Winning is relative

Cool pictures also make monkey brain happy.

Less trickling down for me

This reminded me of an old joke:

Two economists are walking down the street with their friend when they come across a fresh, streaming pile of dog shit. The first economist jokingly tells the other "I'll give you a million dollars if you eat that pile of dog shit". To his surprise, the second economist grabs it off the ground and eats it without hesitation. A deal is a deal so the first economist hands over a million dollars.

A few minutes later they come across a second pile of shit. The second economist, wanting to give his peer a taste of his own medicine, says he'll give the first economist a million dollars if he eats it. The first economist agrees and does so, winning him a million dollars.

Their friend, rather confused, asks what the point of all this was, the first economist gave the second economist a million dollars, and then the second economist gave it right back. All they've accomplished is to eat two piles of shit.

The two economists look rather taken aback. "Well sure," they say, "but we've grown the economy by two million dollars!"

That's not how productivity works. It's basically looking at how much a person can produce with a given amount of labor.

Take that small scale subsistence farmer. Individually, they will live a precarious life. Their country will not have the surplus food needed for other pursuits like building cities, engaging in R&D, developing science, and so on. A smaller and smaller number of people need to be able to feed more and more using less land per person.

Manually copied manuscripts are another example. They were painstakingly copied over by hand in an incredibly low productivity manner. The introduction of the printing press essentially eliminated an art form, but gave rise to practical mass media.

In the present day, computers have been the main form of productivity booster. While arguably social media is a drag on productivity, overall computers open up a broad range of possibilities.

Like yo, cancer is incredibly productive.

Cancer is incredibly costly to society. Think about it, a single person getting cancer could mean many hours of them being in the hospital. Net zero on productivity

Demolishing subsistence farms and replacing them with cash crop slave plantations is mad profitable.

As I detailed above, transitioning from unproductive farms to highly productive farms is necessary. Don't believe me, ask Mao.

I could make thousands of dollars in a day if I just sold everything I own.

That would not be a productive activity since there would be no value added. Arguably there would be less value, since that stuff is likely worth more to you than it is to another person.

The 1%. Productivity has been going through the roof, wages have stagnated for decades.

Excuse the week-old reply but

People have been told their entire lives that the GDP of their nation matters without ever considering what it actually represents, or how it actually went up.

You got a poor, poor education if you were never taught why the GDP matters, or what it represents.

Workers aren't the only factor the creates value. Capital and land also add value. Why would people use them otherwise?

That being said, the workers are jointly responsible for their actions in production while capital is merely an instrument of their will and cannot be responsible for anything. Workers are denied the positive and negative results of their actions, so we should not care

Oh, it is for people. Just not for people like us.

you should buy a car assembly someone who is absolutely exhausted and has exactly no reason to give a fuck. Because freedom.

Found it.

"Everything is possible if you believe in it" and destroy the fucking planet while doing so

There's actually a tricky spot for folks who get certain social services which are tied to income. A small raise can bump you out of eligibility for things like medicaid and food stamps, and thus can in fact result in higher expenses, less money in your pocket, and a lower quality of life.

To be fair, the rest of the world isn't easily accessible for most Americans

Education is broken because on purpose

The media trying to manufacture consent.

That's ich_iel spirit.

I understood that!

Duolingo, you son of a bitch you've done it again!

God I miss that comment chain on r/ich_iel! Made my day for real, even though I don't speak an inch of German.

Work in IT.
Start at 9:00
Lunch 13:00-14:00
Go home at 18:00
Commute (if construction does not tear up the main crossing) is around 30min 1-way with bus or a 15-20min bicycle ride.

Experience: About 5 years without college/uni.

Maybe you don't need the language for work. But you will need te learn the language eventually for other day to day interactions.

Seven hour day with an hour and fifteen minute lunch. What kind of magic is this? What's the catch?

In what country do you work?

Speaking a language without an accent is like wearing clothes without a material

We'd love to fix what we've got if that were a reasonable option. For most people, it's not.

See, politics are so broken here that it's really just a dick measuring contest to see who can wax the best poetic. And then even when we do get a decent president—because let's be clear, Biden isn't a good president—they often cater to corporations long before they even think about making things better for the working people.

