You may have seen this video in which a Gen Z worker complains about the unfairness of the current work environment.
Gen-Z will hopefully soon realize supporting and advocating for Biden was a bad idea.
pic.twitter.com/B8uaJPOUxw— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 10, 2024
I think many conservatives react to this with some version of “quit complaining, work harder, and stop spending your money on $1000 phones.”
I have a different reaction.
We’ve been devaluing labor for decades to (1) feed our appetite for cheap crap, and (2) increase corporate profits.
Neither of those things are bad. Being able to buy things for less makes citizens more wealthy, and corporate profits fund 401(k) accounts, create jobs, increase the GDP, etc.
But there is a cost, which is what this young lady is talking about. In order to have cheap things at Walmart, we can’t pay the Walmart workers very well. Or the people who work in the factories that make the stuff on the shelves.
I’m not inclined to accept simple answers to this situation. Yes, we want more efficient production of goods. But we also want people to be able to get a job, get married, earn a living, raise a family, etc. And I think we’re failing at that, and it’s only going to get worse as Biden welcomes 482 billion new people into the country.
The young lady in the video made a good point about the accountability for the current economy is due to the decisions and actions of previous generations. Albeit both contributed to the current state…one entity might be more culpable than the other. She and other Gen Z members may want to consider that as they vote and work to shape their future.
President Ronald Reagan inherited from President Jimmy Carter a deficit of $78.9 billion. When he left office, it was $152.6 billion. When his successor, President George H.W. Bush, left office, it was $255 billion. President Bill Clinton cleaned up the mess. By the time Clinton left office the federal budget was in surplus to the tune of $236 billion. President George W. Bush eliminated the surplus in record time with income-tax cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; when President Bush left office, the deficit was $1.41 trillion. President Barack Obama halved that to $584.6 billion. Trump pushed it back up to $3.1 trillion. We’ll see how Biden ends up in late 2024…initially he was able to bring it down slightly, but it’s currently escalating.
The United States has had 17 recessions over the past 100 years. There have been 13 Republican leadership recessions, including the absolute biggest downturns: the Great Depression and the recessions of 1981, 2007, and 2020. There have been 4 Democrat leadership recessions. If you count now (which is still debated amongst economists), it would be 5.
Are you assuming that deficits and recessions are primarily caused by the president?
Also, now do wars.
Republicans have presupposed that for a very long time, but they hate to face the implications of their presupposition when it comes back to bite them.
Apparently politicians do, especially Republicans. Have you listened to some of the Republican presidential candidates lately? That tells you all you need to know.
As an aside before I start, I’ll say it’s amazing Ian Miles Cheong … a foreign national…has so much following in the Trump-o-sphere.
Well, don’t Republicans tell us that just let the free market work. Yeah, the free market works for billionaires and millionaires. Not hard to see that 1) people want to pay the least amount, 2) and that includes labor costs… Bernie has been talking about this for years…you think he’s a nut.
I don’t even know what a solution might be. However, it doesn’t make for a stable country when it is so hard to make a living for a lot of people. It’s tinder for a revolution.
The Trump-o-sphere doesn’t want to hear from foreign nationals? Where did you get that idea?
Very few people believe in an unrestricted free market. The question is how and when it’s appropriate to restrict it.
For example, that nut Bernie Sanders labels European countries as “democratic socialists” when they themselves say, “no, dummy, we’re free market countries with a generous social safety net.”
I agree that it’s dangerous to have an environment in your country where people feel as if they can’t make a living even if they follow the rules. That’s dangerous even if it’s not true. (I’m not saying if it is or isn’t.)
Trump tells us that the foreign nationals are vermin poisoning our blood.
The policies that Bernie Sandies favors actually come from parties that are usually designated as “social democrats”. The “social” aspect does in fact refer to a moderate degree of socialism. I think that it would be utter nonsense to accuse Sanders of advocating some sort of extreme socialism, although it always remains up for discussion to what extent free markets should be constrained in order to provide acceptable benefits to the common folk.
Well, obviously, Jordan Peterson (and now his daughter) have tremendous sway in the OrangeBozo-o-sphere. With Jordan, I can understand why. With, Mykayla…well, the Kardashians have a big social media presence too…
As to Cheong… He lives in Malaysia and seems to only post/re-post shit about the USA. Has no discernible job. Has a Substack, but hasn’t posted in 2.5 years…probably too much work. I suppose if you live in Malaysia and have a couple hundred thousand social media followers, you might be able to make a living just posting shit about the USA. Ching, ching suckers… A skeptical person might wonder if he is a foreign agent as well…. But, hey, he says shit about the people I hate, so he’s great.
I grew up in an era that probably will never return. Actually, IMHO, my parents generation was probably the greatest to have grown up in. Some of it was tough in the 80s when there were oil problems and Japan started making better cars than the US. Where I grew up, everyone worked for GM, Chrysler, or Ford…or someone who supplied parts for them…or even if you worked at a bowling alley or a grocery store, the dollars could probably ultimately traced back to someone buying a car. For a high school graduate with no education after school, you could get a job with the Big 3 and afford to buy a house (on one income), and if your wife had a part-time job, you could probably buy a “cottage” “up north” where you’d spend your weekends in the summer.
Sure, Bernie says “Democratic socialists”… for years Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the right wing dick-o-sphere called those countries “socialists”…. So, it’s not as if Bernie made it up. Of course they’re capitalists with a large social net…didn’t stop the RWNJs from calling them “socialists” and sneering at them as if they’re the root of all evil.