The Match Cut 2017 Political Thread (or: The Lord of the Leaks: The Trump Towers)

[Dukefrukem]

This isn't really a good way of comparing standards of living. The cost of many "luxury goods" has fallen dramatically (relative to wages) since the great depression due to technology advances and overseas manufacturing. But the cost of housing has gone up relative to wages (massively so in major cities), and that's by far the largest expense for someone on a low income. People all over the world, in very poor areas, can often afford cell phones even if they can't afford a decent place to live.

I'd also argue that the internet is as essential now as a telephone used to be. And tangentially, are people in the US really paying $100/month for a cell phone? I pay significantly less for my monthly iphone bill than I used to pay for a landline. And the phone came free with the contract.

Fair point. Low wage regions do have a huge cell phone market. But it's the luxury smartphones I was referring to. They now represent such a huge chunk of today's media. Every other commerical on TV is a wireless ad or a cell phone ad.

[Dukefrukem]

....heeeey...

[Dukefrukem]

You know your comment may come off as flippant but I can not wait until I'm to the place financially where I can complain about other people buying stuff I currently can't afford! If you have an extra supply of fancy smartphones send them my way, I sure would like them. Maybe I could sell them to buy a new computer in which google chrome didn't tell me my browser was no longer supported.

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[Skitch]

"Shrinking" vs "nobody". Nobody buys physical media.

[Grouchy]

Probably shouldn't start a family if you can't support yourself.

Bit of a vicious circle in there, ain't it?

Who's gonna flip your burgers when the logical consequences of this come through and the people you hate are extinguished?

[Winston*]

It is a good thing when societies are more equitable in terms of luxury items people can afford.

Why would I be angry if poor people can go on nice holidays and buy ps4s and whatnot?

[Winston*]

You know what else is good? Free education and healthcare.

[number8]

I think Duke also believes that poor people should be sterilized.

Probably shouldn't start a family if you can't support yourself.

I would like to point out, in case people missed it, that I predicted this by 16 posts. I AM THE ORACLE.

[Dead & Messed Up]

In fairness, Duke isn't cutting off sugar mama scenarios.

[Ezee E]

I missed too much to properly respond to individual posts, but I'll try my best for the sum of it all...

I'd be fully supportive of minimum wage being higher. Reality is that companies can't afford to pay a person that much if the company wants to remain successful. As for minimum wage positions like flipping burgers. There's not really a skill set involved. A day of training and being able to show up is really all it takes. This is why those positions tend to be people's first jobs.

However, these positions can develop if you show that you're good, similar to what number8 says about an exit strategy. This is why McDonald's, Starbucks, Chipotle have career paths, because you can develop into a manager role and make much more than minimum wage. If you're at some scrub company, you'll likely be looking for other positions, and with a history of working in food service, you could very well enter into a higher position. Shift supervisors will get $2 more I figure, and store management positions are at $16-$20/hr.

I'm sure jobs pay minimum wage... I just don't personally know anyone with them. In Colorado, minimum wage is $9.30/hr... For Colorado, all starting positions at Starbucks start at $10/hr... For janitor positions, since it's hard to find a person willing to take them on because of tough shift hours and the labor involved, those positions pay at $15/hr.

Raising minimum wage... Go for it. The large corporations of the world will make it work, but they'll raise their own prices, and the smaller stores will fail.

[Ezee E]

You know what else is good? Free education and healthcare.

Yeah. I met some people from Denmark who lived with their parents while they went to school, and worked. They graduated college and are probably wrapping up their three month trip through Australia/New Zealand/Bali. No college loans to pay off.

I'm in awe.

[bac0n]

When I was 21, I dropped out of college to get my shit in order. Worked some shitty temp jobs for shitty hours before I finally landed my first IT gig. Not great pay, it was simple tech support, but at least enough to pay rent and food and the occasional night on the town. I went back to school that fall, paying my way as I went along. Took me another six years to finally get my degree, six years of working full time during the day, busing it over to the UofMN campus, attending class during the evenings, getting home around ten, doing homework until midnight, collapsing into bed, rinse, repeat. Again, this went on for six years.

