Dave Rahardja

I don’t think a prolonged general strike is going to happen in the US, and I’ll tell you why: the social safety net doesn’t exist, and people are broke.

43% of USians cannot afford an unexpected $1000 bill¹. The median household spends 33% of their income on rent². The median household has $8k in savings³. Most people will lose their health insurance if they don’t show up to work.

How many of these people can sustain a general strike during which they will not get paid?

…

¹ https://www.usnews.com/banking/articles/2026-financial-wellness-survey

² https://usafacts.org/answers/how-much-do-households-spend-on-rent/country/united-states/

³ https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/savings-account-average-balance/#how-much-does-the-average-household-have-in-savings

Apr 8 at 5:08amWeb
Show threadDave Rahardja1d ago

Most people who work for corporations are not unionized. The job market stinks. Mass layoffs have been rampant. VC-subsidized AI is making bosses drunk with power in the short term. Asking employees to put their jobs on the line in today’s uncertain market seems almost cruel.

The sad fact is most USians are utterly dependent on the capitalist class for our day-to-day living. Because we have allowed the cost of living to far outpace our income, and because we have steadfastly refused to create a public healthcare, housing, and food security program, our survival comes drip-drip-dripping from our corporate lords two weeks at a time. USians can’t afford to bite the hand that literally keeps us alive.

Show threadJKB1d ago

@drahardja "The median emergency fund balance has dropped by half from last year's survey."

Holy shit it's getting worse fast

Show threadDave Rahardja1d ago

@jkb It’s been getting worse since Nixon. Wages have not risen while everything else has become more expensive. Workers are yielding more and more of their productive value to the capitalist class. People are being gradually pushed into poverty, and Republicans keep voting for more of the same.

US voters chose this policy for ourselves.

https://www.epi.org/chart/wage-summit-2014-figure-2-disconnect-between-productivity-and-typical-workers-compensation-1948-2013/

Workers produced much more, but typical workers’ pay lagged far behind: Disconnect between productivity and typical worker’s compensation, 1948–2013

Year Hourly compensation Productivity 1948  0.00% 0.00% 1949 6.25% 1.54% 1950 10.48% 9.33% 1951 11.76% 12.35% 1952 15.04% 15.63% 1953 20.85% 19.54% 1954 23.52% 21.56% 1955 28.74% 26.46% 1956 33.95% 26.66% 1957 37.15% 30.10% 1958 38.17% 32.79% 1959 42.55% 37.63% 1960 45.50% 40.05% 1961 48.00% 44.35% 1962 52.48% 49.79% 1963 55.03% 55.00% 1964 58.51% 59.99%…

Economic Policy Institute
Show threadJKB1d ago

@drahardja Yes I have some awareness of the whole process and timeline, but I still can't help being surprised by the extent of the damage.

I am not immune to propaganda, years of "America is the greatest country/the richest country" and "LOL shut up you Europoors" have skewed my perception and expectations. And then the figures come in, and lo and behold my middle-class single-income household is filthy rich compared to the US median despite a significantly lower salary and famously high tax rates (cheers from Belgium).

So yeah the purpose of a system is what is does, and all evidence point to the USA being a giant machine made to funnel money into billionaire's pockets, and it's very effective. I hope some form of liberation comes for our comrades in the USA, but I have no idea what it would take.

Show threadDave Rahardja1d ago

@jkb Me neither. It seems that there is a large portion of the US population who cannot be convinced to empathize with other people, and will vote to make life worse for everyone—including themselves—if only to prevent “the wrong people” from enjoying a better life.

They are being played like a violin by the billionaire class, and their hate prevents them from realizing it.

Show threadGlitzersachen1d ago

@jkb @drahardja

> "LOL shut up you Europoors"

Haha. That is (was) a pretty bold statement from a country that doesn't have a public health system and insurance. Because the Europoors are pretty proud of that and the value can actually be measured in money. It's what USians pay more in medical drugs and what they have to pay when they call an ambulance ...

