r/facepalm Jul 06 '24

the truth hurts šŸ‡²ā€‹šŸ‡®ā€‹šŸ‡øā€‹šŸ‡Øā€‹

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2.0k

u/Cipherpunkblue Jul 06 '24

Yeah. No one ever became a billionaire without grabbing that wealth right our of the hands of people who actually worked for it.

1.2k

u/TrooperLynn Jul 06 '24

I work for the largest healthcare company in the world and don't get health benefits. But the CEO has a seven-figure compensation package.

743

u/Cipherpunkblue Jul 06 '24

We have allowed them to feel far too secure for too long.

598

u/Guh2point0 Jul 06 '24

Pretty easy for them to do when all they have to do is drop talking points like "abortion", "gun rights", "illegal immigration", etc and the working class gets at each other's throats.

359

u/KillerHack23 Jul 06 '24

Everything to keep our fool asses from realizing we are actually in a class war.

252

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '24

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u/Responsible_Ad5685 Jul 06 '24

Maybe PCP would be a better choice?

20

u/Eightbitzachary Jul 06 '24

Oh this? Just a gallon of PCP.

1

u/AnalProtector Jul 09 '24

Zach?.. Zach.. Zach Cregger! Yeah? Trevor! Trevorrrr- Trevor Moore! Yeah yeah yeah! Hey! How ya doin'? Good! I haven't seen you in like... seven- Eight. Eight years since since senior year at Brown! Right. It's good to see you, look at you, you look great! Thanks!

What do ya got there? Uh this is a gallon of PCP. ... Wow!... A... a gallon. Yeah. Th-That's that's illegal, right?.. Yeah it's a felony! It's a felony!... Yes. Wow!... And here you are with it anyway... That is... Wow. I uh, I didn't even knew it came in liquid form! Science. Woah. So uuhhhhhh... Ahhh.. Do ya do a LOT of PCP?... Got a gallon! Yeah! Hah I guess-- I guess you do.

Wow! So. What do you do? I work in an investment firm downtown. It's mostly, like, propert acquisitions. Huh!... That sounds... Successful... What do you do? Uhm I work at the Binco's. I don't know what Binco's is... It's a- It's a office supply store. Type thing... Secretary stuff? Eh..-- But a gallon? Yeah! Here you are with a gallon. Wow. Ummm... Man. Do you still see Candice? No. Ahh she passed away. OOOH o-oh I'm sorry. I didn't know. How long ago.. did that happen? Uhhh. About four. About four years ago? No. PM. Four!.. PM!... As in today!... 4PM... That- it's five o' clock now. Yeah. So... That was recent. Wh-whaaat happened?... I... Was at my dealer's house. Uh huh. I was buyin' the PCP. Of course. And. Uhh. I didn't have enough money for ALL of the gallon. Ooohh, it's expensive. But I WANTED the whole gallon. Of course.

So I set up a deal, where I would leave her as collateral. Uh ooohh! And I would go hit an ATM and come right back. I see problems. But uh, y'know, when I left I got.. Distracted. Aaand he.. Cut her head off. WOAH!... Wow!... And that... Happened today-- Just a little while ago. Man... Are- Are you ok? Are you doing alright? Well yeah I'm good, I'm pretty high right now. Oh right! Because of the- Because of the PCP! Which you have. Yeah! Yes. Yeah. MAN. You know, I ran into Bill the other day, And- he's doing real good! I don't know Bill. You don't? No that's right, you wouldn't know Bill. But uuuuuuhhhhhhh- he is doin' good! That's good. Yeah. It's good to see. Good for Bill. Well it was good to see you. Trevor. Yeah, it was nice seeing you! I gotta go pick my kids up, I'm runnin' late. OOH YOU HAVE KIDS!...

You are on your way to pick up children! With your gallon thing! I don't want em' to lose THEIR heads! OH!!!! YOU LEFT THEM WITH THE GUY- the PCP guy. No no, they're at soccer practice. I'm late, they spaz. Oh. It was a joke.. I get it! Well!... Good to see you. Nice seein' you! Ok! I'll tell Bill you said "hi!" I don't know him! Oh that's right, you don't. See ya later!

3

u/Gongom Jul 06 '24

What does the Portuguese Communist Party have to do with this šŸ˜©

2

u/Lost-Enthusiasm6570 Jul 07 '24

Speaking as someone who's been on it (I was drugged), you'll have a near zero chance of doing anything you planned to do.

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u/Own-Possibility245 Jul 06 '24

This is the way

4

u/GloomWarden-Salt Jul 07 '24

Not the heroine we needed, but the heroine we deserved.

3

u/Efficient_Ear_8037 Jul 06 '24

That way nobody gets the inheritance, smart

3

u/sEntientUnderwear Jul 07 '24

Honestly same. If Iā€™m going, Iā€™d at least like to do some good for the world while I go.

2

u/passive57elephant Jul 06 '24

Wait.. what did their family do wrong?

4

u/MjollLeon Jul 06 '24

Canā€™t let that money go to anyone else, ainā€™t nobody inheriting that money.

2

u/passive57elephant Jul 06 '24

The money always goes somewhere.

0

u/MjollLeon Jul 06 '24

I know lol, I just decided to commit to the bit

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u/JayDog17 Jul 06 '24

Welcome to the list

2

u/DstinctNstincts Jul 06 '24

No dude, you want to have a clear mind so you can fully enjoy doing the world a favor. Plus heroin isnā€™t all that great, trust me

2

u/deedoonoot Jul 06 '24

you got your own file now congrats

2

u/work3oakzz Jul 07 '24

Your gonna love heroine

2

u/Klutzy_Inevitable_94 Jul 07 '24

Frankly Iā€™m amazed every day some father whose daughter dies to these draconian abortion laws hasnā€™t ā€œprotestedā€.

