Wow. UAW President Shawn Fain isn't mincing words.

[kpete]

“People just don’t want to work…I agree…The people I’m talking about are the Wall Street Freeloaders: The Masters of Passive Income.”

Link to tweet

[redqueen]

1. Take that 40-hour week defenders!

[ret5hd]

2. Plenty of those right here.

[redqueen]

3. Honestly no idea how that's possible

But then I was similarly shocked to see people here defend other awful things in the past

[ret5hd]

4. here:

https://democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=18777938

[niyad]

7. WTAF???

[Maraya1969]

15. They do it all over Europe. And I think they have a better standard of living than we do

[niyad]

17. Sorry. I was referring to all the negative, gasping, pearl-clutching comments

about why we simply CANNOT do that here. So damned disappointing.

[Maraya1969]

25. Oh------Got it

[Wednesdays]

38. To be fair, the comments disparaging Sanders and the thread in general

Were limited to three, maybe four posters. Makes you wonder if some of them were on a corporate payroll.

[niyad]

39. True. But they were. . .verbose.

[littlemissmartypants]

42. We've learned that there's a cohort of maybe 20 to 30 percent of the population

who apparently want to live under a totalitarian government as willful idiots. I guess we're finding out that not all of them are only believers in the MAGA party. It's really scary.

Of course, there's a very active cohort here that thrive on contrarianism. I believe they race each other to see who might post the most contrarian content first.

They're certainly here.

[niyad]

45. Some days I need a LOT of chocolate and wine!

[littlemissmartypants]

47. Excellent coping strategies! ❤️

[demmiblue]

14. Hmm... I can only see less than half of the replies.

[Prairie Gates]

18. It's the usual crew

As you well know.

[pecosbob]

37. I read that post yesterday, but never read the replies. Now that I have I've added a couple of people to my ignore list

[littlemissmartypants]

43. Happens to me a lot.

Sometimes I'll post something that says it has something something number of replies and I can only see two thirds to half.

I love Ignore!

❤️

[Warpy]

21. I resemble that remark I'm a capitalist parasite

I didn't inherit enough to be a complete asshole, but I did inherit enough to feed and house me, good thing because I'm a physical wreck and going blind in my late 70s. I did want to keep working. I couldn't.

People want to work, but now that the Boomers are retiring and dying off, there is a labor shortage and people are no longer willing to work for peanuts since the applicants for most jobs are no longer in a line that stretches around the block. Unions are reappearing and strengthening now that demographics are allowing it. Perhaps neoliberalism will eventually be crushed into dust and we'll see a resurgence of the commons, essentials governed by the public sphere instead of being privatized into cash cows for the idle rich Fain is talking about.

I am delighted that Millennials and Zoomers won't have their lives blighted by labor oversupply and total idiots in both parties thinking neoliberalism was a good idea (see: Bill Clinton, Blue Dogs, DLC, you get the idea, and the Republicans who used them were absolutely giddy with delight as they called them Socialists during their own campaigns).

In the meantime, I can's say I'm all that ashamed of having inherited a nest egg that provides my essentials. I would sincerely hope that in the future, a better system is devised for people who have to retire at any age.

I want to work. I just can no longer do it.

[AllaN01Bear]

5. dont forget some of the idle rich too.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

6. Parasites...

[patphil]

10. On the average, these guys have increased their wealth by nearly 14 times since 2012.

The Federal minimum wage needs to go up to $12. per hour right now, with $2. bumps for each of the next 4 years.
Covid reeked havoc on the inflation rate for 2021 thru 2023, driving middle and lower class actual purchasing power down hard. Workers were left standing out in the cold as corporations and the super rich continued to do well.

Now the workers need to catch up, and the ones who reaped tremendous profits need to share that wealth.
I would like to see a 1 time 20% wealth tax on all people with at least $1 billion in net worth, and a 10% wealth tax on those with $500 million to $1 billion, and 5% on all those with $100 million to $500 million.
From just Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg that would be over $100 billion.
These people are leaches on society, draining the lifeblood from the working class.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

11. Once upon a time, our tax code discouraged hoarding and encouraged re-investing.

"Simplifying" the tax code was just another part of the trickle-down scam.

[mountain grammy]

26. K&R

[multigraincracker]

8. Need huge tax on the Paris Hilton

Silver Spoon crowd.
I stand with Shawn “Eat the Rich”.

