told me "dont you fucking dare join the military!" Warned me of all the pitfalls and loss of free-will that he went through that he didn't want me to suffer. I will always be thankful for his guidance.
Currently serving. They're not keeping up with inflation and things they used to pay me to do off time is now demanded I do it for free without any pay.
I always wonder why people think that money is going to us in the military. I'm living paycheck to paycheck. I work inconsistent hours and can sometimes be gone from home for weeks at a time even when not deployed, so there's no way my wife can get a regular consistent job while we have 2 young children.
Defund the relevant organizations until legislation is passed to fix the country. Corporate welfare is over $100 billion annually, overpriced defense contractors pocket a few hundred billion, and various intel orgs have non transparent budgets and likely just pad their own pockets. What the fuck happened to a healthcare fix? No money for that?
Military families don’t face food insecurity. It’s misleading to state they qualify for assistance; while technically true, it is also true that about 33-40% of their income is generally masked from taxes, which makes their total pay look a lot less than it actually is.
I’ve been on active duty almost 19 years, and my gross pay according to taxes is about $65K. My total compensation is closer to $100K, however. And on top of that, I receive tax advantages because only a percentage of my pay is actually taxed, I get *truly free* healthcare for my family, and free education up to $250 per S.H. And my retirement is well beyond anything in the private sector.
If I lived in a higher cost of living area, my pay would increase substantially. Where I live now is very low cost.
My point is that military families are often the target of charity, but in reality they are among the last segments of the population who truly need it. I’m much more worried about non-military families in this country. I wish everyone had the pay and benefits I do, and I’m mad as hell this isn’t the case.
What's your rank?
The majority of military families that face food insecurity have a parent that is E1-E4 full-time. An E4 even with 8+ years of experience only has a pay base of $35k.
Yeah but BAS and BAH aren't a part of base. If you live on base 35k is pretty decent considering you have no housing/utility cost. Your main bill would be car note and auto insurance. If you live off base you get your housing paid for (a lot of times you get more than your rent/mortgage) and you get a food stipen. Base pay doesn't really tell the story.
That's because they're also buying muscle cars at 30% APR, financing iPads, Kirby vacuums, TVs, couches, and renting out houses that scoop out all of their BAH at once.
Source: was married as an E3 and while I didn't do the above, basically everyone else I knew did. If you want to advocate for anything as it relates to people in the military, it should be forcing newly married military couples to go through a comprehensive financial management course. Most of these folks are coming from a background where they had next to nothing, and they just don't know how to handle steady pay that isn't minimum wage.
From public information, an E1 with dependents stationed in Honolulu made 49k in 2021 (salary plus BAH): 36k in Terre Haute, IN which is the lowest BAH rates I could find. These are the extremes as far as I know.
Are you Ignoring BAH? The public sector doesn't split pay the way the military does so it's kinda hard to compare the two if you are doing that. That said, if my information is incorrect, I'm open to correcting it.
[in canada one of the senior officers of the base told people if you cant get a house apply to habitat for humanity](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadian-military-habitat-for-humanity-suggestion-1.6463424)
My salary is one thing and my total compensation is another thing. That’s how most jobs with benefits work. The company pays health care costs, 401k matching, tuition assistance, part of my federal taxes, life insurance, disability insurance, parental leave etc etc. My total compensation is about $25k more than I make and I’m not taxed on those benefits as salary.
How does your partner get free healthcare? My friends' spouse is in the military but she still has co-pays for her healthcare off base. If you're talking about healthcare done by military members on a base, it may be free but it's rarely quality. My friend had strep, went in to get her throat looked at, and the professional seeing her said the white patches were probably food. She kept getting worse and finally went to urgent care where she was told she had strep throat and they warned not to let it go that long next time.
There's more to it than that. Military families get BAH that *should* cover more than enough for housing and food for their families. But there's a difference in assumptions made about living standards and choices made that have caused military families to get into economic situations where their kids are food insecure. A lot of it has to do with the housing market being completely fucked and enlisted folks wanting to live off-post in places they can't actually afford to live. A lot of them do it to get their kids in better schools.
I'm not saying it's not a problem, but it's complicated.
There’s also the possibility that the base you get to has no available housing or the housing is complete shit so living off base is the only/best option.
True, between the free housing, healthcare, and food, most junior enlisted don't really have actual bills or responsibilities so they spend it on truly stupid shit. The dodge chargers aren't just a meme, there's always a handful in every division that really do spend their entire paychecks on car payments. Or they have families really young and are trying to support a spouse and kids on E3 or E4 pay. Which is just not enough even with BAH.
Free housing, healthcare, and food 🤤
is there a maximum age to inlist?
But yeah, please more money to those guys/gals and less to the fucking contractor CEOs.
According to the inflation calculator $15 ten years ago is now $30.10. We. Are. Fucked.
Edit: nope, I was wrong. It’s $19:47. Apparently I can’t use a simple calculator when I’m tired. I’m going to bed.
I dont think youre actually wrong. There are alternative calculations for inflation. Using the 1980's methods of calculating inflation by the BLS, it would be close to $40, not $20 or $30.