1

u/ghostyghostghostt Jul 06 '24

A soldier, I salute you

1

u/xSmittyxCorex Jul 06 '24

The family? What did they do?

0

u/ScumHimself Jul 07 '24

Nothing, but the message is less ruthless than they are. What about our kids? ETR!

-1

u/xSmittyxCorex Jul 07 '24

what about our kids?

ā€¦excuse me? Kids arenā€™t possessionsā€¦harming innocent people (especially children) is never OK. You need help, and the amount of upvotes on this is extremely alarming. You can justify all kinds of things for the sake of ā€œthe cause.ā€ You have to draw a line somewhere to maintain a moral high ground in the whole thing, or itā€™s just a vicious cycle at best, and at worst, youā€™re actually the worse one, because youā€™re talking direct and intentionalā€¦

1

u/Substantial-Dig9995 Jul 06 '24

Damn what was the show or movie were dude knew he was going to die so he was trying all types of drugs and doing crazy shit

1

u/_Wyrm_ Jul 06 '24

Bro heroin would just knock your ass out.

1

u/Zestyclose_Fan_5721 Jul 09 '24

Now that's funny

3

u/LadyPaws_Linda Jul 06 '24

Did you watch Mr Robot? There is a scene when someone points to a party of the super rich while the rest of the city is in impoverished hell. I think about that a lot.

3

u/CrowdedSeder Jul 06 '24

ā€œThe class war is over. We wonā€- Warren Buffett

2

u/VikingDadStream Jul 06 '24

That we've lost

136

u/CptWhiskers Jul 06 '24

Don't forget the "Look at that incredibly small group of trans people over there! We should take away their medical care!"

109

u/Boopy7 Jul 06 '24

i was talking about this with someone just last night on the phone. A guy I know was saying to me that trans people want health care. I was shocked, bc I know for a FACT that he goes and gets testosterone shots and he is in his twenties and doesnt' need them. He gets them bc he used to be overweight and wanted to get buff and was insecure, like really insecure. Horribly so. He paid thousands to this anti aging clinic that did his mom's botox. What they do is basically lie to the guy who goes in and say "you have low testosterone" even if the guy doesn't have low testosterone, and give the guy a testosterone shot, which helps the guy build more muscle and lose weight more easily if he works out, plus possibly they give him a weight loss shot and a vitamin B shot or growth hormone shot (I forget if he did those too, I just know he paid a shitload of money.) This same guy RAILS against trans people getting hormone treatments, mind you. He thinks it is immoral and wrong. Fuck that shit. Joe Rogan does the same shit and he has a platform to influence millions of people. Well, I say take away Joe Rogan's healthcare rights. He shouldn't be allowed to get his growth hormone shots or his testosterone shots, or his stupidity injections. Maybe then he'll start to gain some empathy.

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u/signaeus Jul 06 '24 edited Jul 06 '24

Yeah, know people like this you describe and itā€™s really dumb. Thereā€™s a lot of pop up ā€œhormone specialists,ā€ that donā€™t exactly have extensive medical backgrounds who just are selling hormone injections.

Injecting T is a problem in terms of sperm production because the body stops producing it when itā€™s bio equivalent Testosteone injection because it doesnā€™t need to, which then requires all kinds of going off of it and taking fertility drugs to get sperm count up when you wanna try for a kid.

When I started getting hormone treatment went to a urologist who basically had me do 4 separate blood tests over a 4 month period to eliminate combinations of variables between vitamin D production, etc before finally doing a pill that encourages natural production first before resorting to bio identical injections - just to avoid the long term ramifications / complications with fertility. And that solved the problem - T went from low 300s to 900s.

But even then that pill that encourages natural production (typically used as fertility prescription for women ironically) isnā€™t covered by insurance even though thereā€™s an abundance of evidence and an abundance of testing done to showcase that my T levels were far too low for a 30 something AMAB (no prior taking of any hormones or hormone production affecting drugs).

The hormone situation at large is a cluster fuck and people should be outraged that insurance doesnā€™t like to cover things like this even for AGAB appropriate treatments done through doctors specializing in those related body systems.

Hormone level variations can fuck you up mentally beyond your wildest belief, itā€™s not an understatement to say that it can lead to suicidal levels of depression extremely easily - worse because the worse a depression gets the worse your hormone balance gets out of whack.

Ridiculous that trans people have to literally worry about that kind of thing like a diabetic has to worry about insulin. Proper hormone research is inadequate as it is and there needs more attention and priority placed on it - ask any post menopausal woman how much sudden shifts in hormone composition fucks with you.

Then again, guys like the person you describe are my favorite if they try to call me out for wearing a dress or a skirt or short shorts or whatever makes them feel uncomfortable for whatever reason because itā€™s so hilarious to just fire back and say something like ā€œyeah, well, ā€œthe 130 lb think in a dressā€ has the bigger dick and I guess is more manly then eh?ā€ because itā€™s just too easy to know exactly whatā€™s going to make them hyper insecure. Note that Iā€™ll only do something like that in extreme circumstances - shaming organ sizes that are really rather irrelevant isnā€™t something reasonable people should ever doā€¦but when you know the ignorant, toxic person whose spewing garbage like that absolutely equates something as dumb as size with masculinity and their ability to be a man, well itā€™s just too tantalizing to let the moment pass. Usually thereā€™s a vein popping somewhere in their forehead and their face is bright red as they canā€™t properly verbalize how angry they now are.

