Let me tell you the story of what you're looking at. Once upon a time, that area was part of a larger spread with a nice home for its time (not pictured) where the farmer lived. As family sizes lessened and the children moved off to the city or were sent off and didn't return from their war, the farmer split his property into smaller lots of a few acres, and either gave them to the children that were around now, flush with money in the post war era, or sold them as per a lot of advice from the locals who called him friend. The nice house where he lived was given to the most loved child, who promised to keep the farm running on the side, but only if it was smaller so it could still be done in between the normal day job (where he was probably the owner, using the booming economy as they all did to start businesses that didn't need to be amazing to succeed).
Eventually, those smaller lots had houses built in the style of simple rustic cabins because the timber was sourced locally, cheaply, and it was the style of the time. The folks moving in were the last of the generation of big families, where small towns were continually expanding. They were still able to get jobs nearby (within an hour or two for most) that paid well enough. They had enough free time and the knowledge (or help from friends with knowledge) to keep the roof up and the wiring neat.
Now we fast forward 30 years. A depression has hit. The kids are grown up, and needing a place to stay. Their jobs don't pay quite well enough to get a complete house and land. Maybe one or two will move away to a city where the opportunities exist. One of the various lots will have a family with a business that is still successful. Maybe it grows enough that both kids can work in the business and survive. But this house? This house (and tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, more in the county) has a different story. The family business was sold. Maybe one of the kids became an addict. The family won't spread like 'usual.' So one will keep living in the house. Off to the side of the picture, about fifty yards, is a doublewide trailer where the other lives. Some of those situations will stabilize. The doublewide will be taken care of, the older house will be refitted with better insulation, appliances, expanded in some areas.
But we can see what will happen the vast majority of the time. It's 30 years later, again. The nearby factory closed up, the interstate rerouted traffic from the old highway, and the area stagnated. Now, 25 yards out of the picture, is a towed trailer with a bed and sink that the grandkid lives in. A second trailer is tucked under the tree that grew behind the doublewide, where Danny, the other grandchild, and Leslie, his on-again, off-again baby momma, can be heard screaming at each other every night. The house has decayed now, it's interior slowly filled with bric-a-brac that is refused to be thrown out because it has the nostalgia of when they didn't worry about money every day. The toilets haven't been replaced in 45 years; the refrigerator is precariously leaning because the side was hastily patched with plastic and jb weld and the foot can't be put back or the weak plastic will break. The window curtains rotted, and they put up the garbage bags to keep the sun out, and then realized it also kept the wind from blowing rain inside. Sometimes, the well pump doesn't like to run, so they collect what water they can just in case.
Meanwhile, that nice farmhouse? It still sits on several dozen acres, or might even be part of a mostly functional ranch now (because ag exemptions mean low taxes!). The few hundred in the county have been mostly sold though, as the rich want to find a place "away from the city" and its 'crime' and 'dirty air.' The ones that are still lived in are the few remaining businessmen, who now have all the restaurants, remaining stores, and often run the local part of an oil and gas company.
Ninety percent of the local politicians live in those houses. Sometimes a few small positions will come from the weird, not-quite-urban neighborhoods that were built just outside of the county seat's city limits. And those politicians? They tell the people who live in the house pictured that trump will bring back the factory jobs, and improve their lives, and they sit back and laugh all the way to the bank.
So, yes, this is where humans live. The corruption of the system is built from the ground up. When poverty is the majority the corrupt have a large amount of power, and they love it. And this is the majority. Get off the main highway in any rural county, and it's just like the picture, but stacked in rows of hundreds. Just look at satellite imagery outside of urban areas.
