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  • frogbellyratbone_ [e/em/eir, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    14·
    2 days ago

    all the official numbers are so cooked and fucked. every time i get a chance to share this site i do: https://www.lisep.org/

    24% real unemployment v. 4.2% “unemployment”

    9.4% true living cost v. 4.1% CPI (the CPI is heavily weighted in areas that do not affect your day-to-day living/life. if you strip down to the essentials of necessity/core living needs - inflation is so so so much worse)

    $1,000 weekly earnings v. $1,194

    edit: i really want to nerd rage about CPI some more. i fucking hate the CPI. i’m also a bit high rn but whatever

    it does consumer-whore adjustments. so like. a faster computer = more for your dollar even though it costs more. but it doesn’t account for this because faster computer = less inflation or something another???

    it also does the substitutions: if pork is expensive it doesn’t account for this because you go buy beef or whatever instead. but what if everything increases? oh you buy tofu suuure.

    it looks at rental costs not buying homes. sure buying a home is impossible, but this isn’t factored in because “rent only went up whatever %” while down payment + interest rate + housing costs went WILD.

    the CPI includes things people don’t buy or put in their budget. jet skis? cool it’s included even though who tf buys jet skis? (okay jet skis are cool… but you see my point?)

    if the CPI was actually accurate, it would look at only/weight HEAVILY core living costs. things like: housing, utilities, internet, food, healthcare, transportation, childcare, and personal good like soap, detergent, basic clothing. fuck everything outside of this.

    • DefinitelyNotAPhone [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      16·
      2 days ago

      I know RiotDoll already offered some reading material, but it’s worth reinforcing:

      The US has always been (one of) the guiding hand(s) of fascism, from day one. The Nazis literally sent people to the US to learn how we built a racialized caste system through Jim Crow (and were horrified when they learned about the one drop rule, because even they thought that was too racist). American capitalists made millions off of slave labor in the Third Reich and lobbied the Allied Air forces to avoid bombing factories that were producing weapons for the Nazis because they owned them. When the war ended, the US protected and rehired massive chunks of the Nazi and Japanese command to head up NASA, NATO, the South Korean military, etc.

      The only point in favor of the US not being explicitly fascist is that it managed to export the crises and downsides of capitalism internationally to avoid the internal crises that lead to fascism traditionally because Americans domestically enjoy enough treats to avoid class consciousness, and even that’s breaking down now so who knows if that will hold.

        • RiotDoll [she/her, she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
          7·
          2 days ago

          have you considered that you lashing out and calling people tankies is you defending yourself?

          im speaking from experience learning to deprogram this in myself, and i’ve seen it in others a lot too - this tendency to be willing to fight and argue and bluster for positions we hold that are earnestly untrue.

          i know i was being rude and basically laughing at you, but I can apologize for that in earnest - if you’ll forgive me - i want to just say that it doesn’t have to be like this.

          Most leftists are tired. they don’t have any inclination to be nice or explain their positions, but I can spare a tiny fuck to give? Though i’m obviously running out of gas for that, I want to try and connect with you, if you’ll allow it.

          the US was the model for german fascism. We are the direct inspiration. Fascism is derived from the American project, and post ww2, fascism more or less successfully infiltrates and overtly takes over US politics. I can dig up sources. Or, at least, i can dig up people who can make the case better than me, if you’re open to the truth but you can’t take my word for it, please DM me and i’ll do my level best to offer up my position in earnest.

          I think you deserve a chance to hear these things and accept them or reject them. I think everybody does. I want to believe there are people who can wake the fuck up when exposed to the right stuff. A lot of people think adults are beyond helping when they’re certain in their worldview. i personally don’t believe that, i’d love for you to demonstrate that i guess.

          Sometimes we have economic/lifestyle/privilege reasons for insisting things aren’t this way or that way. Sometimes it’s just lacking the right context, or being overly trusting of mainstream framing of issues and events.

          There are a lot of causes, but I would rather try to help you than shit on you further. I’m sorry for my rudeness, but you’re absolutely wrong, and tankie as a label indicates you’re conditioned to be hostile to leftist points of view, but i also know how liberals are conditioned to receive reasonable factual information, and i think that’s how I can help you. History doesn’t lie, experts can lie, but their insight might help.

          Please DM me. If you waste my time i’ll know it, and that’s unfortunate, but there’s no cost but your time and hopefully your thoughtful consideration.