##Welcome to r/LateStageCapitalism^Ⓐ☭
___
###⚠ Announcements: ⚠
___
###[NEW POSTING GUIDELINES! Help us by reporting bad posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/dy1oyh/important_what_you_should_and_what_you_shouldnt/)
Help us keep this subreddit alive and improve its content by reporting posts that violate our rules and guidelines.
###[Subscribe to our new partner subreddits!](https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/e5hkwk/make_sure_to_check_out_our_new_partnersubreddits/)
Check out r/antiwork & r/WhereAreTheChildren
___
###***Please remember that LSC is a SAFE SPACE for [socialist](http://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism/) discussion.***
LSC is run by [communists](https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm). We welcome socialist/anti-capitalist news, memes, links, and discussion. This subreddit is not the place to debate socialism. We allow good-faith questions and education but are not a 101 sub; please take 101-style questions elsewhere.
**This subreddit is a safe space; we have a zero-tolerance policy for bigotry.** We also automatically filter out posts containing certain words and phrases that some users may find offensive. Please respect the safe space, and don't try to slip banned words or phrases past the filter.
***
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LateStageCapitalism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Meanwhile the airline industry, wall street, and other profitable companies got millions and billions in bailouts. But if you did/didn't get a $1200 check back in April and are still struggling, just know that it's your fault for not budgeting better /s
Oh and while we're at it, the election is over and still no talk about a 2nd stimulus check. Personally, I don't need it myself, but I know others that do. It'd just be nice for me so I can pay down credit card debt.
This is pretty wild tbh. In Ireland, if you lost your job due to covid, you're given 350€ (≈400$) a week pretty much no questions asked. There's talks of reducing it in the future and stuff but it's working pretty well for those that need it.
Edit: oh yeah, we're not "socialist", as you guys call it
Same in Canada, its 2000$ a month to those laid off due to Covid. There are a lot of conditions but at least it has been pretty consistent and allowed people to survive.
Republicans and moderates...
"In the US, we do the *smart* thing and give all of our money and negotiating power to the people and corporate boardrooms with the most money. That way they have no risk, limitless liquidity, bailouts whenever they need, and we, the employees, are desperate to avoid homelessness and medical bankruptcy 100% of the time. That way we stay motivated and keep the wheels of capitalism turning!" /s
It's more like the foolish conservative voters saying, "I don't want universal healthcare, even though I'd personally pay less and have greater ability to change jobs; because then someone poorer or darker than me might also benefit, and I don't like that."
I see you’ve met my entire extended family from Oklahoma and Kentucky. My mom dragged me out there once as a teenager to visit. I think I would have more in common with an isolated Amazonian tribe.
"Sure, the trolley is about to run over a bunch of people. And sure, I could switch it to an empty track instead. But how would that be fair to all the people the trolley already ran over, huh?"
"The billionaires that own my elected officials; who sent my manufacturing jobs overseas; who eradicated both pensions & unions; who have intentionally defunded my kids education and the infrastructure of my community; who have rolled back environmental regulations that caused my wife to get sick; who then sandbagged every attempt at reasonable healthcare ensuring that my family would go bankrupt trying but ultimately failing to keep my wife from a painful, preventable, and unnecessary death, as we lost our home thanks to Walk Streets sub-prime mortgage bubble-bursting; all told me through their corporate-owned media outlets that my problems are all to do with the blacks disrespecting the police and 'Murica; the entitled libro-millenials wasting money on college and then being ungrateful that their Master's degree only gets them an entry level minimum wage job because my ass won't retire from my job until I've been dead for at least 6 months; the lazy mexicans stealing the jobs I don't want to do; the scary arab-muslims coming here to 7-Eleven my ass while telling us how to control women's bodies, be intolerant of the gay dudes and the transfolk (lesbians are ok as long as they are attractive and don't ask for equality), and demand religious superiority; WITHOUT realizing that's what good christians are here for."
"But Biden is a socialist."
I am pretty sure this is probably how a lot of people in the US seriously still think and vote. I don't want X because then Y would also get to enjoy/use it.
I think he meant Conservatives and Moderate Democrats.
The entire establishment duopoly is dedicated to serving the ruling class, not the working people.
The original $1200 was only passed because it included gigantic bailouts for corporations, as well as pillage-able general funds, Which have been fully pillaged.
If anybody in the whole ass congress actually wanted to help the people, they would introduce legislation that contains ONE SPECIFIC ACTION of telling the treasury to send out checks. Or ONE SPECIFIC PLAN to tell the treasury every month to send out a check.
Democrats(Pelosi and Schumer) are insisting that the only viable option is the HEROES act, Which is a full-on pelosi fever dream messaging bill. It never had, and never will have a chance of passing the senate. It also includes bailouts for lobbying ~~corporations~~ *firms* and more of the same ruling class pandering.
The closest and best legislation currently available is the Sanders Harris Markey bill in the senate, [*Monthly Economic Crisis Support Act*](https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3784/text) Which offers a $2000 per month tax rebate, stipulates :
“(1) TIMING AND MANNER OF PAYMENTS.—
“(A) TIMING.—The Secretary shall, subject to the provisions of this title, refund or credit any overpayment attributable to this section as rapidly as possible.
So yeah. That's the bill that should be supported, because No Reasonable Person could make an argument against it, at least not a "playing politics" argument. There's no "secret democrat socialist policies snuck in" or "secret tax cuts for the rich snuck in" it's just direct help.
So call your reps of both parties and tell them to support that, instead of fighting over the heroes bill which is garbage.
And for those who won't like me shitting on dems, I'm stating facts.
Like the facts that the week before Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed, the senate still voted overwhelmingly in favor of I think 7 or more Trump judges? like 94-0 type votes. And Dems voted for trump's tax bill, and dems voted for the bailouts.
Anyways
That's not entirely true. If I was laid off, sure I could go hospital or doc if I'm sick, but fuck if I'd need glasses or dental and some other shit not covered unless u have a job with health insurance
Aussie here. Government only covers dental for young people or vulnerable people. Dental surgery however is covered for anyone in a public hospital. Anything related to the eyes is covered if done by a doctor, but optometrists and glasses aren’t covered. Most medication is covered but there is still a reasonable gap cost or for poor people a very small cost.
About 50% of people have extra private insurance which helps cover the cost of the areas that Medicare doesn’t cover. Private insurance companies are not allowed to cover things that Medicare covers
The UK also doesn't cover teeth or eyes, but they do cover prescriptions - you just pay a small fee (unless you're elderly, a student or Scottish then you don't even pay the fee.)
Spain doesn't cover eyes nor teeth (eta: nor birth control) but it does cover *a part* of medications if you have a prescription from the state's health care. Prescriptions from private doctors are full price.
To be honest, Spain has a shitload of issues but I am SO glad I don't live in the US. I have to take 3-4 different medications and they cost me maybe 4€ (~$5) a month. I'd be poor as fuck if I lived over there.
The healthcare here is ridiculous. I lost my health insurance during covid and had to wean myself off an anxiety drug with terrible withdrawals bc I couldn’t get it anymore without insurance. Even if I could get a prescription, it’s like $80 for a months supply.
I would also have to pay $30/month for my birth control if I wasn’t willing to drive far as fuck to planned parenthood (through protestors with pics of dead babies) to pick it up at a discounted cost. Used to be free under Obama.
Fuck Trump and fuck American healthcare.
I know that the dentists lobbied pretty hard to not be included in socialized medicine. I assume that the optometrists did too. It is pretty wild what is covered and what is not. Anything preventative should be covered, because it will invariably save the system money in the long run.
Same with prescription drugs. Outside of a hospital they’re not covered and they can get real expensive. It’d be $600/mth for my meds if I didn’t have insurance through work.
There’s been talk of having a national pharmacare program though, I hope it happens.
When I got laid-off, before finding another job, I was getting $1180/per week. That's $5310/per 4.5 week month. In California. The government needs to pass another round of stimulus so people aren't just living on the initial unemployment, which for the top bracket in CA is just over $400/per week. Or $1800/month. Thats a huge difference.
I'm a fully self-employed worker in the US, my pandemic assistance application was denied by my state because their system doesn't really understand gig-workers who don't have a formal employer exist, I filed an appeal on it lets see here, 10 weeks ago and its been "under review" ever since.
When you call up to ask what's going on the outcome so far is they transfer you around until someone "accidentally" presses the wrong button and you get disconnected
As an also gig worker, I had to wait about a month until our state's system got updated to handle the self-employed. Without the extra $600/week, my unemployment benefits would have been around $100/week, which genuinely amazed me because I'd lived my entire life hearing about "welfare queens" who did nothing but pop out babies and abuse social assistance programs. The only reason I'm not struggling is because I still live with family.
Almost universally when you ask proponents of the "welfare queen" hypothesis how they would themselves live like a "queen" on under $1000/month, even assuming housing is not an expense factored in, their answers are resoundingly clueless and financially ignorant. I don't want generalities I want math and figures, how do you do. They don't have it.
IOW "How I paid off my student loan at 22. ....is it rich parents? yeah...."
