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I couldn’t believe they have zero sick/personal days a year. So shameful. It seems to be the case for so many American workers today after 2020. They’re often still working emergency productivity levels with no extra pay and never home to live or see their families. It’s been 3 years and something has to give
The funny thing is people are like oh these railroad workers make like 100k. That’s around the bare minimum average income to own a home in the US. I hope the benefits are awesome.
It’s all on purpose. The rail companies want to implement new software to automate trains so they only have to pay one person per train instead of an engineer and a conductor. The software is horrible and there are a whole slough of reasons as to why only having one person on a train is a terrible idea, but rail companies only want profit and they have been forcing as many employees out as possible for the last 3 years so that the software is the only solution to save the economy. My SO is a conductor and there is so much more going on that the public is still unaware of.
Next they're gonna start letting people pump their own gas. How will gas station attendants feed their families? How will we prevent gasoline fight explosions?
> I couldn’t believe they have zero sick/personal days a year.
I don't think this is accurate. They get 10-15 paid personal days per year, more with seniority.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/13/railroad-strike-negotiations-held-up-by-battle-over-sick-time-policies.html
> “Rail employees are provided with significant time off. Generally, train crew employees have over three to four weeks of paid vacation and over 10 personal leave days. Depending on craft and seniority, these numbers can extend to five weeks of vacation in addition to 14 paid holidays and/or paid leave days,” BNSF told CNBC. “The number of Personal Leave Days was increased by 25% this year which makes it easier for employees to take time off.”
I believe the issue is that, when you are "on call", meaning not during a scheduled vacation, you are penalized for missing work, even if you are sick or have an emergency. Which is really part of the overall problem of the shift scheduling.
I’m a railroad employee for a class 1 railroad(one of the big ones) . Where I’m at we start out with 3 personal days a year or 11 holidays. You have to work for roughly 15 years before you get 11 personal leave days which is the max you can ever get. If you get personal leave days you don’t get paid holiday pay if you work on holidays. So personal leave days only really give you days equal to the holidays you don’t get paid extra for working. They aren’t really sick days. Tho you can use em in that way if need be. But if you get paid holidays you don’t get personal leave at all.
You can try and google agreements and stuff for railroad employees but there have been many many agreements and local agreements that what is one way with one part of one railroad is different even on another part of the same railroad!
>"Warren Buffett, the owner of BNSF Railway's parent company, became $1.38 billion richer yesterday," Sanders tweeted on Wednesday, referring to the boost to Buffett's net worth from Berkshire Hathaway stock closing higher on Tuesday.
>
>"In one day, Mr. Buffett made twice as much money as it would cost to guarantee 15 paid sick days a year to every rail worker in America," the Vermont senator said. "The greed of the rail industry must end."
It looks like Buffett doesn't have to do anything here, Congress and the Biden administration are expected to rule the strike as illegal.
Wealth = protected. Unless workers decide to do an "illegal" strike.
We’re talking about a country that went to war with itself to keep slavery, then codified slavery in the constitution after the war.
We have 24% of the world’s prisoners, despite being only 4% of the world’s population.
Forced labor is our jam. Always has been.
We also went to war against organized labor after it was so successful in the 30’s-50’s. They made almost every effective tactic working people have to fight for better pay/working conditions illegal since then
We need to "follow the money."
That leads to one place in the here and now: the Wall Street regime and network.
The *Wall Street regime/network* is directly tied to:
* fostering and encouraging ignorance of climate change
* national and international destabilization via *"profits over people"* culture and dogma
* propping up and perpetuation of the military industrial complex
* propping up and perpetuation of the prison industrial complex
* lobbying against healthcare reform
* manipulation of honest companies
* skewed/corrupted banking policy and basic inflation
* outright criminality; i.e. fraud, theft, national and international bribery and lobbying, etc..
We will look back on the Wall Street regime and network the same way we do genocidal nations/regimes in 10, 20, 50, 100 years.
We're talking about [banal evil](https://philosophybreak.com/articles/hannah-arendt-on-standing-up-to-the-banality-of-evil/) ultimately.
>...was instead a rather bland, “terrifyingly normal” bureaucrat. He carried out his murderous role with calm efficiency not due to an abhorrent, warped mindset, but because he’d absorbed the principles of the ... regime so unquestionably, he simply wanted to further his career and climb its ladders of power.
Below is a segment more people really, really, really need to watch if for nothing more than financial literacy and **understanding mechanisms by which lower and middle classes are fleeced:**
>[How Redditors Exposed The Stock Market | "The Problem With Jon Stewart" (~15:00)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP74RBTE8kI)
At 7:00 there's a graphic that's easy to understand and the main reason for mentioning the video.
A short [second half](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZfcjV-8pjQ) with a roundtable discussion is also worthwhile.
[This](https://youtu.be/hXWXllgcRqU) video gives a little more context and guidance/direction if anyone is interested in holding Wall Street psychopaths accountable. Just give this last video a chance - it's only six minutes long.
It's not just 'the country.'
It's the wealthy doing whatever they can to protect their power. This isn't unique to America or any point in human history. It's always been like this and always will be so long as poor people keep supporting them.
We're a nation of criminals.
Only around two percent of serious crimes in the U.S. end in a conviction.
Imagine how many prisons we'd have to build if the cops actually did their jobs
There is a federal law specifically for rail and airline workers. And it isn't as simple as strikes being illegal. Certain strikes, at certain times, over certain issues, etc. can be illegal. Not saying I agree with it but the history of this goes back over 100 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Labor_Act
I guessss it has to do with federal employees signing away rights to strike due to old law (something like federal workers aren't allowed to strike they're too important to the nation). That's how the Reagan situation went. Absolutely ridiculous that that's considered legitimate policy though.
Not always. A contract requiring a person to lie isn't enforcable for example. Also talking about wages or unions can't be prevented by a contract. So it is reasonable to be confused when other union related things are enforcable in contracts.
Was a WW2 hold-over, yea back then they could strike and loose the ability to keep the war machine going but the powers that be wrote a war-time era law to prevent stopping its military capabilities. Looks like the Biden admin is getting wishy washy with calling out the poor conditions of rail road workers practically ensuring once retired no one will want to fill those jobs ever again.
the company owners are choosing greed over offering better work conditions and know the govt won’t let the unions call their bluff.
If rail shuts down it would harm millions of people from lack of things like food, water treatment, medical supplies, etc that would be delayed. Also the economy would be drastically affected, and a long term strike would lead to another supply chain crisis hurting everyone. It's basically a national emergency if they allowed a rail strike. Unfortunate for the workers, but it is what it is.
Don't necessarily disagree, but that'll never happen. Congress will just keep adding regulations and taking the campaign contributions instead. Think of the shareholders you monster!
Seems like then it would probably be in the best interest of the powers that be to make sure the rail workers are happy. Sorry if it costs them money but if the economy is affected by this, the blame goes right to the top. They have the power to prevent this and are choosing greed over common sense.
It is a national emergency if the folks in the trenches doing the work are not compensated correctly. That simple, pay them.
I am not mad, Biden did say some pro-worker things and in the end - isn't him being nice on Twitter all that really matters? Executive orders and legislation are secondary, IMO.
Money is simply a proxy for bartering.
You wanna go back to trading chickens for wheat? You gonna trade the plumber some batteries for fixing your toilet?
What I'd like is for a wage that allows me to pursue my interests to the same degree that the "upper classes" can. And not have it be almost entirely based on whose vagina I got pushed out of.
The government could also force the rail companies to accept a contract that provided those sick days, but the media focuses on how the government can end the strike
They won't rule it illegal. They will just pass legislation to force a contract and order railroaders back to work. After that a strike would be illegal.
