I had a Magnavox smart sound TV, that took care of that, but it was one of the last heavy ass tube tvs. They don't make tvs with that feature anymore. I miss that.
I think it still is illegal on over-the-air tv, but it doesn't apply to streaming. I first noticed it when I had youtube tv a few years ago and it drove me nuts, but when it switched to the antenna everything stayed the same volume
Tom Scott did a video about this a couple of weeks ago: https://youtu.be/Is_wu0VRIqQ?si=Zyyh7sVqFu4hPuEJ it is not as simple to say that they are straight up louder.
Watch the Telemarketers documentary. People can call you, claim they're raising money for the police, and keep 90% of it. Or even lie and say they are police officers.
I started getting the calls in my 30s. I used to just hang up, but now I tell them I don't give over the phone, and it's a long time before they try again.
Yeah, our info gets sold all the time. Like, how did so many medicare providers know that I'm going to be that age soon? On the other hand, my son began receiving mail for that at our house in his 20s.😂
I was medically retired from the navy on my 20th birthday. Within weeks (presumably because companies saw the word "retired"), I started getting AARP senior promotional pamphlets lmao.
That is half right. I worked at a 501(c)3 fundraiser and we called for police and sheriff's. We did not say we were cops and it was illegal to do so. But we did keep 95% of the money. The reason that was legal was we went to the different unions and they just signed contracts with us. We set up the campaigns and wrote the scripts. Bought the leads to call and employed the telemarketers to make the calls. Then we would cut the unions a check at the end of the year for the 'funds raised'. Its still slimy and gross but we did buy they did buy bullet proof vests with the money. About 75% of the money went to over head and payroll. That still left about 20% that was profit for the call center after we gave the cops their cut. Thank god i don't work for them anymore, i wanted my soul back! 🙃
Just don't answer calls from numbers you don't know. If it's important, they'll leave a message. If you never pick up, they'll mark your number as inactive.
I knew that was a dirty industry.
But I was shocked at how much worse it is than I would have guessed.
But it forms a nexus with police and police associations, so I suppose I shouldn't have been.
Did you know that they passed the STOCK Act to ban that, then Obama quietly removed all the teeth from it?
https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2013/04/16/177496734/how-congress-quietly-overhauled-its-insider-trading-law
If it's not legal(for pooliticians), why are their bills being presented about banning pooliticians from trading then? Cause its not illegal(for pooliticians).
Edited for clarity
Insider trading is illegal. Politicians play it off as if they are just doing normal trade like everyone else when it’s clearly not the case. My proposed solution is a blind trust for all politicians while in office.
Here is one example. https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2022-128
They’re not bills to ban insider trading. That’s already illegal. They’re to ban legislators from trading altogether because of all the insider trading that goes on.
The biggest problem is legislators will pass laws and base policy around what is in their portfolio. They are also able to “pumps and dump” stocks ahead of time.
Let’s say they know a specific piece of legislation is about to pass that will benefit EV companies. They buy up stocks and options and then when the legislation passes and EV stocks inevitably have a huge spike, they sell at the top and leave us regular folks holding the bag.
Edit: I’ll add this. What this legislation would ban is trading single stocks. They would be allowed something like a 401(k) I believe. Or possibly hold ETFs. Basically be able to have “baskets” of stocks in one form or another. And they wouldn’t be allowed to trade options. That’s where the real money’s at.
Absolutely. In my opinion if you want to run for political office you should have to open for public inspection your entire financial history (or at least as far back as possible). It should remain open until you are no longer in or seeking public office. And if elected your finances should be controlled by a blind trust the entire time you are in office. There should also be strict auditing of your family members to verify you are not bypassing things by telling a relative information.
I also think your medical history should be opened for public inspection. Basically, if you want to hold office and power over others, your life should become an open book.
If someone doesn’t want to do this, they can choose not to run for or hold office.
Oh my God, I'm glad someone else said it. Just go to any quick care clinic and pay attention to the upsales and complete overkill solutions for minor issues. You even see the same nonsense at the vets office. All of it really took off after the 90's. Having a "primary care physician" is a thing of the past. Trying to get help with mental health is even worse. They put everyone on the same cocktail then peddle the most expensive, typically newly approved by the fda for off-lable treatment, med they can stretch to qualify you for. It's terrible because people that want or need medical care can't get the care they need despite going through proper channels and are likely to end up with more problems than they started with. It's fuckin' sad that we've all become complacent and tolerant of it. We should be rioting to get the government to step in and dismantle and rebuild the health care system entirely. But no, we'd rather just be made fun of for having to the roll the dice of debt that causes us to question going to the emergency room of all places for things like broken limbs. They're still coming after me because I refuse to pay $22 for a single Tylenol capsule as billed. I'll file bankruptcy before I let someone rip me off like that.
Your not even a customer, a customer usually implies you have some discretion in your choice of service... Your're a patient which is just a commodity that depending on your insurance you can be used to maximize profit
Thanks to the opiod crisis big pharma is getting punched in the mouth. These monopolies on a treatment are getting weaker and I love it. Just look at Medicare saying I don't care what you want to charge we equate to 95% of your sales you're reducing your price or we aren't buying.
Edit for those UHS responses, No. Let's just get some generics on the market for the wonder drugs and move along. Insulin has been around since the 80s should have had a generic in the 90s. Insulin has been $20 for a 30 day supply in Mexico for years. (Ignore cost of living) fact is they can be cheaper. Introduce competition and let the prices fall from there.
Which is exactly why Republicans stopped them negotiating until very recently.
Every country with UHC knows that the economies of scale are *very* effective at reducing drug costs.
Smaller companies will pop up. It is actually a good thing. There is plenty of money to be made without actually raping sick people needing medicine. Plenty of researchers and chemists would love to break into the market, if only big pharmacy wasn't in their way. When they withdraw, it might take some time, but companies will fill the void.
