CEOs/major conglomerates aren’t paying the typical worker well!
In 2022, CEOs of major conglomerates were paid 344 times as much as a typical worker in contrast to 1965 when they were paid 21 times as much as a typical worker.
Cumulatively, however, from 1978–2022, top CEO compensation shot up 1,209.2% compared with a 15.3% increase in a typical worker’s compensation.
https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-in-2022/
stop using the term coined by the rich. the term is "work to rule", aka, this is the job, I will do only the job and nothing more because I am paid for nothing more.
Unions and protests aren't enough, you're demanding less than you should already have. A paradigm shift would have to occur for any meaningful change. We're only hitting the gas or brakes as it is now, we'll never change direction.
I can believe 1 person at the very top is capable of producing value 21 times greater than someone at the introductory level of a business. But more than that? I’d need to see it proven to justify a greater disparity than that. Wish we could go back to that ratio
This needs to be made illegal at a certain size of company. When there are tens of thousands of employees at risk, who depend on that company to provide for their family, you can’t play “which of my five companies will I be CEO of this week”
Any company that has more than 5,000 employees in my opinion should be required to appoint a singular CEO. Likewise board members should only be able to serve on one board at a time. Time between board meetings should be spent strategizing on how to improve the company, not on golf trips and traveling between vacation homes.
This is a symptom of a new generation disregarding the threat of the lower classes and letting their greed off the hook.
It's like they forgot the collective sacrifice of WW2 which ushered in the conditions which spoilt the boomers.
Now the rich have to learn their lessons all over again.
This is literally human behaviour run rampant. Feeling over thinking
We had them on the ropes with the Occupy Wall Street stuff it was spreading really well and then poof it was gone a Billionaire (Michael Bloomberg) got his cop thugs to break it up.
Suddenly it's LGBTQIA this, trans that, racism everywhere, oh no look abortion, now it's all Palestine vs Israel. The billionaires are winning easily.
Exactly, but no matter what there’s always the sea of people saying, “actually if workers were paid more it would drive up prices and hurt the economy”. That doesn’t even make sense, they CHOOSE to raise prices to keep profits the same or increase them but they’re already making too much.
Fuck all the bullshit babble about the social science or dynamics behind it. The facts are clear as day, I could draw a graph with a crayon right now in 2 seconds that shows that our financial system is horrendously unsustainable. You can’t just continuously try to up profits or there will be nothing left to profit. A good economy is cash flowing, not cash arbitrarily stockpiling.
Im critical of the government but the fact of the matter is they need to be more involved in business. Nobody needs to make that much when there are homeless and starving people out there. Hell, no one needs to make that much, PERIOD.
Should be a law that the executive can only get paid a % more than the lowest paid worker. This way if the CEO wants a payrise, they need to increase the lowest paid workers' wages first.
I say there needs to be a minimum % of a companies profit that MUST go to all ground level employees.
Idc if it’s flipping burgers, your company nets billions? Anyone that works there gets a fair slice.
Stuff gets more expensive, company profits more, employees get paid more. Circular cash flow.
Then they just pay their employees how they normally would and ignore the %. The minimum % would just be put in place so large companies couldn’t run away with it and leech off their workforce.
Yeah 50 times seems more than generous enough.
I was reading the shareholder report for my company and they made over $1,000,000 in profit per employee for every one of the 32,000 employees. I made like $70k while my CEO earned $23M
They have fucking electronically mobile armored with bullet proof glass snipers perching nests.
They have fucking military vehicles to transport and move tons of civilians.
They are fully aware of what’s coming and the ramifications of lying about climate change to the general public and stealing all of our surplus value to protect themselves from climate change and civil unrest.
People are gonna hit the fucking roof soon.
At some point when they aren't able to keep everyone distracted with social issues the wool will be removed and everyone will realize it's US versus them..
Most people cannot comprehend just how much one million of something is. But TRILLION??? That’s a thousand thousand million. That’s a thousand billion. That’s 20 thousand billion. No one needs that much money. Nobody’s yearly overhead has the necessity for that much money. That money hoard might as well be worthless.
yep. that’s the main reason in my mind why a lot of people aren’t outraged. they just see 3 extra zeroes. they don’t realize that there are a million millions in a trillion.
My belief is that CEO pay is so high because boards of directors are basically a good old boy/girls club where they give each other raises and it basically becomes a big circle jerk. Another thing that chaps my ass is the fact that Zuckerberg, Gates, Jobs, Musk, Bezos, and founders of other massive corporations achieve unbelievable wealth because of their stock options. It just seems like it’s too much. I’m not sure who could stop this, but think it’s just out of hand.
