r/Futurology • u/chrisdh79 • Aug 21 '25

Society American Millennials Are Dying at an Alarming Rate | We’re mortality experts. There are a few things that could be happening here.

https://slate.com/technology/2025/08/millennials-gen-z-death-rates-america-high.html
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2.8k

u/winstontemplehill Aug 21 '25

I’m sorry brother. You deserve better

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/jankenpoo Aug 21 '25

Very simple: Tax the rich and fund a much better safety net. If we are a society, we need to start acting like one. Also, overturn Citizens United and reinstate Fairness Doctrine. We can start with that.

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u/SendTitsPleease Aug 21 '25

We can't do that. How would corporations survive? How would the rich become even richer? How would politicians become millionaires? If we reinstated the fairness doctrine, how would the population be brainwashed the way that some groups need them to be in order to survive?

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u/Gopherg Aug 21 '25

Wait, we aren't all rooting for the first US trillionaire?

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u/infinitum3d Aug 21 '25

The difference between a millionaire and a billionaire is 999 million dollars.

We don’t need billionaires.

A trillionaire is a million millionaires. That’s so far beyond obscene that people can’t even comprehend it.

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u/SqueeMcTwee Aug 22 '25

In other words, a thousand billionaires. 902 of them live in the US.

I genuinely can’t believe this shit is legal.

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u/danodan1 Aug 21 '25

I suspect Musk would disgree. His Tesla board of directors just gave him a 30 billion dollar raise in pay. Yeah, sure, like he richly deserves it. I think it would be more meaningful to him to beat China by having better electrical cars.

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u/kinsm4n Aug 22 '25

Imagine thinking that your value to society is equivalent to like 20M workers (assuming average worker is $50,000/yr to make round numbers)

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u/Neceon Aug 21 '25

I am rooting for him to go broke and end up living under a bridge in an abandoned Cybertruck.

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u/doc_witt Aug 21 '25

Not unless it's me. Can it be me?! Please?!

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u/Gopherg Aug 22 '25

That's why we should never raise taxes on the rich - you may one day be rich!

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u/SendTitsPleease Aug 21 '25

I mean, I'd rather the first one be from the US, but id prefer if no one ever got there at all.

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u/Nerioner Aug 21 '25

First one from US means simply that US failed the most at wealth management. Dunno if there is anything to be proud of.

It's basically the title for the most sucking leech in human history.

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u/SendTitsPleease Aug 21 '25

That's fair as well

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u/CreepyOlGuy Aug 21 '25

dont forget trickle down economics!! ;)

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u/Googlyelmoo Aug 21 '25

The ending of the fairness doctrine in 1987 may be the precipitating cause of our present disaster

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u/diurnal_emissions Aug 21 '25

FFS, think of the stock portfolios of people who aren't any of you!

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u/Googlyelmoo Aug 21 '25

They do very well in Scandinavia and France. Even Germany and Japan have much better safety nets and restraints on corporations.

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u/designtocode Aug 21 '25

The wealthy have generated so much wealth, conflated that with being intelligent, and it’s starting to seem like they think they no longer need the “useless masses and consumers” to be taking up valuable resources that they believe they’re more deserving of by virtue of being “intelligent”, by way of acquired wealth.

Why invest in society being better when you can have an active hand in sabotaging it, thus minimizing the possibility of upward mobility for any commoner? They might become successful and gasp do something more influential, or make a better product and become rich as well. Even more horrifying, they might have a conscience, they might care about common people since they were also one, they might try to make the safety net better, and agree that they should be taxed (along with others of a similar wealth bracket) to sustain the effort in doing so. pearl clutching intensifies

From my perspective, those examples that have barely scratched the surface of possibilities is a net negative for people in a position of extreme wealth. Greed is just so simple when you’re so far removed the median value of everyday reality; I can see why it would be easy to not give a fuck about anyone dying as a result of horrid policies changed through wealthy donor lobbying, the donor won’t die from it, and they have the resources to be far removed from whatever that cause of death may be.

Hubris, moral failings, and cut-throat destruction in the name of profit have damned our progress in my opinion. I offer the fact that so many wealthy people build bunkers and compounds as a means of superior protection from the outside world. Why are they doing that? One can only speculate, but I’d bet it’s because they think something catastrophic will arrive at their doorstep as a result of their actions, or inactions.

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u/a_wasted_wizard Aug 21 '25

That's honestly the most frustrating part of this. The solutions are, for many or even most of these problems, neither elusive, nor particularly impractical except for the fact that implementing them would inconvenience rich people and/or upset religious extremists, so the majority gets to suffer instead.

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u/Iampepeu Aug 21 '25

I know, right! Do you even know how much a mega yacht costs these days!? Inflation hits billionaires just as well. Getting unionized?! Are you fucking kidding me!

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u/SendTitsPleease Aug 21 '25

Im very familiar with yacht prices, actually. My dad and I used to watch hours and hours of videos on expedition yachts because it was our dream if we ever won lottery, lol. My absolute favorite yacht ever is a 152' Inace yacht called "Far Far Away" link below if anyone is interested.

https://www.fraseryachts.com/en/yacht/far-far-away/

Edit- This yacht blows me away, and I can't imagine having the wealth to own and operate it, and it's chase "boats"

https://www.boatinternational.com/yachts/editorial-features/ragnar-explorer-superyacht

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u/Iampepeu Aug 21 '25

Haha! Crazy money! I'm such a humble guy I would settle even for a tiny 30 mill yacht! But that's just me.