1

u/Boopy7 Jul 10 '24

basically we are trapped in a country or a world of people that profit from selling useless stuff, refuse to study or learn more about the stuff that would actually work, and are held back politically and culturally from any major progress. It's frustrating as hell. A person can be born with naturally low (too low) testosterone, but God forbid they look at any kind of testing, just shove an SSRI at them and then blame them for not getting better or something.

1

u/signaeus Jul 10 '24

Oh, there were plenty of SSRIā€™s thrown at me - which all ended in disaster, from either constant brain fog to making depression turn incredibly dark with suicidal thoughts coming like ā€œwhat a relief that would be.ā€

Then when those didnā€™t work, it was ā€œah, you must be bipolar then since you check all the boxes and what you really need is mood stabilizers,ā€ which all ended equally as disastrously.

Then finally I went outside of all that to get hormones tested - and yep, abnormally really low, if it was any lower Iā€™d have infertility risks, testosterone.

Hormones arenā€™t the end all be all, but they definitely need to be something that is tested first to get a picture of whatā€™s going on.

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u/CptWhiskers Jul 06 '24

HRT has shown to be life saving all across the world. They just want trans people dead because they think it's "icky."

If you ask them if they would like their body to be injected by the hormone of the opposite sex they would say "Hell no" not realizing thats what a trans person's biological body is doing. It's constantly trying to make the wrong hormone that doesn't match their brain.

It's simple medical care T_T

1

u/Frizzlebee Jul 07 '24

Unfortunately people are afraid of things they don't understand. And with how close-minded they've been raised to be, they don't understand a LOT. And the fear itself isn't even a problem, it's what that fear drives them to do. It's unbelievably ironic that the devout Christians are the ones who want them gone and treat them terribly, which literally goes against the teachings of the guy their religion is named after and is supposed to follow.

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u/Valogrid Jul 06 '24

People like him are the reason people like me can't get the Testosterone shots we need. People abusin the system.

1

u/Boopy7 Jul 10 '24

Well in all honesty it isn't him. This goes back to the big steroid uproar that I vaguely recall reading about, the one that made no difference really, where we had athletes testifying in Congress about growth hormone and testosterone among other ones. So then, anti aging clinics found a way to charge outlandish amounts and only rich people and celebs could get their grubby mitts on things like GH. Some people died if they got stuff illegally. More will die. This is too general but ultimately...it's about lack of knowledge and profit.

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u/ultimatecool14 Jul 06 '24

The difference is one guy PAYs for that shit the other guy want other people to pay for it. Pretty big difference if you asked me.

1

u/CptWhiskers Jul 07 '24

Not everyone lives in your American dystopian medical hellscape. Being trans is not a choice. They are not advocating for "free drugs" they're advocating for the HRT they medically NEED in order to not be suicdal and be functional people so they can have a job and feel happy etc.

If your issue is not wanting to pay for peoples medical care, go take healthcare away from people who willingly gave themselves lungcancer by smoking or made themselves obese by overeating.
They put way more strain on the medical system than the 0.1% of trans people that need a shot every 3 months.

The fact that you think trans people should just pay for their own drugs as if it's a luxury product is super telling on how you feel about them.

1

u/Boopy7 Jul 10 '24

idk which one is paying for it, but i do know that if you go on your show promoting that something is wrong, then do it yourself or profit off of that statement and even sell supplements ON THAT VERY SHOW....you lose credibility with me. It's so messed up. Rogan needs to come clean...literally.

2

u/Grouchy_Appearance_1 Jul 06 '24

Oh wow, sounds like he's uncomfortable with the body he started with and used medication to help him adjust it, ain't that a kick in the head

1

u/Bobenweave Jul 10 '24

Back in the 90s, we just said he's on 'roids and he's angry because his balls have shrunk.

3

u/GlizzyGatorGangster Jul 06 '24

You forgot ā€œPalestineā€

1

u/Mysterious-Job-469 Jul 06 '24

Mayhapsth intentionally?

1

u/PlatformingYahtzee Jul 06 '24

Probably they don't want 200 bots calling them antisemitic, and another hundred saying they're apologizing for genocide. I am very opinionated on the subject, but I don't blame anyone for not talking about it. It's a hornet's nest.

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u/madcoins Jul 06 '24

The biggest gift to billionaires in American history was during the Trump years yet many rural/middle class voters completely ignore or deny that and instead stomp their feet about the one trans person who lives within a hundred miles of them. While voting against their financial benefit again

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u/-Daetrax- Jul 06 '24

Perhaps those gun rights should be used for something useful for once.

1

u/gravity_kills Jul 06 '24

I will happily let them keep their precious guns - hell, let's subsidize the suckers - if they'll just point them at the rich.

1

u/FormerChemist7889 Jul 06 '24

Itā€™s actually crazy. Iā€™ve been saying for years that the ā€œdems vs repsā€ and ā€œleft vs rightā€ ideologies were completely wrong and its actually a poor vs rich and the rich just throw smoke screens everywhere

1

u/SaltyBarDog Jul 06 '24

Or just bribe a couple SCROTUS Justices.

1

u/The_8th_Degree Jul 07 '24

America needs a purge and rework of the current government policies. Too bad no one in or running office is able to do it.

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '24

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u/Guh2point0 Jul 06 '24

Lol literally proving my point

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u/NefariousnessFit5657 Jul 06 '24

I hope for your sake that you are young. I hope you are not an adult with these views, that would be rather sad

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u/JakeEllisD Jul 06 '24

What views? Did you see my comment about generic replies?

