• wischi@programming.dev
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    1 hour ago

    Wealthiest country on earth

    🤣 It’s like putting one leg in boiling hot water, the other one in liquid nitrogen and calling it room temperature.

    The US is a third world country with some very rich people.

    • SabinStargem@lemmy.today
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      19 hours ago

      I figure that if I get to my 80’s or thereabouts, it will be time to end my life. I don’t have the wealth, friendship, or health to enjoy my life at the age of deterioration. Hopefully, society will accept my choice, and offer a painless way to leave this coil.

      That said, I would prefer this lady and all other people to have their twilight years to be enjoyable.

  • MiDaBa@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    Why are we so worried about this woman when nobody seems to be worried about the 93 year old billionaire shareholder who won’t be able to manipulate global geopolitical events in their final few years? They should be allowed to extract every ounce of value from our society that they bought fair and square . If you don’t like the way things are then go buy your own society. Sheesh.

    I feel weird submitting this knowing that even extream sarcasm isn’t as obvious as it should be here in 2025

  • wheezy@lemmy.ml
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    1 day ago

    This happens BECAUSE it’s the wealthiest country on earth.

    We live in a time of larger wealth disparity than the times of peasants and kings.

    The royals were also really wealthy as they said in ignorance “let them eat cake”.

    • deltapi@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Except that statement wasn’t said by royalty, it’s a misattributed mistranslation of a snippet from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Confessions.
      It was written 9 years before Marie Antoinette became queen and while she was still a child and had not yet traveled to France.
      This is a classic case of the victors writing history. This quote has been used countless times to try to illustrate that the royalty was out of touch (which I’m neither arguing for nor against here,) however there’s no evidence it was ever spoken by the Queen - indeed it wasn’t attributed to her at all for many years after her death.

        • deltapi@lemmy.world
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          17 hours ago

          Maybe she did. Doesn’t change the fact that using misattributed quotes tends to diminish the perception of the preceding opinion in the eyes of readers.

    • Bloomcole@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Same thing now.
      Some individuals are the wealthiest on earth.
      The US shithole has the biggest (unpayable) debt and is the poorest country on earth.

  • minorkeys@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    What makes anyone believe she’s capable of surviving eviction? Oh right, they don’t care if she dies.

  • Pyr@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    If I were in that position I would do the same. Either they can’t evict me or I get sent to prison and I would be kept warm and fed, rather than the streets where I would probably starve or freeze to death.

    • sobchak@programming.dev
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      1 day ago

      They usually just release homeless people charged with petty crimes after the first hearing (24-48 hours) without bail. They can’t pay fines, for commissary, phone calls, and all that; or work, so they’re not profitable.

  • switcheroo@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    You can’t be 'the richest country in the world" if 40% of your citizens are in poverty. The US “gov” is corrupt and greedy. This place truly is a shithole…

  • VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Checked my mother’s facebook and sure enough she’s concerned about it. If there’s one thing the elderly care about it’s their social security checks. She still doesn’t understand who is responsible though.

  • AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    This is what republicans seem to want. Thinking THEY will never be in such a situation so they have nothing to worry about.

  • FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Every single assisted living facility in the United States would do the same thing. They are businesses designed to strip every last bit of wealth before we die, they do not give a shit about their residents customers.

    • InputZero@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Yeah but have you ever tried to care for aging parents outside of a retirement community, sucks all your time, money, and energy leaving nothing else for the rest of your family. End of life care is a great place to extract wealth if you’re heartless. People are their most scared and vulnerable, they’ll pay anything to feel normal for just a little while longer

      • FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Yes, my mother has advanced Parkinson’s and I was her primary caretaker for years before we finally had to move her into assisted living. I know very well how ill-equipped our society is for elder care.

        People always talk about how it takes a village to raise a child, but we rarely talk about the village required to care for our elders.

        Personally, I would rather kill myself than end up in a facility like my mom is in.

        • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          I think it says a lot when people remark they would rather be dead than in a assisted care facility. Something is clearly wrong with our system.

