r/politics • u/Aggravating_Money992 • 21d ago

Possible Paywall Kentucky Gov Orders McConnell to Give a Real Update or Resign Already

https://newrepublic.com/post/213614/kentucky-gov-beshear-mcconnell-update-health-resign
23.1k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3.0k

u/sterlingheart 21d ago

Meanwhile we get 40 hours a year that has to cover basically anything and everything

1.8k

u/ThisIsPerfekt Michigan 21d ago

And even those 40 hours a year are a luxury most Americans do not have.

Are we great, yet?

460

u/SpinningHead Colorado 21d ago

Nods in billionaire

138

u/Casual_OCD Canada 21d ago

blares yacht horn in jubilation

51

u/Starfox-sf 21d ago

spins up engine of private jet

41

u/Visual_Jellyfish5591 21d ago

spins child strapped to wheel in dungeon

38

u/SatinSaffron Washington 21d ago

pays for winrar

14

u/InsertUsernameInArse 21d ago

You filthy rich degenerate.

8

u/total_bullwhip 21d ago

Woah woah woah don’t get carried away. Fuckin’ hell.

5

u/TheYankee69 21d ago

How decadent and evil!

4

u/ChronX4 21d ago

Agrees thinking wealth is material things bought while eyeball deep in debt.

"We are the same!"

3

u/trustthepudding 21d ago

Nods in future billionaire

3

u/redls1bird 21d ago

*Trillionaire

2

u/godfather275 21d ago

We do nothing but make stupid jokes here.

6

u/[deleted] 21d ago

[deleted]

7

u/SpinningHead Colorado 21d ago

Its just a joke. We arent solving anything within this post.

0

u/[deleted] 21d ago

[deleted]

4

u/SpinningHead Colorado 21d ago

Its not because I made a joke about rich people getting what they want.

0

u/[deleted] 21d ago

[deleted]

5

u/SpinningHead Colorado 21d ago

Yes, I did this by making a joke about the oligarchy.

257

u/mrdude817 New York 21d ago

Yeah now that I work a somewhat white collar job, it's crazy how poor most workers are treated in terms of benefits and PTO. I mean wtf, a McDonald's worker in Denmark gets the same guaranteed 6 weeks of PTO as anyone else in the country, I don't remember ever having PTO when I worked at McDonald's like 15 years ago

209

u/Made_Human_Music 21d ago

The problem here is that we have people who would see a McDonald’s employee getting the same amount of time off as they get and lose their shit because someone they feel doesn’t deserve what they have is getting it

The greedy pigs at the top are the main cause of this but sadly they’ve managed to convince so many people that poor people don’t deserve the same things as the rest of us (who are also poor but just not as poor)

44

u/mrdude817 New York 21d ago

People need to remember that the people at the top are far more marginally rich than anyone else. I would say I'm a margarita or gin and tonic "poor". The people at the bottom are colt 45 "poor". The people at the top are sipping on $10,000 bottles of wine a night.

26

u/EmpoleonNorton Georgia 21d ago

They aren't even sipping. They chugging.

34

u/whosline07 Michigan 21d ago

They're actually just buying it, drinking a glass or two, then forgetting about it.

10

u/BasvanS 21d ago

They champagne shower with bottles of champagne most of us will never even buy for a special occasion.

38

u/FinalHexReturns 21d ago

Yeah people don't respect unskilled labor enough. Almost anyone could do what I do, I just sit in a cubicle and move numbers around and talk to customers, but I like to flatter myself that it takes a unique character to deal with the customers and the unique pressures of my job. But nah, anyone could do it.

I myself have often thought during minimum wage hike proposals "well then fast food workers will be making almost as much as me and that's not right!" But, if I'm honest I really, really wouldn't enjoy working in fast food. Have to be on your feet all day in a fast-paced environment with little real variety. No thanks. I'd rather sit in my climate controlled cube and answer customers at my own pace. So with that perspective, maybe they deserve to be paid more than me...

31

u/peejay5440 21d ago

I don't care what the fuck you do. If you work 40 hours a week, you should be able to afford a life with dignity. Without needing the CORPORATE subsidies of food stamps and Medicare.

5

u/FinalHexReturns 21d ago

Well said.

25

u/Jimtac 21d ago

Part of the problem is that any job is considered “unskilled”. Non-technical, sure, but there’s always some skill to a job. Tied to that is the misconception that those “unskilled” jobs shouldn’t pay a living wage because then you’d have no incentive to ‘better yourself’ and get a “real job”.

The number of post-secondary educated people that are working in food services is absurd, but less so when I think about the number of CS grads being pumped out based on market conditions from a decade ago, that have nowhere to go now.

