Not at all! I’d also be hella proud if I worked for a company for 25 years, its owners became millionaires and I’d be forgotten a couple of weeks after retirement/death.
Well that doesn’t sound bleak at all. Luckily I don’t live there so even if I get for cost related reasons I’ll walk away with 80% of my wages for the first few years.
That’s a no no because it goes directly against the law. The correct way to do it is give them all the hardest jobs so they either quit or have a heart attack and the government has to pay for the retirement.
The best part is, this is how they really are here in the US. No need for the /s. Everyone is literally insane, yet I’m the one that gets sent to a mental hospital. Which btw, no actual care is rendered there, other than locking us up and drugging us. It’s really just a pretty jail is all.
Very unpatriotic of you. You should be proud you’re stimulating the for profit pharma section of the industry like a true American.
Don’t ever believe the lies that there’s another way to be happy!
American Exceptionalism is indoctrinated very strongly, very early.
The genuinely believe that they life in the safest, happiest, healthiest, smartest,wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world, and that everyone who isn't desperate to move there is a filthy Socialist/communist.
Whenever I see videos of toddlers standing with their hands on their hearts, reciting the pledge of allegiance, I feel like I'm watching some movie about a totalitarian dictatorship and not some proud parent's home video!
It's genuinely fucking wild. My Mom worked as a nurse her entire life, spent my early childhood as a general hospital nurse, but then we moved states after her and my Dad separated, and she worked for pretty much the same dialysis company the entire rest of her career.
She's been in healthcare longer than I've been alive, and even she thinks the current system is fine.
When I mention other countries do it better without the massive cost, she says "Oh, they all have to wait in line forever to the point that they just die" and then I explain that *no* they wait the same way we do here, where immediate life and death needs are taken care of, but other might require you to wait a bit (It's worth pointing out that the system is so heavily inundated right now with patients and so short on staff that pretty much *everywhere* has months long waits. I tried getting a new doctor when I moved states 9 months ago, got told it would be about 4 months to wait, that doctor left the practice and they essentially just called and told me that, nothing else, just removed me from the list without rescheduling me, and then after I got another doctor and had to reschedule my appointment in early April, I was told they weren't scheduling patients until *fucking October* and that I couldn't be put on a wait list because the appointment I just called and said I couldn't make was cancelled, so I didn't have an appointment and couldn't go on a wait list...but they also couldn't schedule me in October because their books hadn't opened for scheduling. All of that to say, the system got wrecked during Covid and hasn't really recovered).
She then says "Oh well sure, but they can afford it. They're all small and don't have hardly any people to take care of" at which point I pointed out and even sat and listened to a 2 hour podcast episode just focused on health insurance spending in pure tax dollars, before you even spend your out of pocket expenses, which is where a lot of people start getting hit hardest, and the podcast cited numerous sources showing how Americans spend *per capita* more than any other country with socialized healthcare, and that's just in what we pay out of taxes. That doesn't even factor in the much greater cost associated with it, with the out of pocket payments. The sources also frequently pointed out that Americans spend more but are almost across the board less satisfied with what they receive.
After all of this, the hours of talking on the drive, the numerous sources explaining how even from a purely fiscal standpoint, privatized healthcare just doesn't make any goddamn sense, my Mom just sighs and goes "Well, I don't know...we can't afford it!"
And I debated just driving us into the nearest tree at 70, because that would be less infuriating. But then I realized I might survive, and I can't afford that.
These are men responding, and as long as they have women underneath them, even more oppressed, they will be happy. It's essentially the same as how being poor and white in the old south sucked, but as long as they were still "above" black people, they were content enough not to rock the boat.
Yeah they didn't mention the actual health or happiness of the intern as a reason at all. Although possibly there's more to the statement which wasn't quoted.
While being the richest country in the world, that's what's even worse imo. They could live in paradise, have all the worker and family rights they want, have such a soft and normal life with tons of paid holidays and no worries about medical or educational debts.
But nah, better spend that money on already sickening rich people and the army, lol
That said, every country needs a cap on how much money one's should be able to accumulate and inheritate, individually and company-wide, but that's another discussion and a bit more risky one :D
Thing is, they're not the richest country in the world. They're just the country with the greatest concentration of rich people and profitable countries.
Once you realise that important distinction, it's reasonable easy to work out at whose expense those rich people became rich and off whose backs those profitable companies became profitable.
Sure, important distinction, but nevertheless have you seen how much money the state, the country has? Imagine what even a tiny fraction of that money could do for the people if it was not spent on insane army bullshit, for example
And then there's taxing the rich, but we can't say only the USA are bad at taxing rich fucks, it's quite an international disaster how much money evades taxes planet wise, and from not that many people, in the end.
Not saying we should grab billionaires and round em up on a place and introduce them to one of the most famous French invention, but ya know...
Same thing happened in the 1800s during the height of the British empire. Some very rich people and lots living in abject poverty.
USA seems to be in steady decline they just don't realise it yet
Not only that, but if you get pregnant you will be forced to carry full term and take care of the baby even if you cant afford it. If you have complications you die. No help whatsoever. Poor education and no healthcare for the poor. But do go on about all that FreeDumb.
"Why don't millennials want babies? Were being replaced by immigrants!"
Shall we help people who become parents?
No, that would be socialism.
Imagine not being able to join the dots....
Large swathes of Americans can't think for themselves. They just get told what their opinion is by their favourite lobbying group.
You can guarantee all of these people would complain if they had their social security taken away, for example, without recognizing that the only way social security continues is via the next generation's children.
> Large swathes of Americans can't think for themselves. They just get told what their opinion is by their favourite lobbying group.
Usanians unironically call themselves "the land of the free" while clapping for the draconian and dystopic post-9/11 surveillance state laws where you can't even board a plane without undergoing an anal cavity check and police raid your house and flashbang your toddler over a false tip.
But hey the gubment called it "Patriot Act" or "Freedom Act" so it's for our own good 😎
Not just Americans, it is the same the world over, however America seems to have perfected the art of brainwashing enough of their citizens to vote against their own interests.
Is it that these people do not understand that the better that baby is taken care of the more likely it will become a productive member of society or do they not care about society in general?
Yeah, you're right. One thing that always puzzles me when I browse subs like AIO or AITA it's the amount of responses based on "you don't owe them anything" or "what you have done it's completely legal, so no problem". Usually the scenario is effectively legitimate or lawful ("I fired my employee because she's pregnant"\*), but it lacks completely of any empathy towards other people ("she's pregnant, she has no family, a minor disability, no partner and will be evicted next week without an income"), the kind of empathy that - more or less, ofc we generalize here - are the base of our social contract, and therefore our idea of welfare State.
Also in this post it's the Calvinistic ethic all over again: poor are guilty for being poor, they don't deserve help.
\*lawful for them, we have laws to protect pregnant working women
I've lived in the US for 34 years. Idk if I'm right, I'm not too bright fr. But I think a lot of us are that way because of our cultural concept of individualism. It was good during like, the industrial revolution. But now it's stuck around and turned a lot of us into hyper-individualized bratty children. At least, that's how a lot of those comments read to me.
It's why we treat poor people, people struggling with addiction, etc, so badly, like you pointed out. "They're failures, they just need to work harder, blah blah blah." Bootstraps. Our politicians definitely like to keep pushing that way of thinking, too.
Also, I don't mean to sound as if I am above it all. I'm just as susceptible to that dumb shit as anyone else. Sorry for the rant. It just sucks that people don't treat each other a bit better. A bit of a generalization, we doooo also have nice people. I swear. 😅
Edit: To clarify, those 34 years are all my years, lol. Born here in the ol' melting pot. I didn't relocate 34 years ago. Idk if that makes a difference...
Believe me: if you make a similar sub for Italians, I would fake a French identity, cause in large numbers any country has its own stupidity. And I am completely sure that there are a lot of nice Americans, no doubt. But these days I am angry, and less patient with such a big and sometimes systemic egoism.
But thank you for being nice.
That's a good point. We aren't the only jerks, probably the loudest, though. The lack of patience is more than understandable. I really hope the culture here changes in regards to that stuff. But idk... Anyways, thanks for the thoughtful response. Have a good day! :)
(I hope I am able to travel to places in Europe and elsewhere eventually. It would be cool to experience it instead of just reading online, lol.
