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.... Its no surprise that enacting socialist incentives is appealing to people who look down the road and see no future for themselves. The American system is fundamentally broken and people are rapidly growing weary with it and for good reason.
When workers are lined up to punch in at the factory in the morning and the big limo pulls up and the executive in the fancy suit gets out and walks past everyone else, the sad incompetents in line mutter to themselves, "After The Revolution, that guy will be in line with us!"...The guys with brains and talents standing in line say to themselves "Someday that's going to be me."
The system isn't broken. The young people today are sad shadows of the Americans who came before us. Now that almost all of the WW II generation are gone and the BabyBoomers are going fast, we'll be left with nothing but those who grew up never having experienced hardship. The closest they ever came was having to apply for an Obama Phone.
When workers are lined up to punch in at the factory in the morning and the big limo pulls up and the executive in the fancy suit gets out and walks past everyone else, the sad incompetents in line mutter to themselves, "After The Revolution, that guy will be in line with us!"...They guys with brains and talents standing in line say to themselves "Someday that's going to be me."
The system isn't broken. The young people today are sad shadows of the Americans who came before us.
My neighbor passed away recently at the age of 98. He spent his whole career working as a teacher while his wife was a stay at home mom. On his teachers salary they were able to raise 3 kids, own cars, buy a home, take a vacation each summer and put all three kids through college. If you think this is possible now on a teachers salary then I have a time share to sell you.
Young people today know its a rigged system, its pretty obvious to anyone who is paying attention. Unless you are born into wealth, in America, in the 21st century you have almost no chance at upward social and economic mobility. None.
Life is the influence. Until you are actually fending for yourself without any kind of net, someone is taking care of you to some degree. This is all you know.
You never really consider how the refrigerator always has food or the lights stay on or your cell phone keeps working...it all just happens. You never ponder how hard people are willing to work on your behalf, because people always have, so why wouldn't they continue doing so on an expanded scale?
Also, in more recent years, say the last 10-20, the age at which people finally leave home has increased, while the amount of misery parents inflict upon them as motivating force to get them to leave has diminished. So there is a growing cohort that thinks not only is slacking a good thing, but there will always be those happily taking up that slack.
So it makes fanciful notions of everyone coming together in some "to each, from each" utopia that much easier to believe, and that the only reason it hasn't already gotten here is a handful of mean rich people, or something.
They start to doubt the system once they actually start fending for themselves and start seeing where that bite in the arse known as "taxes" gets spent. It's a really cool system when you are the one getting the free stuff. It's a lot less fun when it's you paying for it and handing it out.
EDIT - you see it in this thread. "I had cancer and it was expensive" = I want socialism. "I did not have cancer, so why should I pay for your treatment?" = I don't want socialism.
How big your bills are and how capable you are of paying them tends to be a really important factor in how receptive to socialism you are.
They are capitalist nations with strong government welfare programs. Plus those countries have 1/10 to 1/4 of the U.S. population.
Leftists who support socialism want to get rid of capitalism.
Ok, I agree. Can we then have economics like theirs with cradle to grave health care and everything else, 33-35 hour weeks, high pay (and high taxes) and ethics in our governments.
Let's do it. Right???
I don't care what you call it. We agree on "their system works better to deliver the essential services to the most people and make them happier and more prosperous and longer lived"
Young people today know its a rigged system, its pretty obvious to anyone who is paying attention. Unless you are born into wealth, in America, in the 21st century you have almost no chance at upward social and economic mobility. None.
True, but those of us who grew up in the 1960's saw pretty much the same thing...the only slight opportunities for the "connected" were decent union jobs.
Certainly the minority populations had a low chance, maybe 1 or 2%, of upward mobility.
When workers are lined up to punch in at the factory in the morning and the big limo pulls up and the executive in the fancy suit gets out and walks past everyone else, the sad incompetents in line mutter to themselves, "After The Revolution, that guy will be in line with us!"...The guys with brains and talents standing in line say to themselves "Someday that's going to be me."
The system isn't broken. The young people today are sad shadows of the Americans who came before us. Now that almost all of the WW II generation are gone and the BabyBoomers are going fast, we'll be left with nothing but those who grew up never having experienced hardship. The closest they ever came was having to apply for an Obama Phone.