I'm proud of the fact that I was able to, through grit, determination, all those exalted, mythologized American Traits™, get myself through college on my own, with no debts when I was through. Bettering myself. But that is tempered by:

1) I'm a white CISHET male. Virtually everything in this society is designed with my specific interests in mind.

2) I had parents that were willing and able to foot the bill of my first three years of college.

3) I had buddies in IT, and through them I was able to score my first programming gig, while I was still in college, with many years left to go.

4) That first programming gig had an education reimbursement plan. So, when really I think of it, I really didn't pay my way through college at all.

5) I only had myself to support, and had plenty of friends willing to roommate and share the rent. I remember one year I had to pay a measly 150/month, which was cheap, even in 1996.

Now, I think of those advantages I had when I was in my 20s. I then compare that to a young black mother living in North Minneapolis today. She's fucking screwed. The institutions put in place decades ago to go to keep her the fuck away from white people are still largely in place. Minneapolis is a terribly segregated city. The public transit system here is shitty, and all the good paying jobs have long ago moved out to the suburbs, so we're talking an hour on the bus each way, if she's lucky. If the buses even go out there. And what the fuck is she gonna do with her kid in the mean time? Her Mom can't help; she's probably in the same situation too. Her Dad? Out of the picture. Yeah, if I was in her shoes, no way in hell would I be where I am today.

So, hell yeah, I'm perfectly fine with the minimum wage going up.

[Ezee E]

Minneapolis is definitely a spread out area and I hear complaints about their public transportation ALL the time. My teams have a huge struggle with trains/buses being delayed without notice, or getting to the stores in a reasonable time if they need public transport.

[Wryan]

Just let people practice baseball for charity, for christ's sake.

[Spinal]

Just let people practice baseball for charity, for christ's sake.

Oh, lord, we're going to be hearing about this from Republicans for the rest of our lives.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I'll take the abuse from conservatives gladly.

Was more worried it was going to be an Islamist attack that could lead to frightened congresspersons using it as a pretext for declaring war on Yemen or ramrodding the travel ban past the judiciary or some such bullshit.

[Spinal]

I'll take the abuse from conservatives gladly.

Was more worried it was going to be an Islamist attack that could lead to frightened congresspersons using it as a pretext for declaring war on Yemen or ramrodding the travel ban past the judiciary or some such bullshit.

That's a good point. Our whole country is basically a tinderbox right now. Ugh.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Spinal, you'll be happy to know my homeboy from Iowa Steve King couldn't wait to make good on your concern.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), in a suit and tie, stopped by the crime scene to pray, and was viscerally angry about his colleagues being attacked.

“America has been divided,” he said, “and the center of America is disappearing, and the violence is appearing in the streets, and it’s coming from the left.” King indicated that it was impossible to separate the hyperpartisan climate in Washington — especially people protesting Trump — and Republican members of Congress being gunned down at a baseball practice.

“The divisions within the country, people that can’t accept the results of the election that are determined to try to take this country down, take this organization down,” King said. “This city was filled up with demonstrations the day after the inauguration, where you couldn’t drive down the streets.”

- Washington Post

[added bold for emphasis]

[number8]

Nobody ever wants to address the fact that these shooters are always men.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Nobody ever wants to address the fact that these shooters are always men.

Yeah, the only exception I can think of is that half of the San Bernardino duo was female.

[Dukefrukem]

Nobody ever wants to address the fact that these shooters are always men.

Yeah fuck men.

[Sycophant]

Hear! Hear!

[number8]

The most dangerous minority group in America.

[number8]

I find it somewhat interesting that the sign's composition makes it read "Thank you, Lord Jesus, for President Trump" but its color-coding reads "Thank you, Jesus, for Lord President Trump."

[Dead & Messed Up]

That baby is the only person in that photograph with a firm sense of situational awareness.