• @[email protected]
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    1261 year ago

    You know what’s mad. My brother in law on benefits blames other people on different benefits

    • BigFig
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      1 year ago

      Disabled veteran relative who gets mad about other disabled people parking in handicap parking…

    • @[email protected]
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      21 year ago

      This is just the Matrix working as intended.

      Probably a lot of internal shame being projected, and when he gets on his feet he’s probably going to feel guilty for a long time.

      I was on the dole for a while and they do everything to make you feel like a criminal just for needing help. After I started paying taxes again I realised the the unproductive toxicity of my thinking.

      • @[email protected]
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        31 year ago

        Normally I’d agree with you but he’s been on the bru all his days. Not lazy per say but the second he sees the deduction column of the wage slip he finds excuses to quit.

        When he was diagnosed with osteoarthritis he acted like he hit the jackpot.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 year ago

          Oh yeah, I’ve hit the jackpot, too. Full disability benefits that barely pay for my rent and utilities, but I have to choose between food and meds. All it costs me is constant diarrhoea, vomiting, seizures, fainting, and debilitating pain so I can’t leave the house.

          Totally worth giving up the nearly six-figure career I absolutely adored doing. -.-

          (Sorry, not aimed at you but at your family member and others with that attitude. It’s the opposite of what many of us want, but we have no other choice.)

  • theodewere
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    531 year ago

    nothing makes a rich man feel better about himself than watching peasants fight over scraps

  • @[email protected]
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    451 year ago

    Same as the immigrants aren’t stealing your job, the greedy capitalist are giving those jobs to immigrants to cut down their bottom line, and they love nothing more when you blame the immigrants.

    • @[email protected]
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      191 year ago

      Immigrants spend less on frivolous bullshit and send money to other countries. Businesses lose out on that end, especially tech companies and wealthy industries.

      Manufacturing and manual labor jobs love immigrants because they can pay them minimum wage for horrible working conditions compared to your typical minimum wage 3rd+ generation white worker.

  • @[email protected]
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    411 year ago

    At this point, the people smart enough to understand this- already get it. Those that refuse to accept it- are lost causes.

        • ASeriesOfPoorChoices
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          51 year ago

          It is both here and there. It isn’t an argument against your statement. It is saying how what you’ve said is worse than it appears. It is both enhancing and expanding on your comment.

          And you’re trying to start an argument on the internet with someone on your side. 🤦

          Starting to think you might be one of those lost causes.

          • @[email protected]
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            11 year ago

            It’s an irrelevant point regardless of what side you’re on. I don’t just agree with people because they agree with me. That’s not how it works.

            • ASeriesOfPoorChoices
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              21 year ago

              You: 2+2=4

              Them: yes, definitely four.

              You: FUCK YOU! NO, IT EQUALS FOUR. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, “DEFINITELY FOUR”? HERE, NOR THERE. JUST BECAUSE YOU AGREE WITH ME I’M GOING TO START AN ARGUMENT. I’M NOT GOING TO HAVE THIS CONVERSATION.

              Honestly, this whole thread gets funnier every time I read it.

            • ASeriesOfPoorChoices
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              1 year ago

              Agree about what?

              Are you now suggesting that those people who are lost causes DON’T have the power to vote? What the eff is wrong with you?

              • @[email protected]
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                11 year ago

                Vote? What the hell are you on about? Listen, when you’re willing to place the goalposts back where they were originally, we’ll continue this discussion. Otherwise…

                I’m out.

                • ASeriesOfPoorChoices
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                  11 year ago

                  “lost causes with the power to vote”

                  That’s the comment you flipped the fuck out about.

                  Also, goalpost moving is a metaphor for when there’s a debate, and one side is attempting to change the winning conditions.

                  Except there is no debate. There’s just you yelling at people for agreeing with you. Those bastards. How dare people be on your side.

        • ASeriesOfPoorChoices
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          11 year ago

          Have you reread his comment now? Do you understand it yet?

          (By the by, you truncated the expression in your first sentence: “it’s neither here nor there”. Wasn’t sure if you did that on purpose for brevity.)

            • ASeriesOfPoorChoices
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              11 year ago

              You specifically said “they are lost causes”.

              NOW YOU’RE ARGUING WITH YOURSELF?!?

              Are you calling yourself a liar, saying they can now “be reasoned with”?? 😂🤣😂

              What the hell is wrong with you? You are so keen to fight, you want to argue with yourself now?!

              This is absolutely amazing.

