Comment by codyb | Hacker News Reader

Comment by codyb | Hacker News Reader

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I think a big issue is the incredible juxtaposition between what you learn about America as a child...

The land of opportunity Work hard and be rewarded The shining nation on the hill

And what you see as an adult

Lose your job? No healthcare, and little support

Get cancer? Go bankrupt and lose everything if you’re not lucky or super rich

Let’s pass major legislation! Oh great another huge tax cut for the mega rich.

Go to school? Be saddled in debt for decades.

Get out of school? Work multiple jobs just to make ends meet in a system that favors employers

And how’re you supposed to escape? By buying material possessions that don’t bring lasting quality of life improvements, or by wallowing away in a drugged up haze, or by binge watching television and other media.

We’re supposed to be the leaders of the free world but we our government is increasingly disfunctional and tailored to special interests and the wealthy.

Meritocracy? Ha. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is being hollowed out.

This administration certainly hasn’t helped as it amplifies its fear based rhetoric of migrants, and crime while pushing us backwards on climate initiatives and ruining our reputation abroad.

It’s no wonder people are depressed. Wage slavery sucks, living on a knife’s edge sucks, and there’s really not much going on to change it.

I’m pretty hopeful for the younger generations, but boy is it a mess they’re inheriting.

Meritocracy? Ha. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is being hollowed out.

This administration certainly hasn’t helped as it amplifies its fear based rhetoric of migrants

Migration was and is a big part of the process. Not the only part, but still a problem to be solved. If you presumably want a European-style healthcare system in America and a job market that doesn't only favor employers, you'll need to acknowledge that the laws of supply and demand apply to labor and social services, and that an all-inclusive welfare state and mass migration can't work together.

> If you presumably want a European-style healthcare system in America and a job market that doesn't only favor employers...

This doesn't stand up to the least amount of reflection.

There are immigrants in Europe. If you look at European countries individually there is massive immigration between them, as well as immigration from outside. And yet.

The US system favors employers not because of free-market competition between employees (or at least not predominantly so) but because corporations have bought the US government and twist every law to their advantage. Destroying the last vestiges of labor unions was just one small part.

> There are immigrants in Europe. If you look at European countries individually there is massive immigration between them, as well as immigration from outside. And yet.

And yet in almost no country has the original population almost become a minority, unlike the US. So clearly the cumulative net immigration is greater in the US. And Bernie Sanders (someone who has certainly applied the "least amount of reflection" to this) seems to share the GPs view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf-k6qOfXz0

The original population of the United States is Native Americans. Is that who you meant when you said "original population"?

Or to put it another way, brown people who speak Spanish, for example, have been in North America just as long as white people who speak English...

Actually, the more I think about it, the more curious I am about who you think the "original population" of the United States is, and why

The original population of the Americas was some ungulates, mice and a few flying animals. Humans have always been an invasive species if you want to go far enough back. Where do you want to stop and start the clock to call it the "original population"?

I feel like you're replying to the wrong comment. Unless you're merely agreeing with the parent comment.

LOL, fair enough but this whole thread has been a bit of a dumpster fire. I'm a bit curious as to why it's on HN. I shouldn't have commented, to be honest. The whole "original population" v. "migrant population" argument has always been a little odd to me, is all, as humans are inherently migratory and invasive. Our tribal natures have always made us warlike, we just have a tendency to do it on larger scales (though WWII was the epitome, seemingly), and this goes back to chimpanzee lineages. I just threw in a jab when I should have walked away =)

Agreed entirely. Best wishes friend - and fellow "just human" :)

> brown people who speak Spanish, for example, have been in North America just as long as white people who speak English...

Actually a century longer! The original European capital of North America was Santa Fe in 1610...

This comparison is apples to oranges. Intra-EU immigration is mostly high-skilled labor, and the outside low-skilled migration situation is different from America's. In America, most illegal immigrants work in huge numbers in the service and agricultural industries. In Europe, the most comparable group of people being migrants from Africa and the Middle East, are overwhelmingly unemployed. There's less of a supply shock to labor, but certainly very large costs to the state and its healthcare programs. Many European healthcare systems are more strained than ever.

> Intra-EU immigration is mostly high-skilled labor,

Actually it’s the opposite. In fact it’s an area of concern for the EU as they have not been ale to make highly skilled occupations (lawyers, engineers, etc) as portable as hod carrying.

> Many European healthcare systems are more strained than ever.

Citation? Complaints from my friends in France and Germany are risible to someone who has had to interact with US system.

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