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Blessed are those that plant trees for the shade they will never see.
This mentality is why we are in the position we are today. If we all fail to try to build a better future today the next generation will suffer more than us and it will be our fault then.
Yeah blame the victims…
For making more victims? Yes. Fuck em. Being fucked over by the previous generation does not give you the right to fuck over the next generation.
The only victim of not having a retirement plan is yourself, surely. And for everything else… Genuinely what are we supposed to do? It’s impossible not to feel powerless today because despite all the efforts we go to, everything seems to be going more and more wrong with time. The far right is taking over and setting fire to the world for fuel. Alone no matter what noble actions I might take as an individual are meaningless, and even if by some miracle I manage, along with my fellow Brits, to vote in the progressive government of my dreams… Is that going to stop America’s swing to the right? Or China’s mega industrialization and carbon output?
Look, for the sake of me and the younger people here in the UK I won’t stop trying, you aren’t wrong that we shouldn’t, but I’m also sick of people blaming the crushed and despondent people of the world for their own situation.
The only victim of not having a retirement plan is yourself, surely.
The conversation is also about a) the likelihood that when (surprise surprise) the world does not end and these people have no retirement savings, they will demand public assistance funded via higher taxes on younger working people. And b) the idea of not taking action to make the world better, out of a sense of hopelessness and frankly laziness.
It’s impossible not to feel powerless today because despite all the efforts we go to, everything seems to be going more and more wrong with time.
Seems to be but isn’t.
Helplessness is propaganda. You are being lied to by people who want you to feel this way.
You can start doing your part in the easiest way possible: argue against and shut down Russian propagandists on this very site trying to convince Americans not to vote for Biden. That’s an important job if saving the world is your goal. Forums and social media are battlegrounds of ideas, and you can be a soldier in the army of truth and good.
I’m sorry but no… sure we should try to make a better world. But we’re not in this shit because of failings of personal responsibility.
10 companies produce 80% of the pollution in the world. Research after research shows that in “democratic” countries the poorer 90% have basically 0 influence in politics. We literally have no power to make any meaningful change.
The world will die and it’ll be the fault of a handful thousand families. Not ours.
Sure, we could’ve stopped them before it got to this point. But when? It’s been like this for thousands of years.
I don’t know if those statistics are correct, with the ten companies and poor 90%.
If it is, your conclusion is “we have no chance in this system”
Mine is “the solution can’t be companies or politics then”
Man, the people still have the power. That’s why political systems try to separate us as best as they can. Creating diversity instead of unity. Everywhere.
If we wanted, we could change the world within a month. We just don’t want to. Because we are fed the most stupid stories and ideas, as many as possible. From diets to skin colors to countries being evil by nature.
Most of humanity are just normal people. A few million of them are megalomaniacs. And they managed to make us all believe that they run the show. But we are running it for them. :)
The numbers might a bit different but it’s close enough to illustrate the point.
My conclusion is not “we have no choice”, but “choosing within the system will never solve anything”.
And if you really think we have the power… please illuminate me. Give an example of this.
If you really think we’re in this shit spot because people are lazy or unmotivated, then you don’t understand systems at all.
People act the way they act because of the system. They do what they do because they exist within capitalism. All the structures around us exist to maintain it. From the moment you’re born to the moment you die, your whole existence is directed by the system.
From marketing to union busting, from war to elections. It’s all made to serve the system.
You speak very idealistically about being able to have an impact. But how would that actually look like in our physical material reality? What can we ACTUALLY do that would even make a change?
I don’t know. The French revolution? Hippies? Homeless communities? Revolutions have been done countless times, and they always started with no real chance to succeed.
What do you want me to say here. A plan to save the world? I have no idea where you are and what your situation is. That’s the point.
We have all the networking, but nobody connects. The world is in the best spot ever, technologically, but we use it to divide. Where are you? What’s you biggest issue? Let’s pool together and see if there is a way out?
We all divide into groups, splinter-groups and even smaller units. Especially so since about 20 years ago. We should unite. How hard can it be?
Would you try?
Or would you rather debate me, telling me it’s not possible?
I’d guess you’d pick the latter. Why is that?
I don’t want to debate anything. But you are rejecting reality. Why do you think we are so divided and diving deeper and deeper into useless rabbit holes?
Sure the internet is “great”, but why do you think it was invented and spread around the world?
Neoliberalism and post-modernism created and shaped an infinity of tools to control and manipulate us into being atomic neurotic incapable shits.