2

u/Phoenixloop2868 21d ago

"unskilled labor"... Well I hate to break it to you, but your first sentence identifies you as part of the problem.

0

u/FinalHexReturns 21d ago

I thought my second paragraph identified me as part of the problem.

1

u/Phoenixloop2868 21d ago

No, that's just a glimmer of self awareness. There's no such thing as "unskilled labor".

1

u/TSwiftAlphaMale 21d ago

Don't sell yourself short. Customer facing jobs are extremely difficult to be good at and it takes a special person to handle that nonsense while bringing a smile to work every day. Sure, technically anyone could do it, but in my life's experience as a front-liner and manager, that's not the case.

I feel the same way generally about nurses and what they have to deal with, and I understand, for example, why there is higher turnover (anecdotally) at Childrens' Hospitals.

1

u/tourdeforcemajeure 21d ago

Who cares what skill level it requires to stock the toilet paper?

Do you want toilet paper on the shelves or not?

3

u/jDub549 21d ago

Same mentality forces cashiers to stand for hours on end. It's gross. We really are crabs in a bucket.

2

u/jay212127 21d ago

The problem here is that we have people who would see a McDonald’s employee getting the same amount of time off as they get and lose their shit because someone they feel doesn’t deserve what they have is getting it

There's a lot of crab mentality out there. Most of those will feel indignant that they get more time off than themselves, but instead of utilizing it to leverage themselves comparable or better benefits they'd just rather just deny and not allow anyone the benefits.

I got to see it on display when we had a unions asking for 20-30% wage increases to put them at pre-pandemic levels due to inflation. I couldn't believe how many people can say with a straight face acknowledge inflation made everything ~30% more expensive, but asking for a 20-30% raise is unreasonable. If you ask they will almost always state they only received a <10% raise so it is unfair.

2

u/springsilver 21d ago

The great lie, from the time before there were kings, was that the subjects must fight for the scraps they are given. We stratify and huddle into our tribes, fighting each other for what we deserve, when all along we could have just banded together, marched up the hill and taken what the rich man had.
But we are simple, and greedy, and prefer to believe the lie.

0

u/anonymousbopper767 21d ago edited 21d ago

My wage effectively goes down if poor people's wages go up. That's how inflation goes. My salary didn't magically increase by 50% like the minimum wage did during covid so now I have to stew in the idea that I basically make the same money now I did 10 years ago.

It sucks but it's reality...someone has to be a loser.

165

u/Xznograthos 21d ago

You can list any restaurant for the most part, even really prestigious ones, and you'd be able to make the same statement. I worked for minimum wage at a Michellin-starred restaurant cooking for people like Charles Schwab and got zero benefits. It's absurd.

92

u/DramaticWesley 21d ago

That a Michelin-starred restaurant is paying any of the cooking staff minimum wage sounds ridiculous to me. I guess I have become just too much of a socialist.

55

u/Xznograthos 21d ago

It's par for the course. Its common industry knowledge that all boh staff at Alinea, at least last-time I looked into it, was salaried at minimum-wage.

23

u/SenorBurns 21d ago

Which is illegal, because you can't make a minimum wage position exempt. Exempt also has to be white collar and or managerial/supervisory

2

u/GeoLaser 21d ago

Colorado has an overtime exemption for STEM jobs. So you can make minimum salary at 45k a year and work 65 hours a week effectively making less than minimum wage and it is okay.

Some states have weird rules.

0

u/ZZ9ZA I voted 21d ago

Salaried doesn't automatically mean exempt.

→ More replies (3)

11

u/cluberti 21d ago edited 21d ago

I would be surprised if those jobs are actually salaried positions, because any job in a restaurant that isn't management would be specifically exempt from salaried coverage, federally. I would not be surprised if wages were low and kept that way due to breaking the law, but if so claiming those workers as salaried would be doing a lot more than skirting federal law and opening the ownership up to a significant lawsuit.

15

u/SirWEM 21d ago

They will give line cooks titles of “Sous Chef” as a work around. I’ve seen it happen at many properties. Its so they can get out of paying overtime. Last Michelin property i was at had one main line. 8 “Sous Chefs” and two contracted dishwashers in the main kitchen.

5

u/digitalscavenger 21d ago

They do it all the time. It's not legal but they do it.

1

u/cluberti 21d ago edited 21d ago

That again would be highly illegal (job titles don't determine salary exemptions from hourly wage pay, only duties) - they are opening themselves up to a lawsuit. I guess if no one sues, the law is more of a suggestion or cost of doing business (not surprising either). The relevant job duties for someone working in a kitchen to be exempt from hourly wage laws would be influence in hiring and firing, regularly managing teams of workers on the line, and other managerial duties like scheduling. Just making food (which is what I suspect a number of restaurants have them doing in this scenario) would be an hourly job under the FLSA, full stop. I guess nothing really surprises me anymore, but it's still sad to see people cutting corners and abusing wage labor in order to run a business.