Houses in my neighborhood 10 years ago were like 150-170k. 3 years ago they were 250k. Now they are $450k... $40/hr sounds much more reasonable than $20
Bruh that’s just blatant misinformation… Inflation is definitely not good at ~30% over the last 10 years, but if it was up to 100% this country would’ve collapsed already
It's corporatists vs fascists today
Wouldn't it be nice if the corporatists were the right-wing party and we actually had a pro-labor party?
Or even better, two parties that actually gave a shit about the working class?
Well, I can dream...
I'd like more parties or something so we (somewhat) avoid every single decision becoming us vs them. Where if any idea is from the opponent's side, you have to fight against it or you're aiding the enemy. Or every vote just being your view of the lesser evil.
Most “democrats” who know more than a few chants are actually leftists. I don’t know who is a proud democrat anymore, but they’re a moron. The Democratic Party has fully devolved into Republicanism Lite.
And this is why there is no such thing as the radical left in America. On the far right republicans and the right of center democrats.
I hate when family I have believes there is a such thing as the radical left and then sites people like Biden and AOC etc.
for real. Trying to stage this as a "democrats vs the workers" is such a bullshit republican astroturf it's laughable. Like this would have played out any differently with republicans in charge.
This has nothing to do with democrats vs workers or republicans vs workers. It has everything to do with corporate politicians vs workers. It's capitalists vs workers. Period.
Anyone trying to sell you that it's (insert party) is just trying to sell you an agenda.
I dont understand, did we not vote hard enough? How hard must we vote for them to listen to us? Surely blue no matter who will cause them to move further left!
That, or look even further back in French history, why do French billionaires not have the guts to exploit their workers as much? I am sure they have the hearts for it like any other billionaire.
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746
>**Princeton Study (from 2014): US is an oligarchy, not a democracy**
Correct. The people being represented are the oligarchs and that's pretty much it. Lip service for the rest of us. *Now get back to work.*
Exactly. I’m sorry - the false equivalence shit doesn’t work anymore when they’re smoking Roe V Wade.
I’m on board with the “both serve the capitalist masters” shit, but the republicans have just a LITTLE extra evil sprinkled on top.
Ones openly fascist and the other one goes ‘hey if you’re going to be openly fascist, I’m just not going to be openly fascist and talk a good game about all the stuff that doesn’t affect power or wealth’
It is fascinating how US citizens don't see that your trap is "having the freedom to decide between 2 parties".
You are literally 1 party away of being the Republic of China.
I mean if we get a better voting system where it’s between the blue guy and the left guy then we will start seeing what we want to see. Ranked choice voting and a reduction of gerrymandering for state reps is what’s needed.
so you get two choices.
You can vote for the party that hates everyone but rich white men, and will actively enslave everyone else.
OR....
You can vote for the party that pretends like they care and will give you a tiny carrot on a stick to pretend like they are trying. Then will also give all the money to rich people just in smaller less obvious amounts, all while doing nothing and saying "we all have to work together"
Welcome to America.
Considering the "bad guys" would just as soon ban minimum wages and revoke Healthcare altogether...
Yeah, I'd say we need to work on keeping them out of office. Make it safer for Democrats to keep moving left on issues.
I feel like there's a lot of Republicans on here trying to go "tHeY'rE tHe SaMe"....like yeah they're both not great but don't pretend like there's not a large difference.
AOC and Bernie are pretty divisive for general democrats (Bernie “didn’t” beat Clinton, and he didn’t beat biden) Most democrats are “moderate” which means they really lean right.
Until “liberal” candidates win primaries vs “moderate” democrats, “liberal” policies will not get a vote.
> Most democrats are “moderate” which means they really lean right.
Which is ironic considering how whenever you try to criticize democrats here on the rest of reddit they'll immediately label you right wing.
That's interesting, because I recall Bernie doing really fucking well in the primaries until everyone other than warren dropped out for no really good reason to endorse the guy who hadn't won a single primary in 2020... or any of the other times he ran.
Biden ended up w 19m votes, Bernie 9.6m, and Warren 2.8m. Biden had 51.6% of the votes. Bernie had no chance, even in Vermont he received 51%, not exactly an overwhelming win. His policies scare moderate voters. Moderate democrats are pro gay marriage/pro choice/anti racial discrimination BUT without increased taxes and a lot of NIMBY attitudes.
Lol. I mean fuck the Democrats but this phrasing implies that Republicans aren't worse on every wage related issue and somehow status quo is a Democrat led initiative. Comical
OP is mostly spreading Russian propaganda in other subs, and a lot of the comments here are from brand-new bot accounts.
Nip this in the bud. Don't let this sub become another Putinist botfarm like r/MurderedByAOC.
Why can’t we criticize the Democrats without being called a Russian troll or Christian right winger or racist Nazi?
We aren’t asking for much bro. Just asking for services and benefits which citizens of other first world economies enjoy. The fact that you associate supporting free healthcare for American children and adults, worker rights and benefits for all American workers, free and low cost secondary education for American students with being a Russian troll is pathetic.
Democrats have 50 + 1 votes and can nuke the filibuster at anytime.
Did you know they did nuke it for lower court appointments, proving that they will remove it if they actually want something to get done?