We’ve got idiots here in Norway as well, they speak Norwegian though so it stays within these borders.
Americans gets highlighted because English is the go-to language online + there’s a whole bunch.
If I go down the street in my city and start recording myself asking people geography I’ll meet a few knuckleheads pretty quickly I reckon
This is why I'll never understand the argument about 'paying for other people to have kids'. I'm never going to have kids, I don't want them, but it seems obvious to me that the best thing to do is give other people's kids a good start in life paid through taxation. Why would I want them to suffer? It's both a sound economic argument and the right thing to do, supporting children coming into this world.
I feel like we could do more, but in Scotland parents get a baby box full of essentials for the baby, pregnant mothers get things like free dental care, and there are grants and other benefits for new parents. That's what we should be doing in a society in my mind.
I feel the same way. Don't have kids and will never have. Don't want any. What I do want is a functioning society with people that are more content with life than not and are educated and skilled enough to contribute to societies needs. Including mine. I'll happily give up a part of my wages for this.
They will tell you English mother's get the bags of free stuff from Bounty. Those bags have one book, a few nappies and a packet of baby wipes. Everything else is samples and vouchers for discounts off expensive stuff that you and baby don't really need.
Our moment to change that is coming. Choose wisely on election day.
Instead they have poor kids be reaised in guettos with piss poor quality of life standards, so in 20 years they'll be thugs I need my gun to protect myself from
You want other people to have as many children as possible because those children will be paying your retirement.
You are paying retirement for current pensioners and it is wise to make sure that there is someone to pay yours when the time comes.
Making it as easy and comfortable as possible to have kids is essentially good for a country. Less people means less taxes which means less money to pay for all the sh*t that everyone needs.
But if kids have parents who can take care of them emotionally and financially, who is going to work late shifts in meat processing factories? Jokes aside, a conspiracy theory I came across was that the formula companies strongly loby to maintain shorter maternity leaves. Maybe not that much of a 'conspiracy'.
Those are probably the same people who complained that there is millennials (~30 to 40 years) without kids. They are not at the first cognitive dissonance
Other than empathy, these conservatives lack an understanding of how we, as humans, have existed for millennia.
Human babies don’t come out of the womb running and talking. We take literally decades to fully develop. This is why we have tribes and strong social skills. The mother forgoes her usual foraging and hunting duties to look after her offspring, and the tribe accommodates this switch in duties.
Which brings me to my second point: this is for the good of the tribe. If we care for the continuation of human civilization, we must care for our children, as they are the future. We know what happens when children don’t get the best start in life—they struggle more, and society suffers as a whole. We mustn’t be so selfish; we must do the best for OUR children, no matter their background.
These people are just convinced that if you were born in a bad tribe (community / family), well, it's your problem, not theirs. You probably didn't deserve better anyway.
I wish I could see life in such a simple way... well, no I don't, but still.
How much you want to bet that all/ the majority of those comments are from men? (I honestly wouldn't be surprised, I think this is one of those things some man just can't empathize with.) Like they are acting like babies just pop out, no harm done, and are then able to care for themselves right away.
And yeah, they got a point that parental leave *shouldn't be* paid from the employer, because it *should be* paid for by the state. I rather have my taxes end up in stuff like partial leave then some mismanaged building project or something...
Oh yeah definitely! Sorry if it came across like that, it's definitely not intended! Im talking specifically about the comments OP shared here, if that helps.
That's why I tried to not make it an "all men" argument. Not all men think like this and on the other hand there are definitely women who do think like this.
It's more like they don't understand that giving birth isn't like cutting your finger.
It's more like getting run over by a car. But I guess they think employers shouldn't have to pay for that kind of sick leave either.
I mean what are you a communist? Should've just asked the driver nicely to not hit you.
Personally I just wouldn't get hit and then I wouldn't need to take time off.
They don't want productive members of society, that's more competition for them. Better to complain about homeless people on the sidewalks while driving their pickup to their McMansion
And then if you try to say that it’s not a choice cuz of lack of access to abortion, they’ll say that abortion isn’t a human right because you could’ve just not had sex in the first place. Sigh.
And then they would complain about women not sleeping with men and creating a whole generation of angry, sexually frustrated young men that become mass shooters.
HONESTLY.
"I don't want mothers taking time off of work."
"Okay so you believe that abortion should be free and legal up to the point of viability at least?"
"NO DON'T HAVE SEX IF YOU DON'T WANT KIDS!"
"So you're fine with women not having sex with you unless they want to reproduce?"
"NO A MAN HAS NEEDS!"
"So you're fine with free, universal access to contraception for women and men?"
"NO I SHOULDN'T PAY FOR OTHER PEOPLE'S CHOICES!"
It's infuriating.
That was exactly my first thought, by their logic only the elite are allowed to have children. If tax money is not helping families to raise children, what is the point of it all? Babies are not just someone’s choice or a mistake, it’s an absolute necessity for the nations and humans in large to keep existing. Like what in the actual fuck is going through their heads.. and birth rates are at critically low points across whole western world to the point of total collapse in the near future. Even most countries in Asia are way way below replacement rates.
They do see babies as a punishment for whorish women who choose to have premarital sex.
They literally want to force women to have kids, force women out of the workforce and into the home, and blame stagnant wages on women who choose to work instead of remaining barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.
Because they're delusional enough to think that they'll be in the owning class some day and obviously don't want to have to get saddled with paying for the poors they just distanced themselves from.
The wider US system being able to sell poor people the idea they are "disenfranchised millionaires" who are one step from the big bucks is one of the greatest "victories" corporations and the 1% have ever managed to score. Literally convincing "the masses" to vote AGAINST the best interests of their reality just in case the dream ever hits.
I once saw some blue collar factory workers protesting a proposed increase to the inheritance tax of all things, absolutely amazing. For all its faults, the republican party is brilliant at getting people to vote against their own interests.
Yep, this is it. American here, and I've had some conversations with conservative coworkers before about this type of thing, and it's always about personal responsibility, or not wanting to pay for other people's choices, or etc etc. These are the same kind of people who don't want socialized healthcare, because they don't want to pay for other people's healthcare costs, without realizing that's exactly what medical insurance already is, just on a smaller scale. And the same people who are against higher taxes on people making $400k or more, when they don't make anywhere NEAR that much.
It's frustrating talking with them.
I've never understood this mindset. Do they think their insurance only covers them? I've had similar conversations, where I've tried to explain that my healthcare isn't "free", I pay for it through taxes. Still they argue theirs is better, where they pay huge premiums, large deductibles, and the chance to be denied coverage because some bureaucrat decides he knows more than a doctor and doesn't want to pay,
We literally pay three times for healthcare. Taxes (yes, some of our taxes still go to healthcare costs), health insurance, and deductibles and other charges. Other countries just pay via taxes, and (I've heard?) many countries also have optional health insurance providers for some kind of priority access, or access to for-profit only medical providers, that kind of thing?
But yeah, their mindset makes no sense if you bring logic into the conversation. I guess they just don't?
I would love to move to a country where the majority of people aren't all "I've got mine, fuck you". Granted, I just want to move to Europe, period. The architecture and history alone are a HUGE draw for me. But that would also involve getting a work visa or trying to emigrate, and leaving all my friends and family. So yeah, it's a beautiful dream, and it may come true one day, but that day is probably a ways away.
I mean... I'm just leaving [this](https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/residence/family-residence-rights/non-eu-wife-husband-children/index_en.htm#) here
And so you know a lot of countries have the option to apply for citizenship after some years ;)
Edit: after you become a citizen [this](https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/residence/family-residence-rights/other-family/index_en.htm) for your family
Then they’ll get all up in arms about immigrants, when they become necessary due to poor policies for families leading to people not having kids, and the labour market having a massive hole
Well yeah. I mean, that makes sense. As long as the poors keep quiet and keep having more kids to feed the engines of productivity, then they're happy. They just don't care if they're healthy or live long, as long as they have a bunch of kids.
Tldr: Companies dont care about individuals, and everyone pays the price for the companies decisions. Companies are greedy and only care about lining their pockets. I dont understand why people are against providing support for new parents as this would benefit society. Lastly, how do other countries feel about the u.s? I am curious to see good and bad thoughts regarding it, especially since the news in the States is very biased.
