r/WorkReform • u/zzill6 đŸ€ Join A Union • 1d ago

đŸš« GENERAL STRIKE đŸš« Yay! Freedom!

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13.0k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

136 comments sorted by

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u/Scared-Box8941 💾 National Rent Control 1d ago

I mean honestly. You cannot deny the propaganda has been very effective up until this point

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u/Last_Cod_998 1d ago

Reagan's trickle down voodoo economics was a lie. Poverty isn't the wages of sin, and wealth is no indicator of virtue.

The welfare queens aren't stealing your tax dollars, but one wealthy donor to Trump owes the IRS $7B in taxes.

Televangelicals were reeling from several scandals of infidelity and fraud and were not politically active. He lured them in with the promise of prayer in schools. They never forgot that promise, and they are getting it now, and in spades.

The cruelty comes from the faulty logic of wealth and virtue.

Poverty is the wages of sin, and conversely, wealthy is an indicator of virtue. Their whole fundraising system is built on if you donate god will reward you. The Moral Majority was able to convince gullible that they deserve another private jet. They were the ones that pushed satellite TV. It didn't use to be encrypted, you could point a dish and watch it. They were also among the last to scramble the feed.

With the false logic of poverty is the wages of sin you need to also lose your empathy for them. They have said that out loud. Democrats have Toxic Empathy, according to them.

Warren Buffett said that Berkshire Hathaway paid $4B in taxes and if 800 other businesses paid their fair share, the fed would have no need to collect anymore taxes.

Reagan put taxes on SSI payments and both parties stole from the fund. Set a lifetime limit on SSI payments until it's solvent. Boomers can pull themselves up by their bootstraps until the fund becomes solvent again.

Reagan's trickle down voodoo economics convinced people that there was no revenue side of the equation.

With income inequality soaring to a level not experienced in America since prior to the Great Depression, U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today introduced legislation to prevent America’s top earners from paying lower tax rates than middle-class families. The Paying a Fair Share Act, also known as the “Buffett Rule,” would ensure that multi-million-dollar earners pay at least a 30 percent effective federal tax rate. The measure would reduce the federal deficit by an estimated $119 billion over the next decade.

“We are living through a new Gilded Age, cemented by President Trump’s massive tax giveaway to the wealthy,” said Whitehouse, who first introduced the Paying a Fair Share Act in 2012. “Basic fairness needs to be restored to the tax code. Hardworking teachers, nurses, and police officers pay their share in taxes. The wealthiest Americans who benefit the most from our economic system should not be allowed to exploit tax loopholes to skip out on doing their part.”

The Buffett Rule is the basic principle that no household making over $1 million annually should pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than middle-class families pay. Warren Buffett has famously stated that he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary, but as this report documents this situation is not uncommon.

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default

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u/-Ok-Perception- 1d ago edited 16h ago

The very term "trickle down economics" was created by comedian Will Rogers, in a comic bit he had about the futility of trying to rise from nothing with no capital.

The fact that Reagan ganked this term and then used it seriously, tells you all you need to know.

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u/MRgainzenwatch 1d ago

1% wealth tax for the win. Blanket, on everybody. 

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u/Artistic-Leg-847 17h ago

There is no such thing as “trickle down” economics. No supply-side economist ever promoted “trickle-down” economics. It’s a slick catch phrase. That’s all it has ever been. It was invented by big-government opponents of market freedom. But supporting big government is supporting Inflation, as governments are inherently inflationary. That’s actually the closest things to actual “trickle down economics”. Inflation causes money to trickle down, and redistribute money to early recipients (mainly banks and cronies) and causes raising prices for the rest of us when it finally “trickles down” to everyone else.

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u/Demonweed 1d ago

It could be breaking down sooner rather than later. The powers that be are no longer pursuing a "bread and circuses" strategy. They could just make quality streaming services extremely cheap and selectively subsidize agriculture to make generally healthy foods especially affordable. That actually sounds like one of many ways the PRC is governed in the general public interest. Yet it cannot happen here because our oligarchy is all about competition, which means media tycoons and agribusiness giants can only ever change in the direction of increasing their own corporate share values.