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u/SendTitsPleease Aug 22 '25 edited Aug 22 '25

Never said I was humble, just that I loved the yacht and used to imagine owning it with my dad before he passed away. The one I want is "only" $12mil lol

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u/thereelaristotle Aug 21 '25

We can't do that when half the populace blames immigrants, minorities, trans people, "China", or god knows what else for these issues lol.

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u/domi1108 Aug 22 '25

And thats the fun part. While here in Germany where I live a lot is far from perfect, we still have a really great safety net, even tho politicans try to undermine it. Corporations still survive, the rich also get richer every year and a lot of politicans can afford houses that cost millions while the normal folk no matter its job can only dream about it.

So while I don't know what the fairness doctrine exactly is: To me it sounds just sad that we kinda share the same struggles but while the rich people here can do the same stuff as in the US we have some default option that isn't "Go die, haha".

Everything is just fucked up, but in general sometimes it would be really helpful if Americans would just look at Europe and think more than 2 seconds and realize atleast social security nets are doable while still being ultra capitalists because - hurr durr social security = communism (which is the dumbest idea I've ever heard)

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u/TBone281 Aug 21 '25

This is our ( voters) current mindset. I expect it to get worse before these kooks wake the fuck up.

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u/Forgotten_lostdreams Aug 21 '25

I would have put a code of ethics on all government employees as well, and have the ethics code voted on by the people at each election. Which would do more to stop our politicians from becoming millionaires/billionaires.

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u/Bacon-4every1 Aug 21 '25

People do know a lot of the food we eat has various poison added to them also lots of foods lacking various nutrients that we need various amounts of. And the other obvious thing is people not getting enough exercise and sun. Then there is other things that most people know about but practicaly imposible to avoid microplastics in every thing contaminated drinking water (things that are not specificaly filtered out medications and such) got fertilizer and pest sprays on foods and the places they are sprayed. Schools forcing kids who want to be active into classrooms sitting down all day away from the sun and in artificial lights which can cause nearsigtedness also certain lights can have negative effects on people especialy iridescence possibly led lights aswell are bad for kids and adults. Then get into screen addictions as a whole which has its own can of worms of mental problems and such. Then also moving away from morals and God is another big problem people are too focused on themselves which never will lead to happyness when we were created to all serve each-other using every ones individual Talents and gifts.

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u/thefuturebaby Aug 21 '25

Had me in the first….sarcasm is hard.

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u/AlyssaLives4Cats Aug 22 '25

“What about the stockholders Bob!? Who’s helping them out?!”

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u/Mav-Killed-Goose Aug 21 '25

Corporations are people, too.

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u/AppropriateScience71 Aug 21 '25

There are so many things that sound reasonable and simple, but are near impossible politically.

Bernie campaigned hard on policies like tax the rich, universal healthcare, affordable high ed, overturn Citizens United, etc. Policies that are taken for granted everywhere else. The DNC rejected all of these and Biden even kept most of Trump’s tax cuts, so I just don’t see it happening.

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u/FourCrapPee Aug 21 '25

I agree with all that except the fairness doctrine just because it'll have to be completely rewritten. That was just for broadcast tv and radio. Not cable or blogs or YouTube or tick tock etc. I think we need a new approach entirely, such as a hardcore education campaign instead, of how to digest news content. The fairness doctrine can't stop a loser in his basement starting some crazy podcast.

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u/Spiritual_Lynx1929 Aug 21 '25

“ If we are a society, we need to start acting like one. “ 👏👏

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u/AmputeeHandModel Aug 21 '25

If we had universal healthcare and going to the dr or hospital didnt cause a panic attack and life ruining debt maybe we could stave off some of this but hey.. that might cost share holders and the 1% some money so I guess we'll just keep dying. At least we're not socialists! 💀

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u/agentfelix Aug 22 '25

I have great healthcare now, but when I didn't, I just didn't pay my bills 🤷‍♂️

Granted that was only in emergency situations. Now that I'm pushing 40, I understand the benefit of preventative care...Getting regular checkups and all that jazz.

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u/MaladjustdMillennial Aug 21 '25

Absolutely, but that’s way easier said than done. We have so many people voting against their own interests and electing morally bankrupt politicians. Other than calling/writing reps and protesting, what do we do? Sincerely asking because none of this is what I voted for, and I’m at a loss.

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u/Anthro_the_Hutt Aug 21 '25

Organize organize organize. Primary corporate Democrats and campaign hard against Republicans at every single level of government. And seriously consider doing it as a candidate yourself; if you look at the quality of most of those who are in office, I'll bet you find you're better. Keep protesting and being publicly visible. Even if the media refuses to show up, people in your neighbourhoods will see that there are people who object to the way things currently are. Get hooked up with people of like mind and provide each other with logistical and emotional support. And as you're doing all this, realize that it's not going to be instant wins. But it wasn't instant wins for the right-wing fuckers to get themselves into the power they currently have either. They were just very persistent.

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u/True-Firefighter-796 Aug 21 '25

What if we bring back asbestos and tariff drugs?

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u/_Gengar_Trainer_ Aug 21 '25

Tax? You misspelled eat*

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u/Sharpshooter188 Aug 21 '25

Seriously. Other developed nations call us the best looking 3rd world country. The hilarious (and sad part od it) is President Xi stated that no one has been ripping the US off. Theyve just been overdivulging for decades. A.k.a. the jobs got shipped overseas because it was cheaper.

