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In no particular order: The rich are getting richer faster than the rest of us. Real wages are stagnant. Social safety nets are constantly being removed. La

In no particular order: The rich are getting richer faster than the rest of us. Real wages are stagnant. Social safety nets are constantly being removed. Labor protections have been being rolled back or enforcement lax since the ATC strike. Atomization and alienation have taken root. The mythos of the nuclear family being paramount is fully embedded in the culture, destroying the older concept of a broader family and community taking part in the rearing of the next generation and just general socialization. We're heading to the failure of multiple systems, including food production and power, due to climate change and the increasing frequency of disastrous weather systems. "Greed is good" has been a value promulgated by the elites for a few generations now. Things are getting more expensive faster than wage growth, especially basics and things needed for economic upward mobility (housing, education, healthcare, etc). Identity politics and wedge issues are dividing people who otherwise have similar interests. Modern life is anxiety and depression inducing, creating a rise in interpersonal conflict. Our government is no longer accountable to the people or representative of them in any real way unless you're in the top quintile of wealth/income (and that is generous). All of these things, and many more, are ripping apart the social contract. People no longer feel invested in the wellbeing of the places in which they reside or the governmental and societal systems they are a part of. Instead, they merely endure them with resentment. This won't end well.

givemeethekeys 5y ago
> The mythos of the nuclear family being paramount is fully embedded in the culture, destroying the older concept of a broader family and community taking part in the rearing of the next generation and just general socialization. I think we're past "nuclear family" at this point. Getting married is actively discouraged by our legal system.
- rjbwork 5y ago
  True. I certainly am not. Definitely part of Atomization. Large swathes of the country, especially the religious and conservative still buy into this mythos though.
xster 5y ago
Sounds like a description of neoliberalism :)
subsubzero 5y ago
I think some of these things ring true but you missed a few obvious ones, most of this stuff has been going on in California which is being governed into oblivion by its leaders: - California is getting very soft on crime recently, people now realize they can rob and steal what they want and there are zero consequences for it, this has lead to almost a complete collapse of order in most major california cities(see excessive smash and grabs($1B stolen in a few weeks in LA/SF bay area) and skyrocketing drug use(SF has more addicts than high school students) and homelessness, along with car jackings and robberies). I live in california and my family has been here for over a hundred years so I have seen its rapid deterioration in the past 3-4 years. - Complete abandonment of any type of positive morality from the media or any leaders. - Extreme division due to both right and left moving farther from the center. - Sky high college costs have made things very difficult for people that are in college and those leaving the system are left with life crushing debt. - Housing and rent are at all time highs due to excessive money printing and over generous govt. handouts the past 1-2 years. - Jobs are available and are plentiful there are just not enough workers for the positions or qualified people for the higher earning ones, in addition alot of people were making more sitting around getting checks and enhanced unemployment than working at the lower wage positions. - I traveled to multiple states over the last year(Hawaii, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Oregon) and this stuff is not happening everywhere, its mainly in CA and NYC and other high density urban areas.
- seanmcdirmid 5y ago
  > - I traveled to multiple states over the last year(Hawaii, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Oregon) and this stuff is not happening everywhere, its mainly in CA and NYC and other high density urban areas. You are claiming this isn't happening in those states, but especially New Mexico and Oregon, ... it is definitely happening in those states, so I question your experience with the other ones. Out of those, maybe Utah is not having those problems? Even as an island, Hawaii has had huge problems for decades, perhaps the worst (housing affordability, homelessness, rising crime rate).
- wildrhythms 5y ago
  >Extreme division due to both right and left moving farther from the center This says a lot about your position in what you imagine is the 'center'; the reality is that both sides are only moving further right. This has been happening for decades.
hidudeurcool 5y ago
[dead]
mrhands556 5y ago
Most places are weak on crime. We have a judge in Minneapolis over the last week: 1. Some guy chased a woman in his car and she ran to a fire station. He crashed into the fire station and fought firefighters. Released 0 bail. 2. Violent criminal with a long past let out of jail to attend funeral and hasn’t returned. This is just the tip of the iceberg. We have constant 0 bail for young carjackers who steal peoples cars for joy rides. It’s madness. I don’t care what anyone says about “punishment doesn’t deter crime”. That’s against human nature and total horseshit.
- panarky 5y ago
  The US has a larger share of its population in prison than any other nation, about 6x higher than Canada, Japan and Western Europe. Is the problem really that too few people are in prison?
  - slim109ya 5y ago
    Yes, if they deserve to be in prison and aren't.
    - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
      So then the problem is why do more people deserve to be in prison in the US in particular? Whichever way you cut it, it's bad for society for it to be such a large percentage.
  - citrin_ru 5y ago
    One of reasons of large prison population is long sentences. Shorter sentences with better enforcement can be a better deterrent.
  - afiori 5y ago
    Too few and too many aren't mutually exclusive, it is quite possible that the wrong people are in prison.
  - meatsauce 5y ago
meatsauce 5y ago
The rich don't get rich by taking something the poor don't have.
- ok_dad 5y ago
  They get richer by taking the productivity gains for themselves and leaving nothing on the table.
YATA0 5y ago
>The mythos of the nuclear family being paramount is fully embedded in the culture, destroying the older concept of a broader family and community taking part in the rearing of the next generation and just general socialization. It's not a "mythos", it's a fact that children raised in nuclear families have much better outcomes than those who are not [0]. Practically every sociological study confirms this. Black children are the least likely to be raised in nuclear families in the US, and aligned with the study, are the most likely to suffer from health and mental/emotional/sociological issues. It's recently become some weird leftist/neo-marxist talking point to subvert the "Western proscribed nuclear family". BLM had to remove this talking point from their website after it was widely criticized [1]. [0] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_246.pdf http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_246.pdf [1] https://news.yahoo.com/black-lives-matter-removes-language-185621063.html https://news.yahoo.com/black-lives-matter-removes-language-1...
- rjbwork 5y ago
  We're not talking about the nuclear family in opposition to single parents or blended families. We're talking about it in opposition to extended and clan families. Which is why I explicitly mentioned extended ("broader") families and communities. Obviously having a mom and a dad is good. Come on dude, use context clues.
  - YATA0 5y ago
    >We're talking about it in opposition to extended and clan families. Which are specifically covered in the CDC report that I listed above. "Children living in blended (i.e., stepparent), cohabiting, unmarried biological or adoptive, extended, and other families were generally disadvantaged relative to children in nuclear families, and were, for the most part, comparable to children living in single-parent families regarding most health status and access to care measures." > Which is why I explicitly mentioned extended ("broader") families and communities. Those "broader" families and communities have unfortunately been failing Black Americans for generations. >Come on dude, use context clues. Come on dude, use reading comprehension. At least you admitted here for all to see that you'd rather be a virtue signaler over being a data driven adult.
matt-attack 5y ago
> the rich are getting richer faster than the rest of us Isn’t that just a restatement if the rather mundane concept of compound interest? If savings account A has $100 and account B has $1mil, does it go without saying that account B will grow far faster? I never understood why compound interest should be seen as a negative. What is the counter proposal?