Honestly, I'd be stoked to own a house like this. Tin roof will last 60+ years with no maintenance. Classic country aesthetic with a nice big front porch. Nice woods to walk around in. Bonus points if it has a wood fire stove - free fuel when I do fire mitigation on the property, and when I'm out of that, pellets are dirt cheap. Obviously the decor could use an update, and some paint would be a nice touch. Though... if the siding is still in good shape, I think maybe a nice summer oak stain would make it look real nice. Then build some bird feeders. Bat boxes. Plant some fruit trees. Solar hot water on the roof. Then lay a big sheet of plywood out in the front yard on some cinderblocks as a table and invite all my friends over for a potluck. Drink wine. Play music. Have a bonfire. Good times...
You say all this like you don't know about mosquitos or the fact that there are probably something like 3 weeks of comfortable weather between gross humidity and dreary rain
Plus working 3 jobs to afford food and bills doesn't leave much time or energy for nature hikes
I grew up in north Florida. Mosquitos can be mitigated on the property with larval traps and emptying standing water, plus mosquito netting. They also don't like me much - I think because I don't eat a lot of sugar.
Humidity and rain arent that bad if you get used to them. The problem most people have is that they constantly flip flop between heat and AC. When you live in the hot and humid full time, it just fades into the background.
Plus working 3 jobs to afford food and bills doesn’t leave much time or energy for nature hikes
I have seen many an occupied barn in rural America.
This kind of situation is usually a medical condition and the land inherited from grandpa. The piece of land and shanty structures on it are all they have. Which is actually a whole lot given the value of land these days.
But for the most part they'll stubbornly die on the bit of land they grew up on. If they have kids who left, they sell afterwards. If there's kids that don't leave, they perpetuate the cycle another generation.
The same people that say the economy is shit because life’s hard and they can’t get ahead are the same ones that point out that the president says the economy is doing great whenever someone criticizes him.
Yeah, but most Trump sign houses are suburban McMansions and historic urban estates. Like we keep saying, the die hard MAGA people are thoroughly bourgeois and have been all their lives.
This is how the market is SUPPOSED to work:
Demand high, supply low. Suppliers rush in to increase supply with the incentive of profit. Eventually, supply increases and profits become razor thin. Consumers (average folk) win.
BUT, there are certain sectors where monopolies/oligopolies form naturally. Not necessarily because companies are evil, but because it's simply economically more efficient to do so. Rail being the best example. Why would another rail company build a parallel track to an already existing freight corridor that connects 2 companies?
Banks require to pass through a lot of financial regulation (as they should). Hence, oligopolies form naturally. Same with telecom.
NOW. Let's look at our utopic market again. Profits should be high where supply hasn't met demand. NOT where supply and demand are the same. This is very good for those owning the companies (capitalists), but not good for the consumers (us). In our ideal market, this profit reduction happens due to competition. However, we have established that some sectors naturally are prone to less competition.
Banks posting record profits (when banking isn't exactly a sector that requires crazy investment to meet allegedly crazy increasing demand) is bad for the average person. Same with companies that are in sectors where not much investment is needed. Groceries being an example.
So what do we do to reduce profits in such sectors so that a handful of people aren't ripping us off? Here's my opinion:
The state should force oligopolies/monopolies to become consumer cooepratives. If this is too politically infeasible, then raise capital, start a state owned corp and immediately shift the operations to a consumer cooperative (of which every citizen is a member by default).
So TLDR: The stock market booming isn't always a good thing. Sure, actually innovative corps posting record profits (from the new stuff they've worked on) can be a good thing. BUT, boring ass corps which aren't exactly innovating posting increasing profits means that the consumer (us) is getting ripped off.
Fuck trump supporters and whatnot, but I cannot help but feel this image is making fun of people for being impoverished. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Believe it's the point of the post. Voting for someone who supports pulling money from the impoverished and giving it to the ultra-rich.... While being impoverished.
The fact that 90% of the population isn't voting against corporate Democrats and Republicans who support the current taxation and distribution of wealth that supports just 10% of the population to thrive and the rest to struggle is terrible. But they spend millions on advertising and billions on other media venues to push the agenda to protect the status quo.
