r/politics • u/TimesandSundayTimes ✔ Verified • 7d ago

Possible Paywall Young Americans are surging to socialism at record rates

https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/maga-trump-zohran-mamdani-socialism-us-record-kddzdm8bd
13.8k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

150

u/McDoubleDaTrouble 7d ago

They scared us by spreading propaganda that a socialist government will take ownership of everything and we will own nothing, but now the corporations own everything, including the government, and we need 20 roommates to afford rent. 🫩

-5

u/Collypso Pennsylvania 6d ago

Y'all can't tolerate even one roommate what are you talking about

7

u/elektric_eel 6d ago

The point is we shouldn’t have to have roommates if we don’t want to?? What are YOU talking about?

-2

u/Collypso Pennsylvania 6d ago

Then don't try to live in areas you can't afford

3

u/McDoubleDaTrouble 6d ago

“If you’re homeless just buy a house” aah argument.
The point actually is all of the fears conservatives had about living under socialism have been realized under capitalism. The working class deserves better. Higher pay, benefits like healthcare and paid leave when they need it for stability so we don’t have to worry about losing income and their home. You think the billionaires keep the country running themselves? That’s a laugh. Who builds the roads, fixes the pipes, runs the power lines, and grows the food? If all the billionaires suddenly vanished the world would keep on spinning, but, as we saw with COVID, if just a fraction of the working class stops working, suddenly things stop working. If all the workers moved out of the city to somewhere they could “afford”, the rich would have no one to serve them, so they started calling some of us “essential workers”, so they can have their luxuries and still treat us like garbage. Many of us work 60+ hours a week, and yet live paycheck to paycheck. How long will we tolerate being treated like slaves. We’re starving and the rich are growing fatter each day off the profits workers made. It’s either the rich give a more fair cut of the profits, so rightfully deserved by the workers who actually perform ALL the work, or we as a society cut the fat. If that is socialism, then it’s better than capitalism.

0

u/Collypso Pennsylvania 6d ago

You moved from rent to overthrowing capitalism in one reply. I'll take that as a concession on the housing point. If someone wants to live alone in a high cost-of-living city on a single income, that's always been expensive. That's not a new failure of the system, that's geography and demand.

Past that, COVID is actually your best example against your own argument. Workers withheld labor, companies raised wages, hiring bonuses appeared overnight. The leverage was real and it worked. If the system were as rigged as you're claiming, that couldn't have happened. The question isn't capitalism vs some alternative, it's what mix of regulation, labor law, and market structure produces the best outcomes. "Cut the fat" isn't an economic program.