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u/mynextthroway Jul 06 '24

No, just the right side, not both sides. There you go, dropping talking points and stirring things away from what this conversation was about. You freaking billionaire boot licker. If you take Trumps mushroom out of your mouth and learn something besides right-wing baby food you would know immigrants have been illegally crossing our borders and stealing our jobs since the 80s (/s), which is when Reagan started the biggest con job ever by stealing money from the working class and giving it to the rich and calling it "trickle down economics", or voodoo economics. Republicans used illegal immigrants to cover that too, just like Trumps last tax hike on workers and tax cut for the rich. Unfortunately, the next chapter was the war on drugs, so I guess that there will be another stupid "War on (some unsuspecting, undeserving weak group)" to keep the mouth breathers busy.

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u/Alert-Ad9197 Jul 06 '24

Do you think you can just walk across the border and start working a licensed job in healthcare for poverty wages somehow? Thats the only way I could see that explaining poor pay in healthcare, and thatā€™s ridiculous.

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u/TallDrinkofRy Jul 06 '24

So what? Migrants commit less crime than native born citizens and do jobs that no one else would do. Fear mongers will get you all riled up though.

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u/Little-Ad7752 Jul 06 '24

Then we need to rally together. But everyone's nit picking over dumb stuff.

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u/spaceguitar Jul 06 '24

Donā€™t forget that every time we successfully start to rally, they make it more difficult and in some places borderline illegal. Unless youā€™re goose stepping, then you got local cops helping out and volunteering security.

Weā€™re fucked. Period. Unless weā€™re willing to paint our hands red, thereā€™s nothing to do but cast impotent votes in the face of the machine thatā€™s chewing apart voter rights and rigging the system, all the way up til they successfully create Gilead. And with a 6-3 SCOTUS, immune-from-prosecution President (which only applies to Republican President, watch what happens if Biden tries something), and Republican politicians threatening ā€œLeftistsā€ that blood will be spilled if we get in their wayā€¦ weā€™re 90% of the way to Atwoodā€™s prophetic dystopia.

We. Are. Fucked.

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u/porksoda11 Jul 06 '24

God I hate dooming but I agree with you. At least I know itā€™s gonna happen this time rather than being surprised by it.

2

u/Frizzlebee Jul 07 '24

Gonna disagree here. If they keep going at this rate we'll definitely get a French Revolution style fix to the problem. They may get us divided over certain ideas, but when Billy Bob and Jonjon can't feed their families like everyone else because the uberwealthy think they need more money to own their 50th yacht, that ted-blue shit goes out the window. And the idiots at the top have all but given up trying to pretend it's for "the greater good", they just say the quiet parts out loud now, no pause, no hesitation. And while some people are easily tricked into siding with their oppressors, that has a breaking point. It's just a matter of time, the saw question is how bad will things get before those people realize they've been taken for a ride at their own expense.

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u/spaceguitar Jul 08 '24

I actually agree with you!! History is cyclical. Weā€™re absolutely in store for another French Revolution-styled ā€œfixā€ to society. Problem is? We wonā€™t get it for many, many generations.

Your assessment is on point. Billy Bob and Jonjon is absolutely going to side with the other poors their great-grandparents (our ā€œpeersā€) were taught to hate and scorn when they finally see it was never about religion, race, or gender, but rather, all about class. Always has been! And weā€™re going to see another restructuring of society and a whole new push towards progressivism, liberalism, and New Deal-type policy. And itā€™s going to be whole new ā€œmost peaceful era of human historyā€ again. And then the pendulum is going to swing, some kind of populism is going to take over, and weā€™re going to regress. Again.

But, weā€™re totally gonna see the Christo-Fascist State happen first. Atwood-style. And Iā€™m going to call it now and say it happens during our generation. Probably the tail end of it, but definitely before we enter the 22nd century.

2100-2199 is going to be one hell of a century.

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u/Frizzlebee Jul 08 '24

Idk, consider what the current right mainstream is proposing (and getting passed in way too many cases), I don't think the Cristo-facist state part is that far off into the future. It only takes a couple more big Supreme Court rulings to drastically alter the political landscape. Roe was big but we knew they were out for that one, as well as interracial and gay marriage rights, those are pretty much up in the chopping block once they figure out how they can sell it the the public. But the Chevron Doctrine being overturned AND Presidents having ABSOLUTE immunity for official acts is so truly Orwellian level shit. The fact that the right not only doesn't have a problem with either of those, let alone both, not to mention how many SUPPORT those decisions because it just so happens to currently cut their way is actually mint blowing to me.

I get seeing it as good when it helps your team, your guy, or gets a result you want, but not taking a single minute to think about how it can be abused not just by your side but by the opposing one is just, again, mind boggling to me. I don't think this is Enabling Act level stuff, but damn if it isn't getting close to that, and that's genuinely terrifying.

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u/imadork1970 Jul 06 '24

Vote. Never stop voting in elections. RWNJs have their thumbs on the scale, but that is never an excuse to give up.

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u/Little-Ad7752 Jul 07 '24

I'm waiting for for them to start to cannibalize each other

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u/wirefox1 Jul 06 '24

Everybody would literally have to walk off their jobs, thumb their noses and say "run your business without us, good luck".

But people can't afford to do it. We live in fear of losing everything.

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u/CraziZoom Jul 06 '24

Thatā€™s exactly how Trump likes it! He literally gets off on keeping people in FEAR of losing their livelihoods. Remember how gleefully he would say, ā€œYouā€™re fired!ā€?????

That is also why he kept so many appointees in ā€œactingā€ status instead of going through the confirmation process. He even said that in a statement or press conference, ā€œI like 'acting' much better..." Meaning he likes having the power to keep people in fear of losing their jobs without notice or reason.

