Support NeoGAF

[ElectricThunder]

Yep, things are going terribly on so many fronts and seem to be getting worse.

The USA is pretty much the most enormous example I can think of thus far in history in terms of outright wasted potential for the good of the masses of folk here and around the world----so much pissed away on short term thinking and exploitation because of jackasses wanting to play at fiefdom/feudalism or some such.

I'm 27, had a bad time of it, and am rather disadvantaged, to say nothing of being in the state of GA! I have no political voice in the broken system, and the outlook is grim in these parts on the whole. Everything tends to fall via the weakest links, so what idiocy presumes us to somehow be "different" to the point that we actively seek to ruin, or passively watch, as things go to rot?

Bootstraps is just cowardice when the shit hits the fan tinged with some sort of escapist, vicarious fantasy streak, as when it comes down to it there are problems teeming out there that no "individual" has a chance in hell of combating and a powerfully effective government with the best interests of the public at large and the weakest of society is essential.

But hey, I'm sure that whole Prosperity Doctrine and the dominionist shit heels at the wheel on much of this know exactly what they are doing since they are playing the "eternity" long game~

 

[Odrion]

The government is corrupt
And we're on so many drugs
With the radio on and the curtains drawn

 

[jonezer4]

I am mad as hell. Did that fix it?

 

[Blearth]

I am mad as hell. Did that fix it?

You actually have to get up and vote.

 

[Lambtron]

You actually have to get up and vote.

Honestly that helps about as much as sitting at the computer angry.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

So the study began in 1997? When Clinton and Republicans signed off on the capital gains tax cut? Oh the hilarity...

 

[The Dutch Slayer]

IAlso speaking of the American Dream: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q <-George Carlin-never get tired of this one

Well said god I wish he was still alive such good shows he did.

 

[Blearth]

Honestly that helps about as much as sitting at the computer angry.

It's this kind of attitude that let shit get as bad as it is.

 

[Deified Data]

This doesn't make me mad. It's normal. Humans are incapable of organizing themselves into social structures where they're not being taken advantage of. It's as if they crave subjugation.

 

[Foffy]

What do you mean by the first sentence?

But yeah, I'm in the same boat as you with everything else you described, too. Of course, it's not really possible to "guarantee" anything, but I think it's possible to make reasonable guarantees, and it's certainly possible to look around and keep evaluating the way things are going in this country and in others and to make an educated guess about which is the best to bet on as a good place to live and raise kids years and decades into the future.

So, I keep evaluating it all the time. I don't like the way this country is right now with healthcare and education, but who knows, maybe it'll change for the better in 10-15 years. If not, I might have to try and go elsewhere. Or some opportunity may appear to change the situation for the better. Gotta keep your mind open.

The first sentence was confusing? What I said was, in other words, was that I don't think our generation, our children's generation, or our grandchildren's generation will see meaningful/affordable education and health care. If anything, it could possibly be the generation after our grandchildren. It's so bad I don't see a replacement unless all life that currently exists phases out so an entirely new generation can fill in all the roles needed for change.

As for opportunities, I hope I get some now. I'm trying to get my foot out there in helping others (I was about to apply to be an hospice care aid, but sadly the requirements are not applicable to me) and as an introvert, this is hellishly hard to do. I'm focusing my life on working to better the lives of those around me, and I'm sure that kind of help can be needed anywhere, not just in America. So, if all works out for me, hopefully I have something that doesn't particularly lock me into a location, but allows me to shift and tumble about to a better place that suits me.

 

[User Name Here]

Unemployment is at one of the highest levels since the Great Depression while corporate profits are at a record high

....

The top 1% hold 42% of the wealth, the top 5% hold 70%.

So, the top 6% hold 112% of all wealth!?!?

 

[Karsticles]

This doesn't make me mad. It's normal. Humans are incapable of organizing themselves into social structures where they're not being taken advantage of. It's as if they crave subjugation.

I agree entirely, but it is not good for long-term national stability for the exploitation to become too severe. That leads to revolution.