At this point, fixing our political system would require either:

1. A voting miracle, voting not on party lines but on the actual merits of the candidates, or at least voting for the actual best candidate in the primary of the "least" evil party.
2. A revolution, either through ratification of a new constitution or actual war.

Most people in America are too uninformed for number one to be realistic within less than an entire generation. Sure, newer generations are far more informed and are actually changing the voting landscape in some ways, but it's not going to be enough to change everything while we've still got boomers voting for politicians who don't have their best interests in mind. It will take years, if not decades, to get that far.

Meanwhile, most people don't want to be involved in a revolution. Even if everything is peaceful (which it likely wouldn't be), and we're able to ratify the new constitution without many issues (which there would be a ton of), that still leaves us with a tumultuous period of transition. Not many people would really want to live through that. I admit that most people probably would because there's not much of a better choice during that transition, but I guarantee there would be a huge spike in emigration from the United States.

Moving to Europe or Canada is just the best option for a lot of Americans who feel they can't deal anymore with our broken politics, substandard workers' rights, and/or dwindling human rights for LGBTQ people. My family has tossed the idea around of moving to Canada, since it's close, or even Germany despite the fact that my husband and partner make decent money. We just can't keep up sometimes, and as a polyamorous household of three AMAB people, two of whom are married, we're worried for our rights, too.

For most people, moving to a different country is a fresh start, and the majority of them will do their utmost to make sure they respect the country they come into. There will always be some that don't, especially when they're coming from a country like America, but for the most part, all we want is basic rights that other people have and not having to worry about putting food on the table some days.

Edit: commas and grammar

hey watch it buddy, one day I'm gonna be one of those billionaires

What people do is pile into apartments. Yeah, to live alone may cost let's say $2000/month rent. But you can pile 4+ people into a four bedroom apartment that costs $5000, split it four (or more) ways, and they're paying $1250/month. Some of them have significant others, so then you wind up with two people in one room each paying $625/month. (Just random numbers, but that's the general idea of it.)

The people I know who do it hate it, but it's what they can afford while staying in the area they like (and/or were born in, have a community in, etc.).

27$ for ham? How much are we talking about? 500g or 1kg? (about 1 or 2 pounds)? Deli or conveniece?

I'm guessing Norway, Finland, or Sweden.

I don't know which country he lives in but it could be Germany since I know that it's like this in Germany.

Yup! And all we get for it is healthcare, childcare, college tuition, pensions, sick leave, maternity leave...

*Fully paid by higher progressive taxes on wealthy people.

I'd rather my country raise my tax to 50% than live in a country like America.

Having lived and worked in both the UK and US, yes I pay roughly 4% less "tax" in the US.

but, as I didn't have to pay for Healthcare, and my student loans payments were a percentage of my earnings — vs the amount I've had to pay for Healthcare, copay, scripts, etc here. If we actually compare like for like and assume that Healthcare payments are only not called a tax out of a semantic convention for political reasons despite being practically a tax by nearly any definition - I've pay way more in """"tax"""" in the US.

Assuming the average person earns roughly $65k, would you pay an extra $200 for 100% fully covered, fully comprehensive, $0 co-pay, you walk in (to your nearest hospital, no need to check if they're in network) get an x-ray, a blood test, your appendix removed, stay over night, go back the next day for kidney dialysis or chemotherapy and pay nothing more than that monthly extra $200/rate in perpetuity? Especially as the average cost is $456 (+ co pay) for Healthcare and that usually isn't a "good" let alone the "best" package.

We are supporting each other in hard times and fun times. Whats the problem? Should we rather shoot, hate and make fun of each other instead?

How does that work exactly? Why would the government pay my vages during my summer holiday when I work for a private company? I'm afraid you have no idea what you're talking about..

I will gladly pay for those.
But as far as I am aware those higher taxes fuel other things paid leave. I believe paternity leave is subsidized by it.

If there's one thing I've learned from Grindr it's that all Republicans are bottoms that think they're tops.

If you complain about it some Americans will just call you lazy. lol. Same thing with the cost of healthcare. They'll just tell you to get a better job or better healthcare. They never speak about the root cause of the problem.