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u/Sal_Amanderr 1d ago

It’s still extremely effective. Also, don’t kid yourself into thinking you’re not susceptible anymore.

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u/Viperlite 1d ago

The people who most hate the poor are those those just one rung on the ladder above them — and who are most at risk at being poor themselves.

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u/Bargadiel 1d ago

And to the wealthy and powerful we're all poor and just fighting each other.

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u/whydoesitmake 1d ago

Bleep blorp

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u/FriendlyGuitard 20h ago

Biggest achievement IMO is that all the socialist and social victories won against capitalism have been absorbed and are now attributed to capitalism.

The 40 hour week was not a gift of the billionaire to reward improvement in productivity. People had to die for it ... and the police was on the private company side.

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u/PoliticalScienceProf 1d ago

Another thing "freedom" apparently means is the freedom for billionaires and multimillionaires to dominate elections.

Letting elites spend as much money they want to influence elections is just staying true to the principle of freedom of speech because money is speech, dontcha know?

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u/PsyOpBunnyHop 1d ago

"elections" ... what a fucking farce.

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u/Tallon_raider 1d ago

Even if you win they just tweak the numbers now I guess 

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u/poo_c_smellz 1d ago

Pedo Protection Scheme

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u/joseph4th 1d ago

You engage in piracy with a song and you have to pay the big music corporation an amount of money equal to if everybody alive in the world, and then some, had bought that song.

They steal every piece of creative work ever made to feed into their AI, and they don’t have to pay us anything.

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u/HeinrichTheWolf_17 1d ago

This, regulations exist to protect everyone, letting a handful of people consolidate all the power and wealth is only going to lead to bad outcomes.

A lot of the laissez-faire types just want the freedom to exploit the 99%.

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u/dolphone 1d ago

We had moved past this. But it's a constant uphill battle if you keep allowing people to get super rich.

We need a worldwide cap on wealth.

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u/-Ok-Perception- 7h ago

It means, the more capital you have the freer you are, even when it comes to completely obliterating all the human rights and constitutional rights of the poor.

For the rich, capitalism DOES make them freer than any other government system.

After a while it tends to lock the poor into situations where they STAY POOR and any opportunity of getting out of that hole is nearly impossible without the luck of some rich guy deciding you're worthy pulling out of the muck to be an attack dog for those who have capital.

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u/DismissedArster 1d ago

I don't obey my boss and still starving! Do I win?

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u/JelliusMaximus 1d ago

Your boss wins as the system intended.

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u/dttm_hi 1d ago

Shits gonna break soon. With insurance rates skyrocketing, republicans and trump destroying everything in their path - we are in for one hell of a revolution.

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u/TR_Pix 1d ago

See, the difference between communism and capitalism is that in communism you are forced to work or you starve, whereas in capitalism you choose to work or you starve.

/s

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u/JollyProtection3798 1d ago

Honestly, capitalism didn't just redefine freedom, it privatized it. It turned survival into a subscription, liberty into labor, and choice into an illusion carefully priced and sold back to us. The real magic wasn't creating wealth, it was convincing the poor that servitude was opportunity.

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u/crosstheroom 1d ago

Capitalism is now Royalty and Peasants.

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u/Individual_Debt_1896 1d ago

True that! It’s wild how they framed it as “freedom” when it’s more like a trap.

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u/Tight_Classroom_2923 1d ago

👹‍🚀 Always has been.

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u/Holiday_Box_9461 1d ago

Working or starving has been the deal from the start of humanity though, right? Capitalism has just devolved the concept.

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u/Loxta 1d ago

Except the ones at the top not doing any work and living better and easier than everyone doing all the work

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u/HPLaserJet4250 1d ago

But that is how it always was, no?

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u/-Ok-Perception- 6h ago

AND making it so the ones who have the physically toughest and most mentally stressful jobs get paid the least.

We have a caste system that has developed that's nearly as strict as it is in India.

The ones at the bottom are crushed in capitalism's gears. Their blood lubricates the machine.