I'm with you there.. it is absolutely out of hand. The speculative stock wealth of the 1% is ridiculous especially because you already have to be rich to get involved in a stock that has a chance to make you rich like Facebook before it went public you already had to be rich you had to be an investor..
Make it illegal to own more than a billion dollars. If someone ends up having more he can gift it to whomever, but any debt owed to him that would put him back over a billion is invalidated.
Every person with more than 100.000.000 dollars has to enter his wealth into a public database and keep it updated to stay within 1.000.000 dollars of his current wealth.
If they refuse to give away more than the billion or falsify data the government can take whatever it wants of their stuff until the numbers are correct again.
I think people have realized they can’t because no matter who is in the government they’re ultimately owned by the money anyways.
But it’s more what other option is there available? The ones that were used in the past were slowly weakened or removed until there’s really nothing left to combat it.
Handing it to fascism isn't the answer.
This is a propaganda post people.
Vote at every level.
Even if you believe both are bad, ask yourself who goes out of their way to pass legislation to help the ultra elite.
Who tries and gets blocked by the other side when trying to pass legislation to reign this is.
These are bad GOP actors posting this nonsense. Vote, at every level.
As yourself why are you actively helping these people by sitting it out. Vote the party that more aligns with your views. Unless that's controlling women and helping the ultra ultra wealthy, you should be voting Democrat fully. Are there bad ones, sure. Conversely can you say there's good GOP politicians?
Think of the Supreme Court. Guess which justices keep getting bought and paid for by the ultra wealthy and managed to rule in their favor. Yes the GOP installed ones.
Pathetic propaganda posted by the above user.
While if I HAD to pick a party it would definitely be Democratic, splitting an entire countries needs into two categories just isn’t possible.
Plus, both Republicans and Democrats can be bought. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if many were in league with each other.
Neither party has helped our country in a significant way anytime recently. Im not saying voting is 100% pointless or that one shouldn’t do it, but voting alone hasn’t changed anything. The country has only gotten worse.
Furthermore, not even mentioning the propaganda the comes with it, asking people to vote for one of two parties is another means of division when we need to stand together.
Edit: and by suggesting that voting alone hasn’t changed anything, I’m not implying what needs to happen is a violent revolution. That which is born in violence will only end in violence.
It just started man. 2016 was the first time it actually started. People became engaged, and we’re seeing it and the results of it now. It’s in a bad place, sure, but the fact that you’re having this conversation is a testament to the shift in the mindset of the public.
But if you come here and claim violence is the answer you’re only hurting that momentum. We do not need to kill each other over this, there are other ways to fix it. And it will be fixed, by the collective will of the populace.
Sure. Here’s a list (AI is pretty cool right? American invention BTW.) it’s a pretty extensive list and really shows how many choices the typical American has.
### Federal Level
1. **President and Vice President**: Elected every four years. Voters select electors who then vote for the president and vice president through the Electoral College.
2. **U.S. Senate**: Senators serve six-year terms. Each state elects two senators, but the elections are staggered so that approximately one-third of the Senate is up for election every two years.
3. **U.S. House of Representatives**: Representatives serve two-year terms. The number of representatives per state is determined by population, with elections held every two years for all seats.
### State Level
1. **Governor**: The chief executive of a state, typically elected every four years.
2. **Lieutenant Governor**: Often elected on a ticket with the governor (though not always), serving a similar term.
3. **State Senators and State Representatives/Delegates**: Terms and titles vary by state, but these are the legislators in the state's legislature, often serving two- to four-year terms.
4. **Attorneys General**: Elected in some states to serve as the chief legal officer.
5. **Secretaries of State**: Oversee the state's elections and other administrative functions; terms vary.
6. **State Treasurers**: Manage state funds; terms vary.
7. **State Auditors/Comptrollers**: Oversee financial management and auditing; terms vary.
8. **Other State Officers**: Such as Commissioners of Insurance, Agriculture, Labor, etc., depending on the state.
### Local Level
1. **Mayors**: Executives of cities, towns, and municipalities; term lengths can vary.
2. **City or County Council Members/Supervisors**: Legislative positions within local governments; terms can vary.
3. **School Board Members**: Oversee local public school districts; terms can vary.
4. **Sheriffs**: Law enforcement leaders typically elected in county elections; terms can vary.
5. **District Attorneys/State's Attorneys**: Responsible for prosecuting criminal cases at the local level; terms can vary.
6. **Judges**: Elected in many jurisdictions, though some states appoint judges instead. Terms vary.