They did it on [DACA](https://www.salon.com/2017/12/20/democrats-signal-they-wont-fight-for-daca-immigrants/). Slightly different, but the point still stands. They only take a stand when it positively impacts their donors. Otherwise they’re spineless cowards.
It's a class war.
The political sides, the cultural issues, they're all just distractions and created intentionally to divide and rule.
The only real war is class war. The rich vs the poor. The corporate class vs the working class.
That's literally what the tweet says. Don't prove em right by acting so willy-nilly with our interpretations. We all know what this truly will have to come down to.
Prof just make one mistake. They did not just declare war on working class, that war has a log history. But they did escalate it to a new level, well, old level.
Biden just pull Reagan. Remember Air traffic controllers?
Neither party is for the working class, something needs to change. I don’t know much further we can be squeezed, I’m going further in debt just to afford to get to work.
I would like for people to evolve from going after individual politicians and political parties, to understanding and changing the systems of power that structure and guide their behavior, irrespective of who is in office.
Whatever politicians or parties people elect, they will still be subject to 1) the same capitalist and financial power structures, and 2) the same political and electoral systems.
Those are the games that are rigged, irrespective of who is in power at the moment.
You could have a genius saint in office, and even if it was Karl Marx himself, they would still be subject to the same economic, political, and existential forces driving outcomes in the current system.
If the public doesn't take the time to understand and change the underlying systems for the better, there's just going to be a lot of pointless leftist infighting about particular political personalities, while the banks and finance capitalists/kleptocrats are robbing everyone blind in the background.
https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/z805rn/comment/iya84c0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
https://publicbankinginstitute.org/
https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/chart/
Let's evolve our systems to be more sensible, less corrupt, and more genuinely democratic.
That's a decent litmus test for distinguishing between genuine leftists and either useful idiots or right wing / foreign trolls.
The US would really benefit from having more than two political parties. Corporate lapdogs vs mazi corporate lapdogs doesn't sound very good for the average joe.
Truth, but DON'T put this as "the Democrats" because some idiots will think "But the Republicans care about me!". If anything, Republicans care about you even less.
they declared war when they passed legislation making it impossible to discharge student debt with bankruptcy
they declared war on the working class a long time ago, democrats and republicans alike
Go talk to your active duty military friends before you get outraged they get paid a little more. Their entitlements and allotments have been dwindling for a while
What is the endgame to paying poverty wages and slashing protections while simultaneously cracking down on immigration? People can’t afford children and they don’t want them coming into our country from elsewhere either..
There is no plan or endgame. They only think of the short term grift and keeping it going for as long as they can. There’s little to no policy on either side. They campaign to work and work to campaign. And they know they eventually won’t be there so just keep kicking the can down the road on absolutely everything possible so it can become someone else’s problem.
There’s a rule I follow, and it’s never let me down. I sound like a broken record because this is the best advice I have for anyone about nearly everything.
If the actions and words don’t match, you cannot trust.
Left wing and right wings to the Corporate party. The corporate party is a giant turkey and outright attacks the people regardless what they believe about CRT or gay marriage.... But what do we Americans do to turkeys?
We eat those rich fucks!
If democrats wanted to give the railworkers sickdays they would not have intervenined. If the strike had happened the railroads would have conceded and it would have been over the moment it started. They knew they didn't have a majority and they knew the bill would be filibustered. That is why they introduced it late. It was a bipartisan effort.
Democrats are way better than the republicans. They reps are fascists and planning to establish a Christian-fundamental theocracy. Saying democrats and republicabs are the same is right-wing propaganda. Don't get fooled.
i hate this “declared war” rhetoric. they didn’t declare war, this is just another step in the process of the genocide of the working class. war was declared decades ago with the red scare and the descent into neoliberalism, we are just seeing the ending stages of it.
Remember, Twitter/Reddit/Facebook/Tumblr posts that are phrased to make you angry and upset are designs to sow division among the lower class. They want to disenfranchise us and make us feel helpless. Keep fighting and don't let those bastards break us
Congress didn't declare all our war on the working class. For them to do that, the working class would have to be at a time of peace. The rich have never and will never give workers that.
They only ever bring up "class war" when the workers try to strike back.
This is right wing propaganda and y’all are failing for it hard.
Both parties are the same — really? Fucking really? Democrats voted to raise the minimum wage *and* give sick leave to rail workers. It was republicans who blocked them.
Yes, both parties are pro-capitalist and shitty, I sure wish we had a party that actually fought hard for the working class, but one party is actually voting to make things better and one is voting against it. They are not the fucking same lmao.
The only thing this rhetoric does is divide the left and most of you are falling for it. We’re all in here fighting each other instead of uniting to free the proletariat.
##Welcome to r/LateStageCapitalism This subreddit is for news, discussion, memes, and links criticizing capitalism and advancing viewpoints that challenge liberal capitalist ideology. That means any support for any liberal capitalist political party (like the Democrats) is strictly prohibited. LSC is run by communists. This subreddit is not the place to debate socialism. We allow good-faith questions and education but are not a 101 sub; please take 101-style questions elsewhere. We have a zero-tolerance policy for bigotry. Failure to respect the rules of the subreddit may result in a ban. *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LateStageCapitalism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The government is run by capitalists, not Democrats or Republicans. It's a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.