....



So, the top 6% hold 112% of all wealth!?!?

Is that intentionally bad reading? I hope so.

 

[The Dutch Slayer]

....
So, the top 6% hold 112% of all wealth!?!?

notsureifserious.jpg

you know that, that is not the math right?

it means that the other 95% of the population holds 30% of the wealth of the country.

 

[Onemic]

The American Dream was never alive to begin with. It was always a myth.

 

[User Name Here]

I agree entirely, but it is not good for long-term national stability for the exploitation to become too severe. That leads to revolution.


Is that intentionally bad reading? I hope so.

notsureifserious.jpg

you know that, that is not the math right?

it means that the other 95% of the population holds 30% of the wealth of the country.

Guess you guys didn't get the joke... I actually expected an avatar quote. You're slipping Gaf!


But seriously, this is pretty bad:

If corporations are doing so well, everyone who works for them should be doing great, right? Wrong. The folks who are doing well are at the top. CEO pay is now 350X the average worker's, up from 50X from 1960-1985.

 

[Monroeski]

Protesting is political activism, and it is more effective than voting democrat. Let's not forget that OWS changed the narrative from the "debt crisis" to the severity of income inequality in just a few months. There is so much more that needs to be done, but people need to understand that real change can take years.

While you're puffing up your chest about changing a narrative the Tea Party is affecting actual change with votes and the politicians are laughing all the way to the bank. While you insist your protests are more important than your Democratic votes they are backing up their protests with a shitload of votes.

 

[pigeon]

While you're puffing up your chest about changing a narrative the Tea Party is affecting actual change with votes and the politicians are laughing all the way to the bank.

It's undeniable that the OWS protests had a real impact on the narrative, I think -- I doubt Obama would have hit the "fairness" buttons he's been hitting if it hadn't happen and 1% vs 99% hadn't become part of the vernacular. But it's also undeniable that they fell apart, partly because many of them (Oakland definitely) had a leadership that was opposed to any engagement with the system. I remember my friend specifically trying to organize some sort of get out the vote at OO and getting shouted down because encouraging people to vote is just "playing into the man's hands." Well, what's the alternative? There are 281 million people in America, not all of them are ready for violent revolution. Change the narrative, and then vote in accordance with your changes -- that's how the Tea Party got all these politicians worrying about taxes and the deficit even though taxes are the lowest they've ever been and T-bond yields are dropping into the negative (meaning people are paying America to borrow their money from them).

 

[kame-sennin]

While you're puffing up your chest about changing a narrative the Tea Party is affecting actual change with votes and the politicians are laughing all the way to the bank. While you insist your protests are more important than your Democratic votes they are backing up their protests with a shitload of votes.

It's cute that you picked out that comment and ignored the rest of my argument, which directly addressed why the Tea Party model would be ineffective for a leftist movement and why the democrats would marginalize an OWS political wing:

No he didn't, his argument is moronic. He wants OWS to become the next Tea Party. What he doesn't understand is that the Tea Party achieved success because they were backed by corporate America. They could win elections and gain support in Congress because they had financial backing from the people who put us in this mess in the first place. OWS is a direct challenge to the oligarchic power structure. They will never receive the funding necessary to compete electorally in our corrupt system. They would be instantly marginalized if they become part of the corporate controlled democrat party. Maher is suggesting OWS pour all of its energy into a dead system. Maher's problem is that he, like many Americans, thinks all political activism happens electorally. He doesn't understand the effectiveness of protest and civil disobedience - not over a few months, but over years.

No, we can't. Not by voting. The financial crisis was caused by the deregulation of Wall Street. This gets talked about all the time, but it's rare that anyone brings up who was actually responsible. Was it Reagan, or Bush I, or W? No. It was Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton deregulated Wall Street under the premise that Wall Street bankers could "regulate themselves". Bill Clinton decimated American labor. Bill Clinton hobbled welfare. These were arguably the greatest blows to the middle class, and they were done by a democrat. You can not stop neolibralism - the philosophy that pushes for deregulation and the destruction of the social safety net - by voting for democrats. It's just factually untrue. The democrats sold themselves to corporate America in the 1980's in order to compete with the republicans in fund raising. The electoral game is over, we lost. Obama has shown this to be true. He's refused to prosecute Wall Street criminals, and he's done everything that he possibly could to ensure that corporate malfeasance continues.

