Building a nation of indentured servants.
“first they came for the brown dudes and I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t a slave. Yet.”
I wonder what would happen if people did a “debt strike”. If everybody stopped paying their debts at the same time, the credit card company’s wouldn’t be able to afford to punish everybody. They going to repossess 100k cars and houses etc?
The government would cover the credit card company’s debts while going after one consumer at a time. Then moderates would celebrate a great victory when the credit card company paid the government back, see, everything worked out!
This is more or less my vision of the only possible successful revolution we can have in the face of the ongoing destruction of our civilization by a relative handful of destructively wealthy and/or power-hungry assholes.
A revolution that simply seeks to replace the power structure is doomed, because the best case scenario is that we’ll just end up with a somewhat different set of assholes. And any revolution built on violence will only lead to yet another violent society, with the most willing and able to commit the most violence against the most people yet again at the top.
The successful revolution will be enough people simply refusing to submit.
As you say, there’s an upper limit to the number of people the assholes can punish, imprison or kill. And if we exceed that limit by far enough, the entire illusion of their power will collapse.
And that’s the crucial point - their power is ultimately an illusion. It only really exists to the degree that people believe it exists and submit to it in the belief that it exists. If enough people deny its existence, the assholes will reach a point at which nothing theyvdo will work, and that’ll be the end of their illusory power.
Unfortunately, that’s going to require a humanity notably different from the current one - a humanity that’s broadly ready and willing to take a stand, even if that means they’ll suffer individually, in order to free human society from the rule of the egotists and narcissists and megalomaniacs and psychopaths.
Maybe someday…
Back in the day, when the banks came to reposses people’s houses, their neighbors would block them from getting to them. They can’t take it all if we don’t let them. Ownership is possession, not what’s written on some document somewhere. If you can’t come possess it, you don’t actually own it, do you?
“This kidney transplant is available to you at a low, low price of $2999.99/month.
Subject to repossession if you miss any payments!”Repo! The Genetic Opera vibes right there. Also topical because Anthony head just died
This was a good sci-fi movie at release, never knew it would be predicting the future on some level.
The megacorporation GeneCo provides organ transplants on a payment plan. Clients who miss payments are hunted down by Repo Men, skilled assassins who “repossess” the organs
That’s what I was going for.
Was that what you were going for?
The movie Repo Men from 2010 immediately jumps to mind.
“Set in the near future when artificial organs can be bought on credit, it revolves around a man who struggles to make the payments on a heart he has purchased. He must therefore go on the run before said ticker is repossessed.”
That’s what I was going for.
Was that what you were going for?
For how many months?
Insurance company: All of them
It’s not a payment plan, it’s a leasing contract.
But have you seen the Dow?!!!?
Oh yeah, it’s slavery time
Oh no, no, these aren’t slaves. These are warehouse atholeets.
No idea if you’re joking or not, because UPS legitimately refers to their warehouse personnel as “industrial athletes.”
Truly the darkest timeline.
They want us to die penniless. They really hate it when their workers in their 40s and 50s start getting inheritances, and either stop working so hard, or retire early, or worse, go into competition against them.
Kill middle class inheritances, and you create a segment of older workers who are increasingly desperate to keep their jobs and especially their health care. That’s a segment that you can ruthlessly exploit, and discard after you’ve used them up. Everybody hates older workers.
The propaganda worked. The only ways we’re allowed to save are by investing in the companies that exploit us. This makes compliant workers who support the exploitation on which they’re forced to depend.
The only ways we’re allowed to save are by investing in the companies that exploit us
workers will truly own the means of production (/hj)
Honestly, if I reach senior citizen age and things get untenably difficult, I’m just going to go around lighting shit on fire. I’ll have zero fucks left to give and would rather watch it all burn.
Put me in prison. I’ll be old and other inmates won’t bother with me and I’ll get 3 meals and endless books to read.
Life in prison is eventually going to start looking like a viable retirement option. It ain’t great, but it’s better than being homeless.
I have already read multiple stories of people robbing a bank, and then just sitting down and waiting for the cops to show up, because they’ve got some medical condition they can’t afford to treat, but they know it will get treated in prison.
America the Beautiful.
Brother you will have a shit life in the future slave prisons and probably work 12 hour shifts doing menial labor like in the 1890s.
My co-pay per psych visit is $200. They originally wanted me to have a visit every month.
When I told their office that I can’t afford to pay that much each month, they told me, “We have installment plans.”
I responded, “So I can’t afford paying this amount, but you want me to still come here once a month, and your solution is monthly installment plans? … You see how that doesn’t help at all, right?”
No response.
————
Anyway, if I seem cranky in the near-future, it’s because I stopped going to that doctor and thus my stock of anti-depressant and anti-anxiety meds is running out. I’ll need to carefully taper myself down to avoid catastrophic consequences. It took an absurd amount of searching to even find a doctor accepting new patients in the first place, and I don’t want to have to go through all that just to wind up with more unaffordable bills. I don’t know what else to fucking do.
Is a telehealth appointment an option? In my experience those are less expensive and easier, especially if you just need refills. Some meds need to be prescribed in-person however.
Before I hit the first tier of my plan’s deductible, I was paying $150/session, and I only do telehealth.
Health insurance in this country is fucking awful.
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Are you able to find a pcp willing to continue your prescriptions? I had to have a psych visit to get initial prescriptions, but for many years now every pcp I’ve been to has renewed my welbutrin and Lexapro no problem. Idk if other meds are different.