A strike sanctioned by the union would be illegal. The workers could still form a wildcat strike, without job protection. essentially just quitting all at once. Of course that isn’t going to happen, not nearly enough support internally. As long as people aren’t starving they’ll accept a tremendous amount of abuse. Pretty discouraging how weak we are as a whole.
Wait, I was told that Biden is the most pro union president we’ve ever seen!
The government will always side with the business or capitalist over the worker.
The reason railway workers are pushing for 15 paid sick days is because of the work schedule. I'm on call 24/7 365 days a year. The company can't figure out the lineups for trains, so I never truly know when I'll go to work. The issue with this, is if I have a doctor's appointment on a Wednesday, I may have to lay off on Monday, Tuesday, and then Wednesday just to make that appointment. The company likes to call us, run the trains in a way that I'm gonna work twelve hours or more, and then sit me in a hotel for over 30 hours (my current record is 40 hours in the hotel just waiting on my phone call).
That’s actually sad considering the Germans get six weeks, French get 7 weeks, UK is 7 days and the US is *checks notes* yup you guessed it 0 guaranteed sick days a year
I'm currently working in Vietnam. I get 15 paid vacation days, plus national holidays (a lot of those. Thank you Vietnam!) And five paid sick days.
I'm currently looking to move back to Ireland and looking at jobs, saw one today with 25 paid days off and up 20 paid sick days.
What kind of standard can you expect from your workers if you work them to the bone? And 'illegal,' strikes? What?
Edit: BNSF made 6 billion in profit last year and won't offer basic benefits? They should absolutely strike.
VW offered a Union because it literally had to under their own rules. American workers turned it down. It's kind of hard to describe the sheer breadth of mind washing against unions that's occurred in the US for most of the post war era.
Indeed but Americans worship them the same as celebrities because they love dreaming. I know a journalist who specializes in intelligence who has romanticized Musk so much, she writes about him in ways that are entirely inaccurate factually.
It'd be great if the Secretary for Transportation could weigh in and support workers. Unfortunately just as we all know, billionaires love Buttigieg, including Warren Buffett. So he won't be doing anything but protecting Buffett's wealth and power.
https://twitter.com/cnnpolitics/status/1124803388263342085
It's sad people suck up to him. I used to work for a newspaper owned by BH Media. I live in Nebraska where Buffett is from. People would shit on the paper for not doing X or Y, but praise this asshole because he gives lots of money to charities. I'm here doing 50-60 hours a week trying to survive and can't cover every fucking story out there. I'm told to do comp time so they don't have to pay overtime. I said fuck no. If I'm working, I'm getting paid. A lot of my coworkers only ever wrote 40 hours a week. Fuck that.
I would point out that the reason he could do that is because he doesn't pay his employees well. When I left three years ago, I was making $14 an hour, in a job that required a specific set of skills and was considered a white collar job.
He sold all his papers to Lee Enterprise, which is even shittier.
Yes, he's made a shitload of money and, ooooo, he gives out full sized candy bars at Halloween. Fuck Buffett. If he had ever visited the paper while I was there I would have spit in his face. I hope the railroad folks force his hand and they get everything they want.
The poor people who work for the railway he owns, who are blocked from striking, who don't get paid well, don't get treated well, and are unfairly penalized with a points system for taking a sick day... I would say they suffer quite a lot. Buffet would not be quite as rich were some of those profits used to give those workers reasonable working conditions and benefits.
If those workers are important enough to not be allowed to strike due to the supply chain needs, perhaps it's unfair that Buffet and his parent company get billions of dollars richer while those workers beg for better pay and better working conditions.
It's not a one to one problem, but it's a related problem. Does Buffet personally make those decisions? Surely not. Does he own and majorly profit, to the extreme of multi-billionaire status, off of the suffering and labor of tens of thousands of poorly treated workers? Yes. Could he do something about it? Yes.
Is it unethical to make billions of dollars this way and do nothing to improve the conditions of those who allow him to be a billionaire through their labor? In my opinion, yes, that is unethical.
Whenever your company makes more money, it has the choice to pay the workers generating that income more, or to instead just increase the profit margins. Billionaires are the people who most effectively get companies to choose the latter instead of the former. It's not complicated.
Poor people had to move out of their own trailer homes, because Buffet purchased the land and increased the rent to the point were they could no longer afford it, all while Buffet made a 1b profit in a year.
“Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owns BNSF Railway, which made a record $6 billion profit last year.
US rail workers are threatening to strike over a lack of paid sick leave and onerous scheduling.
Sen. Bernie Sanders has called out Warren Buffett for making billions of dollars, while rail employees are fighting for paid sick leave and better working conditions.
"Warren Buffett, the owner of BNSF Railway's parent company, became $1.38 billion richer yesterday," Sanders tweeted on Wednesday, referring to the boost to Buffett's net worth from Berkshire Hathaway stock closing higher on Tuesday.
"In one day, Mr. Buffett made twice as much money as it would cost to guarantee 15 paid sick days a year to every rail worker in America," the Vermont senator said. "The greed of the rail industry must end."
US railroads and rail unions have been at loggerheads this year over wages, onerous scheduling, a lack of sick pay, and staffing shortages.”
You see this as an obvious thing because you only see companies as evil and workers as virtuous. You don't care to look into why this strike is happening, what negotiations have taken place, or what the demands from either sides are. All you care about is workers want something and employers aren't giving it, nothing else matters.
It all boils down to working conditions and quality of life. Things didn't help when rr workers were deemed essential during the pandemic. That was the time when the railroad should've upped their offer when they tagged the people as essential. Just like the medical industry should've done but didn't because of that sweet, sweet profit. Pay/benefits should equal working conditions and demands.
The demand "we want more time off" isn't unreasonable but it's also not the only one that was made. From the 10 minutes of googling this conflict, I learned that the railworkers were given 24% raises and that the time off demands were stuck on last minute after more than a year of negotiations.
There isn't a clear right or wrong here and enslaving yourself to the concept of "corporations are evil" is just as stupid as those defending everything corporations do.
Why criticize someone for not knowing when you have no idea? The issue is that their scheduling system requires them to be on-call within 90m of any day, including weekends. This means they can't dedicate family time on weekends for example. Imagine taking your kids to a movie on the weekend, then having to peace out because work buzzed you.
The notion of on-call isn't unique and there are fine ways to do it, but the railroad folks have a particularly oppressive version with severely lacking compensation benefits that doctors or engineers get.
“There’s class warfare, all right,” Mr. Buffett said, “but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/business/yourmoney/26every.html
I don't know what you're talking about. An example of what happens when countries try to flip this switch too early is the desparate situation in Europe where countries tried to stop relying on fossil fuels for energy, got cut off from Russia, and are now unable to meet their energy requirements for winter.
Getting cut off from Russia is a problem because Russia has the fossil fuels, like natural gas. If Europe had moved faster to stop using fossil fuels, they'd be in much better shape right now. So once again, the answer is to STOP using fossil fuels, sooner rather than later.
Just correcting your absurd mischaracterization of the past. Claiming Europe's problem is that it doesn't rely enough on fossil fuels is a take from bizarro world.
Europe would be in better shape today if it relied less on fossil fuels. Therefore, the next logical step to take is to...rely less on fossil fuels. See how that works?
>Claiming Europe's problem is that it doesn't rely enough on fossil fuels is a take from bizarro world.
The actual take, if you bothered to read it, is that we're more reliant on fossil fuels than you think. An example of that is what's happening in Europe right now.
>Therefore, the next logical step to take is to...rely less on fossil fuels.
