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Reagan. The country was turned over to the investment class who have been fleecing working people and average Americans ever since while accumulating over 99% of the nation's wealth and counting.
I grew up poor in Cleveland. Put myself through college working 3 jobs. Moved to Los Angeles with $ 600 in my pocket knowing no one. Fast forward and I have a successful business and am financially independent. This is what America can do for you.
I grew up poor in Cleveland. Put myself through college working 3 jobs. Moved to Los Angeles with $ 600 in my pocket knowing no one. Fast forward and I have a successful business and am financially independent. This is what America can do for you.
Try moving to LA with only $600 in 2022
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"The man who sleeps on the floor, can never fall out of bed." -Martin Lawrence
I realized I had been sold a pack of lies in 2008 when I first began living outside of the United States. I saw countries that invested in their families through paid parental leave, universal healthcare, subsidized childcare, and larger support for post-secondary education (whether college or the trades). It struck me as odd to call the US the "best country in the world" when so many things other people in developed countries consider standard are a luxury here.
It was crystalized, though, when I was diagnosed with stage IV cancer at 23 in the US. Even with "good" insurance, the cost has set me off course for over a decade despite hard work, achievement, and professional and academic success. I received less effective, more toxic treatments with higher side effect rates than peers in Europe, Canada, and Israel... all at a higher cost and taking a lot longer due to having to deal with insurance companies the whole way. My insurance company determined my treatment plan, not my medical team.
What first got me fired up was when the morons in government passed what I call the "Health Care Slavery Act." That was the tipping point when I really started to notice government intrusion. Before that, I honestly didn't pay nearly as much attention to politics. But when big mama government told me I had to buy a product/service from a private corporation that I neither wanted or needed, my attitude changed. I've always been quite libertarian-ish and pro individual liberty, but that moment in history spawned the same attitude and opinion of the government that I've had ever since: stay OUT of my private affairs and life choices.
And when Trump got rid of the Health Care Slavery Act, I saw he was taking the nation in the right direction, as opposed to the wrong direction that we had/have been going both just before Trump and after Trump.
Trump didn’t get rid of the act.
His tax legislation got rid of the financial penalty (for not buying the product) part of the act.
when did you realize America started going down and got pissed off?
The middle of Obama's first term, but I'm finally over it.
Life's simply too short to be pissed off at politicians and the corporations that fund their agendas.
I've been not just pissed off but depressed with some anger mixed in since I was at least 14. I don't know if it would be any better if I lived somewhere else because America didn't necessarily deal me that hand but what angers me about America is it promises to be the land of opportunity. They reiterate that on every July 4th special- "land of the free" yada yada. Land of opportunity for who and what opportunity? Maybe for everyone but me or maybe to not be homeless and have a semi tolerable job. The dream of today's system of capitalism it seems is to settle. I know it's been worse but it frustrates me that it took so long just to get a semi tolerable job..it's a sad excuse for progress. I try to treat work now as an escape since the job itself is not very toxic and not take it seriously because I can start taking it seriously and I get depressed that all it is is biding my time. Forget relocating and buying a house. I can't even pay my debt off with it. America is said to be the wealthiest country and I guess it is but many don't see a dime of it because they're not at the top.
What angers me the most about is it probably was more doable at a time when I couldn't do anything about it and now that high likelihood is gone forever.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Avondalist
There's very little liberty in life. Most people are fated to live the way they do. You don't choose your parents, you don't choose your sex, you don't choose where or when you are born. You are born a certain way and the genetics of your parents have a huge impact on your life. Not to mention various non-genetic inheritances like class and wealth. Probably the biggest lie the liberty-lovers tell is when they misclassify needs as choices. For example, everyone needs to eat. They will die if they don't. There are other needs, but eating is the most basic. That means until very recently, and even now it's spotty, working was not a choice because you needed to work to pay for food. Every employer knows their workers need to work, and they avail themselves fully of that knowledge. A startling number of economists, however, classify working as a choice. The next biggest lie is when they tell someone to do something impossible for that person and confuse inability with refusal. Say you are in a wheelchair. It's impossible for you to do a lot of jobs. Combined with other factors that might make employment impossible to procure. Now let's go with a less visible and therefore less sympathetic hindrance - low intelligence. It will be impossible for you to do most jobs. That's just how you were born. For this, you are berated as lazy when in fact you never had a shot.
Why can't we accept that most people are born behind the 8 ball and scramble for a lifetime to keep their heads above water, rather than insulting them by telling them they are free?
Because some people strive to be optimistic. It's not good to be a Debbie Downer all the time but at the same time saying someone is free like you said an insult. We should all encourage others that they can move mountains but yes by just telling them they are free that doesn't do anything for them all it does is downplay the struggles they have to achieving a good life.
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