Because the rich have the money for propaganda, buying politicians and owning the media.
The 40-hour workweek was standardized by socialists in the early 1900s. 8 hours for work, 8 hours for sleep, and 8 hours for whatever else you wanted to do during the day. Obviously, that’s been exploited. I work 68 hours a week and still can’t afford health insurance, and my job doesn’t offer it.
Because capitalism, which is broken by design. The artifical scarcity is deliberate, just like the suffering.
But what if I could be a parasite one day?
That’s the neat part: you don’t! You need to work a lot and barely survive so rich people can get richer and have more power and status, silly.
At this point power and status bores them, they’re at the stage where they have to kill some of the poors for sport and sadistic pleasure to feel something other than disdain for their spouses and children.
there is another way
The answer is because we haven’t figured out how to organize society so that wealth and power don’t consolidate.
And also if we did, it would be challenging to get there.
How Business Worked did a recent video Killing the Host which discusses why the ultra-wealthy engage in destructive behavior that kills the society they depend on.
Progressive taxation on wealth and income
One simple thing would prevent hoarding of wealth and power: outlawing private ownership of the means of production.
But yes, getting there would be challenging.
The system is built on eternal growth. Slowing down is not an option.
Absolutely. Also, it’s built so that those at the top hoard all the wealth and resources and use that advantage… to hoard all the wealth and resources.
And the “myth of rugged individualism”, which is a political science/journalism way of saying rich people sold a bullshit idea of American culture being largely reliant on people not accepting help or cooperation from other people or the govt so rich people can avoid putting in their fair share.
They’ll kill that myth the second it’s not profitable.
We are social animals. When the herd exhibits general acceptance it triggers something in our brains to do the same. It is why billionaires are funding data centers to flood social media with the opinions and leans they want the public to have.
I can’t remember the researcher name, but among the many studies on this topic there have been a swath done in public waiting rooms with confederates (the name given to actors working for researchers). This is a reproduced experiment.
Waiting room. Smoke starts to trickle out of the ventilation system. How long til someone leaves? Turns out, it’s more likely for the room to clear faster if the confederate gets up sooner and leaves. Then the standard cascade effect happens as the herd takes the hint and everyone leaves. In some cases, it gets to the point where the room becomes hazy and people don’t leave til the confederate initiates.
None of life is a single variable scenario, but it’s worth digging into the variables known to influence us as people.
Learned helplessness is another item I believe is more relevant today than at the time of the now illegal, though famous, experiments performed on dogs.
Everyone else is working these jobs, so it must be ok.
Propaganda. Effective propaganda.
Somebody rich said something. They’re obviously smart because only smart people, like me, get rich (some day!). Therefore, I agree that the poor are taking way too much! The rich deserve it more!
…just wait till AI and robotic are completely integrated…
The guillotine was invented in France over less income inequality.
5.5 years later and life still sucks
So, if you have that, you’ll be happy. And I don’t want you to be happy because I’m happy when I am the one who is most happy. That’s why.
been the plan all along. Smith knew what he was talking about.
It would be crazy if this was true.
