Here's why Americans under 40 are so disillusioned by capitalism
https:// www.washingtonpost.com /opinions/2024/04/01/millennials-capitalism-security-retirement/ Here's why Americans under 40 are so disillusioned by capitalism
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I'm nearly fifty, now. Why am I disillusioned by capitalism? Because the illusion is thin and flimsy. I really hope the disillusionment of millennials isn't just because they don't have a good enough retirement plan, or anything else that can be easily fixed. I hope that they are waking up to realize that giving unelected, unaccountable, private owners of capital control over the production and distribution of goods, services, and information, is an extremist, antidemocratic idea, that is driving the global climate crisis, and the slide toward fascism.
121I love this comment. You put into words what I've been trying to convey to others. Thank you.
I believe that all concentrations of power are potentially dangerous because you never know into what hands that concentration of power is being put. Too often it's concentrated in the hands of those personality types of the dark triad: narcissists, machiavellians, psychopaths. Those people should never have any authority or control over any human beings, and they should be prohibited from being in powewful positions. They are far too dangerous, and I believe that most of our world problems derive from these personality types.
26They’ve played Monopoly enough to recognize it’s their turn to roll, holding $6 and no property, and the board is covered in hotels.
20I don't know why I did not recognize the feeling before but yeah. This is what it feels like but it's real life.
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Bring back tax rates of 90% again for the obscenely rich - it was that way up until the late 1900s. Back when the US actually funded things that benefit most people not just tax breaks for already rich people.
102It was 50% before Reagan reduced it to 38%. The tax brackets aren’t nearly as large a contributor to inequality as the loopholes in tax law. Accelerated depreciation, tax credits, and the expensing rules for employee stock options are largely to blame for corporate tax evasion.
34Not even caring about the specific number:
- why do tax brackets end at about the 5%? Basically wealthy and ultra-wealthy pay same rate as upper middle. We need more steps
- why are there so many non-salary sources of wealth with lower tax rates, when only the wealthy can take advantage?
The bottom half of r tax system is reasonably progressive, so why not the top?
23You're talking about income tax rates, and I agree that the top tax rates should be higher, but this won't fix the problem because billionaires don't make their money from salaries. Most of their money is theoretical and tied up in ownership of shares of a company.
They can sell shares or earn dividends to make money, so capital gains should also be taxed at a much higher rate. But billionaires often choose not to sell shares either because they have a better option...
They take out low interest rates loans using their shares as collateral. The interest rates they are charged are generally going to be far lower than the interest on their stocks that stay invested,. This is where most of their liquidity comes from, because loans aren't taxed, and in some regard is almost an infinite money glitch for billionaires.
I think we need to make it illegal to use financial holdings as collateral for loans, at least for starters.
17I think we need to make it illegal to use financial holdings as collateral for loans, at least for starters.
And maybe a tax on assets over a set limit. Own more than $10M in assets? Time to start paying back society.
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3You could tax them at 100% but it wouldn't fix the problem. There are simply just not enough of them. While wealth inequality is a problem, this alone don't fix it. It is just a crutch.
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"Fink was refreshingly blunt that it’s not hard to figure out why millennials and Gen Z workers are economically anxious. “They believe my generation — the Baby Boomers — have focused on their own financial well-being to the detriment of who comes next. And in the case of retirement, they’re right,” he said."
Yes!
"While Fink correctly identified a key problem, his proposed solution wasn’t to bring back pension plans. It was a new BlackRock product that helps people better manage their retirement spending. In other words, it’s a way for BlackRock to likely make more money."
No.
93This is basically the current stage of capitalism. If by the end by some miracle you accrued some wealth, they'll make sure to grab it so there's no inheritance left.
Sell your house and buy into a retirement community, then a retirement home, and after that poke and prod you in a hospital for months on end to extend your life for a few weeks.
39by the end by some miracle you accrued some wealth, they’ll make sure to grab it so there’s no inheritance left.
Privatized Healthcare and nursing homes. If I had kids I'd just intentionally overdose on heroin before I ended up in such "care" situations.
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Fink correctly identified a key problem, his proposed solution wasn’t to bring back pension plans. It was a new BlackRock product that helps people better manage their retirement spending.
You motherfucker.
The advice for a "managing" a 401(k) is to just put money into it and ignore it- there's literally no managing required. The problem is this was never good enough and you god damn parasitic leeches want to take even that pittance away.
27It is the 1% vs the working class, not generation vs generation.
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I would really like this to be true. At least in my country the younger population (e.g. under 25s) is moving extreme-right instead of anti-capitalism. The amount of Andrew Tate fans that apparently do not even oppose human trafficking is insane.
38Are they pro corporate though?
Sometimes these right leaning people are mad and are expressing things wrong but they still are aware how most companies are abusing the system.
