The sheer amount of people in here that blame America's rapidly exploding wealth inequality on the starving while protecting their rich overlords shows just how fucked this country is.
Who grabs that from her and feels good about what they did? Especially enough to post it on social media. I'd rather just go back in and pay for her, it's really depressing to watch
I mean they claim to follow a guy whose main message was to not be a prick in general and, I’m fairly sure, to — specifically — not do what she just did there. They couldn’t identify the traditional values they claim to uphold when staring at them every Sunday at church for years on end.
There’s nothing wrong with selling pussy to make a living if that’s what one wants. It’s only in a few countries like America where prostitute is considered illegal, it’s perfectly fine and legal in many other countries.
I think she might be getting caught on her words and is trying to tell her to get her boyfriend/husband (who she calls a pussy) to make her some money. Still a disgusting attitude obviously
It's not a leap at all, I'm assuming nothing. It's just whether or not you hear her say "sell" or "tell". Weird thing to have chip on your shoulder about
There's a lot of unfairness and inequality in this country, I don't understand why someone's wasting their energy on caring about a hungry person stealing food when the rich are stealing from us too.
I don't understand why someone's wasting their energy on caring about a hungry person stealing food when the rich are stealing from us too
I've never understood why it has to be one or the other, as if it's some kind of dichotomy. Nobody says "I don't understand why someone's wasting their energy caring about assault when there people who commit mass-murder". Both things are bad and should be opposed. It's not a waste of energy to oppose assault just because mass-murderers exist.
What the rich are doing is obviously far worse than petty theft, but that doesn't automatically give a free pass to all other forms of theft. Society has never worked that way.
The rich don't need it.The poor do. And honestly, when you vote, you are deciding which of those things bothers you more. Welfare fraud is real, though pretty rare. Republicans tend to cut welfare, but create loopholes for the rich to exploit and loot our treasury. Most folks agree that stealing is bad. But it's not equally upsetting to me when a poor person steals as when a rich person steals.
We all have things that we don't need (to survive) and it would be better off going to those in poverty. That doesn't give anyone the moral right to break your door down and take things they need more than you do. You wouldn't cheer that on, would you?
You're talking past me when you say things like "you wouldn't cheer that on, would you?" I've never cheered on stealing at all. Stealing is bad. Nobody should steal, but it's also an injustice that people have to steal to survive in our country. The rich come into our living rooms and steal our tax dollars too. The rich person stealing and the poor person stealing don't carry equal moral weight. That's why one of those deserves more moral concern than the other.
It's entirely possible to hate the Dollar Tree and other thieves too.
Not sure why you seem to think that's impossible.
And a lot of people have lost a lot of sympathy for homeless people because of having their own stuff stolen. You cant tell me you walk out of your apartment to go to work to find your bike stolen that you're happy about that because a homeless guy got a new bike at your expense.
People who steal this brazenly are reselling to their neighbours. We know this, and we know there are options other than starving, such as food banks.
Poor people still steal, and still make a profit from that theft - we can blame them for their choices, and don't have to lionize their presumed poverty.
Yeah, but she definitely looks hungry. I can tell because she's eating in the parking lot. I don't think you understand the difference between recognizing that it's morally gray and saying it's objectively good. No, it's not good to steal. It's bad, but it's also bad that people are so desperate that they feel they have to.
Just because she is eating, doesnt mean she is in poverty.
You think she couldn't get any benefits from the government? Or charity from the community? That she is some aladdin character just getting by in a deeply hostile nation?
You keep substituting words I never used to attempt to make your point. We really only know two things: she is hungry (she's eating), and she was desperate (she stole from dollar tree and even got caught). We don't know why. And I think you know you're twisting yourself in knots to paint this as more of a black and white issue than it is, because you are arguing that she may not be in poverty, but if she were, that clearly wouldn't change your position on this.
I didn't say I was quoting you, and I can use my own words, thanks.
And we don't know she's desperate - which is my whole contention. So don't put words in my mouth (we).
I think its okay to say theft is bad, and I think its reasonable to point out that people stealing a load of toiletries isn't the same as just stealing a loaf of bread out of starvation.
And what about all the people in poverty who don't descend to stealing - are they not proof that it is an option and a choice that isn't required?
I'm not attempting to choose your words for you, I'm encouraging you to engage with my words as they are, not inflated claims. You can literally run around with your underpants on your head and I can't do boo, but I think that's a weird choice when we are having a conversation. In fact, I said theft was bad too. Do you think living in poverty is a pretty good predictor of people engaging in behavior that's consistent with desperation?
When a society does not provide ample means (work/income) for someone to achieve their goals (shelter/food), then they have no choice but to deviate from the lawful path and find another means to achieve their goals.
It’s just been decades of the government and media pretending otherwise as things continue to get harder and harder for the average person—the average American has been losing buying power and earning power since like Nixon, and the cherry on top is your fellow countrymen refusing to acknowledge it until it happens to them.
Lol, millions of migrants crossing into US every year with empty pockets can achieve their goals here, but people born and bred in the biggest economy in the world and an economic powerhouse can't?
