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Cake day: November 20th, 2025

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  • Still coming up to speed on the terminology here, but labels aside, I would hope we can all agree on the fact that society should work for the people first. A society that works for corporations and the rich first (I’d argue that most developed nations show advanced stages of this, regardless of capitalist alignment) will decay internally, like a cancer. I think we’ve seen the global decline of society working for their members since the mid 1900’s.

    This has resulted in a broad rightward swing in the US, and to a slightly lesser degree abroad. People feel like they’ve been taken advantage of. And they have been, but mostly by the very rich, and it’s getting exponentially worse by the day.

    Argue nuance if you feel so inclined. But my point is: the more that we’re divided by these labels is to our detriment. And when I say “we”, I mean “not the ownership class.”

    Do you work? Do you draft a paycheck anywhere on earth? Then you’re getting fucked, because those who don’t draft a paycheck to live basically don’t pay anything to partake in society. We pay for them. We truly live in a welfare state, but it’s not the poor that are the recipients but the rich.

    Tankie or not. Western or Eastern. We’re all manipulated into serving the will of the powerful, and constantly at odds with one another when our plight is similar. We all don’t want to get fucked. But the more we’re divided, the easier it is to conquer us.

    Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.








  • baller_w@lemmy.ziptoMicroblog Memes@lemmy.worldmetastasis
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    27 days ago

    For context, $77 billion is more than most nations spend on their military.

    What we could have bought instead; a list of real problems that money could help significantly with, or fix entirely (generated with AI):

    Universal Healthcare (Medicare for All)

    • Est. cost: $3–4T per year
    • $77B covers ~2–3 weeks of healthcare for the entire US
    • Or ~6–7 million people for one year
    • ~2% of annual national healthcare spend

    High-Speed Rail and Public Transit

    • Est. cost: $50–120M per mile
    • $77B covers 600–1,200 miles of true HSR
    • 3–5 major national corridors plus urban transit upgrades

    Homelessness, Veterans, and Mental Health

    • Est. cost: $150k–300k per housing unit; ~$25k/person/year care
    • $77B covers 250,000–400,000 permanent housing units
    • 10+ years of care for all chronically homeless
    • 100% of veteran homelessness eliminated

    Roads, Bridges, and Infrastructure

    • Est. cost: ~$5M per bridge; ~$1M per mile of road
    • $77B covers 15,000–20,000 bridge replacements
    • ~100,000 miles of roadway rebuilt
    • ~15–20% of all structurally deficient bridges

    Domestic Semiconductor Manufacturing

    • CHIPS Act: $52B total
    • $77B covers 150% of CHIPS Act
    • 3–5 leading-edge fabs
    • Full AI, defense, and automotive supply-chain security

    Fusion and Advanced Energy

    • ITER reactor: ~$22B
    • SPARC program: ~$4B
    • $77B covers 3 ITER-class reactors
    • 10+ SPARC-class fusion programs

    Climate Resilience and Clean Energy

    • Est. cost: ~$1B per GW renewable capacity
    • $77B covers 60+ GW clean power
    • Electrification of ~10 million homes
    • Coastal protection and grid modernization across multiple states

    Public Sector Scale Comparison

    • Equals 3+ years of NASA’s budget
    • Equals 10 years of US homelessness funding
    • Exceeds annual defense budgets of most countries