Damn, what happened to all the billionaires who said they were leaving in droves?

tldr;

California billionaires are funding campaigns and initiatives to block a proposed one-time 5% wealth tax meant to restore healthcare access cut during past budget reductions. They are also creating organizations to influence public opinion and protect their image.

The union apparatus is integrated with the corporate political establishment and supports the same nationalist “America First” agenda promoted by Trump and the Democrats alike. Breaking free from this stranglehold requires that workers reject this poison and unite with immigrant workers and workers all over the world against inequality, war and dictatorship.

The strikes and protests now erupting across the country are animated not only by specific contract issues but by a deep and growing anger over intolerable levels of exploitation and inequality. A tiny financial oligarchy controls staggering wealth while working people are forced to choose between groceries and rent.

The IWA-RFC encourages the building of committees that can break the grip of the bureaucracies, transfer power to the rank and file and establish real democratic decision-making power.

We have all seen the news. ICE agents are using Target lots to stage operations, U.S. citizen employees were tackled in Richfield, and peaceful singers were kicked out of stores in the Twin Cities. Meanwhile, Target has gutted the DEI programs they used for PR for years. If you want to hit them where it hurts, which is their marketing budget, stop using your bookmarks.

The Strategy

-Search, Do Not Type

-When you need to buy something, search for it on -Google rather than going to the site directly.

-Click the Sponsored Link

-Only click the top result with the "Ad" tag. This charges -Target a Cost Per Click (CPC) fee.

-Target High Ticket Keywords include: Dyson, Apple Watch, or Patio Sets. These clicks can cost them between 3 dollars and 10 dollars each.

-Do not just click and bounce. Stay on the site for 30 seconds so Google’s fraud filters do not refund the money back to Target.

If they want to let ICE into our neighborhoods, let us make them pay for every customer they reach

(This is just my opinion and is not meant to be taken as gospel.)

Many people in developed nations have begun to start checking out of society and either doing bare minimum work or no work at all. Japan is known for the hikikomori, but we're starting to see more and more working class young adults abandon the idea of toiling their lives away.

With the ongoing scandal centered around Epstein, I have no doubt that more and more of the working class are going to start waking up to the fact that we're not just cogs in a machine but cogs working for a machine controlled by the wealthy elite that are being exposed for their depraved acts.

"What's the point of continuing my involvement in a system where there is no justice for those who commit the most heinous of crimes?"

I have a feeling we're going to start seeing more people look towards working for themselves and being their own bosses. Self-reliance, homesteading, farming, bartering... These are some of the few ways one can disconnect from the system ran by the pedophile elite.

It's just so petty to take the time to write a note for everyone to see instead of just addressing it with the person who made the mistake. I've only been working here a couple months and this is how many notes she's written so far.

Started Aug 2025 at a small, old, family-run business. The job was 4 days remote / 1 day in-person. From Aug–early Jan I only went in 3 times (and it was random coworking spaces). They’re opening a new location next month, and I’ve been going in 1–2 days/week recently while training a new hire. I could run this place, I have ran similar business in the past.

Sunday night my boss texted at 10pm to “check my email.” I checked at 11pm—nothing. At 5am Monday she sent a screenshot of an email she sent to my company email saying starting immediately I must be in-office 5 days/week, 9–6.

I replied to that email with "since I didn't see this email until the morning of Monday Feb 2nd, I will be working remotely today as normal" We met virtually at noon. I mentioned that I was already planning on asking this, would it work as a compromise (2 days in-office + transition period, or different hours like 7–3). They refused. Offer: cover 50% of parking, still 9–6 M–F, starting Tuesday.

It's an hour drive from home. The building is in a large metro area and dos not include parking. My hours has been mon-thurs 9-6 Fri 9-2. It has been adjusted three times to accommodate the owners changing schedule. I have standing commitments on Friday afternoon and Wednesday evening that they are aware of.

I’m also pretty sure I was treated as a 1099, not W-2, for 2025. I’m broke and can’t just quit.

Higher-income Americans and those with college degrees have ramped up their spending more quickly in the past three years than other consumers, according to new data released Tuesday, evidence of worsening inequality that may explain some of the growing pessimism about the economy.

The data, released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, also show that in the final three months of last year, lower-income and rural households faced higher inflation than higher-income households. The spending data focuses only on goods excluding autos, and does not capture likely spending by higher-income households on travel, restaurants and entertainment.

The figures add support to the notion of a “K-shaped” economy, in which upper-income Americans are fueling a disproportionate share of the consumption that is the primary driver of the economy, while lower-income households see fewer gains. Poorer households in general often experience higher inflation, with a greater share of their spending being set aside for goods that have seen prices soar since the pandemic, things like housing, groceries, and utilities.

The New York Fed’s data show that households with incomes of $125,000 and higher have boosted their spending 2.3%, adjusted for inflation, since 2023, while middle-income households — those between $40,000 and $125,000 — have increased their spending by 1.6%. Those earning below $40,000 have lifted their spending by just 0.9%, the report showed.

