5 ms·

Look .. I am one of the working class here. But I gotta point out. Our standard of living is far superior to someone living in 1970 when it comes to stuff/techn

Look .. I am one of the working class here. But I gotta point out. Our standard of living is far superior to someone living in 1970 when it comes to stuff/technology. The stuff is cheaper because of China/globalization. The tech is there because we outsourced production and kept specializing the work force. I don't think UBI is the solution. Nor is squeezing people more than they are being squeezed. Efficiency and productivity are good things. What is wasteful are things like make-work programs like the DMV or other govt office. That crap needs to be automated away. Hospitals need more funding. Schools are unclear. I think schools would benefit from privatization. I don't think the same of hospitals. Not sure why.

majormajor 4y ago
Standard of living shouldn't be judged purely in terms of "stuff"; that's not how human brains work. There's relative effects ("keeping up with the joneses") as well as the effects of having options and possibilities for advancement ("American dream"). Make those things less accessible and people will feel less well off. And outside of electronics a lot of physical-goods/land stuff is less attainable in many places in the country anyway. The problem with non-redistributive approaches is that generational wealth rarely goes away. So if you don't have it, the number of people who don't have to try to out-spend you for whatever you want only goes up as time passes.
sodkmfkwegw 4y ago
It's not about our "standard of living", it's more about class mobilization. If you were born poor, you could still get a job at McDonalds, go to college on those wages, and buy a home/start a family and live middle class easily, if not upper-middle class if you chose a high-earnings potential career. Today, that's close to impossible unless you take student loans, go through the gauntlet of getting a higher paying job, and then have to grapple with home prices assuming you don't live in a place with reasonably affordable home ownership. If you think the DMV and government offices are "make-work" then we need to start with cutting military spending because it's the biggest "make-work" government program we have that the vast majority of U.S. spending goes to.
- wrycoder 4y ago
  That's way off. The US spends 12% on the military.[0] [0] https://www.thebalancemoney.com/u-s-federal-budget-breakdown-3305789#toc-spending https://www.thebalancemoney.com/u-s-federal-budget-breakdown...
  - sodkmfkwegw 4y ago
    Sorry about that, I meant to write "discretionary" in there. Regardless, the point of spending less on the military still stands. We can't change mandatory spending or we have millions of elderly people dying because social security vanishes into thin air.
    - wrycoder 4y ago
      Well, I paid into SS and Medicare for fifty years, and I’m getting less out than I put in. But, still glad to have them. Some people call it a Ponzi scheme, but it’s a pool, as designed. The military is a big jobs program and all the industrial support generates a lot of economic activity. Better if they just dropped it in the ocean, though. Too much temptation to test it.
      - sodkmfkwegw 4y ago
        Sounds like you know the difference between the two programs then.
achenet 4y ago
televisions are cheaper, food, housing and healthcare are more expensive [0] I'm pretty sure the latter 3 are more important to standard of living than the former. Ergo, I believe your claim that standard of living is superior to 1970 is false. Having a shiny iPhone to distract you from the fact that you're homeless, sick and starving is not a step up. [0] https://mpost.io/wp-content/uploads/975d2151-7def-45a4-8c52-878cf32d8c7b_1320x1424-949x1024.jpg https://mpost.io/wp-content/uploads/975d2151-7def-45a4-8c52-...
w______roy 4y ago
> I think schools would benefit from privatization Well, we (in the US), have slowly been privatizing them and it’s bad! If you look at test results though, it’s great! Because private charter schools can drop underperforming students before the end of the term and artificially inflate their numbers. There are many more reasons that education with a profit motive isn’t better than without. I suggest maybe reading up on this before casually suggesting how you think we should radically erode our institution.
- quags 4y ago
  I went to private school and this is very true. If you are going to privatize schools well then private schools need to keep students with iep regardless of cost, like public schools , or they should get no funding whatsoever from taxpayers.

majormajor 4y ago

Standard of living shouldn't be judged purely in terms of "stuff"; that's not how human brains work. There's relative effects ("keeping up with the joneses") as well as the effects of having options and possibilities for advancement ("American dream"). Make those things less accessible and people will feel less well off. And outside of electronics a lot of physical-goods/land stuff is less attainable in many places in the country anyway. The problem with non-redistributive approaches is that generational wealth rarely goes away. So if you don't have it, the number of people who don't have to try to out-spend you for whatever you want only goes up as time passes.

sodkmfkwegw 4y ago

It's not about our "standard of living", it's more about class mobilization. If you were born poor, you could still get a job at McDonalds, go to college on those wages, and buy a home/start a family and live middle class easily, if not upper-middle class if you chose a high-earnings potential career. Today, that's close to impossible unless you take student loans, go through the gauntlet of getting a higher paying job, and then have to grapple with home prices assuming you don't live in a place with reasonably affordable home ownership. If you think the DMV and government offices are "make-work" then we need to start with cutting military spending because it's the biggest "make-work" government program we have that the vast majority of U.S. spending goes to.

wrycoder 4y ago
That's way off. The US spends 12% on the military.[0] [0] https://www.thebalancemoney.com/u-s-federal-budget-breakdown-3305789#toc-spending https://www.thebalancemoney.com/u-s-federal-budget-breakdown...
- sodkmfkwegw 4y ago
  Sorry about that, I meant to write "discretionary" in there. Regardless, the point of spending less on the military still stands. We can't change mandatory spending or we have millions of elderly people dying because social security vanishes into thin air.
  - wrycoder 4y ago
    Well, I paid into SS and Medicare for fifty years, and I’m getting less out than I put in. But, still glad to have them. Some people call it a Ponzi scheme, but it’s a pool, as designed. The military is a big jobs program and all the industrial support generates a lot of economic activity. Better if they just dropped it in the ocean, though. Too much temptation to test it.
    - sodkmfkwegw 4y ago
      Sounds like you know the difference between the two programs then.

achenet 4y ago

televisions are cheaper, food, housing and healthcare are more expensive [0] I'm pretty sure the latter 3 are more important to standard of living than the former. Ergo, I believe your claim that standard of living is superior to 1970 is false. Having a shiny iPhone to distract you from the fact that you're homeless, sick and starving is not a step up. [0] https://mpost.io/wp-content/uploads/975d2151-7def-45a4-8c52-878cf32d8c7b_1320x1424-949x1024.jpg https://mpost.io/wp-content/uploads/975d2151-7def-45a4-8c52-...

w______roy 4y ago

> I think schools would benefit from privatization Well, we (in the US), have slowly been privatizing them and it’s bad! If you look at test results though, it’s great! Because private charter schools can drop underperforming students before the end of the term and artificially inflate their numbers. There are many more reasons that education with a profit motive isn’t better than without. I suggest maybe reading up on this before casually suggesting how you think we should radically erode our institution.

quags 4y ago
I went to private school and this is very true. If you are going to privatize schools well then private schools need to keep students with iep regardless of cost, like public schools , or they should get no funding whatsoever from taxpayers.