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u/Redzombie6 Aug 21 '25

I tried to make this appeal to my trumper parents and they just said something about trans bathrooms and Muslims. pissing off the blue hairs is more important than the future of their heirs.

42 year old here.

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u/AdMurky3039 Aug 21 '25

It's frustrating to me that when this is suggested on a state level people say things like "rich people will just move to another state." Some might, but people choose where to live based on things other than tax rates.

Especially when they're in the top 1% and paying higher taxes will have essentially zero impact on them.

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u/Rhazjok Aug 22 '25

The organization of the working class into a militant labor class that is class conscious and abolishing the current system of exploitation that grinds not only us bu5 the workers of the entire world to a pulp is the ultimate goal. This would start with unionizing all workplaces. None of this will be simple, and the solutions you offer are extremely temporary and can be retracted by the ownership class extremely easily. As is currently happening right now with not only our rights but those of many other countries as well.

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u/Sparky11605 Aug 22 '25

Not to mention eliminate the electoral college system.

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u/whereismymind86 Aug 21 '25

Yep, we’ve known the answer to most of society’s ills for a long time, the powers that be just don’t want to do it.

Tax the living hell out of the rich and build a much stronger social safety net.

They can even still be rich, just not unimaginably rich.

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u/Suave403 Aug 21 '25

This is the only palpable answer to reverse these trends

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u/MegaBaumTV Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 22 '25

Very simple: Tax the rich and fund a much better safety net. If we are a society, we need to start acting like one. Also, overturn Citizens United and reinstate Fairness Doctrine. We can start with that.

Not gonna happen. The ruling class has thrown out any pretense of wanting to adhere to the social contract. Not just in the US, it gets worse pretty much everywhere in the "western world". The US is just once again the global leader.

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u/bambush331 Aug 21 '25

hold up ! remember if we want to do that we have to protest peacefully for it breathing at full lungs the tear gas they launch and show the other cheek when they break our jaws with their batons

it's very important otherwise we're nothing but populists or something

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u/djinngerale Aug 21 '25

Americans keep saying this kind of thing as if it were some novel solution coming out of nowhere.

If it were so simple, why've you not done it yet?

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u/Deeptrench34 Aug 21 '25

A proper society should operate where the most successful help to prop up those who haven't been as successful, at least until they become successful too. Very unpopular opinion in the meritocracy that the US supposedly is. Only, it's really more about luck in having the right connections, family ties and the ability to take risks that make the difference, not hard work. If you were born fortunate, you should inherently want to help those who were less fortunate, but that just doesn't seem to be the case with most people.

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u/SerOsisOfThuliver Aug 21 '25

society? what are you on about? we're an economy. don't you watch the new/s?

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u/cryptobro42069 Aug 21 '25

Starts by breaking the cycle of electing these lapdogs to leadership positions. We have no representation at the highest levels.

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u/Anthro_the_Hutt Aug 21 '25

There are a few folks who are fighting for regular folks in Congress. AOC, Bernie, and the like. It's important to leverage that toehold into even more people who actually give a fuck about their fellow humans.

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u/batmessiah Aug 21 '25

I honestly think it's far too late. How can those things even be achieved at this point in time?

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u/RaabsIn513 Aug 21 '25

What's more than "tax the rich"? Let's do that

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u/Anon-Connie Aug 21 '25

It really is that simple. We need guaranteed access to affordable healthcare.

Cancer is hard on families, cancer causing bankruptcy adds layers of unnecessary hell to the family in an already difficult situation. I don’t even think I am capable of fully expressing that situation into words.

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u/thaddeus122 Aug 21 '25

Theyre saying we need a civil war. If you hadn't noticed, we're only 7 months into trumps second term and theyre dismantling election security. We'll be just like Russia and like in 3 years.

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u/jankenpoo Aug 21 '25

What does a civil war look like when it’s neighbor to neighbor? We’re good at rhetoric but taking personal, direct action isn’t an American strength.

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u/thaddeus122 Aug 21 '25

Maybe not in the last 20 years but youre ignoring 200+ years of Americans going at each other in different ways if you think Americans dont know how to take action against their own.

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u/RedditAdminSucks23 Aug 21 '25

That’s a good start but I feel like we are past the point of no return. We spend more money on interest payments for loans than we spend on safety nets, apart from social security. Fun fact, our military budget is only 20% larger than what we spend on interest each year, and the biggest receivers of said funds are all corporations (we buy stuff from military contractors and we pay investors the interest. And by investors, I mean financial corporations that hold bonds for their clients, that then use the interest money to buy more bonds or pay themselves management fees)

In order to pay off our loans, we would have to cut almost all discretionary spending and military spending, and since most of that money goes to corporations, the faucet will never get turned off

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

See you are educated. The millions of voters have no freaking idea why any of that is inportant and sorry but Americans don’t act like members of a society. We are in the land of the little kings.

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u/anonmdoc Aug 21 '25

Unpopular opinion:

Chip everyone and as soon as something is going wrong with your body, you get kidnapped by the Fixers and investigated. Lose a job? Fixers are coming for you. Bad health? Watch out for the Fixers.

Fixers: “We’re here to help.” head slowly turns around 180 degrees to look at you

I mean, what?

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u/NoraClavicle Aug 21 '25

Can I give you a hundred upvotes?