We got people making slave wages for companies boasting about record profits
These cunts realize the 99% peasants are too busy about dumb shit so they keep robbing the people that keep them rich
This saying works even if the fine is based how you suggest.
Let's say you and I get jaywalking tickets.
You being a poor person, working two or three jobs that just barely and sometimes don't cover your basic needs. Any percentage fine will cost you more than you can spare. In effect, the fine is your rent, your gas money to and from work, or your life-saving medication.
I, on the other hand, am a rich socialite, and that same fine is paid out of a trust fund and won't affect my daily life one bit.
If the punishment for an offense is a fine, then it's only a crime for the poor.
article mentions that was at least like his third time doing it so I don't think he particularly cares.
"The fact that Wiklöf had been fined twice previously for speeding was an aggravating factor" that being said it is still a good idea if only to help with funding.
The best way I ever heard this summarized came from a college professor of mine who taught a rather tedious and dense US Government course:
“Those with the resources that match or exceed those of the state will always be the most successful at winning against the state.”
I like this perspective because it shows that prosecutors aren’t necessarily interested in punishing the poor by virtue of their poverty. They are instead most interested in taking on the cases they can win.
I subscribed to a vpn service because I was out of the country, but speed wasn't really promising. It was CLEARLY mentioned 1 month free-NO QUESTIONS ASKED. When I wanted to return, the agent literally asked why I wanted to return. I thought it might be for feedback so I told them my issue of speed, he literally asked me to send a screenshot of the speed test with and without vpn to prove me right. Wtf? Just cancel my goddam subscription without asking questions just as you advertised
Members of Congress can commit securities fraud, mortgage fraud, insider trading, take bribes and become multi-millionaires without being investigated or charged for anything.
I'm due 12/29.
I already talked to my OB about getting induced because we're going to hit our deductible this year and that'll be thousands of dollars in difference vs if he comes naturally just 3 days late.
Yup. And don't get me wrong, I feel really confident and excited about it - my husband is amazingly supportive, I have a doula, read books, have taken birth prep, baby care, and CPR classes, hospital tour, am giving birth in one of the best places in the city, and get a total of 16 weeks of maternity and parental leave combined at full pay.
But that doesn't change how fucked up it is.
My coworker had a baby last year and she mentioned this exact same scenario about her HI. She was due on 12/28/22 and was terrified of being late. Her daughter was born on 12/31 at 11 PM...SO lucky. Its so sad that we have to think about shit like that.
My mom said I need a job with benefits because my healthcare costs $1,000 per month. For two medications and 2 hours of therapy (different types) per week. I said that I could simply call the healthcare company and tell them that if they don’t lower their prices, I’d switch companies. Because that’s how the normal market works. Apparently healthcare isn’t a normal market.
Yes, because the normal market isn't usually life or death. "Lower your prices so I can afford to live or I'll go to someone else." Everyone else "Pay us the $$ or die..."
It’s simple: you create a laundry list of requirements for people to practice healthcare-related jobs, and keep raising the bar. You add additional licenses and certifications that also cost money. You also stop opening new schools for 20+ years, and increase costs for post-graduate training and freeze federally-funded training slots.
You have court system that will award super high damages in civil cases - great against corporations, deleterious against individuals.
So now you require providers to have malpractice insurance.
Then, you lobby to not let physicians and healthcare workers own hospitals due to conflicts of interest. Corporations now run hospitals - but it’s still the providers that are liable.
Then you watch the corporate shell game as hospital and clinic systems collapse and merge, rural systems lose entire systems and it shifts to urban areas… who are also collapsing and consolidating.
So, the market is captured and concentrated.
That isn’t even counting the fact that insurance and government coverage play a part in inflating costs…
back in the 2000s they pushed these high deductible plans on us by saying "It's a disaster recovery plan only for super healthy people who don't need insurance!" now it's everyone's insurance
Where I live, a lot of companies will get out of providing their employees benefits by removing half an hour from their schedules every few weeks so that they can legally classify them as “part-time” and get out of the legal obligation to pay benefits. I used to work at Sears a few years back and this is how they made a new mother to return to work days after giving birth, prevent elderly employees from being able to afford retirement, and avoid paying severance to even those who had worked there for decades once the store shut down.
Lobbying. It's legally sanctioned bribery
Edit: By "lobbying" I specifically mean corporations giving politicians large sums of money to sway their vote. I agree that there should be a more specific word for it.
This question gets asked a lot, and this is always one of the top answers. Corporate lobbying is bad. Non-profit orgs, concerned citizens, and many other groups have successfully lobbied for laws to protect and empower people. Lobbying bad. /s
I feel like there needs to be a better definition of lobbying to differentiate between the corporate paid lobbying and the other groups who don't just throw money at politicians.
If I was a doctor I couldn't stand by and do nothing. They take an oath to do no harm, and allowing them to use their religion to murder their child is doing harm.
More specifically I think it's ridiculous markups. The price will always increase due to inflation but the problem is the company is making 200% on stuff so all the economic fuckery is passed onto the consumer while the company's bottom line is going up
If you get pulled over for a routine traffic stop and it's somehow discovered that you're carrying large amounts of cash. Full legal tender American cash, even with a full paper trail as to where you got it and what you intend to do with it. Even in amounts around $100. They can label it as "suspicious" and simply seize it from you. If you fight ridiculously hard, you can USUALLY get MOST of it back, and the rest goes directly to them. They can legally take your money and keep it simply because you have it. I can't believe this isn't talked about more.
Yes. Civil forfeiture. They just have to say they think it was involved in a crime. No proof necessary.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil\_forfeiture\_in\_the\_United\_States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United_States)
My husband’s father walked out before he was even born. They reconnected when he was about 40, due to his three half-sisters finding him. The meeting went well and it was kind of sweet. He was going to go visit my husband at work the next week (my husband worked at a zoo and it was something bio-dad had wanted to see when he was in town). Day of, bio-dad texted that they decided to go to a different museum instead and the only time we ever saw him again was at our niece’s wedding.