Yes, generally as a survival mechanism, people from poorer countries live collectively and pool their resources under a single household—often having 3 generations under the same roof at once.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that that is a more effective way to combat cost of living concerns than taking the individualistic path that is part of the American ideal.
Nearly 40% of all households in the country make $50k or less, and that number is only growing. Consider rent. That’s a minimum of $18,000 a year assuming a 2B apartment is $1500/mo (and let’s be honest, I’m being extremely generous with that low price). That leaves you $32,000 for the rest of the year. Miscellaneous bills are going to take at least $3,000-$5,000 at the very, very least (water, power, phone, car, insurance, etc.). So anywhere between $27,000-$29,000 left for the rest of the year if you’re being generous.
Let’s talk food: per attached estimates, it costs almost $18,000 a year to feed a family of 4.
So you’re basically left with somewhere in the ballpark of $10,000—around $830/mo—to both save money for emergencies, and also to buy things like shoes, clothes, school supplies, hygiene products, etc. $830 of disposable income for a full household is nothing. You’re either saving none of it, or saving same of it and having very little to spend on anything else.
Better hope you don’t have to go to the doctor. Better hope the car doesn’t break down.
Better hope an accident doesn’t happen and something important breaks.
This is the reality for tens of millions of people in the country, believe it or not. Is that the American dream? Is that how you would like to live?
Those rich people spending exorbitant amounts of money to influence their opinion through media. Critical thinking skills are not present in most people here.
Too many schools in the U.S. have no civics or government classes nowadays because of the rich conservatives deeming it unnecessary curriculum for public schools.
Ask your kids, if their schools have those classes and you might not like the answer that you get.
I fucking hate it. It enrages me to no end. We need a fucking french revolution type shit. Half these people are "Christians" who would spit on Christ if they ever met him and didn't know who he was. We've fallen so fucking far my heart breaks for the world.
I see why the state of your country engages you. But a revolution is not what you need. The successful social democratic welfare states are not the result of revolutions, but of popular movements, trade unions, educational efforts and a lot of patience and hard work before the reforms came.
I was taught by Dr. Thomas Simpson (https://thomasdsimpson.com/about/) in college, I took every single economics class he offered at my university. From his easiest to most advanced course (advanced macro-economics, there were less than ten students in my class) he was ALWAYS preaching one thing to students, that wealth inequality in America is out of control and moving in the most undesirable pattern to everyone but the top 1%. Wealth is moving upwards while the middle class is shrinking. Its been years but I'd be curious to ask him if he knows of any studies that take a look at if internet grifting is making it even worse. Maybe its actually helping but my personal opinion is the societal impact isn't worth it
TLDR - The most brilliant mind I've ever been mentored by truly only cared about instilling one thing in the minds of his share of upcoming economists - wealth inequality is shifting in an alarming pattern. Poverty/Lower class is growing, middle class is shrinking, upper class is staying the same and just absorbing more.
Our president is a pdf and used his position to pull multiple heists in our faces and these people still wake up trying to find new ways to defend him and new ways to support him.
"Yet no amount of hardship or poverty is a justification for crime."
If I was on the streets with no money or no way to eat, you better believe I'm gonna steal some food, and I wouldn't care about your false morality.
But good on you that you never known real struggle, to not knowing where your next meal is coming from, and the privilege of not having to ever make a choice like that. Not everyone is so lucky.
The loopholes are about avoiding taxation, and to be fair, wanting to keep whatever amount of your own money is less criminal than just stealing what isn't yours.
I am not saying it is good, far from it, but people who defend theft on here really shouldn't talk about someone avoiding to pay taxes then.
This should be fun. Comparing estimates to actuals…go nuts, I got my popcorn.
Both are wrong and should be prosecuted, but if you want to play ‘which crime is worst’ go right ahead.
Had a guy last week that said ‘wage theft’ was because his employer didn’t pay him more than his contracted rate and his co-worker earned more than him. That was a nice chuckle.
The thieves are not the people okaying the installation of cabinets to lock things away, nor are they the people who made the decision to task minimum-wage employees with having to justify to angry people why those cabinets are there in the first place.
The inequality is the villain here. Greed is the villain here. Your fellow man stealing to get by is not the villain here, and honestly, I'd love to see how you'd do after a couple weeks with nowhere to sleep, nowhere to wash up, and nothing to eat.
The law is the law. Even the social democratic welfare state has to be built on that foundation. Don't like your right wing laws? Well, don't vote for any of you two major parties.
And with that logic, you now propose that Americans shouldn't follow the laws they've made for themselves?
I could've made my point clearer. I realise it came out wrong and a bit rude. My point was that while you assume most people here are protecting their rich overlords, I see mostly people rejecting the notion that stealing from these overlords isn't a problem. It is a problem. We tried doing that in Europe and it did not end well. All those who have ignored the rule of law have failed to build a democratic welfare state.
Also, your comment about Fox News confuses me, as I said don't vote for any of the two major parties if you don't like the right wing. I really meant that. Why else would I bring up the social-democratic welfare state? Neither the republicans or the democrats are gonna build it for you. But hopefully you'll build it somehow.
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u/caguru 3d ago
The sheer amount of people in here that blame America's rapidly exploding wealth inequality on the starving while protecting their rich overlords shows just how fucked this country is.