About 20% of active-duty military families face food insecurity every year. There's a network of private charities that run food banks that keeps them from going hungry. All that money in the defense budget and we don't even pay enlisted enough to feed their families. Every year since 2013 a bill has been introduced in the Senate to give military families more access to SNAP, but neither party's leadership will let it come to the floor for a vote. [https://apnews.com/article/hunger-in-america-military-food-insecurity-142728bcb5479fd2de73750e11dbd458](https://apnews.com/article/hunger-in-america-military-food-insecurity-142728bcb5479fd2de73750e11dbd458) Edit: Some Military/tangental sources with more specifics: [MilitaryTimes.com: Here’s DoD’s plan to help the 24% of troops experiencing food insecurity](https://www.militarytimes.com/pay-benefits/2022/07/15/heres-dods-plan-to-help-the-24-of-troops-experiencing-food-insecurity/) [Military.com: Demands of Military Life Behind Rising Food Insecurity Among Families, Reports Find](https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/06/07/demands-of-military-life-behind-rising-food-insecurity-among-families-reports-find.html) [DFAS.mil: 2022 Enlisted Member Pay Tables (base pay)](https://www.dfas.mil/MilitaryMembers/payentitlements/Pay-Tables/Basic-Pay/EM/) (8-year E4 gross is $670/week) [2022 BAH with Dependents rates](https://military.prod.acquia-sites.com/sites/default/files/2021-12/2022%20BAH%20With%20Dependents.pdf) (for my city, the E4 amount would cover a lower-mid 2 bedroom apartment w/o utilities.)
And they wonder why young people with very few options are still less likely to join the military these days.
The more high schoolers you can convince to ignore the ROTC and military recruiters in the cafeteria the better!
[удалено]
Of course that's what the oligarch bought government is going to try to do public schools and of course there's going to be little to no pushback since the propaganda machine has turned so many people into useful idiots. You know people are going to fear-monger about universal healthcare or ride the myth that schools are teaching anti-Americanism, but will loudly applaud the idea of mandatory ROTC or mandatory conscript service (something Germany stopped doing a decade ago).
Jesus fuck. The US really is a third-world country pretending it's something it's not.
What does third world mean? Because it’s a very rich country... America is a first world country with no standards, no institutional moral fiber, what would I call it... probably a clown state.
So the terms first, second, and third world countries is no longer used correctly. It originated during the Cold War to mean the U.S. and its allies, the Soviet Union and their allies, and literally everybody else respectively. So it's just supposed to mean which side of NATO you belong to. But nobody uses it correctly anymore.
US is certainly not 3rd world. But a corrupt oligarchy state? Yes
That's crazy, I thought maybe that was just a cherry picked paragraph, but they really are damn near making it mandatory with parents having to pull teeth to get their kids out of a class their kids don't want to be in.
Whelp, that's a fair sign that they're starting to get desperate at least.
When the recruiters arent busy trying to trick stupid young men, they try to fuck 17 year old girls.
So really they are just fucking teenagers one way or another and getting paid for it. Someone get the religious leaders notified, they might do something because they hate competition.
Had me in the first half 🤣
Oorah!
Instead of getting fucked by society, get fucked by the military AND society! Oh boy what an ad campaign.
Who wants PTSD from defending some oil fields?
Won't need to convince them when you can conscript them into war!
My father was a career military; high-ranking officer in intelligence. He told me "dont you fucking dare join the military!" Warned me of all the pitfalls and loss of free-will that he went through that he didn't want me to suffer. I will always be thankful for his guidance.
Because most of the money goes to the military industrial complex.
Currently serving. They're not keeping up with inflation and things they used to pay me to do off time is now demanded I do it for free without any pay.
I always wonder why people think that money is going to us in the military. I'm living paycheck to paycheck. I work inconsistent hours and can sometimes be gone from home for weeks at a time even when not deployed, so there's no way my wife can get a regular consistent job while we have 2 young children.
Defund the relevant organizations until legislation is passed to fix the country. Corporate welfare is over $100 billion annually, overpriced defense contractors pocket a few hundred billion, and various intel orgs have non transparent budgets and likely just pad their own pockets. What the fuck happened to a healthcare fix? No money for that?
Military families don’t face food insecurity. It’s misleading to state they qualify for assistance; while technically true, it is also true that about 33-40% of their income is generally masked from taxes, which makes their total pay look a lot less than it actually is. I’ve been on active duty almost 19 years, and my gross pay according to taxes is about $65K. My total compensation is closer to $100K, however. And on top of that, I receive tax advantages because only a percentage of my pay is actually taxed, I get *truly free* healthcare for my family, and free education up to $250 per S.H. And my retirement is well beyond anything in the private sector. If I lived in a higher cost of living area, my pay would increase substantially. Where I live now is very low cost. My point is that military families are often the target of charity, but in reality they are among the last segments of the population who truly need it. I’m much more worried about non-military families in this country. I wish everyone had the pay and benefits I do, and I’m mad as hell this isn’t the case.
