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70 Posts That Perfectly Capture How Dystopian America Has Become
America, land of the free and home of the broke. It's easy for non-Americans to sit back and point fingers, because at least then we aren't crying about our own dire situations (except if you're Scandinavian, in which case, please just let us have this one). But when Americans themselves start joining the conversation, that's when you know the situation has moved beyond commentary and into something that probably calls for therapy.
The r/workreform subreddit understands that the way to spread the word of the weary is through sometimes funny and mostly frightening observations in image form. It is the language of the people, and it is both healing and heartbreaking in one square of revealing pixels.
Reflections made in under 140 characters, shocking charts that put things into perspective, and dystopian photos that speak louder than words ever could. These are the realities of corporate America, and they aren't pretty.
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#1
No Corporation Or Billionaire Will Ever Act With Your Best Interests In Mind. Ever
TotallyNOTAFox 17 hours ago
And we evil europeans robbing those poor american companies aparently
RELATED:
#2
Same Old Story
#3
Corporate Greed Is Making Us All Poorer
These numbers and nuances don't really make sense to non-Americans. And even people who live stateside might need to see it in writing to grasp the absurdity of it all. The federal minimum wage has sat at $7.25 an hour since 2009, the longest stretch without an increase in its history.
Full-time at that rate earns $15,080 a year before Uncle Sam comes knocking. A YouGov survey shows that 68% of Americans call that poverty-level income, and they are not being dramatic. The average cost of a studio apartment in the United States is about $20,868 annually, based on a national average of $1,739 per month. So if you are paying attention, you will see the math ain't mathing.
#4
Working Class And The Billionaire Class Both Have Worries
#5
Unacceptable
TotallyNOTAFox 17 hours ago
CEO wages should be tied to the average employee income with a fixed ratio - If they want more money they'd have to raise wages first
#6
This Is A Crime Against Humanity For Which Unitedhealthcare's Execs Should Be Put On Trial
Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Walmart, Amazon, Starbucks, Chipotle, and Darden Restaurants are among the country's biggest employers, and they are also some of its least generous. Forbes reports that many of their workers qualify for SNAP and Medicaid to make ends meet, which means American taxpayers are effectively subsidizing the payroll costs of some of the most profitable companies on the planet. It is a form of corporate welfare that nobody exactly voted for.
How profitable, you might ask? Amazon posted a net profit of $77.7 billion in 2025. Meta brought home $60.458 billion. Not revenue (that's an even more disgusting number). Profit. The money left over after every expense is covered, and the earnings call has been smiled through. Nobody is arguing that companies should not make money. The argument is that the person sorting your two-day delivery should not need food stamps to get through the month.
#7
Teachers Deserve More. More Money, More Respect, More Input, More Autonomy. Support Our Teachers
#8
Tear It All Down
#9
Starbucks Is Disgusting. They're So Scared Of Their Workers That They Illegally Retaliated Against A High School Student
If you are reading this article from a lounge chair somewhere on holiday, you are probably not a minimum wage worker in America. This is because the United States has zero federally mandated paid days off. Zero. Federal law treats time off as a private arrangement between employer and employee, which sounds balanced until you remember that one party in that arrangement controls the other's health insurance.
As one of these infographics will teach you, France mandates 30 paid days per year. Germany offers 20. The UK gives 28. The US offers at-will employment and best of luck out there. The one federal provision is the Family and Medical Leave Act, which grants up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave for serious medical or family situations. It is unpaid. So if you need surgery or have just had a baby, the law guarantees your job will still be there. Your landlord, however, is not legally required to give a single thought to any of it.
#10
The Rich Will Always Find A Way To Blame The Poor
#11
They’re Not Even Paying Us More. This Inflation Is Unnatural
Tamra 13 hours ago
Every f*cking Democrat needs to be on board with this, and so much more of what Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez promote. These are the positive, progressive changes that this country needs. The ratchet effect has been pushed too far right for too d**n long, and now look at where we are: unimaginable record debt, people working full time and living out of their cars, people dying for lack of healthcare, people going into nearly unpayable debt to get higher education...I mean the list is near endless.