givemeethekeys 5y ago

> The mythos of the nuclear family being paramount is fully embedded in the culture, destroying the older concept of a broader family and community taking part in the rearing of the next generation and just general socialization. I think we're past "nuclear family" at this point. Getting married is actively discouraged by our legal system.

rjbwork 5y ago
True. I certainly am not. Definitely part of Atomization. Large swathes of the country, especially the religious and conservative still buy into this mythos though.

xster 5y ago

Sounds like a description of neoliberalism :)

subsubzero 5y ago

I think some of these things ring true but you missed a few obvious ones, most of this stuff has been going on in California which is being governed into oblivion by its leaders: - California is getting very soft on crime recently, people now realize they can rob and steal what they want and there are zero consequences for it, this has lead to almost a complete collapse of order in most major california cities(see excessive smash and grabs($1B stolen in a few weeks in LA/SF bay area) and skyrocketing drug use(SF has more addicts than high school students) and homelessness, along with car jackings and robberies). I live in california and my family has been here for over a hundred years so I have seen its rapid deterioration in the past 3-4 years. - Complete abandonment of any type of positive morality from the media or any leaders. - Extreme division due to both right and left moving farther from the center. - Sky high college costs have made things very difficult for people that are in college and those leaving the system are left with life crushing debt. - Housing and rent are at all time highs due to excessive money printing and over generous govt. handouts the past 1-2 years. - Jobs are available and are plentiful there are just not enough workers for the positions or qualified people for the higher earning ones, in addition alot of people were making more sitting around getting checks and enhanced unemployment than working at the lower wage positions. - I traveled to multiple states over the last year(Hawaii, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Oregon) and this stuff is not happening everywhere, its mainly in CA and NYC and other high density urban areas.