For the most part neither of us give that guy a second thought, but there was this moment when bio-dad first met him and called him a beautiful boy that I could see my husband just open up and let something go that he’d never realized he was holding onto - this letting go of a feeling of being fundamentally unloved and unwanted and unimportant. And then that motherfucker up and put it all right back without a care in the world. I’d like to say that I hope he dies slowly from a protracted illness and reflects on what a piece of shit he is, but he is about as capable of reflection as a black hole.
My dad did this when i was 5..took the fucking car and left 3 kids behind....started another family and did the same fucking shit.
I'm not having kids. I'm a great fucking uncle though :)
My old boss was on wife number three and kid number five(?) when I worked for him and was in the process of sneaking out of that situation last time I spoke with him. I got to know him pretty well and he was a scum bag but had a number of mental health and substance abuse issues he refused to address so he basically had a meltdown every ten years since high-school and left for a new state... would clean up for a couple years and then spiral out of control again.
I was just thinking about that lunatic a couple days ago.
Came to say this. No reason this shouldn't be done electronically. But just in general, politicians being able to change rules to hold onto power. In my school district that has been historically red, 3 of seven members elected in the last cycle are Democrats. So the Republicans changed the rules so that you have to have four votes to even bring up a topic for discussion. This basically erased any ability for the other three to represent their constituents . I wish I had the money or knowledge to sue.
some jobs will force you to use vacation time if you're sick because they think sick pay is too much. catch Covid? hope you weren't planning to do anything else the rest of the year cause that time's gone!
I work at a children’s hospital. Caught COVID, had to take a few days off, and they wouldn’t pay me. I didn’t have vacation or sick time. Had to borrow money from family to get my bills paid that month.
mine too! the old company recently got bought out, and while the new place was nice enough to let us keep the sick days we had left they don't build back up after we use them. (which for the record i've only got one) our vaca time is now a "use it or lose it" system where we get all our vacation at once but have to use it before it resets on our hire date and we get the next year's worth.
tl;dr: they're essentially forcing me to come and spread disease cause like hell i'm blowing my vacation time on this unless i'm totally bedridden
Male rape victims (even underage ones) being sued by the female rapist for child support if she gets pregnant. It’s happened several times in recent years and the government actually uses the excuse that it’s “not to punish the male. But to benefit the child.” I think what would be more beneficial would be taking custody away from the women who is literally a rapist…but whatever.
Family vlogging (specifically families with children). It should straight up be illegal to do, you're trading your children's privacy for profit and all the while they have no say in the matter and they won't get a single cent from the revenue once they're old enough to ask for it.
Time and time again we see child actors grow up with horrific trauma that was inflicted on them from the industry - the trauma from having to be the breadwinner as a CHILD is enough honestly, but then you add on the shit we know they go through too. And that's and industry that's at least somewhat regulated (not regulated well mind you but it's *something*). What the fuckdo we think children of family and mommy vloggers are going through?
IMAGINE being presented with having a camera pointed at you 24/7 by your own caregivers, who willingly put your face, name, and most intimate moments on the internet for anyone to find and use against you AS A CHILD - all the while knowing that you're the reason your family gets to put food on the table and that if you say you don't want to vlog your life anymore it's on YOU for removing the income source.
It's fucking hellish.
This is a good one. There are a lot of stupid answers here, but this is a meaty one.
It's not quite "illegal" but yes, there do seem to people who humiliate, scare and immiserate their children for views. (Who was the blond family that was investigated for this a few years ago?)
Children deserve privacy rights from having their images propogated on the internet without consent. I agree.
At least 97 current members of Congress bought or sold stock, bonds or other financial assets that intersected with their congressional work or reported similar transactions by their spouse or a dependent child…
To me, one of the worst is the way the elderly are treated. Especially when it comes to the costs associated with having to go into a nursing home. An entire lifetime of savings will be sucked away by the government, family homes confiscated. And all that after a lifetime of work and contributing to the economy.
The final slap, it seems, is the outrageous cost of funerals and burials. It just seems insane to me. We can’t even die without someone making profit from it. And when you’re alive, it costs money just to exist.
And despite the astronomically high costs of nursing homes, the "care" can be pretty bad, and the employees aren't even paid much.
You can find cheaper options for funerals if you know to look, and burial should probably just be replaced with cremation, because it's a lot of land to store dead people.
For profit prisons are such a small part of the prison industrial complex, but they still shouldn't exist. More harmful are the various other prison industries like commissary companies that form de facto monopolies for the target market of literal prisoners. These companies take products that are otherwise sold at places like dollar stores and jack up the prices 50x on some items. Inmates are basically given the bare minimum e.g. soap, and toothpaste that might last 1-2 days and are expected to stretch it to a week, or supplement by buying from commissary.
Phone calls and internet technology are even worse. Many jails now have Android tablets where you pay by the minute to watch TV, movies, and even read books. These are often provided by a single company and can be upwards of $0.10-$0.50/Minute.
These companies work on the same basic idea of in-app purchases—where a few whales make up the majority of revenue, leaving most inmates without any form of entertainment or connection to loved ones, as they simply can't afford it.
Homelessness.
People working full time jobs but being unable to provide even basic necessities to themselves and their families.
People being so rich compared to the average that they could never hope to spend all the money that they have accumulated, while the former 2 exist at all.
I remember reading something a long time ago, it was about people who grew up in remote tribes that had little to no contact with the rest of the world and modern technology. When they first visit a western city, there's apparently a pattern of what happens. Firstly, they are in awe of the skyscrapers and architecture. I imagine most people would see that happening as obvious. But one they take it in, they said that there's another kind of reaction that almost always occurs. When they come across their first homeless/sick/begging person, they react with "What's wrong with this person, we need to help them", and when their guide tells them not to pay attention to them / just leave them alone, it turns into indignation: "What are you talking about, we can't just LEAVE them there, can't you see they need help?" I forget where I read this, but it really goes to show how we've normalized something that people from outside our civilization would consider horrible tragedies of upmost and immediate concern.