        • @[email protected]
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          1 year ago

          Or never think it will ever happen to them so if they aren’t ever going to benefit from it, why should they pay for anybody to have it?

          But I’m in this camp, why should I pay taxes if all I see is a dreadful health system, shit public education system, knowing the social security is bankrupt and will not be able to provide me with a decent retirement, and all the money going into bank bailouts and mismanaged public companies.

          If all I see is the gov mismanaging the funds I give them, why am I not allowed to manage them myself?

          • @[email protected]
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            41 year ago

            It’s a good point, but it’s the people’s group responsibility to hold those in power accountable for their mismanagement. Voting in different government, protesting, escalating to action, eating them. Maybe in that order.

            If everyone stops paying, you remove the tax and benefits system entirely, and are just left with 100% privatisation. That’s exactly what the rich and priveleged want so they can look after themselves and profit more.

    • @[email protected]
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      31 year ago

      I don’t think so. I know otherwise intelligent people who think 40% of beneficiaries are “scroungers” who are “cheating the system” somehow.

      The more we can circulate this message the better: there is still plenty of people who could be brought around.

  • Tau
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    281 year ago

    “Benefits” is a grotesque use of the word. Whoever came up with the idea of calling social security “Benefits” is an evil genius.

    • @[email protected]
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      1 year ago

      there’s nothing inherently wrong with the word “benefits” anyway. It’s a positive word. people have come to villianize the word, associating it with those who mooch off the government. But no. benefits are not a bad thing, and people who receive them are not bad people. I agree with the John krasinski meme up there. Rich people are the enemy. poor people are the victims and deserve all the “benefits” they can possibly get.

      edit: changed the word “demonize” to “villainize” which was on the tip of my tongue but it took me two days for the right word to come to me. I’m quite pleased with my brain for finally getting it. That’s why I’m including this loquacious edit.

    • 2deck
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      31 year ago

      Implies benefits for doing or being able to do no work. Insensitive and inflamatory.

      ‘Welfare’ and ‘income assistance’ are terms more commonly used in Australia.

  • Marxism-Fennekinism
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    121 year ago

    And the irony is that “I pulled myself up by my bootstraps” literally used to be an idiom about blatantly lying that you did something impossible before the boomers appropriated it.

  • @[email protected]
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    111 year ago

    Sadly, not entirely true. When too many people have to depend on welfare money because rich people demand too much rent and pay too low wages, then everyone will get less.

    But it’s still rich people’s fault so it’s the same picture.

    • @[email protected]
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      51 year ago

      This.

      Technically, welfare is an expense, but, it:

      a)is caused by the economic situation caused by the rich; b)makes people more economically secure, thereby improving, for everyone, the salary negotiating power and ability to build new enterprises, which return money to the economy; c)may save you personally if things turn south. And they always can.

      All that right-wing bullshit about economic freedom and not having to pay for losers has been disproven two centuries ago, yet people prefer to listen to talking heads that will never mention this nuance.

  • @[email protected]
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    1 year ago

    I mean this is not a new thing. This has been how people approach problems for all of recorded history.

    • @[email protected]
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      341 year ago

      If there weren’t any billionaires, your net worth would be about $100K higher than it currently is ($400K for a family of four). And that would provide you about $4K in yearly passive income ($16K for family of four).

      You would own a part of those corporations worth that $100K and would have a say in how they operate.

          • cannache
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            11 year ago

            Nah man, you can believe in private property and still agree to share certain things based on consent.

            • @[email protected]
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              41 year ago

              Exactly, and we can revoke consent to have the limited shared resources of this planet and our labour exploited by billionaires.

              • cannache
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                1 year ago

                Yeah I’m not a billionaire but I don’t see why Tesla etal deserves the hate often seen here. You’re just showing your true nature, that you withhold love and resources

                • @[email protected]
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                  1 year ago

                  I don’t see why Tesla etal deserves the hate often seen here

                  That’s called ignorance. Figure it out.

        • @[email protected]
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          21 year ago

          His math is off, at least for the US. You are in New Zealand so it’s probably less bad for you. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States#:~:text=As of late 2022%2C according,a total of %2443.45 trillion.

          Distribute that 4.5 trillion between 330 million people and you only get 10000. You would need to take 45 trillion from the top 1% to give everyone else 100000

          It’s still absurd how much money they have.

            • @[email protected]
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              1 year ago

              Oh wow yeah let’s get right on crafting a transition plan into billionaires theoretically not existing wow what a great idea. I had thought he was just demonstrating how much wealth they have captured with a thought experiment but oh boy, you specimen of progress, you actually want to do it! How brave.