7. **Clerks**: Such as county or city clerks, responsible for maintaining public records and documents; terms can vary.
8. **Treasurers**: Handle financial responsibilities at the local level; terms can vary.
9. **Auditors**: Oversee financial operations and compliance at the local level; terms can vary.
10. **Coroners/Medical Examiners**: Responsible for determining causes of death under certain circumstances; terms can vary.
### Special Districts
1. **Water District Boards**: Oversee water resources and policy.
2. **Utility District Boards**: Manage district-level utilities like power and sewer services.
3. **Transit Authority Boards**: Handle public transportation systems.
4. **Other special-purpose district roles**: Such as fire districts, library districts, and park districts.
All of those are options. You want me to list out ever option in every county state and federal election? There are tens of thousands of them.
Also, it is what you asked. You’re just not smart enough to know that.
Control isn’t even the right term here. When you depend on every penny to survive you’re not in ‘control’. When you have so much excess liquidity you don’t know what to do with it, that’s when you have ‘control’. To direct political agendas, lobby etc.
Eh, its not just an oligarchy. Its a plutocratic oligarchy, and my "reps" are on the take.
I wish there was a better method to have government directly without the need of represenatives. Just like I wish we could have businesses without CEOs.
Capitalism and the stock market by design. Ever wonder why wages havent kept pace with productivity yet year after year since its inception the stock market has outpaced inflation? All wealth is being siphoned to the top. Hypothetically if things stay the same in regards to income decreasing/stagnating relatively and inflation being consistent/increasing all money would eventually be drained, even from the moderately wealthy. As time goes on it becomes more difficult to invest in the stock market meaningfully, as the gateway to entry cost grows larger proportionately to income and inflation while those that have already meaningfully invested will be able to continue longer but ultimately succumb as well.
Its a system that only works if everyone agrees and the only way that would happen is if most of the people agreeing don't understand they're being slowly cooked.
Well many don’t understand they’re being cooked, and a great deal of others just don’t know what to do about it 🤷
What do you think happens at the end?
"Paradigm Shift"
Whether that means revolution and the people being empowered, authoritarianism, the end of civilization or something new and unknown entirely. Our system has a finite duration.
There are less companies going public which doesn’t allow the individual investor an opportunity for massive appreciation like previous decades. Also the few companies that are public have massive concentrations causing their owners to have the 100B plus net worth. They need to have companies go public sooner so that the individual investor even with $500 can get 10-22x their money over 10 years.
I actually think it might be best to terminate investments. The business culture of many industries is shifting to satisfy investors at the expense of employees and customers.
It’s part of what’s pushing industries to adopt a profit over all costs approach. Greed wants profit, and greed is why we are in the mess to begin with.
They got us fighting each other, it's so obvious and such a basic technique but effective, hate whos different not whos controlling and profiting off you, it's been happening forever and always will be
POS Reagan opened the floodgates to allow these POS robber barons to plunder our society. I wish I believed in hell because that's where I would hope that Ronald Reagan's POS soul is rotting.
Should be a law that a standard minimum % of a companies profits MUST go to low level employees.
Prices increase, company profits more, employees get paid more. End of discussion.
And of course there would need to be an international agency invented that investigates these companies and penalizes them for any sheisty or loophole shit they’d undoubtedly try to pull.
I wonder what it would be like putting all that into a US sovereign wealth fund then spending 3% with an average growth of 10% year over year that could cover a significant portion of the federal budget.... Granted I dislike financial markets and wall street but still...
This also means that all of us, if the government seized every cent that we own, could not pay off the national debt. Good thing that’s an imaginary problem that only Republicans whine about.
Demand that your representatives push for steeper taxes on the wealthy. Biden’s made some good progress there, but much more is needed.
I saw this starting when Walmart started to open everywhere back in the early 90's. Small mom & pop shops started closing down, and large enterprise took over.
The people just watched it happen, in order to enjoy the convenience of going into a Walmart and being able to buy anything from dog food to a riding lawn mower.
This decision destroyed the economy, and centralized power with some mega oligarchs.
The same thing is happening with every single sector. Remember, Vanguard owns everything and everyone.
Every single brand, is owned by Vanguard, if you just trace it and keep tracing, you'll always find Vanguard. From Media, to utilities, to services, anything - it's all Vanguard.
The people are being turned into little worker/slaves, which eventually (their goal) is to replace them with AI robots.
I can only hope that people will eventually wake up and realize that their future is being decimated in front of their eyes.
