N
nomadologist
Guest
but seriously, i have no idea what i'll do
N
nomadologist
Guest
exactly. i know several escorts who made bank. maybe ica n get them to pass on their client lists...
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I seriously hope I'm online if and when HMLT reads this...
N
nomadologist
Guest
what's HMLT?
N
nomadologist
Guest
oh, him! or it or whatever
Woebot
Well-known member
(yawn)
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yeah tho sorry 2 hear about your predicament nomadologist. i just hope my children do some kind of vocational degree, not some worthless media studies guff, er like wot i did
i thought lichen was succinct and to the point, but it's all about the bigger picture innit. i mean, some people cant afford to eat......
Transpontine
history is made at night
obviously no sympathy needs to be wasted on rich moaners like Bruce Willis.
But as for the middle class with apparently afffluent life styles a lot of this is built on sand, or at least credit. Most obviously most people don't actually own their homes - until they've paid off the mortgage it really belongs to the bank/building society.
Marx defined the proletariat as the class without reserves, not just the poor, i.e those who have to work in order to live. Even many quite high wage earners are only a salary cheque or two away from poverty - no job = default on credit cards and mortgage payments, no further credit, repossession of house - this happened to many people in the 80s and could happen again.
But as for the middle class with apparently afffluent life styles a lot of this is built on sand, or at least credit. Most obviously most people don't actually own their homes - until they've paid off the mortgage it really belongs to the bank/building society.
Marx defined the proletariat as the class without reserves, not just the poor, i.e those who have to work in order to live. Even many quite high wage earners are only a salary cheque or two away from poverty - no job = default on credit cards and mortgage payments, no further credit, repossession of house - this happened to many people in the 80s and could happen again.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
So unemployed people on benefits aren't part of the proletariat?
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
My girlfriend has managed to claim some Jobseeker's while she, er seeks a job, and they're giving her a grand total of £27 a week, because she has savings set aside for a pension. Which is fucking daft: if they're expecting her to live off these savings, then when she's old she WON'T HAVE THEM, will she? I mean, isn't the point of savings that you, well, save them?
N
nomadologist
Guest
yeah tho sorry 2 hear about your predicament nomadologist. i just hope my children do some kind of vocational degree, not some worthless media studies guff, er like wot i did
i thought lichen was succinct and to the point, but it's all about the bigger picture innit. i mean, some people cant afford to eat......
thanks for the kind words. i'm being a little facetious, but transpontine's point stands--to try to "come up" to the upper middle class from the lower middle class in America requires more and more reliance on massive amounts of debt than ever before.
i've heard a lot of people claim "most americans are two paychecks away from homelessness." when you rent rather than own your home that feels very true.
Transpontine
history is made at night
Well they are certainly part of the class without reserves, when Marx was writing unemployment benefit didn't really exist. The unemployed still have the conditions of their life determined by work, whether they are actually working or not, i.e. the bureaucratic apparatus they are subject to is determined by a drive to get people into work, and benefits are kept low in order to pressurise people into low paid employment.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
...yet some people still manage to live on benefits practically their whole lives...
Transpontine
history is made at night
Well good luck to them if they can get away with it.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I'm not having a go - plenty of people will, quite naturally, do this if they can get away with it (as you say) - I just think it's not a good situation. Hardly a recipe for happiness and satisfaction, is it?
mistersloane
heavy heavy monster sound
All my long-term unemployed friends have ended up having to go on the sick to stop the agg the Man gives them, which is a hassle becuase then you have to convince yourself you're sick to go and convince the doctor that you're sick...which inevitably means you end up being sick...
What was weird was recently in Florida seeing all these huuuuuge American people, like 20 stone is nothing, we're talking 30 stone plus here - I felt like a completely different species from some of them - and in Disneyworld they're all driving round on little buggies cos they're too heavy to walk, and getting fasttracked through the crowds to get on the rides first because they're classified as disabled, and suddenly it hit me that maybe overeating in the US is like being on the sick over here, y'know, just put on a few more pounds and keep smoking and you'll get free healthcare and welfare all your life. It's a great revenge on 'society', to become exactly what advertising tells you you are.
I wonder if the new Michael Moore film touches on that.
What was weird was recently in Florida seeing all these huuuuuge American people, like 20 stone is nothing, we're talking 30 stone plus here - I felt like a completely different species from some of them - and in Disneyworld they're all driving round on little buggies cos they're too heavy to walk, and getting fasttracked through the crowds to get on the rides first because they're classified as disabled, and suddenly it hit me that maybe overeating in the US is like being on the sick over here, y'know, just put on a few more pounds and keep smoking and you'll get free healthcare and welfare all your life. It's a great revenge on 'society', to become exactly what advertising tells you you are.
I wonder if the new Michael Moore film touches on that.
mistersloane
heavy heavy monster sound
I don't think working is either though, unfortunately.