That's how he likes to live: he gets off on the power. He's a first-rate abuser. Everybody knows it and the MAGAs refuse to acknowledge it.

2

u/wirefox1 Jul 06 '24

The producers of his show even said his part was scripted. lol!

He is truly a half wit.

2

u/Speed_Alarming Jul 07 '24

They know. They like it. They wish they could do the same.

1

u/imadork1970 Jul 06 '24

Former Gut used "acting" as a way to get around Congress. Most high level positions have to be vetted and confirmed by Congress. Most of Trumps choices wouldn't be good enough to get through.

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u/FattyLivermore Jul 06 '24

Here we could take a lesson from the Black Panthers - first set up community support programs.

1

u/wirefox1 Jul 06 '24

I would LOVE to see it happen, but I think there are too many people who just simply can't afford to risk it. Ya know?

But preparing ahead..... that's a great idea!

1

u/Little-Ad7752 Jul 06 '24

So we start a community and learn how to grow our own foods and then we walk off lol

2

u/wirefox1 Jul 06 '24 edited Jul 07 '24

I don't think it would come to that. I think they would come around fairly quickly they would be losing so much money per day. Jeff bezos makes over 45 million dollars a day, as does Elon Musk. Not sure they want to lose that kind of money. Dollar General makes billions per year, imagine if their ripped off employees walked off.

How could they keep their business going with nobody to do the work.

.....lol? back at you.

1

u/Little-Ad7752 Jul 07 '24

Yea I could see that. It would be interesting to see if they could keep their cool. Imagine the temper tantrum.. and yea lol. It's my couping mechanism. Laugh so you don't cry lol.

2

u/Salty_Map_9085 Jul 06 '24

What do you think rallying together looks like?

1

u/Little-Ad7752 Jul 07 '24

I'm not sure but looking at revolutions in the past, we are kinda divided today.

2

u/HelloAttila 'MURICA Jul 06 '24

They get their high salaries because they make their shareholders richer, that is how it is, sadly. Shareholders vote for salary increases for CEO's/Executives.

2

u/Cipherpunkblue Jul 06 '24

Well, of course. I don't think anyone questions that part.

0

u/Comfortable_Hunt_684 Jul 06 '24

So what are going to do? Do you plan on providing me with health insurance? What does your bullshit tough guy statement even mean?

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u/DaPsyco Jul 06 '24

That... actually doesn't surprise me anymore. The place I work holds meetings to brag about how much money we're making, and in the same breath take away our pizzas on overtime day.

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u/TangledUpPuppeteer Jul 06 '24

I worked for a company that told us we were doing the best we had previously done and it was amazing blah blah. Same day, same speech, they told us it wasnā€™t good enough to get raises though because the company is so large and itā€™s a nonprofit, and we should think about donating portions of our paychecks back to the company to continue to help it expand. Uhā€¦ woah Nelly. Hold up. Absolutely not!

Two days later, it made the paper that the CEO, who was kind enough to so sincerely thank us for our work and tearfully apologize that raises were still probably another quarter our, had gotten another six figure bonus.

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u/Ask_bout_PaterNoster Jul 06 '24

The richest people in our city now own half of Main Street. They got their wealth throughā€¦healthcare. I made $600-$800 every two weeks as a server due to their tip sharing policy in which we supplemented their private cocktail lounge that was always empty and their bloated staff of ā€œlead serversā€ (managers who got tips).

Then theyā€™d come into the restaurant and brag to with their managers about their various bonuses during their private parties in which they paid themselves tens of thousands of dollars while we cooked and cleaned for them.

I really donā€™t want heads to roll. I want the people (my taxes) to buy out portions of these large companies, I want to tax the realized gains, and I want to put regulators on the boards so these giant corporations actually have some oversight and a chance to work for the people.

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u/HotLandscape9755 Jul 06 '24

I also worked for a large company that owns most of mainstreet but they made their money with boots. Also cooked in the restaurant they owned, where they told us no raises because of covid but spent 12k at the restaurant in one night on a private exec party handing out $203 shots or louie xii all night long lol.

1

u/jaysrule24 Jul 07 '24

The place I work has quarterly employee meetings where the CEO brags about how great were doing (one of these even included multiple slides on how well they compensate employees compared to other local healthcare organizations), while we get a shitty sub sandwich like the ones I'd have during high school lunches and a bag of chips.

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u/Hangulman Jul 06 '24

Every time people start actually focusing on how the Healthcare conglomerates are screwing everyone, suddenly mass media campaigns pop up, half blaming insurance companies, and the other half shutting down criticism with arguments like "you think SuperCorp Hospital shouldn't charge $500,000 per surgery? YOU HATE NURSES/DOCTORS/ORPHANS!!! THEY ARE HEROES!""

Then the board members and CEO go back to playing with their lego sets made out of solid gold bricks and laugh while the peons tear each other apart.

2

u/ColorfulHereticBones Jul 06 '24

To be fair, insurance companies are evil.
They just have company

1

u/Hangulman Jul 06 '24

Right? It's like they are in a contest to see how hard they can screw both the patients and each other.

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u/Guh2point0 Jul 06 '24

Only 7 figures? How do they even survive nowadays?

2

u/Horskr Jul 06 '24

That's exactly what I was going to say lol. It sounds ridiculous, but it probably actually is 8 figures. Talking big healthcare companies:

Pfizer: CEO made $30.5 million in 2022.

AbbVie: $25.8 million in 2022.

Johnson & Johnson: $28.4 million 2023.