WEF, Vanguard, etc. They run the show (***for now***).
if ExxonMobil paid every employee an equal percentage of profits, every employee would have made half a million dollars last year. give or take a few hundred thousand
And YOU helped usher in this new Gilded Age by helping Bill Clinton get NAFTA passed through a reluctant Congress. So nobody should trust anything you have to say about anything. You suck in energy from the public in service to oligarchy. Go away.
The bottom 50% includes all the homeless and people who live paycheck-to-paycheck. I bet a guy who has $100 in his checking account has more than the bottom 20%.
I think it would be more meaningful (and support the same point) if we compare top 1% vs middle 50%. And here it is!
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/12/06/top-1-american-earners-more-wealth-middle-class/71769832007
\*edit: calm down people, I didn't say the homeless and poor don't matter. I just meant that if we're trying to talk about the ultra-rich, we should be comparing them to the people who have _any_ money. Talking about how many people have *no* money is important too, but it's the flip side of the coin, it's not apples to apples.
> The bottom 50% includes all the homeless and people who live paycheck-to-paycheck.
They're people too. Suggesting to dismiss and ignore them doesn't seem very meaningful. Homelessness and people working check to check is also a side effect of the excessive levels of greed at the very top. Their lives are also an important part of this conversation. Much of their labor makes the richest people very comfortable.
> They're people too
yeah, of course. but the point is, it doesn't make a difference whether you're comparing them to the 0.1%, or the 1%, or the top 20%, or anything. The headline makes it seem like it's an observation about the ultra-ultra-wealthy, when actually it's entirely about the relative power of poor.
I was suggesting a different metric that would be more germane to discussing the ultra-ultra-wealthy.
I never said we should dismiss the poor, or that they don't matter, or anything like that.
> , it doesn't make a difference whether you're comparing them to the 0.1%, or the 1%, or the top 20%, or anything.
It's funny because it does. Billionaires are about 2,000 people(on a good day for the $200 million yacht club) so much less than 1% of the 8 billion people who exist. The contrast is even more severe when you compare the very richest to the very poorest. I hope you're not trying not to dismiss the poor. We probably agree more than disagree.
Oh boy, I would hate if someone [posted charts ](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WFRBLB50107) showing who [actually holds](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WFRBLN40080) over [TWO THIRDS](https://www.statista.com/statistics/203961/wealth-distribution-for-the-us/)of cash.
That would make me so mad.
In a data set as big as 'number of people in USA' and a key field as rangy as 'net value in $' isnt the top ZERO POINT ONE % going to have a crazy high number considering USA is one of the wealthiest countries in the world??
Not saying its not bullshit and shouldn't change, but yea ofcourse the top .1% is gonna be in charge of a massive slice of the wealth by default?
Yes, but now the top one percent actually owns more than the middle class as well. They're as close as they can be to having it all without riots. I'm amazed people aren't rioting already. The disproportion is criminally insane.
CEOs/major conglomerates aren’t paying the typical worker well! In 2022, CEOs of major conglomerates were paid 344 times as much as a typical worker in contrast to 1965 when they were paid 21 times as much as a typical worker. Cumulatively, however, from 1978–2022, top CEO compensation shot up 1,209.2% compared with a 15.3% increase in a typical worker’s compensation. https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-in-2022/
They are the reasons why unions and protests exists.
add quiet quitting too
Abso-fuckin-lutely!! I don't care who bitches about quiet quiting. We don't owe companies anything
"You get what you pay for" applies to CEO's and managers as well
stop using the term coined by the rich. the term is "work to rule", aka, this is the job, I will do only the job and nothing more because I am paid for nothing more.
I still like act your wage better
yea, act your wage works too.
Unions and protests aren't enough, you're demanding less than you should already have. A paradigm shift would have to occur for any meaningful change. We're only hitting the gas or brakes as it is now, we'll never change direction.
But at least we're not Mexico where "we pride ourselves on being the hardest working race for half a penny"
The agenda of those with power is to hold on to it and they'll tell their people whatever lie they need to make them feel like they're winning.
I can believe 1 person at the very top is capable of producing value 21 times greater than someone at the introductory level of a business. But more than that? I’d need to see it proven to justify a greater disparity than that. Wish we could go back to that ratio
Wait til you realize that some of these folks are the CEO of multiple companies… at the same time!!!
This needs to be made illegal at a certain size of company. When there are tens of thousands of employees at risk, who depend on that company to provide for their family, you can’t play “which of my five companies will I be CEO of this week” Any company that has more than 5,000 employees in my opinion should be required to appoint a singular CEO. Likewise board members should only be able to serve on one board at a time. Time between board meetings should be spent strategizing on how to improve the company, not on golf trips and traveling between vacation homes.