By law in Germany you cannot work more than 40 hours per week. There are some exceptions but usually it’s downright illegal for employers to request it.

I'm currently working a job in IT at a lower than median salary, but I also can fuck around (within boundaries of reason), adapt my work schedule to myself and work from home 100% of the time. I wouldn't have it any other way. My team and managers are some of the chillest people I've met

Don't forget they won't help you until you spend a couple of thousands out of pocket first.

Might depend on province. I'm in BC, never had issue with Doctor. Bi Yearly vision checks, if you don't have employer plan you signup for pharmacare and based on income once you hit a threshold all meds are free. Or free from the start with a disability status application. And I do celebrate our system even though it is not perfect, I had Cancer. Biopsy, CAT, PETS, FMRI, surgery, chemo and radiation, hospital stay all free. cost me $70 parking pass at cancer center. If that was in the USA id be looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars owing

Your momma is so stupid, she burns the water to make tea.

Yo momma . . . is a wonderful person for whom I have great admiration.

I can't speak for others of course, but I don't want to move away from family...

Sending an email to the wrong person at 17:01? You go to jail.

Absolutely. I worked for one office where one founder would literally come around doing “bed checks” multiple times a day. I’m talking about a guy with a net worth well over $100 million, seriously connected to federal politics, major local influence on universities and government. This guy spent no less than 15 hours/week checking to see who was sitting in their seats. That was one of his top priorities.

Of course, this bled down to supervisors that he promoted. And as a result, the entire office was full of the most mediocre workers I’ve ever dealt with. Just sit at their desk doing nothing except ready to schmooze the boss. Many were afraid to use the bathroom, go to lunch, etc. Total nonsense.

My old boss told me that he didn't care how many hours I worked as long as I got the job done.

Months later I got called into the office and put on a PIP with the reason being that I left early. I worked from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM.

I ended up going back to the company I was at before then. They have the same policy but actually don't care. My current boss has told me multiple times to get off the computer and go home. Last time I had to leave early, she told me to make sure I factored in traffic.

I'd rather have 30 incredibly intense and productive hours than 60 completely chill no stress do a little of this a little of that hours.

My old job was 60-70 hours of incredibly intense productivity (was working for a Japanese corporation) and I learnt at a rate well above what other workers would due to the intensity, but then I had a breakdown from burn out. Keeping that tempo for fewer hours is the best of both worlds. Employers need to be focused on output rather than time logged.

And the rocket scientists over in the Mississippi legislature thought it was a good idea to turn down Medicaid expansion funds from the ACA. I honestly have a hard time figuring out how self destruction they let themselves be.

According to Wikipedia, 74.7. Hawaii is the highest with 81.6. That's fascinating, on average people in Mississippi are living 7 fewer years. That's a lot.

To be fair, they have tried nothing and are all out of ideas.

It's called The Purge. They celebrate it every year

*paid vacation time.

savage 🤣

By posting memes on Lemmy to piss off Americans, so they start to take formative action after they research the memes context and realise they don't have free health care, cheap/free post secondary education, and mandatory holidays like the EU bros.

Tldr: Post them memes buddy!

Edit: guys... this is c/memes. Y'all are taking this way too literally lmao. Lighten up a bit ffs.

Motivation to even want to have some solidarity instead of smugness is the first step honey.

I would recommend you start by joining the Industrial Workers of the World and paying monthly dues to empower the union to fight the fight necessary. https://www.iww.org/membership/

Imagine thinking that the American posting asking for worker's solidarity is somehow not left of the socialists

Still not worth it. I broke my leg 3 years ago I paid $2.4k total with my insurance. Today it'd be more like $5k as my insurance isn't as good, but it would still be worth it to stay in the US even if I broke a bone every 3 months! However, two months of PTO is certainly something. But to be honest, my mentality is in a place where I'd probably end up doing some work on the side if I honestly had 8 weeks of PTO. Even when I had unlimited PTO, I only took like 4-6 weeks a year.

I think broadly speaking, if you make under $120k/year in the US, your quality of life will be better in Western Europe just because of the social safety net and worker's protections. And this is especially true if you're planning on having children.