upward redistribution, the greatest steal ever accomplished, the betrayal of any semblemce of a social contract, the most unfair redistribution system ever devised.
Social Sec, Medicare and other pension systems have many names
Here's an 18-minute documentary by Reason's Eric Boehm that is informative af and infuriating af:
Today's retirees, most of them from the baby boomer generation, are the wealthiest cohort of Americans. The median household headed by someone over age 65 is far wealthier than the average household headed by someone in their late 30s.
Despite that, roughly 22 cents of every dollar the federal government spent last year was funneled to retirees via Social Security. Medicare spending accounted for another 14 percent. Many of those dollars were extracted from younger, poorer Americans.
What these false-branded "insurance" systems do is extract funds from every single paycheck earned by working Americans to pay for the richest cohort ever established in the history of capitalism. It's absurd.
Not only did this same class ride a manufactured wealth-generation wave via housing market and stocks (=read, broken money), and went to school/university for a pittance or on military grants, they worked their first summers and decades in the greatest, safest, artificially propped-up American economy of the 1950s and 1960s (=No pesky European/Japanese/Chinese industries to compete with). Then they worked a career of, admittedly quite tumultous shit (#1468578), got a few nice cars and an oversized house, vacations, a summer house and a golden rolex at retirement.
And now, with that beauty on the CV, they expect waaay poorer workers to carve out 6.2% of their measly post-tax wages, such that SS and Medicare spending keeps going, while extreme Covid money-printing ate the value of absolutely everything and the budget/national debt exploded upward.
Don't worry, the COLA covered the retirees! Can't harm those poor boomers.
"A reverse Robin-Hood system: We're taking from the relatively poor and giving to the relatively rich""A reverse Robin-Hood system: We're taking from the relatively poor and giving to the relatively rich"
And NO, you did not pay into it!
It's an EXTRACTION SYSTEM — and you're the parasite on the other side.
America's old-age entitlement system may have been designed in times when old people were more likely to be destitute or face unaffordable health care costs. But today the two major federal entitlement programs have become a reverse Robin Hood system that redistributes trillions of dollars from productive but relatively poor workers to unproductive, wealthy retirees.
God, there's no end to my hatred for old people. Honestly, just fuck em.
So, TLDR of America's welfare system? Just fuck 'em all.
'It's an EXTRACTION SYSTEM — and you're the parasite on the other side.'
OP @denlillaapan lives in Iceland so he can enjoy the state funded welfare provided to 'creatives'.
I'm not inclined to hate welfare recipients beyond their role in actually making the system work this way.
The thief is the tax collector, not whoever the money gets spent with.
nah, I'll hate them alright. They're the ones living their happy lives because of this horrid system; the beneficiaries. It's OK to fling dirt at them or, you know, key their Ferraris
Beyond that, the average boomer had about as much power to change things as the current generations do. That's to say... not much. When many of these things were created the boomers were young. They didn't have power. Like today there was a power elite and there was no Internet. The media force fed them a healthy diet promoting the agenda they followed.
Let's say all the boomers were gone tomorrow. Do you really think the X, and Y would do much better? I'm probably more against the the things this article is complaining about than you. But it's the elite and the plebs. The point is what are you doing. What am I doing.
Screw hate. It's a waste and poison.
That’s one of my favorite quotes
Nah, fuck em.
If they repent and understand their gravy position and admit, like you say, they didn't know better or had anything to do with creating it — fine, I'll allow it.
But arguing back, and invoking one of the infuriating "but I paid into the system!"/"but I worked hard, you just have to" then zeeeero empathy
I drive a 25-year-old Toyota pickup truck. Ferraris have poor quality control. ROFL.
My 2litre Hilux is 38 years old and runs on LPG extracted from New Zealands own reserves to avoid funding the US-Israeli terror states wars of petrodollar hegemony.
Kids these days never experienced the post WW2 ethic of community and solidarity . . . they were bottle fed on the amoral corporate serving narrative of neoliberal ideology.
Doesn't it at least matter what they do with the money? The checks come either way.
maybe a little... give all/most to their 20-something grandkids and OK, I'll shut up
My sisters 30 something son wants her to buy him an apartment-
She asked my advice and I told her no, don't spoil the lazy parasitic brat he can work for what he wants like we did - instead he sits around all day poor me navel gazing and complaining about the world like @denlillaapan while collecting welfare checks.
so he doesn't work at all? how does he live?
Stays with his mother rent free while receiving welfare checks and occasional cash jobs.