              Cunt.

                • @[email protected]
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                  21 year ago

                  Corps like Marlboro advertised their products were healthy for years, don’t suggest that corps don’t cause problems or won’t cause problems. Billionaires direct the actions of corps and use them as shields for liability.

    • @[email protected]
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      221 year ago

      Aside from the fact that your life would be dramatically different without billionaires, you’ll find that employed people do that shit too.

    • @[email protected]
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      181 year ago

      I think you are mixing different groups of people and pinning that on receiving benefits. As if receiving benefits is what caused them to be alcoholics or receiving benefits makes them steal from others.

      There are good and there are shitty people, on the other hand social benefits are a safety net when you experience a bad life situation you can survive it without doing on the street. Disability, unemployment. Do you think you can receive unemployment forever? It’s value is based on how much you were making in previous job (I think it is 2/3 of income (in more generous states) and has a hard limit on the maximum which is relatively low) and it has a time limit (I think 6 months or less).

      Somebody who breaks to other people’s homes don’t need unemployment and to them that amount of money is laughable.

    • @[email protected]
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      181 year ago

      Yes, but don’t blame the benefits for terrible people being terrible. Good people and terrible people can both use benefits the same way they can both drive on the freeway.

    • @[email protected]
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      101 year ago

      I truly hope no one in your household ever becomes severely disabled and unable to work. Without those benefits, many more disabled people would be homeless and starving (too many already are). It’s already prohibitively expensive to be sick in the US, and people who have worked hard routinely lose their health benefits when they can no longer work, forcing them to ration healthcare and make hard choices between medicine and housing/food.

      Even if you personally are able to work and keep your insurance, having a disabled child can utterly destroy your financial security and future.

      You’re judging all benefits recipients based on the behaviour of a small minority, when without those benefits, many disabled and elderly people would starve and die.

        • @[email protected]
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          1 year ago

          The tenor of your whole comment gives that impression, to be honest.

          And the tenor of my whole comment is defensive because I feel like the meagre chicken scratch subsistence that allows me to barely make rent, sometimes buy food or medicine, and make sure my heat and electricity stay on for winter puts me on the defensive when people make comments such as yours. Especially since I recently learned that I can no longer afford teeth, even though a side effect of my primary diagnosis makes my teeth rot, crack, and break painfully no matter how well I take care of them. Every single tooth is very painful and I can’t afford to fix them.

          So perhaps we’re both a bit on edge about this topic.

          I’m on ‘the benefit’ because Im too disabled to work at all, so I’m in the group you’re talking about. I don’t know what you see, but it’s something very, very different from what I see.

    • @[email protected]
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      81 year ago

      If they have to rob your house to be able to live, then their benefits probably don’t sustain them.

    • @[email protected]
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      31 year ago

      Redditors on reddit be like: “redditors are SO terrible!!!” What mechanism do you think the billionaires used to take the value of all the actual labor you absolute genius

      • kase
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        111 year ago

        Ok, sorry for being an idiot. I’m pretty sure you’re not saying billionaires use reddit to exploit people’s labor, but I can’t figure out what you are saying.

        • @[email protected]
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          21 year ago

          Corporations are the tool. Reddit, google, whatever your pick, corporations are the tool by which legality is bent so one man can reap the majority of the rewards brought about by the efforts of thousands. I was making fun of your post because you mentioned them without implicating them and kept billionaires and corporations separated semantically.

          • kase
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            11 year ago

            Thanks, that makes sense. I didn’t write the original comment, but I think you’re absolutely right.

  • @[email protected]
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    71 year ago

    People being on benefits maybe.

    I’ve had occasion in my life to spend some time around people who are on benefits because of mental health and drug abuse, and some of those persons were a nightmare to deal with, and absolutely affected my life negatively. Many conditions that put people on benefits also make them very unpleasant to be around. The key is to understand that they would still be difficult to deal with if they weren’t on benefits, and desperation would only make them more of a nuisance.

  • @[email protected]
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    71 year ago

    fuck yeah. This is the dumbest shit. Allowing entrenched media structures, virtually always owned by corporate interests, to shape who the boogeyman is. Tip: it’s never the corporate interests who control the entrenched media structures.

  • @[email protected]
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    71 year ago

    I pulled myself up by my bootstraps. Of course, I was privileged enough to actually have boots with straps. It seems fewer and fewer people have these anymore and that’s a damn shame.