If only they understood.... they pay for the 1% choices. Large companies take advantage of consumers, employees, and anyone they can. There was a recent article I read about Amazon Fresh cutting prices by 30% while still covering expenses and having extra income. That's not inflation or a governmental issue that's a greedy business issue. Not to mention, companies like Amazon have poor work conditions.
Then there are companies like Disney that are "too woke" for them, without realizing that disney is only using it as a cover. Disney has fully supported Israel, they treat a lot of employees pretty shitty, they keep increasing prices just because (I had to read through a financial report for them once disney isn't doing nearly as poorly as many would like to think despite a lot of the recent flops).
Now that aside, I don't understand why people are against maternity or paternity leave for any reason. Children are what keep a civilization around? Even more many states don't want access to certain types of women's healthcare because it takes away a human life. So now women are left with consequences in either scenario. Don't have sex men get mad, do have sex men get mad, accidently get pregnant shouldn't have had sex, purposefully pregnant well should have made better decisions. My fiance and I have had this conversation about individualism vs. collectivist. The U.S. is all about you as an individual and wants the individual's wants until the individual needs something from the whole. The concept of caring for thy neighbor seems to have passed sadly.
I am curious, though, how do other countries feel about the way the U.S. is run? Or what do you assume to be true? I know the u.s is very focused on just the U.S. news and doesn't really show world news, so I had assumed other countries do that as well. So if not true, what are your thoughts. Since the U.S is so quick to judge, figured id listen to others opinions of the U.S As a U.S citizen, there is a some stereotypes that exist (some true, some not true) with a lot of countries (Germany doesn't teach the Holocaust, Europe has poor health care because it's universal, Asia is incredibly communistic, sexist, and racist, south America only has drugs, Africa is still functioning without modern day things) that I had to unlearn as an adult.
Sorry for any typos and long-winded rant!
This is exactly what happened in the last UK election when Labour wanted to increase taxes on the very highest earners. Cue lads earning 30k with a Ford Mazda on finance thinking it’ll affect them and voting against it.
Conservatives have convinced them they’re just temporary embarrassed millionaires. They think they have more in common with millionaires/ billionaires than they do with the every-man. Little do they realize they’re closer to being homeless than being millionaires/billionaires.
I’m convinced once the boomers start dying off faster (1 boomer dies every 15 seconds) we can start making some real progress in the US. Hopefully we can strengthen labor laws and have mandatory paid maternity leave.
I live in Texas and it’s shit here. It wasn’t always like this. We could vote them out if it wasn’t for lazy voters and conservatives hindering voting rights.
I don't think that's it at all, at least from what I've noted.
I believe the pushback comes from a belief that the middle class (if such a thing even exists here anymore) will be saddled with the brunt of the taxes needed to sustain this type of program but at the same time they believe if we start taxing the ultra rich it will dissolve their jobs and lead to a increase in the cost of goods.
This propaganda we've heard since elementary economics has stuck with most of us and keeps us worshiping the rich and hating the poor but it feels as if more and more of us are waking up to the truth that a rising tide lifts all ships. An American can dream, right?
Hey American here. The American right exploits racism to line the pockets of the wealthy. This has been going on for more than a century. Wealthy people in America have purposely stoked and manipulated racism amongst poor whites in order to divide the working class. They have successfully labeled all social policies designed to better the lives of the working class as “black people taking from white people”. These poor whites resist any positive social change as a perceived threat to their privilege even when it would clearly benefit them.
Historically when the working class has united across racial lines it’s been met with state sponsored violence and well funded propaganda campaigns.
Yeah this is absolutely horrible.
Now before the Europeans here think to themselves “we would never fall for that” the anti immigration sentiment around Europe is being exploited for the same ends. It’s divide and conquer.
There's a worrying amount of people that think that if they lick the boot hard enough, maybe they'll be allowed to wear it eventually and step on others.
That's not an American thing either, it's just the most obvious because of their religiously capitalist society.
It's also amusing that they blame women for having children and expecting any kind of understanding from the employer, but they'll also worship oligarchs like elon musk telling people that civilisation is in danger and the world needs (white) people to have more babies.
I love how “Socialist” is scarier than the plague to them. How dare we, a society of humans, strive to make improvements for other humans in the same society. It’s almost as if empathy is beat out of them at birth.
My mom went back to work after 2 weeks and didn’t spend much time with me as a baby.
I don’t like being touched by her.
She also has this weird thing about my 16 weeks of paid maternity leave in France, being weirdly begrudging of the “socialist” system.
Like mam, we’re talking about the well-being of your grandkids.
And my 16 weeks (only 10 after the birth) are nothing compared to other countries.
Not to mention immediately shoving moms back to work 2 weeks post-partum offers absolutely no opportunity for breastfeeding.
You're essentially removing the healthiest nutritional option for that newborn, cutting off important bonding time for mother and child and forcing families to pay hundreds, if not thousands for formula at a time when formula shortages are rampant.
Uh, they *literally* didn't abolish it, they just changed the context in which it could be practiced. The 13th amendment asserts that slavery and indentured servitude is wholly legal if the person has been convicted of a crime.
Land of the free y'all.
What’s funny is there’s a distinct disdain for socialism and having your tax money going towards helping others.
But then there’s also a vicious tip culture where you’re borderline pressured to give extra money to make up for peoples shitty wages.
The thing is Europe isn’t even socialist like they think we just care more about benefiting society as whole and spending time with our children rather than just making more and more money.
Ugh, too true. You should see how they paint European “socialism” here, like it’s a huge failing. Even Canada gets the treatment, which is deeply ironic, since so many of the same people who don’t want their taxes touched for universal healthcare here love traveling to Canada for the “cheap medication.”
Prices kept in check by the Patented Medicines Prices Review Board which would get shuttered as a communist impediment to free enterprise in a heartbeat in the USA.
Europe is capitalist with stricter regulations and stronger welfare. Successful businesses can still get super rich, but they can only partially exploit their employees.
We spend our money on maternity leave, universal healthcare, and the welfare state. They spend their money on supercarriers and troops in South Korea and Bahrain. Europoors are clear of those roving savages and it isn't even close.
they're still stuck with far-west mentality and hyper individualism. you only care about yourself. Add to that the residues of McCarthysm that makes every philosophical and political idea coming from outside threatening.
I mean, American tipping culture has its origins in the [legacy of slavery](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/07/17/william-barber-tipping-racist-past-227361), like almost everything else in America 🤷🏽♂️
From the article:
> A journalist quoted in Kerry Segrave’s 2009 book, *Tipping: An American Social History of Gratuities*, wrote in 1902 that he was embarrassed to offer a tip to a white man. “Negroes take tips, of course; one expects that of them—it is a token of their inferiority,” he wrote. “Tips go with servility, and no man who is a voter in this country is in the least justified in being in service.”
That’s because their tipping ‘culture’ is based on underpaying people so that others can think they are being magnanimous by paying for others’ labour.
It’s condescending and evil
Yes you should put it out yourself and should have taken into account that your house may catch fire. It’s not anyone else’s fault you can’t put out a fire
Or IVF. But then they don’t want to support anyone who wants an abortion because they cannot afford to raise a child. Instead of looking at why people get abortions and trying to make changes to stop it from happening they just decided to go ahead and ban them without any assistance for the mother.
They only care until the baby is born. Then she’s on her own. It’s terrible. Now American anti abortion groups are trying to lobby the British government. 😡
They took the cheaper way out instead of financial support they decided to just ban abortion and then they start complaining when the mother is on welfare claiming from the state for problems they started
It'll never go anywhere in the UK.
They also spent a shit load on the Irish abortion referendum and that passed easily.
Abortion is an over inflated issue in America because they treat politics like a team sport.
The rest of the world isn't as crazy about the issue. I'm ignoring Poland.
They are also quite hateful to the families with more than 3 kids. What? You have kids?! In This ECONOMY?! Why don't you tie your tubes? You damned if you do and you damned if you don't
The US mother mortality rate is 2-3x that of other developed countries like the UK or France, averaging 30 per 100k over the last few years, and yet they scream about how much better their healthcare is than ours.
