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Information warfare is almost entirely responsible for this. People are generally good and generally doing better than in the past but led to believe the world is ending and that their life sucks.
No one is immune to this but also many aren't even aware they are victims. Just read this thread: "everything sucks wha wha wha" when objectively everything is better than 30 years ago literally everywhere. I'm not diminishing people's issues but the consensus does not match reality and yall know that. It's so easy to capitalize on these pains and gain control, "divide and conquer" etc. etc.
Things have never been better for people who control capital. I think once AI takes a swipe at the last pillar of the economy where people think “things have never been better” are going to suddenly think “holy shit eat the rich!?!?!??????”
Things have never been better is the liberal version of pull yourself up by the boot straps . It deflects societies problems back on society’s victims. You guys really need to cut that shit out.
Both things can be true. There can still be an immense progress and quality of life improvement while massive wealth imbalance remains.
You want to see the real charts no one who shares your point of view brings up brings up? The bottom 50% of US households hold a smaller percentage of the nations wealth than they did 20 years ago. The middle class controls a smaller portion of wealth than they did 50 years ago. Most of the gains are concentrated in the top 10% of society.... We live in a country that rewards controlling capital and 50% of the country controls 2.5% of that capital.
You and the pull yourself up by the bootstrap boys love to come online and terrorize 80 million + people who are living in worse conditions than they were 20 years ago. They are having a harder time affording basic necessities, harder time finding gainful employment with a savings rate that can accumulate capital.
I'm personally disgusted with you sadistic fucks who get off on telling people their lives are better and offering them proof in government backed data showing aggregate numbers. The aggregate numbers dont help people actually living in shit conditions. Thats the poing the bottom 50% thats 160 million people??? Chill the fuck out little hitlers.
https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/chart/
Yet you use the same techniques you complain and cherry pick the data. Sure the share of overall wealth is down but the share still goes further due to technological advancements. Also the world doesn't end at US borders FYI
I’m not using the same techniques. I am using the data sources that you claim are infallible.
Can I use my share of the wealth to buy a presidency and a walk into the white house unelected and steal from the country?? Or do I need $1 trillion to do that? You understand what citizens united is right? The bottom 50% of this country has less political influence than one person.
You know the world does not end at your american borders right? Your declining empire does not represent us all.
K which shithole do you hail from I can get specific? Wealth inequality is a global problem that no one is immune to. And last I checked we’d forced out financial system upon the majority of the globe?? I’d say the decline of my country is happening right inside your country too, but you just let me know which country that is and we can discuss it more.
Ok, Estonia. I'll wait, go on.
I grew up in the 1980's and 1990s. Im a few years of economic pressure away from pulling the boot straps off your ass.
Not even going to pretend to understand your word salad but I hope you get better soon!
I said I look forward to the future of anarchy in our world. I look forward to literally fighting you for resources. I am so glad that you want to destabilize our country by impoverishing half of it.
“People are genuinely good and better than the past”
The people who you tell that to, whose material conditions would strongly disagree, those are the people turning to right wing populism.
Here at America, the bottom 50% of this country has been completely destroyed and betrayed. Yet the fucking liberals keep telling us that things have never been better. So telling people things I’ve never been better for 10 years while making them materially worse…. That’s where the fucking violent populism comes from.
You can do you part by never manufacturing consent for a political system that has failed over 100 million individuals
Theyre not naturally creating this populism but being taken advantage off by bad actors.
The conditions we’ve cooked into our system are causing populism. The conditions are born of government policy. What’s causing populism over in my house is having to choose between food and healthcare.
I don't think we can objectively say everything is better.
Some things are better, but some are worse. The overall I agree is better but there are some harsh realities that are real, not product or any information warfare.
Housing prices are just much higher. The amount of years needed to work to pay off a house are just much more than it used to.
Salaries are, overall, lower when you account for inflation. Same amount of working hours let you consume less food, fuel, energy and amenities compared to a few decades ago.
On a personal note, even my salary has been increasing below inflation rate. I used to be able to apply for social aid, and I'm no longer able to because they say my income is over the limit. I'm earning less and still got excluded from social programs.
There are many things better. We have more freedoms, more knowledge, we are healthier. There are many great things now compared to before. But it is objectively true that some matters, mostly economical ones, have gone worse for the average worker.
Where? All of your claims are still wrong when you consider the entire world not just your neighborhood.
A country where the alt right is on the rise.
A country where everything is better than 30 years ago I would assume the alt right would have probably not growth that much.
Housing cost increase, for instance, is happening in all Europe, which is one of the places of the world where the alt right is skyrocketing their electoral results.
For instance Germany, where latest elections have shown a worrying rise of AfD has this chart of house prices.
https://econtribute.de/wp-content/uploads/abbildung_4_en.jpg
The graph shows a blimp down in 2024, but in recent data the prices are already rising again in 2026.
Also my country is not a neighborhood, it's a 50 million people place, and one of the biggest countries of the EU who might fall to an alt right government as soon as 2027. And live being much better in other countries is not something people who vote here take into consideration, they value how their own lives have been getting better or worse. Saying that "spme other country in the world" is going better have zero relevance when talking about alt right rising in specific countries.
Yet there is no country where everything is worse than 30 years ago by any objective metric.
disengage
May be true. The US based conservatives keep posting about "immigrant problems" in Europe, and how immigrant criminals seem to get off with light or no sentences. So bad that one person I know in real life thought they were going to run into literal rape gangs when they visited the UK for work.
To be fair those people are scared to death of American cities too: that’s like a major factor of the culture war. Big scary city versus Noble country boys. Communist lawless Europe versus, lawful meth ridden, yet free, America!!
I'd say it's both international and domestic information warfare. Even our news is in on it because it's profitable. Nobody is interested in good news anymore, unless it's something huge. But rage and fear basically prints money.