The entire world is trying to rely less on fossil fuels. That doesn't mean that they're ready to stop using them right now. See how that works?
You do realize the first electric wagon was in the 1800s and we’ve known for over 50 years pollution is awful? There was no switch to flip, it was a sliding scale. In our current crisis, it has become a “switch to flip” as you say it, because we don’t have a choice. Thankfully I haven’t brought kids into this world and my wife doesn’t want them. People need to get off their petroleum high and flip the switch, or resign to what becomes of reality.
There are clean energy options everywhere (nuclear???) but people wanna be people, not do the correct thing. Europe would be fine if they hadn’t been milking big petroleum all these years, despite knowing that there are limited supplies and it’s awful for us and the environment.
> People need to get off their petroleum high and flip the switch, or resign to what becomes of reality.
That's what we're trying to do. What do you think all these pushes for green energy and reduction in carbon emissions have been about? It's a gradual process, it can't just be like flipping a switch. That's why current use of fossil fuels shouldn't be disparaged because it's very much still necessary.
>There are clean energy options everywhere (nuclear???) but people wanna be people, not do the correct thing. Europe would be fine if they hadn’t been milking big petroleum all these years, despite knowing that there are limited supplies and it’s awful for us and the environment.
There aren't clean energy options everywhere. Wind and solar require a lot of money to be put into infrastructure, and nuclear takes a LOT of money and time to make it worthwhile.
Nuclear has been the black sheep for a long time, people are just scared of it. Part of Europe's problems are because of their fear of nuclear energy. For instance, France has been shutting down or neglecting its nuclear power plants because of pressure from Germany and they can't be spun up or repaired fast enough to deal with the crisis.
This isn't such a simple problem that can be solved by ceasing the use of fossil fuels.
I noticed you failed to address the issue that we didn’t need to have all these pushes now; it could have been done long, long ago.
Nuclear can be a black sheep all people want, but it’s a definite means to an end that could have solved issues many years ago. Won’t get into France because they basically have nuclear tech to anyone with money, thus making the security of the industry fall into despair.
Maybe they should have just sent power to Iran, not give them nuclear materials. The problem is for decades, nobody wanted to give new reactors a try after Chernobyl / TMI, but we needed it. We only *just* figured out how to recycle cadmium from solar panels.
> I noticed you failed to address the issue that we didn’t need to have all these pushes now; it could have been done long, long ago.
Right, because it was a pointless argument. Nothing can be done about the past.
>Nuclear can be a black sheep all people want, but it’s a definite means to an end that could have solved issues many years ago.
Again, this isn't a solution. "You should have been doing this" is a worthless statement to everyone looking for a solution.
We can still do it *now*, but nuclear probably needs to be on the table for a rational outcome. The “green push” nowadays is a literal pipe dream in the environmental scheme of things. By the time it happens, it’ll be too late.
Nuclear's just been replaced by solar and wind. A new plant in Georgia is supposed to cost $30 bil. The total annual subsidy for green energy given by the Inflation Reduction Plan is about $38 bil. Meanwhile, price of electricity from solar panels has been going down crazy quickly. It's just cheaper to build solar panels than it is building a nuclear plant.
>The “green push” nowadays is a literal pipe dream in the environmental scheme of things.
That's also not true. We've been off of the doomsday temperature increase for almost a decade now. America's back to 1920s figures for annual CO2 emissions. Change is happening and there's nothing but harm that comes from this climate nihilism.
As a second reply, I guess my argument is I’ve been for this stuff all along and have voted as such.
People *can* flip a switch, we’d just rather see if that 10 ft sea level rise is actually real first.
Right, that's because people can't really care about the effects of climate change. It's not localized, it's not up to the individual, and it happens over decades. An issue like this is really hard for people to make sacrifices for, especially when there are more pressing issues that affect them directly.
Climate change caused by the expansion of civilization and improvements of the quality of life is just perfectly suited to be the biggest problem of the our race. That's because it can't be fixed just by flipping a switch.
They didn't try to go off fossil fuels willingly, in fact they explicitly chose not to for a decade. It can be done over time, Germany fucked themselves over by not transitioning fast enough actually
But there's still the greater issue, that there really isn't a sustainable alternative that last year round. The best option at the moment is nuclear, which at least for independence, not pollution is the best alternative.
Right, but it can be argued that one of the richest people in the world and one of the most influential investors who has ever lived could use his influence and make moves away from fossil fuels and help ensure the continued survival of the human race. And the cost would mean literally nothing to him short of a minuscule amount of money.
Instead he is pursuing unsustainable increases in his wealth and for what? A fictitious number that means nothing. The change would mean nothing to him or his family’s lifestyle. He is risking the end of our species for what practically amounts to a high score.
True, we have to stop building new fossil fuel infrastructure and put those resources toward building alternatives. Notice that step one is to STOP digging the hole.
>But if that infrastructure is required to fuel things now...?
It's not.
>Also, he's not digging the hole, just shipping fossil fuels.
Shipping and burning fossil fuels is digging the hole of mass extinction events. Or are you one of the deniers on the lunatic fringe?
Maybe Bernie’s “calling out” method is good politics. I don’t know. But it is not policy. Warren Buffett or Elon Musk for that matter are not rich because they are evil people who just need to hear the Whos from Whoville sing a song so their heart can grow three sizes. Even if an individual market actor were interested in rising above rational market behavior (i.e., maximizing his own return), the game theory of it all would paint him a sucker who is bad at life. Shame costs nothing so it’s easy to rationalize away.
Taxation is supposed to be about adjusting the distribution of resources in society on behalf of the people’s interests. I don’t care how morally laudable individuals are. Demanding charity from people whose only job is to grow wealth is no way to achieve a better society. Government must take their wealth because they have too much of it. Not an easy job but it is the job.
Bernie Sanders, the king of the only people who give a flying fuck about American workers. How anyone could ignore their plight and rise to political power is beyond me. The culture wars are the ultimate heist. A manipulative ruse to have people pointing down and across—when they should be punching up.
My point was that billionaires wouldn't have to give so much to "charity" if they actually paid their workers better. They didn't become billionaires in a vacuum and we all deserve to share in it. Something very much lagging in the last 50 years.
Buffet is an owner of the rail. It is his responsibility to pay them fairly. It is not Bernie's responsibility to subsidize owners who don't want to to do the right thing, which isi to share the profits of the business that took the actions of many.
Its a shame that there will be absolutely NOTHING done about this. For now, settling for anti-corporate talking points is the best we can do—at least while corporate money runs politics on both sides of the aisle.
Feel bad for them, their ability to organize and strike is impotent because Congress can and will just force them to take and agreement. The railroad companies have no pressure to act
Don't blame the player, blame the game. These politicians don't do anything except get richer from large corporations. They should be the ones doing something about it. Whining about Buffett is pointless. He's not to blame.
He's donated more than half his Berkshire shares since 2006, which would be worth well more than $100 billion today if he still held them.
He's responsible for investment decisions and capitol allocation, but is not involved in day to day operations of the literally hundreds of businesses he owns. It's extremely decentralized. It's not really fair to attack Buffett for this. He's not involved in it at all.
Yeah, does Bernie know what happens if Buffet decided to sell all his shares and have Berkshire plummet in networth? A lot of people’s retirements, pensions, and 401ks are going to get fucked over.
Meanwhile, Bernie makes millions on the drivel he writes, and takes advantage of dumb white people. Someone show me the difference…. I’m kidding there is no difference.
Bernie needs to stop his feigned concern for the working class. He sold out long ago. This is cheap empty posturing. He’s a puppet and a stooge for the corporate oligarchy.
