Omg he so adorable

Yep the kids currently going hungry will absolutely appreciate the solar panels that power the government buildings that they can’t use.

And I’m sure the homeless is going really appreciative that their electric bill isn’t going to go up because we switched to “Green energy”.

Oh and I forgot how much green energy helps bring housing prices down and helps keep rent stabilized.

Nah I’m realistic. I know what the Democrats will and won’t do and they’re not going to do shit to help us.

They couldn’t even give us gay marriage, that had to come from the Supreme Court. In fact all major breakthroughs since probably the Civil Rights Act have come from the Supreme Court. Don’t even try and hold the ACA up is something that really helped people or do we need to talk about the major tax penalties they added that disproportionately affected people in poverty and really hurt a lot of people?

Remind me again why I should fight for a party that won’t do shit for me? Why should I fight for a party that’s currently rolled over on its back for the Trump Administration? 128 Democrats in the house voted to table an impeachment against Trump. And you guys think that those same politicians if given the power will impeach Donald Trump? Ha.

Yep that’s definitely helped Americans get Universal Health Care, reduce poverty, increase purchasing power, make housing work accessible, and meaningfully lower the number of homeless in the United States.

Oh wait it didn’t do any of those things. It made rich people richer while holding lip service for the climate conscious people

If it’s past 7:00 I’m not going.

Yes if people could ignore the propaganda the world would be a much better place.

Too bad the literal function of propaganda is to sway people’s opinions for people who don’t give a fuck about politics.

I’m sure it’s been longer but I can absolutely defend that they’ve been trying to change the party from the inside since at least Obama got elected.

Yes he’s wildly popular.

The DNC is considering not giving him the nomination regardless of his win of the primary.

Andrew Cuomo is running independent with his Super PAC that raised billions of dollars.

Bill Ackman is offering billions of dollars to anybody who can ensure that Zohran cannot win. Admittedly this last one’s a bit of a stretch since this dude’s also a trump supporter.

These are examples of the DNC not getting out of its own way.

I am under no illusions that even if and it’s a big if the Democrats managed to take back enough seats in both the house and the Senate to actually impeach and prosecute Trump that they still won’t do it that they will be spineless and that they will offer supposed Olive branches across the aisle.

We had one guy win a primary in a mayoral race. You guys are acting as if this changes everything. It’s interesting to watch for sure and there are lessons to be learned but that does not mean that everything is changing. It’s not even guaranteed he’ll win the Mayoral race. The DNC is even considering not giving him the nomination despite him winning.

The billionaire class is already mobilizing to try and ensure this guy never gets elected. Do you think they’re going to make it any easier when he’s in office?

By all means we should engage in electoral politics but we should not be under any illusions that it will fix the system we have nor should we be under any illusion that our politicians will save us from the problem that is Donald Trump. If anything the Democrats seem more than happy to capitulate to what he wants since they’re not in the majority.

I really really don’t think that will change anything. People been trying to change the democrats for the better part of ten years.

Name one landmark foundational thing they have done in the last ten years thats really benefited the majority of Americans.

There isn’t one that isn’t a major concession that undercuts the original proposal.

Have you met the supreme court?

You mean to say our votes can override an organization that argued in court that since its a private service they could just ignore the vote of the people and pick who they wanted?

The same organization that always manages to organize and attack leftist like Zohran and Bernie but can’t find any footing against Trump?

Yep. That will work. Just gotta vote harder.

Hahahahahahaha

Not even if the Dems had the vote. I am positive someone would block it for civility reasons.

The dems can not get out of their own way. See Zohran win in NYC.

Why? They cant even get aid without it being drugged. This is fucked

I don’t mean this to sound crass but 2% unemployment sounds lovely. The United States is normally around 9 to 12% unemployment.

You’re right we definitely do have more open positions and a lot of those jobs, But ultimately I think it kind of washes out by the fact that everything here is so expensive and that unless you’re paid extremely well in your field it’s really hard to make it.

Anyway this has been really interesting hearing about some of the issues going on in the netherlands. I have some research to do. Your government tends to be a lot better at governing in mind so I’ll be interested to hear what the solution that y’all come up with.

From my personal experience people in the US don’t have a lot of different jobs to choose from but we really don’t. Unless you have the education and connections for the most part you’re relegated to retail. It’s hard to even get into management nowadays. Sure there’s job growth but for the most part it’s for minimum wage retail jobs or salary jobs that are for Dollar General where your work 80 hours to the Bone.

