It really should be 20 hours or less.

Speaking as one of the 1980s latchkey kids, we don't allow our adults the time or energy to parent. Nor do we allow anyone the energy to be civically engaged.

Since the 1970s there's been an onslaught to capture government so it only serves business interests, which allows big business to flourish even when they are run incompetently, or in bad faith.

We are seeing the owner class cannot function even in their own best interests, rather they manage industry entirely on vibes and feels. And the feels usually are I deserve everything and workers are trying to steal from me.

I've heard rumors that back in the 90s is was considered normal to work a 20hr part time job and split a 2 bedroom apartment with a friend that also worked 20hrs or so. With a bit left to spare even.

Not sure how true it is

If there's work that needs doing, that work should pay a living wage. If it doesn't, yes, it shouldn't exist. Raise prices until it can support those workers, and if people won't buy it at that price, get rid of it. Otherwise, the argument you're making is that someone needs to do this work, but that person should be destitute.

If someone wants to do something on the side as a hobby, that's fine, and that's not what we're talking about here, obviously.

Most of these services are exactly the places that expect the most demanding work for the lowest pay. Easy to fix: make sure the c-suite does not get more than 10x of the lowest salary in the company, and suddenly there is enough money available for a living wage.

Euthanize people once they're too old to work and most of the problem is solved. Euthanize everyone with a hundred million dollars or more and it's all solved.

Friendly reminder that people over 55 own 52% of the US and boomers as a generation own about 8x more than billionaires

The entire concept of retirement is the problem in an aging society, it only works with population growth because you need young people whose labour to live off of.

"Just be a workslave bro! Just don't do literally anything fun; don't watch TV, don't watch movies, don't play games, don't go out with friends. Just go to work and go home and that's it, and you'll be set for life!"

One of the smaller but still really bad problems with renting (at least in the UK) is that you can't redecorate and all the landlords have the shittest taste in decor. So much crap white paint on every surface.

Swear when I have my own place there won't be a single white wall. It will be maximalist as fuck, and very colourful to make up for all the years of hideous 'landlord specials'.

Yeah, I'm fine with publicly owned apartments as well, so long as they are held to high living standards and priced to drive down the cost of housing.

Duplexes and townhomes aren't that dense, you'd want apartment complexes for most people.

SoCal/Bay Area is a place where the average house is 1M$. People making that kind of money have a car, and those without a car leave California or live with roommates.

California infrastructure was built in the 20th century by hard right wingers, and by time Cali became a blue state at the turn of the century, it was too late and expensive to build public transit.

The entire state as a whole is fucked as far as public transit is concerned, and since everyone moving there is already financially successful, it makes it impossible to force in the legislature.

Personally, I think the key is to create an income bottleneck: Each type of job falls into a rank, each rank giving a fixed income each year. Rank of a job type is determined by the effort, risk, and knowledge required. So a migrant working the fields, gets higher pay than a waiter, because that involves effort and possible damage from being out in bad conditions. There are only 7 or so job ranks. By limiting incomes, we also fight inflation, because sellers have to work within predictable income bands.

Rank 0 is UBI of $10,000 for citizens, which is replaced by job income if a citizen gets a standard job - but schooling grades adds to their pool. Jobs give more money than UBI. Students are payed $2,000 to $10,000, depending on their grades. Waiters and other basic roles get $20,000. $40,000 for managers, cops, and the like. $60,000 for produce pickers, delivery drivers, and soldiers in safe conditions. $80,000 for regular teachers, doctors, and researchers, fire fighters, lumberjacks, ambulance drivers, and so forth. $100k for surgeons, university-grade researchers, and astronauts.

Workers vote for their leaders within their unit and for leaders above their unit. They determine who gets to lead, and sets their pay rank every 3 months. This makes it harder for leaders to get entrenched and abuse workers.

I have more thoughts on this sort of thing, but the key thing is to seriously limit the power and authority of individuals: Limit total incomes each year to a hard cap, absolute limits on wealth and assets, guarantee universal services that allows people to quit and avoid bad jobs without risking their wellbeing. Free universal healthcare, basic food, generic goods, and basic shelter with internet, all of these freely given without means testing. Migrants also get universal services. The government gets the bulk of taxes from companies, and assigns a rotation of book-keepers from the state and federal government to ensure that companies aren't lying.

The free stuff provided by the government also grease the wheels of genuine capitalism - paid goods and services have to be better than the universal items, else they won't sell. That helps against inflation, since the government is basically setting the base price of things.

Yeah but some of those colors can be bruttle. I say you include it

But bleach tastes nasty. How am I supposed to do the presidential bleach challenge if I don't boof it?

When I say only, I don't mean literally only, but enough that we're going to be living in a cyberpunk dystopia soon if shit doesn't change, and we're not going to get any of the cool holograms.

Seriously? What decade do these tales of being able go afford a car and a mortgage and a smoking habit while working as a gas station attendand come from?