The Tea Party may have been started by sincere libertarian activists, but it has become an astroturf movement. The Tea Party is not 'holding the republicans hostage' as Maher and others have claimed. The Tea Party does the bidding of the ruling class while passing itself off as a populist movement. It's a purpose brand for the republican party to absorb the negative backlash generated by decades of neoliberal economic policy.

 

[blame space]

is anyone here a socialist?

 

[kame-sennin]

It's undeniable that the OWS protests had a real impact on the narrative, I think -- I doubt Obama would have hit the "fairness" buttons he's been hitting if it hadn't happen and 1% vs 99% hadn't become part of the vernacular. But it's also undeniable that they fell apart, partly because many of them (Oakland definitely) had a leadership that was opposed to any engagement with the system. I remember my friend specifically trying to organize some sort of get out the vote at OO and getting shouted down because encouraging people to vote is just "playing into the man's hands."

Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama have been as deferential to Wall Street as the republicans. The Obama administration likely organized the nationwide crackdown of Occupy encampments last year. It's not surprising that OO would be hostile to the idea of diverting their energy away from on the street protest and towards becoming a get-out-the-vote machine for the corporate funded democrat party. The democrats consistently marginalize left-leaning candidates, so even trying to change the party from the inside would prove ineffective. It makes no sense to pour your energy into a dead system.

Well, what's the alternative? There are 281 million people in America, not all of them are ready for violent revolution. Change the narrative, and then vote in accordance with your changes -- that's how the Tea Party got all these politicians worrying about taxes and the deficit even though taxes are the lowest they've ever been and T-bond yields are dropping into the negative (meaning people are paying America to borrow their money from them).

Even in our recent history, there are several examples of effective non-violent revolutions from all over the world. Politicians do respond to public pressure. They don't do it quickly, but if the pressure is sustained, those in power ultimately bend to the will of the people. Americans have forgotten this because those in power have worked so hard to stigmatize political activism.

 

[la flama blanca]

The American Dream was never alive to begin with. It was always a myth.

But at least making part of the myth a reality is worth it.

 

[daycru]

Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama have been as deferential to Wall Street as the republicans. The Obama administration likely organized the nationwide crackdown of Occupy encampments last year. It's not surprising that OO would be hostile to the idea of diverting their energy away from on the street protest and towards becoming a get-out-the-vote machine for the corporate funded democrat party. The democrats consistently marginalize left-leaning candidates, so even trying to change the party from the inside would prove ineffective. It makes no sense to pour your energy into a dead system.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/18/republican-opposition-to-elizabeth-warren_n_902165.html

And in YouTube form: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3EVoF-LUdU

"That's the problem with you progressives." - Obama

The man says it himself. Anyone still clinging to hope change guy is delusional.

 

[M-PG71C]

The focus is so intently on social problems, the ones that are largely abstract. Our eyes are free and yet it is our ankles that are shackled to two issues that need resolve.

The will that does what needs to be done. The power needed to alter our revocations.

One is cultural, the other sociopolitical. So, who's gonna solve it?

 

[ThisWreckage]

The U.S. is partly where it's at due to arrogance. Pride goeth before a fall. Now you're starting to see jobs go overseas, our young educated people going overseas, and some of those people will never come back. They're lost forever. But hey, companies are making tons of money, our health care system is a wreck, and an entire generation has a legitimate reason to mope for once.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

The wonderful thing about democracy is that the people will always get the policies they deserve.

Young people especially. We can bitch bitch bitch on internet forums but how many people aged 18-25 are going to log out and go fucking vote in their local, state, and federal elections?

"But I'm not part of your system....I'm an ADUUUULT!!"

