[coldtea]

It doesn't (you can retire early), but it does decide part of what you will need to be saving and how.

And the reason it decides that, apart from "because it can", is because many societies have seen what happens when it's left to individuals to take care of this, and they fuck it up in massive numbers, and the outcome of that then fucks up society.

[foxyv]

It is really easy to "Fuck it up" when greedy assholes jack up the price of necessities like food, shelter, and medical care. 66% of bankruptcies are due to medical costs. We should just socialize necessities like food, shelter, and medical care so there is no chance of "Fucking it up." That would cover the possibility of disability as well.

It sounds to me like we have built a system to exploit people as much as possible. Treating them like farm animals.

[lotsofpulp]

>We should just socialize necessities like food, shelter, and medical care so there is no chance of "Fucking it up."

How does socializing work if there are insufficient workers relative to non workers? I.e. the supply of food/shelter/medical care is insufficient to meet the demand?

[foxyv]

Why would there be insufficient workers relative to non-workers? Socializing health care, shelter, and food does not lead to a worker shortage. In fact, having a healthier and taken care of population leads to prosperity in general. In addition, it leads to reduced costs. Countries with socialized medicine pay a fraction of what America does for better health outcomes.

[lotsofpulp]

>Why would there be insufficient workers relative to non-workers?

The total fertility rate and the trends of that rate of basically every country, especially the ones with socialized medicine.

https://www.populationpyramid.net/norway/2025/

[foxyv]

Fertility rates? The world population is growing.

[raw_anon_1111]

Yes let’s have “5 Year Plans” with centralized control instead of the free market, what could possibly go wrong? If only we had a large country that tried that and failed miserably to see what could go wrong.

[krapp]

We don't have the free market. We've never had the free market. Every economy has always been under some degree of regulation and centralized control simply by virtue of existing within the context of a society and government that enforces laws and levies taxes.

[raw_anon_1111]

The government has never controlled the means of production for the most part except for “natural monopolies” like utilities, cable etc where everyone should be served and it doesn’t make sense to try to have two companies building out infrastructure

[foxyv]

They don't need to control the means of production. Simply provide minimum necessary housing, nutrition, and medical care. No one should starve to death, die of preventable illness because they can't afford care, or end up homeless in the United States. It's degrading to the basic dignity of our country.

[paulryanrogers]

For some narrow definitions of 'control', and ignoring regulatory capture

[foxyv]

Or, hear me out, we could socialize health care and tax the rich rapists that are currently running the country to end poverty in the richest country in the world.