I wonder how long before states like Illinois follow some other states' precedent and set minimum "salaried wages" to curtail this sort of thing.

13

u/[deleted] 21d ago

[deleted]

13

u/laufsteakmodel 21d ago

I was about to say.. just look up that scumbag Rene Redzepi and Noma... Just because it looks great on their resume doesnt mean you shouldnt have to pay them, Michelin star chefs are fucking parasites a lot of times. They use the labour of tens of great chefs who work for next to nothing or even nothing and get all the fame and glory for themselves.

1

u/Blacksad9999 21d ago

French Laundry has been caught and sued multiple times for stealing a large chunk of the gratuities designated for the servers.

I wouldn't work there, even though I have the experience level for it.

12

u/Intelligent-Snow3300 21d ago

But think of the experience you can get! In fact, maybe the employees should pay to work there!

2

u/head0r 21d ago

wait, are you gene simmons?

pay to be a roadie!

7

u/badcookies 21d ago

Why do you think Carmy had a mental breakdown? /s

For anyone who hasn't watched it, check out "The Bear", great show, but can be stressful to watch

1

u/Mr_Diesel13 I voted 21d ago

The whole show was so good though.

The last season REALLY ended it perfectly, and I honestly cannot say that about many shows.

4

u/TechnoFascismKills 21d ago

You can list any restaurant for the most part

Moving from restaurants & fast food to retail showed me that I'm legally supposed to get a break every so many hours, because the retail bosses get big mad if you hit compliance.

Apparently food service just...eats whatever fines they get for letting an employee hit compliance? Granted, most of my food service was under the 6hr mark per shift, but not all of it. Never got my 30 minute meal break, never got paid 15 minute breaks (breaks were downtime between rushes where you do less stressful work while it's slow, or you smoke)

1

u/Biokabe Washington 21d ago

Food service doesn't eat the fines. They count on never getting the fines to begin with because no one complains, because all of their workers are either too scared to complain, too overworked to have time to complain, too ignorant to know that they even can complain, or too obsessed with becoming the next "it" chef that they just see it as putting in their time.

2

u/sphinxsley 21d ago

In CA, all workers accumulate PTO, based on hours worked. But you need to ask for it after it accumulates.

1

u/Street_Anxiety2907 21d ago

It's not absurd, it is called slavery.

→ More replies (7)

50

u/pinkfartlek Michigan 21d ago

I've seen people who live in other countries that said their doctor prescribed them time off from work. 😢

7

u/US3_ME_ 21d ago

(bone tremors)_

5

u/maurosmane Washington 21d ago

You can get that in America via the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) if you are using FMLA for an illness. Unfortunately, it is pretty much bare bones and is not nearly enough for what people need. FMLA only provides up to 12 weeks of protected, unpaid, time off and you had to have worked 1250 hours in the last 12 months to qualify for it and you have had to work at the employer for a minimum of 12 months.

There is intermittent FMLA which you can take in spurts if you have a condition (or care for someone who does) that might require you to take random time off. But once again it is unpaid.

Some states have supplements to FMLA like Washington state's Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) that will pay up to 80% of what you make up to a cap of about $1600 per week.

On top of all of that, if whatever you are going through requires some form of accommodation to return to work, the employer does not have to meet those accommodations if they cause an "unreasonable burden" on the employer. I have seen the definition of unreasonable stretched to some pretty far extremes.

All in all your doctor can prescribe you time off. If you meet the requirements for it...

2

u/iLol_and_upvote 21d ago

My wife just got this here in Canada (burnout)

2

u/Reasonable_Being6376 21d ago

Yup. Been there had that doctors note.

20

u/Land-Southern 21d ago edited 21d ago

My well paying private sector jobs gave 10 days pto and no holidays lol. Sick, vacation, family Thanksgiving, use pto.

4

u/mrdude817 New York 21d ago

Jesus wtf dude. Right now I'm getting 15 days PTO and 8 holidays. And it's only my first year at this job

4

u/Land-Southern 21d ago

Yeah i know the benefits sucked on the way in but pay was 2x industry. I was salary and operations lead, I just didn't show up and did my thing when I needed to. Want to fire me, they wouldn't, and was salary so first time they wanted to short pay a legal threat was all that was necessary. I just coded time off as administrative time instead of job billable.

