USA about to enter a national war?

[Deleted]

In 2009 the number of people who were in poverty was approaching 1960s levels that led to the national War on Poverty. Today it is even worse.

Are we observing the true face of capitalism?

http://www.huduser.org/publications/...mentReport.pdf

[OzoAndIndi]

Well so far so good, I see no signs of a war. Unless you count Black Friday, but that war ends after a day.

[Jaxi]

So by national war, you meant a war on poverty?

[Payday]

So by national war, you meant a war on poverty?

Wait, are you saying the War on Drugs doesn't mean our soldiers get all you can eat cocaine and acid?

[Jaxi]

Wait, are you saying the War on Drugs doesn't mean our soldiers get all you can eat cocaine and acid?

I think you should be secretary of defense.

[Zangeiti]

Yup its not like I havent seen thousands of these posts.

[Lefthandpath]

every generation thinks their generation is the generation when "it" happens. revolution, end of the world, music is the worst ever.....whatever.

congrats kreebs, you're a cliche.

eventually some generation WILL be right. all the crazy stuff will happen. but they won't guess right because they possess some super-duper wisdom never before held by previous generations, it will be because "even a broken watch is right twice a day".

meh.

[Haven]

Are we observing the true face of capitalism?

Not just yet, you still own your own ass... for now.

[Mihalik]

I'm really sorry, but what is with Americans and War on X?

War on Terror.
War on Poverty.
War on Religion.
War on Women.
War on Drugs.
War on Christmas.
War on Fucknotwhat.

And what the hell is a "National War"?

How do you wage war on poverty? I don't think drones would work. There just some underlying problem with using the term War. Brute force is not the solution to everything.

[vizzle]

every generation thinks their generation is the generation when "it" happens. revolution, end of the world, music is the worst ever.....whatever.

congrats kreebs, you're a cliche.

eventually some generation WILL be right. all the crazy stuff will happen. but they won't guess right because they possess some super-duper wisdom never before held by previous generations, it will be because "even a broken watch is right twice a day".

meh.

Well, I don't think the generations who went through the worse of World War II were wrong, if we're going to be pedantic about this.

[Bloodfire]

Well I want to see that if it goes. Just for analysis.

[sxefluff]

Are we observing the true face of capitalism?

Yeah, soon we'll observe the spoon making me fat or the gun killing everyone. smh.

[Madwolf]

In 2009 the number of people who were in poverty was approaching 1960s levels that led to the national War on Poverty. Today it is even worse.

Are we observing the true face of capitalism?

http://www.huduser.org/publications/...mentReport.pdf

I think what you mean is a civil war, and I don't think we're going to go into a civil war, but I think things in the States could get very interesting over the next decade if we continue our current trend. I don't think you can just blame capitalism though.

I think what you've seen over the last few decades in America is the concentration of power shift to mega-corporations in this country who've heavily invested in the corruption of Government, and who have brought us this 24/7 news cycle to distract us and keep us fighting among ourselves.

The structures in place in our Government that were put there to stop the exploitation of our workers, like what occurred during the early 1900s, have been rolled back. Then this blame game has been created so we're blaming the "side" we're not on, Democrat or Republican.

Basically what has happened is that this mega-corporations have found that they can make a larger profit margin by minimizing not only costs in material, but labor as well. They manipulate the system so that they only pay employees minimum wage to do jobs that, when adjusted for inflation, where much better paying jobs 30 years ago. There's no healthcare, no vacation time, no sick time. Basically Americans statistically are some of the longest worked people in the world because there is this feeling that if you want a vacation that you could lose your job, if you call in sick you could lose your job. So then these people with almost nothing, and unable to afford anything are literally working themselves to the point of mental collapse, and as soon as they can't take it anymore, or get sick, they're done away with and the next drone comes in.

The problem with the system is that it is causing the middle class to disappear. As companies make record profit margins, that money isn't being passed down to the employees through wage increases. So inflation goes up, and employees are getting paid the same, meaning less, and they fall, or begin to fall into a hole that they cannot get out of in their current situation.