          • FlyingCircus@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            The sad part is, it’s one of the best facilities around in a very HCOL area. We pay $8000 per month just for room and board. When she needs more care that price will increase. You’d think with ~100 residents all paying at least that much that the place would be really good, right? But the staff is all paid minimum wage so they can’t hire people to provide the basic services they advertise, like transportation. The meals are all made from institutional wholesale ingredients like liquid “eggs”, frozen meat and vegetables, and red delicious apples.

            My mom has been burgled by staff and ignored by caregivers while she was stuck on the toilet because the understaffing issue is so bad.

            Most of the staff are great people, but the owners are making so much money that they could breed like rabbits and their great-great-grandchildren would never have to lift a finger in their lives.

          • InputZero@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Well like, what other options are there? Most retirement communities have been bought out by Atria or Life Care Services, stripped of anything that made them special and unique, then had their prices jacked way up. For elderly people they can either A) spend the money all the they could give as inheritance, and take on debt to live in the only places capable of supporting you, or B) kill yourself, give your children as much inheritance as possible and hope that you making that decision means your kids might not have to do the same when it’s their turn.

            • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              The best option is not to allow corporations to buy up and run assisted living centers to maximize profit. It is apparent that the US government should also be subsidizing and highly monitoring these facilities. They should have strict requirements for activities and care, no more laissez-faire regulating.

              • InputZero@lemmy.world
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                2 days ago

                It’s the best option, and if you can figure out a way to do it I wish you all the luck in the universe. I won’t be holding my breath. No offense.

                • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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                  2 days ago

                  When I was in college I had a cohort and one of my colleagues was from an Eastern European country. He was married and had a few kids. He was trying to find a good daycare and came to me very confused.

                  He said that daycare where he was from was free and very high quality. They had set curriculum, good food, and the government checked in weekly to make sure the facilities were run correctly. He asked why all the US daycares were run down, no curriculum, poor food, poor worker pay, and also extremely expensive.

                  Here is a guy from a country we would probably look down upon just flabbergasted by our shitty daycare system. It was a real eye opener for me. Needless to say it is entirely possible to improve these facilities.

                  I think you are right though, unless we start trying to fix these problems holding our breathe is not going to help.

  • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    The most disturbing part of this is, she made it to 93, and wasn’t able to pay rent. Does America have no way to pay their retired and elderly people a living wage at the end of their life?

    Like, she’s not even just retired, she’s elderly. The “Golden years” of wearing a diaper and needing a walker, kind of elderly.

    Even if the charges were dropped and she was allowed to go home, the fact that it got to the point where she was hauled off to jail in an orange jumpsuit and cuffs should not have happened. Someone should have stopped and said, “are we really going to try to send a 93 year old to jail?” And that should have been where it stopped. Because that’s not something you do to a 93 year old for missing a few rent payments.

    America is cracked man. Should not have gotten there. What the actual fuck.

    • DarkFuture@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Yup.

      American here.

      As far as I can tell we are totally fucked. As in, if I was smart, I’d be finding a way to get citizenship elsewhere before I get too old.

    • FosterMolasses@leminal.space
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      1 day ago

      Does America have no way to pay their retired and elderly people a living wage at the end of their life?

      No. Everytime there is, conservatives cry antichrist and pull Usain Bolt shit trying to get it repealed.

      They’re about as close as you get to being the literal Sith… outside of North Korea, I guess.

    • BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 days ago

      Social Security was supposed to float them after the time they could make a living. That’s drying up faster than water in a desert Nestle is siphoning from.

    • drhodl@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Man, I only retired 3 years ago, for medical reasons, and with only just enough money. In that 3 years, essentially everything has doubled in cost. In another 3 years it will probably double again. So, it’s pretty easy to see me being in a similar situation eventually, although at least I do own my home. Many retired people on fixed incomes are feeling the squeeze…

      • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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        2 days ago

        I’m still working and things are getting more expensive faster than I’m getting raises. I don’t own a home and doubt I ever will be able to afford it so my only retirement option is a shotgun.

    • BanMe@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Even if the charges were dropped and she was allowed to go home

      They had her shit on the curb by the time the squad car rolled off.

    • Bilb!@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      The people living in America exist solely to serve the needs and wants of the oligarchy. If you’re not working to make them more entrenched, you are useless and they would really prefer you just die.

  • zemo@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I dont understand why you handcuff people who clearly are not a danger to anyone.