51–58 of 58 posts
Why you lot (the US) still let the rich buy politicians is beyond me. I get you don't have a choice in the matter, because the rich are in power, but still kinda sucks.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Obviously they are interesting. It's the preselection of what the general population can vote for. If you can only vote for two different candidates(which is the case now, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump), how the f*k is that democratic? It's a sham.
I absolutely agree that this entrenched two-party system is a clear issue that needs to be resolved if the US is to become a real functioning democracy. But also woe to noting that there are other parties in the race also; they just don’t have popular support.
Only way to have more parties is to adopt something like a proportional parliamentary system. Which will never happen because you'd have to change the constitution.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You realize the government funds most people's pensions/retirement via investment right? Either directly via pension funds or indirectly by encouraging people to save in 401ks etc?
It used to be that companies paid pensions. They had to pay for the full life-cycle cost of the humans that they used for labor. Companies hated that of course both for practical reasons, but mostly because they'd rather that pension money went to shareholding executives. The 401k was originally a special interest clause inserted in a bill designed for kodak employees (kodak was a crazy profitable company at the time…
Yes, and what happens when the company paying your pension goes bankrupt? You're up sht creek.
At least 401ks let you diversify across the entire stock market, much less risk of every company in the US (or world) going bankrupt simultaneously.
> So that of course leads to growth and demographics problems to keep the system working.
Let me tell you a secret: even in a communist country demographics still matter. If you have just 1 healthy adult caring for 4 aging grandparents, that's going to be tough in communism or capitalism. Money is just an abstraction, what matters is resources, which young healthy people are.
Why you lot (the US) still let the rich buy politicians is beyond me. I get you don't have a choice in the matter, because the rich are in power, but still kinda sucks.
Please tell me which country you live in, where the rich don't control the state.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It used to be that companies paid pensions. They had to pay for the full life-cycle cost of the humans that they used for labor. Companies hated that of course both for practical reasons, but mostly because they'd rather that pension money went to shareholding executives. The 401k was originally a special interest clause inserted in a bill designed for kodak employees (kodak was a crazy profitable company at the time…
> It used to be that companies paid pensions. Yes, and what happens when the company paying your pension goes bankrupt? You're up sht creek. At least 401ks let you diversify across the entire stock market, much less risk of every company in the US (or world) going bankrupt simultaneously. > So that of course leads to growth and demographics problems to keep the system working. Let me tell you a secret: even in a comm…
At no point did I suggest otherwise. Regardless of the political system at play, physics says that continued exponential growth is not an option. So how do get to a system that works on with a plateaued population / economy?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It used to be that companies paid pensions. Yes, and what happens when the company paying your pension goes bankrupt? You're up sht creek. At least 401ks let you diversify across the entire stock market, much less risk of every company in the US (or world) going bankrupt simultaneously. > So that of course leads to growth and demographics problems to keep the system working. Let me tell you a secret: even in a comm…
> Let me tell you a secret: even in a communist country demographics still matter. At no point did I suggest otherwise. Regardless of the political system at play, physics says that continued exponential growth is not an option. So how do get to a system that works on with a plateaued population / economy?
Maybe AI caregivers will help at some point.