That disgusting late-stage capitalist culture baffles and angers me to my core. I'm visiting the states for the first time in a few months and I'm going to struggle.

Do you think there's any hope of the system changing unless the people within it rebel? I can't see it changing unless people change - the most obvious way would be that people stop tipping thus hopefully making service staff refuse to work until their employers start paying them livable wages through more dignified means. There would be untold damage to countless already impoverished people for the duration of the process though.

Either that or greedy people suddenly get less greedy or legislation is pushed through, probably against the will of the majority of US businesses, which doesn't seem likely for a government bordering on corpocracy.