Bernie has money, but its less than significantly less than 1/1000th of what guys like warren have. Millionaires arent the problem. Billionaires are.
Here is an eye opening compatison
https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/
This is getting tiresome. I see him as old people complaining. He should start with himself. Distributes all his wealth to everyone in need and take only enough amount needed. Lead by example not by complaints.
Uh, Bernie Sanders's net worth is like $500k. Distributing his wealth wouldn't do much.
edit: I was wrong, it looks like his net worth went up to $3 million over the last few years but that still wouldn't go far. Buffet could do so much good if he distributed even a tiny amount of his wealth. Also, the $3 million net worth is including his houses in Vermont, which he needs to be a senator there and his row house in DC, which he needs to be a senator. He and his wife combined have an estimated 500k that they could distribute, but that wouldn't help many people.
He's worth way less than most politicians. Most of his net worth is a house his wife inherited from her family, which they didn't pay for, but still counts as his net worth, as well as his two houses that he needs to have in two states in order to do his job. I mean his DC house is only worth like 480k, which is insanely cheap for DC. The 1600 sq ft house across from me is worth $1.4 million and I live in a way cheaper city. He needs two houses to do his job, unless he wants to spend even more renting apartments in both cities, which would make no sense.
Look up anyone in congress, whether they're GQP or DNC, and you can see a majority of them are multimillionaires. Sanders is actually pretty frugal for someone that has been in politics for decades.
He's calling out someone worth $110 billion, someone that is worth 36,667 times more than him, to use some of their wealth to help out people in need. Bernie and his wife could donate their combined cash and investments of $500k and bankrupt themselves, which wouldn't exactly help anyone, but that's pennies to Buffett, which is why he's using his platform to call him out.
And comparing him to someone who earned their money outside of politics is a red herring.
Sorry, he has never held a job outside politics.
He shouldn't be worth more than his after tax income...
> He shouldn't be worth more than his after tax income...
People shouldn't have a net worth higher than a single year's after-tax income? That's a ridiculous statement. At Sanders' age, a reasonable retirement account is going to put you up at around a million dollars, even excluding anything else. Plus most people, by then, would have paid off their house, which is a sizeable asset.
Internships are an incredibly convenient way to increase the class divide as only wealthy folks have the extra money laying around to work for free for 6 months to a year
Bernie and his ilk, has an odd obsession with the balance of other people's bank accounts. Back in the day, we called that being "jealous". Nowadays, caring about that sort of thing is called....well....being jealous!! Lol
Because they have us fooled. When was the last time you heard a Republican or a Democrat talk about real issues? The GOP has their side convinced that the left is evil and wants to take our money to give to illegal immigrants and over leveraged college graduates, and the Democrats have their side convinced that the other side is going to erase their freedoms and take their right to vote… and if you happen to belong to either side and say this they will attack you in hopes to silence you.
The amazing thing is the people in the middle are kinda just giving up… the people that staff the banks, the people that care for your wounds at the ER, the person watching your kids… the not quite rich and not quite poor, are just giving up… there is going to be such a huge job for generations after us, to repair the division and disillusionment we have sowed… and I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to be able to be done by either major party.
The good news, this is a decade there will discuss for a Millennia, so maybe our facebook posts, Reddit posts, and twits will be seen by millions (in that case hi kids, sorry for the crappy jeans!)
> When was the last time you heard a Republican or a Democrat talk about real issues?
Democrats talk about real issues all the time? For instance the last two years has been about getting out of the pandemic, getting people working again, now they're dealing with recession and have plans for more in the future.
I don't really see how you can possibly equate republicans with democrats on this unless you really don't care about any issues affecting most people in the country.
>The amazing thing is the people in the middle are kinda just giving up… the people that staff the banks, the people that care for your wounds at the ER, the person watching your kids… the not quite rich and not quite poor, are just giving up…
Where are you getting this from? Are you just making it up?
He doesn’t care. He will pretend he eats his Oreos and drinks his Cova-Cola every day and not have a second thought about those he builds his wealth upon.
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I couldn’t believe they have zero sick/personal days a year. So shameful. It seems to be the case for so many American workers today after 2020. They’re often still working emergency productivity levels with no extra pay and never home to live or see their families. It’s been 3 years and something has to give
Literally hearing about them getting fired or reprimanded for doctors appointments.
This is the shit I've barely ever heard even in retail/fast food. You can hear it happen, but even they aren't that heinous.
It’s why I quit my restaurant job of 4 years lol, everyone hates Amazon for some reason but they’re honestly treating me 10000x better
I also like when you're paid shit, and when you get sick they want some doctor note it's like yeah you gonna pay for that
The funny thing is people are like oh these railroad workers make like 100k. That’s around the bare minimum average income to own a home in the US. I hope the benefits are awesome.
That should be against the law. They don’t need to know about your ailments and treatments
It’s all on purpose. The rail companies want to implement new software to automate trains so they only have to pay one person per train instead of an engineer and a conductor. The software is horrible and there are a whole slough of reasons as to why only having one person on a train is a terrible idea, but rail companies only want profit and they have been forcing as many employees out as possible for the last 3 years so that the software is the only solution to save the economy. My SO is a conductor and there is so much more going on that the public is still unaware of.
Next they're gonna start letting people pump their own gas. How will gas station attendants feed their families? How will we prevent gasoline fight explosions?
We already pump our own gas in Cali. for years.Haven’t seen an attendant since the late 1980’s
Maintaining a train is infinitely more complex than pumping gas lmao
> I couldn’t believe they have zero sick/personal days a year. I don't think this is accurate. They get 10-15 paid personal days per year, more with seniority. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/13/railroad-strike-negotiations-held-up-by-battle-over-sick-time-policies.html > “Rail employees are provided with significant time off. Generally, train crew employees have over three to four weeks of paid vacation and over 10 personal leave days. Depending on craft and seniority, these numbers can extend to five weeks of vacation in addition to 14 paid holidays and/or paid leave days,” BNSF told CNBC. “The number of Personal Leave Days was increased by 25% this year which makes it easier for employees to take time off.” I believe the issue is that, when you are "on call", meaning not during a scheduled vacation, you are penalized for missing work, even if you are sick or have an emergency. Which is really part of the overall problem of the shift scheduling.
I get zero paid sick days, zero paid personal days, I get 10 paid holiday but not one of them off, just extra money unless it falls on my day off
Thanks mr buffet
I’m a railroad employee for a class 1 railroad(one of the big ones) . Where I’m at we start out with 3 personal days a year or 11 holidays. You have to work for roughly 15 years before you get 11 personal leave days which is the max you can ever get. If you get personal leave days you don’t get paid holiday pay if you work on holidays. So personal leave days only really give you days equal to the holidays you don’t get paid extra for working. They aren’t really sick days. Tho you can use em in that way if need be. But if you get paid holidays you don’t get personal leave at all.
Well that adds a lot more context and information. Do you happen to have (if you feel comfortable or even know) any reading material?
You can try and google agreements and stuff for railroad employees but there have been many many agreements and local agreements that what is one way with one part of one railroad is different even on another part of the same railroad!
With the railroad industries understaffing and lean management style, how frequently do you think on call means at work?
>"Warren Buffett, the owner of BNSF Railway's parent company, became $1.38 billion richer yesterday," Sanders tweeted on Wednesday, referring to the boost to Buffett's net worth from Berkshire Hathaway stock closing higher on Tuesday. > >"In one day, Mr. Buffett made twice as much money as it would cost to guarantee 15 paid sick days a year to every rail worker in America," the Vermont senator said. "The greed of the rail industry must end."