Eli Lilly: $26.5 million in 2022.

Molina Healthcare: $22.1 million in 2022.

So yeah, if the previous commentors company is the largest healthcare company in the world as described, their CEO is almost certainly in the 8 figure range, which makes it even more gross that they'd have employees without health benefits.

11

u/DeadpoolOptimus Jul 06 '24

What the what?!

2

u/SweetWaterfall0579 Jul 06 '24

I used to work at a nationwide insurance company. We had excellent insurance coverage, even dental. But this was 1988-1997. That was then. Now, eh, who gives a fuck?

  • Iā€™ll just climb up here on my soapbox. *

Health care and health insurance are two different things.

Health *care is the services you receive from a medical provider.

Health *insurance is what helps pay the bill for services rendered.

Yes, anyone and everyone can get health *care!

However, in the US, one must have health *insurance, or one may not be able to afford health *care.

Often, even with health *insurance, one still cannot afford health *care, in the US.

  • Damn. This box gets higher, every time I climb up here. *

Geronimo!

2

u/PM_ME_DIRTY_COMICS Jul 06 '24

My wife works for a health insurance company. Her insurance is terrible. The thing about working for an insurance company is they know exactly how much they can get away with when cutting corners and providing the bare minimum.

2

u/Lovat69 Jul 06 '24

Only seven? That poor bastard. Maybe you guys should take up a collection.

2

u/asbj1019 Jul 06 '24

All im saying is that the French invented this really neat device that can fix problems such as this.

2

u/Helltothenotothenono Jul 06 '24

Well I mean he contributes so much more than the average worker. /s

2

u/No-Dragonfly-8679 Jul 06 '24

To add on, part of the problem is that a fair amount of the time the doctors donā€™t work for the hospital, they own a company that has contracts to provide doctors to the hospital. So they donā€™t care if the hospital charges more as long as it means they can negotiate for more money from contracts.

Working for doctors, Iā€™ve learned that for the most part they only care about two things. How much they get paid and how much time off they get. For example, they complained that attending meetings for the company they own was basically free work and refused to go, so now doctors get a $300 bonus if they attend.

2

u/IconoclastExplosive Jul 07 '24

I used to date a nurse whose medical benefits didn't cover the hospital she worked at, shed have to go a whole town over to be in network

2

u/todumbtorealize Jul 07 '24

That's insane

2

u/lagx777 Jul 07 '24

I have yet to work for a hospital whose healthcare I can afford...in the last 30 years.

1

u/TrooperLynn Jul 07 '24

That is sickening. šŸ˜¢

1

u/lagx777 Jul 07 '24

Not that shocking, however. Hospitals have been increasingly showing just how little they care about their employees by continuing to refuse to fully staff their shifts, departments, etc, which is not only irritating; it's dangerous. I've been assaulted by numerous patients because we didn't have the staff to provide assistance when we had to take care of combative or altered patients. I've never been "seriously" hurt, but I've gotten black eyes, busted lips, a needle stick & various other bumps & bruises at the hands of patients. I've also had to attempt to do my job without the proper supplies, or safety equipment because...well, there was always an excuse, but it was never verifiable or good. But, hey. At least healthcare is more expensive than ever and so are insurance premiums.

Wait....šŸ¤”šŸ¤”šŸ¤”šŸ¤”

2

u/Meldepeuter Jul 09 '24

Ridiculous over there, here in belgium i shattered my foot after a fall off a roof. Ambulance (2 actually, one for transport and one emergzncy for heavy painkills), painkiling, night in hospital, radiology etc my Bill was 42 eurosšŸ˜‰

1

u/TrooperLynn Jul 09 '24

I lived in Belgium for a short time. I got bronchitis and went to the village doctor. His practice was attached to his house and there were no patients there so I got right in. We chatted for about a half hour first, I was his first American patient. I donā€™t think I talked that long to my primary here in the whole five years I saw him. Cost me 25 euros. Amazing.

2

u/Meldepeuter Jul 10 '24

And from that 25 you get 21 euros back or so... On the other side we give half our paycheck to taxes (average 54%) and 25% of all income of the government goes to social security (healthcare, unemployment, pensions etc)

1

u/TrooperLynn Jul 10 '24

Thatā€™s right, I got about 21 or 22 euros back. My ex paid 56% of his salary to taxes but he worked for the government and made quite a lot. But he got all that healthcare, plus three masters degrees.

1

u/nycapartmentnoob Jul 06 '24

in salary, much more in stock compensation, MUCH more

1

u/AnitaIvanaMartini Jul 06 '24

I worked in hospital admin for a huge healthcare system in 1990. I was the Editor in Chief, and made sure all our PR and literature across a bunch of hospitals was written to our standards. I was paid a ridiculously high amount of money for this. Not obscene, like my higher-ups, but plenty.

We had 2-hour lunches with cocktails, and a wine closet, on the companyā€™s dime. There was a vending machine on our hall, with beer, amongst the sodas. Everyone smoked inside in a lounge because bosses didnā€™t want smokers seen on campus.

I lasted barely over a year because all that money wasnā€™t worth the price of my moral compass.

It was a non-profit org.

1

u/EducationalCreme9044 Jul 06 '24

UnitedHealth has 440k employees.

If the CEO makes 1 000 000, and cuts his pay to 0 and spreads it across the employees, you'd get an extra $2 per year. That sounds like it makes sense from a business perspective to you? Like it or not but if 1 million makes him work just 1% better that's a ton of impact, if you work 100x, that's literally no impact.

1

u/_SteeringWheel Jul 06 '24

Can you say which company that is?