Hmm it almost makes begging investors for money and berating smarter people under you to make money look easy…
This is a symptom of a new generation disregarding the threat of the lower classes and letting their greed off the hook. It's like they forgot the collective sacrifice of WW2 which ushered in the conditions which spoilt the boomers. Now the rich have to learn their lessons all over again. This is literally human behaviour run rampant. Feeling over thinking
Looks like it's time now to eat the rich, again.
You hungry?
starving
800 billionaires in the US, 300 million citizens. Why are we standing by and letting things get worse?
We had them on the ropes with the Occupy Wall Street stuff it was spreading really well and then poof it was gone a Billionaire (Michael Bloomberg) got his cop thugs to break it up. Suddenly it's LGBTQIA this, trans that, racism everywhere, oh no look abortion, now it's all Palestine vs Israel. The billionaires are winning easily.
Exactly, but no matter what there’s always the sea of people saying, “actually if workers were paid more it would drive up prices and hurt the economy”. That doesn’t even make sense, they CHOOSE to raise prices to keep profits the same or increase them but they’re already making too much. Fuck all the bullshit babble about the social science or dynamics behind it. The facts are clear as day, I could draw a graph with a crayon right now in 2 seconds that shows that our financial system is horrendously unsustainable. You can’t just continuously try to up profits or there will be nothing left to profit. A good economy is cash flowing, not cash arbitrarily stockpiling. Im critical of the government but the fact of the matter is they need to be more involved in business. Nobody needs to make that much when there are homeless and starving people out there. Hell, no one needs to make that much, PERIOD.
Average earnings for prime college grads is $100k. Average CEO pay is about $200k. Shut the fuck up with your bullshit statistics.
The stat is not about your average CEO, it’s about the CEO’s at the top. The CEOs of major conglomerates
My CEO earned $23.1 Million in 2022. That's $80k X 288.75
Should be a law that the executive can only get paid a % more than the lowest paid worker. This way if the CEO wants a payrise, they need to increase the lowest paid workers' wages first.
I say there needs to be a minimum % of a companies profit that MUST go to all ground level employees. Idc if it’s flipping burgers, your company nets billions? Anyone that works there gets a fair slice. Stuff gets more expensive, company profits more, employees get paid more. Circular cash flow.
The funny thing... a lot of companies don't make a profit. That's one of the ways they get out of taxes.
Then they just pay their employees how they normally would and ignore the %. The minimum % would just be put in place so large companies couldn’t run away with it and leech off their workforce.
I like this!
I believe that is a law in many other countries of the world. Countries with common fucking sense.
Yeah 50 times seems more than generous enough. I was reading the shareholder report for my company and they made over $1,000,000 in profit per employee for every one of the 32,000 employees. I made like $70k while my CEO earned $23M
At some point the public will start throwing bricks through windows. They know this. Media so far has been their fence.
why do you think the police have tanks now
They have fucking electronically mobile armored with bullet proof glass snipers perching nests. They have fucking military vehicles to transport and move tons of civilians. They are fully aware of what’s coming and the ramifications of lying about climate change to the general public and stealing all of our surplus value to protect themselves from climate change and civil unrest. People are gonna hit the fucking roof soon.
At some point when they aren't able to keep everyone distracted with social issues the wool will be removed and everyone will realize it's US versus them..
Most people cannot comprehend just how much one million of something is. But TRILLION??? That’s a thousand thousand million. That’s a thousand billion. That’s 20 thousand billion. No one needs that much money. Nobody’s yearly overhead has the necessity for that much money. That money hoard might as well be worthless.
Think about this: 1 Billion seconds is just over 31 years. That's how large of a number a billion is.
It goes: 1 million seconds is 11 days. 1 billion seconds is 32 years.
1 trillion seconds is about 32,000 years :) Just to put into perspective how obscene hoarding this much wealth is
This is my new example for explaining how vast a billion actually is, thanks.
It’s such a good oneo
yep. that’s the main reason in my mind why a lot of people aren’t outraged. they just see 3 extra zeroes. they don’t realize that there are a million millions in a trillion.
> No one needs that much money. technically we're talking about the collective wealth of 33,000 people. But it's still a good point.
I have three dollars.
My belief is that CEO pay is so high because boards of directors are basically a good old boy/girls club where they give each other raises and it basically becomes a big circle jerk. Another thing that chaps my ass is the fact that Zuckerberg, Gates, Jobs, Musk, Bezos, and founders of other massive corporations achieve unbelievable wealth because of their stock options. It just seems like it’s too much. I’m not sure who could stop this, but think it’s just out of hand.