I’ve only had to have a diagnosis to get my PCP to prescribe me my meds. My current provider started me on my prescriptions and I didn’t even have to show proof of them, I just had a conversation with him, talked about getting an adhd diagnosis in college, and he wrote the script same day.
@[email protected], it’s definitely worth a discussion with your primary care doctor to see if they can help you out.
I will try that, thank you guys for the recommendation!
If they have their way children will be born into debt and forced to “earn” their way up to $0.00.
It’s parasite games.
Technically American newborns are charged for their own birth under their parent’s insurance. Their account for billing insurance is created before their birth certificate.
That’s fucking disgusting, what the fuck. How are Americans not rioting every day of the year?
We are raised in this to believe it is normal. There’s also the whole machine of our culture that’s largely insulated and hidden from the public eye that rationalizes away all critiques and criticisms.
But in a nutshell: staunch individualism. Not caring until personally effected is our culture.
Sounds like an anti culture. I know I’m just ranting at this point, but you can be autonomous while still admitting you’re interdependent.
Not that I have horse high enough to cast shade from. I just benefit from the inertia of the hard work of those before me. I don’t know what I’m really doing to stop this kind of erosion in my own communities. The most I do is quote our contract whenever the boss contradicts it in a meeting.
Americans are a proud people of freedom and togetherness. How dare you tell us what to do, fucking commie! I’m gonna go fuck a billionaire right now just to spite you!
You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
The year is 2126. I have finished my Doctorate degree to make me eligible for an entry level data entry job at one of the 4 mega corps. For my student loans I owe my school 4 years of life. During my time in school I got cancer from the PFAS plant I was forced to live next to. Cured in one pill (oh the wonders of modern medicine!) But now I owe the pharmaceutical company 4 years of my life.
The pharmaceutical company and my university are now in a legal match to determine who gets the first 4 years (younger and more productive). They settle. I owe an additional 2 years now for the legal costs that are passed down to me.
Meanwhile, people in Europe are taking their mandated 6 months of vacation. Fucking communists. Do they even think of the shareholders??
No way they would make cure in one pill. It would be a subscription.
The year is 2126 and we in Europe are just as indebted slaves as you are because your evil shitheads have been funding ours so that you don’t get any ideas. Crab mentality.
Tbh the more believable route is we outsourced our manufacturing to China, got barely any natural resources, and now China+Russia are both slowly eating Europe, starting with Ukraine. Only now the west is seemingly learning than China trains Russian troops and produces drone parts, and neither is looking to stop
Now all we need to do is legally transfer debt to offspring. Then my great-great-great-great grandson has to pay off that stupid muscle car I bought.
That’s coming. They aren’t going to allow the Death Loophole to continue for real people. That sort of stuff is only for the Epstein Class.
Indentured servitude with extra steps.
Turning the nation into one big company town/store.
Can’t wait to be paid in scrip that’s only redeemable at subsidiaries of the multinational corp. I work for.
Turning the nation into one big company town/store.
I mean, half of America voted for Trump in 2016 because he campaigned on “Running America like a business”.
Credit where credit is due, it took 10 years but he completely hit on his campaign promise. Probably just not how the majority of his voters expected it, but 100% exactly how the rest of us saw it coming.
I am so very tired of every politician running on being a successful businessman. Government doesn’t exist to turn a damn profit. All “businessman” means is that they’ll continue to sell us out to their buddies.
And no, his voters didn’t expect it to turn out this way. They thought they were part of the club. They expected to be invited to the party, rather than just footing the bill. Now that it’s clear they won’t be, all the GOP can offer them is punishing people they hate. And for far too many of them, that’s still enough justification to win their support.
If you go work for Samsung, it might just work out for you. They do healthcare, construction, heavy machinery and whatever the hell else.
the world has always been epcott and disneyland for the rich and powerful. You get to watch and serve them and be told ‘you too can attain this’ while getting a 10% discount on company-brand goods and youre paid in store credit.
We could just revolt
As they say, “Bolje grob nego rob”.
i’m beginning to think france did the colonies no favors by providing crucial aid and support in their war for ‘freedom’ two and a half centuries ago.
I just looked up “UK news” and copied the first link
They’re not doing any better than us right now.
the u.s. (well, most of, anyway) would likely be 🇨🇦 canadian 🇨🇦
The southern territories
Next: Repackage the BNPL loans into debt based instruments used by investors.
Then: The entire economy crashes and we given Elon Musk control over our financial system.
Eventually: We go extinct like we deserve.
But for a brief moment, the shareholders made a fortune.
We have been going on this line for 40 years. Credit cards used to be rare you limits were low. Houses were bought on 10-15 ye loans. Car loans were 3 yrs. College loans were crazy hard to get.
That isn’t a new thing, America is addicted to debt, and has been for a few decades.
My parents had a house with a 30 year loan in the 80’s… at 16%. That said, it was also only like $25k.
Credit cards in the 90’s had low limits but people would just get a bunch of them. I remember hearing the average person had 14.1 cards in the late 90’s.
This has been going on forever. I feel like it’s an integral part of American society since at least the 50’s. Deregulation has increased the speed, the disconnect between wage growth and inflation/buying power, etc.
The 80s spike in interest was due to feds trying to reign in inflation. My parents had to renew their 7% mortgage at 21%. Crazy times.