My attitude may sound harsh but he is a smart guy and I have seen others like him waste their away their lives on welfare.
Yes the economy is harder these days in many ways, but for most men work is important to the achievement of self worth and life goals.
I once asked people here what their response would be to a situation a relative of mine was in.
Here in NZ everyone over the age of 65 is automatically entitled to a pension of about $500/week. It is not means tested.
My relative has chosen not to accept the payment as they feel they have enough wealth to support them into old age - I asked Stackers would they do the same or would they take the money regardless of their own wealth.
If my recollection is correct, not a single respondent said they would refuse the pension.
I was surprised as I thought 'Libertarian' and self sovereign individuals would not be so keen to take other peoples money- but no- they all said take the money.
So @denlillaapan - look in the mirror - would you take the money or refuse it?
Perhaps the selfishness is an inter-generational thing...a symptom of an entire culture in decline due to an amoral ideology that discards any sense of community and only values the individual and material acquisition?
Perhaps the USA with its decades of extraordinary privilege and wealth has bred a population with an exceptional sense of entitlement and selfishness that does not want to sacrifice anything much for the common good but rather takes and takes from the collective wealth and depletes the entire nation in the process.
This is perhaps the decline of western civilisation- due to exceptional an exceptional sense of entitlement, selfishness and greed across the generations.
Yes USA is in decline and elderly voters hold a lot of power.
There many younger Americans who are so cynical about the political process that they do not even vote or participate in politics- they sometimes identify as Libertarians and assert that the state is a menace and that all they want is free market capitalism to be allowed to function without any impediment.
But they do not see how wealth in the USA is largely based upon its extraordinary privilege which is in turn built upon the petrodollar which is in turn built upon the global military and institutional hegemony wielded by the USA.
USA is in decline- in terms of power projection, economic competitiveness and societal cohesion- the amoral neoliberal ideology that Libertarians were breastfed on was a major factor in the decline of America and continues to be.
China has won the trade war and its proxy, Iran has just defeated USA and Israel, now demonstrating to all other nations that China can provide a full service economic and strategic partner independent of USA and its rapidly declining petrodollar hegemony.
Don't blame us Boomers for that...in large part your own absurd neoliberal-Libertarian ideology is what is driving the decline of US wealth power and integrity.
i feel like young people wouldn't mind so much propping it up, if they didn't feel like they were robbed of the same opportunities and that they would be looked after when their time rolled around. Boomers lived in a defined world of do x, and the result will be y, and it seemed to work pretty well.
pump gas for a summer, pay your entire tuition, get a guaranteed job, usually for life, rinse and repeat.
I don't blame them; they were just doing what was the done thing. Whereas now, all those systems are broken, at an end-stage fiat, in a 4th turning, and a 20-year-old is having the extra panic of AI taking more jobs, so they can be plumbers or try OF.
Then they start looking at socialism and the idea of redistruibtion becuase it's 'fair' starts sounds super appealing.
Future generations will say the same about early btc hoddlers and our generational wealth made from ass milking on SN
Aaah, this i think about a decent bit. Not sure it's the same at all... We didn't accidentally stumble into something broken and rode the wave all the way to the bank, we proof-of-work worked hard and suuuuffffeeered. We learned and made a choice, the consequences of which we carry — put differently, if bitcoin doesn't work out nobody is going to bail us out and reimburse the funds/time we wasted on it
While I agree, i feel like the hypothetical angry socialist youth of the future will ignore the nuance
Lol and heres me the angry old Socialist Boomer who rode the BTC wave to a very comfortable self funded retirement (no need for the states welfare checks) but I seriously pity those reduced to arsemilking on SNs- Have some fucking dignity and stop drowning in self pity, hypocrisy and sophistry!
Bro, are you only just waking up to how American "capitalism" has been working for the past 20 years?
In some ways, you can understand the frustration of the young marxists. If this is capitalism, then might as well try the other thing, right?
you can indeed, yeah.
to your question... no, not exactly. Been on this train a while
How long have you been receiving Iceland welfare payments for creatives?
It's an EXTRACTION SYSTEM — and you're the parasite on the other side.
CLARIFICATION:
"Total Boomer Luxury Communism," TBLC, is Russ Greene's term https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Boomer_Luxury_Communism
the hatred and SN post title are mine, not Eric's.
Luxury Boomer Communism is a great name.
https://twiiit.com/GreenPlusAnE/status/1942928782324609116