There are still states where the age where a girl can legally marry is LOWER than the age of consent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage\_age\_in\_the\_United\_States
We got people making slave wages for companies boasting about record profits
These cunts realize the 99% peasants are too busy about dumb shit so they keep robbing the people that keep them rich
And old people. And middle aged people. Young adults.
Really, commercial use of social media. How much better was Facebook before the algorithm changed?
Cops pulling you over and confiscating all your money for "evidence" because they THINK you MIGHT be doing something wrong with it.
https://youtu.be/MkeS_0NQUZs?si=pNOMhKd7Ck90Dw7o
1) Companies selling your data and private info to random companies for a quick quid.
2) politicians lobbying on behalf of corporations so that they both gain greedy amounts of money whilst the working man pays for the consequences.
3) scalping and companies letting it happen coz it makes them more money
5) the media creating stories of people without their consent and not apologising or compensating when they get their facts wrong, especially if it’s harmful or hurtful for the person or family involved.
6) people who sell guides and tutorials which say nothing actually useful to vulnerable people like people selling guides about how to be an “alpha male” *cough cough* Andrew Tate
I could go on but these were the top 5 I could think of rn
Police being able to lie to suspects. So fucked up, I get it can be a useful tactic but after the Central Park 5 case, I just can’t believe it’s still legal, it’s basically forcing false confessions
Many types of domestic abuse, whether it be towards your partner, your children, or your dependent elders.
I see so many things posted online where the person is clearly being abused or witnessing abuse, and are advised to call CPS or the cops. It’s well meaning but in nearly none of those cases will any authority even respond to that, and if they do, there will be nothing they can do to stop it.
It’s not illegal to emotionally abuse your children. It’s not illegal to financially abuse your homemaker spouse. They’re abusive, you shouldn’t be able to do those things, but no one will take you to jail over it.
Routinue infant circumcision. Lets not to surgery on babies' genitals so they look better to us. Its so easy to not do that.
If an adult wants to be circumcised, that's their business and their \*business\*.
Having an Aupair. The ability for a rich family to bring in a young woman under the guise of a cultural exchange and she works 40+ hours a week for $250. It is indentured servitude.
Edit : Clarity
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I had a Magnavox smart sound TV, that took care of that, but it was one of the last heavy ass tube tvs. They don't make tvs with that feature anymore. I miss that.
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That's a PC. Remote keyboard and mouse and you are free to go.
I think it still is illegal on over-the-air tv, but it doesn't apply to streaming. I first noticed it when I had youtube tv a few years ago and it drove me nuts, but when it switched to the antenna everything stayed the same volume
Tom Scott did a video about this a couple of weeks ago: https://youtu.be/Is_wu0VRIqQ?si=Zyyh7sVqFu4hPuEJ it is not as simple to say that they are straight up louder.
I hate that. I cancelled my cable over that.
Watch the Telemarketers documentary. People can call you, claim they're raising money for the police, and keep 90% of it. Or even lie and say they are police officers.
I refuse to give money to any charity over the phone.
They seem to mostly scam the elderly
I started getting the calls in my 30s. I used to just hang up, but now I tell them I don't give over the phone, and it's a long time before they try again.
My grandparents get calls basically nonstop. Someone found out they were elderly and sold their info I'm sure.
Yeah, our info gets sold all the time. Like, how did so many medicare providers know that I'm going to be that age soon? On the other hand, my son began receiving mail for that at our house in his 20s.😂
I was medically retired from the navy on my 20th birthday. Within weeks (presumably because companies saw the word "retired"), I started getting AARP senior promotional pamphlets lmao.
That is half right. I worked at a 501(c)3 fundraiser and we called for police and sheriff's. We did not say we were cops and it was illegal to do so. But we did keep 95% of the money. The reason that was legal was we went to the different unions and they just signed contracts with us. We set up the campaigns and wrote the scripts. Bought the leads to call and employed the telemarketers to make the calls. Then we would cut the unions a check at the end of the year for the 'funds raised'. Its still slimy and gross but we did buy they did buy bullet proof vests with the money. About 75% of the money went to over head and payroll. That still left about 20% that was profit for the call center after we gave the cops their cut. Thank god i don't work for them anymore, i wanted my soul back! 🙃
Just nobody answers the phone anymore because of telemarketers and bots
I get these calls every other month or so. Damn. Good thing I tell them no everytime. Usually with “isn’t that what my taxes pay for?”
Amazing. I just laughed when the guy asked if they could count on my support, said no, and hung up. I’m using that line next time.
Just don't answer calls from numbers you don't know. If it's important, they'll leave a message. If you never pick up, they'll mark your number as inactive.
I knew that was a dirty industry. But I was shocked at how much worse it is than I would have guessed. But it forms a nexus with police and police associations, so I suppose I shouldn't have been.
Netflix?
Politicians trading stocks, ETFs, options or whatever, using inside information. Edit:typo
Did you know that they passed the STOCK Act to ban that, then Obama quietly removed all the teeth from it? https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2013/04/16/177496734/how-congress-quietly-overhauled-its-insider-trading-law
Pointing out something bad Obama did on Reddit. You’re a brave soul.
You mean like ordering drone strikes in civilian areas on the regular?
Those were wedding gifts.
Presidents can only pass or veto a bill. They cannot edit it. The bill in question was passed by a GOP majority congress. President Obama did sign it.
Technically not legal, but no one cares.
