They keep raising prices, stating that it’s due to inflation, but then they keep having record profits.
Meanwhile, the average American can barely afford rent or food nowadays.
What are we to do? Vote? I have been but that doesn’t seem to do much since I’m just voting for a representative that makes the actual decisions.
Make more money. Your income should be going up over time in line with inflation. This is easier if you don’t work a dead-end job and are willing to change jobs every once in a while.
Basically if you work in a retail or food service job, your main priority in life should be to get out of that industry and into something else. Even something as simple as working in a warehouse or construction will get you a lot more $$$ with much more leverage for raises and forward-moving promotions.
Me and my girlfriend both work full time and we are able to more or less easily afford rent and food. It helps to have two incomes. Although I will say, it’s sad that she got pregnant with twins and we ultimately decided we couldn’t keep them because of the financial situation. I wanted them but she didn’t feel like we were financially stable enough.
So yeah, people gotta learn to live like it’s a third world country. It’s not the 1950s anymore where everyone can work whatever job and make ends meet.
Or stop promoting a system where the only way forward is always “more”, designed to leave a majority in the dust. Inflation is artificial, people getting more miserable by just not wanting to abide to that system is also artificial.
i don’t think the system is fair or ethical. if it were up to me, it would be different.
but the system isn’t fair or ethical and i am forced to live in it, so i’m going to live in it in such a way that puts me in a better position.
yes, the majority of the population gets fucked. if you are asking for my advice though, i’d say position yourself in a way where you are not that majority
if you have a politician i could vote for that would actually change things or some sort of organization i could support then i would support them
How can you change a system you are helping to perpetuate? ( A rhetorical question)
If I were a Martin Luther King Jr or something maybe I could lead a mass movement. Unfortunately I’m just a notch above mediocre.
I think this discussion is actually an interesting one though, and they’ve been talking about it since biblical times. There’s a part of the New Testament where Jesus is preaching and a rich man comes up to him.
“Jesus, I want to follow you. What do I need to do?”
Jesus says
Sell all of your possessions, give all the money to charity and then follow me.
Essentially, disconnect entirely from the system and give up all your luxuries. The rich man cried. “It is harder for a rich man to enter heaven than a camel to fit through the eye of a needle”
We like to think we are poor but even just living in the bottom quartile in a Western country we are part of the richest people in the world. Are you willing to give up running water, electricity, electronics, a car, eating meat, etc? I’m not. I’m not going to heaven, but I’m also not losing sleep over it.
History isn’t driven by “great men,” or ideas. It’s driven by material conditions. MLK Jr. wasn’t a great man because he was born a hero, but was thrust into greatness by the material conditions. He was just a man like any other, living in an incredibly unjust system. The material conditions created the environment that led to the Civil Rights movement, it wasn’t just something a person randomly decided to start or spearhead.
I think it’s a combination of both things. He had a specific set of traits and was thrust into a specific position, like you said by the material conditions, and his combination of traits allowed him to make the best of it in such a way that he made meaningful change in the world.
But still, I think you make an important point. Really, I was trying to be facetious.
if your solution involves not having a family because you can’t afford them it’s not really a solution. I’m not here to shame yall’s decision not to complete the pregnancy, I’m here to shame the people who put you in a position where you’re both working full time and still had to make that decision.
I think it’s an interesting thing. My parents had me at a much younger age, with much less money, in a country with a much more chaotic economic situation.
We had a peak of 10% inflation in my state (Florida) in the last couple of years. The year I was born, my country was going through 2,000% inflation.
Yet my parents provided regardless and here I am, just fine with my little brother doing just fine as well.
So I think ultimately if me and my girlfriend really went for it, we would make it work. But she wants to have a mortgage, be able to pay for nannies and daycare and whatnot. We’re just not there yet.
I agree with you that the economic situation needs to improve. It’s like the powers that be are actively trying to suppress the population growth.