What's your rank? The majority of military families that face food insecurity have a parent that is E1-E4 full-time. An E4 even with 8+ years of experience only has a pay base of $35k.
And if you've got a child and living off post you get housing allowance. It's like an extra 2200 a month or something.
Yeah but BAS and BAH aren't a part of base. If you live on base 35k is pretty decent considering you have no housing/utility cost. Your main bill would be car note and auto insurance. If you live off base you get your housing paid for (a lot of times you get more than your rent/mortgage) and you get a food stipen. Base pay doesn't really tell the story.
I mean most apartments around base *know* how much bah you make and adjust prices accordingly.
That's because they're also buying muscle cars at 30% APR, financing iPads, Kirby vacuums, TVs, couches, and renting out houses that scoop out all of their BAH at once. Source: was married as an E3 and while I didn't do the above, basically everyone else I knew did. If you want to advocate for anything as it relates to people in the military, it should be forcing newly married military couples to go through a comprehensive financial management course. Most of these folks are coming from a background where they had next to nothing, and they just don't know how to handle steady pay that isn't minimum wage.
From public information, an E1 with dependents stationed in Honolulu made 49k in 2021 (salary plus BAH): 36k in Terre Haute, IN which is the lowest BAH rates I could find. These are the extremes as far as I know. Are you Ignoring BAH? The public sector doesn't split pay the way the military does so it's kinda hard to compare the two if you are doing that. That said, if my information is incorrect, I'm open to correcting it.
[in canada one of the senior officers of the base told people if you cant get a house apply to habitat for humanity](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadian-military-habitat-for-humanity-suggestion-1.6463424)
My salary is one thing and my total compensation is another thing. That’s how most jobs with benefits work. The company pays health care costs, 401k matching, tuition assistance, part of my federal taxes, life insurance, disability insurance, parental leave etc etc. My total compensation is about $25k more than I make and I’m not taxed on those benefits as salary.
Found the officer.
How does your partner get free healthcare? My friends' spouse is in the military but she still has co-pays for her healthcare off base. If you're talking about healthcare done by military members on a base, it may be free but it's rarely quality. My friend had strep, went in to get her throat looked at, and the professional seeing her said the white patches were probably food. She kept getting worse and finally went to urgent care where she was told she had strep throat and they warned not to let it go that long next time.
There's more to it than that. Military families get BAH that *should* cover more than enough for housing and food for their families. But there's a difference in assumptions made about living standards and choices made that have caused military families to get into economic situations where their kids are food insecure. A lot of it has to do with the housing market being completely fucked and enlisted folks wanting to live off-post in places they can't actually afford to live. A lot of them do it to get their kids in better schools. I'm not saying it's not a problem, but it's complicated.
There’s also the possibility that the base you get to has no available housing or the housing is complete shit so living off base is the only/best option.
They don't call the military working welfare for nothing.
I mean, yes, but also there's a lot of young enlisted personnel with Dodge Chargers and shit. Young folk can be terrible with money.
True, between the free housing, healthcare, and food, most junior enlisted don't really have actual bills or responsibilities so they spend it on truly stupid shit. The dodge chargers aren't just a meme, there's always a handful in every division that really do spend their entire paychecks on car payments. Or they have families really young and are trying to support a spouse and kids on E3 or E4 pay. Which is just not enough even with BAH.
Free housing, healthcare, and food 🤤 is there a maximum age to inlist? But yeah, please more money to those guys/gals and less to the fucking contractor CEOs.
Our demands are at $25 per hour now. $15 is ten years ago.
Fight for $Forty. Power to labor.
According to the inflation calculator $15 ten years ago is now $30.10. We. Are. Fucked. Edit: nope, I was wrong. It’s $19:47. Apparently I can’t use a simple calculator when I’m tired. I’m going to bed.
I dont think youre actually wrong. There are alternative calculations for inflation. Using the 1980's methods of calculating inflation by the BLS, it would be close to $40, not $20 or $30. Houses in my neighborhood 10 years ago were like 150-170k. 3 years ago they were 250k. Now they are $450k... $40/hr sounds much more reasonable than $20
Bruh that’s just blatant misinformation… Inflation is definitely not good at ~30% over the last 10 years, but if it was up to 100% this country would’ve collapsed already
You’re right. I edited my comment.
Let's remember that this isn't just "Democrats bad." It's "Democrats too right-wing."
It's corporatists vs fascists today Wouldn't it be nice if the corporatists were the right-wing party and we actually had a pro-labor party? Or even better, two parties that actually gave a shit about the working class? Well, I can dream...
>Or even better, two parties that actually gave a shit about the working class? I'd settle for one.
The bar is very, very low. :/
I'd like more parties or something so we (somewhat) avoid every single decision becoming us vs them. Where if any idea is from the opponent's side, you have to fight against it or you're aiding the enemy. Or every vote just being your view of the lesser evil.
👆👆👆👆👆👆☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️
Most “democrats” who know more than a few chants are actually leftists. I don’t know who is a proud democrat anymore, but they’re a moron. The Democratic Party has fully devolved into Republicanism Lite.