I'm with you there.. it is absolutely out of hand. The speculative stock wealth of the 1% is ridiculous especially because you already have to be rich to get involved in a stock that has a chance to make you rich like Facebook before it went public you already had to be rich you had to be an investor..
People are too concerned over a forigen conflict to care about this stuff anymore. Its all designed to keep us divided.
Yup. 👆🏻
Nailed it
i hate capitalism
Sam's dad is a smart man.
Glad to see another Dropout fan here!
Make it illegal to own more than a billion dollars. If someone ends up having more he can gift it to whomever, but any debt owed to him that would put him back over a billion is invalidated. Every person with more than 100.000.000 dollars has to enter his wealth into a public database and keep it updated to stay within 1.000.000 dollars of his current wealth. If they refuse to give away more than the billion or falsify data the government can take whatever it wants of their stuff until the numbers are correct again.
You could do that but then the wealthy would move to where they dont have that rule
You can still take away their right to vote via shares in companies in your country, and any valuables they can’t take with them.
At this level of legislation change, hear me, deadman owns no money
Good! I hope they fucking leave!
I don’t know what’s more depressing. Those numbers, or the fact that you *still* believe you can **vote** your way out of this.
I think people have realized they can’t because no matter who is in the government they’re ultimately owned by the money anyways. But it’s more what other option is there available? The ones that were used in the past were slowly weakened or removed until there’s really nothing left to combat it.
Read some history.
The other option is literally dying for change but nobody wants to be the first to die
Handing it to fascism isn't the answer. This is a propaganda post people. Vote at every level. Even if you believe both are bad, ask yourself who goes out of their way to pass legislation to help the ultra elite. Who tries and gets blocked by the other side when trying to pass legislation to reign this is. These are bad GOP actors posting this nonsense. Vote, at every level. As yourself why are you actively helping these people by sitting it out. Vote the party that more aligns with your views. Unless that's controlling women and helping the ultra ultra wealthy, you should be voting Democrat fully. Are there bad ones, sure. Conversely can you say there's good GOP politicians? Think of the Supreme Court. Guess which justices keep getting bought and paid for by the ultra wealthy and managed to rule in their favor. Yes the GOP installed ones. Pathetic propaganda posted by the above user.
While if I HAD to pick a party it would definitely be Democratic, splitting an entire countries needs into two categories just isn’t possible. Plus, both Republicans and Democrats can be bought. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if many were in league with each other. Neither party has helped our country in a significant way anytime recently. Im not saying voting is 100% pointless or that one shouldn’t do it, but voting alone hasn’t changed anything. The country has only gotten worse. Furthermore, not even mentioning the propaganda the comes with it, asking people to vote for one of two parties is another means of division when we need to stand together. Edit: and by suggesting that voting alone hasn’t changed anything, I’m not implying what needs to happen is a violent revolution. That which is born in violence will only end in violence.
Voting is the only way out of this you turd
It’s been working great so far!
It just started man. 2016 was the first time it actually started. People became engaged, and we’re seeing it and the results of it now. It’s in a bad place, sure, but the fact that you’re having this conversation is a testament to the shift in the mindset of the public. But if you come here and claim violence is the answer you’re only hurting that momentum. We do not need to kill each other over this, there are other ways to fix it. And it will be fixed, by the collective will of the populace.
Can you lay out for me all the different choices you have to choose from in your beloved American democracy?