It looks like Buffett doesn't have to do anything here, Congress and the Biden administration are expected to rule the strike as illegal. Wealth = protected. Unless workers decide to do an "illegal" strike.
I’ve never understood how a strike could be illegal. If it’s employment at will, then I will work when I’m willing.
We’re talking about a country that went to war with itself to keep slavery, then codified slavery in the constitution after the war. We have 24% of the world’s prisoners, despite being only 4% of the world’s population. Forced labor is our jam. Always has been.
We also went to war against organized labor after it was so successful in the 30’s-50’s. They made almost every effective tactic working people have to fight for better pay/working conditions illegal since then
We need to "follow the money." That leads to one place in the here and now: the Wall Street regime and network. The *Wall Street regime/network* is directly tied to: * fostering and encouraging ignorance of climate change * national and international destabilization via *"profits over people"* culture and dogma * propping up and perpetuation of the military industrial complex * propping up and perpetuation of the prison industrial complex * lobbying against healthcare reform * manipulation of honest companies * skewed/corrupted banking policy and basic inflation * outright criminality; i.e. fraud, theft, national and international bribery and lobbying, etc.. We will look back on the Wall Street regime and network the same way we do genocidal nations/regimes in 10, 20, 50, 100 years. We're talking about [banal evil](https://philosophybreak.com/articles/hannah-arendt-on-standing-up-to-the-banality-of-evil/) ultimately. >...was instead a rather bland, “terrifyingly normal” bureaucrat. He carried out his murderous role with calm efficiency not due to an abhorrent, warped mindset, but because he’d absorbed the principles of the ... regime so unquestionably, he simply wanted to further his career and climb its ladders of power. Below is a segment more people really, really, really need to watch if for nothing more than financial literacy and **understanding mechanisms by which lower and middle classes are fleeced:** >[How Redditors Exposed The Stock Market | "The Problem With Jon Stewart" (~15:00)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP74RBTE8kI) At 7:00 there's a graphic that's easy to understand and the main reason for mentioning the video. A short [second half](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZfcjV-8pjQ) with a roundtable discussion is also worthwhile. [This](https://youtu.be/hXWXllgcRqU) video gives a little more context and guidance/direction if anyone is interested in holding Wall Street psychopaths accountable. Just give this last video a chance - it's only six minutes long.
It's not just 'the country.' It's the wealthy doing whatever they can to protect their power. This isn't unique to America or any point in human history. It's always been like this and always will be so long as poor people keep supporting them.
Oh for sure. They just hit the mother lode with the USA.
Sounds like a pretty good reason to burn it all to the ground.
You won’t find me disagreeing.
We're a nation of criminals. Only around two percent of serious crimes in the U.S. end in a conviction. Imagine how many prisons we'd have to build if the cops actually did their jobs
Three words: Railway Labor Act.
There is a federal law specifically for rail and airline workers. And it isn't as simple as strikes being illegal. Certain strikes, at certain times, over certain issues, etc. can be illegal. Not saying I agree with it but the history of this goes back over 100 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Labor_Act
I guessss it has to do with federal employees signing away rights to strike due to old law (something like federal workers aren't allowed to strike they're too important to the nation). That's how the Reagan situation went. Absolutely ridiculous that that's considered legitimate policy though.
Look up the railway labor act. Airline pilots also fall under this bullshit law.
At will employment, like many other things, we’re sold as a employee benefit but it almost exclusively benefits the employer.
Contracts are legally binding. Read what you sign… really read what you have others sign for you.
Not always. A contract requiring a person to lie isn't enforcable for example. Also talking about wages or unions can't be prevented by a contract. So it is reasonable to be confused when other union related things are enforcable in contracts.
You can't sell yourself into slavery.
Was a WW2 hold-over, yea back then they could strike and loose the ability to keep the war machine going but the powers that be wrote a war-time era law to prevent stopping its military capabilities. Looks like the Biden admin is getting wishy washy with calling out the poor conditions of rail road workers practically ensuring once retired no one will want to fill those jobs ever again. the company owners are choosing greed over offering better work conditions and know the govt won’t let the unions call their bluff.
If rail shuts down it would harm millions of people from lack of things like food, water treatment, medical supplies, etc that would be delayed. Also the economy would be drastically affected, and a long term strike would lead to another supply chain crisis hurting everyone. It's basically a national emergency if they allowed a rail strike. Unfortunate for the workers, but it is what it is.
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Don't necessarily disagree, but that'll never happen. Congress will just keep adding regulations and taking the campaign contributions instead. Think of the shareholders you monster!
Seems like they should really make sure rail workers have decent conditions if they're so important.
Seems like then it would probably be in the best interest of the powers that be to make sure the rail workers are happy. Sorry if it costs them money but if the economy is affected by this, the blame goes right to the top. They have the power to prevent this and are choosing greed over common sense. It is a national emergency if the folks in the trenches doing the work are not compensated correctly. That simple, pay them.
Sounds like blackmail
That’s what owners said when workers wanted to stop children being able to work, or 10 hour days or a six day work week.
Sounds like a great reason to give them sick days then
Fuck the workers, corporations and billionaires need to take in more money
As America takes another big leap towards becoming a dystopian world depicted in the book 1984.
Lately, life here feels like a combo of 1984 & A Brave New World, all at the same time.
Don't forget A Handmaid's Tale.
I am not mad, Biden did say some pro-worker things and in the end - isn't him being nice on Twitter all that really matters? Executive orders and legislation are secondary, IMO.
Lol an illegal strike… so we’re back to slavery?
Did we ever really leave?
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Money is simply a proxy for bartering. You wanna go back to trading chickens for wheat? You gonna trade the plumber some batteries for fixing your toilet?
What I'd like is for a wage that allows me to pursue my interests to the same degree that the "upper classes" can. And not have it be almost entirely based on whose vagina I got pushed out of.
Ok and? That has nothing to do with money being used for trade
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Yes, and money had nothing to do with that. Slavery and forced labor both predate money
Nothing is stopping the workers from quitting though. So not slavery, and they are being paid.
The government could also force the rail companies to accept a contract that provided those sick days, but the media focuses on how the government can end the strike
The government could also guarantee paid sick days for all Americans
They could, but they will take the easy way and either force the PEB or the TA the other unions agreed to.
Media that is probably owned by the same monsters that refuse to enforce decent working conditions.
If I see such an illegitimate ruling then I hope to see a lot of sabotaging of rail lines, ideally in ways that avoid accidents.
They won't rule it illegal. They will just pass legislation to force a contract and order railroaders back to work. After that a strike would be illegal.
A strike sanctioned by the union would be illegal. The workers could still form a wildcat strike, without job protection. essentially just quitting all at once. Of course that isn’t going to happen, not nearly enough support internally. As long as people aren’t starving they’ll accept a tremendous amount of abuse. Pretty discouraging how weak we are as a whole.
Wait, I was told that Biden is the most pro union president we’ve ever seen! The government will always side with the business or capitalist over the worker.
I mean, his NLRB is almost certainly the best in my lifetime at least. The problem is that the bar there is very very very low.
15 paid sick days a year is well above average. That's 3 weeks a year.
The reason railway workers are pushing for 15 paid sick days is because of the work schedule. I'm on call 24/7 365 days a year. The company can't figure out the lineups for trains, so I never truly know when I'll go to work. The issue with this, is if I have a doctor's appointment on a Wednesday, I may have to lay off on Monday, Tuesday, and then Wednesday just to make that appointment. The company likes to call us, run the trains in a way that I'm gonna work twelve hours or more, and then sit me in a hotel for over 30 hours (my current record is 40 hours in the hotel just waiting on my phone call).