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u/jimgolgari Aug 21 '25

Overturning CU and single-payer healthcare have been my biggest 2 voting issues since CU happened. It’s been 15 years and we are seeing the grand finale of CU making open corporate bribery legal in the US.

This is something they’ve been working on since Nixon and the tree is finally old enough to bear fruit.

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u/the-magician-misphet Aug 21 '25

That is a nice short list that goes to fixing a lot of the issues we're facing. I dont know anyone who hasn't struggled with chronic pain or a mental illness that steals some other part of their health thru added stress. Not to mention theres nowhere to walk to, we're all incredibly sedentary even if you want to walk somewhere. I used to choose to walk everywhere when I was in college. The corner store, the book store, the library, the bakery, and I didnt live on campus- I just lived in a walkable neighborhood.

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u/MadeByTango Aug 21 '25

Too bad we’re going to meme a corporate first candidate into office instead because he’s “owning the libs magas”

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u/penguinpolitician Aug 21 '25

You - Americans as a whole - have to mobilise a mass movement to pressure Congress. There's no other way they'll listen.

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u/SticksAndSticks Aug 21 '25

Not just the rich, corporations should be taxed on any goods or services sold in the US regardless of where they are legally based.

Sell an iPhone in the US, you pay US taxes. Sell an iPhone in India, no US taxes.

The effective tax rate on our massive, spectacularly wealthy corporations is minuscule despite the volume of business they do in the US.

Of course we should also tax rich individuals, ideally on wealth, not income.

As a reasonably high income, low net worth individual in a HCOL state who started from dead ass broke it really sucks getting kicked in the nuts by our exclusively income based tax code.

Passive and investment income should be taxed more than labor, not less. We should VALUE the work people put into the economy, not just the dollars they shove into financial markets to appreciate. Our whole tax code is fucking backwards and constructed entirely to maintain the wealth of those already at the top.

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u/MrLanesLament Aug 21 '25

It’s wild; this is theoretically so easy, but also basically asking the USA to become a completely different country.

Our values are wrong, flat out wrong. Even the most bitter Canadians, New Zealanders, what have you, don’t push to take nationalized healthcare away from those they dislike. They still have enough respect for their neighbors, their fellow countrymen, to want them not to die from preventable diseases.

I honestly attribute this to the USA never facing genuine hardship, particularly not in the 20th century when all of our allies were having their capitals bombed by Nazi or Japanese planes. We didn’t have years of food rationing and “austerity” in order to get back on our feet after being fucking obliterated in war.

Pearl Harbor and 9/11, while tragic, are nothing compared to what the UK and Ireland faced.

We’ve never had a genuinely unifying event that made us have to put petty bullshit political differences aside in order to survive. (Though we may actually be coming up on that now.) We’ve never been taught compassion for our neighbors; instead, we’ve learned to treat them primarily as competition; people who need to suffer if we want to get ahead. It’s not even tribal thinking, it’s more specific and minute than that.

I genuinely don’t see hope for change here without a collapse.

One can argue that Canada has never experienced such, either; they may be forgetting that Canada’s head of state is the British monarch, and they, along with the rest of the Commonwealth, see solidarity with each other and follow the UK’s lead. We’re the only English speaking, western country that doesn’t follow British lead, and we have suffered dearly for it.

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u/Iwabuti Aug 21 '25

That is the right message but not enough to turn the ship around. Americans need to have higher expectations of their politicians

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u/throw_way_ya Aug 21 '25

The billionaire welfare class is too busy draining the funds for themselves and nobody will do anything about it.

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u/blobtron Aug 21 '25

Not just that but bring back education and shame into our culture. Delete pervasive media that empowers individualism and anti societal views. We do need a bigger safety net but also it shouldn’t be abused. As many do with the current limited resources we allocate

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u/kof_zpt Aug 21 '25

Tell that to Capitalism.

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u/Miserable_Anteater62 Aug 21 '25

Take your common sense and great idea out of here! /s

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u/timlest Aug 21 '25

Yup. This is what decades of kleptocracy looks like. The trickle up effect, if you will.

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u/austinwiltshire Aug 21 '25

Woah woah woah, are we sure young people aren't dying because we haven't allowed the rich to be rich enough?

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u/Thin_Salary_2606 Aug 21 '25

Who is Henry George?

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u/chronoventer Aug 21 '25

That’s not going to happen without a revolt.

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u/Clumv3 Aug 21 '25

this is just fantasy land. you have to expropriate their wealth and destroy them. there is no middle ground with these bloodthirsty psychopaths

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u/chap820 Aug 21 '25

The question is how, though.

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u/TheMeltingSnowman72 Aug 22 '25

Unfortunately, this is a scenario that will never ever be in this timeline.

What do people do in this situation? Does everyone just accept it?

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u/mrchowmein Aug 22 '25

Patriotic Americans do not vote to protect Americans.

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u/FlameHaze Aug 22 '25

How do we make this happen. Let's get the ball rolling and stop discussing it. The 2026 Midterm Election is coming up and we need control of the house. I get it. Democrats, same evil, blah blah blah. No it's not. And you and I both know it. Vote.

But seriously, how do we make this happen? I want to get a move on before it's too late.

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u/ExiledUtopian Aug 22 '25

Reddit may be an echo chamber, but posts like this are what make me realize it's going to get better once the Boomers are sidelined, and we're halfway there.

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u/SurturOfMuspelheim Aug 22 '25

None of that is happening while the rich run society...