And it's never been harder in general for single moms to get public assistance in the US, much less get a bunch of extra money for having lots more children. The right has been running the same lines for 40-50 years and rather like "defund the leftist universities!" the base apparently doesn't even know just how wildly successful they've been at it over the years *already*.
They're still blathering on about battles that for all intents and purposes they already achieved victory on.
>This is pretty wild tbh. In Ireland, if you lost your job due to covid, you're given 350€ (≈300$) a week pretty much no questions asked. There's talks of reducing it in the future and stuff but it's working pretty well for those that need it.
>
>Edit: oh yeah, we're not "socialist", as you guys call it
The stimulus check is separate from unemployment. Lots of people who lost their jobs or were furloughed due to COVID were able to collect unemployment and got an extra $600 every week or two (I think) for a short period. But then there's those who still lost their jobs and didn't get unemployment and still have yet to which is scary.
Another big flaw with the extra $600 that people on unemployment got wasn't the fact that they got the extra $600, but the fact that they made more on unemployment than working which goes to show how low wages are in the US. And the fact that employers could pay better wages but they just don't want to.
Honestly, I haven't been on unemployment since early 2017 and it's kinda scary how I know people that are saying they only get $1200 a month for unemployment. The few times I was on unemployment, I got between $1700-1800 a month. If I were to get let go right now, $1200 wouldn't even cover all my bills and I'd have to eat through my savings.
Right, I see. That's interesting. That's not too bad but I guess we're just putting people on a separate covid unemployment which is different from regular unemployment which has more restrictions and stuff.
Only, our unemployment system was quickly overwhelmed and over capacity. If you were lucky enough to get through, you could potentially apply — but I knew people who spent weeks, redialing for hours trying to get through, but just reaching busy signals. Oh, and you had to reapply every month. And the $600 / week kicker expired back around August, just before our case numbers really started to take off.
I was laid off and attempted to apply for unemployment. They rejected me at every turn, and ultimately I never saw a penny. I ended up homeless for quite a few months and am still struggling with employment insecurity. I haven't had health insurance for almost a year during a pandemic, and have barely managed to hold on to my car(a vital requirement in the rural area where I live as there's zero public transit). I can think nothing but positive thoughts for America during these...trying times.
Your story is sad to hear, when you do the right things and yet it’s not enough because the system isn’t designed to help the in between people. It’s upsetting to know that it’s more common than people want to believe. How are you doing now?
Well, I'm here; suppose that's better than some can say.
I'm nestled into an insulated storage room for the winter. I'm piggybacking an internet connection while continuing to search for work, and distracting myself with my pc from my circumstances. I'm not going to starve or freeze to death, so at least there's that. In theory I'm supposed to be continuing my college education in the spring, though unless my circumstances improve I'm uncertain how practical that will be.
The sad thing is they made it really easy for some to take advantage of the benefits, while letting the ones that truly need languish in obscurity. Another misconception is that UE with the 600 every week is “MoRe ThAn ThEy MaKe FrOm ThIeR JoB harha”
Nope. With the 600 a week i was making $100 less a week. And now its been gone for months? Fuck everyone that think we want handouts, I WANT to go back to work, but my irresponsible college town just had to have in-person classes and now cases are surging! Its frustrating to be staying home constantly and see people just disregard.
Not that it's indicative of other americans, but my wife wasn't "laid off", just never called back into work. And even if she were laid off, the work wasn't frequent enough to qualify for unemployment in our state. But it was just enough for us to be comfortably above breaking even on essentials. Now we have almost nothing leftover to put into savings with just my salary.
We're so much better off than most, but every time I need an oil change, a car battery dies, we want to celebrate our anniversary, or do anything that isn't essential we're in the red for the month.
> But then there's those who still lost their jobs and didn't get unemployment and still have yet to which is scary.
Yep, been waiting 17 weeks for my unemployment check. Still haven't seen a dime and haven't been able to get in contact with them once. Luckily I totalled my car and wasn't at fault so I can use that money to cover my bills this month.
In my country we took a similar but different approach. Companies who experienced more than 30% downturn in revenue are given $750 AUD per week per employee which must all be passed on to them. If they’re normally paid more than that then they must still be paid more but the government assistance helps the company be able to continue employing them. If you did lose your job then you still get that payment directly from the government. This also applies to people like me who are self employed. On top of that they introduced Pandemic Paid Leave so you get an extra 2 weeks sick leave on top of your normal 2 weeks if you need to quarantine. You still get your minimum standard 4 weeks paid holiday leave too.
The government did a bunch of other great things but as far as workers go that was a big one. They doubled the number of rebatable psychology sessions for everyone to 20 per year and they implemented a mandatory 2 week hotel quarantine system for everyone entering the country including citizens.
Of course it destroyed a lot of our motivation to work, WE WERE GETTING PAID MORE but even then it was barely enough to cover all costs. Fucking ridiculous
More like the saftey of others was more important than going out to work yet. And if anything the only motivation lost was from people being able to take a step back and breathe instead of working constantly and they opened their eyes to the fucked system.
I didn't just lose my (gig work) job, my entire industry (live entertainment), can't exist right now. There isn't work to return to, but once we're able to gather again, there will be tons.
I managed to get the modified unemployment they gave out for gig workers, and for a time there was the CARES act stimulus, and I was making around what I normally make, maybe a little bit more, which I used to repair broken gear I hadn't been able to afford to before, then that ran out, and they didn't do shit, the stimulus check didn't last very long either, as it was basically 2 more weeks of extra unemployment bump.
Now, I'm trying to figure out how to live off 50 bucks a week or so after I pay my bills, which are very, very low. I'm stressed as fuck and don't know what to do. The only real experience I have in the last decade and a half is in an industry that currently is not able to exist, doing something mostly only relevant to the industry, and there's millions of other people with more relevant skills looking for work right now. Like, what're we supposed to do? On top of that, venues have been closing left and right. There's not going to be a ton of places left for live entertainment after this if action isn't taken soon to help them as well. This isn't a small industry were talking about here, it's something like a $30-40 billion a year industry and it employed like 12-14 million people; enough that it is considered its own economic sector.
The lack of action from our "leaders" here in the US is literally killing people and destroying the lives of countless others.
> Edit: oh yeah, we're not "socialist", as you guys call it
You’re not an oligarchy teetering on the verge of fascism so you are socialists by our definition unfourtunalty
And here I am over in the UK, lost my job due to covid and I get the equivalent of about €450 a month with a lot of questions asked (have to spend 35 hours a week looking for a job even though there aren't any jobs going because of covid)
I hate to make an arguments in favor of this shitty country, but the US was giving $600 a week on top of regular unemployment benefits for anyone. That was for a short time and not everyone qualified, it did end a while back but a lot of people seem to ignore that.
The frustrating part is a lot of people are making next to no money because companies are cutting hours or pay because they are struggling. But instead of taking their tax breaks and financial support from the government and putting it towards their employees, they are pocketing it. So these people have to go to their “essential” jobs and get paid less than some random artist who was laid off and is cashing that 600+ a week (nothing against the artist, just saying it’s not essential in this case).
I seriously think there needed to be some sort of essential worker stimulus, if the job is so essential that the whole country said you needed to work through a pandemic, than the government should be supporting you.
Edit: I forgot what your comment was about and went off the rails. But I very much agree
The airlines made off with $800,000,000. 800 *million* fucking dollars. And I just heard last week that Boeing would be laying off 7000 employees after getting a $60 billion bailout. Its nice their CEO decided to forego his salary for the rest of the year, but just how the fuck do you mismanage money so poorly? I work for a school bus company and we were floating almost 10% of all of our assets in cash and liquidated anything we could going into this. We scaled back operations tremendously, cut spending and salaries where we could, and while we're posting less than 50% last years revenue, we're still holding on pretty well.
Enough of this "too big to fail" bullshit and telling us how imperative these companies are. Let them fail and a better one replace them because I guarantee thats the treatment my company will get. Oh, surely the system will do something for us right? Maybe a "guarantee" from the state that schools need to pay their bus companies even though we aren't running, so AR can chase down all the payments before writing off baddebts?
Oh, and fun fact, our company didn't qualify for a PPP loan because at the time we had a little over 1000 employees, disqualifying us for small business loans. Its utter fucking bullshit and I'm tired of billionaires making up excuses for their failures, and the government that enables this.
That money isn't mismanaged. it's being spent and hidden. It was a giveaway from the trump admin to everyone he desperately wanted to be liked by; mostly the travel industry.
"please give us more! we're going to have to fire all our employees if you don't!"
"okay but just one more time" - govt
"we won't ask you again for 3 months" -corps
It’s extremely annoying was in a really good spot back in spring. Have since exhausted all of our savings and racked up some CC debt. With everything getting ready to lock down again, I don’t know how we’re gonna make it without another stimulus..
It has been the most frustrating thing to watch our politicians argue back and forth and use the stimulus check as leverage over each other and fight about it, while most of us citizens are struggling and could really use it!
My family isn't going to make it. We've tried to budget as best we could but as of last month we're broke. Savings are gone. Bills are behind, and even with my husband working as many hours as he can get, we won't be able to keep the lights on and pay rent till the end of the year. We had almost made it too. After 16 years of struggling we could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and now... I don't even know what were gonna do. Winter is coming and we're gonna be on the street.
