• Splount@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Would someone please give me the ELI5 on why Republicans want to destroy Social Security? Do they want to privatize it by making everyone put money into a 401K that is controlled by Wall Street money managers, who then skim their share? Are they STILL pissed about Roosevelt? Are rich Republicans pissed that poor people might not have to eat cat food in their old age? Is it that the foundational idea is that we all contribute…and that’s COMMUNISM??? I just don’t understand their motivation.

    • just_another_person@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 month ago

      Certain people are staunchly against what they call “handouts”, even though Social Security is not that at all. The argument they make is that it costs other money to operate and maintain that they wouldn’t need to spend if they just TRUST in whatever company would be managing that money if they privatize it. It’s one of the dumbest arguments you’ll hear about social programs.

    • satanmat@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      To do my best ELI5::

      They don’t want to pay ANY taxes; they want you to pay taxes.

      It doesn’t matter if stuff fails; in fact that’s a feature not a bug. The very rich will pay for the stuff they need, and they DON’T care if you or everyone else suffers…. If you are not rich that is your own fault.

      • ripcord@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        You were correct until tbe last sentence. That might be an excuse occasionally but it isn’t actually part of the thought process. They simply dont care if you or everyone else suffers as long as they get what they want.

    • takeda@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      In short, oligarchs want to get richer and want more power (there’s never enough), you would think that poor conditions would wake people up, but as long as there less fortunate ones as us we are fine with it. It is easy to set us up against each other by telling that our misfortune is because of minorities and immigrants.

      There’s a book called On Freedom by Timothy Snyder that talks about it. I think everyone should read it. Once you are aware of the mechanisms it is easy to see.

      You would think that Republicans breaking social security would surely lose them votes, but it is really easy to manipulate their base and tell them that there’s not enough money in SSN because immigrants are getting free money and once again we are fighting with each other and once again oligarchs walk away with more wealth.