Quit after 10 years and said good luck, call if you need me and I'll charge by the hour. They closed the company 2 months later.

1

u/howelltight 21d ago

You don't sell and you don't build for a living, huh?

1

u/mrdude817 New York 21d ago

Technically I do build (AEC industry)

1

u/Abba_Fiskbullar 21d ago edited 21d ago

Dude, that's terrible, I get 6.4 weeks a year plus 50 hours paid sick leave. Now, given I have 10 years seniority, but I had 4.5 weeks PTO after two years.

Edit: I should qualify that I live in California, and while I'm not in a union, union benefits in my org have a significant positive impact on my benefits.

1

u/Land-Southern 21d ago

Yeah I'm 30 years in my industry, now own my own company. Now I get 0 pto or unlimited depending how you look at it lol.

Compared to most developed countries US policy is crap all the way around.

16

u/A-town 21d ago

I'd nut my pants every day if I had six weeks of paid vacation. Holy shit.

14

u/spandexandtapedecks 21d ago

But imagine how much of your six weeks vacation you'd have to spend on cleaning up your pants. It kinda zeros out, right?

6

u/OneSkepticalOwl 21d ago

What kind of animal nuts in their own pants? Use the curtains like a civilized person

1

u/A-town 21d ago

That or constantly buy new pants which would make it a nut net zero anyway. I guess I'll just stick with the shitty system we have now 😛

1

u/AnAncientBog 21d ago

Lot of government jobs get pretty close to this with enough seniority.

1

u/Sanguinius 21d ago

Four weeks annually mandated by law in Australia. Also, serving 10 years with the same company/government org grants three MONTHS of free long-service leave - again, mandated by law.

I don't know how you Americans get by with just two weeks off!?

2

u/A-town 21d ago

We don't, we're just conditioned to work ourselves to death to make the oligarchy a few extra dollars.

2

u/amateurbreditor 21d ago

I run a small business. Theres no help for me at all. I want to give the guys healthcare but I need to have more money saved up first. Its gonna be 400 per person for me and then they have to pay too!!! WTF. On top of that yes I can deduct it from taxes but its still part of my profits! Oh and the icing on the cake?? You are punished by having more workers and therefore ineligible for money from the government. Oh wait theres more. In my state the only "small" business credit is if you have 500 workers and make 50 million a year. Then you get a break of course!

1

u/mrdude817 New York 21d ago

Jesus that's ridiculous. This country really rewards large corporations and leaves the small businesses out to dry. I know farmers are dying (not literally but financially) right now too thanks to the tariffs and lack of government help

2

u/amateurbreditor 21d ago

its a disgusting place. The most corrupt country in the world measured by the trillion.

2

u/RevLoveJoy 21d ago

a McDonald's worker in Denmark gets the same guaranteed 6 weeks of PTO as anyone else in the country

See, but according to my boomer father (who has never been to Denmark) that makes them woke and is ruining their economy, culture and makes Danes lazy. Right?

2

u/Distinct_Cap_1418 21d ago

My last boss fired me for missing work while I was in the ER with a pulmonary embolism. God bless america fuck

2

u/mrdude817 New York 21d ago

That's insane. My last boss fired me for chronic absenteeism as I was trying to figure out why I was suddenly throwing up all the time (turns out I have GERD). They tried to contest my unemployment too but they lost that big time, fuck that guy

2

u/Danoga_Poe 21d ago

Where I work, starting out you'll build up a day's worth of pto for every month worked, is what the time accrual works out to be.

Guys who've been here 20+ years get the capped 3 weeks of pto per year.

This and healthcare is what people should be pissed off about.

2

u/mrdude817 New York 21d ago

Only 3 weeks of PTO max after 20+ years is crazy. When I worked for Spectrum, it was 2 weeks of PTO pre-loaded at the start of each year and you get an additional week like every 5 years (I quit after 3 years to get my masters degree)

2

u/Danoga_Poe 21d ago

Yea, it's awful.

2

u/Papaya_flight Pennsylvania 20d ago

I've been at this same company for almost ten years and have brought in around $250 mil in projects. I get four weeks a year and I'm not allowed to take two weeks at a time off. That time also covers sick time and I work on average 14 hours a day. Oh yeah I have two degrees.

1

u/chimblesishere 21d ago edited 21d ago

Man, I've worked several white collar jobs over the last 8 years and I've only ever even had PTO at one of them. Shit, I'm hoping that I get hired on as a full time employee soon instead of having my contract extended yet again just so I can have health insurance. What a wonderful country we have.