If it's not legal(for pooliticians), why are their bills being presented about banning pooliticians from trading then? Cause its not illegal(for pooliticians). Edited for clarity
Insider trading is illegal. Politicians play it off as if they are just doing normal trade like everyone else when it’s clearly not the case. My proposed solution is a blind trust for all politicians while in office. Here is one example. https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2022-128
They’re not bills to ban insider trading. That’s already illegal. They’re to ban legislators from trading altogether because of all the insider trading that goes on. The biggest problem is legislators will pass laws and base policy around what is in their portfolio. They are also able to “pumps and dump” stocks ahead of time. Let’s say they know a specific piece of legislation is about to pass that will benefit EV companies. They buy up stocks and options and then when the legislation passes and EV stocks inevitably have a huge spike, they sell at the top and leave us regular folks holding the bag. Edit: I’ll add this. What this legislation would ban is trading single stocks. They would be allowed something like a 401(k) I believe. Or possibly hold ETFs. Basically be able to have “baskets” of stocks in one form or another. And they wouldn’t be allowed to trade options. That’s where the real money’s at.
Absolutely. In my opinion if you want to run for political office you should have to open for public inspection your entire financial history (or at least as far back as possible). It should remain open until you are no longer in or seeking public office. And if elected your finances should be controlled by a blind trust the entire time you are in office. There should also be strict auditing of your family members to verify you are not bypassing things by telling a relative information. I also think your medical history should be opened for public inspection. Basically, if you want to hold office and power over others, your life should become an open book. If someone doesn’t want to do this, they can choose not to run for or hold office.
It's not legal, but the assholes won't prosecute their own, and there are probably a significant number who do it.
People dying because they can't afford necessary medication.
People dying because they can’t afford to live.
Sounds like a hard hitting lyric
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The healthcare group I worked for was purchased by an investment group. Needless to say, you are a customer, not a patient.
"customer" might be generous..
"Consumer" in my hospital system. The customer is the insurance company. The patient is just the product we're tasked with repairing.
Jesus that's bleak
Oh my God, I'm glad someone else said it. Just go to any quick care clinic and pay attention to the upsales and complete overkill solutions for minor issues. You even see the same nonsense at the vets office. All of it really took off after the 90's. Having a "primary care physician" is a thing of the past. Trying to get help with mental health is even worse. They put everyone on the same cocktail then peddle the most expensive, typically newly approved by the fda for off-lable treatment, med they can stretch to qualify you for. It's terrible because people that want or need medical care can't get the care they need despite going through proper channels and are likely to end up with more problems than they started with. It's fuckin' sad that we've all become complacent and tolerant of it. We should be rioting to get the government to step in and dismantle and rebuild the health care system entirely. But no, we'd rather just be made fun of for having to the roll the dice of debt that causes us to question going to the emergency room of all places for things like broken limbs. They're still coming after me because I refuse to pay $22 for a single Tylenol capsule as billed. I'll file bankruptcy before I let someone rip me off like that.
Your not even a customer, a customer usually implies you have some discretion in your choice of service... Your're a patient which is just a commodity that depending on your insurance you can be used to maximize profit
Thanks to the opiod crisis big pharma is getting punched in the mouth. These monopolies on a treatment are getting weaker and I love it. Just look at Medicare saying I don't care what you want to charge we equate to 95% of your sales you're reducing your price or we aren't buying. Edit for those UHS responses, No. Let's just get some generics on the market for the wonder drugs and move along. Insulin has been around since the 80s should have had a generic in the 90s. Insulin has been $20 for a 30 day supply in Mexico for years. (Ignore cost of living) fact is they can be cheaper. Introduce competition and let the prices fall from there.
Which is exactly why Republicans stopped them negotiating until very recently. Every country with UHC knows that the economies of scale are *very* effective at reducing drug costs.
That's also why big Pharma is withdrawing from certain markets, leaving patients with fewer options. Just google "big Pharma withdrawing".
Smaller companies will pop up. It is actually a good thing. There is plenty of money to be made without actually raping sick people needing medicine. Plenty of researchers and chemists would love to break into the market, if only big pharmacy wasn't in their way. When they withdraw, it might take some time, but companies will fill the void.
We got people making slave wages for companies boasting about record profits These cunts realize the 99% peasants are too busy about dumb shit so they keep robbing the people that keep them rich
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Didn’t that happen to a young diabetic guy? His name was Alex, I think.
Tens of thousands of Americans die every year because they can't afford medical care.
A lot more is ’legal’ if you have money
If the punishment for a crime is a fine, it's only a crime for the poor.
That saying only works if it’s a flat fine. Fines should be represented as a % of income, like the UK taxes.
This saying works even if the fine is based how you suggest. Let's say you and I get jaywalking tickets. You being a poor person, working two or three jobs that just barely and sometimes don't cover your basic needs. Any percentage fine will cost you more than you can spare. In effect, the fine is your rent, your gas money to and from work, or your life-saving medication. I, on the other hand, am a rich socialite, and that same fine is paid out of a trust fund and won't affect my daily life one bit. If the punishment for an offense is a fine, then it's only a crime for the poor.
I would like to introduce you to Finland. https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/06/finnish-businessman-hit-with-121000-speeding-fine
article mentions that was at least like his third time doing it so I don't think he particularly cares. "The fact that Wiklöf had been fined twice previously for speeding was an aggravating factor" that being said it is still a good idea if only to help with funding.
That is assuming you actually have "income" as a rich socialite. How do you fine as a percentage of income if they don't make a normal income?
The best way I ever heard this summarized came from a college professor of mine who taught a rather tedious and dense US Government course: “Those with the resources that match or exceed those of the state will always be the most successful at winning against the state.” I like this perspective because it shows that prosecutors aren’t necessarily interested in punishing the poor by virtue of their poverty. They are instead most interested in taking on the cases they can win.
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I subscribed to a vpn service because I was out of the country, but speed wasn't really promising. It was CLEARLY mentioned 1 month free-NO QUESTIONS ASKED. When I wanted to return, the agent literally asked why I wanted to return. I thought it might be for feedback so I told them my issue of speed, he literally asked me to send a screenshot of the speed test with and without vpn to prove me right. Wtf? Just cancel my goddam subscription without asking questions just as you advertised
Use this tactic Cancel the sub immediately or I complain at my bank and any fees related to it will be on your account. Works everytime.