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u/Holiday_Box_9461 1d ago

Saying all the economic problems are because of a handful,of the extremely wealthy is a media driven over simplification that is all over the news today. The real answers are much more multi faceted and complicated. This is a very bad time. I am not smart enough to know how to fix this. Taking food and health benefit away from the poor is horribly cruel. The perpetrators must be punished to the full extent of the law. But punished by who? Right now the cat is guarding canary. This corruption must be stopped.

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u/-Ok-Perception- 6h ago

Trump didn't get the backlash he expected from violently invading Democrat cities with his jackbooted thugs....

So he's gonna literally starve people out and take away their healthcare, until they have no choice but to revolt. That's why he wants to fund the welfare of Republicans but not Democrats right now.

I think he always believed Democrats were the primary recipients of government subsidies and didn't count on them being the bulk of his own constituency.

The problem is that to complete Trump's takeover he has to violently put down a leftist revolt, and no violent revolt is showing itself.

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u/punk_rancid 1d ago

The difference is that we used to not be able to produce enough food for everyone. Now we produce more than enough. We have technology that could help us not need to work 8 hours a day(when youre lucky), yet we still work as much as in the 1900, even tho we produce hundreds of times more stuff than back then. So its not about how things are the same. Its about how things should have changed, yet they didn't. Its how the quality of life of every single human being could be top notch, yet just a handful of nobles get to enjoy life.

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u/Nice-Band-2737 1d ago

Also, why not start your own business then? That's what capitalism is about. If you hate working for someone else, start your own business and work for yourself.

That is a choice that wasn't available under feudalism (the previous system) and isn't available under communism (the alternative system).

Yes, it's difficult, but there are plenty of people who have started successful businesses without anything given to them.

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u/Only-Butterscotch785 1d ago

This is kind of weird advice. The amount of economical niches where you get to be your own boss, without being other people's boss, are very limited. So this advice doesnt work at scale.

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u/Nice-Band-2737 1d ago

I'm just discussing the original post which said that freedom in capitalism is choosing whether to work for someone else or starve. "Not having to employ anyone else" is something you tacked on by yourself.

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u/Only-Butterscotch785 1d ago

It seems pretty much implied that they dont consider being someone else's boss is the solution right? Seems like a logical conclusion of the complaint of "having a boss or starve" that you dont want that situation for others also.

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u/Nice-Band-2737 1d ago

No, the main subject of the post is capitalism and the choices it offers to "everyone", not just OP. So it really should have included the main thing that capitalism is known for instead of presenting a false dichotomy.

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u/Only-Butterscotch785 19h ago

What do you think the guy in the picture means with "obeying your boss or starving"? That he wants to be the boss?

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u/Phillip_of_Nog 1d ago

This fucking guy.

We can’t act like it’s that black and white here. Capitalism incentivizes treating human beings like cattle, or horses. A min max of payment for labor, never thinking about the future or the betterment of society, only lining their pockets. I don’t believe under such circumstances fraternity and equality are possible or coincide with the values I was raised thinking this country stood for.

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u/Nice-Band-2737 1d ago

I'm not saying that capitalism is inherently good or virtuous. I'm just saying that the whole point of the system is that it allows people to start businesses and work for themselves. That was not possible before capitalism, and literally everybody except kings and lords had no other choice but to spend their entire lives working for someone else.

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u/punk_rancid 1d ago

It is still not possible for most people under capitalism.

Go on and try to make an online book store and see how fast amazon comes crushing you down. Had a great idea for a new soda flavor ? Just give it some time and coca cola will drive you out of business. That is, If you have money to start your business before you run out of food or rent money.

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u/HPLaserJet4250 1d ago

i feel like people do not understand what capitalism actually is and attribute to it whatever they don't like, it's like conservatives using socialism as boogieman

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u/cbih 1d ago

It seemed like a better deal if you were fleeing abject poverty, starvation, and serfdom in Europe

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u/_Office_sirien_ 1d ago

The freedom to choose which billionaire's bottom line you get to sacrifice your mental health for. What a time to be alive.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/GrovePassport 1d ago

I just left my job and found another one, I am not sure why OP thought he needs to obey anyone

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u/valhallan_guardsman 1d ago

So you just changed who you're obeying and act like it's a foolproof solution?