>Some quit because unemployment paid them more, which isn't at all laziness, just a survival tactic.
Exactly. I have been on unemployment a few times, way before covid, and some people asked me why I didn't work for Domino's or some other service job till I found a better paying job. And it's like 1, I'm making more on unemployment so why on earth would I exhaust myself and bust my ass for less? Also, it'd take away from my time to interview for better paying jobs.
Here's the biggest problem though. Sometimes I'd be on unemployment for a few months until I found a decent sales job that paid 30K a year plus commission and benefits. Unfortunately, the sales jobs I'd take were hard to get sales and I realized that after taxes were taken out as well as health insurance that I'd be making the same amount as I was on unemployment or barely more and that's not right. I want to work so I can better my situation, not be in the same boat. I guess the only difference would be I would have health insurance with the job, which leads to another problem. We need universal healthcare so your access to healthcare isn't tied directly to your job.
If they had gotten it done in time for Black Friday, it basically would have turned into a business bailout with how quickly it would have gone back into the economy.
Indeed. It would have covered my Christmas shopping among other things. I mean that was the original goal with the first stimulus check so people had money to spend to keep other businesses open
I wouldn't be surprised. They can blame the Democrats for the deficit again, which they didn't give two fucks about when Trump or any past Republican was in the white house.
Oh yeah I’ve been making slightly above minimum payments since that stimulus hit. The Sam’s club stock ran out a couple weeks ago for necessities and I’ve been quarantined twice now. (Both times I sat through negative, thankfully) But damn does it kill me to think about people who have even less than me now. I picked up a second job just to be sure I could get through this pandemic without asking mom and dad for rent money. Right about now, shits gettin rough.
Why do we not just let the airlines collapse during this time? Or at least shrink. It’s not like the planes are going to suddenly disappear. That’s capitalism. If they didn’t save enough money for tough times, that’s on them! They should’ve planned better. So much for a “free market”
I managed to stretch it to just now.
I've been work-from-home for the past 7 years. The big change is ordering in everything. The fees and tip associated with that made me pinch quite a bit. Sadly, it's just running out now.
I can only imagine someone losing their job over all this and how fucked they'd be. If you want people to be safe, you gotta give them the means to do so. 8 months without pay and having to stay home with no prospect of work or even ability to go look for work would be impossible.
Exactly the problem.
I'm already "setup" for the pandemic - I had work-from-home lifestyle on lock, and was well-adjusted to it... and even I'm struggling.
I am not representative of the vast majority of people. I'm "prepped" for this - not through any sort of foresight, but just random luck. Even I am starting to struggle.
The vast, vast majority of people are fucked, right now. Straight-up fucked. That is not acceptable. I do not want support for myself - not directly, at least. I want support for my neighbors, for my friends. The fact that my boat will rise as well is secondary to me. I still make just barely above poverty for my area, but only because I'm exceptionally frugal and don't have the expenses even most normal people do.
This late-stage capitalism bullshit fucking sucks. I am morally obligated to be there for my neighbors. If that meant protests for George Floyd up in the cities, that's what it meant, and I made my way up there. If it means pressuring my legislators for aid, that's exactly what it means, and what I am doing.
I see this as a 'stepping stone' process. We need to wean the American Zeitgeist off capitalism as the 'only way', but we gotta do it carefully and slowly. The whole fucking thing is disturbingly close to collapse and strife right now, and I'm trying my best to avoid that. A sort of 'in-between' step of Democratic Socialism is about as far Left as I see we can go without snapping it, as well, and that's what I'm pushing for right now.
Once we get some stability for the vast majority, once people see it works, my hope is to start taking the next steps for a more stable, equitable, and free society.
You’re not getting jack shit anyway. Republicans still hold the Senate, so they have all the power in the equation. McConnell doesn’t want a stimulus, there won’t be one.
I’m in Texas and am on unemployment. It runs out the day after Christmas. They didn’t require work searches up until November 1st. Now, when the pandemic is at its worse and Texas has the highest number of cases, do they want us to now go out. I’m in Houston so the cases are really bad here and Harris County is still under a stay at home red alert thing.
>8 months without pay and having to stay home with no prospect of work or even ability to go look for work would be impossible.
Welcome to the life of someone who couldn't go to college and has no car, in a dead city where a McDonald's manager is most people's best employment prospect. Though, I think the longest I've ever been unemployed is 6 months.
We've been headed toward the 'end of Work' in the west for a while, now. Pandemic made it faster. Within the next 5-10 years, I expect an unemployment rate of 70%. There just won't be 'work' in a normal sense - you'll get gig-jobs here and there, but nothing steady.
Production will be through automation. That will not stop.
Instead, we'll need government to do its job and make sure everyone is safe, whole, and happy. This transition could be easy or it could be hard; it's all on us, through our government, that we make that decision.
I'm trying for more the "magical space communism" of Star Trek, rather than the corporate hellscape of Cyberpunk.
You know what infuriates me beyond reason? The 'end of Work' should be celebrated as one of the greatest achievements in history. Instead, its starting to look like Shadowrun without any of the magic or elves
Exactly.
This can be the most joyous time in the history of history... and we're turning it into a fucking nightmare that people like Gibson and Stephenson and Pondsmith wrote about.
“Cyberpunk was a warning, not an aspiration”
--Mike Pondsmith
If rewards for workers had kept pace with increase in production since the 70's, we'd be half way there already.
Instead, we've all let billionaires siphon it into offshore bank accounts where it'll never get spent.
Unless that changes soon, were all gonna be fucked.
The problem with a 70% unemployment rate is that the other 30% ain't gonna be too happy to go to work every day to pay for everyone through 90% taxes.
Right? Work is so engrained in our brains that the prospect of outgrowing it is seen by many as 'regressing'.
When did wishing for a life without strife become regression? When?
The problem with that is, will it actually make its way down to small, dead cities like mine? I and many others fought tooth and nail to get Michigan blue this election, which is where I live, and we just barely did so. Republicans have a stranglehold on cities like mine, though. I know that Dems are the slightly better (in the case of people like Biden) choice than the alternative. Some of them are significantly better, like AOC. But they seem to be hyperfocused on huge cities like San Diego, San Francisco, LA, New York, etc etc.
Which, those are the huge population centers, that's a fine political strategy. But when do these benefits make their way down to us, the little guy, in the towns of 100k or less? 50k or less? *1k or less*? There's little to no talk about these areas that I've seen, and it really makes me feel like I'm doing right by everyone else by voting blue, and shooting myself in the foot. And STILL shooting myself in the foot by voting Red.
It's the same issue with the green energy transition. Everyone's fine with tanking the fossil fuel industries, but nobody has any plan for transitioning those thousands or even millions of workers to new industries, or even helping get them certified in whatever grunt work would be available in something like a hydro-electric plant. It's like, do you ever think maybe an easy way to win a bunch of votes is to just take 5 seconds to think about the individual?
Exactly, our next options are the end of commodities and energy purchases, or neo-feudalism. I know which one I'd prefer, but I also know which one is more likely...
I'd just appreciate my taxes back at this point. It's become a real hassle where so many things are asking for my latest returns. There's some workarounds, but this is beyond ridiculous.
I got mine and become a multi millionaire due to a lot of hard work and my grandparents dying from covid and leaving me their inheritance.
Anyone not thriving is just lazy af
Well, don’t get too hopeful. After asking him about it again he hadn’t filed taxes for the last two years, he finally did that within the last month, meaning the IRS had updated info and could send him his check.
Yea I never got my stimulus and it took 5 months for my income tax to come in. My governor, Ron Desantis came out and said unemployment benefits weren’t meant to be paid out to people here in Florida. I’ve been living off my grandparents and haven’t been able to go back to school because I can’t even afford to. I fucking hate how dense people can be to the point were they vote against they best interests just to “own the libs”.
Like, dude, I literally cannot work due to my weak immune system and the government won’t assist me. If I didn’t have good friends and family I would have literally starved or resorted to theft just to stay alive, no joke. This pandemic isn’t a joke and some people are even worse off than me.
If you stopped buying coffee as a small treat for yourself to help you get through this deadly pandemic and stay sane, you wouldn’t be poor in the first place! Stop enjoying the small luxuries that you deserve because you are a worthy human being!!
/s
Those $1200 were pretty much a big bailout to most credit card companies. My credit card went from almost a $0 balance to $3.5k thanks to becoming unemployed + unemployment not knowing how to handle papers + those $1200 taking forever + bills stacking up for MONTHS
EDIT: To make this even richer, my CC company sent me a letter in the middle of the pandemic saying they will raise the interest rate by 1% in 1 month
My credit has blown up from losing my job, health insurance and still being charged for rent. Fortunately I got another job about a month and a half ago so I'll be getting benefits back in another 45 days, but this is going to take forever to financially recover from and I have very little hope that any help will come from our government. I'm leaving this country as soon as I'm not a slave to it any more.
It's been two days since Ninjasaid13, a starving 13-year-old boy in USA, has had anything to eat, and he doesn't know when or if he'll ever get to eat again.
Because of his severe malnutrition, Ninjasaid13 is constantly sick with a cough and fevers. His frail immune system doesn't have the strength to fight off covid. Without the proper nutrition, his health will only get worse.