The point isn't that it's making fun of people for being poor, it's making fun of the poor voting against their own interests and then insulting others along the way for some reason
It is not making fun of people for being impoverished, it is making fun of people for voting against their interest, and thinking that by doing so they are 'owning the libs'
Blue magga vs red magga.... Liberals are right wing especially in the imperial core. You are just making fun of poor people in a failed state. I would like to inform you that I will not be voting for liberals or the democrap party and I relish at the thought of america falling apart. This is a nation of ladder pullers and cafeteria humanitarians focused solely on wokeism aka the corporate capture of people movements and optics. I think this is a gross meme and it is not funny. Poverty is not funny. Just wait a decade or two and you will be rolling around in the mud preaching the gospel of sun whorship. If you wrestle a hog you are gonna get dirty and you need to remember the pig likes it. Also I do not call you guys libtard I personaly find that offensive but I call you libturdz... LOVE ME LOVE I AM A LIBERAL
I think that might just be reading too much into it. It's just a meme about how people can be tricked into thinking that enriching others who keep them poverty is "winning". Harris isn't in office, and this house has a particularly zealous Trump sign, so what else is there to make a meme about?
I think that it's impossible to gaslight people out of poverty, no matter which party is doing so. I think it would be nice to have a party that intended to help the poor instead of one party that hates them and another party that spent 4 years finding every excuse to not help them.
The latter party is in no position to dunk on the former. Until democrats fix their shit, I don't care how full of themselves they are about all the help they worked so hard to block when they were in office.
59 Comments
ccunning@lemmy.world · 79 pts · 101d
“Don’t even bother talking to me if you don’t have a rainwater collection and processing system for the apocalypse”
Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 12 pts · 101d
Literally the same bucket setup from 28 Days Later. Goddamn.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world · 67 pts · 101d
✅️ Small-government conservative
✅️ Surviving on government benefits
jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works · 20 pts · 101d
I see you've met my inlaws.
some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 100d
"I want a government so small it only has 1 function... Giving money to creepy inbred racists"
IvyisAngy@lemmy.world · 46 pts · 101d
God I think I know where that is...
Or these fuckers are all so similar I can't tell them apart.
baggachipz@sh.itjust.works · 40 pts · 101d
Drive through Georgia or Alabama. Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V
iamericandre@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 101d
Bruh you missed Virginia, both Carolina’s, Kentucky and Tennessee
baggachipz@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 101d
Yeah there are plenty more, the ones I put seem to have the highest concentration though
Edit Pennsylvania has more confederate flags than I’ve seen elsewhere, interestingly
arrow74@lemmy.zip · 12 pts · 101d
Growing up in GA I didn't truly understand southern poverty until I drove through Mississippi and Louisiana
mellibird@feddit.online · 2 pts · 101d
Or the Carolinas. I've seen plenty of places like that around there too
betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world · 35 pts · 101d
Fuck you, FEMA! But also, help me, FEMA!
GreenShimada@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 101d
They spend all their money on guns, ammo, and red maga hats - what did you expect in Biden's Economy? /s about the last part
thewebroach@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 101d
Inflation is at an all time high - FTFY
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 101d
psh what are you talking about it's only 4% this month
what do you mean that's supposed to be an annual rate
mech@feddit.org · 19 pts · 101d
"We don't call 911 in this house!
The phone's disconnected, there's no signal, and we can't afford Starlink."
TheBrideWoreCrimson@sopuli.xyz · 14 pts · 101d
That's a barn, right?
Not a place where humans actually live, right? Right?
PhoenixDog@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 101d
The majority of rural Conservatives live like this.
ThunderQueen@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 101d
A404@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 101d
Jeez, no wonder they are so grumpy
NannerBanner@literature.cafe · 14 pts · 101d
Let me tell you the story of what you're looking at. Once upon a time, that area was part of a larger spread with a nice home for its time (not pictured) where the farmer lived. As family sizes lessened and the children moved off to the city or were sent off and didn't return from their war, the farmer split his property into smaller lots of a few acres, and either gave them to the children that were around now, flush with money in the post war era, or sold them as per a lot of advice from the locals who called him friend. The nice house where he lived was given to the most loved child, who promised to keep the farm running on the side, but only if it was smaller so it could still be done in between the normal day job (where he was probably the owner, using the booming economy as they all did to start businesses that didn't need to be amazing to succeed).
