Democracy is Failing the Young – No Wonder They Want Change

[mogandave]

3 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Combine the wealth of Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg, and they have more than the lowest income 150 million Americans.

 

Next question.

 

The lowest 150 million don’t even work.

[Chomper Higgot]

5 hours ago, mogandave said:

Yeah, that’s how it is in those POC countries, but in the US, the bottom 40% pay no income tax. 

 

In the US, the bulk of tax revenue comes from the rich.

They also get the lion’s share of tax breaks which are the single biggest federal budget expenditure.

 

Way more than social security, way more than Medicare, way more than defense:

 

https://www.pgpf.org/article/7-key-charts-on-tax-breaks/

[Nick Carter icp]

5 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Combine the wealth of Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg, and they have more than the lowest income 150 million Americans.

 

Next question.

 

 

   We are talking about the UK , the above 3 are not UK citizens  

[mogandave]

15 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

They also get the lion’s share of tax breaks which are the single biggest federal budget expenditure.

 

Way more than social security, way more than Medicare, way more than defense:

 

https://www.pgpf.org/article/7-key-charts-on-tax-breaks/

The left wants to social engineer, and then when people take advantage of it you howl. 

 

 

[Nick Carter icp]

5 hours ago, Lacessit said:

You have heard of the term inflation, yes?

 

My first house cost $14,000. I paid off the mortgage in 18 months.

 

The same house today would cost about $800,000. It would take the average wage earner of today about 40-50 years to pay it off.

 

I don't understand how you can say working class people are richer. The average American has $104,000 in debt.

 

   Ah, so your house cost $14 000 and it now costs $800 000 .

I didn't realise that, fair enough, British kids are poorer today than they were 50 years ago .

   Your house cost should have been included in the report , just to give the report a truer perspective 

[mogandave]

5 hours ago, Lacessit said:

You have heard of the term inflation, yes?

 

My first house cost $14,000. I paid off the mortgage in 18 months.

 

The same house today would cost about $800,000. It would take the average wage earner of today about 40-50 years to pay it off.

 

I don't understand how you can say working class people are richer. The average American has $104,000 in debt.

If someone owns a house worth $500k, and they are $104k in debt, that means they’re $396K to the good, yes? 

 

 

[mogandave]

10 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   Ah, so your house cost $14 000 and it now costs $800 000 .

I didn't realise that, fair enough, British kids are poorer today than they were 50 years ago .

   Your house cost should have been included in the report , just to give the report a truer perspective 

And notice how he claims he paid it off in 18 months, but then he switches to the average wage earner for the inflated price. 

 

How long would it have taken for the average wage earner to pay off the house originally?

 

The house I grew up in was in Southern California, and costed $10,000. 

 

My folks bought it on a 30 year loan. My father was a mechanical engineer that worked in aerospace. 

 

That house sold (when my mom died) for $650K about ten years ago. 

 

A mechanical engineer working in aerospace can still afford to buy that home on a 30 year loan. 

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, mogandave said:

The left wants to social engineer, and then when people take advantage of it you howl. 

 

 

Trump is in the process of gutting welfare programs, freezing funding to schools, disease monitoring, air transport safety, the EPA.

 

It’s a social experiment going on right now.

[Chomper Higgot]

56 minutes ago, mogandave said:

If someone owns a house worth $500k, and they are $104k in debt, that means they’re $396K to the good, yes? 

 

 

The point made was the affordability of housing then and the un affordability now.

[mogandave]

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Trump is in the process of gutting welfare programs, freezing funding to schools, disease monitoring, air transport safety, the EPA.

 

It’s a social experiment going on right now.

I think that’s all great. Sorry about your welfare getting cut. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

[Chomper Higgot]

Just now, mogandave said:

I think that’s all great. Sorry about your welfare getting cut. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

I’ve never been on welfare.

 

However, millions rely on it, millions more rely on Medicare.

 

Oh and I don’t need a Social Security check either.

 

Stay lucky.

[mogandave]

Just now, Chomper Higgot said:

The point made was the affordability of housing then and the un affordability now.

You mean when a factory work could buy a house? 

 

Now that the wages have been driven down it’s more difficult, yes? 

[mogandave]

Just now, Chomper Higgot said:

I’ve never been on welfare.

 

However, millions rely on it, millions more rely on Medicare.

 

Oh and I don’t need a Social Security check either.

 

Stay lucky.

You get tax deductions, that’s welfare. 

 

Stay dishonest

[placeholder]

7 minutes ago, mogandave said:

I think that’s all great. Sorry about your welfare getting cut. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

Typical personal attack. 

[mogandave]

1 minute ago, placeholder said:

Typical personal attack. 

Typical leftist deflection.

[placeholder]

4 minutes ago, mogandave said:

Typical leftist deflection.

