Hardkill

Then, does this mean that Social Security is probably going to be doomed in the next decade? Or when we are near 2035, will Congress and a future POTUS by that time, eventually be pressured enough by the people to come up with a workable forward thinking solution for both this social security problem and the aging population issue?

Well, of course the right wing will say anything to convince enough people to believe that anything run by government doesn't work. However, this issue hasn't been brought up just from the right wing. Even centrist based news outlets have also been mentioning this as a real concern: We definitely need to raise the taxes a lot more on the rich and corporations for many reasons including providing much more funding for social security. However, that seems very likely unlikely to happen within the foreseeable future because of how many Republicans and corporate Dems we have and will continue have in Congress for at least another 2-3 decades. Unless, we have a powerful progressive or liberal movement of some kind that will be able to put enough pressure on enough politicians in the government to seriously fix the entire tax code.

Seriously?! These are the best responses you guys can come up with? Bitcoin has become one of the biggest scams ever made. How can you guarantee you'll be able to continue to work at the age of retirement?

How much harder do you think the growing economic inequality of America has made it for most people living in the US to escape wage slavery compared to the good old days of egalitarian growth that practically every American experienced during the mid 1900s or even perhaps during the 90s?

I know this is going to sound like a lot like what a right-winger would say, but I've recently been pondering more about how I would ever be able to become successful at something like creating a thriving business, being some kind of popular social media figure, or accomplishing something that would really help change the world for the better. Many successful people out there who have given all kinds of advice on how succeed at something have made statements like: "If you want to become truly successful at something, then it's up to you to make that happen." "you gotta take full ownership of everything you do. Stop playing the victim and feeling sorry for yourself. You are responsible for your own happiness and your own success." "It doesn't matter what your race/ethnicity, gender, or background is. There are tons examples of men and women of different races/ethnicities from all kinds of different backgrounds who were able to pull themselves up from their own bootstraps and do what many people thought was impossible." "If you don't have a job, then blame yourself." "Stop waiting for the President of the United States or some other politician to come and save you or give you any success." "You gotta face adversity on your own if you want to become strong and independent." "No one is going to hand anything you want on a silver platter." Obviously, a society needs a government, especially in this day and age, in order to: maintain law and order (including the enforcement of all kinds of regulations), provide a military that can protect it's citizens from foreign enemies, provide firefighters, provide skilled statesmen and diplomats, departments for defense, provide intelligence agencies, provide criminal justice departments, provide central banks and departments for treasury, collect taxes, provide teams of highly qualified economists and administrators of businesses, provide departments for commerce, provide departments for labor, provide Interior departments, provide an agency that protects and conserves the environment, provide an agency that regulates workplace safety and health, provide numerous other kinds of government officials, help save an economy during a recession or financial crisis, manage inflation, provide funding for all kinds of government operations and public/private infrastructure projects, provide public education, provide basic social security and healthcare insurance for the elderly and children, provide aide for all military veterans, provide necessary aide for all kinds of agriculture around the country around the provide aide for those who are mentally ill or traumatized, provide aid for people who are homeless and starving, provide health and human service departments, provide energy departments, etc. But do working and middle class people who are not homeless and are functional enough need any more subsidies or any more welfare of any kind from the government?

I agree. That's why I actually did include all of those things in my edit of my OP. But could for instance any normal individual who currently doesn't have any healthcare insurance eventually get one without the government providing it, if that person worked hard enough to achieve it on their own?

Okay, I just edited my post on this thread. I now added a lot more to the list of reasons as to why any government is essential including giving much needed financial support, healthcare subsidies, and other kinds of needed insurance for those who are really in need of it . Also, I really do believe that the US government still has a lot more work to do to reduce the amount of corruption and the unjust growing economic inequality that's still going on in America. Though, I am wondering if it is truly possible for any working or middle class person who is not homeless and has a normal functioning mind to get whatever they need or want without any help from the government.

If Brett Favre really committed that crime or really was complicit in that situation in some way then he really has turned out to be another right-wing jerk. Btw, he does support Trump.