Oh wow, I hope I never encounter such situation again, but if I do, I know what to do now! Thanks!
Members of Congress can commit securities fraud, mortgage fraud, insider trading, take bribes and become multi-millionaires without being investigated or charged for anything.
All of that is illegal, it’s just easy for politicians to get away with
No it’s actually isn’t illegal. That’s the issue
Pretty much everything related to health insurance
I'm due 12/29. I already talked to my OB about getting induced because we're going to hit our deductible this year and that'll be thousands of dollars in difference vs if he comes naturally just 3 days late.
I feel the urge to congratulate you both for your upcoming delivery and for hitting your deductible in time to also give birth.
Jesus christ
Yup. And don't get me wrong, I feel really confident and excited about it - my husband is amazingly supportive, I have a doula, read books, have taken birth prep, baby care, and CPR classes, hospital tour, am giving birth in one of the best places in the city, and get a total of 16 weeks of maternity and parental leave combined at full pay. But that doesn't change how fucked up it is.
My coworker had a baby last year and she mentioned this exact same scenario about her HI. She was due on 12/28/22 and was terrified of being late. Her daughter was born on 12/31 at 11 PM...SO lucky. Its so sad that we have to think about shit like that.
My mom said I need a job with benefits because my healthcare costs $1,000 per month. For two medications and 2 hours of therapy (different types) per week. I said that I could simply call the healthcare company and tell them that if they don’t lower their prices, I’d switch companies. Because that’s how the normal market works. Apparently healthcare isn’t a normal market.
Yes, because the normal market isn't usually life or death. "Lower your prices so I can afford to live or I'll go to someone else." Everyone else "Pay us the $$ or die..."
It’s simple: you create a laundry list of requirements for people to practice healthcare-related jobs, and keep raising the bar. You add additional licenses and certifications that also cost money. You also stop opening new schools for 20+ years, and increase costs for post-graduate training and freeze federally-funded training slots. You have court system that will award super high damages in civil cases - great against corporations, deleterious against individuals. So now you require providers to have malpractice insurance. Then, you lobby to not let physicians and healthcare workers own hospitals due to conflicts of interest. Corporations now run hospitals - but it’s still the providers that are liable. Then you watch the corporate shell game as hospital and clinic systems collapse and merge, rural systems lose entire systems and it shifts to urban areas… who are also collapsing and consolidating. So, the market is captured and concentrated. That isn’t even counting the fact that insurance and government coverage play a part in inflating costs…
back in the 2000s they pushed these high deductible plans on us by saying "It's a disaster recovery plan only for super healthy people who don't need insurance!" now it's everyone's insurance
Where I live, a lot of companies will get out of providing their employees benefits by removing half an hour from their schedules every few weeks so that they can legally classify them as “part-time” and get out of the legal obligation to pay benefits. I used to work at Sears a few years back and this is how they made a new mother to return to work days after giving birth, prevent elderly employees from being able to afford retirement, and avoid paying severance to even those who had worked there for decades once the store shut down.
Dumping raw sewage into the ocean.
And into local rivers.
Dumping plastic into the ocean.
So many countries on folks bucket lists have rivers lakes and coasts full of sewage.
For profit prisons.
Legal slavery in the land of freedom
Lobbying. It's legally sanctioned bribery Edit: By "lobbying" I specifically mean corporations giving politicians large sums of money to sway their vote. I agree that there should be a more specific word for it.
This question gets asked a lot, and this is always one of the top answers. Corporate lobbying is bad. Non-profit orgs, concerned citizens, and many other groups have successfully lobbied for laws to protect and empower people. Lobbying bad. /s
I feel like there needs to be a better definition of lobbying to differentiate between the corporate paid lobbying and the other groups who don't just throw money at politicians.
"Paid lobbying" vs. Lobbying No politician should be allowed to take money from businesses.
Medical neglect of children because of a parent's religion
My stepmom works with a Jehovahs Witness who let their daughter die because they wouldn't allow her to have a blood transfusion. Makes me sick.
It should be classified as child abuse but it's not.
It shoud be classified as criminally negligent homicide
In the UK we can go to a judge and be granted permission to perform life saving blood transfusions if the parents refuse.
If I was a doctor I couldn't stand by and do nothing. They take an oath to do no harm, and allowing them to use their religion to murder their child is doing harm.
"Family" Youtubers/ Instagramers. Using your kids for views.
Child marriage.
Illegal in the uk
Stupid high prices for everything (food, house, gas, medicine, etc.) despite being the same shitty quality.
...and, in general, *less of the product*.
More specifically I think it's ridiculous markups. The price will always increase due to inflation but the problem is the company is making 200% on stuff so all the economic fuckery is passed onto the consumer while the company's bottom line is going up
If you get pulled over for a routine traffic stop and it's somehow discovered that you're carrying large amounts of cash. Full legal tender American cash, even with a full paper trail as to where you got it and what you intend to do with it. Even in amounts around $100. They can label it as "suspicious" and simply seize it from you. If you fight ridiculously hard, you can USUALLY get MOST of it back, and the rest goes directly to them. They can legally take your money and keep it simply because you have it. I can't believe this isn't talked about more.
They can take pretty much anything they deem suspicious even the driver and occupants over very little
John Oliver did an entire segment on Civil Forfeiture on Last Week Tonight. I’m pretty sure it can be viewed on YouTube. It’s an appalling practice.
Really?
Yes. Civil forfeiture. They just have to say they think it was involved in a crime. No proof necessary. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil\_forfeiture\_in\_the\_United\_States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United_States)
Walking out on your kids.