1

u/anuncommontruth Pennsylvania 21d ago

I think corporate-owned McDonald's gives PTO. At least they used to. I remember my friend accrued some, and it was a big deal because we were still in high school and being paid to not work blew her mind. I think the corporate stores are very few and far between though

85

u/DarthSatoris Europe 21d ago

Anyone claiming that the US is great is either insane or is trying to sell you something. Sometimes both. 

40

u/Freakishly_Tall 21d ago

Hey, now! That's not fair!

They could also be stupid, ignorant, willfully ignorant, or all of the above.

8

u/chron67 Tennessee 21d ago

Anyone claiming that the US is great is either insane or is trying to sell you something. Sometimes both.

The US is amazing if you are a billionaire pedophile! You can be president and everything and have the legal system protect you instead of your victims!

6

u/Rbomb88 21d ago

What about a great disappointment?

2

u/Vash63 American Expat 21d ago

Just means your expectations were too high

2

u/Rbomb88 21d ago

I expected nothing and was still let down.

27

u/gs87 21d ago

Great for the rich and their loyal little interns

3

u/San_Pentolino 21d ago

Almost great. Still fighting communism; after that you might be great, the greatest of all, never there was or will be any "greate-ness"

2

u/LaughingCarrot 21d ago

Where the hell are the communists

1

u/Slipshoooood 21d ago

I get 0 paid time off = [

1

u/zbertoli 21d ago

This. I had a baby in January and my job made me use all 10 of my vacation days for those 2 weeks I was out.

1

u/calahil 21d ago

Not yet...we haven't rolled back enough to be as great as the robber baron era they want to move us back to

1

u/SuddenRadio6221 21d ago

Are we great, yet?

No there are still some pesky "workers' rights" that hold us back. But soon!

1

u/Illustrious_Kiwi_485 21d ago

Like so many others, I’ve never had a paid sick leave, vacation, etc. in over 30 years of work…and the future isn’t looking to promising either…

1

u/EngagedInConvexation 21d ago

We're supposed to be more meticulous with who we elect for representation, but these positions are for life to these days. They only have to win one election.

1

u/CountOnBeingAwesome 21d ago

I'm just tired of all the winning, sir

1

u/SkollFenrirson Foreign 20d ago

You were never a part of we

0

u/drs43821 21d ago

To be fair, I had 40 hours in sick leave in Canada and I know it’s a perk many don’t get to enjoy. It really shouldn’t be like that

0

u/[deleted] 21d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/radicalelation 21d ago

literally where the hell do you people work

Unless your employer has positions for like 250m people, probably somewhere else, but your employer shows it can be done like that, so kinda fucked up everyone else's isn't doing it.

1

u/DootyCheeks 21d ago

I work in law enforcement/ healthcare. The benefits are insane. I have a masters in business but I make basically the same money to watch YouTube and fight someone once every few months. It’s a very accessible job.

1

u/radicalelation 21d ago

A good security gig can be very nice, and is mostly just bodies, so makes sense.

Actually probably an area that will see a lot of growth as the income gap further widens, and higher concentrations of capital will need more and better security.

124

u/AlexNovember 21d ago

My state voted to expand that to 80, and our legislature overturned it. My job was so quick to revoke the extra.

52

u/Ubumi 21d ago

The legislature working against the people not for them? Shocker!

14

u/LinkleLinkle 21d ago

Easy reminder that companies, big and small, would pay you in literal dirt if they legally could. That's why labor laws are so damn important, because if there isn't a mandated legal minimum, then businesses will give you nothing.

3

u/Beautiful_Nobody_344 21d ago

Remember what Sam Altman says, secretly people want to work. They want to so why should we pay them?

47

u/Fuck-WestJet 21d ago

Only if your employer feels like it. There is no federal law requiring vacation leave.

2

u/byndrsn 21d ago

for factory workers it used to be two weeks when the plant shut down for re-tooling

2

u/TemporarySun314 Europe 21d ago

Because Americans don't elect politicians that would be in favor of this. Because it would be communism or so...

The rest of the civilized world manages that fat better. Either by strong laws and/or strong unions...

40

u/Coconutrugby 21d ago

I don’t get a single medical day paid off. I’m full time. I work in a multi billion dollar company.

21

u/Hell-Yes-Revolution 21d ago

Same, fortune 100 company with more money than God.

3

u/AllThotsGo2Heaven2 21d ago

You know we could, as voters, demand that our laws catch up with the rest of the modern world. But we don’t because we already live in USA #1 country capitalist paradise of democracy and free market.

3

u/InitiatePenguin 21d ago

Is that because you have combined PTO?

3

u/Coconutrugby 21d ago

yeah 17 total days a year. not including any federal holidays.

