A weird thing about living in #Massachusetts is constantly having other Americans tell you the life you live every day is impossible.

[andthisismrspeacock@mas.to]

@JTinMI I do brush my teeth you know....

[sarae@ecoevo.social]

@andthisismrspeacock yeah we had free buses in Oly and it worked out pretty well

[jtinmi@fouroclockfarms.club]

@andthisismrspeacock Yours wasn't the mouth I was concerned about!

[muse_lux@ohai.social]

@andthisismrspeacock I am a US citizen living in Australia. I moved here after marrying an Australian. I remember all the things said in the US. You can't have free education, it will cost too much! Well we have free and affordable education in Australia. You can't have free medical help and subsidised medicine, it will cost too much! Nope, it costs less when people are healthy. On and on!

[tuban_muzuru@beige.party]

@andthisismrspeacock

Bertrand Russell is supposed to have said mankind will eventually get around to socialism, having run out of alternatives

[cford@toot.thoughtworks.com]

@andthisismrspeacock Happens to those of us from the rest of the world too, but you'd think Massachusetts would be a harder to ignore example.

[switch@tenforward.social]

@Muse_Lux I'm Swiss and have been living in France almost all my life. Switzerland is a kind of USA lite, in that it's mostly an economically conservative place, with very expensive private insurances, rents are high, etc. France is still better but as Europe is pushing for free market bullshit, French social security and every other public services have been under attack from capitalists for decades and it's getting more expensive to have a decent life. @andthisismrspeacock

[adamvs1@mastodon.world]

@andthisismrspeacock This needs to be repeated even in so-called “Socialist” Canada. This stuff worked so well(subsidize ‘the poors’, etc) during the pandemic the billionaires went full-court press(pun intended) to say it didn’t.

[gooba42@mastodon.social]

@switch @Muse_Lux @andthisismrspeacock I keep saying this - Don't follow us. We are at best, a cautionary tale. We aren't leading anywhere that you'd want to follow.

I'm really saddened to hear from my German family how they keep moving towards US cultural bullshit and it's all a scam.

[apostateenglishman@mastodon.world]

@andthisismrspeacock The taxing the rich thing is hilarious to me, because most of those calling for caps on their wealth couldn't give two hoots if they decide to leave. We see them as parasitic on the rest of society, so why would it bother us if they buggered off? ‍️

[franceskamann@freeradical.zone]

@andthisismrspeacock

I am an abolitionist. Communities who defund and abolish police see crime drop. In my community police drive brand new cars and get all the newest best tech, including new buildings with beautiful landscaping and statues. Meanwhile in the same little town our public schools use 30-year-old science books and their teachers use 30 to 40-year-old curriculums. But when I say defend police people say, "but we need them". No, we do not. That is an ugly lie.

[drajt@fosstodon.org]

@switch @Muse_Lux @andthisismrspeacock having moved from the UK where the NHS is free at the point of service to France where there is a complex mix of public and private I can honestly say the so called brilliant French system isn't that great. I'm not saying the NHS is the best, but decades of attack from private companies and the right have degraded both systems to their current breaking point.

[etchedpixels@mastodon.social]

@ApostateEnglishman @andthisismrspeacock The thing the rich mostly value is time. You can't buy time. People who run a multimillion dollar yearly tab on private jets for that extra time are simply not going to move somewhere inconvenient just because their taxes went up. In fact they may not even notice. Their accountant has graphs that go up and down based on market shifts by vastly more than a tax change.

[quasit@beige.party]

@andthisismrspeacock
One thing we CAN'T have in Massachusetts, though, is rent control. On that point the Democratic and Republican political leadership absolutely agree. And that's why my rent has more than doubled in the last 11 years.

#RentControl #GeneralStrike

[human3500@ottawa.place]

@Muse_Lux
It's weird how the US is so much about keeping people down, yet Americans think it's the greatest country in the world.

I've never understood.

There are a few categories where the US will be the best, but I don't think they are in the majority on categories good for their citizens / residents.
@andthisismrspeacock

[switch@tenforward.social]

@drajt this, so much. Mandatory employer's health insurance was and still is a bad idea. Before this, there were a few private insurance companies which had a few million clients each. So costs were evenly distributed amongst these million people. Now, each employer has its own insurance contract for its own employees. One expensive health procedure's cost for one employee must be paid for by a few dozens or hundreds employees. It's shit. @Muse_Lux @andthisismrspeacock

[drajt@fosstodon.org]

@switch @Muse_Lux @andthisismrspeacock apparently the French mutual medical insurance companies spend around 50% of their income on advertising and other customer retention things, and that's before you consider their staff overheads. It's very inefficient and wasteful, I'd much prefer higher national insurance and less bother.

[swachter@toot.boston]

@andthisismrspeacock Relatives talk about the scourge of fifteen minute cities and I’m like, I live in one, it’s amazing, I can walk to like eight libraries, twenty banks/ATMs, thirty grocery stores, and a literally uncountable number of good restaurants within two miles. Why would you not want this.

[guyjantic@infosec.exchange]

@andthisismrspeacock "you can't have an accent out of some movie"

[catwoman69y2k@meow.social]

@andthisismrspeacock I dont live in Massachusetts, but this is relatable (for my state)

Self-fulfilling prophecies