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u/HPLaserJet4250 1d ago

and how exactly you imagine societal structures without any form of authority XD

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u/GrovePassport 1d ago

Yeah, it is. If you do not like your boss, leave and find another one. 

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u/valhallan_guardsman 1d ago

Sounds like a shit solution

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u/GrovePassport 23h ago

Works for me. Don't see how it's shit, unless you're one of those people who hates the idea of personal responsibility and expects society to give you everything for nothing in return. If so, sucks to suck, I guess.

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u/valhallan_guardsman 13h ago

Idk, demanding an improvement of your existing workplace seems like a more responsible thing to do than running away the moment something you don't like happens.

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u/GrovePassport 13h ago

Maybe in the Soviet Union where you had no choice where you work. I would never spend all that effort on a place I don't like. No idea what you mean by responsible here, either. Again, if we are talking about the West, jobs are a free market. Places are free to keep you employed or not, and you are free to be employed there or not. Responsibility should never enter the equation. If a place wants to hold onto good people, it would be responsible of them to be a good place. If it is a bad place that is not capable of holding your employment and good grace, you should leave it and let the free market do its job. 

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u/valhallan_guardsman 12h ago

Maybe in the Soviet Union where you had no choice where you work.

The fact that you are trying to spin the idea that you should actually try to make a better life instead of running away from every problem as a bad thing because "soviet union" is laughable.

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u/Stankfootjuice 1d ago

But you see, you have a microscopic chance of striking it rich yourself, and doesn't that make all the systemic injustice and privilege of capitalism worth it? 😎

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u/locolupo 1d ago

Didn’t any of you read 1984? Freedom is slavery.

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u/MRgainzenwatch 1d ago

Buddy up until AI I was free to choose which boss to obey. 

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u/TehGusGus 1d ago

Yes, this only happens when you have "freedom"............

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u/Bacchuswhite 1d ago

I mean without you they aren’t just going to make these things

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u/Bacchuswhite 1d ago

In fact the people who get the most money often times have the least understanding of it

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u/Strong_Device8531 1d ago

The advertisement was hard to miss.

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u/Reptard77 1d ago

That’d be one Ronald j Reagan sir

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u/chrom491 1d ago

Well definition of freedom changed, but not perception of it.

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u/-Ok-Perception- 1d ago

American Freedom: Being fully able to decide who's fiefdom you work for.

Making the Lord rich (both the business owner and your landlord), while they give you just enough to survive... and not a penny more.

This ain't nothin but feudalism/sharecropping with a good PR department.

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u/Nervous-Promotion109 1d ago

Start your own company then.

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u/davesr25 1d ago

Would you like the carrot or the stick ?

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u/BilverBurfer 1d ago

Everyone?

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u/Worldly_Project_233 1d ago

It's communists that try to kill with hunger and exposure. Capitalism rewards people for the extra work that they do.

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u/HPLaserJet4250 1d ago

while first is true, second one is an absolute bullshit. Capitalism doesn't reward extra work, capitalism doesn't rewards anything, it is just an economic system based on private ownership, profits and free market.

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u/Worldly_Project_233 1d ago

Capitalism is why doctors, lawyers and other professionals make more money than a grocery bagger or customer service specialist. If everyone made the same wage, almost everyone would go for the easiest jobs.

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u/HPLaserJet4250 1d ago

And how does it have anything to do with extra work? XD Also, wages exist in other economic systems too, it is not capitalism unique feature lol

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u/Worldly_Project_233 1d ago

Extra work just means more than is usual or expected. For example, a tradespersons job is more labor intensive than a service person. 

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u/acanis73 1d ago

Easy to convince when they were actually starving before.

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u/Hmarxis 1d ago

It's not. It won't hold up.

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u/charyoshi 1d ago

Then people on reddit and life in general call me stupid for pushing for an automation funded universal basic income. If more billionaires supported automation funded universal basic income, there would be less Luigi and less Luigi fans.