Eventually, those smaller lots had houses built in the style of simple rustic cabins because the timber was sourced locally, cheaply, and it was the style of the time. The folks moving in were the last of the generation of big families, where small towns were continually expanding. They were still able to get jobs nearby (within an hour or two for most) that paid well enough. They had enough free time and the knowledge (or help from friends with knowledge) to keep the roof up and the wiring neat.
Now we fast forward 30 years. A depression has hit. The kids are grown up, and needing a place to stay. Their jobs don't pay quite well enough to get a complete house and land. Maybe one or two will move away to a city where the opportunities exist. One of the various lots will have a family with a business that is still successful. Maybe it grows enough that both kids can work in the business and survive. But this house? This house (and tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, more in the county) has a different story. The family business was sold. Maybe one of the kids became an addict. The family won't spread like 'usual.' So one will keep living in the house. Off to the side of the picture, about fifty yards, is a doublewide trailer where the other lives. Some of those situations will stabilize. The doublewide will be taken care of, the older house will be refitted with better insulation, appliances, expanded in some areas.
But we can see what will happen the vast majority of the time. It's 30 years later, again. The nearby factory closed up, the interstate rerouted traffic from the old highway, and the area stagnated. Now, 25 yards out of the picture, is a towed trailer with a bed and sink that the grandkid lives in. A second trailer is tucked under the tree that grew behind the doublewide, where Danny, the other grandchild, and Leslie, his on-again, off-again baby momma, can be heard screaming at each other every night. The house has decayed now, it's interior slowly filled with bric-a-brac that is refused to be thrown out because it has the nostalgia of when they didn't worry about money every day. The toilets haven't been replaced in 45 years; the refrigerator is precariously leaning because the side was hastily patched with plastic and jb weld and the foot can't be put back or the weak plastic will break. The window curtains rotted, and they put up the garbage bags to keep the sun out, and then realized it also kept the wind from blowing rain inside. Sometimes, the well pump doesn't like to run, so they collect what water they can just in case.
Meanwhile, that nice farmhouse? It still sits on several dozen acres, or might even be part of a mostly functional ranch now (because ag exemptions mean low taxes!). The few hundred in the county have been mostly sold though, as the rich want to find a place "away from the city" and its 'crime' and 'dirty air.' The ones that are still lived in are the few remaining businessmen, who now have all the restaurants, remaining stores, and often run the local part of an oil and gas company.
Ninety percent of the local politicians live in those houses. Sometimes a few small positions will come from the weird, not-quite-urban neighborhoods that were built just outside of the county seat's city limits. And those politicians? They tell the people who live in the house pictured that trump will bring back the factory jobs, and improve their lives, and they sit back and laugh all the way to the bank.
So, yes, this is where humans live. The corruption of the system is built from the ground up. When poverty is the majority the corrupt have a large amount of power, and they love it. And this is the majority. Get off the main highway in any rural county, and it's just like the picture, but stacked in rows of hundreds. Just look at satellite imagery outside of urban areas.
Pat_Riot@lemmy.today · 11 pts · 101d
I know where several houses are, in my rural county, that look just like this with minor variations.
frog@feddit.uk · 7 pts · 101d
I've seen houses like this in Austin, TX. The craziest part is during the pandemic they could've sold that house for $750K.
blarghly@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 101d
Honestly, I'd be stoked to own a house like this. Tin roof will last 60+ years with no maintenance. Classic country aesthetic with a nice big front porch. Nice woods to walk around in. Bonus points if it has a wood fire stove - free fuel when I do fire mitigation on the property, and when I'm out of that, pellets are dirt cheap. Obviously the decor could use an update, and some paint would be a nice touch. Though... if the siding is still in good shape, I think maybe a nice summer oak stain would make it look real nice. Then build some bird feeders. Bat boxes. Plant some fruit trees. Solar hot water on the roof. Then lay a big sheet of plywood out in the front yard on some cinderblocks as a table and invite all my friends over for a potluck. Drink wine. Play music. Have a bonfire. Good times...