7I was libertarian right put of high school. I was rightfully upset with what the government does. It wasn't till later I realized it was the 1% controlling it, and that was a nig problem.
These days I just want to self select into a 2000ish person commune. (Studies shoe that peoplestart viewing each other as strangersonce you approach 2000 population)
Who needs a state? Oh wait, the need is that other nation states will assault you instantly if they sense weakness. Must be a cultural issue that we cannot live in "peace" without having a massive authoritarian nightmare hovering over every aspect of our lives.
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Cos they ain't got no fucking capital.
26Cause I click on a link to read a news article and the only thing I get is a pop up asking me to subscribe so i can view the news article.
24The American Dream of the middle class imploded under Nixon/Reagan.
President Johnson made the mistake of thinking he could win the Vietnam War with one huge, swift punch. When that plan devolved into a long, messy quagmire he had to print tons of paper money to pay for the mess without raising taxes.
Nixon was elected on a peace platform, but instead he dragged out the war and kept the money machine rolling. The war mean a lot of jobs in the steel industry because America was dropping about three Hiroshimas a day on the jungle.
The Oil Boycott of 1972 tripled energy prices overnight. This meant a lot of small companies were wiped out or had to move overseas to stay competitive. Housewives had to get jobs to keep the homes going. And American industry took a giant hit, because the newer steel mills and auto factories in Germany and Japan could make cars much more cheaply than Detroit.
By the time Ford became President, things were so bad that he had to ask people to wear 'Whip Inflation Now' buttons, because he had no idea what else to do.
Carter and Volker had a plan that worked, but Carter was out by the time it began to gain traction. Reagan kept Volker and pretended it was all his idea.
Reagan cut taxes for the rich, pretending that this would 'trickle down' It didn't work.
In 1968, when Nixon was elected 'Middle Class' was defined as one good Union job supporting a family of four with a house and money to send the kids to college. By the time Bush Sr. was done 'middle class' was two jobs to keep a house going.
22I don’t know, maybe because a decent house costs $2M and there’s little chance my kids could live here unless we pass down significant wealth?
20While Fink correctly identified a key problem, his proposed solution wasn’t to bring back pension plans. It was a new BlackRock product that helps people better manage their retirement spending. In other words, it’s a way for BlackRock to likely make more money.
19it was a new BlackRock product
I laughed out loud when I read that.
"You know what I really need to help pay for groceries this month? A new BlackRock product!"
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It's not just folks under 40.
18I'm over 40 and I support this message.
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One good step could be, heritage tax and affordable housing, believe me with these two people under 40 will do better.
15UBI would be a fucking godsend for WAY more people than anyone is willing to admit at this point. It’s insane. It’s an absolutely trivial solution to wealth inequality. But of course, the wealthy don’t want to surrender the wealth they’ve accumulated and are just bogarting from the rest of us. Gilded age v2.0.
As an aside, the French have successfully dealt with such situations in the past.
10UBI saves capitalism from itself. Are we really sure we want to work and fight towards preserving this system that hurts us and our loved ones on a daily basis?
If we are bleeding in the streets, why reform capitalism? The reason I am bringing this up is that we already tried this.
Could you imagine getting a early 20th centruy labor movement going these days? Well let's just imagine by some miracle we did and we reformed capitalism just like you want. According to the time line of the New Deal era to now, we would AT MOST, buy a ceasefire for 2-4 generations.
You see, you are trying to negotiate peace with putin. Yeah you got a peace deal... for now. The 1% will bide its time and slowly use the surplus labor value it steals from the working class to errode institutions and public will.
Reforming capitalism is only delaying end stage capitalism, not preventing it.
Eventually, we will be right back to the guided age (this time, its the 3.0 version!). Eventually your kids kids will be struggling working 3 jobs to make ends meet if not sooner.
Let's not waste the blood sweat and tears of those willing to fight for a better tomorrow like we did in the past. Never again.
Let's not negotiate with financial terrorists.
Let's learn from our mistakes.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
Many rushed to tell me how generous their pay raises have been, how easy it is to go from an entry-level job to management at their company, and how they have diversified their workforce.
Millennials have had such a tumultuous start in the workforce, they have been nicknamed the “unluckiest generation.” They are struggling to navigate the most unaffordable housing market since the early 1980s.
While Fink correctly identified a key problem, his proposed solution wasn’t to bring back pension plans.
It’s a shame that Fink didn’t use his bullhorn to call on business and political leaders to shore up Social Security.
What executives don’t like to talk about is that while pay has increased a lot in the rebound from the pandemic, corporate profits have soared even more.
The share of the economic pie that goes to worker pay remains well below historic norms, as even Goldman Sachs has pointed out.
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