[niyad]

19. Of all the celebs and super -rich, you chose Paris Hilton? Why, exactly?

I just looked at her bio, at her businesses, at her charitable works. Most interesting.

[multigraincracker]

22. If born to any middle or

lower class family, she would not be rich or famous. Just my guess.
I’d love to see a return to the same tax rates for big business and the rich in the 50s and 60s. Top rates in 90% range.

[multigraincracker]

29. Google Paris Hilton tax v estate tax.

That is how it was framed years ago.

[niyad]

34. How fascinating that you are using a trope from years ago, about a woman

whose wealth is nowhere near the unholy trio pictured, and so many more. How many rich women vs how many ultra wealthy men?

You have no idea how she might have turned out had she born into different circumstances, and certainly the same could be said for the unholy trio.

You might want to glance at her bio. Some very interesting information there.

[multigraincracker]

41. I did look on wikipedia.org.

She just happened to remind me controversy about her back in the day,,I'm an older person, about Trust Fund Kids. I never gave it any thought about the persons gender. I just remembered her as the subject about the rich came up.
I would like to see inherited money limited to $500,000 and the rest taxed at 100%. I'd like to see the playing field leveled for everyone.

A polarizing and ubiquitous public figure, Hilton is said to have influenced the revival of the "famous for being famous" phenomenon throughout the 2000s.[8] Critics indeed suggest that she exemplifies the celebutante —a household name not through talent or work, but through inherited wealth and lavish lifestyle. Forbes included her in its Celebrity 100 in 2004, 2005, and 2006, and ranked her as the most "overexposed" celebrity in 2006 and 2008. Hilton has parlayed her media fame into numerous business endeavours. Under her company, she has produced content for broadcast media, launched a variety of product lines, and opened a chain of self-branded boutiques worldwide, as well as an urban beach club in the Philippines. Her perfume line alone has brought in over US$2.5 billion in revenue, as of 2020.[9][10][11]

[niyad]

46. Cherry picking ? There were quite a few other, more positive paragraphs.

And, once again, she is not the only, nor the most extreme, example. Nor does she seem to be constantly in the public eye. She is not on the covers of the gossip rags that I see, she doesn't show up on the gossip stream that passes for a news feed on my phone. (the fact that some sports person's wife is pregnant is of no import). But. .do go on. I am fascinated.

[multigraincracker]

48. I am fascinated that you

Find me so fascinating. I love you anyway. Peace.

[jmbar2]

9. Bravo! K&R

[Initech]

12. I prefer to frame it as:

"People want to work, employers don't want to pay."

Why we're not rising up against Wall St will forever remain a mystery to me.

[peppertree]

16. 1) RW brainwashing; and 2) A generalized sense of futility and of being in survival mode

You've got to hand it to the 1%: The great manufacturing of consent worked.

[Initech]

27. Yup. And like I keep saying on social media.

They have us fighting each other over stupid culture war bullshit to prevent us from discovering who the real bad guys are. And the real bad guys are Fox, Wall Street, the Clergy, and the upper 1%.

[peppertree]

31. Sad, but true.

Let's face it: It's hopeless.

A good canary-in-the-coal-mine example is Argentina - which is not that different culturally or ethnically from the U.S.

They've got half the population - most of whom live like supermarket clerks in the U.S. - convinced that the problem is "the indians on welfare, the do-nothing public employees (most of whom are teachers, cops, nurses, etc.), and loudmouth women."

And now that they've got a real Chucky doll as president (a demented puppet of the 1%, far worse than Trump), they'll tell you: "Yes, we're (much) worse off now under Milei - but it's ok, because he's sticking it to the leftists and the lesbians."

Meanwhile - Milei has thrown the country into an out-and-out depression.

A going joke in Argentina has it that before Milei, the (mostly RW) middle class complained but shopped - and now, they're doing neither.

But they're still arguing over...lesbians.

We are, as you know, one bad election from that kind of a nuthouse.

[Initech]

33. I know, it's scary as hell to think about.

Is there a Fox affiliate in Argentina? Like I'm convinced that wherever Rupert Murdoch and his minions go, fascism and authoritarianism follow. What's scary to think is that Milei got elected because people were losing their money and now things are worse than ever. It's time to stop listening to the Murdochs of the world.