eltrain123@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 101d
On the plus side, if you do have a wood fire stove, the whole house can help you with your bonfire project aspirations. /s
agingelderly@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 100d
You say all this like you don't know about mosquitos or the fact that there are probably something like 3 weeks of comfortable weather between gross humidity and dreary rain
Plus working 3 jobs to afford food and bills doesn't leave much time or energy for nature hikes
blarghly@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 100d
I grew up in north Florida. Mosquitos can be mitigated on the property with larval traps and emptying standing water, plus mosquito netting. They also don't like me much - I think because I don't eat a lot of sugar.
Humidity and rain arent that bad if you get used to them. The problem most people have is that they constantly flip flop between heat and AC. When you live in the hot and humid full time, it just fades into the background.
Why would I do that?
ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 101d
I have seen many an occupied barn in rural America.
This kind of situation is usually a medical condition and the land inherited from grandpa. The piece of land and shanty structures on it are all they have. Which is actually a whole lot given the value of land these days.
But for the most part they'll stubbornly die on the bit of land they grew up on. If they have kids who left, they sell afterwards. If there's kids that don't leave, they perpetuate the cycle another generation.
dihutenosa@piefed.social · 12 pts · 101d
Hard to tell from this distance, but the roof looks nice and waterproof!
Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 101d
Insulation looks like a solid rating of "no" though.
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 101d
The same people that say the economy is shit because life’s hard and they can’t get ahead are the same ones that point out that the president says the economy is doing great whenever someone criticizes him.
some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 100d
Doublespeak
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 100d
“Hypocrisy.”
merdaverse@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 100d
Stock markets go up, but most of that wealth is transferred to capitalists:
https://yourfairshare.info/dataviz_market_gains
canniest_tod@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 100d
Yeah, but most Trump sign houses are suburban McMansions and historic urban estates. Like we keep saying, the die hard MAGA people are thoroughly bourgeois and have been all their lives.
LuminousLuddite@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 101d
vala@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 9 pts · 100d
I would kill to own a house though lol.
Even this one.
Donkter@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 100d
I was going to say. If I lived there there wouldn't be nearly as much trash on the lawn and it's honestly pretty cozy
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 100d
It's got good bones
bcgm3@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 101d
"Winning!"
wraekscadu@vargar.org · 5 pts · 100d
Ok, rant time.
This is how the market is SUPPOSED to work: Demand high, supply low. Suppliers rush in to increase supply with the incentive of profit. Eventually, supply increases and profits become razor thin. Consumers (average folk) win.
BUT, there are certain sectors where monopolies/oligopolies form naturally. Not necessarily because companies are evil, but because it's simply economically more efficient to do so. Rail being the best example. Why would another rail company build a parallel track to an already existing freight corridor that connects 2 companies?
Banks require to pass through a lot of financial regulation (as they should). Hence, oligopolies form naturally. Same with telecom.
NOW. Let's look at our utopic market again. Profits should be high where supply hasn't met demand. NOT where supply and demand are the same. This is very good for those owning the companies (capitalists), but not good for the consumers (us). In our ideal market, this profit reduction happens due to competition. However, we have established that some sectors naturally are prone to less competition.
Banks posting record profits (when banking isn't exactly a sector that requires crazy investment to meet allegedly crazy increasing demand) is bad for the average person. Same with companies that are in sectors where not much investment is needed. Groceries being an example.
So what do we do to reduce profits in such sectors so that a handful of people aren't ripping us off? Here's my opinion:
The state should force oligopolies/monopolies to become consumer cooepratives. If this is too politically infeasible, then raise capital, start a state owned corp and immediately shift the operations to a consumer cooperative (of which every citizen is a member by default).
