Thanks for subscribing to /c/[email protected] ! Now that we've grown (and are growing) so quickly, I've had some calls to discuss what this community is for!

What we stand for

As the sidebar says, Work Reform aims to increase the share of rewards reaped by the workers (as opposed to capitalists - be it shareholders or owners), and make work more equitable. We do NOT aim to abolish labor altogether - I personally don’t think that’s a viable societal system. There is no known system in human history where majority of the population can subsist without doing anything in return.

What we need to do

I see a few things necessary to reform the current economic system - let’s call it Awareness, Advocacy and Action:

• Awareness means getting people to realise that the corporate propaganda they’re hearing isn’t the whole truth.
• Advocacy means going out and telling people to join the cause, form a local union, etc.
• Action means taking organized action - writing to politicians, organising dialogues and strikes, etc.

What this space can be used for

In short, all of the above!

• To raise Awareness, you can post anything that talks about the issue of wage disparity. That means venting about scummy practices, that means posting news that counters corporate propaganda, and that means posting memes and screenshots of relevant tweets.
• To engage in Advocacy, you can post news about organised action taking place elsewhere that we can celebrate or contribute to.
• To take Action, you can start a local chapter of your union, organize/engage in online campaigns, etc. This space can be used to help gather people for that purpose.

I personally think the most important thing now is to get more people to rally behind the cause (which means Action and Advocacy). But some of you have really good ideas on taking Action. So feel free to use this space for that purpose.

As it grows, we can discuss how best to use this community as well, so the rules may evolve over time.

In this powerful keynote, researcher Joshua Doss argues that we cannot dismantle and replace the current economic system without explicitly naming and tackling the systemic racism and inequality that have become inseparable from the system of capitalism.

Working-class Americans across all backgrounds and races are being "hunted" by the same extractive economic monster. The historical role of Black exploitation that made American capitalism possible is starting to be experienced to some degree by all of the working class. Will this lead to a class consciousness of the working class?

I heard about this site on a podcast advertisement. I rarely tolerate ads, but in this case I make an exception because it is for a good cause. Here is the link: https://andmario.com/

Quote from the page:

Billionaires are a disease. You are the cure.

The name is a bit confusing at first .. but you get it eventually. It is about two famous brothers, and of of those two has gotten a quite a bit attention lately.

It began starting in 1970 through to the 1980s.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/blog/2023/03/when-comparing-wages-and-worker-productivity-the-price-measure-matters/

Then in the 1990s is when it flipped.

https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/221939/economics/the-two-speed-us-economy-2026/

You can clearly see in 1970 things were in the much more balanced productive state, and we are in an upside down economy. This will not last much longer with AI.

This cartoon from The Seattle Times illustrates how America's economic pizza is actually sliced per capita, highlighting the massive disparity between the Top 1%, the merely wealthy, the upper middle class, and the lower 50%.

The poorest billionaire in California will make about $300 million this year. If we pass the CA wealth tax, he will only make $235 million. In exchange, millions of the poorest Californians will get health insurance. That's the tradeoff billionaires are not willing to make.

The most successful political propaganda in our time was convincing millions of people that caring for others and the planet was somehow a threat to America.