[peppertree]

36. No - but they do have two major RW news networks (which, in turn, own many newspapers and radio stations)

The largest is the Clarín Group - which runs the TN cable news and much of the country's print and radio media.

They were instrumental in having Trump's old pal Mauricio Macri elected - the one who then bankrupted the country with his Bush-style debt bubble collapse.

Trump, you might recall, forced the IMF to lend him $45 billion (10 times what Argentina could realistically pay back) - in hopes of getting him re-elected in 2019.

The second one is La Nación, which runs the LN+ network - widely mocked locally as LN+Macri, after news came out that Macri had used his ill-gotten loot to buy a sizable stake after being voted out in 2019.

(not unlike Trump's Truth Social gambit)

There are numerous smaller RW outfits as well - and only one sizable left-wing one: C5N (which Macri tried to shut down).

Much like Trump keeps threatening to shut down MSNBC, should he get back in.

Qué será. As much as democracies need big money out of politics, they need big money out of journalism even more.

[BlueMTexpat]

52. Too many basically have

to live from paycheck to paycheck, work extra jobs to make ends meet, be terrified to fall ill, and STILL end up in debt.

It's simple exhaustion for too many.

[Maraya1969]

13. BRAVO!

[LudwigPastorius]

20. Kickass

Nice post.

[Uncle Joe]

23. Kicked and recommended

Thanks for the thread kpete

[Bluethroughu]

24. Those three families should be advocating for fairness

in economic policy. History speaks clearly about being the rich in a poor society.

They have math skills, there are 10s of millions more poor people, than rich.

[ck4829]

28. K&R

[turbinetree]

30. Boom.................

[malaise]

32. Nailed i

Rec

[pecosbob]

35. For what it's worth, we mostly broke up the zaibatsu in Japan after WWII.

Under the Allied occupation after the surrender of Japan, a partially successful attempt was made to dissolve the zaibatsu. Many of the economic advisors accompanying the SCAP administration had experience with the New Deal and were highly suspicious of monopolies and restrictive business practices, which they felt to be both inefficient, and to be a form of corporatocracy (and thus inherently anti-democratic).

During the occupation of Japan, sixteen zaibatsu were targeted for complete dissolution, and twenty-six more for reorganization after dissolution. Among the zaibatsu that were targeted for dissolution in 1947 were Asano, Furukawa, Nakajima, Nissan, Nomura, and Okura. In addition, Yasuda dissolved itself in 1946. The controlling families' assets were seized, holding companies eliminated, and interlocking directorships, essential to the old system of inter-company coordination, were outlawed. The Matsushita Electric Industrial Company (which later took the name Panasonic), while not a zaibatsu, was originally also targeted for breakup, but was saved by a petition signed by 15,000 of its union workers and their families.[3]

However, complete dissolution of the zaibatsu was never achieved, mostly because the U.S. government rescinded the orders in an effort to reindustrialize Japan as a bulwark against communism in Asia.[4] Zaibatsu as a whole were widely considered to be beneficial to the Japanese economy and government, and the opinions of the Japanese public, of the zaibatsu workers and management, and of the entrenched bureaucracy regarding plans for zaibatsu dissolution ranged from unenthusiastic to disapproving. Additionally, the changing politics of the occupation during the reverse course served as a crippling, if not terminal, roadblock to zaibatsu elimination.

- wikipedia

I say mostly because, well, 'cuz communism and politics.

[llmart]

40. Brilliant speech and summation of where we are at in this country.

Time for a middle class revolt and I'm so glad this man is leading the charge. I have been thoroughly impressed by him since he came on the scene.

[littlemissmartypants]

44. Hear! Hear! Well done, Shawn Fain!!

Thanks for sharing this, kpete. ❤️

[dflprincess]

49. I love how his name makes me think of Sinn Fin

and he is a fighter.

I wonder if his parents had that in mind when they named him. Though, if that were the case, I suspect they would have spelled his first name "Sean".

[D23MIURG23]

50. I fucking love this guy. Good on the UAW for recognizing his leadership skills! n/t

[Blue Owl]

51. K&R

[yankee87]

53. Retired GM here

Even though I was in management, my workers busted their asses.
I only wish the UAW would have unionized us.

[NYC2ATL]

54. Powerful!