So TLDR: The stock market booming isn't always a good thing. Sure, actually innovative corps posting record profits (from the new stuff they've worked on) can be a good thing. BUT, boring ass corps which aren't exactly innovating posting increasing profits means that the consumer (us) is getting ripped off.
redwattlebird@thelemmy.club · 3 pts · 100d
Wealthiest country in the world, everyone.
r8KNzcU8TzCroexsE2xbWC@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 100d
Fuck trump supporters and whatnot, but I cannot help but feel this image is making fun of people for being impoverished. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 100d
Believe it's the point of the post. Voting for someone who supports pulling money from the impoverished and giving it to the ultra-rich.... While being impoverished.
The fact that 90% of the population isn't voting against corporate Democrats and Republicans who support the current taxation and distribution of wealth that supports just 10% of the population to thrive and the rest to struggle is terrible. But they spend millions on advertising and billions on other media venues to push the agenda to protect the status quo.
r8KNzcU8TzCroexsE2xbWC@lemmy.ca · -1 pts · 100d
I get it, but on the list of reasons any Trump supporter is reprehensible, being poor isn’t one of them
abysmalpoptart@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 100d
The point isn't that it's making fun of people for being poor, it's making fun of the poor voting against their own interests and then insulting others along the way for some reason
RIPandTERROR@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 100d
They're poor AND have trump flags in the photo. The "and" is why they are being mocked. Not the poor.
bluefootedbooby@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 100d
It is not making fun of people for being impoverished, it is making fun of people for voting against their interest, and thinking that by doing so they are 'owning the libs'
the_armchair_potato@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 101d
Hilarious 😂
zaphod@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 100d
'Muricans gonna be happy as long as they can put a 'murica flag on something.
anon_8675309@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 100d
So true
DrunkAnRoot@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 100d
get rid of the flags an it wldnt be that bad tbh
WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 101d
Can we make a counter-Epstein conspiracy?
Echolynx@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 100d
For a second I thought you were coming after the Overdrive app.
mynameisbob@lemmy.ml · -1 pts · 96d
Blue magga vs red magga.... Liberals are right wing especially in the imperial core. You are just making fun of poor people in a failed state. I would like to inform you that I will not be voting for liberals or the democrap party and I relish at the thought of america falling apart. This is a nation of ladder pullers and cafeteria humanitarians focused solely on wokeism aka the corporate capture of people movements and optics. I think this is a gross meme and it is not funny. Poverty is not funny. Just wait a decade or two and you will be rolling around in the mud preaching the gospel of sun whorship. If you wrestle a hog you are gonna get dirty and you need to remember the pig likes it. Also I do not call you guys libtard I personaly find that offensive but I call you libturdz... LOVE ME LOVE I AM A LIBERAL
MTZ@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 94d
lol, i'm not a liberal.
Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world · -2 pts · 101d
Democrats need to be better if they're going to do this.
Everyone remembers the Harris campaign pulling the same "Shut up about how you can't afford groceries! The economy is great (for billionaires)" shit.
zikzak025@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 101d
I think that might just be reading too much into it. It's just a meme about how people can be tricked into thinking that enriching others who keep them poverty is "winning". Harris isn't in office, and this house has a particularly zealous Trump sign, so what else is there to make a meme about?
Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 101d
I think that it's impossible to gaslight people out of poverty, no matter which party is doing so. I think it would be nice to have a party that intended to help the poor instead of one party that hates them and another party that spent 4 years finding every excuse to not help them.
The latter party is in no position to dunk on the former. Until democrats fix their shit, I don't care how full of themselves they are about all the help they worked so hard to block when they were in office.
zikzak025@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 101d
What makes this an inherently (DNC) democratic message, though? Are democrats the only ones allowed to be critical of the MAGAsphere?
Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 100d
No, but my downvotes indicate that no one is ever allowed to be critical of democrats no matter what they do.