seanmcdirmid 5y ago
> - I traveled to multiple states over the last year(Hawaii, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Oregon) and this stuff is not happening everywhere, its mainly in CA and NYC and other high density urban areas. You are claiming this isn't happening in those states, but especially New Mexico and Oregon, ... it is definitely happening in those states, so I question your experience with the other ones. Out of those, maybe Utah is not having those problems? Even as an island, Hawaii has had huge problems for decades, perhaps the worst (housing affordability, homelessness, rising crime rate).
wildrhythms 5y ago
>Extreme division due to both right and left moving farther from the center This says a lot about your position in what you imagine is the 'center'; the reality is that both sides are only moving further right. This has been happening for decades.

hidudeurcool 5y ago

[dead]

mrhands556 5y ago

Most places are weak on crime. We have a judge in Minneapolis over the last week: 1. Some guy chased a woman in his car and she ran to a fire station. He crashed into the fire station and fought firefighters. Released 0 bail. 2. Violent criminal with a long past let out of jail to attend funeral and hasn’t returned. This is just the tip of the iceberg. We have constant 0 bail for young carjackers who steal peoples cars for joy rides. It’s madness. I don’t care what anyone says about “punishment doesn’t deter crime”. That’s against human nature and total horseshit.

panarky 5y ago
The US has a larger share of its population in prison than any other nation, about 6x higher than Canada, Japan and Western Europe. Is the problem really that too few people are in prison?
- slim109ya 5y ago
  Yes, if they deserve to be in prison and aren't.
  - adhesive_wombat 5y ago
    So then the problem is why do more people deserve to be in prison in the US in particular? Whichever way you cut it, it's bad for society for it to be such a large percentage.
- citrin_ru 5y ago
  One of reasons of large prison population is long sentences. Shorter sentences with better enforcement can be a better deterrent.
- afiori 5y ago
  Too few and too many aren't mutually exclusive, it is quite possible that the wrong people are in prison.
- meatsauce 5y ago

meatsauce 5y ago

The rich don't get rich by taking something the poor don't have.

ok_dad 5y ago
They get richer by taking the productivity gains for themselves and leaving nothing on the table.

YATA0 5y ago

>The mythos of the nuclear family being paramount is fully embedded in the culture, destroying the older concept of a broader family and community taking part in the rearing of the next generation and just general socialization. It's not a "mythos", it's a fact that children raised in nuclear families have much better outcomes than those who are not [0]. Practically every sociological study confirms this. Black children are the least likely to be raised in nuclear families in the US, and aligned with the study, are the most likely to suffer from health and mental/emotional/sociological issues. It's recently become some weird leftist/neo-marxist talking point to subvert the "Western proscribed nuclear family". BLM had to remove this talking point from their website after it was widely criticized [1]. [0] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_246.pdf http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_10/sr10_246.pdf [1] https://news.yahoo.com/black-lives-matter-removes-language-185621063.html https://news.yahoo.com/black-lives-matter-removes-language-1...

rjbwork 5y ago
We're not talking about the nuclear family in opposition to single parents or blended families. We're talking about it in opposition to extended and clan families. Which is why I explicitly mentioned extended ("broader") families and communities. Obviously having a mom and a dad is good. Come on dude, use context clues.
- YATA0 5y ago
  >We're talking about it in opposition to extended and clan families. Which are specifically covered in the CDC report that I listed above. "Children living in blended (i.e., stepparent), cohabiting, unmarried biological or adoptive, extended, and other families were generally disadvantaged relative to children in nuclear families, and were, for the most part, comparable to children living in single-parent families regarding most health status and access to care measures." > Which is why I explicitly mentioned extended ("broader") families and communities. Those "broader" families and communities have unfortunately been failing Black Americans for generations. >Come on dude, use context clues. Come on dude, use reading comprehension. At least you admitted here for all to see that you'd rather be a virtue signaler over being a data driven adult.

matt-attack 5y ago

> the rich are getting richer faster than the rest of us Isn’t that just a restatement if the rather mundane concept of compound interest? If savings account A has $100 and account B has $1mil, does it go without saying that account B will grow far faster? I never understood why compound interest should be seen as a negative. What is the counter proposal?