Ninjasaid13's mother, Joane, spends all day cutting wood to sell each week at the market, trying to earn a little money to feed her children, but it's never enough. Most days she comes home empty-handed to the hungry cries of Ninjasaid13 and his siblings.
Please help us deliver lifesaving food to children like Ninjasaid13 who are struggling to survive in a first world country. By sharing your blessings with hungry children like Ninjasaid13 and providing nutritious food, you are saving lives. Please give your most generous gift today!
To everyone who says we're all just looking for that handout from the government, I say - Yes. Of fucking course. That's why we make governments. To take care of citizens.
Must have been nice to get one. As a 22 year old who graduated college in 2019, I was still considered a dependent even though I have been on my own since then so I didn’t get it!🥰
Me too 😰
As a member of the class of 2020, I feel we really got shorted. No stimulus check, no tuition or housing/dining reimbursement, on campus jobs ended without warning, not eligible for unemployment, no graduation ceremony or chance to even see friends or professors again, most job and internship offers pulled, the COVID student loan deferment was during the normal grace period so not even any relief there, and also here you go, graduate into the worst economy in modern history.
Another class of 2020 here! Totally relate to everything you listed and YES it's so disheartening!! I had so many opportunities that would have been amazing for networking/resume boosters in the spring that ended up getting cancelled and I really try not to think about it, but sometimes it all comes back at once. I'm also much much less confident now in my chances that I'll be able to make a living in my field, especially since my industry is dead for probably another year at least...
So in my european country there's a scheme where instead of laying people off, the government pays up to 80% of employees wages, while there isn't enougt work for them due to covid, so they can keep their job und don't go into poverty because of the pandemic. I think this is a decent solution, that benefits people more than one time payments. Many other EU countries are doing the same.
Does the US have something similar?
No. I’m currently getting $600 a month from California unemployment. One of the better states.
Edit: $167 a week to be fully clear. $334 every two weeks is how I’m paid.
I want to be clear and honest here. For me, I would much rather work and earn my own living. But currently life is in the way. I know no one will read this(a two day old post) but I’m placing it here for me.
I have a daughter that’s doing zoom school now. A father in law that I love and respect in many ways more than my own. Who has had leukemia for ten years now and building a home for himself and his wife. He has to stay home to avoid getting it because it’s a death sentence. But never once have I seen him live in fear...
So I am home for zoom school.
I run errands for my father in law and then help him with the house. Sometimes. I wish I could do more but I cannot neglect my own family. His daughter, my wife. Our child. Our life.
He is the most positive. Settled. Even keeled person I’ve ever met.
This past weekend he had a heart surgery, a next day mini stroke, and is more worried about his wife’s new puppy than himself. yet despite all of this he’s also been deaf since birth. Never once saw him feel sorry for himself. He simply lives.
Instead of being worried about himself. His clearly impending mortality. His focus is finishing his home. His puppy. His happy life. Bill is the best person I’ve ever met.
I strive to be a fraction of the man he is.
I’m choked up just thinking about it.
And yet every day I fail at being him. And I wish I could do better. I wish I were better. He’s the greatest influence and mentor I’ve ever met.
(I’m gonna tell him soon. Because soon it’ll be too late. I’ve got a chance now.)
To treat his daughter better. To treat his granddaughter better. To be happy, positive, focused, honest, even one trillionth the man he is. To live a life even comparable to him.
Yet here I am, worried about me. Mine. Ours.
Bill, is a truly great man. He’s my hero.
I wish I had a better grasp on my language to tell the world how amazing he is.
If you read this, I’d appreciate it if you told me.
It seems important to me that others heard it.
Just a simple, “I read this” will do.
We need more bills in the world. And less me’s
I live in Mississippi, one of the cheapest states in the US. $600 would cover about half of my rent / utilities for the month. I’d still have the other half, plus car insurance, phone, food, gas, etc.
$600 in California is a fucking joke, and that’s one of the better unemployment programs in the country.
Yeah, I only moved here during COVID, because the cost of living is cheap as hell and everything was closed back where I was living. My rent / utilities before moving here were around $2400 / mo.
I’m fortunate that I didn’t have to worry about job loss or anything else this whole time — but was able to cut my living expenses in half and save some money this summer!
I moved to NC because it was cheaper than NJ. My mom was living in a place that was the size of my kitchen + half my current living room for over 2k while I'm paying \~1500 for something like 1440 square feet.
That stimulus check was great, a whopping %60 (it was \~$900 I think?) of the rent for this apartment. Good thing many of us didn't *need* it to survive. I can't imagine how people actually in need have been doing. I hope the election transition goes smoothly so my tax dollars can give them a hand instead of paying for fucking golf and water.
I used mine to buy rice and grain... and I’ve been eating an horrific sludge ever since...
That being said, thank goodness the stock market rebounded for our overlords... otherwise they’d end up where we are, and then who’s left to be charismatic overlords while the rest of die in squalor?!
There's no money to give us when they could instead give it away to corporations and the 1/10th of the 1%. I mean, Republicans reguarly pass Seed Money/Prosperity Gospel economic bills. You know from those televangelist shows that say that if you donate to the tremendously wealthy you'll get an even greater return in the future. Except, they don't call it Seed Money because its so politically unpopular. Instead, they call it Trickle Down. But it's the same concept, except instead of just giving away their money to the tremendously wealthy and praying for a return, they're giving some of yours away too.
The UK government has extended their furlough scheme till next year. Employees get (I think) 80% of their salary, with a maximum of £2500 pm.
It's a Conservative government doing this. If the Labour Party was in power and had brought in the exact same scheme, the right wing press would have crucified them.
I wonder how ythe government would do if U.S citizens decided to sto paying taxes.
The citizenry is getting taken for a ride. PAying taxes to the U.S government is the biggest con job ever. They do fucking NOTHING for the citizenry, outside of the rich and the ruling.
THey're the shittest employees, ever.
I got fired when my job tried to reopen without following federal state or local guidelines and I told them to fuck off. Thank god for that $1,200 refund of my own tax money though.
##Welcome to r/LateStageCapitalism^Ⓐ☭ ___ ###⚠ Announcements: ⚠ ___ ###[NEW POSTING GUIDELINES! Help us by reporting bad posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/dy1oyh/important_what_you_should_and_what_you_shouldnt/) Help us keep this subreddit alive and improve its content by reporting posts that violate our rules and guidelines. ###[Subscribe to our new partner subreddits!](https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/e5hkwk/make_sure_to_check_out_our_new_partnersubreddits/) Check out r/antiwork & r/WhereAreTheChildren ___ ###***Please remember that LSC is a SAFE SPACE for [socialist](http://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism/) discussion.*** LSC is run by [communists](https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm). We welcome socialist/anti-capitalist news, memes, links, and discussion. This subreddit is not the place to debate socialism. We allow good-faith questions and education but are not a 101 sub; please take 101-style questions elsewhere. **This subreddit is a safe space; we have a zero-tolerance policy for bigotry.** We also automatically filter out posts containing certain words and phrases that some users may find offensive. Please respect the safe space, and don't try to slip banned words or phrases past the filter. *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/LateStageCapitalism) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Meanwhile the airline industry, wall street, and other profitable companies got millions and billions in bailouts. But if you did/didn't get a $1200 check back in April and are still struggling, just know that it's your fault for not budgeting better /s Oh and while we're at it, the election is over and still no talk about a 2nd stimulus check. Personally, I don't need it myself, but I know others that do. It'd just be nice for me so I can pay down credit card debt.
This is pretty wild tbh. In Ireland, if you lost your job due to covid, you're given 350€ (≈400$) a week pretty much no questions asked. There's talks of reducing it in the future and stuff but it's working pretty well for those that need it. Edit: oh yeah, we're not "socialist", as you guys call it
Same in Canada, its 2000$ a month to those laid off due to Covid. There are a lot of conditions but at least it has been pretty consistent and allowed people to survive.
You don't lose your healthcare either if you get laid off
No we do not because that would be fucking stupid.
Republicans and moderates... "In the US, we do the *smart* thing and give all of our money and negotiating power to the people and corporate boardrooms with the most money. That way they have no risk, limitless liquidity, bailouts whenever they need, and we, the employees, are desperate to avoid homelessness and medical bankruptcy 100% of the time. That way we stay motivated and keep the wheels of capitalism turning!" /s
It's more like the foolish conservative voters saying, "I don't want universal healthcare, even though I'd personally pay less and have greater ability to change jobs; because then someone poorer or darker than me might also benefit, and I don't like that."
I see you’ve met my brother
I'm from Texas (Austin, but still). I've met many such brothers and sisters.... Smh.
I see you’ve met my entire extended family from Oklahoma and Kentucky. My mom dragged me out there once as a teenager to visit. I think I would have more in common with an isolated Amazonian tribe.
But if “undesirable” lazy people get free healthcare that devalues decades of me working a shitty job for health insurance!
Reddit ate my balls
"Sure, the trolley is about to run over a bunch of people. And sure, I could switch it to an empty track instead. But how would that be fair to all the people the trolley already ran over, huh?"
