ChonkyOwlbear

A lot of the time major publications won't print something like this unless it can be verified. They are probably trying to get confirmation it is real.

Oh I absolutely agree that the 4.1% figure doesn't represent actual economic conditions. Wide swaths of the country are underemployed and undercompensated.

What it does capture is what portion of the country has a job, no matter how shitty, occupying their time. When people have nowhere to go and nothing to do during the day, THAT is when we see real protests. People will make it their job to yell at those in power to fix things when there is nothing else taking their time. We saw that during the Covid lockdowns.

Only spending cuts that cost more in the long run, like cuts to IRS personnel, cuts to environmental protection, and cuts to infrastructure maintenance.

This Wikipedia page is going to be relevant to all our lives very soon.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot%E2%80%93Hawley_Tariff_Act

The wealth disparity hasn't been this high since just before the Great Depression where 34% of disposable income went to the richest 5% (not an apples to apples comparison but the closest I could find).

One of the major causes of the depression was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act which imposed high tariffs on imported goods. Oh hey, look at those shiny new tariffs from Trump.

Another major factor was the Dust Bowl which was a widespread drought that dramatically impacted agriculture. Meanwhile 50% of the continental US has faced drought conditions since 2000.

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 was in large part due to overproduction of goods with people not having enough money to buy them. Look at all the companies throwing stock in the trash. Food, clothes, essentials all wasted while there are people who go without.

During the Depression, unemployment peaked at about 25%. (We are at 4.1% now.) Even during the height of COVID with factories and businesses shutting down, unemployment was only at 14.7%. That is the kind of suffering it takes for change and that is where our failures to learn from history are leading us.

The entire point of a government is controlled opposition. That's the fucking point. It's not some grand revelation. Change from within the system takes a lot of time and constant effort, but it is better than the alternative which takes blood and massive suffering.

I'm assuming he will just run as VP with Vance or one of his sons as President, but still functionally serve the same role.

The amount of times I have tripped on a charging cord and sent my phone flying...

Look at what humans have done with breeds of dogs. Before we even knew what genetics was, we understood that if you bred two small dogs, the offspring would be small. Then, if you bred those offspring with other small dogs, they would be even smaller still. That's how we got from a wolf to a Chihuahua. That is how we manipulate the forces of evolution for our benefit.

There are countless little "tells" that species evolve. Human skeletons have a tiny tail. All embryonic mammals look virtually identical. Whales have vestigial pelvis bones. Bacteria become resistant to antibiotics after generations of repeated exposure. Sickle cell anemia is an evolutionary adaptation in human populations frequently exposed to Malaria. Moths have been observed becoming darker in color so their camouflage matches trees darkened by pollution.

That's the rough part of where we are now. Capital isn't on our side. If the economy tanks hard, maybe that will change.

That movement really started in 2014 with the killing of Michael Brown, but your point stands. Still, I can't call that too much of a victory since the point of the protests was to stop violent racially biased policing, and all we got were cameras. Better than nothing I suppose.

I see what you are saying, but the issue of having billionaires funding and supporting the movement is something most protest movements can't count on.