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.

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

Holy shit it's getting worse fast

@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/

@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.