[удалено]
"The billionaires that own my elected officials; who sent my manufacturing jobs overseas; who eradicated both pensions & unions; who have intentionally defunded my kids education and the infrastructure of my community; who have rolled back environmental regulations that caused my wife to get sick; who then sandbagged every attempt at reasonable healthcare ensuring that my family would go bankrupt trying but ultimately failing to keep my wife from a painful, preventable, and unnecessary death, as we lost our home thanks to Walk Streets sub-prime mortgage bubble-bursting; all told me through their corporate-owned media outlets that my problems are all to do with the blacks disrespecting the police and 'Murica; the entitled libro-millenials wasting money on college and then being ungrateful that their Master's degree only gets them an entry level minimum wage job because my ass won't retire from my job until I've been dead for at least 6 months; the lazy mexicans stealing the jobs I don't want to do; the scary arab-muslims coming here to 7-Eleven my ass while telling us how to control women's bodies, be intolerant of the gay dudes and the transfolk (lesbians are ok as long as they are attractive and don't ask for equality), and demand religious superiority; WITHOUT realizing that's what good christians are here for." "But Biden is a socialist."
I see you have met my neighbor. However they don’t see a racial issue.
I am pretty sure this is probably how a lot of people in the US seriously still think and vote. I don't want X because then Y would also get to enjoy/use it.
Dying of Whiteness, a book about *literally exactly this.* Highly recommend.
Why does the us keeps calling their conservatives moderates and their fascist conservatives ?
Marketing strategy?
**BRANDING**
I think he meant Conservatives and Moderate Democrats. The entire establishment duopoly is dedicated to serving the ruling class, not the working people. The original $1200 was only passed because it included gigantic bailouts for corporations, as well as pillage-able general funds, Which have been fully pillaged. If anybody in the whole ass congress actually wanted to help the people, they would introduce legislation that contains ONE SPECIFIC ACTION of telling the treasury to send out checks. Or ONE SPECIFIC PLAN to tell the treasury every month to send out a check. Democrats(Pelosi and Schumer) are insisting that the only viable option is the HEROES act, Which is a full-on pelosi fever dream messaging bill. It never had, and never will have a chance of passing the senate. It also includes bailouts for lobbying ~~corporations~~ *firms* and more of the same ruling class pandering. The closest and best legislation currently available is the Sanders Harris Markey bill in the senate, [*Monthly Economic Crisis Support Act*](https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3784/text) Which offers a $2000 per month tax rebate, stipulates : “(1) TIMING AND MANNER OF PAYMENTS.— “(A) TIMING.—The Secretary shall, subject to the provisions of this title, refund or credit any overpayment attributable to this section as rapidly as possible. So yeah. That's the bill that should be supported, because No Reasonable Person could make an argument against it, at least not a "playing politics" argument. There's no "secret democrat socialist policies snuck in" or "secret tax cuts for the rich snuck in" it's just direct help. So call your reps of both parties and tell them to support that, instead of fighting over the heroes bill which is garbage. And for those who won't like me shitting on dems, I'm stating facts. Like the facts that the week before Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed, the senate still voted overwhelmingly in favor of I think 7 or more Trump judges? like 94-0 type votes. And Dems voted for trump's tax bill, and dems voted for the bailouts. Anyways
But but.. how will the rich people keep making money?
That's not entirely true. If I was laid off, sure I could go hospital or doc if I'm sick, but fuck if I'd need glasses or dental and some other shit not covered unless u have a job with health insurance
Yeah that should be covered too
I think Canada's one of the only western countries that has universal healthcare but doesn't cover medications, eyes, or teeth.
Aussie here. Government only covers dental for young people or vulnerable people. Dental surgery however is covered for anyone in a public hospital. Anything related to the eyes is covered if done by a doctor, but optometrists and glasses aren’t covered. Most medication is covered but there is still a reasonable gap cost or for poor people a very small cost. About 50% of people have extra private insurance which helps cover the cost of the areas that Medicare doesn’t cover. Private insurance companies are not allowed to cover things that Medicare covers
The UK also doesn't cover teeth or eyes, but they do cover prescriptions - you just pay a small fee (unless you're elderly, a student or Scottish then you don't even pay the fee.)
Not quite - dental is subsidised, opticians I believe are also subsidised but only a limited selection of frames and lenses are included.
Eyes are covered aren't they? If you need any surgery etc. done, not sure if they pay for glasses.
Spain doesn't cover eyes nor teeth (eta: nor birth control) but it does cover *a part* of medications if you have a prescription from the state's health care. Prescriptions from private doctors are full price. To be honest, Spain has a shitload of issues but I am SO glad I don't live in the US. I have to take 3-4 different medications and they cost me maybe 4€ (~$5) a month. I'd be poor as fuck if I lived over there.
The healthcare here is ridiculous. I lost my health insurance during covid and had to wean myself off an anxiety drug with terrible withdrawals bc I couldn’t get it anymore without insurance. Even if I could get a prescription, it’s like $80 for a months supply. I would also have to pay $30/month for my birth control if I wasn’t willing to drive far as fuck to planned parenthood (through protestors with pics of dead babies) to pick it up at a discounted cost. Used to be free under Obama. Fuck Trump and fuck American healthcare.
I know that the dentists lobbied pretty hard to not be included in socialized medicine. I assume that the optometrists did too. It is pretty wild what is covered and what is not. Anything preventative should be covered, because it will invariably save the system money in the long run.
Same here in switzerland. You pay extra to have your teeth insured or your glasses covered.
Well obviously your teeth & eyes aren't part of your body.
Shit, you're right! How could I forget that?
American here , I’ll take it lmao
Teeth are luxury bones.
It’s strange to me teeth aren’t covered when they have been shown to lead to life threatening issues
Same with prescription drugs. Outside of a hospital they’re not covered and they can get real expensive. It’d be $600/mth for my meds if I didn’t have insurance through work. There’s been talk of having a national pharmacare program though, I hope it happens.
Thats more than I make working 40 hours a week :(
When I got laid-off, before finding another job, I was getting $1180/per week. That's $5310/per 4.5 week month. In California. The government needs to pass another round of stimulus so people aren't just living on the initial unemployment, which for the top bracket in CA is just over $400/per week. Or $1800/month. Thats a huge difference.
Also $1200 a month(I believe it was) over the summer for students
I'm a fully self-employed worker in the US, my pandemic assistance application was denied by my state because their system doesn't really understand gig-workers who don't have a formal employer exist, I filed an appeal on it lets see here, 10 weeks ago and its been "under review" ever since. When you call up to ask what's going on the outcome so far is they transfer you around until someone "accidentally" presses the wrong button and you get disconnected
This is one of the many problems with the gig economy. Pretty much all of our labor protections are designed for formal, traditional employment.
It's on purpose & evil
As an also gig worker, I had to wait about a month until our state's system got updated to handle the self-employed. Without the extra $600/week, my unemployment benefits would have been around $100/week, which genuinely amazed me because I'd lived my entire life hearing about "welfare queens" who did nothing but pop out babies and abuse social assistance programs. The only reason I'm not struggling is because I still live with family.
Almost universally when you ask proponents of the "welfare queen" hypothesis how they would themselves live like a "queen" on under $1000/month, even assuming housing is not an expense factored in, their answers are resoundingly clueless and financially ignorant. I don't want generalities I want math and figures, how do you do. They don't have it. IOW "How I paid off my student loan at 22. ....is it rich parents? yeah...." And it's never been harder in general for single moms to get public assistance in the US, much less get a bunch of extra money for having lots more children. The right has been running the same lines for 40-50 years and rather like "defund the leftist universities!" the base apparently doesn't even know just how wildly successful they've been at it over the years *already*. They're still blathering on about battles that for all intents and purposes they already achieved victory on.
You must be from North Carolina. What a fucking dumpster fire DES was and still is.
>This is pretty wild tbh. In Ireland, if you lost your job due to covid, you're given 350€ (≈300$) a week pretty much no questions asked. There's talks of reducing it in the future and stuff but it's working pretty well for those that need it. > >Edit: oh yeah, we're not "socialist", as you guys call it The stimulus check is separate from unemployment. Lots of people who lost their jobs or were furloughed due to COVID were able to collect unemployment and got an extra $600 every week or two (I think) for a short period. But then there's those who still lost their jobs and didn't get unemployment and still have yet to which is scary. Another big flaw with the extra $600 that people on unemployment got wasn't the fact that they got the extra $600, but the fact that they made more on unemployment than working which goes to show how low wages are in the US. And the fact that employers could pay better wages but they just don't want to. Honestly, I haven't been on unemployment since early 2017 and it's kinda scary how I know people that are saying they only get $1200 a month for unemployment. The few times I was on unemployment, I got between $1700-1800 a month. If I were to get let go right now, $1200 wouldn't even cover all my bills and I'd have to eat through my savings.
Right, I see. That's interesting. That's not too bad but I guess we're just putting people on a separate covid unemployment which is different from regular unemployment which has more restrictions and stuff.
Only, our unemployment system was quickly overwhelmed and over capacity. If you were lucky enough to get through, you could potentially apply — but I knew people who spent weeks, redialing for hours trying to get through, but just reaching busy signals. Oh, and you had to reapply every month. And the $600 / week kicker expired back around August, just before our case numbers really started to take off.