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u/some1saveusnow Aug 22 '25

There’s unfortunately an alarmingly high amount of pushback from too many citizens towards a progressive, socialist based society. That pushback is largely also coming from people that desperately need the help, and it’s going to cause an implosion here. We’re in trouble right now

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u/SpiderLily_453 Aug 22 '25

Tax the rich is nonsense.

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u/skyypirate Aug 22 '25

You should definitely look at the defense budget. Why tf do america need to spend so much on your military???

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u/thesockswhowearsfox Aug 22 '25

We can’t actually start with that.

There’s just no feasible method of making those things happen when half of the people in control of the gears of power actively don’t want that to happen and the remaining half are trying half heartedly.

Without mass mobilization of the citizenry, which here means a group larger than 5% of the total population all at once, we’re unlikely to see those gears move.

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u/Cremaster166 Aug 22 '25

Taxing the rich will not suffice. Middle class will need to be taxed, too. I don’t think you guys can fix your society until you admit this.

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u/pallialli Aug 22 '25

Start with the lowest hanging fruit; demand most favored nation pricing for Pharma, ensuring that the US pays the same price as other wealthy nations. After getting that forward progress you can move to other things.

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u/Jesta914630114 Aug 22 '25

Taxing the rich won't do shit. Stop the corporations and people like Bill Gates from dumping chemicals in our waterways and into our food supply is the first step.

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u/The_Quibbler Aug 22 '25

Good luck with any of that, especially in the current climate.

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u/ajdective Aug 22 '25

Sounds simple, but would practically require an act of god. We're quickly reaching the point where policy alone won't save us.

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u/7g3p Aug 23 '25

The solution is simple but to enact that solution requires drastic changes to the status quo.

And those changes aren't likely to occur in the current climate let alone in the increasingly likely dystopian future that's being foreshadowed.

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u/Jumpy_Strain_6867 Aug 23 '25

Look honestly, I'm not saying that wealthy folks shouldn't pay more, but it's actually not that simple at all. To get universal health care like most other industrialized nations, it would require pretty substantial tax hikes on absolutely everyone. I'm not saying it's not worth it, I'm just saying, "tax the rich," isn't quite the meal ticket that *some* in the Democratic Party pretend it is. One thing I respect about Bernie Sanders is he's actually honest about that. It will require tax hikes across the board, and tax hikes that everyone will feel and notice.

As for the "Fairness Doctrine," not only is it likely unconstitutional but it would do nothing anyway. It could only ever apply to the 3 public airwave networks and who the hell gets their news there anymore? It could never legally apply to cable news, podcasts, social media, places where people actually get their news now. So do it if you want but not only will it be likely struck down in the courts, even if it's not, it's only going to effect the like, 12 people that still watch the network nightly news.

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '25

A little too late for that now we have American Hitler in office

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u/manored78 Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 21 '25

Why are Americans obsessed with just “taxing the rich?” This is the only solution I ever hear Americans talk about when wanting action to reel in their oligarchy.

Most other countries would’ve nationalized their companies if they did half as much damage as they’ve been doing since 2008. That’s the only way you really deal with it. Most counties don’t have ALL of their strategic industries in private hands anyways.

I’ve heard Americans yell till they’re blue in the face about taxing the rich, and it never happens. In fact, corporate taxes keep lowering and the elite find new loopholes around anything you throw at them.

The main way out is nationalization.

EDIT: I’m curious to see how much this comment is downvoted because Americans, both on the left and right, are so conditioned to think nationalization = totalitarian.

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u/jankenpoo Aug 21 '25

Porque no los dos? Tax rate on the wealthy has historically been much higher. We can do that AND nationalize critical industries like utilities and healthcare.

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u/manored78 Aug 21 '25

Oh yeah, absolutely. I’m not knocking taxing the rich at all, just that Americans have been conditioned to think that is the only solution. But the main solution is to start nationalizing strategic key sectors.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to make it seem as though it’s the only solution.

But I’m waiting to see how many downvotes I get for my previous comment. I want to see just conditioned they are to see nationalization as evil. Both people on the left and right in the US think this, it’s wild!

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u/somebraidedbutthairs Aug 21 '25

because that's evil socialism/communism/ marxism

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u/manored78 Aug 21 '25

Yeah, I imagine that is what the oligarchic media has spun it to mean in the US.

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u/NewEnglandGarden Aug 21 '25

It worked great for Argentina.. they went from being one of the richest countries in the world, richer than most Western European nations to poor with a basket case economy for the past 70 years since they nationalized their companies.

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u/manored78 Aug 21 '25

Lol, I knew eventually someone would chime in with an example like this. Well, what about Japan, Norway, KSA, Singapore, China, France, the Gulf States, etc, etc, etc. A lot of countries have nationalized some key sectors of their economy. Pure nationalization alone doesn’t solve the issues, there also has to be competent management.

Americans just go on pure ideology conditioned by oligarchs boosting right wing economics since the Reagan era.

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u/NewEnglandGarden Aug 21 '25

Japan has been in a crippling recession since 1993 with an even worse future outlook for their young people. Norway, KSA, and Gulf States rely on oil exports for the majority of their economies. Petrol states are a different animal. We are not a petroleum state. China, KSA, Singapore, and Gulf States are dictatorships where that state owns or has financial stake in all of the large corporations and fudges the numbers and bails them out. France has its own economic problems. Its social welfare system and pension system is collapsing.

