I’ve been watching a few American TV shows and it blows my mind that they put up with such atrocious working terms and conditions.

One show was about a removal company where any damage at all, even not the workers fault, is taken out of their tips. There’s no insurance from the multimillion dollar business. As they’re not paid a living wage the guy on the show had examples of when he and his family went weeks with barely any income and this was considered normal?!

Another example was a cooking show where the prize was tickets to an NFL game. The lady who won explained that she’d be waiting in the car so her sons could experience their first live game, because she couldn’t otherwise afford a ticket to go. They give tickets for football games away for free to people where I live for no reason at all…

Yet another example was where the workers got a $5k tip from their company and the reactions were as if this amount of money was even remotely life changing. It saddens me to think the average Americans life could be made so much better with such a relatively small amount of money and they don’t unionize and demand far better. The company in question was on track to make a billion bloody dollars while their workers are on the poverty line and don’t even have all their teeth?

It’s not actually this bad and the average American lives a pretty good life like we’re led to believe, right?

  • monk@lemmy.unboiled.info
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    6 months ago

    US citizens have the most powerful passport in the world and a cost of living that makes overseas travel profitable. There’s no goalposts moving here. Paying a shitton of extortion money for a privilege of not paying the overblown price might be a decision to make might be a dexision they consciously make, but that’s not my point. My point is, this medicine does not cost nearly as much, and the only reason >$1000 numbers are thrown around is that nobody in their sound mind pays them. If you’re willing to embark on side-discussions, I’m willing to entertain you, just stop bringing up your movable goalposts.

    Lastly, the whole point is how in the US quality insurance IS a privilege

    Having rights of a US citizen is a privilege. Living in US while having rights of a US citizen is a privilege on top of a privilege. But one doesn’t have to. That’s absolutely a choice. Repeat after me. An Afghan person with nearly no rights and a cost of ticket to US exceeding their life-long salary doesn’t move to US because it’s a privilege. But for a US hobo, whose monthly expenses far exceeding a ticket to a sane country they’re “magically” already allowed to enter anytime they want, staying in US is a choice. Don’t even try to twist that into a privilege. Time and flexibility, my ass. US citizens spawn with a golden ticket and a knob to dial life difficulty to “easy”. If they stay in US past their healthy young prime, that’s on them.

    • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      Privileged bullshit. Not everyone has a passport, not everyone has vacation days to spare, or several thousand in cash to pull off the operation. Many in the US can hardly do anything but work

      You are ignorant, and assume much. I’m done with you.

      • monk@lemmy.unboiled.info
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        6 months ago

        [being in US is hard]

        [then don’t]

        many in the US can hardly do anything but work

        Whatever, you weren’t listening anyway.