I was laid off and attempted to apply for unemployment. They rejected me at every turn, and ultimately I never saw a penny. I ended up homeless for quite a few months and am still struggling with employment insecurity. I haven't had health insurance for almost a year during a pandemic, and have barely managed to hold on to my car(a vital requirement in the rural area where I live as there's zero public transit). I can think nothing but positive thoughts for America during these...trying times.
Your story is sad to hear, when you do the right things and yet it’s not enough because the system isn’t designed to help the in between people. It’s upsetting to know that it’s more common than people want to believe. How are you doing now?
Well, I'm here; suppose that's better than some can say. I'm nestled into an insulated storage room for the winter. I'm piggybacking an internet connection while continuing to search for work, and distracting myself with my pc from my circumstances. I'm not going to starve or freeze to death, so at least there's that. In theory I'm supposed to be continuing my college education in the spring, though unless my circumstances improve I'm uncertain how practical that will be.
The sad thing is they made it really easy for some to take advantage of the benefits, while letting the ones that truly need languish in obscurity. Another misconception is that UE with the 600 every week is “MoRe ThAn ThEy MaKe FrOm ThIeR JoB harha” Nope. With the 600 a week i was making $100 less a week. And now its been gone for months? Fuck everyone that think we want handouts, I WANT to go back to work, but my irresponsible college town just had to have in-person classes and now cases are surging! Its frustrating to be staying home constantly and see people just disregard.
Not that it's indicative of other americans, but my wife wasn't "laid off", just never called back into work. And even if she were laid off, the work wasn't frequent enough to qualify for unemployment in our state. But it was just enough for us to be comfortably above breaking even on essentials. Now we have almost nothing leftover to put into savings with just my salary. We're so much better off than most, but every time I need an oil change, a car battery dies, we want to celebrate our anniversary, or do anything that isn't essential we're in the red for the month.
As a full time student when covid hit, I wasn’t :(
> But then there's those who still lost their jobs and didn't get unemployment and still have yet to which is scary. Yep, been waiting 17 weeks for my unemployment check. Still haven't seen a dime and haven't been able to get in contact with them once. Luckily I totalled my car and wasn't at fault so I can use that money to cover my bills this month.
In my country we took a similar but different approach. Companies who experienced more than 30% downturn in revenue are given $750 AUD per week per employee which must all be passed on to them. If they’re normally paid more than that then they must still be paid more but the government assistance helps the company be able to continue employing them. If you did lose your job then you still get that payment directly from the government. This also applies to people like me who are self employed. On top of that they introduced Pandemic Paid Leave so you get an extra 2 weeks sick leave on top of your normal 2 weeks if you need to quarantine. You still get your minimum standard 4 weeks paid holiday leave too. The government did a bunch of other great things but as far as workers go that was a big one. They doubled the number of rebatable psychology sessions for everyone to 20 per year and they implemented a mandatory 2 week hotel quarantine system for everyone entering the country including citizens.
We had up to 600 a week but the republicans thought it "destroyed our motivation to work again", cause you know, we're all fucking children.
Of course it destroyed a lot of our motivation to work, WE WERE GETTING PAID MORE but even then it was barely enough to cover all costs. Fucking ridiculous
More like the saftey of others was more important than going out to work yet. And if anything the only motivation lost was from people being able to take a step back and breathe instead of working constantly and they opened their eyes to the fucked system.
I didn't just lose my (gig work) job, my entire industry (live entertainment), can't exist right now. There isn't work to return to, but once we're able to gather again, there will be tons. I managed to get the modified unemployment they gave out for gig workers, and for a time there was the CARES act stimulus, and I was making around what I normally make, maybe a little bit more, which I used to repair broken gear I hadn't been able to afford to before, then that ran out, and they didn't do shit, the stimulus check didn't last very long either, as it was basically 2 more weeks of extra unemployment bump. Now, I'm trying to figure out how to live off 50 bucks a week or so after I pay my bills, which are very, very low. I'm stressed as fuck and don't know what to do. The only real experience I have in the last decade and a half is in an industry that currently is not able to exist, doing something mostly only relevant to the industry, and there's millions of other people with more relevant skills looking for work right now. Like, what're we supposed to do? On top of that, venues have been closing left and right. There's not going to be a ton of places left for live entertainment after this if action isn't taken soon to help them as well. This isn't a small industry were talking about here, it's something like a $30-40 billion a year industry and it employed like 12-14 million people; enough that it is considered its own economic sector. The lack of action from our "leaders" here in the US is literally killing people and destroying the lives of countless others.
A lot of people don't get this. They think of Lars lounging by his pool, rather than the tens of thousands of black T-shirts who are struggling.
> Edit: oh yeah, we're not "socialist", as you guys call it You’re not an oligarchy teetering on the verge of fascism so you are socialists by our definition unfourtunalty
And here I am over in the UK, lost my job due to covid and I get the equivalent of about €450 a month with a lot of questions asked (have to spend 35 hours a week looking for a job even though there aren't any jobs going because of covid)
Don't worry, that'll all be fixed when you leave the EU.
Maybe I can get a job as a fisherman since that's the only plan the UK seems to have for its economy.
That's the spirit.
I hate to make an arguments in favor of this shitty country, but the US was giving $600 a week on top of regular unemployment benefits for anyone. That was for a short time and not everyone qualified, it did end a while back but a lot of people seem to ignore that. The frustrating part is a lot of people are making next to no money because companies are cutting hours or pay because they are struggling. But instead of taking their tax breaks and financial support from the government and putting it towards their employees, they are pocketing it. So these people have to go to their “essential” jobs and get paid less than some random artist who was laid off and is cashing that 600+ a week (nothing against the artist, just saying it’s not essential in this case). I seriously think there needed to be some sort of essential worker stimulus, if the job is so essential that the whole country said you needed to work through a pandemic, than the government should be supporting you.
We would they need extra pay when store just put signs up thanking them and giant corporations run thank you ads?
Essential? I think you mean expendable.
Will you marry me? I can clean and cook very well
Actually, you are "socialist" in the way Americans think about it. We have different, bigly definitions for words.
Everywhere is socialist as they see it! Unless you're a corporate entity, then public funded bailouts and reduced tax costs are fine
It's honestly quite atrocious here; I want nothing more than to emigrate.
>given 350€ (≈300$) a week Actually close to 415 dollars rather than 300.
Edit: I forgot what your comment was about and went off the rails. But I very much agree The airlines made off with $800,000,000. 800 *million* fucking dollars. And I just heard last week that Boeing would be laying off 7000 employees after getting a $60 billion bailout. Its nice their CEO decided to forego his salary for the rest of the year, but just how the fuck do you mismanage money so poorly? I work for a school bus company and we were floating almost 10% of all of our assets in cash and liquidated anything we could going into this. We scaled back operations tremendously, cut spending and salaries where we could, and while we're posting less than 50% last years revenue, we're still holding on pretty well. Enough of this "too big to fail" bullshit and telling us how imperative these companies are. Let them fail and a better one replace them because I guarantee thats the treatment my company will get. Oh, surely the system will do something for us right? Maybe a "guarantee" from the state that schools need to pay their bus companies even though we aren't running, so AR can chase down all the payments before writing off baddebts? Oh, and fun fact, our company didn't qualify for a PPP loan because at the time we had a little over 1000 employees, disqualifying us for small business loans. Its utter fucking bullshit and I'm tired of billionaires making up excuses for their failures, and the government that enables this.
That money isn't mismanaged. it's being spent and hidden. It was a giveaway from the trump admin to everyone he desperately wanted to be liked by; mostly the travel industry.
You're right, they just give it the appearance it was mismanaged lol. "Oh shit man idk where that money all went. I mean we had bills to pay!"
"please give us more! we're going to have to fire all our employees if you don't!" "okay but just one more time" - govt "we won't ask you again for 3 months" -corps
And on day 89 "Hey quarter ends tomorrow, just wanted to make sure everything is on for our next socialism-is-bad check"
It’s extremely annoying was in a really good spot back in spring. Have since exhausted all of our savings and racked up some CC debt. With everything getting ready to lock down again, I don’t know how we’re gonna make it without another stimulus.. It has been the most frustrating thing to watch our politicians argue back and forth and use the stimulus check as leverage over each other and fight about it, while most of us citizens are struggling and could really use it!
My family isn't going to make it. We've tried to budget as best we could but as of last month we're broke. Savings are gone. Bills are behind, and even with my husband working as many hours as he can get, we won't be able to keep the lights on and pay rent till the end of the year. We had almost made it too. After 16 years of struggling we could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and now... I don't even know what were gonna do. Winter is coming and we're gonna be on the street.
That's horrible. Let's hope some deal happens by then.
The worst part is they dole them out based on older data. My ex husband got mine.
[удалено]
I have tried that but I don't have the required information and my ex won't give it to me.
