Considering how crazy expensive accommodations have become the last couple of years, concentrated in the hands of greedy corporations, landlords and how little politicians seem to care about this problem, do you think we will ever experience a real estate market crash that would bring those exorbitant prices back to Earth?
I honestly think were heading for a total societal collapse. If the people with power and resources were the sort that were inclined to use it for good, they would have done it already. Given that we haven’t seen this, it’s reasonable that this accumulation at the top will continue unabated and that more and more people will fall into poverty and despair.
This is a recipe for revolution, and revolution is largely incompatible with stability, especially in the near term.
I wish this wasn’t the case. I suspect this century’'s deaths will dwarf last century’s.
Look at other countries. Huge slums / shanty towns get built and normalized long before revolution.
If you’re living in a plywood shack, but still have a phone with data, some games to play, ebt / food bank to eat, you’re not about to pick up arms. At least most people in that spot won’t.
Maybe you’re right, but it’s also possible that people in those places have been living with those conditions all their lives and it creates a kind of apathy. If you take away everything from people who thought they’d have a kind of middle-class future, we don’t quite know what that looks like yet. I suspect it won’t be exactly the same.
The younger generations today are already giving in to that apathy.
We’ll see what happens then. Apathy and despair is one possible combination. Anger and despair is another. They have very different results.
How many teenagers and twenty-somethings do you know? Do they seem angry or apathetic?
Ask anyone under 20 about climate change. Zero faith that we’re going to survive as a species
I think history is a better indicator of where human nature can go rather than current attitudes and trends.
there is no smartphone , video games and internet in the past, so people get angry easily
Great point. Historically life was orders of magnitude more difficult than today. There wasn’t food banks or welfare. There wasn’t computers and phones and cheap weed and alcohol to keep folks occupied.
Average people could stand a chance against a current military with just numbers.
Zero of those things are true today, so historically there is zero chance of a revolution today.
Again, really great point.
Plenty of countries in the ME have already gone through this. Iran & Lebanon used to have a nice and solid middle class and damn free societies compared to what’s there now. And all that within just the last century.
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It’s not about availability, it’s about willingness. If a revolution was attempted in America, like 80% of those who pick up arms would be gunned down in the first day.
Choosing between that, at just living the rest of your days eating beans and playing games on your phone in a shack? Let’s face it.
Beans and a shack is probably actually an acceptable standard to guarantee everyone. And given enough time and spare bits of wood you can make your shack a good shack.
But right now a lot of people are suffering without their beans and shack.
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No, not same difference.
The opponent is a modern military, and I have an assault rifle and Molotov cocktails.
If I’m starving to death, yeah maybe I take up arms. If I’ve at least got some food and a charged up phone? I might tell myself I’ll take up arms tomorrow, but again, let’s face it.
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No way, I think we are going to find out that circus is more important than bread, very soon. When people start needing to eat expired food and bugs, they won’t revolt as long as they have TikTok etc.
god i only hope.