Submitted 3 weeks ago by sanitation@lemmy.today to workreform@lemmy.world
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“I work 60 hours most weeks.
And somehow, I still feel like I’m struggling to get by.
At some point you have to ask yourself:
What’s the point of working this hard if you never get to enjoy your life?
Something needs to change.”
Remember, when ‘The Simpsons’ first came out, a high school graduate with a blue collar job owning a house and two cars was considered normal.
TV isn’t a good barometer though. Most sitcoms have cafe service staff living by themselves in a massive New York apartment.
It’s been mentioned so many times.
Monica got that great apartment because her aunt [grandmother?] put Monica’s name on the lease when Monica was still a kid. Chandler was an executive with a couple of assistants and he could barely afford the smaller place next door.
And the reality is that up until 1968, a high school graduate in the USA actually did have a good chance of becoming a home owner.
When Nixon came in he doubled down on LBJ’s policy of paying for the Vietnam War by printing money and not raising taxes. This lead to inflation. The inflation got much worse when the Arab Oil Boycott hit.
Jimmy Carter hired Paul Volker to run the Fed. Volker’s plan worked, but only after Carter was out. Reagan took credit for the economic miracle, then turned around and gave the banks the right to print money with his deregulation.
By 1992, after four GOP Presidents, ‘middle class’ had gone from one job supporting a family to both parents working full time.
This sort of thing happened in France, 1789, and a few more times over the next century.
Something, something, three skipped meals away from revolution.
Nah, three skipped meals before you rat out your neighbor for a piece of the leftovers scraped off the plate of the rich.
You want a revolution that doesn’t become warlords, you need education and organization.
Three more busted sewage lines away from total societal collapse.
The point of working that hard isn’t to enjoy your life, it’s so your employer can enjoy their life. They can’t do that without your efforts. If you wanted to enjoy your life you should have found someone else to work for you.
It changes when we say enough
OH SAY CAN YOU SEE?
Once you don’t need to overwork yourself just to get by, then there will be another problem to overcome. Work reform is not the only monster out there to tackle.
Namely, many modern states consider you their property:
The game was rigged from the start.
What’s the point of working this hard if you never get to enjoy your life?
Uh, look at how much money Elon has? duh.
In other news, Mar-a-pedo burnt down this morning…
You had me looking this up, like no fucking way. Americans grew some balls?! Some meaty, hairy, pulsating fucking balls?!
No. No such news.
Sorry for the grift. I was sort of trying to say that this would be great if it happened
Foreign states have captured people in the states so tightly via social media and ridiculous maga that no one cares criticise him, even amongst the democrats
They should be demonstrating bigly like the French. Burn something down
But but you can wear your hard work badge of honor and just know that because you’re not getting rewards you now have the right to make sure nobody else gets a better life either.
The current working generation (let’s say millennials mostly) is being sacrificed, both for the previous and next generations to survive. Our taxes (at least in the EU) are supporting (or being collected to support in the future) both the retirement benefits of the older generation, and the benefits that young adults are getting so they don’t move to other countries and leave the next generation hanging when it’s their time to retire. On top of this, the system is completely unsustainable, so it’s unlikely millennials will ever retire comfortably (or at all).
So yeah, I’d say that’s about right. I wish I could even have some dignity in life. Enjoying is not even a goal anymore. And just wait until the job market tightens even further and starts affecting blue collar workers as it is currently affecting IT.
Yeah, not looking good. And it’s a worldwide problem, unfortunately.
Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
60 hrs a week? That’s just slavery. This is not an enjoyable life and has to change. I just assume USA, never heard anyone working 6Ohrs a week. Unless it’s one’s passion and one also has no hobbies or life.
Heck, I don’t even work 60 hours a year. And even those I would prefer to do other stuff.
HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Wait what
Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
A few hours a month to enable living in retirement. It’s not a “regular” job or so.
Malica@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
If you’ve got kids you do what you gotta do. It sucks. I’ve watched it kill a man in 50 years.
Azzu@leminal.space 3 weeks ago
Which is why one shouldn’t have kids.
Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Kids? In these times? Unless you’re filthy rich? It’s just making new slaves for the master.
And it kills a man probably much earlier. His body just stays alive longer
Zedd_Prophecy@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Yeah well USA checking in with 50 hr mandatory and shit health caste with a 4k out of pocket forest health care.56 and no chance the wife and I can afford a 1500a month mortgage. Probably be living my golden years in a tent.
Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 3 weeks ago
Sorry man, you guys really have it worst (of the so called civilized world). Why not piss off? You already speak a global language and everyone pities muricans anyway, so no hate. Canada? Some place in the EU? i know a handful who moved here and now don’t understand why it took so long. You might be still poor here, but at least your shit is cared for, even if not 100% optimal.
tmyakal@infosec.pub 3 weeks ago
I’m sitting here, crossing my fingers that my father dies quick and soon. If he lives too long, he’ll need to sell his house to fund his elder care, and then I’ll never own a home.