 

[Mammoth Jones]

The U.S. is partly where it's at due to arrogance. Pride goeth before a fall. Now you're starting to see jobs go overseas, our young educated people going overseas, and some of those people will never come back. They're lost forever. But hey, companies are making tons of money, our health care system is a wreck, and an entire generation has a legitimate reason to mope for once.

Agree with a lot of what you're saying, except the bolded. Fugg dat. Fuck moping. You can whine about the problems or we can bring our heads together and discuss the solutions. Gaining insight, knowledge and exchanging ideas while we do. The problem is how do we undo this mess. The one thing I love about America is that she will do the right thing after exhausting every other possible option, lol.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

All the whiny college students will still vote for Obama again while complain about the government not giving them jobs. God I'm glad I'm done with school'n.

 

[Guileless]

That link is an interesting way to present the argument. I have thought about this a lot since reading a lot of the debate on Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 by Charles Murray. This blog entry, by Ross Douthat, is a good distillation of his argument if you're willing to step outside of the "teh banks are evil" line of thinking when considering how we got to where we are.

First, “Coming Apart” is one of the strongest and most lucid explorations of the existing data on the long-simmering social crisis in working-class life, and the extent to which American society’s recovery from the dislocations of the 1960s and 1970s has been a recovery primarily for the upper middle class...Murray offers a wider-ranging synthesis than I’ve seen in print to date, weaving everything from family stability to workforce participation to incarceration rates to self-reported happiness into a portrait of downscale deterioration and decline that should make liberals and conservatives sit up and pay attention. (Indeed, even Murray’s most strident left-wing critics should welcome the purely descriptive portions of his book: If economics really trumps culture as completely as many of his critics to think, and some combination of the top 1 percent’s greed and the Republican Party’s free market fanaticism are really responsible for all the ills afflicting downscale America, then large portions of “Coming Apart” could be repurposed as part of the left-wing indictment of what the plutocracy hath wrought.)

Second, “Coming Apart” offers a convincing account of how meritocracy has exacerbated the problems that Murray describes — encouraging the best and brightest to work and live and (especially) mate within the cocoons of what he calls the SuperZIPS, segregating Americans by intelligence to an unprecedented degree, and creating a self-reinforcing pattern in to those with much social capital, much more is given, while to those without, even what they have is taken away...I’ve rarely read a better distillation of the case for meritocracy’s in-egalitarian, anti-communitarian, and even anti-democratic tendencies, and what the cultivation of a meritocratic elite can mean for the people left behind.

 

[ThisWreckage]

Voting does nothing. It's garbage in and garbage out. Picking the lesser of two evils accomplishes nothing. People that think that voting is going to wildly improve things are delusional.

 

[kame-sennin]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/18/republican-opposition-to-elizabeth-warren_n_902165.html

And in YouTube form: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3EVoF-LUdU

"That's the problem with you progressives." - Obama

The man says it himself. Anyone still clinging to hope change guy is delusional.

From the article:

Even though Emanuel left the White House and was replaced by Daley, as far as Elizabeth Warren was concerned, nothing changed.

Daley, a former top executive at JPMorgan Chase, recently told members of Congress that the White House remained cool to the idea of a potential Warren nomination, according to people with direct knowledge of those conversations.

The game is rigged.

That article does a good job of showing how Obama has played progressives. He's been incredibly effective at using republican obstructionism - which is overwhelming - as a distraction from his own pro-corporate agenda. But it's not just Obama, the entire democrat party is rotten to the core. The last truly liberal president was Richard Nixon, because he was afraid of the left. The problem with modern leftists and progressives is that they are unwilling to challenge the democrats on their pro-corporate agenda.

 

[ThisWreckage]

Agree with a lot of what you're saying, except the bolded. Fugg dat. Fuck moping. You can whine about the problems or we can bring our heads together and discuss the solutions. Gaining insight, knowledge and exchanging ideas while we do. The problem is how do we undo this mess. The one thing I love about America is that she will do the right thing after exhausting every other possible option, lol.