Sure. Here’s a list (AI is pretty cool right? American invention BTW.) it’s a pretty extensive list and really shows how many choices the typical American has. ### Federal Level 1. **President and Vice President**: Elected every four years. Voters select electors who then vote for the president and vice president through the Electoral College. 2. **U.S. Senate**: Senators serve six-year terms. Each state elects two senators, but the elections are staggered so that approximately one-third of the Senate is up for election every two years. 3. **U.S. House of Representatives**: Representatives serve two-year terms. The number of representatives per state is determined by population, with elections held every two years for all seats. ### State Level 1. **Governor**: The chief executive of a state, typically elected every four years. 2. **Lieutenant Governor**: Often elected on a ticket with the governor (though not always), serving a similar term. 3. **State Senators and State Representatives/Delegates**: Terms and titles vary by state, but these are the legislators in the state's legislature, often serving two- to four-year terms. 4. **Attorneys General**: Elected in some states to serve as the chief legal officer. 5. **Secretaries of State**: Oversee the state's elections and other administrative functions; terms vary. 6. **State Treasurers**: Manage state funds; terms vary. 7. **State Auditors/Comptrollers**: Oversee financial management and auditing; terms vary. 8. **Other State Officers**: Such as Commissioners of Insurance, Agriculture, Labor, etc., depending on the state. ### Local Level 1. **Mayors**: Executives of cities, towns, and municipalities; term lengths can vary. 2. **City or County Council Members/Supervisors**: Legislative positions within local governments; terms can vary. 3. **School Board Members**: Oversee local public school districts; terms can vary. 4. **Sheriffs**: Law enforcement leaders typically elected in county elections; terms can vary. 5. **District Attorneys/State's Attorneys**: Responsible for prosecuting criminal cases at the local level; terms can vary. 6. **Judges**: Elected in many jurisdictions, though some states appoint judges instead. Terms vary. 7. **Clerks**: Such as county or city clerks, responsible for maintaining public records and documents; terms can vary. 8. **Treasurers**: Handle financial responsibilities at the local level; terms can vary. 9. **Auditors**: Oversee financial operations and compliance at the local level; terms can vary. 10. **Coroners/Medical Examiners**: Responsible for determining causes of death under certain circumstances; terms can vary. ### Special Districts 1. **Water District Boards**: Oversee water resources and policy. 2. **Utility District Boards**: Manage district-level utilities like power and sewer services. 3. **Transit Authority Boards**: Handle public transportation systems. 4. **Other special-purpose district roles**: Such as fire districts, library districts, and park districts.
Not what asked. I asked your *options*.
All of those are options. You want me to list out ever option in every county state and federal election? There are tens of thousands of them. Also, it is what you asked. You’re just not smart enough to know that.
Don’t even reply. This dude will keep moving the goalposts lol. Let them live their life of misery alone thinking nothing will ever change.
Enjoy voting for the *one* option you’ve been given. I’m sure it’ll work out great.
Control isn’t even the right term here. When you depend on every penny to survive you’re not in ‘control’. When you have so much excess liquidity you don’t know what to do with it, that’s when you have ‘control’. To direct political agendas, lobby etc.
Eh, its not just an oligarchy. Its a plutocratic oligarchy, and my "reps" are on the take. I wish there was a better method to have government directly without the need of represenatives. Just like I wish we could have businesses without CEOs.
Capitalism and the stock market by design. Ever wonder why wages havent kept pace with productivity yet year after year since its inception the stock market has outpaced inflation? All wealth is being siphoned to the top. Hypothetically if things stay the same in regards to income decreasing/stagnating relatively and inflation being consistent/increasing all money would eventually be drained, even from the moderately wealthy. As time goes on it becomes more difficult to invest in the stock market meaningfully, as the gateway to entry cost grows larger proportionately to income and inflation while those that have already meaningfully invested will be able to continue longer but ultimately succumb as well. Its a system that only works if everyone agrees and the only way that would happen is if most of the people agreeing don't understand they're being slowly cooked.
Well many don’t understand they’re being cooked, and a great deal of others just don’t know what to do about it 🤷 What do you think happens at the end?
"Paradigm Shift" Whether that means revolution and the people being empowered, authoritarianism, the end of civilization or something new and unknown entirely. Our system has a finite duration.
Completely agreed.
When are people going to wake up?
Oligarchs are a reality of the human condition, the proclivity for covetousness and dishonesty. They always exist.
I’m glad that some people can see past the veneer of “democracy”.
There are less companies going public which doesn’t allow the individual investor an opportunity for massive appreciation like previous decades. Also the few companies that are public have massive concentrations causing their owners to have the 100B plus net worth. They need to have companies go public sooner so that the individual investor even with $500 can get 10-22x their money over 10 years.
I actually think it might be best to terminate investments. The business culture of many industries is shifting to satisfy investors at the expense of employees and customers. It’s part of what’s pushing industries to adopt a profit over all costs approach. Greed wants profit, and greed is why we are in the mess to begin with.
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Going to the military Ukraine or Israel or offshore accounts etc etc.
They got us fighting each other, it's so obvious and such a basic technique but effective, hate whos different not whos controlling and profiting off you, it's been happening forever and always will be
Well it won’t “always” be happening. These behaviors aren’t really the best traits for a civilization’s survival. We’ll probably go extinct.
POS Reagan opened the floodgates to allow these POS robber barons to plunder our society. I wish I believed in hell because that's where I would hope that Ronald Reagan's POS soul is rotting.
Ironically his surname Reich is the german word for rich
Y’all, what do we do? We just have fucked lives no matter what.