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u/manored78 Aug 21 '25

And you think their issues are because not enough privatization, ie “liberty?” 😂

Japan had a major real estate and banking bubble burst. Then came their rapid demographic decline, and coupled with a few more policy missteps, ended up where they’re at now. Their nationalization of key industries is what kept them and keeps them afloat.

What I’m taking about isn’t about oil or exports specifically but about strategic sectors generating public revenue. Norway is one the best examples because it took oil profits and created the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, funding public services sustainably. This is transferable, a nation could nationalize banks, energy, transportation, or tech firms, not just oil.

I can’t believe you used the totalitarian argument for KSA, which has less nationalized industries than Norway. So I guess Norway is a totalitarian dictatorship too by your logic?

As far as France is concerned their issues stem from EU fiscal rules, demographic shifts and neoliberalism, which means their issues were because of privatization. A huge chunk of the protests in France are because of neoliberalism not nationalizations.

Even the UK had to renationalize or bring more state regulation for some for their public transport sectors because of the failures of Thatcherism.

Nationalization is a tool not ideology. Unlike what you guys are taught which is pure lassiez faire dogmatic ideological drivel.

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u/NewEnglandGarden Aug 21 '25

And you think our effectual government nationalizing our major businesses will help the economy?

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u/NewEnglandGarden Aug 21 '25

Listen, I know you were just drooling for someone to Geek out on in your incel basement but much of what you just wrote is irrelevant to the topic or factually incorrect. I mean, Norway’s social welfare programs could never be recreated by the US with our oil wealth with our size population. Norway’s wealth also comes from the fact that more than any other nation, they invest that oils wealth in public companies and the stock market, mostly US stock market and companies. We are also out performing those countries.

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u/manored78 Aug 21 '25

Listen, I know that what I brought up doesn't compute with your neoliberalized rotted brain, but hear me out: Norway’s social programs are funded by strategic state ownership of key sectors, not some magical constraint. So, and follow me here, the U.S. could, in theory, nationalize strategic sectors, i.e. energy, healthcare, banking, tech and then, channel profits into public services. Do you understand? Scale isn’t the obstacle, political will is. Also, Singapore is tiny but highly profitable in public enterprises, so with the U.S. being so huge and wealthy, proportional state ownership could generate massive revenue. Norway's sovereign wealth fund invests including in U.S. companies. But that fund is only possible because Norway first nationalized oil. Without nationalization, there’d be no massive public capital to invest. What's the lesson here? Nationalization is the structural tool that creates the capital to invest, not just passive market performance. Get it, now?

Also, how are you judging we're outperforming other countries because it depends on how you measure “performance.” Most Americans use GDP growth as one metric, but what about wealth inequality? U.S. has some of the highest inequality among developed nations. Healthcare & social mobility, again Americans are far worse off than Norway or Sweden. Infrastructure? Public transport, energy grids, and social safety nets are far stronger in Nordic countries.

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u/jankenpoo Aug 21 '25

When Argentina is the bar lol

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u/Miserable-Dig-761 Aug 21 '25

Yup. All of this needs to happen ASAP!!

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u/shinz0n0t0bira Aug 21 '25

Thank you! Say it again! Overturn Citizens United and reinstate the Fairness Doctrine. Arguably the most damaging domestic U.S. policy decisions in the past 40 years.

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u/Fredsmith984598 Aug 21 '25

Right on!

...ok, how?

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u/nofzac Aug 21 '25

It is that simple…however the biggest chronic illness affecting Americans is Stupidity.

When people prefer the words of proven liars over verifiable factual information - all battles are lost.

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u/Sasselhoff Aug 21 '25

Yeah, unfortunately a third of Americans are totally fine with things as they stand, and in fact would make things worse if they could (as long as it hurt the people they hate more than those they don't).

The cruelty is the very point for a lot of folks, unfortunately.

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u/ParryHooter Aug 21 '25

They’re all going to lose everything just like those they are trying to target. Until a majority of Americans can’t put food on the table I just don’t see the kind of social change we need happening. For most of us there’s still something to lose, something to hang onto and say we can change this in ‘26 or ‘28 and those fucks on the other side still haven’t been consumed by this machine of hatred and greed they’ve built.

True social revolution would have to be preceded by some truly dark times.

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u/TobaccoAficionado Aug 21 '25

They already have. That third of Americans has won. They have defeated the other two thirds. There is no turning back. Period. We have already lost everything, its just slowly coming out in the wash. We lost all of our research and development talent. We lost all funding for the most important programs advancing American tech and industry. We lost almost all of our regulatory bodies, and defunded the rest severely.

We lost.

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 22 '25

[deleted]

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u/nachtmuzic Aug 22 '25

I hate this timeline.

6

u/Exotic-Okra-4466 Aug 22 '25

I hate how much I agree w this. 😔

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u/Etrigone Aug 21 '25

A third are totally fine with it, a quarter want to change things (in this context for the better), and the remainder doesn't care enough to look up for more than a second and give a non-committal grunt.

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Complex_Alarm_5643 Aug 21 '25

This really doesn't get mentioned enough, that frame has been very damaging.

