639
submitted 1 month ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Paywall removed https://archive.is/LF76k

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world 138 points 1 month ago

This is exactly what workers mean when they say the stock market isn’t the economy.

[-] Pistcow@lemm.ee 19 points 1 month ago

Yeah but their entire retirement is based on it!

[-] iheartneopets@lemm.ee 63 points 1 month ago

Such an insidious way of keeping workers complicit in our capitalist hellscape.

[-] Benjaben@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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 we buy them, 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.

[-] Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 month ago

Their entire retirement is held hostage by it. Fixed it for ya.

[-] BlitzoTheOisSilent@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Lol, you think we'll be able to retire 😂

[-] Pistcow@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago

I've lucked out and tracking to retire at 60 but my grandfather has been retired about as long as I've been alive (55).

[-] BlitzoTheOisSilent@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

I'm 30 next month, I joined the military right out of high school, and I specifically remember them teaching us a bit about 401k's because of our ability to participate in TSP.

The instructor very clearly told us, the average American needs $1 million in their retirement account when they to to retire to live comfortably. Not extravagantly, comfortably.

Just a couple weeks ago I saw an article saying the average American now needs $2 million in their retirement account to be to retire comfortably, and this is assuming they don't have a mortgage payment, etc.

So in 11 years, the amount needed to retire comfortably has doubled, and yet my wages haven't doubled... Minimum wage hasn't increased in decades, sure they're talking about $15/hr now, but that should've been 10 years ago. With inflation, minimum wage should be around $26/hr, yet even in my blue state, it's like $15.60/hr or something, it's barely over $15.

Throw in the recent news about the inevitable and quickly approaching AMOC collapse and the climate hellscape that's going to come with it... Our futures were robbed from us for profit, and even if I started making triple what I make now, I'll never be able to retire, nor do I even have a retirement account anymore (I cashed mine out to help me during some really rough financial times right after the pandemic, y'know, when the government told the average American to go fuck themselves). And I was one of the few among my friends who even had one.

So, like many people around my age, my retirement will either be societal collapse in the next couple decades, or a bullet to the head (if I could even afford the bullet) as I die in old age, homeless, while we probably have six trillionaires at that point.

this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2024
639 points (98.9% liked)

News

23669 readers
3543 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS