Why do people honestly hate capitalism so much now?

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Texasmoneyman300
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25 Jan 2023, 4:25 am

goldfish21 wrote:
Texasmoneyman300 wrote:
Well I know life was tough back then.I would much rather of been a cattle baron in Texas in 1910 than the modern upper-middle class life I have now.But you do have a point because I heard something like a poor or lower middle class American has a better standard of living than the kings of thousands of years ago.I dont know if its true or not.I would much rather go to a time when we needed all of those workers.


In some ways modern people have luxuries kings didn’t have - music at our fingertips, foods from all over the world etc but truly poor Americans today would probably rather life the life of a King a few centuries ago. Especially people who go without food and proper clothing. But there’s some truth to modern middle class people having more luxuries than Kings used to.

Why wish we were in a time where everyone had to work? Why not do wish for automation to free people from having to work so they can do other things - art, music, travel, writing/whatever because machines and AI produce what they need.

I believe having a job gives meaning to life.Also I wish for a simpler time so I could hunt and fish all I want in the country.I believe I would be happier if I worked 40 hours a week and I think working helps people find purpose.I dont think having a lot of free time is a good thing unless you are retired for the most part.



magz
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25 Jan 2023, 6:54 am

To hunt and fish without limitations, we would need much lower population density.

Contributing helps find a meaning in life. It can be formal (i.e. employment), it can be not (i.e. helping neighbours) but it does.


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kraftiekortie
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25 Jan 2023, 7:30 am

It would be nice….but conservatives would seek to deny access to leisure for the “riff-raff” because they would be unable to pay for that leisure….because of job loss caused by redundancy, by being superseded by AI/robots.

What there MUST be—is extensive training in all the new technologies. I’m a bit behind the times myself. I’m very fortunate I’m retired, and work part-time in a library, where I’m needed. I would probably need training in the “new technologies” myself.



The_Walrus
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25 Jan 2023, 7:47 am

goldfish21 wrote:
3. Not sure why Walrus says min wage should be no more than 55% of median, but here based on google results it’s roughly 60% and is still nowhere near enough of an income to have any sort of quality of life. After tax full time minimum wage Nets $1700 or so. It now costs more than $1000/mo just to rent a bedroom. Food transportation clothing medicine etc - people can stay alive but it’s impossible to have any sort of quality of life even as a single person never mind with any dependents. Then there’s entertainment, education, recreation, travel and all the other categories beyond shelter & sustenance.

Above that level and it starts being a net negative for the employment rate.

I’m sure we can all accept that making the minimum wage 1 cent or penny higher would have no impact whatsoever. I’m also sure we can all agree that making it $50 an hour would make a lot of jobs unviable and lead to increased unemployment. So the question is, how much can we safely raise it?

55% was slightly conservative on my end, but currently the evidence for minimum wages above 60% of the median wage are shaky. There is a risk that it would start to negatively impact upon employment.

It seems wrong to me to tax someone who is earning the minimum wage - if this is the minimum it is acceptable for someone to earn then the government should not get a cut. Raise taxes on mid earners like me to compensate.

I found rooms available to rent in Vancouver for significantly less than $1000 a month…
https://www.roomies.ca/rooms/340931
https://www.roomies.ca/rooms/184560
https://www.zumper.com/apartments-for-r ... ncouver-bc

That being said, Vancouver’s notoriously reluctance to keep housing supply in line with demand is driving prices higher than they should be - build more homes, Vancouver!



kraftiekortie
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25 Jan 2023, 12:31 pm

Rooms are not apartments.

They are equivalent to the UK’s “bedsits.”

And they are primarily looking for young students. I probably wouldn’t get in any of these places.



Last edited by kraftiekortie on 25 Jan 2023, 12:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Texasmoneyman300
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25 Jan 2023, 12:36 pm

magz wrote:
To hunt and fish without limitations, we would need much lower population density.

Contributing helps find a meaning in life. It can be formal (i.e. employment), it can be not (i.e. helping neighbours) but it does.

Ya population density was a lot less decades ago so thats part of wanting to live in a distant past instead of now for me.



goldfish21
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25 Jan 2023, 1:14 pm

The_Walrus wrote:
goldfish21 wrote:
3. Not sure why Walrus says min wage should be no more than 55% of median, but here based on google results it’s roughly 60% and is still nowhere near enough of an income to have any sort of quality of life. After tax full time minimum wage Nets $1700 or so. It now costs more than $1000/mo just to rent a bedroom. Food transportation clothing medicine etc - people can stay alive but it’s impossible to have any sort of quality of life even as a single person never mind with any dependents. Then there’s entertainment, education, recreation, travel and all the other categories beyond shelter & sustenance.

Above that level and it starts being a net negative for the employment rate.

I’m sure we can all accept that making the minimum wage 1 cent or penny higher would have no impact whatsoever. I’m also sure we can all agree that making it $50 an hour would make a lot of jobs unviable and lead to increased unemployment. So the question is, how much can we safely raise it?

55% was slightly conservative on my end, but currently the evidence for minimum wages above 60% of the median wage are shaky. There is a risk that it would start to negatively impact upon employment.

It seems wrong to me to tax someone who is earning the minimum wage - if this is the minimum it is acceptable for someone to earn then the government should not get a cut. Raise taxes on mid earners like me to compensate.

I found rooms available to rent in Vancouver for significantly less than $1000 a month…
https://www.roomies.ca/rooms/340931
https://www.roomies.ca/rooms/184560
https://www.zumper.com/apartments-for-r ... ncouver-bc

That being said, Vancouver’s notoriously reluctance to keep housing supply in line with demand is driving prices higher than they should be - build more homes, Vancouver!


Even 100% of the median wage here is never enough money considering the costs of everything, so I don't see how people earning >60% of minimum are somehow going to get others to quit their jobs and twiddle their thumbs because someone entry level is almost earning enough to be able to afford groceries.

Those may be the 3 cheapest rooms available for rent in the city. The first two are in South Vancouver near an industrial area - not exactly a desirable place to live, especially if you don't own a car. There are buses, but it's a longer haul to anywhere. The first one doesn't include utilities, so that's another who knows what - $150? So now it's $850. The second one is only available to females.

The 3rd one is in Marpole, geographically not a terrible place depending on what parts of town you need to access - it's not too far from UBC, but it's an area full of older buildings known to house some difficult people. Not the worst, but, sometimes won't have the best and quietest of neighbours. It's also 1 of 9 bedrooms in a house, so it's going to be a busy shared kitchen and bathrooms. Add utilities on top and it's creeping closer to $1000/room as well.


Besides location, rooms listed under $1000 may be a rental scam, or they may be in awful buildings - mold, insects/rodents, terrible roommates/crackheads. I'd be skeptical. But it's also Possible they're legitimate and whoever is there has had the lease for a long time and have kept prices lower.

There's a cot in a living room in the West End I believe renting for $895/mo - not even a closet or a bedroom or a bed, just a cot in the living room.

Even $700/mo to rent a small bedroom is whackadoodle nuts. Cost my parents something like $550/mo for a mortgage payment on a 4-5 bedroom house. (It was 4, we converted the garage to 5 in the 1990's and they sold it in ~2006)

Look at the rent rankings here for apartments, these are averages:

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comm ... ame=iossmf

Vancouver 1 bedroom apartment says $2,596 (but on the news last week they stated $2,663) 2 bedroom apartment $3,562.

Then there's people who've bought condos and also have to pay sometimes enormous strata fees on top of their mortgage.. often they can't rent them out for enough to cover all expenses - like my sil's sister, she has a 1 bedroom for sale in the Brentwood area of Coquitlam that's been cash flow negative since she bought it.. but investors would buy on the hopes of property appreciation.. but if that tide is turning there's going to be a glut of them up for sale maybe - but it still isn't likely they'll drop in price to anywhere near what economists calculate as affordable, costing less than 30% of gross monthly income.


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kraftiekortie
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25 Jan 2023, 3:26 pm

In order to really know actual conditions, one has to actually live in the area.

That $700 per month room could seem nice—but you never know unless you actually see the room, and perhaps live in it for the night.

700 pounds per month for a London, UK bedsit is pretty low.