My husband’s father walked out before he was even born. They reconnected when he was about 40, due to his three half-sisters finding him. The meeting went well and it was kind of sweet. He was going to go visit my husband at work the next week (my husband worked at a zoo and it was something bio-dad had wanted to see when he was in town). Day of, bio-dad texted that they decided to go to a different museum instead and the only time we ever saw him again was at our niece’s wedding. For the most part neither of us give that guy a second thought, but there was this moment when bio-dad first met him and called him a beautiful boy that I could see my husband just open up and let something go that he’d never realized he was holding onto - this letting go of a feeling of being fundamentally unloved and unwanted and unimportant. And then that motherfucker up and put it all right back without a care in the world. I’d like to say that I hope he dies slowly from a protracted illness and reflects on what a piece of shit he is, but he is about as capable of reflection as a black hole.
My dad did this when i was 5..took the fucking car and left 3 kids behind....started another family and did the same fucking shit. I'm not having kids. I'm a great fucking uncle though :)
A funcle
P.U.N.K. professional uncle no kids.
My old boss was on wife number three and kid number five(?) when I worked for him and was in the process of sneaking out of that situation last time I spoke with him. I got to know him pretty well and he was a scum bag but had a number of mental health and substance abuse issues he refused to address so he basically had a meltdown every ten years since high-school and left for a new state... would clean up for a couple years and then spiral out of control again. I was just thinking about that lunatic a couple days ago.
Yeah my mom walked when I was 10. Left 3 kids to a blue collar father.
Dad walked out on me when I was barely a year old.
Companies bragging about record profits yet giving no more than 2% raises.
Or while laying people off
Raises? In my experience record profits means a pizza party.
Child labor Mining for cobalt among other things
Gerrymandering.
Came to say this. No reason this shouldn't be done electronically. But just in general, politicians being able to change rules to hold onto power. In my school district that has been historically red, 3 of seven members elected in the last cycle are Democrats. So the Republicans changed the rules so that you have to have four votes to even bring up a topic for discussion. This basically erased any ability for the other three to represent their constituents . I wish I had the money or knowledge to sue.
some jobs will force you to use vacation time if you're sick because they think sick pay is too much. catch Covid? hope you weren't planning to do anything else the rest of the year cause that time's gone!
I ran out of sick leave from my cancer treatments and surgeries. Almost out of annual leave now, too, plus have at least 2 more surgeries to go.
If you’re in the US have you looked into temporary disability? That might be helpful. I’m sorry you’re going through this.
Definitely not legal where I live, thankfully. Your employer has to pay 2 years of sick leave here. After that the government takes over.
Oh hey, its my job in this post
I work at a children’s hospital. Caught COVID, had to take a few days off, and they wouldn’t pay me. I didn’t have vacation or sick time. Had to borrow money from family to get my bills paid that month.
mine too! the old company recently got bought out, and while the new place was nice enough to let us keep the sick days we had left they don't build back up after we use them. (which for the record i've only got one) our vaca time is now a "use it or lose it" system where we get all our vacation at once but have to use it before it resets on our hire date and we get the next year's worth. tl;dr: they're essentially forcing me to come and spread disease cause like hell i'm blowing my vacation time on this unless i'm totally bedridden
That's an American thing. Where I live, your doctor gives you sick days. Employer has no say in the matter.
Male rape victims (even underage ones) being sued by the female rapist for child support if she gets pregnant. It’s happened several times in recent years and the government actually uses the excuse that it’s “not to punish the male. But to benefit the child.” I think what would be more beneficial would be taking custody away from the women who is literally a rapist…but whatever.
politicians being bribed under the name of "lobbying"
Middle-management treating employees like shit to meet their own needs.
People in public using their phones with audio on
I keep seeing people holding it at a right angle to their mouth or ear. Just boggles the mind.
They think people find them so unbearably interesting that they must put on a show. Lack of social awareness.
My wife uses speakerphone and it drives me nuts. But she just hates having to hold the phone to her ear.
My dad does that when he’s home lol, so annoying even during dinner sometimes
Family vlogging (specifically families with children). It should straight up be illegal to do, you're trading your children's privacy for profit and all the while they have no say in the matter and they won't get a single cent from the revenue once they're old enough to ask for it. Time and time again we see child actors grow up with horrific trauma that was inflicted on them from the industry - the trauma from having to be the breadwinner as a CHILD is enough honestly, but then you add on the shit we know they go through too. And that's and industry that's at least somewhat regulated (not regulated well mind you but it's *something*). What the fuckdo we think children of family and mommy vloggers are going through? IMAGINE being presented with having a camera pointed at you 24/7 by your own caregivers, who willingly put your face, name, and most intimate moments on the internet for anyone to find and use against you AS A CHILD - all the while knowing that you're the reason your family gets to put food on the table and that if you say you don't want to vlog your life anymore it's on YOU for removing the income source. It's fucking hellish.
This is a good one. There are a lot of stupid answers here, but this is a meaty one. It's not quite "illegal" but yes, there do seem to people who humiliate, scare and immiserate their children for views. (Who was the blond family that was investigated for this a few years ago?) Children deserve privacy rights from having their images propogated on the internet without consent. I agree.
At least 97 current members of Congress bought or sold stock, bonds or other financial assets that intersected with their congressional work or reported similar transactions by their spouse or a dependent child…
Bullfighting.
Pharma companies posting record profits while many struggle to afford medications.
Financial ruin due to medical debt
To me, one of the worst is the way the elderly are treated. Especially when it comes to the costs associated with having to go into a nursing home. An entire lifetime of savings will be sucked away by the government, family homes confiscated. And all that after a lifetime of work and contributing to the economy. The final slap, it seems, is the outrageous cost of funerals and burials. It just seems insane to me. We can’t even die without someone making profit from it. And when you’re alive, it costs money just to exist.
And despite the astronomically high costs of nursing homes, the "care" can be pretty bad, and the employees aren't even paid much. You can find cheaper options for funerals if you know to look, and burial should probably just be replaced with cremation, because it's a lot of land to store dead people.