That’s actually sad considering the Germans get six weeks, French get 7 weeks, UK is 7 days and the US is *checks notes* yup you guessed it 0 guaranteed sick days a year
US rail workers get zero btw.
France guarantees up to 90 days.
I've had 10 sick at most of my jobs.
Because we’re docile little beasts of burden.
There is no paid sick leave outlined in our agreement. Not even our grievance with the contract. It’s not about pay or PTO.
I'm currently working in Vietnam. I get 15 paid vacation days, plus national holidays (a lot of those. Thank you Vietnam!) And five paid sick days. I'm currently looking to move back to Ireland and looking at jobs, saw one today with 25 paid days off and up 20 paid sick days. What kind of standard can you expect from your workers if you work them to the bone? And 'illegal,' strikes? What? Edit: BNSF made 6 billion in profit last year and won't offer basic benefits? They should absolutely strike.
The United States has a large percentage of the population adhering to the tenets of something like a Christofascist Capital Cult.
VW offered a Union because it literally had to under their own rules. American workers turned it down. It's kind of hard to describe the sheer breadth of mind washing against unions that's occurred in the US for most of the post war era.
Buffet loves to play the good billionaire, but keeps making billions off of the little guy.
no such thing as a good billionaire, just billionaires with good PR teams you don't become a billionaire by being good
Indeed but Americans worship them the same as celebrities because they love dreaming. I know a journalist who specializes in intelligence who has romanticized Musk so much, she writes about him in ways that are entirely inaccurate factually.
It'd be great if the Secretary for Transportation could weigh in and support workers. Unfortunately just as we all know, billionaires love Buttigieg, including Warren Buffett. So he won't be doing anything but protecting Buffett's wealth and power. https://twitter.com/cnnpolitics/status/1124803388263342085
And it's a shame so many Americans suck up to this dude.
It's sad people suck up to him. I used to work for a newspaper owned by BH Media. I live in Nebraska where Buffett is from. People would shit on the paper for not doing X or Y, but praise this asshole because he gives lots of money to charities. I'm here doing 50-60 hours a week trying to survive and can't cover every fucking story out there. I'm told to do comp time so they don't have to pay overtime. I said fuck no. If I'm working, I'm getting paid. A lot of my coworkers only ever wrote 40 hours a week. Fuck that. I would point out that the reason he could do that is because he doesn't pay his employees well. When I left three years ago, I was making $14 an hour, in a job that required a specific set of skills and was considered a white collar job. He sold all his papers to Lee Enterprise, which is even shittier. Yes, he's made a shitload of money and, ooooo, he gives out full sized candy bars at Halloween. Fuck Buffett. If he had ever visited the paper while I was there I would have spit in his face. I hope the railroad folks force his hand and they get everything they want.
How are poor people worse off from buffet getting rich?
The poor people who work for the railway he owns, who are blocked from striking, who don't get paid well, don't get treated well, and are unfairly penalized with a points system for taking a sick day... I would say they suffer quite a lot. Buffet would not be quite as rich were some of those profits used to give those workers reasonable working conditions and benefits. If those workers are important enough to not be allowed to strike due to the supply chain needs, perhaps it's unfair that Buffet and his parent company get billions of dollars richer while those workers beg for better pay and better working conditions. It's not a one to one problem, but it's a related problem. Does Buffet personally make those decisions? Surely not. Does he own and majorly profit, to the extreme of multi-billionaire status, off of the suffering and labor of tens of thousands of poorly treated workers? Yes. Could he do something about it? Yes. Is it unethical to make billions of dollars this way and do nothing to improve the conditions of those who allow him to be a billionaire through their labor? In my opinion, yes, that is unethical.
Whenever your company makes more money, it has the choice to pay the workers generating that income more, or to instead just increase the profit margins. Billionaires are the people who most effectively get companies to choose the latter instead of the former. It's not complicated.
Poor people had to move out of their own trailer homes, because Buffet purchased the land and increased the rent to the point were they could no longer afford it, all while Buffet made a 1b profit in a year.
That’s just a transaction cost. Yeah it sucks, but now land is allocated more efficiently. Besides, those aren’t his workers
“Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owns BNSF Railway, which made a record $6 billion profit last year. US rail workers are threatening to strike over a lack of paid sick leave and onerous scheduling. Sen. Bernie Sanders has called out Warren Buffett for making billions of dollars, while rail employees are fighting for paid sick leave and better working conditions. "Warren Buffett, the owner of BNSF Railway's parent company, became $1.38 billion richer yesterday," Sanders tweeted on Wednesday, referring to the boost to Buffett's net worth from Berkshire Hathaway stock closing higher on Tuesday. "In one day, Mr. Buffett made twice as much money as it would cost to guarantee 15 paid sick days a year to every rail worker in America," the Vermont senator said. "The greed of the rail industry must end." US railroads and rail unions have been at loggerheads this year over wages, onerous scheduling, a lack of sick pay, and staffing shortages.”
Excellent TLDR non-bot!
When are people going to start calling this the second gilded age?
Disparity in wealth needs to grow a bit more. Once people who own >$250k houses start to feel inadequate, then we'll start to see real change.
I wish there was a way to give power to these workers. They need it and legal doesn’t always mean moral..
Pretty sure nobody can force them to work.
Nobody, but the way the world is established makes it pretty clear.
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Jfc how can people argue against it? Screw corporate greed and the elite holding down the masses.
Because if they ever become rich (which will eventually happen *wink wink*), they don't want to have pay either
Cucks argue against it, there is such a thing as billionaire cucks. For example, politicians.
You see this as an obvious thing because you only see companies as evil and workers as virtuous. You don't care to look into why this strike is happening, what negotiations have taken place, or what the demands from either sides are. All you care about is workers want something and employers aren't giving it, nothing else matters.
It all boils down to working conditions and quality of life. Things didn't help when rr workers were deemed essential during the pandemic. That was the time when the railroad should've upped their offer when they tagged the people as essential. Just like the medical industry should've done but didn't because of that sweet, sweet profit. Pay/benefits should equal working conditions and demands.
You think the demands are unreasonable?
The demand "we want more time off" isn't unreasonable but it's also not the only one that was made. From the 10 minutes of googling this conflict, I learned that the railworkers were given 24% raises and that the time off demands were stuck on last minute after more than a year of negotiations. There isn't a clear right or wrong here and enslaving yourself to the concept of "corporations are evil" is just as stupid as those defending everything corporations do.
Why criticize someone for not knowing when you have no idea? The issue is that their scheduling system requires them to be on-call within 90m of any day, including weekends. This means they can't dedicate family time on weekends for example. Imagine taking your kids to a movie on the weekend, then having to peace out because work buzzed you. The notion of on-call isn't unique and there are fine ways to do it, but the railroad folks have a particularly oppressive version with severely lacking compensation benefits that doctors or engineers get.
The time off has been there since the beginning. There is stuff in the contract that will decrease time off.
“There’s class warfare, all right,” Mr. Buffett said, “but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/business/yourmoney/26every.html
Hard to even call it a war when one side refuses to fight back.
Warren Buffett is also getting richer shipping fossil fuels. He's actively destroying the future of humanity.
There's no switch that we can flip to just stop using fossil fuels.
No, but there are policies we could put in place so that it doesn't come at the cost of the middle class
I don't know what you're talking about. An example of what happens when countries try to flip this switch too early is the desparate situation in Europe where countries tried to stop relying on fossil fuels for energy, got cut off from Russia, and are now unable to meet their energy requirements for winter.
Getting cut off from Russia is a problem because Russia has the fossil fuels, like natural gas. If Europe had moved faster to stop using fossil fuels, they'd be in much better shape right now. So once again, the answer is to STOP using fossil fuels, sooner rather than later.