#12
Wow Look At That - Bernie Sanders Is Right Yet Again
None of this is news to the people actually living it. A YouGov and Bankrate survey found that 77% of Americans feel financially insecure, and 55% believe a household income of $200,000 or more is what financial freedom actually looks like. The median income at the time of that poll was just $31,099. To some, it might look like pessimism. But it is just basic arithmetic, and it is the entire premise that this online community is trying to drive home.
#13
Many Such Cases
#14
Wth
#15
Don't Let The Billionaires Define Success. We Can Create Our Own Definition Of The American Dream
Nicole Weymann 11 hours ago
"Nah, sorry, I really don't give an Eff about others. I wanna be a millionaire!" American (well: US, really) type individualism, where one person's "I wanna have!" carries all the weight of a stack of elephants, standing on a cream tart of "...but hundreds of people need housing/meds/therapy/food!"
This Reddit sub is not just venting into the void. It has an impressively clear list of political objectives. "Mandatory prison time for union busting and wage theft. A national minimum wage of at least $25 an hour. Universal family and medical leave. Tuition-free college and trade schools. The PRO Act, which would make it significantly easier for workers to organize." In most developed countries, several of them already exist, so they aren't asking for mountains to be moved here.
#16
Talk Like This Is Scaring Politicians
#17
The "As Long As I've Got Mine." Attitude Is A Reason Problems Don't Get Solved In America
Nicole Weymann 14 hours ago
The American dream of freedom and individualism, perverted by greed and egotism. From "you can do it if you commit" to "I'll get out of this heIIhole, no matter who I have to kiII to do it".
#18
Tax Billionares More!
The philosophy underneath all of it is fairly simple: income inequality is the main driver of lower living standards, workers are stronger together than apart, and a living wage should not be a radical concept. The community is also deliberate about staying focused, because historically, the fastest way to squash a labor movement is to fracture it over everything except the thing everyone agrees on. They are aware of that playbook, and they are not interested in running it again.
#19
China Didn't Steal Your Job - Your Boss Did
Kathrin Pukowsky 12 hours ago
I said this 20 years ago when globalisation was a buzzword: It sounds nice, with growing connections around the globe steadily leading to an equalisation of living conditions for all people, but what it really does is exploiting people in poverty.
#20
Yeah
#21
Gonna Be A Lot More Kids Getting Bikes This Year
The American Dream was coined by historian James Truslow Adams in 1931, defined as a land where life should be richer for everyone regardless of birth or position. That was during the Great Depression, which means the concept arrived already playing defense. It survived, mutated, and eventually became the intellectual property of every LinkedIn influencer who has ever sold a productivity course above a stock photo of a sunrise.
But if this thread is anything to go by, this dream has one foot in the grave. Sure, there are folks out there who are thriving, but while they might be rich in finances, they are likely poor in time. Because at the end of the day, there are no winners in the race for capitalist nirvana.
#22
I Am Hungry And My Teeth Hurt
#23
Tuesday Morning Reminder: All Workers Deserve Paid Sick Leave
#24
AKA Exploitation
Hustle culture picked up the baton and sprinted with it. Working multiple jobs was rebranded as ambition, and now sleep deprivation has become a personality trait. The unofficial message was that struggling meant you were not trying hard enough, which is a convenient framing if you happen to be at the top of the org chart. Anyone remember Kim K's little "get up and work" outburst? Nice to say while clutching your Birkin.
Real wages for average American workers have barely moved since the 1970s, while productivity has roughly doubled over the same period. The dream has now just stopped being accessible to most of the people who needed it most.