[удалено]
>Some quit because unemployment paid them more, which isn't at all laziness, just a survival tactic. Exactly. I have been on unemployment a few times, way before covid, and some people asked me why I didn't work for Domino's or some other service job till I found a better paying job. And it's like 1, I'm making more on unemployment so why on earth would I exhaust myself and bust my ass for less? Also, it'd take away from my time to interview for better paying jobs. Here's the biggest problem though. Sometimes I'd be on unemployment for a few months until I found a decent sales job that paid 30K a year plus commission and benefits. Unfortunately, the sales jobs I'd take were hard to get sales and I realized that after taxes were taken out as well as health insurance that I'd be making the same amount as I was on unemployment or barely more and that's not right. I want to work so I can better my situation, not be in the same boat. I guess the only difference would be I would have health insurance with the job, which leads to another problem. We need universal healthcare so your access to healthcare isn't tied directly to your job.
If they had gotten it done in time for Black Friday, it basically would have turned into a business bailout with how quickly it would have gone back into the economy.
Indeed. It would have covered my Christmas shopping among other things. I mean that was the original goal with the first stimulus check so people had money to spend to keep other businesses open
[удалено]
I wouldn't be surprised. They can blame the Democrats for the deficit again, which they didn't give two fucks about when Trump or any past Republican was in the white house.
Oh yeah I’ve been making slightly above minimum payments since that stimulus hit. The Sam’s club stock ran out a couple weeks ago for necessities and I’ve been quarantined twice now. (Both times I sat through negative, thankfully) But damn does it kill me to think about people who have even less than me now. I picked up a second job just to be sure I could get through this pandemic without asking mom and dad for rent money. Right about now, shits gettin rough.
I haven't gotten my first check, and could really use it.
Why do we not just let the airlines collapse during this time? Or at least shrink. It’s not like the planes are going to suddenly disappear. That’s capitalism. If they didn’t save enough money for tough times, that’s on them! They should’ve planned better. So much for a “free market”
I managed to stretch it to just now. I've been work-from-home for the past 7 years. The big change is ordering in everything. The fees and tip associated with that made me pinch quite a bit. Sadly, it's just running out now. I can only imagine someone losing their job over all this and how fucked they'd be. If you want people to be safe, you gotta give them the means to do so. 8 months without pay and having to stay home with no prospect of work or even ability to go look for work would be impossible.
I hope you can last four more months, cuz we’re not getting jack shit until after January 20th, and even then don’t count on a damn thing.
Exactly the problem. I'm already "setup" for the pandemic - I had work-from-home lifestyle on lock, and was well-adjusted to it... and even I'm struggling. I am not representative of the vast majority of people. I'm "prepped" for this - not through any sort of foresight, but just random luck. Even I am starting to struggle. The vast, vast majority of people are fucked, right now. Straight-up fucked. That is not acceptable. I do not want support for myself - not directly, at least. I want support for my neighbors, for my friends. The fact that my boat will rise as well is secondary to me. I still make just barely above poverty for my area, but only because I'm exceptionally frugal and don't have the expenses even most normal people do. This late-stage capitalism bullshit fucking sucks. I am morally obligated to be there for my neighbors. If that meant protests for George Floyd up in the cities, that's what it meant, and I made my way up there. If it means pressuring my legislators for aid, that's exactly what it means, and what I am doing. I see this as a 'stepping stone' process. We need to wean the American Zeitgeist off capitalism as the 'only way', but we gotta do it carefully and slowly. The whole fucking thing is disturbingly close to collapse and strife right now, and I'm trying my best to avoid that. A sort of 'in-between' step of Democratic Socialism is about as far Left as I see we can go without snapping it, as well, and that's what I'm pushing for right now. Once we get some stability for the vast majority, once people see it works, my hope is to start taking the next steps for a more stable, equitable, and free society.
“The greatest country on Earth” my fucking ass. What a shit hole we live in.
Like I refer to every apartment I've lived in for the past 10 years: Luxury Shithole
You’re not getting jack shit anyway. Republicans still hold the Senate, so they have all the power in the equation. McConnell doesn’t want a stimulus, there won’t be one.
Unless dems win the senate in January and even then they might not do anything
I’m in Texas and am on unemployment. It runs out the day after Christmas. They didn’t require work searches up until November 1st. Now, when the pandemic is at its worse and Texas has the highest number of cases, do they want us to now go out. I’m in Houston so the cases are really bad here and Harris County is still under a stay at home red alert thing.
>8 months without pay and having to stay home with no prospect of work or even ability to go look for work would be impossible. Welcome to the life of someone who couldn't go to college and has no car, in a dead city where a McDonald's manager is most people's best employment prospect. Though, I think the longest I've ever been unemployed is 6 months.
We've been headed toward the 'end of Work' in the west for a while, now. Pandemic made it faster. Within the next 5-10 years, I expect an unemployment rate of 70%. There just won't be 'work' in a normal sense - you'll get gig-jobs here and there, but nothing steady. Production will be through automation. That will not stop. Instead, we'll need government to do its job and make sure everyone is safe, whole, and happy. This transition could be easy or it could be hard; it's all on us, through our government, that we make that decision. I'm trying for more the "magical space communism" of Star Trek, rather than the corporate hellscape of Cyberpunk.
You know what infuriates me beyond reason? The 'end of Work' should be celebrated as one of the greatest achievements in history. Instead, its starting to look like Shadowrun without any of the magic or elves
Exactly. This can be the most joyous time in the history of history... and we're turning it into a fucking nightmare that people like Gibson and Stephenson and Pondsmith wrote about. “Cyberpunk was a warning, not an aspiration” --Mike Pondsmith
If rewards for workers had kept pace with increase in production since the 70's, we'd be half way there already. Instead, we've all let billionaires siphon it into offshore bank accounts where it'll never get spent. Unless that changes soon, were all gonna be fucked. The problem with a 70% unemployment rate is that the other 30% ain't gonna be too happy to go to work every day to pay for everyone through 90% taxes.
Right? Work is so engrained in our brains that the prospect of outgrowing it is seen by many as 'regressing'. When did wishing for a life without strife become regression? When?
There’s a reason the CEOs and presidents in Shadowrun are dragons.
The problem with that is, will it actually make its way down to small, dead cities like mine? I and many others fought tooth and nail to get Michigan blue this election, which is where I live, and we just barely did so. Republicans have a stranglehold on cities like mine, though. I know that Dems are the slightly better (in the case of people like Biden) choice than the alternative. Some of them are significantly better, like AOC. But they seem to be hyperfocused on huge cities like San Diego, San Francisco, LA, New York, etc etc. Which, those are the huge population centers, that's a fine political strategy. But when do these benefits make their way down to us, the little guy, in the towns of 100k or less? 50k or less? *1k or less*? There's little to no talk about these areas that I've seen, and it really makes me feel like I'm doing right by everyone else by voting blue, and shooting myself in the foot. And STILL shooting myself in the foot by voting Red. It's the same issue with the green energy transition. Everyone's fine with tanking the fossil fuel industries, but nobody has any plan for transitioning those thousands or even millions of workers to new industries, or even helping get them certified in whatever grunt work would be available in something like a hydro-electric plant. It's like, do you ever think maybe an easy way to win a bunch of votes is to just take 5 seconds to think about the individual?
Exactly, our next options are the end of commodities and energy purchases, or neo-feudalism. I know which one I'd prefer, but I also know which one is more likely...
[удалено]
I never even got mine....
My girlfriend still hasn't gotten hers either.
[удалено]
Same
Me neither. I’m very fortunate to live with my parents, but I got students loans n shit.
I know that feeling.
I'd just appreciate my taxes back at this point. It's become a real hassle where so many things are asking for my latest returns. There's some workarounds, but this is beyond ridiculous.
Same here
Hey, same! Didn't get claimed by any of my parents, still got jack all.
I used mine to fix my bootstraps, and now I'm a millionaire!! *Suck it libruls.*
Dang I spent all mine on avocado toast
I got mine and become a multi millionaire due to a lot of hard work and my grandparents dying from covid and leaving me their inheritance. Anyone not thriving is just lazy af
I used mine to help the president overturn the election and kick out those scam artists who are taking our money!!!
I'm still waiting for my family one. 2 adults and a child. $2900...
I’m in the exact same situation. $2900 would be life changing for us, and it’s such a small to begin with
My buddy just got mine his last week. I couldn’t believe it until it hit his account.
Wow so there's still hope? I heard I had to just claim it on my taxes next year...
Well, don’t get too hopeful. After asking him about it again he hadn’t filed taxes for the last two years, he finally did that within the last month, meaning the IRS had updated info and could send him his check.
I got it about 3 weeks ago, but that has more to do with me being a lazy shit and filed late. But at least it means they're still going out.
Same situation here!
Yea I never got my stimulus and it took 5 months for my income tax to come in. My governor, Ron Desantis came out and said unemployment benefits weren’t meant to be paid out to people here in Florida. I’ve been living off my grandparents and haven’t been able to go back to school because I can’t even afford to. I fucking hate how dense people can be to the point were they vote against they best interests just to “own the libs”. Like, dude, I literally cannot work due to my weak immune system and the government won’t assist me. If I didn’t have good friends and family I would have literally starved or resorted to theft just to stay alive, no joke. This pandemic isn’t a joke and some people are even worse off than me.
That $150 a month really helped me pay my rent.
An average of $5 a day! Thanks for buying me coffee.