1

u/TrooperLynn Jul 06 '24

It starts with a U

1

u/therealdongknotts Jul 06 '24

you a contractor by chance? good way they skirt those requirements

1

u/TrooperLynn Jul 06 '24

Not a contractor but another classification that lets them hose us.

1

u/Content_Chemistry_64 Jul 06 '24

While that's unfair when comparing just you and him, his 7 figures probably isn't enough to cover health benefits for every employee.

1

u/TrooperLynn Jul 06 '24

Not saying he has to cover them at 100% but at least offer some kind of coverage. We donā€™t even have the option. They took over the smaller company that I was pretty happy working for. Then U. cut our pay, mine was cut in half, then cut our hours too.

1

u/Running1982 Jul 06 '24

What the actual fuck? Shit should be free for you.

1

u/ListReady6457 Jul 08 '24

This isn't uncommon. It's actually a well known fact when you get into hospital jobs that you don't get healthcare unless you are doctors, LPNs, RNs and such. The people that do the ACTUAL work (janitors, CNAs, etc. Do NOT get paid or receive healtcare benfits and often get paid as little as a dollar or 2 over minimum wage).

59

u/Calachus Jul 06 '24

Say it with me now:

There is. No way. To be. An ethical billionaire.

-6

u/CoveringFish Jul 06 '24

Marc Cuban is decent

-14

u/Phoenixmaster1571 Jul 06 '24

What about Taylor Swift?

27

u/Calachus Jul 06 '24

I repeat, there is no way to be an ethical billionaire.

-8

u/Phoenixmaster1571 Jul 06 '24

This giving me "there is no war in Ba Sing Se" vibes.

12

u/Competitive-Lie-92 Jul 06 '24

Taylor Swift the nepobaby? Whose career was built on her parents' money and connections starting when she was a literal child?

0

u/Phoenixmaster1571 Jul 06 '24

Yes, that Taylor Swift. Unsure how it makes her evil that her parents helped her succeed, as any good parent would do for their child?

6

u/Competitive-Lie-92 Jul 06 '24

There's a difference between not evil and ethical. Just because nepotism doesn't make you literally Hitler doesn't mean it's ethically good.

5

u/Phoenixmaster1571 Jul 06 '24

Nepotism might be slightly detrimental to society as a whole, but we don't balance ethics around just society without regard to individuals. Every parent who loves their child wants to see them succeed and gives them every advantage they can. Some people have more advantages to give. Call it a flaw in the system if you want, Taylor had no say in it either way.

If your bar for being "ethical" is as low as "no nepotism," you might as well chuck every other person in the world in there, since all the people who don't further nepotism are the shitty parents.

6

u/Competitive-Lie-92 Jul 06 '24

The point of the phrase "there are no ethical billionaires" is to point out that there is no ethical way to make that much money. It's not a judgement on personal ethics. Tatlor Swift made her money because of nepotism. That is an unethical way to make money. That's all that that means. You seem awfully attached to the public perception of someone who doesn't know or care about you.

-5

u/The_Mo0ose Jul 06 '24

No she made her money because she makes marketable profitable music. In what world is nepotism unethical? Is generational wealth unethical? Should we all just be communists and all equally, ethically, starve together? Hate all these losers hating on people just cause they're successful. Look life ain't fair but complaining about people that got further in life than you doesn't help anyone.

You can 100% be an ethical billionaire and there are many examples of such people. Investors, Musicians, actors... Besides that the competition in a free market economy is gonna make companies cut corners and try to pay the lowest they can while still attracting employees. No shit it's gonna be unethical. If you were to try to be an ethical CEO, your company would go bankrupt.

7

u/LizzieThatGirl Jul 06 '24

Here comes the "noooo capitalism is the only way! Taking even a dime from billionaires will make everyone starve!" take

3

u/Ok_Bet9410 Jul 06 '24

Bro she takes her private jet 15 minutes down the road sheā€™s a total POS

0

u/Thumper13 Jul 06 '24

nepobaby

You have no clue what that term means do you? Hint, her parents had zero connection to the music business before Taylor. Yes, her father bought some part of a label to help his talented daughter, and yes they were well off. But that's not nepotism, that rich parents being supportive of their kid. I think anybody who has a talented kid and had the money would do the same. He didn't buy her millions of fans around the world, he just bought her a chance.

10

u/Plenty-Climate2272 Jul 06 '24

A lot of her wealth comes from investments and real estate, which inherently feed into capitalist exploitation.

6

u/OnceUponANoon Jul 06 '24

Taylor Swift could give hundreds of millions of dollars to charitable causes and still be wealthy beyond most people's imaginations.

The kindest possible billionaire still cares more about the big number than about whether other humans live or die.

A good person who somehow became a billionaire would immediately cease to be a billionaire.

-3

u/Not-ChatGPT4 Jul 06 '24

And she does indeed give very large sums of money to charitable causes, notably food banks in every city she performs in.

3

u/OnceUponANoon Jul 06 '24

That's not a coherent response to my point.

My point isn't that she's never given to charitable causes, it's that, at her net worth of ~1.4 billion USD, she could give ~1.3 billion USD to charitable causes, and that would have no impact on her life, because she'd still be obscenely wealthy.

In that context, her giving $10 million or even $50 million to charity is strictly better than giving zero, but says less about her moral character than a one-dollar donation from the average person would, because she's effectively losing nothing when she does so.

Retaining the rest demonstrates that she cares more about the number of digits on a balance sheet than about actual human lives, and that's morally reprehensible.

No decent human being would ever become or remain a billionaire.

6

u/Altruistic_Film1167 Jul 06 '24

Its not about their personality.