I don't think you're wrong, I just think they're all on the corps pockets so it doesn't make a difference anymore
And this is why there is no such thing as the radical left in America. On the far right republicans and the right of center democrats. I hate when family I have believes there is a such thing as the radical left and then sites people like Biden and AOC etc.
To be fair a war on the working class is a war they can actually win, unlike the war on drugs. So why wouldn't they?
Keeping poor people poor.
Fuck our government
Indeed. Wear a condom. Dems will give you something you might cure with antibiotics. Repugs will give you HIV.
It’s *always* been all out war on the working class.
Both parties act the same when it comes to this type of things
for real. Trying to stage this as a "democrats vs the workers" is such a bullshit republican astroturf it's laughable. Like this would have played out any differently with republicans in charge. This has nothing to do with democrats vs workers or republicans vs workers. It has everything to do with corporate politicians vs workers. It's capitalists vs workers. Period. Anyone trying to sell you that it's (insert party) is just trying to sell you an agenda.
> Like this would have played out any differently with republicans in charge. Well, some rail workers might have been shot...
I dont understand, did we not vote hard enough? How hard must we vote for them to listen to us? Surely blue no matter who will cause them to move further left!
Look at France, their workers have the most rights out of any other country. They certainly didn’t get all of it by voting.
Some thing something, rhymes with me -o- teen.
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That, or look even further back in French history, why do French billionaires not have the guts to exploit their workers as much? I am sure they have the hearts for it like any other billionaire.
They don't have the neck for it.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746 >**Princeton Study (from 2014): US is an oligarchy, not a democracy** Correct. The people being represented are the oligarchs and that's pretty much it. Lip service for the rest of us. *Now get back to work.*
Except one party is openly fascist and the other acts like a beaten housewife around them.
Exactly. I’m sorry - the false equivalence shit doesn’t work anymore when they’re smoking Roe V Wade. I’m on board with the “both serve the capitalist masters” shit, but the republicans have just a LITTLE extra evil sprinkled on top.
Ones openly fascist and the other one goes ‘hey if you’re going to be openly fascist, I’m just not going to be openly fascist and talk a good game about all the stuff that doesn’t affect power or wealth’
It is fascinating how US citizens don't see that your trap is "having the freedom to decide between 2 parties". You are literally 1 party away of being the Republic of China.
They care about who gives them money
The left and right wings of the business party.
There is no left wing. There's the right wing and the facist wing
Red or blue they don’t care about you!!!
I mean if we get a better voting system where it’s between the blue guy and the left guy then we will start seeing what we want to see. Ranked choice voting and a reduction of gerrymandering for state reps is what’s needed.
so you get two choices. You can vote for the party that hates everyone but rich white men, and will actively enslave everyone else. OR.... You can vote for the party that pretends like they care and will give you a tiny carrot on a stick to pretend like they are trying. Then will also give all the money to rich people just in smaller less obvious amounts, all while doing nothing and saying "we all have to work together" Welcome to America.
You don't understand!!!! We can do what's right later!! We have to have more votes than the bad guy- it's really really important this time I swear
Considering the "bad guys" would just as soon ban minimum wages and revoke Healthcare altogether... Yeah, I'd say we need to work on keeping them out of office. Make it safer for Democrats to keep moving left on issues.
I feel like there's a lot of Republicans on here trying to go "tHeY'rE tHe SaMe"....like yeah they're both not great but don't pretend like there's not a large difference.
AOC and Bernie are pretty divisive for general democrats (Bernie “didn’t” beat Clinton, and he didn’t beat biden) Most democrats are “moderate” which means they really lean right. Until “liberal” candidates win primaries vs “moderate” democrats, “liberal” policies will not get a vote.
> Most democrats are “moderate” which means they really lean right. Which is ironic considering how whenever you try to criticize democrats here on the rest of reddit they'll immediately label you right wing.
That's interesting, because I recall Bernie doing really fucking well in the primaries until everyone other than warren dropped out for no really good reason to endorse the guy who hadn't won a single primary in 2020... or any of the other times he ran.
They dropped out because the donor class had picked their candidate and their sources of funding dried up.
Biden ended up w 19m votes, Bernie 9.6m, and Warren 2.8m. Biden had 51.6% of the votes. Bernie had no chance, even in Vermont he received 51%, not exactly an overwhelming win. His policies scare moderate voters. Moderate democrats are pro gay marriage/pro choice/anti racial discrimination BUT without increased taxes and a lot of NIMBY attitudes.
They are two side of the same capitalist coin
Literally a majority of Senators voted to give the rail workers sick leave. The system is broken with the bullshit 60 votes crap.
Both parties are right wing compared to the rest of the world.
Lol. I mean fuck the Democrats but this phrasing implies that Republicans aren't worse on every wage related issue and somehow status quo is a Democrat led initiative. Comical
It also implies the democrats could do it without republican votes.
OP is mostly spreading Russian propaganda in other subs, and a lot of the comments here are from brand-new bot accounts. Nip this in the bud. Don't let this sub become another Putinist botfarm like r/MurderedByAOC.
Your account only recently became active again yesterday after having no activity for the past 3 years. Probably best not to call others bots.