I did make a thread a while back about how skeptical I was about anybody being able to escape wage slavery. I honestly am still doubtful about that being the case considering the non-stop increase in economic inequality that has been occuring even in first world countries, particularly in America since neoliberalism began in the late 70s to early 80s. Also, I could be wrong about this, but I fear that if another authoritarian become the next president of the United States sometime in the near future then escape will get even harder for most Americans. That could further set a precedent for other first world countries to follow. Actually, the new British PM is a right winger who considers herself as an heir to UK PM Thatcher. Margaret Thatcher in the 80s carried out the same kind of neoliberal economic policies that Reagan in the US did.

President Biden and Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh prevented a major railroad strike from happening today in America. According to Reuters: "Walsh told Reuters it was a 'very nice contract, good contract for workers" and for employers. It had provisions that 'have never been in contracts before' for rail workers. Workers have gone three years without a raise amid the contract dispute, with talks stalling over attendance, sick time and scheduling issues. Only two of 12 unions - representing less than 10% of the workforce - are known to have ratified new contracts with freight railways. The unions, including two large groups representing around 60,000 workers, will need to persuade their members to vote for Thursday's deal. That might be a tough sell, labor experts warned. read more Walsh said unions will get the deal over the next month or two and then hold votes. 'There's a lot of anger among the members of these two unions because they feel, after being essential workers during the COVID pandemic, they were getting screwed on the attendance policy and getting punished for taking sick leave,' said Seth Harris, a professor of Northeastern University and former Biden administration official focused on labor and the economy.... A rail shutdown could have frozen almost 30% of U.S. cargo shipments by weight, stoked inflation, cost the American economy as much as $2 billion per day and unleashed a cascade of transport woes affecting U.S. energy, agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare and retail sectors......the impact of a shutdown would have stretched beyond U.S. borders because trains link the United States to Canada and Mexico and provide vital connections to massive ships that ferry goods from around the globe." https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-reaches-tentative-agreement-with-rail-workers-strike-2022-09-15/ The deal the Biden administration reached with the railroad union leaders was win not only for the administration and America as a whole. It was also a win for the labor unions.

How realistic is it run a successful business of your own? 90+% of people who've tried it have failed because of how incredibly competitive it is? I mean aren't the chances of making it work about the same as becoming like the next Michael Jordan of basketball or a world famous A-list celebrity entertainer? Also, isn't there a great risk of being in serious financial debt if your business startup doesn't work out?

I was just going to make a thread about this. My mom just became devastated by this news. She has always been a major fan of the British royal family. My dad, on the other hand, while he's sorry for her loss, doesn't think that it's that sad because she did obviously live a very long and exceptionally lavish life. I am shocked by it because I didn't think or know of any signs of her health seriously declining. I know she was very old, but yesterday she seemed was in realtively good health. I mean, it's not like she was in a hospital or in need of any kind of intensive care for any health related issue. May she rest in peace. Also, "The queen is dead, long live the king!" Prince Charles will now become King Charles III of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms.

According to US history, there have been numerous attempts to ban or limit big money from election campaigns since the beginning of the 1900s. However, people like Leo and Noam Chomsky have said that the discussion of ideas in the political arena such as rejecting corporate money from all election campaigns was unthinkable before people like Bernie Sanders became well-known progressives. So, is the idea of banning all corporate money from politics really such a recent development in US history?

There's absolutely no way that America will ever become a communist nation. First off, the vast majority of Americans have always been too fearful of communism/socialism of any kind of since about the 1900s. Yes, there has been an increasing amount of young people in US who have been supporting socialism, in large part due to the influence of progressives and democratic socialists such as Sanders and AOC. However, even Sanders, AOC, and virtually every other progressive and democratic socialists in the US don't believe that the government should own practically everything. Bernie has already talked about how government shouldn't own the means of production or end of all forms of privitization. In fact, he advocates for workers owning the means of production. Plus, he and AOC have arguably never been true democratic socialists. They have been more like social democrats. Second, is that most people in America already know how primitive communism turned out to be in countries such as Russia, China, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, and what have you. Almost everyone in America knows enough about how authoritarian the country would become if the government owned and ran almost everything including every home, every business, every land, every kind of institution, every kind of media outlet, etc. throughout the whole country. Plus, we all know that communism has always made a country poorer than capitalism or social democracy has.

