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The fact that people in here (who are richer than average) disagree with his policies makes his election more hopeful
by seydor 1y ago
The fact that people in here (who are richer than average) disagree with his policies makes his election more hopeful
- drannex 1y agoAgreed. Thank you for pointing that out.
- lisbbb 1y agoWhy is that? I think many of us who are educated in history understand the risks of collectivism. It has never worked out anywhere. I see it as basically a marketing cover for oligarchy. The Western world should aspire to better than China. I'm not even a conservative, just read a lot. Humanity has had some pretty hellish experiences with communism and yet we keep "going there."
- HellDunkel 1y agoGreetings from western europe. Not so bad and communist around here. They call it social capitalism.
- Workaccount2 1y agoWestern Europe would have been collapsing right now if daddy cold capitalist didn't show up with gas and guns to drive away the Russian bear. Western Europe has been on vacation for 30 years. There is no future where they can stay on the path they have been on. European leaders recognize this, but how the hell do you get a generation raised with an easy life to recognize this? Germans work 400 hours a year less than Americans, and they celebrate that. Good luck.
- dimator 1y ago> Germans work 400 hours a year less than Americans, and they celebrate that. Good luck. Yes, everyone everywhere should endeavor to... checks notes... work the maximum number of hours in a year.
- Boltgolt 1y agoThis is what working in a toxic working culture does to a person. "Because I only have one week of PTO a year and have to be constantly add afraid of being fired, everyone should be!"
- Workaccount2 1y agoEurope has a borderline shrinking economy, and completely missed out on the tech wave of the last 25 years. So you have all of Europe using American software, running on American or Chinese hardware, all imported rather than home built. This "foreign dependent" theme repeats again and again as you go through why Europeans need to get off their asses and drop their perceptions towards industry. And this doesn't even mention the population age crisis.
- Hikikomori 1y agoHow's that working out for the average American? On any conceivable life quality metric western Europe is ahead.
- Workaccount2 1y agoI have the savings where I could quit my job, work odd fun part-time seasonal jobs, go traveling, focus on hobbies, focus on friends and family, and live a low stress generally relaxed life. Still live in my house, still drive my car. I could probably swing this for maybe 5 years. But after that? I'd be very low on cash, missing valuable workplace skills, selling my home to downsize, and scrounging for money anywhere I could. Bad financial shape, and forced to give up all those great comforts. This is what Europe has been doing, on a ~50 yr timescale. They are about 35 years into it, and the writing is on the wall. Euro leaders see it. Unfortunately for Europe, there is now a whole generation that only knows that laid back easy life. Meanwhile Europe needs to double defense spending (cut services) while fostering domestic technology development (cut taxes), all while having a top heavy population (guaranteed generous benefits). All the things necessary to stand on their own, with a hostile next door neighbor who desperately wants the former soviet lands back. And all the things that say "You need to work more for less". If Europe doesn't get it together in the next 5-10 years, the EU will fracture, and there likely will be another European ground war.
- lisdexan 1y ago>There is no future where they can stay on the path they have been on. European leaders recognize this, but how the hell do you get a generation raised with an easy life to recognize this? The call is inside the house. Puritan ethics will not stop China from overtaking the US. >Germans work 400 hours a year less than Americans, and they celebrate that. Good luck. You have a dedicated HN work account with 15337 karma.
- terminalshort 1y agoJust don't commit blasphemy, which is literally a crime you can be charged with there.
- matsemann 1y ago"there". Where exactly? Norway's law about this was removed years ago, and for many years before that was a "sleeping" rule basically no one got convicted of.