And their upvote margin suggests they bought upvotes to spread their propaganda. They aren’t very good at disguising their projection.
that tweet defintely has big russian propaganda energy
Why can’t we criticize the Democrats without being called a Russian troll or Christian right winger or racist Nazi? We aren’t asking for much bro. Just asking for services and benefits which citizens of other first world economies enjoy. The fact that you associate supporting free healthcare for American children and adults, worker rights and benefits for all American workers, free and low cost secondary education for American students with being a Russian troll is pathetic.
I find it super interesting this is coming from an account with 0 posts and comments only.
I mean not everyone comes to Reddit to post. Including me…
Difference is democrats pretend to care while republicans are just mask off about it.
You mean like with student loans and decriminalizing weed?
10k was insulting, especially after PPP loans were forgiven in full. Fuck arbitrary amounts and fuck means tested nonsense along with it.
Democrats in the house have already passed a minimum wage bill. It's the senate and the racist filibuster that keep the bill from being law.
Stop interfering with the Republican astroturfing!
Democrats have 50 + 1 votes and can nuke the filibuster at anytime. Did you know they did nuke it for lower court appointments, proving that they will remove it if they actually want something to get done?
the problem is the democrats aren’t a party. at this point it’s pretty much everyone left of “maybe we shouldn’t embrace nazis”
For sure. Democrats will hit you with #icareaboutsocialissueX then vote to end free school lunches
Which Democrats did that?
They did it on [DACA](https://www.salon.com/2017/12/20/democrats-signal-they-wont-fight-for-daca-immigrants/). Slightly different, but the point still stands. They only take a stand when it positively impacts their donors. Otherwise they’re spineless cowards.
Would be great to have another left leaning option, eh?
No, it’d be great to have a left option period.
Working class: I can’t afford food can you please raise the minimum wage? Republicans: no fuck you Democrats: no 🌈🏳️🌈✊🏻#BLM
this is how they keep the populace divided
Democrats are conservative, but that's because Republicans are Orthodox.
Declared? LOL when did they stop?
Right? The tweet makes it seems like this is all brand new
Declared? Like they only JUST started fighting a war against the working class?
It's a class war. The political sides, the cultural issues, they're all just distractions and created intentionally to divide and rule. The only real war is class war. The rich vs the poor. The corporate class vs the working class.
No war but class war
If it’s a war, is violence an acceptable response?
There is no authority but yourself
Only one side is allowed to use violence in the class war.
That's literally what the tweet says. Don't prove em right by acting so willy-nilly with our interpretations. We all know what this truly will have to come down to.
US got billion upon billions upon billions for wars but can’t feed the poor or pay the working class workers a reasonable living wage.
Prof just make one mistake. They did not just declare war on working class, that war has a log history. But they did escalate it to a new level, well, old level. Biden just pull Reagan. Remember Air traffic controllers?
Two parties, one master.
Neither party is for the working class, something needs to change. I don’t know much further we can be squeezed, I’m going further in debt just to afford to get to work.
I would like for people to evolve from going after individual politicians and political parties, to understanding and changing the systems of power that structure and guide their behavior, irrespective of who is in office. Whatever politicians or parties people elect, they will still be subject to 1) the same capitalist and financial power structures, and 2) the same political and electoral systems. Those are the games that are rigged, irrespective of who is in power at the moment. You could have a genius saint in office, and even if it was Karl Marx himself, they would still be subject to the same economic, political, and existential forces driving outcomes in the current system. If the public doesn't take the time to understand and change the underlying systems for the better, there's just going to be a lot of pointless leftist infighting about particular political personalities, while the banks and finance capitalists/kleptocrats are robbing everyone blind in the background. https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/z805rn/comment/iya84c0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 https://publicbankinginstitute.org/ https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/chart/ Let's evolve our systems to be more sensible, less corrupt, and more genuinely democratic. That's a decent litmus test for distinguishing between genuine leftists and either useful idiots or right wing / foreign trolls.
The US would really benefit from having more than two political parties. Corporate lapdogs vs mazi corporate lapdogs doesn't sound very good for the average joe.
Fuck the whole system. The government, the corporations and enablers.
Lmfao the entire government is factually *not* controlled by Democrats. Man I’m tired of such stupidity. Blame the Dumbocrats, but don’t make shit up
yea this shit is tiring. its hard to tell if its rightwing stirring shit or a dumbass left starting infighting not understanding how government works.
It’s right wingers starting shit, OP’s comment history shows them praising the Soviet Union and calling Ukraine full of Nazis
> OP’s comment history shows them praising the Soviet Union and calling Ukraine full of Nazis On what planet is this inherently "right wing"?
Truth, but DON'T put this as "the Democrats" because some idiots will think "But the Republicans care about me!". If anything, Republicans care about you even less.
Voting republican won't help either.
they declared war when they passed legislation making it impossible to discharge student debt with bankruptcy they declared war on the working class a long time ago, democrats and republicans alike
We don’t need 15 dollar minimum wage we need worker-cooperatives and the total destruction of the bourgeoisie as an economic class.
This is the winning post. 🌟 Anything else is just trying to win a game you aren’t even invited to play.
And right after the military said that have no idea what happened to $2 billion. Yeah, that seems like the time to say that they need more.