Does the criminal justice system have a way of making sure that a certain video evidence is not fake? A lot of videos can be easily doctored these days with methods such as Deepfakes.

But what if someone was wrongly convicted for murder? Btw, have you seen how humane the Scandinavian prisons are even for murderers? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l554kV12Wuo

This turned out to be a really pleasant surprise. I think it's also great that the Democrat who beat her was an Alaskan native. Plus, I am really glad that ranked choice voting was used in this election. I hope that method of voting gets used more and more throughout the entire country.

Given that most of the federal courts in the US including the SCOTUS have been heavily dominated by conservative judges since late 2020 and the tragic overturning of Roe vs. Wade, what other liberal laws should we be worried about getting struck down by the federal courts in the US? For instance, how probable is it that the Supreme Court down will strike down the Inflation Reduction Act that Biden and the Democrats in Congress just recently passed into law? Also, will it be impossible for new law to pertaining LGBTQ+ rights to survive any new challenges in the courts for the foreseeable future? Moreover, what about Biden's executive order on student debt relief? How worried should we be about this getting struck down by the courts?

I am also surprised that they haven't given up considering how polarized the entire country has gotten and will continue to be for perhaps a number of decades. I used to find TYT educational in many ways with regard to what really needs to change in our society. They also used to be more light-hearted and fun to watch. Now, I think they are getting too crazy. Since about the beginning of last year, they've been sounding more and more like highly irritable left-wing conspiracy theorists. I agree with Leo that TYT has become too populist, too anti-mainstream, and too impractical.

I remember Leo saying in the last part of his 4 part videos series on conscious politics vids that we need to have term limits for all elected government positions in the US including term limits for all members of Congress. Interestingly, it hasn't just been a number of Democratic Congressmen who have supported term limits for Congress. A number of Republican congressmen have also supported this idea. https://www.termlimits.com/democrats/ https://www.termlimits.com/mitch-mcconnell-signs-u-s-term-limits-pledge/ https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-colleagues-reintroduce-constitutional-amendment-imposing-congressional-term-limits Yet, Bernie Sanders does not think that that is necessary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-Iz8sh0ehM

But what I don’t totally get is why haven’t the people of China evolved enough to demand more rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press? Americans in the mid to late 19th century had rights like freedom of press and freedom of speech but didn’t have anywhere near the level of technology, infrastructure, and overall level of education that China has had in recent times.

You're right. We definitely need make a massive, powerful awareness campaign throughout the entire country on the fundamentals problems with our entire government.

But I thought that the people of China don't want a democracy because most of the citizens of China are primarily around Stage Blue, don't believe in democracy, and wouldn't be ready for it. You've talked before about how the kind of leaders in power and the kind of government a country has is generally a reflection of what level of societal development most of the country's citizens are at, correct? Otherwise, the majority of the laymen and enough of the elite in China would already be revolting against the CCP and establish a new more evolved kind of government with more evolved laws.

I agree with all of that. That's why I think approximately 20 years would probably be the sweet spot for the term limit for every member of Congress. However, I believe that the 20 year term limit shouldn't be applied for the total amount of years you served in both chambers of Congress. For example, if you served as a member of the House of Representatives for about 20 years, then I believe that you should still be able be eligible to serve as a Senator up to about 20 years. Same with vice-versa. What do you think? I guess it's because the people don't mind having an authoritarian leader ruling their country.

So, Bernie is wrong?! He said that if a congressperson is still competent, honorable, and well liked by his constituency, then there should be no problem having that person be re-elected for an unlimited number of times. Also, what about the fact that members of Congress who have been in office for many years generally have greater legislative acumen than inexperienced members of Congress, because of the great of amount experience they've had working in Congress? The CCP has already removed the term limit for president in their country.