We've compounded this by starting this rhetoric that you HAVE to go to college. That has become a business of a dirty deal between the banks and the Government where they made student loans something that doesn't go away when you file for bankruptcy. They have high interest rates, and with the job market out there right now, are often very hard to pay back for kids currently leaving college. So we have this system that tells kids they HAVE to go to college to get a degree for a job that isn't available, or at a position in that job that probably won't pay them enough to live and pay back that loan. So what we've done is created a vicious circle where this guy is going to be stuck paying back this loan forever and is swimming in his eyeballs in debt. And this happens in other areas too like the credit card epidemic in this country.

So what you have is a country that isn't making any money vs their bills, and is increasingly in-debt because they've bought into the system that has told them if you do x y and z you'll get more money. The problem is that they reach z, and they spent all this money getting there, and they're not making the money they've been promised, the cake is a lie so to speak.

The strange thing about all of this is business is down, and companies can't figure out why. You cannot simultaneously pay your largest area of employment in a country (service industry) the least amount of money possible, under the poverty line, and then expect those same people, who are also should be your largest consumers, to turn around and spend money they don't have on a product they can't afford. You've been selling them that line for first 20 years of their lives, and you've ruined them as a current customer until they dig themselves out of the hole, which they can't do working for you.

The minimum wage battle is probably one of the silliest there is. Go out and read about how much prices would ACTUALLY increase if you raised employee wages at say McDonalds to $10, $12, $15. In order to retain their same profit margin, which is in the billions, they'd have to raise the price of a McDonald's Meal less than half a dollar. And there is a counter-argument to that, because struggling business can't maintain that as much, but at the end of the day they can still do the same marginal price increase to make up the difference.

Think about it this way too, with all the cost cutting business has done, things should have gotten cheaper right? Prices have generally stayed the same, and even gone up "due to inflation." So that company is making more than ever on a product that is cheaper for them in so many ways than it was 5 or 10 years ago.

Simpler way to think about it:

People talk about people on Welfare programs such as food stamps. Those programs are made to help people that cannot afford to live. There was a study released that said the average Walmart costs the Government about a million dollars in Welfare each year. So what we're saying is that Walmart doesn't pay their employees enough so the Government pays their employees instead. Despite the fact that Walmart makes more than enough in profit to increase their employee salaries enough to get them off Welfare programs, and the fact that they're getting millions in what you could call "corporate welfare" systems.

I think if you work for a company in America that company enters in an agreement with you that you take care of us, and we take care of you. I don't think that's an unspeakable thought.

I think if there is a civil war, or something close to it, it is going to go a long way into correcting that issue. It's easy to be on top and think you can escape the collapse when the lower half of the pyramid crumbles, but it's hard to escape when there is no one to fly the planes and captain the ships out of wreckage.

I don't know if it will come to that, I think people are starting to wake up and take action, and I hope we see it in the next elections.

[Flutterguy]

Well one side says the welfare state isn't working and the other side says we haven't expanded the welfare state enough to make it work.

[xylophone]

This is getting out of hand, I propose a War on War.

[Gheld]

Well one side says the welfare state isn't working and the other side says we haven't expanded the welfare state enough to make it work.

The political partisans that run your country have tried every possible extreme but it's not working.

The solution is obvious...you need to find a third extreme.

[Bigbamboozal]

This is getting out of hand, I propose a War on War.

Or how about a war on education, the way the war on drugs is going it should really make for a lot of educated people.

[Dispraise]

The solution is obvious...you need to find a third extreme.

Gheld, are you suggesting we sodomize the economy?

[xylophone]

Or how about a war on education, the way the war on drugs is going it should really make for a lot of educated people.

Come on man, we gotta have a little challenge at least. How about a War on Mosquitoes, that's more our speed. After all, there's nothing more dangerous than a wounded mosquito.

- - - Updated - - -

Gheld, are you suggesting we sodomize the economy?

WAR ON THE ECONOMY!!! Fucking fund it!

[obdigore]

WAR ON THE ECONOMY!!! Fucking fund it!

What do you think Reaganomics is?