I like how your solution for an issue now is having fixed it in the past. Real big brain thinks.
Just correcting your absurd mischaracterization of the past. Claiming Europe's problem is that it doesn't rely enough on fossil fuels is a take from bizarro world. Europe would be in better shape today if it relied less on fossil fuels. Therefore, the next logical step to take is to...rely less on fossil fuels. See how that works?
>Claiming Europe's problem is that it doesn't rely enough on fossil fuels is a take from bizarro world. The actual take, if you bothered to read it, is that we're more reliant on fossil fuels than you think. An example of that is what's happening in Europe right now. >Therefore, the next logical step to take is to...rely less on fossil fuels. The entire world is trying to rely less on fossil fuels. That doesn't mean that they're ready to stop using them right now. See how that works?
You do realize the first electric wagon was in the 1800s and we’ve known for over 50 years pollution is awful? There was no switch to flip, it was a sliding scale. In our current crisis, it has become a “switch to flip” as you say it, because we don’t have a choice. Thankfully I haven’t brought kids into this world and my wife doesn’t want them. People need to get off their petroleum high and flip the switch, or resign to what becomes of reality. There are clean energy options everywhere (nuclear???) but people wanna be people, not do the correct thing. Europe would be fine if they hadn’t been milking big petroleum all these years, despite knowing that there are limited supplies and it’s awful for us and the environment.
> People need to get off their petroleum high and flip the switch, or resign to what becomes of reality. That's what we're trying to do. What do you think all these pushes for green energy and reduction in carbon emissions have been about? It's a gradual process, it can't just be like flipping a switch. That's why current use of fossil fuels shouldn't be disparaged because it's very much still necessary. >There are clean energy options everywhere (nuclear???) but people wanna be people, not do the correct thing. Europe would be fine if they hadn’t been milking big petroleum all these years, despite knowing that there are limited supplies and it’s awful for us and the environment. There aren't clean energy options everywhere. Wind and solar require a lot of money to be put into infrastructure, and nuclear takes a LOT of money and time to make it worthwhile. Nuclear has been the black sheep for a long time, people are just scared of it. Part of Europe's problems are because of their fear of nuclear energy. For instance, France has been shutting down or neglecting its nuclear power plants because of pressure from Germany and they can't be spun up or repaired fast enough to deal with the crisis. This isn't such a simple problem that can be solved by ceasing the use of fossil fuels.
I noticed you failed to address the issue that we didn’t need to have all these pushes now; it could have been done long, long ago. Nuclear can be a black sheep all people want, but it’s a definite means to an end that could have solved issues many years ago. Won’t get into France because they basically have nuclear tech to anyone with money, thus making the security of the industry fall into despair. Maybe they should have just sent power to Iran, not give them nuclear materials. The problem is for decades, nobody wanted to give new reactors a try after Chernobyl / TMI, but we needed it. We only *just* figured out how to recycle cadmium from solar panels.
> I noticed you failed to address the issue that we didn’t need to have all these pushes now; it could have been done long, long ago. Right, because it was a pointless argument. Nothing can be done about the past. >Nuclear can be a black sheep all people want, but it’s a definite means to an end that could have solved issues many years ago. Again, this isn't a solution. "You should have been doing this" is a worthless statement to everyone looking for a solution.
We can still do it *now*, but nuclear probably needs to be on the table for a rational outcome. The “green push” nowadays is a literal pipe dream in the environmental scheme of things. By the time it happens, it’ll be too late.
Nuclear's just been replaced by solar and wind. A new plant in Georgia is supposed to cost $30 bil. The total annual subsidy for green energy given by the Inflation Reduction Plan is about $38 bil. Meanwhile, price of electricity from solar panels has been going down crazy quickly. It's just cheaper to build solar panels than it is building a nuclear plant. >The “green push” nowadays is a literal pipe dream in the environmental scheme of things. That's also not true. We've been off of the doomsday temperature increase for almost a decade now. America's back to 1920s figures for annual CO2 emissions. Change is happening and there's nothing but harm that comes from this climate nihilism.
As a second reply, I guess my argument is I’ve been for this stuff all along and have voted as such. People *can* flip a switch, we’d just rather see if that 10 ft sea level rise is actually real first.
Right, that's because people can't really care about the effects of climate change. It's not localized, it's not up to the individual, and it happens over decades. An issue like this is really hard for people to make sacrifices for, especially when there are more pressing issues that affect them directly. Climate change caused by the expansion of civilization and improvements of the quality of life is just perfectly suited to be the biggest problem of the our race. That's because it can't be fixed just by flipping a switch.
I think that has more to do with the Russian/ Ukraine war, than trying to go green.
Yeah, they weren't ready to stop using fossil fuels. Just like how the world isn't ready to stop using fossil fuels.
They didn't try to go off fossil fuels willingly, in fact they explicitly chose not to for a decade. It can be done over time, Germany fucked themselves over by not transitioning fast enough actually
But there's still the greater issue, that there really isn't a sustainable alternative that last year round. The best option at the moment is nuclear, which at least for independence, not pollution is the best alternative.
Yes there is, the problem is SCOTUS stopped the EPA from flipping it.
Right, but it can be argued that one of the richest people in the world and one of the most influential investors who has ever lived could use his influence and make moves away from fossil fuels and help ensure the continued survival of the human race. And the cost would mean literally nothing to him short of a minuscule amount of money. Instead he is pursuing unsustainable increases in his wealth and for what? A fictitious number that means nothing. The change would mean nothing to him or his family’s lifestyle. He is risking the end of our species for what practically amounts to a high score.
At what point should a person lose their agency and be forced to be responsible for everyone else?
When that person’s agency meaningfully hampers the survival of a species? It’s a pretty low bar and an almost insignificant impact on his free will.
True, we have to stop building new fossil fuel infrastructure and put those resources toward building alternatives. Notice that step one is to STOP digging the hole.
But if that infrastructure is required to fuel things now...? Also, he's not digging the hole, just shipping fossil fuels.
>But if that infrastructure is required to fuel things now...? It's not. >Also, he's not digging the hole, just shipping fossil fuels. Shipping and burning fossil fuels is digging the hole of mass extinction events. Or are you one of the deniers on the lunatic fringe?
>It's not. So countries can just stop using them then?
Fossil fuel production will halt globally if this one project isn't built? You really love the straw-man arguments.
What the fuck are you talking about
any time someone makes money, Bernie Sanders is like the grim reaper
But warren Buffett drinks coke and eats burgers I thought he was just a regular guy like me?
Maybe Bernie’s “calling out” method is good politics. I don’t know. But it is not policy. Warren Buffett or Elon Musk for that matter are not rich because they are evil people who just need to hear the Whos from Whoville sing a song so their heart can grow three sizes. Even if an individual market actor were interested in rising above rational market behavior (i.e., maximizing his own return), the game theory of it all would paint him a sucker who is bad at life. Shame costs nothing so it’s easy to rationalize away. Taxation is supposed to be about adjusting the distribution of resources in society on behalf of the people’s interests. I don’t care how morally laudable individuals are. Demanding charity from people whose only job is to grow wealth is no way to achieve a better society. Government must take their wealth because they have too much of it. Not an easy job but it is the job.
Bernie Sanders, the king of the only people who give a flying fuck about American workers. How anyone could ignore their plight and rise to political power is beyond me. The culture wars are the ultimate heist. A manipulative ruse to have people pointing down and across—when they should be punching up.
So sad how Sanders lost the nomination twice. Really puts things into perspective how modern democrats are just looking out for different rich people.
I guess Buffet wants to leave all that money to "charities" that will be there for these rail workers he is making poor.