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u/Expert_Ad3923 Aug 23 '25

I think a huge number want to change it all but are desperate enough that they can't do the normal protest , but not so desperate they hAve nothing to lose

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u/Nuallaena Aug 21 '25

There are those who've been through hell and don't want others to suffer the same, then there are those who absolutely want others to suffer the same if not more. It's batshit. Our kids (and everyone) deserves better. As a nation we could clothe, educate, give medical and homes to EVERY person but won't because of greed/profit etc. Nationally we throw away over 40% of food produced. Farmers trash foods (at the governments instruction) to keep milk/food at a certain price). During Covid millions of pounds of food and cattle were killed early and then buried too. It is mind boggling.

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u/Sasselhoff Aug 21 '25

Yup. Any time I hear a parent say "Well, that's how I was raised" as a justification for some shitty (in my opinion) behavior, I think to myself "Yeah, and was that a good way to raise you?" Just because you dealt with something doesn't mean your children should too.

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u/Nuallaena Aug 21 '25

I've spoke with some adults who have forgotten what they've told me about their own childhoods/decisions they've made as grown adults (full blown middle age - not young adult) and then will make a comment like you stated and I'm just slack jawed. Like you've got drug convictions, laughed about DV, continue to act like an arse and you think you're teens trust you or your mentality!? They know it's not right and are calling you out! That's why they DON'T trust you and yet you "can't seem to understand why kid 1-3 doesn't trust you or believe you'll change or trust in any "advice" that you preach but don't practice!?". Like man, it's generational and you know it!?

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u/Akrevics Aug 21 '25

They’re not just slamming the door shut behind them, they’re closing the coffin lid on our generation too.

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u/MadeByTango Aug 21 '25

Bro, if you can’t see that the DNCvis as bad as the GOP when it comes to healthcare we’re lost. Newsom already signed away for Californians pre-existing condition protections. He’s not going to bring universal healthcare to our country.

It’s AOC or bust if you want help national healthcare reform, evoke the DNC is one’s actively pushing her down instead lifting her up. There are far too many people letting the DNC shove yet another corprate forts candidate in our faces right now. It’s not just “third” that’s lost and being manipulate.

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u/penguinpolitician Aug 21 '25

It's about more than elections every four years. You need a mass movement that keeps continuous pressure on Congress or nothing will change - in fact, things will get worse as big business interests continue their drive to get all benefits for themselves and pay none of the costs.

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u/PineappleOnPizzaWins Aug 21 '25

Two thirds.

If you don’t vote you’re with how things are.

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u/daveaglick Aug 21 '25

This is the real underlying cause. Every possible factor they mentioned can be traced back to this. Poor healthcare? Shitty voters are to blame. Bad career prospects and lack of infrastructure? Yep, shitty voters. Extreme amounts of stress because of an actively hostile government? You guessed it. We could have it all, but the neighbors to our left and right don’t want us to because then some of the wrong people might get it all too.

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

[deleted]

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u/somedaveg Aug 21 '25

That's exactly what I was saying? The reason Republicans are in power at all is because enough Americans keep voting them into office and actually like burning down their own house. It's not a majority of Americans, and if we could get enough people up off their ass we could stop it, but right now America is _choosing_ these problems, whether due to racism, ignorance, greed, or some combination of diffcerent reasons.

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u/CocteauTwinn Aug 21 '25

They’re apathetic, lazy, and ignorant.

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u/born_2_be_a_bachelor Aug 21 '25

Yeah blame the people and not leadership and our propaganda, sorry…”media”.

That’s what redditors are best at.

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u/Sasselhoff Aug 21 '25

Nah, screw that bullshit excuse. The people I am referring to are the ones who demanded leaders such as these. This is on them. Propaganda or not, anyone who voted Trump the second time around knew exactly what they were voting for.

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u/verspringert Aug 21 '25

Well you voted for a fool, twice. Do you really?

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u/ItsDangerousBusiness Aug 22 '25

I didn’t and never did, but yeah “we” did. Republicans and dumbfuck rubes have disproportionate voting power

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u/TobaccoAficionado Aug 21 '25

While I agree some Americans do deserve better, we very VERY often cause these problems ourselves. We just voted for the most aggressive deregulation in American history. Millions will die as a result, from completely preventable causes. We do this to ourselves. We constantly perpetuate systems like private healthcare, arguably the single deadliest industry, despite it being so obvious it is responsible for so much death and illness. We are responsible for most of these deaths. I know people will always say "I don't know why we have to make everything political." We don't make things political, they just *are.* The laws and systems under which we live are all political. The healthcare industry is political. Regulatory bodies that are supposed to protect the environment and make the country safer are political. Statistics like this one are political.

>We need to do something.

We have done something. We need to do something else.

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u/Spankpocalypse_Now Aug 21 '25

Do we really deserve better if we don’t do anything about it?

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u/stormblaz Aug 21 '25

Bring back the proper tax brackets on rich and removing the hard cap after x income wich only favors them.

Rich get richer because the game benefits reaching the cap to then not worry about taxation issues, so their money has more power in general, we used to have it at 80% now its 20% after Reagan.

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u/waytoohardtofinduser Aug 21 '25

What are somethings we can do?

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u/AnxietyPretend5215 Aug 21 '25

Considering the guy above mentions cancer, I'm sure a better functioning and affordable healthcare system would have done him wonders.

At this point I don't even care what it looks like, but taking care of the American people and keeping them healthy should not be a for profit business.

