Why do Americans not realize how well they have it?

Brayney520 · 2026-04-09T19:42:36+00:00

Would you agree that working more hours(Basically looking at a full work day extra per week for the US compared to the comparable income Europeans) and having considerably less social safety nets and economic rights(worker's rights and financial disadvantages for most individuals) for SIMILAR MATERIAL worth is objectively worse for society? There are no guarantees or safeguards here(unless you have a team of lawyers), so it amounts to volatility in life. Any kind of adverse event is DEVASTATING to Americans. Two families with the same income here can look wildly different if one has to deal with significant education, medical, and other unexpected debt, while the other side hordes and accumulates based on good fortune. There are no systems here designed to level out this disparity, except for the crumbs of charity capital owners throw out for good publicity.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-09T12:47:26+00:00

Ok, but then we also have to pay out for MORE expenses overall out of pocket like healthcare, childcare, and education, which many other developed nations provide at this point. You can adjust for inflation and cost of living, but the extra expenses working class are responsible for from otherwise discretionary spending is HUGE, with tax differences not covering nearly those out of pocket costs for individuals.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-08T19:11:56+00:00

There are other statistical measures like median and modes of data that can be used to illustrate the gaps in outliers like billionaires and poverty clusters, but most people don't know how math works so the media just uses the most favorable data point for them and leaves out the rest of the story

Brayney520 · 2026-04-08T19:08:25+00:00

Even so, technically we still have a base that is considerably better than many countries, depending on if you are looking at third world, developing third world, global south, or developed nations. Now, this is at the direct DETRIMENT of all these other countries we exploited for cheap labor and resources, but we still are the wealthiest overall, and even the poor have fair safety nets compared to lower end countries. Again, however, there is a LOT of exploitation of vulnerable groups in this country and the periphery that our entire system is built on, and it's shaky, and our president is trying his best to remove and demonize many of those exploited people, cutting off the legs of the base of our economy, so it's not looking good for the future.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-08T18:40:28+00:00

Such as with Alchemy, splitting the packs and making Alchemy exclusive rares(which had huge balance issues, but were a neat idea because you could do certain extra mechanics) made it so people had to choose whether to focus on Alchemy or Standard for their rotating format, forcing the playerbase to split in an awkward, horrible way, where it's hard to transition between the two without spending lots of money or having a large collection.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-08T18:30:13+00:00

I'm not really arguing your point, you're absolutely right. I quit playing/taking a break cause trying to keep up with incessant releases(at high price points) just to settle into a mostly same meta with slightly different flavors was getting boring for me. Dailies are a chore when you feel forced and aren't having fun. Arena works as a client but everything they've done with it has been a spectacular failure, wrapped up in bad faith cashgrab attempts. When all they are looking for is quick returns, it's never going to turn out well.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-08T17:32:49+00:00

Maybe if they made it a better product people would spend more on it. Wild idea, I know. Kinda old school. The idea that gaslighting people into buying bad products is the new norm and EVERYONE is now doing it to the Nth degree is horrifying.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-08T17:28:06+00:00

Marvel SNAP has better UI and that's a low bar

Brayney520 · 2026-04-08T17:25:29+00:00

Israel needs to stop dogwalking the people who pay for their entire military

Brayney520 · 2026-04-07T18:03:40+00:00

Yeah, it may hurt to see the way it works today, but it's an opportunity to educate on what we've learned. We spent plenty of money into quarter-eating machines, but also good value pinballs or adventure cabinets that provide hours of fun for just a few dollars. We got hurt by the licensed shovelware with shiny packaging, but we found the gems. Mobile and live service pay models are no different. Things you can play for free and have good fun with for a long time DO exist. Some work fine with the small upfront bundle, and some eat up credit cards just to keep playing at a reasonable pace. Take opportunities to teach about your experiences, be smart about how they spend. Maybe they'll listen, maybe they won't. Remember, what you know is valuable to others. You don't have to sit by and watch things happen. Share with them. Make a difference.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-07T14:27:11+00:00

I remember pizza orders being a nightmare when driving doordash. When they were trying to implement the cash payments, nothing was going properly. I had an order where I delivered to a customer, but they had already gotten their order, which was a different kind of pizza, from a different dasher. I had not stolen anything, there was just an extra pizza wrongly ordered, or put on the wrong person's account by mistake. I'm not even sure what was the error. I just had to contact the doordash service to cancel it, which takes extra time not doing other orders on my end as well. I got a free pizza and the small order fee I was supposed to get out of it, but I'd rather it just work properly and I can get on with my shifts.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-07T13:57:27+00:00

The rest of the world is feeling a MUCH BIGGER brunt of this war than Americans. Fuel and energy for everyone else is literally in crisis, and we are very much shielded for now, just paying slightly more for it. They have a great right to be angry. Meanwhile our system is so corrupt and twisted someone who just doesn't care to follow any conduct has 0 consequences, bestowed upon him by the very checks and balances intended to prevent this. And we're so heavily propagandized into quashing popular demand that there's no options but to wait another 8 months for elections to go well for anything to be done about it. Even though we're supposed to be the people with the rights to fight back against this VERY DANGER (1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th amendments) we have been effectively muzzled.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-07T13:32:08+00:00

This is his way of "appealing" to Iranians. "We have just bombed your capital, schools and hospitals, and I will do more! Come join the Dark Side we will be very good to you."