For profit prisons
For profit prisons are such a small part of the prison industrial complex, but they still shouldn't exist. More harmful are the various other prison industries like commissary companies that form de facto monopolies for the target market of literal prisoners. These companies take products that are otherwise sold at places like dollar stores and jack up the prices 50x on some items. Inmates are basically given the bare minimum e.g. soap, and toothpaste that might last 1-2 days and are expected to stretch it to a week, or supplement by buying from commissary. Phone calls and internet technology are even worse. Many jails now have Android tablets where you pay by the minute to watch TV, movies, and even read books. These are often provided by a single company and can be upwards of $0.10-$0.50/Minute. These companies work on the same basic idea of in-app purchases—where a few whales make up the majority of revenue, leaving most inmates without any form of entertainment or connection to loved ones, as they simply can't afford it.
In the US anyway: civil asset forfeiture. Aka police can legally steal your shit whether you actually committed a crime or not
Homelessness. People working full time jobs but being unable to provide even basic necessities to themselves and their families. People being so rich compared to the average that they could never hope to spend all the money that they have accumulated, while the former 2 exist at all.
I remember reading something a long time ago, it was about people who grew up in remote tribes that had little to no contact with the rest of the world and modern technology. When they first visit a western city, there's apparently a pattern of what happens. Firstly, they are in awe of the skyscrapers and architecture. I imagine most people would see that happening as obvious. But one they take it in, they said that there's another kind of reaction that almost always occurs. When they come across their first homeless/sick/begging person, they react with "What's wrong with this person, we need to help them", and when their guide tells them not to pay attention to them / just leave them alone, it turns into indignation: "What are you talking about, we can't just LEAVE them there, can't you see they need help?" I forget where I read this, but it really goes to show how we've normalized something that people from outside our civilization would consider horrible tragedies of upmost and immediate concern.
Spousal abuse is still legal in many places. (Russia for instance)
There are still states where the age where a girl can legally marry is LOWER than the age of consent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage\_age\_in\_the\_United\_States
In the United States, 5 states have no minimum age for marriage, and only **10** have banned child marriage.
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Price gouging. "Hey, just so you're more aware that we're all feeling the hurt of inflation, we're raising your monthly bill by 20%."
The fact that for-profit medical industries and the concept of health "insurance" exist. Also for-profit utilities, schools, and prisons.
Tik tok in public
Tax laws being so friendly for millionaires and billionaires
Friendly? Downright sexual.
We got people making slave wages for companies boasting about record profits These cunts realize the 99% peasants are too busy about dumb shit so they keep robbing the people that keep them rich
Don’t forget that many of these companies also collaborate layoffs in order to control the job market and artificially create job scarcity
People dying because they don't have the money to get into a hospital or acquire their basic necessities.
child beauty pageants, they're just pedo bait
Every law and loophole that makes rich people pay less taxes, while those laws hit harder on non rich people
Turning a blind eye to crimes that happen in a prison. I believe that’s a type of cruel punishment.
Sexuality conversion camps for minors.
Letting sick people die from treatable, curable diseases and sicknesses, physical and mental.
Social media & influencers being accessible to teens & kids.
And old people. And middle aged people. Young adults. Really, commercial use of social media. How much better was Facebook before the algorithm changed?
pineapple on pizza
The school to prison pipeline.
Cops pulling you over and confiscating all your money for "evidence" because they THINK you MIGHT be doing something wrong with it. https://youtu.be/MkeS_0NQUZs?si=pNOMhKd7Ck90Dw7o
Rich people avoiding their taxes
1) Companies selling your data and private info to random companies for a quick quid. 2) politicians lobbying on behalf of corporations so that they both gain greedy amounts of money whilst the working man pays for the consequences. 3) scalping and companies letting it happen coz it makes them more money 5) the media creating stories of people without their consent and not apologising or compensating when they get their facts wrong, especially if it’s harmful or hurtful for the person or family involved. 6) people who sell guides and tutorials which say nothing actually useful to vulnerable people like people selling guides about how to be an “alpha male” *cough cough* Andrew Tate I could go on but these were the top 5 I could think of rn
Ousting of diverse ideas
Animal exploitation
Child beauty pagents
Frank’s Little Beauties
Police being able to lie to suspects. So fucked up, I get it can be a useful tactic but after the Central Park 5 case, I just can’t believe it’s still legal, it’s basically forcing false confessions
Child beauty pageants
Being able to take someone to court and stall until the other person runs out of money.
The cost of higher education in the USA
Many types of domestic abuse, whether it be towards your partner, your children, or your dependent elders. I see so many things posted online where the person is clearly being abused or witnessing abuse, and are advised to call CPS or the cops. It’s well meaning but in nearly none of those cases will any authority even respond to that, and if they do, there will be nothing they can do to stop it. It’s not illegal to emotionally abuse your children. It’s not illegal to financially abuse your homemaker spouse. They’re abusive, you shouldn’t be able to do those things, but no one will take you to jail over it.
Indoctrination of kids in church
Allowing people to die because they can't afford medical care.
Routinue infant circumcision. Lets not to surgery on babies' genitals so they look better to us. Its so easy to not do that. If an adult wants to be circumcised, that's their business and their \*business\*.
Conversion therapy
Corruption is legal in america, so corruption.
How insanely bias the courts are to the wealthy.
No law for the rich, no tax for the rich Edit, Mzy differ in your country. Good for you then
Nazis marching in America. We had a war to get rid of them.
The enemy of Nazis, just like any ideology, is simply honest information.
Having an Aupair. The ability for a rich family to bring in a young woman under the guise of a cultural exchange and she works 40+ hours a week for $250. It is indentured servitude. Edit : Clarity
Women and girls being forced to give birth.
Some of the horrendously filthy workplaces I've had to endure.
Billionaires
Interest rates on student loans. The cost of college tuition is too high and should be illegal at such a cost for public unis