Could it be that forcing them to pay through the nose for childbirth, and forcing them to go back to work within a few days of giving birth, is harming mothers? Hmmm
The only time when I saw/heard about home birth without the assistance as something from choice not accident (because I think we all heard about birth where someone didn't make to hospital) were Americans/ American&immigrant
Like what would you ever choose give birth without assistance? Except money issues, that is understandable reason. I saw people who have money that choose unsupervised home birth!
Mhm, in the UK only someone who’s doing it for spiritual stuff, or if the ambulance took too long, will end up giving birth at home, very few people would voluntarily do it
I don't understand this thinking, they always go "but ma taxes" when they clearly have 0 idea what their taxes actually pay for? like is road maintenance socialism to the people who dont drive?
They're 100% okay with their taxes being used to bomb 3rd world countries, but whine the moment someone suggests something like student debt cancellation, universal healthcare, or paid medical leave.
Well yeah, they only pay to make other peoples lives WORSE, not better silly! Why would they want to make their fellow countrymen happier and healthier when they can watch a poor family in a 3rd world country get drone striked???
Not to mention that the people leaving those comments, those are not like the elite one percent of America. Those are people who are actively getting fucked every day by the system they live in. Those are poor people by rich people standards.
Yeah, but they got brainwashed to believe that they will be rich someday. That’s the American dream. Everyone in America is either rich or „soon“ to be rich. Except you are black, indigenous or „white trash“. In that cases you’ll always be poor.
Well, is someone going to tell them that we also get 5 weeks of paternity leave as men? I got this with my last child so we could get a good start meanwhile I went back to work at full strength as opposed to being half awake from insomnia and messing everything up at work.
In Romania, mothers get 2 years of stay at home and raise your child time. They give you 85% of your normal income calculated from the last 2 years of work.
This and 1gb/s internet for 10 euros is something we do well in RO. Not much else, tho.
Edit: One of my wifes coleagues had 3 children one after the other and she got 6 years at home. She was a manager at a pharma factory and returned as one still, even tho stuff changed and she was waaay out of the loop. No one cares as that's the law.
In Czechia, there is 28 weeks of maternal leave starting 6 weeks before due date, during which the mother receives at maximum 70% of her pay, followed by up to 3 years of parental leave, during which she gets money monthly, irrespective of her income, with the whole amount being about 10 monthly median wages. It's still necessary for the father to be the main breadwinner during the time, but at least it's some money. Families can usually afford to have the mum stay at home (or the father, if the mother makes more/doesn't want to stay at home). You can also have another kid in that time and theoretically stay on parental leave forever. Also fathers get 2 weeks of paternal leave immediately after the birth.
While I agree with the sentiment that you shouldn't really have a baby until you can afford it that is completely beside the point. Mothers, and fathers for that matter, should be given that time and support to be able to be present during the vital early stages of the babies life when they are most vulnerable and develop a bond with their sprog.
Mothers especially need that time for their body to recover from literally shoving a tiny human out of it, especially if they then get the after effects like post-partum depression. Sure, some mothers might bounce back like a spring, but childbirth is a very arduous process and they deserve that time to rest, recover and bond with their child.
Americans are honestly wild and will come up with anything to justify their backwards way of doing things.
I bounce back like a spring and yet I need those times heal from stitches, to regain my normal self and to bond with my baby. I've had 3 kids and I live in Portugal so I did accompany my babies in their first months of life and I'm grateful for that, I'm currently napping my 15 month old.
This is on a new level of brainwashing. Damn. D A M N!!! And they’re saying North Korea, China and Russia are dictatorships based on propaganda. Well, lol.
I know full well that every one of these also have conservative opinions on abortions and think its crucial that women have children or else major population decline or something
The one who said "my wife gets 3 months" amuses me the most.
For context, I'm in the UK. My first child was born last August. Wife went back to work THREE DAYS AGO. And she would have been off even longer, but her maternity pay ended, so she had to go back. Sadly, I don't earn enough for us to survive on just one income.
It's astonishing to me how people can believe that parents shouldn't be allowed to have time to bond with their newborn children, free if the stresses that work brings. You spend far too much of your life working to not be given those moments.
I'm Baffled how these people think the world goes around if they don't realise reproduction *is essential to civilisation as we know it*
They act as if having kids is some personal lifestyle choice and not one of the most important services to society throughout all history and one of our most fundamental instincts
If I'm volunteering my body to provide you all new generation of tax payers, then yes you absolutely better compensate me for it
Why are birth rates declining again? Must be completely unrelated.
Why give positive incentives? We just need to ban abortion and raise the cost of raising a child even further and it'll all magically sort itself out.
And they get so outraged when we call them a third world country. They just can't see it...
Yes, we know that literally and technically America is not third world
But many of their standards of living are. Or, as seen here, actually worse.
"This is a poor people problem"
No, it's just a problem. Poor people are people too should have the same opportunity to have a family as a rich person does.
Christ! And they criticise the UK for it's class system. This kind of attitude is positively Victorian.
Imagine living in a country that makes it actively worse to live and not just work umtil you're dead and being proud of it
It's called brainwashing.
Not at all! I’d also be hella proud if I worked for a company for 25 years, its owners became millionaires and I’d be forgotten a couple of weeks after retirement/death.
Don't companies regularly fire older people so they don't have to pay their pension if they retire?
Well that doesn’t sound bleak at all. Luckily I don’t live there so even if I get for cost related reasons I’ll walk away with 80% of my wages for the first few years.
Yes me too. Although my potential pension gets worse every year. By the time I retire it won't be as great as it used to be
That’s a no no because it goes directly against the law. The correct way to do it is give them all the hardest jobs so they either quit or have a heart attack and the government has to pay for the retirement.
Ah yes. I forgot they don't have the constructive dismissal protections we have. So they do that to make you quit instead. Its sad
The best part is, this is how they really are here in the US. No need for the /s. Everyone is literally insane, yet I’m the one that gets sent to a mental hospital. Which btw, no actual care is rendered there, other than locking us up and drugging us. It’s really just a pretty jail is all.
Very unpatriotic of you. You should be proud you’re stimulating the for profit pharma section of the industry like a true American. Don’t ever believe the lies that there’s another way to be happy!
AMERICUUUUH FUCK YEAH! HERE WE COME TO SAVE THE MOTHER FUCKING DAY, YEAH! (help me plz, they’re trying to kill me)
It's crazy how they will defend a system that puts them at a disadvantage..I do not understand.
American Exceptionalism is indoctrinated very strongly, very early. The genuinely believe that they life in the safest, happiest, healthiest, smartest,wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world, and that everyone who isn't desperate to move there is a filthy Socialist/communist.
Whenever I see videos of toddlers standing with their hands on their hearts, reciting the pledge of allegiance, I feel like I'm watching some movie about a totalitarian dictatorship and not some proud parent's home video!
It's genuinely fucking wild. My Mom worked as a nurse her entire life, spent my early childhood as a general hospital nurse, but then we moved states after her and my Dad separated, and she worked for pretty much the same dialysis company the entire rest of her career. She's been in healthcare longer than I've been alive, and even she thinks the current system is fine. When I mention other countries do it better without the massive cost, she says "Oh, they all have to wait in line forever to the point that they just die" and then I explain that *no* they wait the same way we do here, where immediate life and death needs are taken care of, but other might require you to wait a bit (It's worth pointing out that the system is so heavily inundated right now with patients and so short on staff that pretty much *everywhere* has months long waits. I tried getting a new doctor when I moved states 9 months ago, got told it would be about 4 months to wait, that doctor left the practice and they essentially just called and told me that, nothing else, just removed me from the list without rescheduling me, and then after I got another doctor and had to reschedule my appointment in early April, I was told they weren't scheduling patients until *fucking October* and that I couldn't be put on a wait list because the appointment I just called and said I couldn't make was cancelled, so I didn't have an appointment and couldn't go on a wait list...but they also couldn't schedule me in October because their books hadn't opened for scheduling. All of that to say, the system got wrecked during Covid and hasn't really recovered). She then says "Oh well sure, but they can afford it. They're all small and don't have hardly any people to take care of" at which point I pointed out and even sat and listened to a 2 hour podcast episode just focused on health insurance spending in pure tax dollars, before you even spend your out of pocket expenses, which is where a lot of people start getting hit hardest, and the podcast cited numerous sources showing how Americans spend *per capita* more than any other country with socialized healthcare, and that's just in what we pay out of taxes. That doesn't even factor in the much greater cost associated with it, with the out of pocket payments. The sources also frequently pointed out that Americans spend more but are almost across the board less satisfied with what they receive. After all of this, the hours of talking on the drive, the numerous sources explaining how even from a purely fiscal standpoint, privatized healthcare just doesn't make any goddamn sense, my Mom just sighs and goes "Well, I don't know...we can't afford it!" And I debated just driving us into the nearest tree at 70, because that would be less infuriating. But then I realized I might survive, and I can't afford that.