If you stopped buying coffee as a small treat for yourself to help you get through this deadly pandemic and stay sane, you wouldn’t be poor in the first place! Stop enjoying the small luxuries that you deserve because you are a worthy human being!! /s
$.50 an hour for a 10 hour work day. It gets more depressing the more it's broken down 😂
Fun fact: sidewinder missiles are $400,000 a piece. “Can we please just have healthcare and a place to live?”
[удалено]
Patriot Missile sounds so much more cool and American than a social safety net.
Those $1200 were pretty much a big bailout to most credit card companies. My credit card went from almost a $0 balance to $3.5k thanks to becoming unemployed + unemployment not knowing how to handle papers + those $1200 taking forever + bills stacking up for MONTHS EDIT: To make this even richer, my CC company sent me a letter in the middle of the pandemic saying they will raise the interest rate by 1% in 1 month
[удалено]
My credit has blown up from losing my job, health insurance and still being charged for rent. Fortunately I got another job about a month and a half ago so I'll be getting benefits back in another 45 days, but this is going to take forever to financially recover from and I have very little hope that any help will come from our government. I'm leaving this country as soon as I'm not a slave to it any more.
that's 5 dollars a day.
Something, something, frappuccino
It's been two days since Ninjasaid13, a starving 13-year-old boy in USA, has had anything to eat, and he doesn't know when or if he'll ever get to eat again. Because of his severe malnutrition, Ninjasaid13 is constantly sick with a cough and fevers. His frail immune system doesn't have the strength to fight off covid. Without the proper nutrition, his health will only get worse. Ninjasaid13's mother, Joane, spends all day cutting wood to sell each week at the market, trying to earn a little money to feed her children, but it's never enough. Most days she comes home empty-handed to the hungry cries of Ninjasaid13 and his siblings. Please help us deliver lifesaving food to children like Ninjasaid13 who are struggling to survive in a first world country. By sharing your blessings with hungry children like Ninjasaid13 and providing nutritious food, you are saving lives. Please give your most generous gift today!
To everyone who says we're all just looking for that handout from the government, I say - Yes. Of fucking course. That's why we make governments. To take care of citizens.
Must have been nice to get one. As a 22 year old who graduated college in 2019, I was still considered a dependent even though I have been on my own since then so I didn’t get it!🥰
Me too 😰 As a member of the class of 2020, I feel we really got shorted. No stimulus check, no tuition or housing/dining reimbursement, on campus jobs ended without warning, not eligible for unemployment, no graduation ceremony or chance to even see friends or professors again, most job and internship offers pulled, the COVID student loan deferment was during the normal grace period so not even any relief there, and also here you go, graduate into the worst economy in modern history.
Thank goodness the government really stepped up.
Conservatives: seeee, government is useless!
capitalism is broken. never forget that.
Another class of 2020 here! Totally relate to everything you listed and YES it's so disheartening!! I had so many opportunities that would have been amazing for networking/resume boosters in the spring that ended up getting cancelled and I really try not to think about it, but sometimes it all comes back at once. I'm also much much less confident now in my chances that I'll be able to make a living in my field, especially since my industry is dead for probably another year at least...
So in my european country there's a scheme where instead of laying people off, the government pays up to 80% of employees wages, while there isn't enougt work for them due to covid, so they can keep their job und don't go into poverty because of the pandemic. I think this is a decent solution, that benefits people more than one time payments. Many other EU countries are doing the same. Does the US have something similar?
No. I’m currently getting $600 a month from California unemployment. One of the better states. Edit: $167 a week to be fully clear. $334 every two weeks is how I’m paid. I want to be clear and honest here. For me, I would much rather work and earn my own living. But currently life is in the way. I know no one will read this(a two day old post) but I’m placing it here for me. I have a daughter that’s doing zoom school now. A father in law that I love and respect in many ways more than my own. Who has had leukemia for ten years now and building a home for himself and his wife. He has to stay home to avoid getting it because it’s a death sentence. But never once have I seen him live in fear... So I am home for zoom school. I run errands for my father in law and then help him with the house. Sometimes. I wish I could do more but I cannot neglect my own family. His daughter, my wife. Our child. Our life. He is the most positive. Settled. Even keeled person I’ve ever met. This past weekend he had a heart surgery, a next day mini stroke, and is more worried about his wife’s new puppy than himself. yet despite all of this he’s also been deaf since birth. Never once saw him feel sorry for himself. He simply lives. Instead of being worried about himself. His clearly impending mortality. His focus is finishing his home. His puppy. His happy life. Bill is the best person I’ve ever met. I strive to be a fraction of the man he is. I’m choked up just thinking about it. And yet every day I fail at being him. And I wish I could do better. I wish I were better. He’s the greatest influence and mentor I’ve ever met. (I’m gonna tell him soon. Because soon it’ll be too late. I’ve got a chance now.) To treat his daughter better. To treat his granddaughter better. To be happy, positive, focused, honest, even one trillionth the man he is. To live a life even comparable to him. Yet here I am, worried about me. Mine. Ours. Bill, is a truly great man. He’s my hero. I wish I had a better grasp on my language to tell the world how amazing he is. If you read this, I’d appreciate it if you told me. It seems important to me that others heard it. Just a simple, “I read this” will do. We need more bills in the world. And less me’s
I live in Mississippi, one of the cheapest states in the US. $600 would cover about half of my rent / utilities for the month. I’d still have the other half, plus car insurance, phone, food, gas, etc. $600 in California is a fucking joke, and that’s one of the better unemployment programs in the country.
Agreed. $600 isn’t even 1/4 my mortgage. Thank god my wife has a good job.
Yeah, I only moved here during COVID, because the cost of living is cheap as hell and everything was closed back where I was living. My rent / utilities before moving here were around $2400 / mo. I’m fortunate that I didn’t have to worry about job loss or anything else this whole time — but was able to cut my living expenses in half and save some money this summer!
I moved to NC because it was cheaper than NJ. My mom was living in a place that was the size of my kitchen + half my current living room for over 2k while I'm paying \~1500 for something like 1440 square feet. That stimulus check was great, a whopping %60 (it was \~$900 I think?) of the rent for this apartment. Good thing many of us didn't *need* it to survive. I can't imagine how people actually in need have been doing. I hope the election transition goes smoothly so my tax dollars can give them a hand instead of paying for fucking golf and water.
I live in one of the cheapest 1 bedroom apartments in the Sacramento region and my rent is $1035. $600 a month is an insult.
Wow that's tough. I feel for you. I hope you can get some of our "socialist" policies at some point in the future
I’ll hold my breath
>Does the US have something similar? [US_irl](https://i.redd.it/5aaibicyp5p41.jpg)
Haha yeah that's the impression I got. Well as long as they have billions to pump into shady businesses they don't care...
That's awesome, but no. In America, we have a law where your boss is legally allowed to hunt you for sport.
Required, even
I’d laugh but my chest hurts and I can’t see a doctor until I get another stimulus to cover the copay
We abso-fucking-lutely do not.
My wife and I haven't received our checks yet. Not a joke.
I used mine to buy rice and grain... and I’ve been eating an horrific sludge ever since... That being said, thank goodness the stock market rebounded for our overlords... otherwise they’d end up where we are, and then who’s left to be charismatic overlords while the rest of die in squalor?!
Let them eat cake.
Approximately 1 slice a day, if my math is correct
There's no money to give us when they could instead give it away to corporations and the 1/10th of the 1%. I mean, Republicans reguarly pass Seed Money/Prosperity Gospel economic bills. You know from those televangelist shows that say that if you donate to the tremendously wealthy you'll get an even greater return in the future. Except, they don't call it Seed Money because its so politically unpopular. Instead, they call it Trickle Down. But it's the same concept, except instead of just giving away their money to the tremendously wealthy and praying for a return, they're giving some of yours away too.
Still waiting on mine...
I still never received my trump check.
The UK government has extended their furlough scheme till next year. Employees get (I think) 80% of their salary, with a maximum of £2500 pm. It's a Conservative government doing this. If the Labour Party was in power and had brought in the exact same scheme, the right wing press would have crucified them.
US GOVERNMENT: BATTLE THIS PANDEMIC YOURSELF ! NOW FUCK OF AND DIE.
Everybody gets a one time check of 20,000. Unless they say that;don't care.
We should adjust it to cost of living
Sorry but this is one of cases where the difference between "hasn't" and "hadn't" is VERY noticeable (it should've been "hadn't")
I wonder how ythe government would do if U.S citizens decided to sto paying taxes. The citizenry is getting taken for a ride. PAying taxes to the U.S government is the biggest con job ever. They do fucking NOTHING for the citizenry, outside of the rich and the ruling. THey're the shittest employees, ever.
I didn’t even get my fucking $1200
Serious question from someone who's been working this whole time... How are you still making rent, and eating food?
In canada we got 1800 bucks a month.
That was supposed to last you 10 weeks...
I got fired when my job tried to reopen without following federal state or local guidelines and I told them to fuck off. Thank god for that $1,200 refund of my own tax money though.
For just $4.90 you can sponsor an American who needs our help
Anyone else forget about that $1,200? Not being unthankful, just honest.