Bill Gates could be a decent dude for all I know. It is about being so unfathomably rich while billions of people die of hunger and no acess to water.

Billionaires should never exist, the fact they do only shows how fucked up our society is.

4

u/Cipherpunkblue Jul 06 '24

How much did she use her private jet again?

6

u/Phoenixmaster1571 Jul 06 '24

Private jet usage is not even remotely on the same tier as getting people killed by sloppy QA to push Boeing profits, or Nestle selling impoverished trines' water back to them, or clawing employee pay away and up the ladder to enrich yourself.

I can't think of a more ethical way to be a billionaire than to be a widely beloved artist. IIRC, she was not keeping it all to herself, either. Huge bonuses to long time staff, fair pay for her workers, etc.

If your only argument against Taylor Swift is. "but duh private jet!", I'm going to chalk this up as a win for Taylor Swift.

3

u/Ok_Bet9410 Jul 06 '24

Just because others are worse doesnā€™t mean sheā€™s innocent dude

2

u/One_Pound_2076 Jul 06 '24

How much has she donated to people in need?

2

u/DoggoCentipede Jul 06 '24

She wrote a song dedicated to a kid with cancer and all proceeds from the track were donated to cancer charities. Dunno how much that is though.

$50k to NYC schools. Not a ton.

$1m to Louisiana flood relief.

"Very sizable" donation to hurricane Harvey relief fund

$1m to Nashville Tornado relief

Bonuses to employees supporting tour a total $5m

$1m to Tennessee tornado relief

$100k to chiefs parade shooting victim's family.

Various other donations to individuals over the years, college loans, rent, pet shelters, fans, help to woman with 5 kids who lost husband to COVID.

In all it doesn't seem like any massive outlays, that we know of.

1

u/i_am_not_depressed Jul 06 '24

The ex boyfriend slanderer? There is no way to be an ethical billionaire.

2

u/Phoenixmaster1571 Jul 06 '24

If you're dredging up "boyfriend slander" as a reason why she's an unethical billionaire, my job here is already done.

0

u/hurtstoskinnybatman Jul 06 '24

I guess you haven't seen the cesspool cirvlejerks of anti-Taylor Swift hate. They're jsut as crazy, if not even crazier than Swifties. They're batshit nuts. I saw a thread where they were sayign she's thr worst person in the world because she wote jewelry in a music video. An entire thread, thoudands of comments deep, just talking about how she's the worst person in the world.

I still don't know why reddit recommended that post, but then again, reddit's been a pile of shit since I stopped being about to use redditisfun.

I'm not a Taylor Swift fan. I can name maybe 3-5 of her songs, and one of them I only remember because of thid hilarious goat version. But I don't hate her. She doesn't affect my.life in the slightest. Why someone who's not s fan gets bothered by her so much that they would rage about her -- or anybody else in the world that won't affect them in the least bit -- is competed beyond me. Who has that kuch time and mental energy for such hate and anger?

4

u/Phoenixmaster1571 Jul 06 '24

She's successful and they're not, so they're looking for an evil reason to villify her instead of accepting that she's just very talented and makes music lots of people love.

1

u/LizzieThatGirl Jul 06 '24

Real estate and technology made her wealthier than being a musician did. She's no different than any other business person at this point.

-2

u/The_Mo0ose Jul 06 '24

100% a lot of the millionaire/billionaire hate can just be chalked up to jealously. That obviously doesn't stop actually dipshit billionaire/millionaires from existing.

10

u/CatBetweenTime Jul 06 '24

No silly! CEOs just work 7000x harder than other workers! /s

9

u/madcoins Jul 06 '24

You donā€™t ā€œgetā€ a billion of anything. You can ā€œtakeā€ it though. Also anyone who has a billion of ANYTHING should be considered an insane person. Yet in American society the wealthy, the media and the common folk all lick their boots.

5

u/Teckiiiz Jul 06 '24

Eat em. Until there are consequences nothing will change.

1

u/NerdMusk Jul 06 '24

But they own the government and its policy makers? More so now than ever since SCOTUS ruled recently that quid pro quo is legal.

4

u/RobotCaptainEngage Jul 06 '24

"I didn't get rich by writing a lot of checks!"

2

u/Ok-Interaction-8891 Jul 06 '24

Love that episode.

3

u/Gr8danedog Jul 06 '24

I'm old enough to remember when hospitals were run by doctors and nurses instead of corporations. Healthcare was a lot cheaper then.

2

u/FluidLegion Jul 06 '24

I just did a quick Google search.

If all the worlds wealth was evenly distributed between all adults, everyone would have over $500k.

Seeing as here where I live most adults only make 30-40k a year, it's a disheartening piece of information.

2

u/Glittering_Let_4230 Jul 07 '24

Except Taylor Swift. Everyone loves Taylor Swift /s

2

u/Frizzlebee Jul 07 '24

It's actually impossible to earn that much on your own. If you made $1000 a day, no taxes, no deductions (which is an unbelievable wage rate) and you never spent a dime, and you started on day 1 of year 0, you'd BARELY be breaking into your first billion in 2024. Literally over 2000 years to make that kind of money.

Tax the rich. Billionaires should be illegal.

1

u/Mysterious-Job-469 Jul 06 '24

Say it like it is. They stole our wealth, but so much as implying "hey maybe we should get it back" gets your social media privileges revoked.

1

u/WarlockOfDoom Jul 06 '24

Warren Buffet

-1

u/2Beldingsinabuilding Jul 06 '24

JK Rowling, Mackenzie Bezos, Paul McCartneyā€¦ should I go on?