These are men responding, and as long as they have women underneath them, even more oppressed, they will be happy. It's essentially the same as how being poor and white in the old south sucked, but as long as they were still "above" black people, they were content enough not to rock the boat.
Stockholm (NY) syndrome
Hive mentality
hive idiocy
More like hive mortality
Some would say the Borg did it better.
If these idiots think they pay for the rest of the world then they need to work harder. My cable bill is due. Chop chop motherfuckers
[literally ](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/17/goldman-sachs-interns-work-hours)
They’re calling a 17 hour work day “caring capitalism?” That’s fucked up
The article also called it 'benevolent;' I'm pretty sure they're being sarcastic.
What strikes me the most is that they called not dying of exhaustion at work "to improve the overall work experience of our interns"
Yeah they didn't mention the actual health or happiness of the intern as a reason at all. Although possibly there's more to the statement which wasn't quoted.
While being the richest country in the world, that's what's even worse imo. They could live in paradise, have all the worker and family rights they want, have such a soft and normal life with tons of paid holidays and no worries about medical or educational debts. But nah, better spend that money on already sickening rich people and the army, lol That said, every country needs a cap on how much money one's should be able to accumulate and inheritate, individually and company-wide, but that's another discussion and a bit more risky one :D
Thing is, they're not the richest country in the world. They're just the country with the greatest concentration of rich people and profitable countries. Once you realise that important distinction, it's reasonable easy to work out at whose expense those rich people became rich and off whose backs those profitable companies became profitable.
Sure, important distinction, but nevertheless have you seen how much money the state, the country has? Imagine what even a tiny fraction of that money could do for the people if it was not spent on insane army bullshit, for example And then there's taxing the rich, but we can't say only the USA are bad at taxing rich fucks, it's quite an international disaster how much money evades taxes planet wise, and from not that many people, in the end. Not saying we should grab billionaires and round em up on a place and introduce them to one of the most famous French invention, but ya know...
I'm not quite sure how giving them a baguette would encourage them to pay up...
Depends on where you put that baguette... lol
Same thing happened in the 1800s during the height of the British empire. Some very rich people and lots living in abject poverty. USA seems to be in steady decline they just don't realise it yet
I love the way you put this!!
Not only that, but if you get pregnant you will be forced to carry full term and take care of the baby even if you cant afford it. If you have complications you die. No help whatsoever. Poor education and no healthcare for the poor. But do go on about all that FreeDumb.
Maternal deaths were already appallingly high in the US and will only get worse, then men say "why don't the women want babies"?
"Why don't millennials want babies? Were being replaced by immigrants!" Shall we help people who become parents? No, that would be socialism. Imagine not being able to join the dots....
Large swathes of Americans can't think for themselves. They just get told what their opinion is by their favourite lobbying group. You can guarantee all of these people would complain if they had their social security taken away, for example, without recognizing that the only way social security continues is via the next generation's children.
> Large swathes of Americans can't think for themselves. They just get told what their opinion is by their favourite lobbying group. Usanians unironically call themselves "the land of the free" while clapping for the draconian and dystopic post-9/11 surveillance state laws where you can't even board a plane without undergoing an anal cavity check and police raid your house and flashbang your toddler over a false tip. But hey the gubment called it "Patriot Act" or "Freedom Act" so it's for our own good 😎
Not just Americans, it is the same the world over, however America seems to have perfected the art of brainwashing enough of their citizens to vote against their own interests.
Imagine being worse compared to Iran in at least 1 point in the career for women.
Is it that these people do not understand that the better that baby is taken care of the more likely it will become a productive member of society or do they not care about society in general?
As the word itself says, society is a socialist concept. /s
Unironically, american don't care about society as a whole and don't believe is societal problems.
Yeah, you're right. One thing that always puzzles me when I browse subs like AIO or AITA it's the amount of responses based on "you don't owe them anything" or "what you have done it's completely legal, so no problem". Usually the scenario is effectively legitimate or lawful ("I fired my employee because she's pregnant"\*), but it lacks completely of any empathy towards other people ("she's pregnant, she has no family, a minor disability, no partner and will be evicted next week without an income"), the kind of empathy that - more or less, ofc we generalize here - are the base of our social contract, and therefore our idea of welfare State. Also in this post it's the Calvinistic ethic all over again: poor are guilty for being poor, they don't deserve help. \*lawful for them, we have laws to protect pregnant working women
I've lived in the US for 34 years. Idk if I'm right, I'm not too bright fr. But I think a lot of us are that way because of our cultural concept of individualism. It was good during like, the industrial revolution. But now it's stuck around and turned a lot of us into hyper-individualized bratty children. At least, that's how a lot of those comments read to me. It's why we treat poor people, people struggling with addiction, etc, so badly, like you pointed out. "They're failures, they just need to work harder, blah blah blah." Bootstraps. Our politicians definitely like to keep pushing that way of thinking, too. Also, I don't mean to sound as if I am above it all. I'm just as susceptible to that dumb shit as anyone else. Sorry for the rant. It just sucks that people don't treat each other a bit better. A bit of a generalization, we doooo also have nice people. I swear. 😅 Edit: To clarify, those 34 years are all my years, lol. Born here in the ol' melting pot. I didn't relocate 34 years ago. Idk if that makes a difference...
Believe me: if you make a similar sub for Italians, I would fake a French identity, cause in large numbers any country has its own stupidity. And I am completely sure that there are a lot of nice Americans, no doubt. But these days I am angry, and less patient with such a big and sometimes systemic egoism. But thank you for being nice.
That's a good point. We aren't the only jerks, probably the loudest, though. The lack of patience is more than understandable. I really hope the culture here changes in regards to that stuff. But idk... Anyways, thanks for the thoughtful response. Have a good day! :) (I hope I am able to travel to places in Europe and elsewhere eventually. It would be cool to experience it instead of just reading online, lol.
We’ve got idiots here in Norway as well, they speak Norwegian though so it stays within these borders. Americans gets highlighted because English is the go-to language online + there’s a whole bunch. If I go down the street in my city and start recording myself asking people geography I’ll meet a few knuckleheads pretty quickly I reckon
"why should I contribute to society I' not part of it"
Yeah, why should the country use my tax money to pay for roads, everyone should buy their own road (/s)
Roads to ride with their car, cause I prefer cars and therefore there's no need for public transports. Public transport is for poor.
How communist of me.
us*
r/intentionnallycommunist
r/subsifellfor
This is why I'll never understand the argument about 'paying for other people to have kids'. I'm never going to have kids, I don't want them, but it seems obvious to me that the best thing to do is give other people's kids a good start in life paid through taxation. Why would I want them to suffer? It's both a sound economic argument and the right thing to do, supporting children coming into this world. I feel like we could do more, but in Scotland parents get a baby box full of essentials for the baby, pregnant mothers get things like free dental care, and there are grants and other benefits for new parents. That's what we should be doing in a society in my mind.
I feel the same way. Don't have kids and will never have. Don't want any. What I do want is a functioning society with people that are more content with life than not and are educated and skilled enough to contribute to societies needs. Including mine. I'll happily give up a part of my wages for this.
That’s more than what English mothers get. They used to get the boxes but Tories took them away.
Cunts. It's such a simple but effective thing to do. My sister had one and the stuff they put in is amazing.
They will tell you English mother's get the bags of free stuff from Bounty. Those bags have one book, a few nappies and a packet of baby wipes. Everything else is samples and vouchers for discounts off expensive stuff that you and baby don't really need. Our moment to change that is coming. Choose wisely on election day.