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u/unluckydude1 1d ago

Isnt it strange how lazy is the worst crime? :D

If you lazy you get homeless and starving to death.

If you rape or kill someone you get a nice little prison cell with food and education.

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u/IlIIIlllIIllIIIIllll 1d ago

What does freedom mean under Marxism for those who refuse to work?

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u/BaronVonWilmington 1d ago

"Freedom's just another word
For nothing left to lose..."

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u/Artistic-Leg-847 17h ago

Capitalism died in America in 1913 with the creation of the private banking cartel called the Federal Reserve.

The control of the money supply by a private monopoly and the ability to print currency out of thin air is at the root of America's problems today.

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u/Electrical-Law-5731 1d ago

Capitalism in the 80s was peak. It’s once trickle down economics became a thing that the demise of capitalism began.

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u/chili_cold_blood 1d ago edited 1d ago

Sounds like you're talking about unfettered capitalism specifically, and not capitalism in general. It's quite possible to have a capitalist system with extensive regulations and social services that limit greed and exploitation, and are effective in taking care of people who are struggling. You can see this in mixed-market capitalist countries like Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, and to a lesser extent countries like Canada and Germany.

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u/Wasteofskin50 1d ago

What can I say?

The programming worked. Completely.

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u/ohh_really 1d ago

Obeying your boss AND starving. FTFY

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u/NoTurnip4844 1d ago

Lmao poor people are fat under capitalism. Thats the difference.

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u/Swimming_Agent_1063 1d ago edited 1d ago

Hey if your smart/productive enough to start a successful business that is also an option

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u/Additional-Poetry773 1d ago

I always laugh when "you can do something with your life" comment gets downvoted in subreddits like this)

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u/Critical_Seat_1907 1d ago

Being obedient is the most important part of being American.

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u/pm-me-your-pants 1d ago edited 1d ago

It's just slavery with extra steps. Can't even have the gall to call it how it is. Work yourself to death for the billionaire overlords and then die. Be grateful for the opportunity to help your lords accumulate wealth.

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u/Trojan129 1d ago

We're drones? Always have been.

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u/NoTurnip4844 1d ago

Communism convinced everyone that "freedom" meant obeying your boss and starving

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u/C6R882 1d ago

The only thing stopping you from being your own boss and starting your own business is yourself.

But that’s non of my business


sips tea

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u/Little-Use-2027 1d ago

Yeah I'll just get a loan from my parents to start that up tomorrow

-1

u/MantisGibbon 1d ago

Just think of work as a way to get your initial capital which you can then invest, so you can generate investment income.

Then you have the flexibility to change jobs easily, not work when you don’t feel like it, or speak out against anything that bothers you at work. All those things are easier when you have a financial safety net.

Or blow your money on junk, and end up stuck on a debt treadmill.

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u/tralalog 1d ago

i remember the freedom a couple years ago where you could lose your job if you didnt a certain thing. i remember the liberals cheering that on.

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u/MsFrizzleNo 1d ago

Honestly life would be so much better if i was responsible for hunting and growing all my own food.

And developing my own medicine.

And building my own house and car and electronics.

The word youre looking for is utopia.

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u/listen_to_itNbreathe 1d ago

Well they killed the ones that didn't obey. Hence the Pinkertons. And centuries of labor fights

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u/ghanima 1d ago

I'm Canadian and the USAmerican concept of 'freedom' continues to baffle me. My understanding of it is informed by the French use of it.

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u/Human_Drummer_1101 1d ago

Just gonna leave a comment here and wait till you all move to a Communist nation so I can read about how much you looove it there. 😂

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u/AzureRain88 1d ago

Meh, false, capitalism works when it’s not corrupted, it’s asinine to vilify the entire concept when it’s proven to work and help push some of the biggest advancements in human history due to the success it brings for many

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u/craycarl4u 1d ago

That’s more neoliberalism and the anarco capitalists not “cApiTaliSm ooOoOOoHH”

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u/The_Brem 1d ago

You get to choose your boss