I do what I can, and I am not saying to give up. But if you base your struggle on idealisms and reject material reality for what it was and is, there is no chance. We have to understand the world and the systems of power and control fully to even have a chance of doing something.
Hoping everyone just “wakes up” through hearing the “right ideas” and “rises up” in a glorious movement is just… fantasy, it’s silly. It will never happen.
We have to study what worked before, and how the world changed from then to now, and try to find a new path that is different. But being always grounded in the actual reality of things. Understanding we have massive hurdles, that never existed before. And how those will shape our struggle.
Im sorry. What possible way is there to compete against trillion dollar companies financing every aspect of politics? You can’t play that game. And nobody is coming around to save us all. You can only reject it and rebell. That’s how change works. Has always worked. and will always work. You just don’t want it enough yet.
You are playing a rigged game and expect to win, and you say I’m rejecting reality. It’s you who needs to accept that people still have the power. And tell others. That’s how revolutions happen. From the bottom up. Always.
Rejecting “the game” only works individually. Sure a couple dozen people can fuck off into the woods and live like hippies. But it can’t fix society. And society is what you’re calling a “game”.
I don’t want to live in the woods and reject humanity. I want to help society be good.
Hum, that’s on the people that make the next gen. I cut my tubes when I was 20 exactly because I think the world is too shitty. My bloodline ends with me.
Pretty telling that so many comments here immediately blame the proletariat. The fucking power of propaganda. Christ, we’re so fucked.
If everyone else wasn’t so lazy and evil, I could retire sooner and more comfortably.
I’m uniquely underpaid, overworked, and unlucky. No one else is like me. No one will ever sympathize with me. So its just me against the world.
The only thing I can do to change my lot in life is to throw in harder with a high profile ultra-wealthy industrial captain in the eternal war against foreigners, corporate rivals, and the unemployed.
Yes, yes, blame the other crabs in the bucket. That’s the way to the top, for sure.
Also, the “woe is poor me & my wholly unique predicament” trope is yet another spoonful of bullshit you’ve been fed. We’re all underpaid, overworked, and unlucky — and no one is different in that. Begin the sympathizing with yourself, and see we’re all against the fucking world out here.
You do you, at the end of the day, though. The only thing at stake is your happiness.
Do you need it pointing out that the reply was sarcasm?
I’m told its undetectable for Americans, which I guess makes sense if you grow up in a country where about 1/3 of the population is genuinely insane.
As an American, I noticed the sarcasm just because lemmy has a very anticapitalist user base, but on any other platform I’d be genuinely concerned that it was written by one of the 50% of my country’s population that actually believes that …
Yes, yes, blame the other crabs in the bucket. That’s the way to the top, for sure.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteen_Million_Merits
The only thing at stake is your happiness.
If only. You’re living a very blessed existence if happiness is the only thing you have to worry about.
Hey, if you’ve got all the answers, what’s the problem, guru?
Gluttony and materialism, I’d say. We all could have rich and wonderful lives. A few percent of us want more. And they try to make the rest think that that’s the right thing to do for everyone, even if that’s technically impossible.
I’m pretty sure that’s the root of all evil. You are welcome.
Do as the Buddha, abandon all craving, and you will reach Nirvana.
I’d be wary of any ties to religion — even the seemingly most benign, friendo. 🫥
It’s true that Zen Masters rejected all religions, and that Gautama was an illiterate Prince who did a bunch of dumb stuff before promising others he could bring them eternal happiness…
But the whole “friendo. 🫥” thing?
Why y’all gotta patronize?
While I can understand the sentiment, this is a REALLY bad and irresponsible thing to do and detrimental to yourself and society as a whole.
Lemmy, please do everything you can to set yourself up for a successful retirement. Even just a small contribution to a retirement account really will make a big difference when you’re older.
The best thing I can do for a successful retirement is commit some crimes and get arrested. A “small” contribution is still outside my price range. You gotta be putting away hundreds a month at least. Retirement simply isn’t something you can plan for if you make below average income.
These “you should have saved for retirement” people really piss me off, especially the “you should have cut out luxuries” assholes. Bitch, I’m like the 62% of the rest of America that lives paycheck-to-paycheck. What luxuries? The occasional chai latte to make my life slightly more bearable? Buying my daughter Taco Bell once in a while to see her smile?
If I have to work for decades and deny myself any comfort for those decades just to have some comfort for the last 10-20 years of my life? Fuck that.
If your not even planning on saving for yourself what are you going to do for your daughter?
Holy shit, do you honestly think not buying a latter or Taco Bell once or twice a month would be enough to save for retirement?