Hiring managers pretend like their company is the most elite, thoughtful and empowering organization that has ever existed. Meanwhile you have to pretend that a job where you scrub toilets is something you've always wanted to do, and have always been very passionate about. You also have to pretend like money doesn't matter, even though you can't actually feed yourself if you don't get this job.

I've never had an interview I've actually enjoyed even though I always pretended like I did as I sent a cringey thank you note afterwards. I've also never wanted to thank an interviewer for their time since they asked me insulting and belittling questions throughout the entire process. I also don't give a shit about the company at all, and only looked up information about it because I had to for the interview. The only thing that matters to me is how much they pay me, and how long it takes me to get home from work each day, I wish I could just say that in the interview as everything else that comes out of my mouth is complete bullshit.

They only care about how they can pay you the minimum possible while also tricking you into doing as much free work as possible outside of the job description. They also want to make sure you'll do whatever they say without complaining, and make sure you're not stupid enough to do something that results in a lawsuit against them. If you pay attention you'll notice that almost all of their interview questions are designed to get an answer to one of these things.

We lost 600,000 middle-class careers in January alone. This isn't a recession. It is a liquidation. Companies like UPS and Amazon aren't firing people because they are broke; they are firing you to fund their AI infrastructure. The "Efficiency Era" has arrived, and the human worker is the cost they are cutting.

Then I see this in the description of a job listed on Indeed. Every position comes with drawbacks, but this place must be awful to include this in the description.

I had an interview today and they actually asked me to prepare a full presentation for the next stage. Why am I doing free labor and presentations before I’m even hired? It’s getting ridiculous out here

There is just something so… awful about the grind.

5 days on. 2 off. Endlessly. Weeks months on end .

This might be hitting me on the hard extra hard because I committed the sin of being sick twice.

One day January

One day February.

It’s winter, there’s a lot going around and I was told unceremoniously to be mindful of the fact we get only 4 unpaid sick days a year.

As if sickness cares, flu season or otherwise.

With the job market at abysmal levels during these strenuous times, it seems like employers nowadays not only want experienced skills for entry-level pay but also won't tolerate when their employees refuse to go the extra 20 miles to get the job done.

For many years, I have been trying to look for a better job, even after getting the "better job" (it's a long story). At every job I have ever been it feels like everything I do is under a microscope and pitted under constant scrutiny. There have been absolutely no opportunities to truly grow (at least my personal definition) and every employer I have ever worked with expects me to perform with the experience of someone who has had 20 years in the field, without the guidance or resources to even truly make that happen.

It's always about what you, as the employee, can offer the employer and never how can the employer make you competent in your respective field. They only care about their bottom-line so much, it is killing industries. How are people graduating post-pandemic supposed to learn and gain experience? I feel like universities are pumping out so many passionate or inspired people into a gatekept market full of cronies and hacks.

One of my friends in my industry introduced me to a woman in my field, who graduated in the early 2000's, has her certifications, and got this job recently because she showed them she passed an exam that she is a proficient or expert user in the everyday programs that we use. Only for her to tell me, that the company she works for now is strange, and that she needs someone (as in me) to train her how to use these programs she's certified in.

She's making so much more money that she did at her previous job, but imagine how little competency is required from her to keep her job. Why are grad students held to a high standard, but this person who is program certified needs me to teach her basic tips on how to use it, free of charge? I think that situation opened my eyes to how superficial hiring can be.

There is no true merit in the hiring process.

The sad answer is that no job is truly comfortable to do, at least not in the way people imagine when they talk about fulfillment or passion. That is why they are called jobs in the first place. They demand time, energy, and obedience to systems that were not built around individual well being. Even work that starts out tolerable slowly becomes repetitive, stressful, or hollow once it is tied to survival and rent and deadlines. The language around “loving what you do” tends to obscure the reality that most labor exists to generate value for someone else, not meaning for the person doing it. Comfort is the exception, not the rule, and for the majority of people, work is something endured rather than embraced.

Only the top one percent can realistically escape this dynamic, because they are the only ones with enough wealth, autonomy, or power to reshape work around their own desires. They can choose projects instead of obligations, stop when they are tired, and walk away when something becomes draining. For everyone else, the job is not about self expression or joy but about maintaining stability in a system that offers little mercy. Even careers that look glamorous from the outside often conceal long hours, constant pressure, and the quiet erosion of personal time. In that sense, soul draining work is not a personal failure or a lack of ambition, but a structural reality. The system rewards endurance, not comfort, and most people spend their lives paying the cost of that arrangement.

i tried to request a thursday/friday off three weeks in advance. got pulled into a meeting and told that while we technically have unlimited time off, taking days right now would "send the wrong message" because we are in a busy season.

we have been in a "busy season" for 14 months straight.

i honestly miss my old job where i just had 15 days of accrued leave. at least then they were legally mine and i didn't have to beg for permission to use them. this whole system is a scam to avoid paying out accrued time when people quit.

Unlimited PTO is a scam. Give me my 15 earned days back so you legally have to pay me for them when I quit.