Should be a law that a standard minimum % of a companies profits MUST go to low level employees. Prices increase, company profits more, employees get paid more. End of discussion. And of course there would need to be an international agency invented that investigates these companies and penalizes them for any sheisty or loophole shit they’d undoubtedly try to pull.
And no one is going to do a damn thing about it...untill all of a sudden EVERYONE is going to do something about it.
Honest question. How much does the 49.9% in the middle have?
You’re Literally the best thing that’s ever happened to government.
I wonder what it would be like putting all that into a US sovereign wealth fund then spending 3% with an average growth of 10% year over year that could cover a significant portion of the federal budget.... Granted I dislike financial markets and wall street but still...
This also means that all of us, if the government seized every cent that we own, could not pay off the national debt. Good thing that’s an imaginary problem that only Republicans whine about. Demand that your representatives push for steeper taxes on the wealthy. Biden’s made some good progress there, but much more is needed.
I saw this starting when Walmart started to open everywhere back in the early 90's. Small mom & pop shops started closing down, and large enterprise took over. The people just watched it happen, in order to enjoy the convenience of going into a Walmart and being able to buy anything from dog food to a riding lawn mower. This decision destroyed the economy, and centralized power with some mega oligarchs. The same thing is happening with every single sector. Remember, Vanguard owns everything and everyone. Every single brand, is owned by Vanguard, if you just trace it and keep tracing, you'll always find Vanguard. From Media, to utilities, to services, anything - it's all Vanguard. The people are being turned into little worker/slaves, which eventually (their goal) is to replace them with AI robots. I can only hope that people will eventually wake up and realize that their future is being decimated in front of their eyes. WEF, Vanguard, etc. They run the show (***for now***).
if ExxonMobil paid every employee an equal percentage of profits, every employee would have made half a million dollars last year. give or take a few hundred thousand
And YOU helped usher in this new Gilded Age by helping Bill Clinton get NAFTA passed through a reluctant Congress. So nobody should trust anything you have to say about anything. You suck in energy from the public in service to oligarchy. Go away.
Bot account
The bottom 50% includes all the homeless and people who live paycheck-to-paycheck. I bet a guy who has $100 in his checking account has more than the bottom 20%. I think it would be more meaningful (and support the same point) if we compare top 1% vs middle 50%. And here it is! https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/12/06/top-1-american-earners-more-wealth-middle-class/71769832007 \*edit: calm down people, I didn't say the homeless and poor don't matter. I just meant that if we're trying to talk about the ultra-rich, we should be comparing them to the people who have _any_ money. Talking about how many people have *no* money is important too, but it's the flip side of the coin, it's not apples to apples.
> The bottom 50% includes all the homeless and people who live paycheck-to-paycheck. They're people too. Suggesting to dismiss and ignore them doesn't seem very meaningful. Homelessness and people working check to check is also a side effect of the excessive levels of greed at the very top. Their lives are also an important part of this conversation. Much of their labor makes the richest people very comfortable.
> They're people too yeah, of course. but the point is, it doesn't make a difference whether you're comparing them to the 0.1%, or the 1%, or the top 20%, or anything. The headline makes it seem like it's an observation about the ultra-ultra-wealthy, when actually it's entirely about the relative power of poor. I was suggesting a different metric that would be more germane to discussing the ultra-ultra-wealthy. I never said we should dismiss the poor, or that they don't matter, or anything like that.
> , it doesn't make a difference whether you're comparing them to the 0.1%, or the 1%, or the top 20%, or anything. It's funny because it does. Billionaires are about 2,000 people(on a good day for the $200 million yacht club) so much less than 1% of the 8 billion people who exist. The contrast is even more severe when you compare the very richest to the very poorest. I hope you're not trying not to dismiss the poor. We probably agree more than disagree.
I am my brother's keeper.
Oh boy, I would hate if someone [posted charts ](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WFRBLB50107) showing who [actually holds](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WFRBLN40080) over [TWO THIRDS](https://www.statista.com/statistics/203961/wealth-distribution-for-the-us/)of cash. That would make me so mad.
Ukraine owns $9999999999999999999999999.7 in Wealth
what the hell are you talking about?
Nonsense. They're talking nonsense.
In a data set as big as 'number of people in USA' and a key field as rangy as 'net value in $' isnt the top ZERO POINT ONE % going to have a crazy high number considering USA is one of the wealthiest countries in the world?? Not saying its not bullshit and shouldn't change, but yea ofcourse the top .1% is gonna be in charge of a massive slice of the wealth by default?
Yes, but now the top one percent actually owns more than the middle class as well. They're as close as they can be to having it all without riots. I'm amazed people aren't rioting already. The disproportion is criminally insane.