I do not share your optimism. We are irretrievably fucked. Voting will not save us. Politicians won't. The same people that got us into this mess will not ameliorate a single thing. You think things are bad now? Let the European market continue to peter out and see how we fare. This country is potentially one major terrorist attack from being completely finished.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Voting does nothing. It's garbage in and garbage out. Picking the lesser of two evils accomplishes nothing. People that think that voting is going to wildly improve things are delusional.

If young people aged 18-25 voted in large numbers consistently I promise you the political landscape would be very different. Why do you think politicians pander to senior citizens? They constantly vote in large numbers.

If kids got out and voted even locally it could change a lot of shit.

Republicans and Democrats LOVE disillusioned people like you. You don't give up on the system because it sucks ass. In a democracy it's our responsibility to change it. This is why I hate the OWS protests. They didn't really have a message. Ok, they sat and live-blogged from their macbooks but outside of that they didn't have one single cohesive agreed upon message about what the solution was.

Personally, I don't think anything will change until we hit a true depression and people get in the streets. OWS almost got it started but they fizzled without a structure.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

I do not share your optimism. We are irretrievably fucked. Voting will not save us. Politicians won't. The same people that got us into this mess will not ameliorate a single thing. You think things are bad now? Let the European market continue to peter out and see how we fare. This country is potentially one major terrorist attack from being completely finished.

I'm not an optimist. I'm a realist. We aren't irrevocably fucked unless we chose to be. Problem is you're the silent majority and most of us stay silent. The others are completely pacified with Netflix, Internet, Games, Porn, Food, Sex, Cars, iPods, Smartphones to really give a shit.

Those in power know this. Keep them fed, keep them fucked....and they can do whatever they want. It's a fucking racket. It could be changed by voting, but more likely it'll only change by revolution. Won't happen in our lifetime or our childrens lifetime.


But it'll happen, eventually...

 

[ThisWreckage]

If young people aged 18-25 voted in large numbers consistently I promise you the political landscape would be very different. Why do you think politicians pander to senior citizens? They constantly vote in large numbers.

If kids got out and voted even locally it could change a lot of shit.

Republicans and Democrats LOVE disillusioned people like you. You don't give up on the system because it sucks ass. In a democracy it's our responsibility to change it. This is why I hate the OWS protests. They didn't really have a message. Ok, they sat and live-blogged from their macbooks but outside of that they didn't have one single cohesive agreed upon message about what the solution was.

Personally, I don't think anything will change until we hit a true depression and people get in the streets. OWS almost got it started but they fizzled without a structure.

Lots of young people lined up for Obama and I think he's a middling president at best. They lined up to support a lukewarm moderate. Republicans and Democrats are both assholes. The Democrats may be bleached, but they're assholes nonetheless.

You seem to think that American will rally if a legitimate depression happens. I'm not so sure. I argued with my friend about this the other day. You really have to give ot to the French--when they get pissed, even if it's over something slight, they riot. I don't think modern day Americans have the capacity to riot or demand change. The antidepressants and constant text messaging are the steady diet we choose.

 

[voodoojohn]

Why don't people in America ever consider that 95% of the world lives outside their borders? The stagnating wages for the majority of our populace is as a result of unstoppable trends that are directly benefiting most of the rest of humanity. Also, though your wages have stagnated and you can't afford a 3,000 square foot McMansion anymore, you can thank those same trends for indirectly granting you that $200 exobrain sitting in your pocket and the snazzy $15 shirt from H&M on your back.

 

[ThisWreckage]

Why don't people in America ever consider that 95% of the world lives outside their borders? The stagnating wages for the majority of our populace is as a result of unstoppable trends that are directly benefiting most of the rest of humanity. Also, though your wages have stagnated and you can't afford a 3,000 square foot McMansion anymore, you can thank those same trends for indirectly granting you that $200 exobrain sitting in your pocket and the snazzy $15 shirt from H&M on your back.