Gee, could that be because in that time, people could actually work their way through college, come out with a degree and no debt? Could it be that that was a time where Mom could stay home and raise the children while Dad earned a decent living to pay for it all? Could it be that during that time, wages aligned with the cost of living? The cost of everyday basics needed to survive has steadily risen over the past 50 years while wages remain stagnant. Unless you're a CEO of course. Only in America does the CEO rake in 238x their worker.
GREED is what is destroying this country, not laziness or lack of hardship.
My neighbor passed away recently at the age of 98. He spent his whole career working as a teacher while his wife was a stay at home mom. On his teachers salary they were able to raise 3 kids, own cars, buy a home, take a vacation each summer and put all three kids through college. If you think this is possible now on a teachers salary then I have a time share to sell you.
In some states it is certainly possible, although in those cases the updated version is that both parents are teachers, with one starting a little later after the kids get through infancy.
In those cases, the two combined salaries by the time they retire are easily $150K+ plus summers off and pensions and health care.
If one or both of them do "side jobs" in the summer (but also take a month or a few weeks off), they will be more than fine.
But a lot of states don't pay the same wages as I saw in NJ and MA.
"The average Massachusetts teacher salary in 2016-17 was $78,100, according to the National Education Association"
The problem is that many states have decided they wish to be 2nd class and raise 2nd class children.
In MO, for example:
"The minimum teacher pay the General Assembly sets is $25,000. Turns out, some teachers in rural districts are actually paid that paltry amount. That puts them in the range of $12 an hour. That, of course, puts them in the range of janitors and security guards."
I am impressed with the Democratic Socialism Welfare system in Scandinavia, and I'm really shocked that all of these "Socialism=Evil" -people are not, as they're usually the ones crying the loudest about the fraud and abuse of the welfare system in America.
In those countries, a welfare recipient is told: You get X amount of Dollars, for no longer than X years (usually only 1 or 2, based on circumstances/support), and not a penny more, NO extensions, if you cant get your **** together in that amount of time, you're on your own. If you have any more children while on welfare, tough toenails, now you have to spread that x amount of dollars amongst another mouth to feed. You are required to submit X amount of hours of community service per week while on welfare, having young children at home is no excuse....bring them with and show them the value of working for what you earn and community service. You must learn a new employable skill during your time on welfare -- of course the welfare system pays for the training, but it's a small investment to prevent homelessness and dependency on aid as well as encourages their people to become contributing members of society.
Besides that, Democratic Socialism is appealing because the GREED in this country is out of hand. Seems like Americans are all just slaves to big business.
My cousin graduated with honors from a prestigious university a few years ago. He was able to get a job right out of college and begin working right away. A few years out of college and he is barely able to keep his head above the water. Between housing costs (he splits rent with others), transportation costs, paying off school loans, costs of living and whatnot. So you have a kid that did everything he was suppose to do and he can barely stay afloat, let alone be able to save money for the future. Its no surprise that enacting socialist incentives is appealing to people who look down the road and see no future for themselves. The American system is fundamentally broken and people are rapidly growing weary with it and for good reason.
You left out half of the story, the part about how he blew his money by making bad decisions and having to have the newest, fanciest car, the latest smart phone, the sharpest clothes, the most expensive restaurants, and on and on.
Had I been in his same situation, I would have been a millionaire by the time he was complaining about how the system screwed him and begging for socialism to give him more free stuff. He obviously didn't have the ability to manage his money or his life, probably because he was used to having everything given to him.
I didn't graduate from college, started out working hard at menial jobs, working my way up the ladder and never complaining about the advantages others had. Working multiple jobs, saved every cent and invested it while making huge sacrifices along the way. I purchased my first home when I was 23 and single, the payments were more than I brought home each month, so I rented out rooms for a few years. I did whatever it took to survive and go foreword, hitchhiking to work, eating PB&J three meals a day, etc.
Even when I retired I was making just under 60k a year, but I made every dime count and my net worth today is in the millions, and with a handsome monthly income. I did all of that while living is Orange County CA, one of the most expensive areas in the state. Today I'm retired, living the good life with more money than I will ever spend.
I see a lot of losers like your friend, they made their own bed, he should have been wealthy by now but he failed in the common scene department.
So now we must resort to socialism because young people are clueless and afraid of hard work and sacrifice...? The American system isn't fundamentally broken, the youth of today are fundamentally broken and refuse to sacrifice and make smart decisions.
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