What don't you understand about the obvious fact that a personal  attack in this forum is by its very nature a deflection? The discussions are supposed to be about issues, not about members.

[Chomper Higgot]

12 minutes ago, mogandave said:

You mean when a factory work could buy a house? 

 

Now that the wages have been driven down it’s more difficult, yes? 

Who’s wages?

 

CEO’s are raking it in.

 

 Blue collar workers not so.

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

13 minutes ago, mogandave said:

You get tax deductions, that’s welfare. 

 

Stay dishonest

Tax deductions are not ‘welfare’.

 

Trump is cutting welfare, he’s not cutting tax deductions.

[mogandave]

6 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Tax deductions are not ‘welfare’.

 

Trump is cutting welfare, he’s not cutting tax deductions.

So you support tax deductions for corporations? 

 

What welfare is he cutting?

[mogandave]

10 minutes ago, placeholder said:

What don't you understand about the obvious fact that a personal  attack in this forum is by its very nature a deflection? The discussions are supposed to be about issues, not about members.

So why attack me? Just stick to the issue and quit deflecting. 

 

When someone is lying, calling them dishonest is not an attack.

[mogandave]

29 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Who’s wages?

 

CEO’s are raking it in.

 

 Blue collar workers not so.

 

 

Jealous of CEOs? 

 

I was talking about wagers for factory workers, or what used to be middle class, but is now working poor. 

[Chomper Higgot]

8 hours ago, mogandave said:

Jealous of CEOs? 

 

I was talking about wagers for factory workers, or what used to be middle class, but is now working poor. 

Trickle down economics doing its thing!

[Gweiloman]

17 hours ago, proton said:

 

Not the case at all, nothing worth having is free in China

You are obviously clueless. Having lived for years in the “west”, I was amazed at how far advanced even 2nd tier cities in China are compared to many western capitals. For eg, free MTR travel for above 60’s, regardless of nationality. Most things are not free of course but at such low prices, the value for money is incomparable.

[The Old Bull]

On 2/1/2025 at 8:43 AM, BangkokReady said:

It's really moving towards only having a choice between the "evil right" (who only care about the business elite), and the "evil left" (who only care about minorities)...

 

The average working man really has no one looking out for him.

Canada and the UK don't have a working man's party anymore. In Canada the NDP has been taken over by queers and tree huggers. In the UK ,New Labour has been taken over by fancy lawyers and public school boys. As peoples standard of living improved trade unions became less relevant, I think that's  the problem, people have forgotten that without trade unions they would be making$1.50 an hour.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 2/1/2025 at 2:56 PM, Gweiloman said:

Meanwhile, in communist, authoritarian China governed by a dictator, the citizens are enjoying universal health care, free schooling, cheap and affordable housing, public transportation and groceries and increasing life expectancy. So evil…

 

That’s why they are a threat to global (western) security.

All good unless a Tibetan or an Uighur.

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, Gweiloman said:

For eg, free MTR travel for above 60’s,

In London I got free bus and Tube travel when over 60.

[frank83628]

On 2/1/2025 at 6:24 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

Democracy, what democracy? The only thing resembling democracy is at election time when parties compete to bribe voters. The rest of the time they ignore the citizens.

The entire edifice is IMO rotten to the core.

 

It's no wonder that someone like Trump won, and there is a movement to right wing politics elsewhere.

 

BTW, it's not just the young that are ignored- the elderly are suffering too.

 

IMO the only ones the present cabals care about are the rich.

The UK needs a new Guy Fawkes. 

[thaibeachlovers]

13 hours ago, mogandave said:

 

A mechanical engineer working in aerospace can still afford to buy that home on a 30 year loan. 

Sadly they don't pay nurses as much as a mechanical engineer working in aerospace. I was able to afford my 3 bedroom house on a 1/4 acre on a nurses' wage in the early 80s, but I doubt I could afford the same house on less land now on a nurses wage.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Sadly they don't pay nurses as much as a mechanical engineer working in aerospace. I was able to afford my 3 bedroom house on a 1/4 acre on a nurses' wage in the early 80s, but I doubt I could afford the same house on less land now on a nurses wage.

Agree, but it’s not just the affordability of housing and wages.

 

Work place benefits have been slashed since the 1980s.

 

Final salary pensions, secure contracts of employment and the first step on the ladder that many young people had access to, real apprenticeships.

 

And of course student grants.

 

Young people today are loaded with costs, risks and uncertainty we older generations never faced.

 

 

 

[mogandave]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Sadly they don't pay nurses as much as a mechanical engineer working in aerospace. I was able to afford my 3 bedroom house on a 1/4 acre on a nurses' wage in the early 80s, but I doubt I could afford the same house on less land now on a nurses wage.

It is sad. What we need is more mass migration to drive wagers down and housing costs up.