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"The American Dream 2025" Elderly Walmart employee on a COPD machine and crying
- jmclnx 1y agoUnfortunately in the US, with this admin and the "Big Beautiful Bill", it will get much worse :(
- kome 1y agoperhaps focusing on the current thing is part of the problem, instead of part of the solutions
- CincinnatiMan 1y agoIs the implication that this worker is forced to work due to poor living conditions, rather than choosing to work to avoid retirement boredom or loneliness?
- croes 1y agoYou think working at Walmart isn’t boring?
- p_j_w 1y agoOP explains in the comments. She’s crying because she’s tired of pushing the cart around with her COPD machine and would like to retire instead, but can’t afford to.
- mindslight 1y agoYou do realize both of those are deep societal problems, right?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- hn_throwaway_99 1y agoI don't see evidence that: 1. This person is crying 2. This person is even that elderly This is just bs propaganda - it could easily be framed as "Walmart is engaging in rampant age and ableism discrimination" if Walmart didn't allow this person to work.
- tossandthrow 1y agoThis might be propaganda. But it resonates. And that by itself is indicative and an issue. However, it is always useful to back it up with some macroeconomic evidence - which was done in the thread. 67% of bankruptcies are apparently due to medical bills.
- hn_throwaway_99 1y ago> This might be propaganda. But it resonates. > And that by itself is indicative and an issue. I absolutely detest this line of thinking "There is no evidence it's true, and heck plenty of reason to think it is not true, but people like to believe shit they read on the Internet so that makes it an issue." If you want to talk about the real problem of medical debt, then discuss it using facts, like the rule to prohibit medical debt from affecting credit reports in the US is currently on hold while it is being challenged by industry groups in court.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- tossandthrow 1y agoThat line of thinking is what have gotten the US such a dire situation regarding workers rights etc. The core of lobbying is equally that line of thinking. Eg. To convince you that unions are bad for you as a worker. We can't defer rights for the masses to be discussed using only facts and charts while allow pro profit incentive to use emotion lead narratives.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- chasd00 1y agoOn the other hand, my wife has lived the American dream. Homeless as a teenager, knows what hunger is, but now, as a 47 year old woman, has a successful career, happy family, and comfortable lifestyle. You’re going to find at least one example of every outcome you can think of in the US.
- tossandthrow 1y agoSome outcomes should not be represented by even a single example. Regardless, the question is not the existence of exemplars, but the frequency. And something tells me that you story will have less such, while the story as reported will have higher such.
- throwanem 1y agoYou should ask your wife how she feels about you using her as a token this way.
- neepi 1y agoDon’t count your chickens. One of my former colleagues had the same thing. When he hit 52 he found out he had prostate cancer. After treatment he could no longer work. After a year of treatment he couldn’t afford health insurance or further treatment. Fortunately you can buy firearms and shoot yourself in the face. Cost his wife and kids less that way. That’s the American dream.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- thisisnotauser 1y agoImagine if all the ingenuity and dedication of silicon valley billionaires was invested in making the world better instead of making a handful of people richer.
- tossandthrow 1y agoWould require taxes - so probably won't happen.
- aaron695 1y ago[dead]
- philip221 1y ago[flagged]