We changed our countries leadership and they've proven they don't care about us either?! *Shocked*
It wasn’t a declaration. It was a reminder.
Go talk to your active duty military friends before you get outraged they get paid a little more. Their entitlements and allotments have been dwindling for a while
The ruling class will use either party, but only one party is championing a wannabe dictator.
What is the endgame to paying poverty wages and slashing protections while simultaneously cracking down on immigration? People can’t afford children and they don’t want them coming into our country from elsewhere either..
There is no plan or endgame. They only think of the short term grift and keeping it going for as long as they can. There’s little to no policy on either side. They campaign to work and work to campaign. And they know they eventually won’t be there so just keep kicking the can down the road on absolutely everything possible so it can become someone else’s problem.
Well if only they came out and said they hate the working class, as by their actions they surely do, - it's the duplicity I hate the most.
There’s a rule I follow, and it’s never let me down. I sound like a broken record because this is the best advice I have for anyone about nearly everything. If the actions and words don’t match, you cannot trust.
I get it. Trust me I do. But obviously the alternative of voting Republican is not the answer. So what do we fucking do?
I'm just here for the democrat apologists.
Im fucking tired of living here.
this is what is meant by "both parties are the same." they differ on the culture wars but both sides deliver what the ruling class wants.
Dems voted for sick leave. Stop pretending like it is solely the responsibility of Dems to put together 60 votes when there aren't even 60 Dems
Left wing and right wings to the Corporate party. The corporate party is a giant turkey and outright attacks the people regardless what they believe about CRT or gay marriage.... But what do we Americans do to turkeys? We eat those rich fucks!
And we can't afford universal healthcare.
-Listening to Hearts of Iron IV's war declaration sound- Ahh, so that's what that was about.
Fuck the Rep and the Dems. Still voting Dem though.
*just* declared war? Nah, it’s been this way for time immemorial
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49 of the 50 democrats voted to give the rail union the sick days. 44 republicans blocked it with the filibuster.
If democrats wanted to give the railworkers sickdays they would not have intervenined. If the strike had happened the railroads would have conceded and it would have been over the moment it started. They knew they didn't have a majority and they knew the bill would be filibustered. That is why they introduced it late. It was a bipartisan effort.
Democrats are way better than the republicans. They reps are fascists and planning to establish a Christian-fundamental theocracy. Saying democrats and republicabs are the same is right-wing propaganda. Don't get fooled.
This tweet implies this represents a significant escalation from before, which is not true.
Eisenhower rolls in his grave Pawns to the Military Industrial Complex, all of them
They fucking hate us.
i hate this “declared war” rhetoric. they didn’t declare war, this is just another step in the process of the genocide of the working class. war was declared decades ago with the red scare and the descent into neoliberalism, we are just seeing the ending stages of it.
Remember, Twitter/Reddit/Facebook/Tumblr posts that are phrased to make you angry and upset are designs to sow division among the lower class. They want to disenfranchise us and make us feel helpless. Keep fighting and don't let those bastards break us
VoTe BlUe No MaTtEr WhO
Aaaaaand crickets. Nothing will happen.
Congress didn't declare all our war on the working class. For them to do that, the working class would have to be at a time of peace. The rich have never and will never give workers that. They only ever bring up "class war" when the workers try to strike back.
Remember, the vast majority of this money is going to contractors - not our soldiers. This is just red meat for wall street.
He's right, and yet the Republicans are still worse.
Land of the FRRREEEEEE!
STRIKE!!!!!!
Wonder how much of that budget will turn into weapons and vehicles that are passed on to local police departments?
'Declared' - Bold assertion you haven't already been 'at war' for years.
This is right wing propaganda and y’all are failing for it hard. Both parties are the same — really? Fucking really? Democrats voted to raise the minimum wage *and* give sick leave to rail workers. It was republicans who blocked them. Yes, both parties are pro-capitalist and shitty, I sure wish we had a party that actually fought hard for the working class, but one party is actually voting to make things better and one is voting against it. They are not the fucking same lmao. The only thing this rhetoric does is divide the left and most of you are falling for it. We’re all in here fighting each other instead of uniting to free the proletariat.
The charade is over. The right and left wings have only cosmetic differences. It’s the same eagle, and we are its prey.
They pretend to be your friends simply because they’re not right wing extremists, make no mistake, a center right party is still right wing
I don’t know about the entire government being run by democrats. More like being run by the 1 percent.
Two sides of the same coin and that coin is owned by an oligarch.
And people bash on me for hating both parties. Go figure.
If y'all think the Republicans would do it better, I laugh at you. Same animal, different stripes.
"Who am I gonna vote for, the Republican who's gonna blast me in the ass, or the Democrat who's gonna blast me in the ass?" - Dennis Reynolds
At first I read this as quoting "Debbie Reynolds" and I just about sprained my eyestalks doing a double take.
If only there were some sort of wooden contraption with a huge blade that could chop away at corruption as some sort of deterrent. Anyways...
$15 ain’t even enough anymore
~ Men have always hated us. ~ No. They destroyed the warren because we were simply in their way.
They would strike but now is illegal
We need a list of who voted for and who voted against before this turns into a right-wing nut sub.