Oof, somehow this escaped me, even though I participate, while hating it, and thinking at least a bit about that fact along the way. The thing doesn’t have to even be deliberate if it’s effective - accidentally-discovered techniques often work as well as planned/sought ones.
By which I mean, of course this situation is not some deliberate “super-rich cabal” silly scenario, but damn if the levers don’t work exactly that way. My and my family’s future well-being, as a strictly mandatory goal to pursue, is turned into fuel for a machine I hate (contributing to 401k), and the hope I’ve been soft-coerced into is a hope that the hateful thing spits out enough at the end for me to keep:
a roof over our heads, not otherwise guaranteed nor likely
continued medical care through life post-employability, not otherwise guaranteed, only somewhat likely (Medicare)
the limited dignity of dying with some care, but true misery along the way, as it is for almost anyone who doesn’t “luck into” a sudden end…again, not otherwise guaranteed, nor fucking likely (end of life care is an absolute disaster in this country)
The folks with the resources and “character” to enjoy, exploit, and move stocks love this. The new yachts, ridiculous “homes”, and the unbelievably fresh new whatever’s on their idiot status comparison instruments are never-before-seen and even more egregiously wasteful than their awful rivals’.
The folks doing less well than me? I mean we don’t even hear their misery, except in limited outbursts at strange times in retail and food industry settings or other such. The folks actually working themselves to death, SO many of us, are too fucking busy to even properly cry out.
This is exactly what workers mean when they say the stock market isn’t the economy.
Yeah but their entire retirement is based on it!
Such an insidious way of keeping workers complicit in our capitalist hellscape.
Oof, somehow this escaped me, even though I participate, while hating it, and thinking at least a bit about that fact along the way. The thing doesn’t have to even be deliberate if it’s effective - accidentally-discovered techniques often work as well as planned/sought ones.
By which I mean, of course this situation is not some deliberate “super-rich cabal” silly scenario, but damn if the levers don’t work exactly that way. My and my family’s future well-being, as a strictly mandatory goal to pursue, is turned into fuel for a machine I hate (contributing to 401k), and the hope I’ve been soft-coerced into is a hope that the hateful thing spits out enough at the end for me to keep:
The folks with the resources and “character” to enjoy, exploit, and move stocks love this. The new yachts, ridiculous “homes”, and the unbelievably fresh new whatever’s on their idiot status comparison instruments are never-before-seen and even more egregiously wasteful than their awful rivals’.
The folks doing less well than me? I mean we don’t even hear their misery, except in limited outbursts at strange times in retail and food industry settings or other such. The folks actually working themselves to death, SO many of us, are too fucking busy to even properly cry out.