There is no exobrain or H&M shirt to be had by college graduates buried under debt and still living at home. It has zero to do with buying a house. I'm 28 and buying a house is a dream to me. It's almost laughable to think about.

 

[voodoojohn]

There is no exobrain or H&M shirt to be had by college graduates buried under debt and still living at home. It has zero to do with buying a house. I'm 28 and buying a house is a dream to me. It's almost laughable to think about.

Yea, compare your situation to 60% of the world that doesn't have reliable access to clean drinking water or the 85%+ of the world that lives on less than $2 a day. You may be American poor, but that is still a whole hell of a lot better than being African poor. The ease by which your parents were able to build their lives will never be the norm for any nation anywhere ever again until we live in a post-scarcity world, and that is a good thing because it means every one else is going to start having some kind of a chance, just like you have some kind of a chance. Your forebearers were truly lucky and you are only a little less so.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Lots of young people lined up for Obama and I think he's a middling president at best. They lined up to support a lukewarm moderate. Republicans and Democrats are both assholes. The Democrats may be bleached, but they're assholes nonetheless.

So you fail once and give up? I'd still be crawling, shitting myself and babbling incoherently if I followed that mentality. Well, sometimes I do all three but usually after WAY too much Hennessy My point is...failure is a part of life. Obama didn't magically fix everything with his magical wand of Barryness....I get it.

You seem to think that American will rally if a legitimate depression happens. I'm not so sure. I argued with my friend about this the other day. You really have to give ot to the French--when they get pissed, even if it's over something slight, they riot. I don't think modern day Americans have the capacity to riot or demand change. The antidepressants and constant text messaging are the steady diet we choose.

Hahaha. Man, trust me...the modern day American is ripe for flipping the fuck out. It will just take the right circumstance. Once all their pretty toys go bye-bye and they're no longer distracted they'll flip the fuck out with the quickness. Humans haven't changed since back in the day. They're made of the same stuff. This was the main reason I disagreed with the bailouts. Things probably won't get better until they get worse. When the average American is washing their ass in a tub of filthy lukewarm water and can't even afford a towel to dry off.....shit will change. But right now we all seem to complain about how bad things are yet we have HDTV's, Playstations, iPhones, Xboxes, Computers, iPods, Homes...etc. Take that shit away and watch...

 

[DarkFlow]

Wow.

You're being a bit weird. The reality is fucked for many people in the world, and its getting worse, specifically in the USA since jobs lost aren't being replaced by other industries. No matter how great your job is, the rest of the country is hurting. "Plenty of work out there" is just a lie. Being a selfish asshole with an attitude that you've got yours and fuck anyone else is exactly what the banking world did to ruin the economy.

edit;
and double wow at wah-ing his life experience.



It is, and it has a shelf life. Which is why Oil Rich countries are starting to trade in GOLD as our collective paper money is finally showing the world its useless.

This is "common sense" we are talking about here. That dude takes every chance he gets to tell anyone that if he can do it everyone can. If your not rich your retarded is his stance basically. I find his handle most ironic on here really.

 

[Canuck76]

Screw this whole mentality. It's all about me, I'm doing poorly, My degree isn't a guarantee of a job.

It's all about me. It's all about who has more. It's disgusting. How much better would we be if we focused on helping the bottom 20% than trying to spread out the top 1%? How much better would be if we didn't focus on what we don't have, and tried to help others less fortunate?

If you don't like other people having more that's fine. Go to Europe. You might be coming back in 5 years though when all that debt still hasn't been paid.

Just a tip.

 

[ThisWreckage]

Yea, compare your situation to 60% of the world that doesn't have reliable access to clean drinking water or the 85%+ of the world that lives on less than $2 a day. You may be American poor, but that will always be a whole hell of a lot better than being African poor. The ease by which your parents were able to build their lives will never be the norm for any nation anywhere ever again until we live in a post-scarcity world, and that is a good thing because it means every one else is going to start having some kind of a chance, just like you have some kind of a chance. Your forebearers were truly lucky and you are only a little less so.