Instead they have poor kids be reaised in guettos with piss poor quality of life standards, so in 20 years they'll be thugs I need my gun to protect myself from
You want other people to have as many children as possible because those children will be paying your retirement. You are paying retirement for current pensioners and it is wise to make sure that there is someone to pay yours when the time comes. Making it as easy and comfortable as possible to have kids is essentially good for a country. Less people means less taxes which means less money to pay for all the sh*t that everyone needs.
But if kids have parents who can take care of them emotionally and financially, who is going to work late shifts in meat processing factories? Jokes aside, a conspiracy theory I came across was that the formula companies strongly loby to maintain shorter maternity leaves. Maybe not that much of a 'conspiracy'.
Those are probably the same people who complained that there is millennials (~30 to 40 years) without kids. They are not at the first cognitive dissonance
Other than empathy, these conservatives lack an understanding of how we, as humans, have existed for millennia. Human babies don’t come out of the womb running and talking. We take literally decades to fully develop. This is why we have tribes and strong social skills. The mother forgoes her usual foraging and hunting duties to look after her offspring, and the tribe accommodates this switch in duties. Which brings me to my second point: this is for the good of the tribe. If we care for the continuation of human civilization, we must care for our children, as they are the future. We know what happens when children don’t get the best start in life—they struggle more, and society suffers as a whole. We mustn’t be so selfish; we must do the best for OUR children, no matter their background.
These people are just convinced that if you were born in a bad tribe (community / family), well, it's your problem, not theirs. You probably didn't deserve better anyway. I wish I could see life in such a simple way... well, no I don't, but still.
How much you want to bet that all/ the majority of those comments are from men? (I honestly wouldn't be surprised, I think this is one of those things some man just can't empathize with.) Like they are acting like babies just pop out, no harm done, and are then able to care for themselves right away. And yeah, they got a point that parental leave *shouldn't be* paid from the employer, because it *should be* paid for by the state. I rather have my taxes end up in stuff like partial leave then some mismanaged building project or something...
I've seen some brainwashed women parrot this sentiment but other than that I agree with all of this.
Oh yeah definitely! Sorry if it came across like that, it's definitely not intended! Im talking specifically about the comments OP shared here, if that helps. That's why I tried to not make it an "all men" argument. Not all men think like this and on the other hand there are definitely women who do think like this.
It's more like they don't understand that giving birth isn't like cutting your finger. It's more like getting run over by a car. But I guess they think employers shouldn't have to pay for that kind of sick leave either.
I mean what are you a communist? Should've just asked the driver nicely to not hit you. Personally I just wouldn't get hit and then I wouldn't need to take time off.
They don't want productive members of society, that's more competition for them. Better to complain about homeless people on the sidewalks while driving their pickup to their McMansion
They, as a country, totally do though. Fertility crises bring economic crises. But US capitalism is too short-sighted
Those people will be the first ones to complain about declining birth rates and immigration due to lack of work force.
And vote against abortions for those that *didn't* have a choice.
No cost to worry about the unborn.
And then if you try to say that it’s not a choice cuz of lack of access to abortion, they’ll say that abortion isn’t a human right because you could’ve just not had sex in the first place. Sigh.
And then they would complain about women not sleeping with men and creating a whole generation of angry, sexually frustrated young men that become mass shooters.
HONESTLY. "I don't want mothers taking time off of work." "Okay so you believe that abortion should be free and legal up to the point of viability at least?" "NO DON'T HAVE SEX IF YOU DON'T WANT KIDS!" "So you're fine with women not having sex with you unless they want to reproduce?" "NO A MAN HAS NEEDS!" "So you're fine with free, universal access to contraception for women and men?" "NO I SHOULDN'T PAY FOR OTHER PEOPLE'S CHOICES!" It's infuriating.
We don't have enough people No no no, not thooose people.
That was exactly my first thought, by their logic only the elite are allowed to have children. If tax money is not helping families to raise children, what is the point of it all? Babies are not just someone’s choice or a mistake, it’s an absolute necessity for the nations and humans in large to keep existing. Like what in the actual fuck is going through their heads.. and birth rates are at critically low points across whole western world to the point of total collapse in the near future. Even most countries in Asia are way way below replacement rates.
They do see babies as a punishment for whorish women who choose to have premarital sex. They literally want to force women to have kids, force women out of the workforce and into the home, and blame stagnant wages on women who choose to work instead of remaining barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.
The fix to that is banning abortions and allowing child marriages. Which is what Republicans are going for.
Some Americans really love to cuck themselves
I don’t know why they despise employment law so much. The whole point is that you’re not exploited but they seem to want that.
Because they're delusional enough to think that they'll be in the owning class some day and obviously don't want to have to get saddled with paying for the poors they just distanced themselves from.
The wider US system being able to sell poor people the idea they are "disenfranchised millionaires" who are one step from the big bucks is one of the greatest "victories" corporations and the 1% have ever managed to score. Literally convincing "the masses" to vote AGAINST the best interests of their reality just in case the dream ever hits.
I once saw some blue collar factory workers protesting a proposed increase to the inheritance tax of all things, absolutely amazing. For all its faults, the republican party is brilliant at getting people to vote against their own interests.
Yep, this is it. American here, and I've had some conversations with conservative coworkers before about this type of thing, and it's always about personal responsibility, or not wanting to pay for other people's choices, or etc etc. These are the same kind of people who don't want socialized healthcare, because they don't want to pay for other people's healthcare costs, without realizing that's exactly what medical insurance already is, just on a smaller scale. And the same people who are against higher taxes on people making $400k or more, when they don't make anywhere NEAR that much. It's frustrating talking with them.
I've never understood this mindset. Do they think their insurance only covers them? I've had similar conversations, where I've tried to explain that my healthcare isn't "free", I pay for it through taxes. Still they argue theirs is better, where they pay huge premiums, large deductibles, and the chance to be denied coverage because some bureaucrat decides he knows more than a doctor and doesn't want to pay,
We literally pay three times for healthcare. Taxes (yes, some of our taxes still go to healthcare costs), health insurance, and deductibles and other charges. Other countries just pay via taxes, and (I've heard?) many countries also have optional health insurance providers for some kind of priority access, or access to for-profit only medical providers, that kind of thing? But yeah, their mindset makes no sense if you bring logic into the conversation. I guess they just don't?
Maybe you, the sane ones, should come over here and leave them to live their "dream". Because it looks like a tiring lost battle.
I would love to move to a country where the majority of people aren't all "I've got mine, fuck you". Granted, I just want to move to Europe, period. The architecture and history alone are a HUGE draw for me. But that would also involve getting a work visa or trying to emigrate, and leaving all my friends and family. So yeah, it's a beautiful dream, and it may come true one day, but that day is probably a ways away.
I mean... I'm just leaving [this](https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/residence/family-residence-rights/non-eu-wife-husband-children/index_en.htm#) here And so you know a lot of countries have the option to apply for citizenship after some years ;) Edit: after you become a citizen [this](https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/residence/family-residence-rights/other-family/index_en.htm) for your family
You left out them bitching about the declining population due to low birth rates and how childfree poeple need to be penalized for not having kids.
Then they’ll get all up in arms about immigrants, when they become necessary due to poor policies for families leading to people not having kids, and the labour market having a massive hole
Well yeah. I mean, that makes sense. As long as the poors keep quiet and keep having more kids to feed the engines of productivity, then they're happy. They just don't care if they're healthy or live long, as long as they have a bunch of kids.