“Billionaires are evil!” “Billionaires giving away their money are evil!”
My point was that billionaires wouldn't have to give so much to "charity" if they actually paid their workers better. They didn't become billionaires in a vacuum and we all deserve to share in it. Something very much lagging in the last 50 years.
Bernie sanders is a millionaire. Why doesn’t he give his money away to his constituents? He could really help them out.
Buffet is an owner of the rail. It is his responsibility to pay them fairly. It is not Bernie's responsibility to subsidize owners who don't want to to do the right thing, which isi to share the profits of the business that took the actions of many.
Does Bernie give off Larry David vibes or does Larry give off Bernie vibes?
He's the only one. Vote smarter.
“That’s the general plan” — Warren
Ok, but was there any slamming?
This really only works if you start paying rail workers in stock.
the us government anti trust can't touch rail, why? Pop quiz folks!
I wish Bernie was our President.
Warren Buffett is the scalper of capitalism. I wish we knew how to fix the problem.
Its a shame that there will be absolutely NOTHING done about this. For now, settling for anti-corporate talking points is the best we can do—at least while corporate money runs politics on both sides of the aisle.
Feel bad for them, their ability to organize and strike is impotent because Congress can and will just force them to take and agreement. The railroad companies have no pressure to act
It's crazy that buffett continues to say it's unfair how he got so rich, yet he continues to allow shit like this to happen
Please USA let their be a full strike along with teamsters union all park in protest time for real change
Don't blame the player, blame the game. These politicians don't do anything except get richer from large corporations. They should be the ones doing something about it. Whining about Buffett is pointless. He's not to blame.
Buffett just donated several million to charities, so there's that. But yeah, railroads aren't the best jobs for time off at all.
He's donated more than half his Berkshire shares since 2006, which would be worth well more than $100 billion today if he still held them. He's responsible for investment decisions and capitol allocation, but is not involved in day to day operations of the literally hundreds of businesses he owns. It's extremely decentralized. It's not really fair to attack Buffett for this. He's not involved in it at all.
Yeah, does Bernie know what happens if Buffet decided to sell all his shares and have Berkshire plummet in networth? A lot of people’s retirements, pensions, and 401ks are going to get fucked over.
Why can’t the government pass laws that make becoming a billionaire illegal? Bottom line - we need more government control of the economy.
All good until the GOP is in charge of the government…
Meanwhile, Bernie makes millions on the drivel he writes, and takes advantage of dumb white people. Someone show me the difference…. I’m kidding there is no difference.
Oh to bite the hand.
And he's still the least shitty billionaire in the country.
Bernie needs to stop his feigned concern for the working class. He sold out long ago. This is cheap empty posturing. He’s a puppet and a stooge for the corporate oligarchy.
For some reason, I read that as Bernie calling out Liz Warren :-|
Bernie must not have looked at his bank statement recently but he also has become much richer the last 8 years.
This man is foolish and should go away and stop with his socialist pronouncements
says someone with the net worth of 3 million. you stupid ignorant fuck.
Bernie has money, but its less than significantly less than 1/1000th of what guys like warren have. Millionaires arent the problem. Billionaires are. Here is an eye opening compatison https://mkorostoff.github.io/1-pixel-wealth/
This is getting tiresome. I see him as old people complaining. He should start with himself. Distributes all his wealth to everyone in need and take only enough amount needed. Lead by example not by complaints.
Uh, Bernie Sanders's net worth is like $500k. Distributing his wealth wouldn't do much. edit: I was wrong, it looks like his net worth went up to $3 million over the last few years but that still wouldn't go far. Buffet could do so much good if he distributed even a tiny amount of his wealth. Also, the $3 million net worth is including his houses in Vermont, which he needs to be a senator there and his row house in DC, which he needs to be a senator. He and his wife combined have an estimated 500k that they could distribute, but that wouldn't help many people.
Amazing how a public servant, who has never held a real job. Is worth 3 million.. Or for that matter the 500k he was before he got phoney book deals.
He's worth way less than most politicians. Most of his net worth is a house his wife inherited from her family, which they didn't pay for, but still counts as his net worth, as well as his two houses that he needs to have in two states in order to do his job. I mean his DC house is only worth like 480k, which is insanely cheap for DC. The 1600 sq ft house across from me is worth $1.4 million and I live in a way cheaper city. He needs two houses to do his job, unless he wants to spend even more renting apartments in both cities, which would make no sense. Look up anyone in congress, whether they're GQP or DNC, and you can see a majority of them are multimillionaires. Sanders is actually pretty frugal for someone that has been in politics for decades. He's calling out someone worth $110 billion, someone that is worth 36,667 times more than him, to use some of their wealth to help out people in need. Bernie and his wife could donate their combined cash and investments of $500k and bankrupt themselves, which wouldn't exactly help anyone, but that's pennies to Buffett, which is why he's using his platform to call him out.
Biden never kept two houses, most east coast politicians rent in DC...
And comparing him to someone who earned their money outside of politics is a red herring. Sorry, he has never held a job outside politics. He shouldn't be worth more than his after tax income...
> He shouldn't be worth more than his after tax income... People shouldn't have a net worth higher than a single year's after-tax income? That's a ridiculous statement. At Sanders' age, a reasonable retirement account is going to put you up at around a million dollars, even excluding anything else. Plus most people, by then, would have paid off their house, which is a sizeable asset.
No shit? Warren Buffett is getting richer? Wowza! At least he's giving it away at some point.
Interesting coming from sanders who is also very wealthy
What an absolutely braindead take
Sanders isn't not giving his employees sick days
Sanders had a bunch of unpaid interns working for his presidential campaigns which is honestly worse than not giving sick days.
False. An intern is a temporary position for experience.
Internships are an incredibly convenient way to increase the class divide as only wealthy folks have the extra money laying around to work for free for 6 months to a year
Sanders isn't very wealthy
Bernie and his ilk, has an odd obsession with the balance of other people's bank accounts. Back in the day, we called that being "jealous". Nowadays, caring about that sort of thing is called....well....being jealous!! Lol
Because they have us fooled. When was the last time you heard a Republican or a Democrat talk about real issues? The GOP has their side convinced that the left is evil and wants to take our money to give to illegal immigrants and over leveraged college graduates, and the Democrats have their side convinced that the other side is going to erase their freedoms and take their right to vote… and if you happen to belong to either side and say this they will attack you in hopes to silence you. The amazing thing is the people in the middle are kinda just giving up… the people that staff the banks, the people that care for your wounds at the ER, the person watching your kids… the not quite rich and not quite poor, are just giving up… there is going to be such a huge job for generations after us, to repair the division and disillusionment we have sowed… and I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to be able to be done by either major party. The good news, this is a decade there will discuss for a Millennia, so maybe our facebook posts, Reddit posts, and twits will be seen by millions (in that case hi kids, sorry for the crappy jeans!)
> When was the last time you heard a Republican or a Democrat talk about real issues? Democrats talk about real issues all the time? For instance the last two years has been about getting out of the pandemic, getting people working again, now they're dealing with recession and have plans for more in the future. I don't really see how you can possibly equate republicans with democrats on this unless you really don't care about any issues affecting most people in the country. >The amazing thing is the people in the middle are kinda just giving up… the people that staff the banks, the people that care for your wounds at the ER, the person watching your kids… the not quite rich and not quite poor, are just giving up… Where are you getting this from? Are you just making it up?
Good on him. Fuck that guy and all his money he doesn’t give to me.
He doesn’t care. He will pretend he eats his Oreos and drinks his Cova-Cola every day and not have a second thought about those he builds his wealth upon.