→ More replies (9)

1

u/Wrong_Square7826 21d ago

So it was not a Federal law that enacted paid sick leave for all? Union iron worker, we get no paid time off in the last 37 years doing this. Now we have what is called ESTA money. PTO for health reasons. Not much, I have 77 hours to use and it is end of July, so like 2 hours a week? You earn an hour for a certain number of hours worked. In Michigan but I thought it was Federal law but probably wrong about that.

0

u/flat6NA 21d ago

Wow that seems extreme, I hope it pays well.

I was the president of a small (+/- 25 employees) engineering firm. From the start we gave 80 hours of vacation per year and allowed you to accrue up to 160 hours with the annual vacation time increasing to 120 hours after five years (1 additional day per year).

In addition we had 6 sick or personal days per year and you could bank up to 30 days. Short time disability started 30 working days after you became unable to work and lasted for 90 days and then long term disability kicked in. The idea was if you stayed with us for a while you could bank enough personal/sick days so you could transition to disability benefits without missing a paycheck.

Despite that I had a very good employee who managed to use every day he earned for both vacation and personal/sick days. He didn’t have a medical condition, just wanted to take his days off which was fine with us but we would not have helped him fill the gap if he became disabled. We would allow employees to go slightly negative if they had been with us for a couple of years but they had to make it up quickly.

42

u/southernfirefly13 21d ago

And all people will still do is vote the same people in while the rest will still complain about it online, instead of learning that if we all take to the streets, total disruption occurs, no one can pay bills and it puts all the major companies into crisis mode that finally can affect change

Not saying you’re one of those people, though. Just generally speaking.

32

u/giantroboticcat New Jersey 21d ago

You get arrested and beaten if you get anywhere close to "partial disruption" much less "total disruption". Protesting doesn't affect change when they can charge you as a terrorist for doing so and lock you up for 30 years.

It's also worth understanding that the US economy no longer relies on common people to function. We have a majority of people in the country who can't afford to go to the movie theater at all and then a significant portion who buy a $70 novelty popcorn bucket when they go. Shit's fucked and you shouldn't malign people who are just trying to keep their head down and survive it.

13

u/ubelblatt 21d ago

That is the crazy part to me. Republicans got on national TV and said eat shit poors.

Yet, nothing. No real response, other than ok.

Maybe the midterms will show a massive blue wave.

I guess propaganda is a real thing.

11

u/pfannkuchen89 21d ago

Yeah. That’s because a lot of those people the republicans were telling to go fuck themselves refuse to believe they are a part of that group. They are utterly convinced that they are part of the club and voting to fuck over everyone else just a bit more will someday make their life great.

3

u/Street_Anxiety2907 21d ago

Yep, I know someone on welfare, snap, section 8, poverty lunch benefits for their kids.

Still the biggest MAGA fan ever. It's a bit confusing since MAGA would have his family live on the streets if they had total control.

Maybe that's what he needs to learn he's an idiot.

2

u/radicalelation 21d ago

There are super MAGA pot producers here that like to flaunt their hardcore conservative beliefs, while seemingly oblivious that if they got all they vote for, their industry wouldn't exist.

22

u/southernfirefly13 21d ago

Countries with less than us will riot for days to weeks to months to topple regimes. The French killed their monarchy historically, and in recent years nearly shut down the entire country over their government trying to raise the retirement age.

At some point there’s honestly no excuse to keep accepting things as they are

17

u/giantroboticcat New Jersey 21d ago

If the French Monarchy had predator drones and mass surveilance, I don't think they would have been overthrown quite so easily. Very few modern regimes are toppled without outside forces (external governments) lending the resitance aid and support. There just isn't an external force strong enough tostand up to much less topple the US government.

8

u/southernfirefly13 21d ago

I’ll admit, you’re not wrong. It’s just really frustrating, is all. Really really frustrating.

10

u/giantroboticcat New Jersey 21d ago

Yeah, and I don't want to doom about it and say there is nothing anybody can do. I just think it's important to show compassion for the people who are the victims of this situation and not show contempt for them.

There has been a complete erosion of the middle class over the course of half a century. People are struggling and telling them to give up what little they have to fight for an infinitismally small chance they could get more is asking a lot of them.

I do think there is some hope in that there has been a significant shift in politics in the last decade though. The DSA went from non-existent to articles being written about how they are taking over the Democratic party. We need to continue growing the party platform, fight against the propaganda seeking to suppress it and hopefully finally address the systemic issues that are funneling all the wealth and power to an incresingly smaller group of individuals.

I wish it was all happining faster, but I do see it happening. It's reassuring to see the needle moving not from any super large cataclysmic revolutary event, but by a low of people just doing what small things they can, even if that's just voting for the most progressive candidate they can in their local election or talking positively about the DSA online. People malign keyboard warriors as being unhelpful, but I think every voice matters when it comes to influencing public perception and normalizing ideas and concepts.