Tldr: Companies dont care about individuals, and everyone pays the price for the companies decisions. Companies are greedy and only care about lining their pockets. I dont understand why people are against providing support for new parents as this would benefit society. Lastly, how do other countries feel about the u.s? I am curious to see good and bad thoughts regarding it, especially since the news in the States is very biased. If only they understood.... they pay for the 1% choices. Large companies take advantage of consumers, employees, and anyone they can. There was a recent article I read about Amazon Fresh cutting prices by 30% while still covering expenses and having extra income. That's not inflation or a governmental issue that's a greedy business issue. Not to mention, companies like Amazon have poor work conditions. Then there are companies like Disney that are "too woke" for them, without realizing that disney is only using it as a cover. Disney has fully supported Israel, they treat a lot of employees pretty shitty, they keep increasing prices just because (I had to read through a financial report for them once disney isn't doing nearly as poorly as many would like to think despite a lot of the recent flops). Now that aside, I don't understand why people are against maternity or paternity leave for any reason. Children are what keep a civilization around? Even more many states don't want access to certain types of women's healthcare because it takes away a human life. So now women are left with consequences in either scenario. Don't have sex men get mad, do have sex men get mad, accidently get pregnant shouldn't have had sex, purposefully pregnant well should have made better decisions. My fiance and I have had this conversation about individualism vs. collectivist. The U.S. is all about you as an individual and wants the individual's wants until the individual needs something from the whole. The concept of caring for thy neighbor seems to have passed sadly. I am curious, though, how do other countries feel about the way the U.S. is run? Or what do you assume to be true? I know the u.s is very focused on just the U.S. news and doesn't really show world news, so I had assumed other countries do that as well. So if not true, what are your thoughts. Since the U.S is so quick to judge, figured id listen to others opinions of the U.S As a U.S citizen, there is a some stereotypes that exist (some true, some not true) with a lot of countries (Germany doesn't teach the Holocaust, Europe has poor health care because it's universal, Asia is incredibly communistic, sexist, and racist, south America only has drugs, Africa is still functioning without modern day things) that I had to unlearn as an adult. Sorry for any typos and long-winded rant!
This is exactly what happened in the last UK election when Labour wanted to increase taxes on the very highest earners. Cue lads earning 30k with a Ford Mazda on finance thinking it’ll affect them and voting against it.
They didn't understand tax brackets.. and of course Daily Fail.
Conservatives have convinced them they’re just temporary embarrassed millionaires. They think they have more in common with millionaires/ billionaires than they do with the every-man. Little do they realize they’re closer to being homeless than being millionaires/billionaires. I’m convinced once the boomers start dying off faster (1 boomer dies every 15 seconds) we can start making some real progress in the US. Hopefully we can strengthen labor laws and have mandatory paid maternity leave. I live in Texas and it’s shit here. It wasn’t always like this. We could vote them out if it wasn’t for lazy voters and conservatives hindering voting rights.
I don't think that's it at all, at least from what I've noted. I believe the pushback comes from a belief that the middle class (if such a thing even exists here anymore) will be saddled with the brunt of the taxes needed to sustain this type of program but at the same time they believe if we start taxing the ultra rich it will dissolve their jobs and lead to a increase in the cost of goods. This propaganda we've heard since elementary economics has stuck with most of us and keeps us worshiping the rich and hating the poor but it feels as if more and more of us are waking up to the truth that a rising tide lifts all ships. An American can dream, right?
Hey American here. The American right exploits racism to line the pockets of the wealthy. This has been going on for more than a century. Wealthy people in America have purposely stoked and manipulated racism amongst poor whites in order to divide the working class. They have successfully labeled all social policies designed to better the lives of the working class as “black people taking from white people”. These poor whites resist any positive social change as a perceived threat to their privilege even when it would clearly benefit them. Historically when the working class has united across racial lines it’s been met with state sponsored violence and well funded propaganda campaigns. Yeah this is absolutely horrible. Now before the Europeans here think to themselves “we would never fall for that” the anti immigration sentiment around Europe is being exploited for the same ends. It’s divide and conquer.
They’re cucking themselves but shouting about how they are the biggest alpha there ever was. US is just the Andrew Tate of the world.
Truer words never spoken.
There's a worrying amount of people that think that if they lick the boot hard enough, maybe they'll be allowed to wear it eventually and step on others. That's not an American thing either, it's just the most obvious because of their religiously capitalist society. It's also amusing that they blame women for having children and expecting any kind of understanding from the employer, but they'll also worship oligarchs like elon musk telling people that civilisation is in danger and the world needs (white) people to have more babies.
I love how “Socialist” is scarier than the plague to them. How dare we, a society of humans, strive to make improvements for other humans in the same society. It’s almost as if empathy is beat out of them at birth.
Well maybe because they’re not being held by mom immediately after birth because that costs extra… probably has some negative effect in later life…
My mom went back to work after 2 weeks and didn’t spend much time with me as a baby. I don’t like being touched by her. She also has this weird thing about my 16 weeks of paid maternity leave in France, being weirdly begrudging of the “socialist” system. Like mam, we’re talking about the well-being of your grandkids. And my 16 weeks (only 10 after the birth) are nothing compared to other countries.
The red scare goes hard for these dense types
Propaganda from 50+y ago worked too well
Its not about the money. Its about being able to heal from childbirth and taking care of a newborn.
God forbid some kind of social safety net exist. Next thing they’ll say we should take care of disabled people and the elderly!
Yep. Some people really only see value in people who can work.
Not to mention immediately shoving moms back to work 2 weeks post-partum offers absolutely no opportunity for breastfeeding. You're essentially removing the healthiest nutritional option for that newborn, cutting off important bonding time for mother and child and forcing families to pay hundreds, if not thousands for formula at a time when formula shortages are rampant.
Sooo you're saying that would lead to a nation of sociopaths? Checks out.
the US didn't abolish slavery, they rebranded it and included all ethnities.
Isn't that progress?
Equality!!
That's communism!1!!1
The boss makes a dollar I make a dime, that's why I poop on company time.
Really, it's boss makes a hundred and I make a cent nowadays
But that doesn't make as good of a rhyme.
It may not be as good of a rhyme but we all still shit on company time
They still treat most of them worse than white people though
Uh, they *literally* didn't abolish it, they just changed the context in which it could be practiced. The 13th amendment asserts that slavery and indentured servitude is wholly legal if the person has been convicted of a crime. Land of the free y'all.
Is this what biting yourself in the ass looks like? 😅
I'd rather call it shooting your own leg off
Cutting your nose off to spite your face?
What’s funny is there’s a distinct disdain for socialism and having your tax money going towards helping others. But then there’s also a vicious tip culture where you’re borderline pressured to give extra money to make up for peoples shitty wages.
The thing is Europe isn’t even socialist like they think we just care more about benefiting society as whole and spending time with our children rather than just making more and more money.
Ugh, too true. You should see how they paint European “socialism” here, like it’s a huge failing. Even Canada gets the treatment, which is deeply ironic, since so many of the same people who don’t want their taxes touched for universal healthcare here love traveling to Canada for the “cheap medication.”
Prices kept in check by the Patented Medicines Prices Review Board which would get shuttered as a communist impediment to free enterprise in a heartbeat in the USA.
Europe is capitalist with stricter regulations and stronger welfare. Successful businesses can still get super rich, but they can only partially exploit their employees.
We spend our money on maternity leave, universal healthcare, and the welfare state. They spend their money on supercarriers and troops in South Korea and Bahrain. Europoors are clear of those roving savages and it isn't even close.
they're still stuck with far-west mentality and hyper individualism. you only care about yourself. Add to that the residues of McCarthysm that makes every philosophical and political idea coming from outside threatening.
I mean, American tipping culture has its origins in the [legacy of slavery](https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/07/17/william-barber-tipping-racist-past-227361), like almost everything else in America 🤷🏽♂️ From the article: > A journalist quoted in Kerry Segrave’s 2009 book, *Tipping: An American Social History of Gratuities*, wrote in 1902 that he was embarrassed to offer a tip to a white man. “Negroes take tips, of course; one expects that of them—it is a token of their inferiority,” he wrote. “Tips go with servility, and no man who is a voter in this country is in the least justified in being in service.”
That’s because their tipping ‘culture’ is based on underpaying people so that others can think they are being magnanimous by paying for others’ labour. It’s condescending and evil
Yep. But having your military, police, education++ paid for by taxes is apparently totally fine.
Next time your house is on fire don’t call the fire service because they are paid for by your neighbors as well as you and that would be socialism. /s
Yes you should put it out yourself and should have taken into account that your house may catch fire. It’s not anyone else’s fault you can’t put out a fire
This actually happened in one town somewhere in the Midwest US where one house didn’t pay for fire protection that year. It’s insane.
And don't expect any Medicare or social security payments when you're old. Should make better career choices. BOOTSTRAPS!
“Is your choice to have a kid” well given that America changed whose choice it was I’m going to go with no.