To be frank, what goes in Africa or other places in the world doesn't pertain to me. I live in America. I worry about American problems as a result. Obviously, pestilence, starvation, disease, genocide, etc. are terrible things, but I don't torture myself with hypotheticals and you shouldn't either.

 

[Puddles]

the lack of upward mobility is ultimately the fault of those who lack ambition and are comfortable, if not altogether happy to live off the largess of the welfare state. this is far from being a structural issue. instead, it's just a massive abdication of personal responsibility. there's no collective blame to be had for people who lack the motivation, desire or guts to do what it takes to succeed.

i plan on voting straight Republican this coming election, and i urge everyone to do so as well. once we are able to dismantle the poisonous social safety nets that burden real Americans (job creators), this country can move forward.

This is an Astrolad-worthy post right here. Holy shit, this is amazing.

 

[voodoojohn]

To be frank, what goes in Africa or other places in the world doesn't pertain to me. I live in America. I worry about American problems as a result. Obviously, pestilence, starvation, disease, genocide, etc. are terrible things, but I don't torture myself with hypotheticals and you shouldn't either.

No, it does pertain to you because we live in a global market and you're going to have to start caring about your fellow man and counting your blessings that you were born where you were. There ain't shit you can do if an American company wants to open factories and call centers and create jobs in Brazil or Nigeria and send the profits back to their shareholders and not you, the average American nobody. You know why? Because those Nigerians are just as smart as you, way cheaper than you, and that's the rational thing for the company to do with its resources. So... either make yourself competitive and be worthy of your advantages, or leave the country.

Are you not, ultimately, just another human?

But yea, the whole college debt thing is fucked up. Not worth the price we pay. Our reality of rapid, accelerating change means we have to question the advice given us by our elders and society at large and start thinking critically. Thankfully the internet exists.

 

[BigDug13]

No, it does pertain to you because we live in a global market and you're going to have to start caring about your fellow man and counting your blessings that you were born where you were. There ain't shit you can do if an American company wants to open factories and call centers and create jobs in Brazil or Nigeria and send the profits back to their shareholders and not you, the average American nobody. You know why? Because those Nigerians are just as smart as you, way cheaper than you, and that's the rational thing for the company to do with its resources. So... either make yourself competitive and be worthy of your advantages, or leave the country.

The writing is on the wall in every industry to be honest. They will eventually be able to hire Engineers from India who will probably be smarter because pretty soon our colleges won't be the best either (but will still be the most expensive).

I guess if I can hold on to my high clearance once I retire (this year), I can have that as a leg-up.

 

[WARCOCK]

This doesn't make me mad. It's normal. Humans are incapable of organizing themselves into social structures where they're not being taken advantage of. It's as if they crave subjugation.

I don't believe that, and quite frankly it's a self fulfilling prophecy that would stunt any seemingly possibly working alternative. I'm a pessimist at heart, but i simply can't latch on to this kind of dreadful absolute notion of progress. To be frank, whether this will make me look like some kind of paranoid crazy conspiracy theorist or a leftist in denial, i will not believe this absolute unavoidable manifestation of selfishness attributed to human nature until some concrete neuroscience backs it as a significant incidence in a large majority of people that cannot be untrained.

 

[Deadstar]

Mad? Get two jobs.

 

[ReBurn]

So if the government took all of the money from the rich people and distributed it to everyone else, how long do you think it would take before the rich people got it all back?

 

[Canuck76]

Mad? Get two jobs.

But I'm too good to work fast food!

 

[Mammoth Jones]

So if the government took all of the money from the rich people and distributed it to everyone else, how long do you think it would take before the rich people got it all back?

For me, at least, I don't want a redistribution of wealth. The -only- thing I want is for people with insane wealth to be unable to game the system in order to get policies passed which will allow them to obtain (not earn) even more wealth. This way politicians can be more focused on doing what's best for everyone and not have to pander to their financial masters.

 

[gohepcat]

This country is potentially one major terrorist attack from being completely finished.

Ahh to be 20 again.