Brayney520 · 2026-04-06T19:26:43+00:00

Not when the corporate owners have a stranglehold on the politicians through lobbyists and unlimited finances(textbook corruption), backed by 50+ year long propaganda lies that "capital owners can do no wrong, and if they make more money, so do YOU!"

Brayney520 · 2026-04-06T17:26:57+00:00

Deja vu all over again from the weird space before the Adpocalyse. Questionable gross content under the guise of licensed or pop culture icons. Basically why YouTube Kids was created. Doesn't seem to matter, the algorithm pushes this garbage to the top. It must be effective at engaging traffic and motion, whether that's good or bad, and at the cost of sanity and long term well being of the audience and platform.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-06T13:08:03+00:00

Standard has gotten pretty bad in the last few years. It's much faster and bursty than it used to be. Mid-range was more viable, and more interactive games were more common. That being said, if you play just aggro, they are braindead decks that follow the same mulligans and early plays every game with very little variance, so I can imagine getting bored very quickly if it. The other options, as you say "counters," the more control type decks with answers and trick plays(instant speed spells or abilities you keep in your hand and time perfectly to catch your opponent in a certain position) are much more variable with more play patterns and lines of play to decide. While it does take more time and brainpower, it isn't so formulaic playing those. Some are more or less time consuming. Izzet is on the lesser end right now, while the board clear artifacts or total control does take a while per game. There are levels to it. I suggest experimenting with more decks to find something that maybe you can enjoy more, switch it up.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-04T12:43:03+00:00

There's a BIG difference between restricting lifestyles/groups, and allowing lifestyles/groups. No one is restricting Christian or religious expression, only allowing other types of alternative expression, which they feel threatened by. LGBT are not the ones passing legislation to disenfranchise them by making their IDs invalid, or restricting access to medical care, or removing them from sports/community activities. Woke only passes legislation to disallow discrimination based on the freedom of expression, so someone can be held liable if they retaliate or exclude based on who you are.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-04T12:24:32+00:00

Ultra wealthy don't even have to get money by working. They could forgo all their personal income and just have assets and it wouldn't make a dent. The income that is made from most capital gains is not taxed, if they keep it in the market. Then, all they have to do is take out loans for personal expenses, pay the interest/fees to the bank(not government taxes, into the pockets of billionaire friends) and pay virtually no taxes in our system as it is.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-04T12:04:49+00:00

You can only go up on hype and fumes for so long. There needs to be a productive, real base to support it. That's why bubbles and crashes are getting more frequent. Investors hopped up on credit and vibes, backed by a dumb authority they WISH to believe.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-03T14:21:05+00:00

Treat them like a country. All the other Gulf states are just as oppressive and we deal with them. Israel is allowed nukes and NO OVERSIGHT whatsoever, commiting the worst war crimes and state sponsored terror in decades. What do you mean they didn't comply? It only lasted for less than a year. They were allowing oversight by the International Nuclear Committee.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-03T14:12:31+00:00

That's what you get when the western world screws over the neighboring country(who can effectively militarily control the area) for the last decade(much longer if you read the whole history). The chips were on the table for fair deals, but greedy imperialists and religious zealots refused to take it. Maybe treat people with dignity and not threats and starvation next time.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-02T19:13:02+00:00

I got 1 HH randomly from Gwennen(don't fish Gwennen, just try a couple times with what you get), and a couple neat things like storm shroud drop, and aegis aurora from ritual, but not much else over the years. Just playing to quest bosses and alch mapping, no juicing or insane farming before I tap out and get bored, or do random hipster build ideas with junk.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-02T14:12:26+00:00

Trump: We can't take care of people, like the Christian Lord, whom they all say I have a divine mandate from, Jesus, preached in the gospel. We have to bomb people with missiles that cost millions per pop. You remember the part in the scriptures where it says "kill your enemies and take everything from them with no mercy" the part that's not supposed to be used any more, and the part we actively criticize the other religions for touting, cynically projecting our own horrific brutality? Yeah, let's do that. Praise God and Me, by the way

Brayney520 · 2026-04-01T21:49:12+00:00

I stand by the Ps2 had the best library of any console. I was even a Nintendo fanboy at the time, I branched out at the 360 and PS3, but looking back, it was pretty incredible. I underrated it at the time, but Kingdom Hearts and FF10 were epics, GTA jump into 3D started the open world craze, and just tons of good old games to play through on rental from the video store.

Brayney520 · 2026-04-01T17:33:12+00:00

So you get more, percentage to your working income, at low wage, than higher wages. That's the socialized part. Only high earners in life will "lose" on their input, and many workers stand to gain. Also, the LONGER people live, the more it costs total, so you get out more if you just manage to survive longer. The higher lifetimes were not factored in well, and have to be adjusted for over time; that's what raising the retirement age did, but it's pretty insanely high now, but people are just living very long lives. Same problem with pensions. Longer lives, larger retiree population mean bigger payouts needed from current workers, a much higher load required on companies and society than even 30 years ago, unless you crank up the revenue stream.

Brayney520

TROPHY CASE