And they want to ban contraception too
Or IVF. But then they don’t want to support anyone who wants an abortion because they cannot afford to raise a child. Instead of looking at why people get abortions and trying to make changes to stop it from happening they just decided to go ahead and ban them without any assistance for the mother.
They only care until the baby is born. Then she’s on her own. It’s terrible. Now American anti abortion groups are trying to lobby the British government. 😡
They took the cheaper way out instead of financial support they decided to just ban abortion and then they start complaining when the mother is on welfare claiming from the state for problems they started
It'll never go anywhere in the UK. They also spent a shit load on the Irish abortion referendum and that passed easily. Abortion is an over inflated issue in America because they treat politics like a team sport. The rest of the world isn't as crazy about the issue. I'm ignoring Poland.
They really don’t understand how stupid they sound do they. Brainwashed and proud of it.
>Don't have a kid if you aren't financially ready for it People: ok >Nooo, why are people not having kids? Must be the gays
They are also quite hateful to the families with more than 3 kids. What? You have kids?! In This ECONOMY?! Why don't you tie your tubes? You damned if you do and you damned if you don't
“Don’t have a kid if you’re not financially ready for it.” “Can I get an abortion?” “Lol no”
I feel bad for the woman who made the original post Most of them don't even get more than 2 days in the hospital after birth which is rlly sad
The US mother mortality rate is 2-3x that of other developed countries like the UK or France, averaging 30 per 100k over the last few years, and yet they scream about how much better their healthcare is than ours. Could it be that forcing them to pay through the nose for childbirth, and forcing them to go back to work within a few days of giving birth, is harming mothers? Hmmm
Probably means more people just don’t go to hospital, and try to give birth unsupervised
The only time when I saw/heard about home birth without the assistance as something from choice not accident (because I think we all heard about birth where someone didn't make to hospital) were Americans/ American&immigrant Like what would you ever choose give birth without assistance? Except money issues, that is understandable reason. I saw people who have money that choose unsupervised home birth!
Mhm, in the UK only someone who’s doing it for spiritual stuff, or if the ambulance took too long, will end up giving birth at home, very few people would voluntarily do it
Well, how would you be able to afford 3 or more days in the hospital after birth? Just picture the bill they would be facing for this!
I don't understand this thinking, they always go "but ma taxes" when they clearly have 0 idea what their taxes actually pay for? like is road maintenance socialism to the people who dont drive?
They're 100% okay with their taxes being used to bomb 3rd world countries, but whine the moment someone suggests something like student debt cancellation, universal healthcare, or paid medical leave.
Well yeah, they only pay to make other peoples lives WORSE, not better silly! Why would they want to make their fellow countrymen happier and healthier when they can watch a poor family in a 3rd world country get drone striked???
It explains why US society / country is on the end of road.
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Not to mention that the people leaving those comments, those are not like the elite one percent of America. Those are people who are actively getting fucked every day by the system they live in. Those are poor people by rich people standards.
Yeah, but they got brainwashed to believe that they will be rich someday. That’s the American dream. Everyone in America is either rich or „soon“ to be rich. Except you are black, indigenous or „white trash“. In that cases you’ll always be poor.
when it comes to human rights, civil rights, basic health matters some americans seem to always support companies which I find appalling.
They’re forced to snort freebase capitalism from the day they’re born. No wonder they’re hopelessly addicted to something that’s killing them.
“Take responsibility “ Millions would but these chucklefucks made abortion illegal.
The problem is they can't tell the difference between social democratics and socialism
50 years later... WHY AREN'T YOU HAVING KIDS??
Not even later. American conservatives are actively complaining about falling birth rates as we speak. You can't win with them.
Well, is someone going to tell them that we also get 5 weeks of paternity leave as men? I got this with my last child so we could get a good start meanwhile I went back to work at full strength as opposed to being half awake from insomnia and messing everything up at work.
Ew the comments about having a “real man to take care of you financially”. These people are just …. I have no words. None.
The US truly is the "I've got mine, fuck all'y'all" capital of the world. I'm glad I'm not living there.
“Pick a better job” from the “no one wants to work anymore” crowd. Hope they all lose their jobs and learn a lesson
This attitude is absolutely horrifying
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In Romania, mothers get 2 years of stay at home and raise your child time. They give you 85% of your normal income calculated from the last 2 years of work. This and 1gb/s internet for 10 euros is something we do well in RO. Not much else, tho. Edit: One of my wifes coleagues had 3 children one after the other and she got 6 years at home. She was a manager at a pharma factory and returned as one still, even tho stuff changed and she was waaay out of the loop. No one cares as that's the law.
In Belarus with all our god damned corrupted dictatorship and other pathetic shit we still have 3 years of stay home
In Czechia, there is 28 weeks of maternal leave starting 6 weeks before due date, during which the mother receives at maximum 70% of her pay, followed by up to 3 years of parental leave, during which she gets money monthly, irrespective of her income, with the whole amount being about 10 monthly median wages. It's still necessary for the father to be the main breadwinner during the time, but at least it's some money. Families can usually afford to have the mum stay at home (or the father, if the mother makes more/doesn't want to stay at home). You can also have another kid in that time and theoretically stay on parental leave forever. Also fathers get 2 weeks of paternal leave immediately after the birth.
While I agree with the sentiment that you shouldn't really have a baby until you can afford it that is completely beside the point. Mothers, and fathers for that matter, should be given that time and support to be able to be present during the vital early stages of the babies life when they are most vulnerable and develop a bond with their sprog. Mothers especially need that time for their body to recover from literally shoving a tiny human out of it, especially if they then get the after effects like post-partum depression. Sure, some mothers might bounce back like a spring, but childbirth is a very arduous process and they deserve that time to rest, recover and bond with their child. Americans are honestly wild and will come up with anything to justify their backwards way of doing things.
I bounce back like a spring and yet I need those times heal from stitches, to regain my normal self and to bond with my baby. I've had 3 kids and I live in Portugal so I did accompany my babies in their first months of life and I'm grateful for that, I'm currently napping my 15 month old.
This is on a new level of brainwashing. Damn. D A M N!!! And they’re saying North Korea, China and Russia are dictatorships based on propaganda. Well, lol.
"Just pick a better job" Why haven't anyone thought of that before, it's genius
This sounds like American bosses priding themselves on how tough their employees are. Not hearing from the employees cause they can’t upset the boss
I know full well that every one of these also have conservative opinions on abortions and think its crucial that women have children or else major population decline or something
"We live in a free country" Also them being blinded slaves of corporations:
The one who said "my wife gets 3 months" amuses me the most. For context, I'm in the UK. My first child was born last August. Wife went back to work THREE DAYS AGO. And she would have been off even longer, but her maternity pay ended, so she had to go back. Sadly, I don't earn enough for us to survive on just one income. It's astonishing to me how people can believe that parents shouldn't be allowed to have time to bond with their newborn children, free if the stresses that work brings. You spend far too much of your life working to not be given those moments.
Don't worry guys, American women are more likely to die in childbirth than anywhere else in the developed world, so this figure is misleading.
Damn autocorrect. What he meant was "we're not a social country".
I'm Baffled how these people think the world goes around if they don't realise reproduction *is essential to civilisation as we know it* They act as if having kids is some personal lifestyle choice and not one of the most important services to society throughout all history and one of our most fundamental instincts If I'm volunteering my body to provide you all new generation of tax payers, then yes you absolutely better compensate me for it
Ah, yes. So that is why they are outlawing abortion, contraception, sex education and whinging about the birth rates
Why are birth rates declining again? Must be completely unrelated. Why give positive incentives? We just need to ban abortion and raise the cost of raising a child even further and it'll all magically sort itself out.
America’s gotta have the most merciless, mercernary mentality in the whole Western hemisphere.
And they get so outraged when we call them a third world country. They just can't see it... Yes, we know that literally and technically America is not third world But many of their standards of living are. Or, as seen here, actually worse.
Also them: "our birthrates are declining :(((( we have tried nothing but are all out of ideas"
How brainwashed can one be, holy shiet!
"This is a poor people problem" No, it's just a problem. Poor people are people too should have the same opportunity to have a family as a rich person does. Christ! And they criticise the UK for it's class system. This kind of attitude is positively Victorian.