- u_sama 1y agoUK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy all have laws curtailing speech with egregious application. - A 64-year-old pensioner man faced charges for antisemitic posts and for calling a politician a "professional idiot." - Interior Minister Nancy Faeser reported multiple citizens to police for criticisms made on social media. In one case, a journalist published a satirical meme digitally altering a photograph of Faeser holding a sign reading "I hate freedom of speech" — and was prosecuted and given a seven-month suspended sentence. - In 2017, 19-year-old Chelsea Russell quoted a line from Snap Dogg's song "I'm Trippin'" on Instagram: "Kill a snitch nigga, rob a rich nigga." She was charged with sending a "grossly offensive message." Despite being Black and posting in tribute to a deceased 13-year-old friend, she was convicted, fined £585, and subjected to a curfew and ankle monitoring. - Lucy Connolly was convicted and sentenced to two years and seven months in prison for posting during anti-immigration riots that she hoped someone burned down a hotel containing asylum seekers. She later deleted the post. - France has applied existing discrimination laws to criminalize BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) activists, treating anti-Israel speech as incitement to religious discrimination. The Court of Cassation ruled BDS boycott calls violated French law. - Senator Miguel Castells wrote an article claiming the government was failing to investigate murders. He was convicted of insulting the government and sentenced to a year in prison. The European Court of Human Rights ruled his right to free speech had been violated, after which Spain's Constitutional Court developed case law providing greater protection to free speech. - The satirical magazine El Jueves published a comic strip featuring images of the current King and Queen of Spain, which the public prosecutor's office held to be defamatory. A judge agreed to seizure of the publication. All western countries btw, Norway falls in the North European country
- nickpp 1y agoWestern Europe is bankrupt: larger and larger deficits financing a lifestyle we can't afford any longer. Politicians catering to voters used to getting benefits for free and refusing to adjust to common sense policies like increasing retirement age with life expectancy. Years when essential defense investments were skipped in favor of populist handouts put us at risk from hungry, militaristic psychopaths. Western Europe had the horrifying example of Eastern Europe who was cold and hungry until we switched to capitalism. Sadly, it looks like it learned nothing from us.
- u_sama 1y agoI dont know what western Europe you live in, but ours is a decadent one where not a single country is meaningfully growing, not a single one has recovered from 2008 in any meaningful way, everything gets more expensive, industry is destroyed and boomer NIMBY keep voting for policies that advantage them because of their demographic dividend vis-a-vis the younger generations. In France pensioners earn more on average than a 25 yo, there is a crony capitalism based on hyper-regulation where the incumbents keep their place by bribing polticians into adopting policies that benefit large corporations. Rent and house prices boom, all the while average natality is going lower and lower, and there is an increasing brain drain towards America.
- wantlotsofcurry 1y agoAbsolutely. I love it.
- Workaccount2 1y agoThe reality, which kinda sucks and is boring, is that generally people with money understand how money works, and why things like rent control, government grocery stores, and free [expensive service], are financially brutal policies.
- overfeed 1y agoBrutal to who? Wage theft is also brutal, but it's pretty obvious why the folk who "understand how money works" condone it. It's a tad credulous to think the billionaires donated against Mamdani out of a sense of noblesse oblige
- Workaccount2 1y agoBrutal to everyone. Society is a chain linked web, not a loose cluster.
- overfeed 1y ago> Society is a chain linked web, not a loose cluster. I wish the people building bunkers, buying New Zealand citizenship, support razing social safety nets for tax cuts, and fetishize civilizational collapse (while simultaneously chipping at its foundations aggressively) realized this.
- Tryk 1y agoWhat about tax cuts for the rich, quantitative easing? Who are they brutal to? Everyone? Where in that chain linked web does it hurt the most when you distribute money to the wealthiest 10%?
- throwaway91530 1y agoTax cuts are not distribution, in fact they are the opposite of distribution.
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- dbbk 1y agoYou can both be rich and also want a better quality of life for everyone in society. Not every rich person is a selfish asshole...
- jjk166 1y agoBut some are selfish assholes; and if you find yourself agreeing with the selfish asshole rich people when it comes to economics, it might be worth double-checking their claims that a policy is supposedly better for everyone. Much hooplah is made of rising tides lifting all boats, but flooding the valley tends to just drown everyone not in a boat.
- FridayoLeary 1y agoHe is also richer then average.
- aprilthird2021 1y agoHe was the least rich of the candidates running for mayor (not sure about Sliwa)
- dachworker 1y agoI love how they always style themselves experts on economics, as if there is one global economic policy that benefits everyone, equally. How cute.
- lyu07282 1y agoIt's just they have been in charge for so long, and gotten their ideology implemented for decades, the damage they caused is now so large and felt by so many people deep inside the neocolonial core that we finally see the first cracks in this system. If these people were aware of the current moment instead of just confused and trapped in their own ideological bubble, they would probably all be wearing MAGA hats, since the authoritarian right is the only way they can realistically hold on to their rotten system in the long run. Curious why that's not a lesson they learned from history, too uncomfortable to think about that part I suppose.