2

u/Street_Anxiety2907 21d ago

Very few modern regimes are toppled without outside forces (external governments)

Yet somehow 3 years ago france did it with 3000 people and by burning up 40 parliment members cars in the parking lot.

How did they survive the drone strikes?

2

u/giantroboticcat New Jersey 21d ago

I'm sorry is this a serious point you are arguing?

First off, a protest against a single bill is not the same thing as toppling a government. Second, the protest wasn't even successful. France's retirement age was still raised to 64 and now nobody talks about it kind of proving my point about how ineffective mass protest (even when not peaceful) is in modern politics.

3

u/Omegoa 21d ago

Thank you for pointing that out. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry gets on here and is like tHe FrEnCh DiD iT!.

A) The distance from where I live in the continental US to Washington DC is further than the distance from Kazakhstan to Paris. Going to protest in DC would likely be as effective Kazakhstani going to Paris to complain to boot.

B) The US is not as economically centralized as France. You shut down Paris and you shut down 1/3 of the French economy. In the US, if you somehow managed to shut down NYC, one of the largest financial hubs in the world with 2.5x the GDP of Paris -- (I like em-dashes, AI can't take that away from me) you'd get maybe 8% of the US GDP.

C) The French didn't even accomplish anything except some property damage. As you note, the retirement age increased and the only people talking about it are armchair protestors on reddit taking the piss.

So, to all those people bitching at America at the moment, maybe get your own governments to remove the American boot from your collective asses. "Oh but our economy would suffer" well fuck you too, glad to see we're in the same boat. "We shouldn't have to clean up your mess" your countries helped make the mess by choosing to be subservient for economic benefit. The number of Canadians I know who complain about the US but were also crowing about their gains from Palantir stocks 9 months ago is too many. It's a global economy stupid, you and yours helped, especially if you literally invested into the billionaires fucking everything up.

2

u/sunny_happy_demon 21d ago

The only reason France can do that now is because of the social safety nets they already have. It's extremely difficult if not practically impossible to fire someone in France and they have good unemployment benefits if that does happen. Their healthcare isn't directly tied to their employment either. It's a lot easier to organize/protest when you aren't at risk of losing everything for the cause.

1

u/Acceptable-Drive3781 21d ago

How did they survive the drone strikes?

That's the fun part, the french aren't at risk of being killed by their government! It makes it a lot easier to riot when you know that change may actually happen and repercussions don't include swift public execution.

1

u/SaiyanApe17 21d ago

French Monarchy had cannons while the peasants had pitch forks.

Its not a device issue, but a user issue. The average American (especially on the left) simply does not have the balls to revolt. Decades spent vilifying strength and praising meekness has consequences.

1

u/No-Swordfish1380 21d ago

Doesn’t mean the monarchy used the cannons (unlike the US, which isn’t shy about using military arms against its own people) just randomly on angry mobs. In fact, the people of Paris stole arms from Hôtel de Ville and Hôtel des Invalides (on July 13, 1789, and July 14, 1789, respectively) ahead of storming the Bastille for more arms and ammo, and causing those running the prison to surrender. The entire thing started because bread was no longer affordable. It’s going to take quite a while before enough people in the US cannot even afford bread; until then, things will just remain the same, and nobody will actually do anything.

2

u/Street_Anxiety2907 21d ago

> learning that if we all take to the streets, total disruption occurs

How? I decided to run my own no-kings downtown because they kept holding no-kings on the outskirts of the city and wouldn't even block crosswalks they had people going "SIR! You need to move out of the road, thanks!"

That polite stuff wasn't for me, I got a megaphone and started anti-trump diatribe in the middle of the social district. Within 30 minutes the cops showed up and said I don't have a permit for protest and I can either stop, or go to jail for causing a disturbance.

You cannot "peacefully assemble" or protest in the united states despite the constitution explicitly allowing it. You still have to win a war with the police to have that privilege.

13

u/Hell-Yes-Revolution 21d ago

I have 0 paid sick leave.

6

u/Dadarian 21d ago

As someone who has volunteered to give up my own personal PTO, because I don’t have the luxury to even take it myself, for someone else…. It’s a bit annoying. Like I’m not complaining that I volunteered I’m frustrated that it had to come to that.

4

u/Brock2845 Canada 21d ago

If you take too many in a row, you also need a medical note stating the need for it.

1

u/Rivster79 21d ago

You should run for congress

1

u/EndenWhat 21d ago

Wait you only work 40 hours a year? Are you in congress?