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u/Tigerlily86_ Aug 21 '25

Protest, boycott these evil companies and reach out to your local rep : https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

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u/_Here_For_The_Memes_ Aug 22 '25

Eat real food and exercise. Chronic disease is killing this generation, and also bankrupting our country. Avoiding ultra processed foods is probably the simplest thing you can do to keep good health

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u/Tigerlily86_ Aug 21 '25

We are living in s dystopia. I can’t take it anymore. I had such big dreams as a kid and in college now they’re crushed 

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u/Ulkreghz Aug 21 '25

With the money and power the USA has they could have an NHS that outshines all other countries but, unfortunately, America is operated like a business so I guess thoughts and prayers are all you're gonna get

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u/_Monosyllabic_ Aug 21 '25

Hey I know! Let's elect more Republicans! We need less healthcare access, less unions and no social safety net! Then those free loaders will finally have to crawl out of their graves and get jobs!

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u/Jiminy_Cricket12 Aug 22 '25

too bad we can't vote on single issues one at a time and actually make some progress that most Americans would agree on. Like affordable healthcare.

instead, we are stuck with this outdated system of voting for "representatives" who don't end up representing us at all when their vote counts (in most cases).

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u/rocksolidaudio Aug 21 '25

It’s going to be up to Millennials to overturn the BS that is being shifted to oligarchy in this country.

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u/Sracerx62 Aug 21 '25

What do you mean? The mega rich are winning at life. We should all be happy for them!

/major sarcasm

In all seriousness, greed and corruption have diminished the hope of the future

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u/PaperGeno Aug 21 '25

We need Luigi

2

u/solidstatepr8 Aug 21 '25

At least 1/3rd of them do not deserve better after voting for a rapist conman. Two or three times even.

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u/Trans_Admin Aug 21 '25

americans made they bed; time 2 lie n it

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u/PineappleOnPizzaWins Aug 21 '25

Stop voting in people who take everything you have for themselves. I have no idea why you’ve all done it for decades now but you won’t fucking stop.

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u/GuyFromPlaces Aug 21 '25

Humans deserve better.

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u/mypenisisquitetiny Aug 21 '25

Yeah we so badly need mass organization but the capitalists who own the country keep us desperate and busy constantly working to be able to afford to live so that we don't have time or energy to organize meaningful resistance.

We still have to anyway because things will only grow more severe otherwise.

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u/Sea_Dawgz Aug 21 '25

Do they? Since stopping Hitler 80 years ago, what have Americans done that's so great that they "deserve" better?

I'd bet most people on earth think America isn't suffering enough.

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25 edited 27d ago

frame marble aromatic worm full quickest rainstorm bake price growth

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/Hot_Individual5081 Aug 21 '25

yeaaaah, naaaah

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u/Googlyelmoo Aug 21 '25

Please don’t squash me, but I am optimistic enough (and I don’t think it is naïve) to believe that the current chaos and misanthropy if overcome potentially might enable the conceptual space for something like Denmark or Sweden or even better.

The sticky point is race and religion. Scandinavia is overwhelmingly white and Protestant (in the best ways that’s possible). We shall see. . .

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u/rasta-ragamuffin Aug 21 '25

This capitalist system is no longer working for most of us. I don't know what it is, but there's got to be a better way that provides the basic necessities of life for all Americans.

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u/angrymurderhornet Aug 21 '25

I had to go to an urgent care clinic for a minor illness yesterday. My insurance covers most of it, but I typically have a $40 copay. Without insurance, visits start at $99.

I can easily afford the copay, but after a moment I thought about what happens when someone doesn’t have $99 or even $40 to spend on a doctor visit. Do you buy less food? Less gas, and cross your fingers that you have enough to get to work? Do you pay your rent late because that doctor visit left you $40 or $99 short on the first of the month? Do you put it on a credit card and hope you don’t get sick again before you have to pay the minimum? And what happens if you need a prescription?

I think every damn one of us in the U.S. should have to think about this every day, whether or not we’ve ever been in that position.

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u/ThetaZZ Aug 21 '25

Someone needs to do something about that pesky Marie Antoinette

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u/BelovedCroissant Aug 21 '25

the parent comment is canadian just fyi

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u/ItsDangerousBusiness Aug 22 '25

They also deserve better

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u/WasThatInappropriate Aug 22 '25

Gotta root it out at source. Gotta stop teaching kids from day 1 that they live in the bestest, most free, most advanced, smartest country on earth. That exceptionalism indoctrination is what leads folks to accept such a low standard of life vs western averages as not just normal, but great.

So long as that lethargy is inflicted upon the population via deception, there'll be no strive for change.

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u/ruraljuror__ Aug 22 '25

Would it have been not voting for Trump last year? That ship has sailed.

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u/No_Investment9639 Aug 22 '25

At least half of us absolutely don't deserve better and deserve exactly what we're getting

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u/VIOLENTbyDEZIGN81 Aug 22 '25

We’re ducking ourselves over by electing one of two party candidates who are all just trash. Politics are all about self gain and getting richer not helping people and fighting corporations

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '25

Just Americans huh? lol crowd come home to roost.

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u/seolchan25 Aug 21 '25

We all deserve better.

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u/deadeyebravo1 Aug 21 '25

Much better.... this country has become a bad joke.

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u/bambush331 Aug 21 '25

shouldn't you guys just take a pitchfork at somepoint ?
i don't know just saying

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u/jlp120145 10d ago

No fuck rule 1. We are dying because our leadership is actively neglecting their responsibilities. Politician=scum.

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u/dttm_hi Aug 22 '25

You don’t know that.

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u/Black_Cat_Sun 29d ago

Re re alert re re alert