You’re like one of those “don’t eat avocado toast” people.
Crazy how defensive you get when I am asking what your plan is.
If you are doing the best you can with your budget this thread doesn’t apply to you and there’s no need to be offended. Many others do not make good financial decisions and need help preparing for their future. Financial budgeting education is lacking in our schools, and many learn the hard way.
Promoting narratives that nobody can do anything to better themselves financially is irresponsible.
…same thing our parents did for us: hope she can manage on her own…
Another day of monotony’s
Gotten me to the point I’m like a snail, I’ve got
To formulate a plot or end up in jail or shot
Success is my only motherfuckin’ option, failure’s not
Which sounds nice, but not realistic. As others have also said, there will always need to be ditch diggers. Not everyone is going to be able to retire. No matter how many Eminem lyrics you know.
Gatekeeping retirement to only the wealthy is unacceptable to me (and many here). Be gay, do crime, and mooch off the system that fucks so many over.
How TF am I supposed to do that?!! I can hardly eat.
Dumped it all in Bitcoin, amidoingitrite
amidoingitrite
Do you self-custody?
Fun fact: you can withdraw from your 401k. While there is a hefty tax penalty, you still can do it. Maybe you can get a down payment on a house or pay off student loan debt. Just make sure you withhold taxes from your payout. Don’t get caught with that bill at tax season
Especially handy if you have a job with good matching and instant vesting. Of course, this is not finacial advice, but it is an option that exists.
You can use $10k from your 401k for a down payment on a house with zero penalty. If you’re married, then your spouse can do the same. So now you have $20k for a house down payment! With an FHA loan you can buy with as little as 3.5% down, which your $20k should cover. Weee!
My retirement plan is a cyanide pill to avoid the torture of roaming dystopian gangs of armed militias when they ransack my place because law and order has largely vanished and I’m their next stop.
Na, I’m just kidding. I enjoy the pain.
You either die to the prion-diseased rape cannibals or you live long enough to see yourself become a prion-diseased rape cannibal.
Huh, my reasoning was always I’ll probably be dead before I reach 65, but I guess this also works
I plan to die in the Climate wars, myself.
Water Wars of 2038 here.
I’ll die in World War III, Eastern Europe Theatre, 2026 (when Trump’s election pushes the current geopolitical tensions over the edge).
That’s funny, thinking that people get to retire at 65. For me it’s 68.5 years, but that will probably be pushed backwards before then.
Yeah I am betting it will be 75 for me and I am only 43 now.
deleted by creator
You’ll have a whole 10 years before they grab you for the Near-Death Star
I hope I’m gone before the crumbling even starts.
Yo look around.
Fuck
FUCK.
Current predictions by scientist at MIT put collapse of global civilisation at around the mid to late 2040s, so if you won’t be retiring before then it’d better to just spend that money enjoying life while you can. Because even if global society doesn’t implode (big if) then retirement age will rise to the point you never get to retire anyway.
There’s been a similar prediction every decade for the last century. We’re still chugging along
you can’t ignore the fact things are getting worse and nobody is doing anything about them
That’s what they said then too
Because things were getting worse. And they’re still getting worse. And they will continue to get worse. We have charts and graphs and studies for a lot of different things showing things were getting worse, and have only continued to do so. Like the cost of living didn’t just steadily go up with a steady inflation. It’s been a curve. And then the last few years fucked us pretty bad.
Climate change. Still getting hotter. Still not slowing down enough. Some places are doing their parts, but places like here in the US, we aren’t doing nearly enough. And a lot of the stuff we are doing ends up on backfiring because of capitalism. For instance, California banned the single use plastic bags. But a lot of reusable bags are plastic. The law is the bag needs to be a certain thickness and be advertised as reusable… So places just made thicker bags. And then people still throw them away. So each bag is now more plastic than before.
So yes. They gave us a warning. Things got worse.
So we got a second warning. Things still got worse.
Then rather than shutting up as you would prefer, they gave us another warning. Still getting worse.
If people could plan for retirement during the cold war when nuclear annihilation could happen at any time then you can plan for it now.
Pretty sure ecological and climate collapse are not the same thing as, eh, maybe they’ll drop nuclear bombs, maybe they won’t.
Obviously, they’re not exactly the same. My point is people still planned ahead even though there was a chance the world would end. And people should do that now, because I think it’s more likely that civilization will continue.
I’m on the Smith & Wesson retirement plan myself
Playing solitaire with a pearl-handled deck.
…oh, that’s poetic…
It’s from “Carmelita” by Warren Zevon. Great song!