Show threadJKB1d ago

@glitzersachen @drahardja From what I gather the idea of "europoors" comes from three facts:

  • the GDP per capita in the USA is higher than in the EU
  • salaries in the USA are higher than in the EU
  • in general people in Europe are more restrained and don't display wealth in the same way people in the USA do: we drive smaller cars and live in smaller homes

But yeah people who call us "europoors" are strangely silent when you point out the lack of personal bankrupcies and the often higher median wealth on this side of the ocean... we earn less and pay more taxes, how comes we end up with more wealth? Truly a mystery...

Show threadGlitzersachen1d ago

@jkb @drahardja

"The greatest trick capitalism ever pulled, was to convince people they could be capitalists"

Nobody (well, a lot of people) don't want to be critical of capitalism, because "if you had 100 million, you wouldn't want to pay half of it in taxes".

I always say then, that I'll never have 100 million, because I am paid for my work, and that I am not defrauding people with imaginary value.

<wind, tumbleweed, crickets>

Show threadಚಿರಾಗ್ 🌹✊🏾Ⓥ🌱🇵🇸 (he/him)15h ago
@glitzersachen @jkb @drahardja Also, *yes I would*. That's partly why I will never have $100 million.
Show threadJKB12h ago

@chiraag @glitzersachen @drahardja Also: you pay taxes on income, not on wealth. This means your wealth increases by the amount that's left after taxes (we're talking millions here, living costs are a rounding error at such scale).

Any functioning adult would understand that. Basement dwellers LARPing as financial gurus on /r/wallstreetbets don't.

Show threadDave Rahardja12h ago
@jkb @chiraag @glitzersachen I mean, I would also encourage an aggressively progressive wealth tax.
Show threadJKB11h ago
@drahardja @chiraag @glitzersachen Agreed, that would close quite a few loopholes for these rich people with zero "income".
Show threadAedius Filmania ⚙️🎮🖊️1d ago

@drahardja

Their wont be strike, but when enough people will have nothing more to loose, the riots will begin.

Show threadCyberlyra1d ago

@drahardja

people are also sick, or balancing work and caregiving responsibilities for loved ones, old and young, esp with chronic conditions.

Show threadDonald Ball1d ago
@drahardja @drwho I quibble with “allowed” and “refused”, because I hold we do not live in a functional democracy, but otherwise: yes, extremely this.
Show threadBen Rosengart1d ago

@drahardja Or we have to bite it hard enough to cripple it.

People don’t do a general strike because they feel safe doing so. They do it because conditions are intolerable.

Show threadBen Rosengart1d ago
@drahardja I expect the strike will be led not by people afraid of getting behind on rent, but by people already behind on rent
Show threadSteve Holden1d ago
@drahardja @tiotasram An economic example of the Erlichman doctrine: “when you’ve got them by the balls their hearts and minds will surely follow.”
Show threadTheStrangelet 1d ago
@drahardja The situation most Americans find themselves in is not an accident. This systemic poverty is by design.
Show threadmike8051d ago

@thestrangelet @drahardja The financial elite did not set out to make us all poor.

They just set out to take all the wealth for themselves.

A cattle rancher's goal is not to kill cows, but to make money. They are people farmers.

They did this by creating enough new credit (not money, the difference needs to be well understood) to buy all the new wealth created in the USA since around 1973.

They also used law changes to create cartels where that used to be illegal. Stock buybacks were illegal

Show threadTheStrangelet 1d ago

@mike805 @drahardja I may agree with your premise that the financial elite did not set out to drive humanity into poverty; however, they certainly didn't care, which is close enough to the same thing.

The purpose of a system is what it does, as they say.

Show threadUkeleleEric1d ago
@drahardja Frankly, the only recourse most have left is to refuse to pay for certain things. Every individual needs to work out what will hit the richest most whilst inconveniencing themselves the least, and do it, and help others to do the same. And try to build up mutual alternatives, like localised insurance and help schemes, where everyone pays a small amount into a mutual fund, or helps out or volunteers, so that others can be helped/funded/protected on a nil sum gain basis.