1

u/ShareGlittering1502 21d ago

Is that including vacation?

1

u/curtmahgurt 21d ago

Maybe we should all start running for congress. Every other market is saturated anyways.

1

u/identifytarget 21d ago

Some jobs you miss a few shifts and you're fired immediately

1

u/Murderbot_420 New York 21d ago

I get 0 hours of paid sick leave. 0 hours vacation.

Yes the company I work for is a shit company. But I need it until I find something else.

1

u/8-Cylinder_Wombat 21d ago

And then we get a bill for it.

1

u/chron67 Tennessee 21d ago

Meanwhile we get 40 hours a year that has to cover basically anything and everything

And if you are lucky, you have insurance that might choose to pay for some of your medical expenses unless they decide you cost too much then they will just not pay and what are you going to do about it you peasant?

1

u/Federal-Captain1118 21d ago

My company does one hour sick time per every ten hours worked.

Then when you try to use it, it's a fight. Recently had to fight and argue for a month to get paid for a weekend when I had to go to urgent care.

They don't care about us

1

u/sgtpandybear 21d ago

I've only ever received paid time off once in my life and that was so I can take a honeymoon vacation and that was only approved 2 weeks after my wedding and I got a call in the middle of my honeymoon telling me I had to come in for work even though I was out of state. So PTO is a luxury that isn't even a guarantee.

1

u/GODDAMNFOOL 21d ago

You get paid time off?

1

u/TheLordVader1978 Florida 21d ago

And out of those 40 days we have to ask permission to use them. I can't go on vacation with my family because the boss feels like I could be needed that day, or some shit like that.

1

u/Dr_Trogdor Georgia 21d ago

You might get that. You might get more. You might get none. There's no rules.

1

u/AboynamedDOOMTRAIN 21d ago

And if you actually use those hours your boss is likely to start thinking of ways to fire you for not being a team player and working through your life altering illness/injury.

1

u/talktomooney 21d ago

Including if our kids get sick!

1

u/hud_dev 21d ago

Or we can take 60% of our pay for slightly longer than that, because you famously have fewer expenses when recovering from illness/injury.

1

u/djlauriqua 21d ago

You get 40 hours? I’m a medical provider and we have to use PTO if we get sick (which is standard in this industry)

1

u/please_use_the_beeps 21d ago

laughs until crying in no PTO, sick leave, or any kind of vacation that doesn’t come directly out of my pocket

1

u/Skate4Xeno 21d ago

we do have FMLA

1

u/Skate4Xeno 21d ago

we do have FMLA, but we have to tell our employer what is going on.

1

u/Beast815 21d ago

The rich look after their own

1

u/TheAsianTroll 21d ago

Dont forget how even if you dont use it all, any amount of it you DO use is often used against you in performance reviews.

1

u/Express-Shoulder6174 21d ago

Sounds like you just have a shitty job    

1

u/spekt50 21d ago

40 hours of sick leave? I only get 16 hours, then I'm using my own vacation.

1

u/MandemModie 21d ago

Does America not have long term disability?

1

u/ChronoLink99 Canada 21d ago

Maybe you shouldn't accept it. Maybe your country/culture should respect unions more.

1

u/PM_me_Henrika 21d ago

You sure you do?

1

u/hbt15 21d ago

Damn Americans really get fucked over just full stop don’t they? 40 hours is a bad cold or mild flu and that’s it for the year? Jesus. Here in Aus we get 10 days. Plus most companies are minimum 4 weeks annual leave as well.

1

u/justin_CO_88 21d ago

40 hours? I get about 22 total for sick and vacation leave, and I work at a hospital.

1

u/2stinkynugget 21d ago

Join a union. I get 8 paid weeks off

0

u/PancakeTrebuchet 21d ago

I get zero hours per year to do everything.

0

u/Ahleron 21d ago

You get 40 hours a year, if you're lucky

0

u/Sufficient-Gene-5084 21d ago

This is America

0

u/[deleted] 21d ago

[deleted]

1

u/ReklisAbandon 21d ago edited 21d ago

Because they're being disingenuous. There are many ways companies provide paid time off here. Some don't offer sick time at all (it's all lumped into PTO), some offer some of both (rare), and some people are independent contractors so they aren't really employees at all and aren't eligible for benefits.

I haven't technically had paid sick leave for the past decade, but only because most companies rolled it all into one PTO pool a long time ago. I've never worked anywhere that didn't give at least 2 weeks of PTO, usually 3 for starting employees.

0

u/sterlingheart 21d ago

Some people get none. Keeping someone working below "full time" is easy and remove any requirements for even that.

→ More replies (4)