Most of my family Works Blue Collar construction jobs because they pay more consistently and they’re easier to get into then the white collar stuff that I work in

Would you mind expanding on how there’s a limited job market in the EU? I have the standard American perspective of the EU of being this nigh utopian place of freedom and competition even though I know it’s actually not like that. The EU does definitely help with those type of regulations. The United States answers to the people with the most money typically the companies. That’s why the iPhones would never be USB C if it was up to Americans.

I mean that’s kind of the Crux of the issue though. The mom and pop shops really want minimum wage to stay low so they can stay competitive with the big box stores.

But those same big box stores also drive out the mom and pop shop by driving prices much lower than the little shops can and then they suffer because people stop going to the shops because they’re more expensive.

Regardless voting with your wallet is not necessarily a viable choice and I don’t generally think works well. United States has been pushing to buy from small business for over 20 years and yet small businesses still keep on failing. The United States only really helps out big business. Small businesses are left to fend for themselves and often don’t make it. Honestly even if the public is really small business oriented unless the government is also small business oriented it’s kind of like swimming against a tidal wave.

The United States right now has a a social system that’s threatened very close to Bare Bones and is often non-existent for the poorest. Even to make it work it’s a bureaucratic nightmare that involves multiple departments and could involve months of legal business wrangling.

So I can see for you why maybe this minimum wage doesn’t make a lot of sense for the Netherlands but in the material circumstances surrounding the United States I think this minimum wage increase makes a lot of sense especially considering that we haven’t had a significant wage increase since 2009. The median minimum federal wage should be $22 and that allows the poorest communities in the poorest parts of the United States to have a living wage. For anybody else that’s living in poverty that’s still not enough especially in the blue states where most of the social services are located. Even in New York City $30 an hour for minimum wage it’s going to be hardly a drop in the bucket.

I’m not sure about the Netherlands housing crisis but what adds insult to injury and a lot of Sting that ours is that ours is self-induced. It’s literally being created by companies like Black Rock and other hedge fund in stock portfolio businesses buying up residential houses and keeping them empty until the time is right to rent them out to maximize their profits. Currently there is roughly 2 million or so empty houses in the United States and there’s only 600,000 homeless people at Last count.

No I appreciate what you’re trying to get at though and the perspective you offer even if the rest of the community did not. I’m not saying it’s your job as a foreigner to worry about any of this. United States politics is complicated and honestly it really it shouldn’t be up to people outside the country to fix it. Perhaps the Netherlands will show us a way out of the mess that we’ve dug ourselves into with solutions to the problem that you guys have because we also have those problems. I kind of feel like they’re more Universal problems though at this point

😭

Oh I see so we’re coming from a very different places. We don’t have nearly the type of safety net that you guys do out in the Netherlands. I’m sure you guys definitely have your problems and your fair share of issues but to Americans it feels like the United States is literally collapsing around us.

Like most of us if we lose our job we’re probably going to lose the place we live as well. It’s not uncommon to have to move back with your parents to couch surf after you lose a job. The minimum wage in America doesn’t even cover like a car payment for a decent car. It’s not nearly enough to live on it’s being basically given change all day and then ask to live on it on top of the fact that you’re treated like absolute crap. You have zero say in your work and how it’s done and if you have problems with your boss your boss can just fire you because they feel like it. As long as it’s not one of the discriminated categories with of which there are only five they can fire you for anything up to and including the color of your shirt at any time without notice. And in many places in the United States if you get fired you may not qualify for unemployment or any of the state assistance.

The absolute only way to make it out here is to get a job that pays enough money so that you can find a place to live and have Private health insurance. If you can get on the Medicaid system it’s actually not bad but they’ll take it away from from you over getting things like a bonus or maybe a dollar in raise.

We live in a capitalist hell hole where we can’t hold anybody to account. We can’t hold our politicians to account. We can’t hold our police to account. Nor can we hold our justices to account.

The government has determined we all just have to grin and bear it and pray they don’t alter the deal any further to take more from us.

That’s why you’re going to see a lot of business apathy from those in America because we’ve been screwed most of our lives and are tired of it. It’s very blatant and very obvious

Eh nothing of value was lost