#25
Americans In The 1950s Couldn't Imagine This Is What America Would Become
#26
The Minimum Wage Would Be Over $24 An Hour If It Kept Up With Productivity Gains
#27
$147,000,000,000
Luke || Kira (he/she) 11 hours ago
Still not enough. I won't be happy until he ends up in a normal flat somewhere in Boston, screaming crying and throwing up about not being able to afford his living standard anymore.
None of what fills this feed is radical. Paid sick leave, a livable minimum wage, healthcare that does not require a GoFundMe, and the ability to take time off without also losing your income are legal standards in countries that nobody considers more exceptional than the United States.
And if you scroll through the feed and find yourself laughing at something that probably should make you cry, you are in good company. Now, if only some policymakers would read Bored Panda, they might just learn a thing or two!
Which one of these revelations hit you the hardest? Add your 2 cents in the comments!
#28
So Real
Problematic Pangolin 4 hours ago
But if everyone weren't fighting each other, they figure out who the real enemy is...
#29
Unions Also Protect Your Employment From Being Terminated For Bull Reasons
#30
The Average Monthly Rent For A Two-Bedroom Apartment In The United States Reached 1,320 U.S. Dollars
#31
Same Groceries, 130% More
HangryHangryHippo 14 hours ago
And you can bet that are not even the actual same groceries in volume/weight. When you account for shrinkflation that 130% falls short.
#32
Broken Country
#33
When You Unionize Your Job, You're Getting A Better Job
Balseraph 15 hours ago
It's exactly the same as people who say "if you don't like your country, just leave!" As if that were an option for everyone and as if we wouldn't want to make our country better. I'm a Kiwi and our country is pretty good, but it can be much better. Wanting that doesn't make me unpatriotic, not that I'm particularly concerned about being seen as patriotic anyway.
#34
Interesting Idea
#35
Luigi News
#36
Finally, A Billionaire Gets Taxed
#37
We Work Just As Hard As Them
#38
The Answer To "Get A Better Job"
Shelley Dawson 10 minutes ago
Not all jobs deserve the same pay, skilled or not. The thing is any item you buy only has a value of what people/customers are willing to pay. It has nothing to do with quality. Not all business is operated by massive corporations making humongous profits. Many low-profit organisations cannot afford to pay more. So in your world, they would not exist and those people who did have employment with them, wouldn't have a job.
#39
A Half Of Americans Think Like This
Luke || Kira (he/she) 11 hours ago
"One day I may become rich, and then people like me better watch their step!" - Philip J. Fry
#40
Class Warfare Idea:
#41
Many Such Cases
#42
If You Need Workers So Much, Why Don't You Give Call Backs?
#43
Capitalism Doesn't Make Anything
Luke || Kira (he/she) 11 hours ago
Capitalism made sure your iPhone will be useless after a few years so you'll have to shill another grand for a brand new, almost identical one
#44
Psa:
#45
Money Can Buy Happiness And I'm Sick Of People Pretending That It Doesn't
Sue User 8 hours ago
I detest the phrase " live within your means". The circle of " within your means" is now so small that you can't really live. Years ago, I was going over finances with gas company in hopes of getting help. Tell her income, tell her expenses. She goes " wait, your expenses are higher than your income". My reply" that's why we are having this conversation.
#46
We Americans Are Working Instead Of Living. It's Not That Way In The Rest Of The Developed World
#47
Frick You, Pay Us
#48
Who Would Have Thought
Knucklehead 14 hours ago
Except HR would have to get up off their knees and wipe their mouth before actually being able to say that to the boss, more like a union rep would say that.
#49
Running America Like A Business
Moving Enigma 12 hours ago (edited)
...and it's being run by a man who is very, very, experienced with going bankrupt!
#50
So Real
#51
Inflation And "Trickle-Down Economics"
Sarah Suelzle 10 hours ago
This is me. The wages I make now are the highest I have ever made in my entire life and I'm by far worse off now than when I was a young single mother in the the 90s. It is literally soul-crushing.
#53
The Real "Problem" The Billionaires Want AI To Solve
#54
It’s Almost Like The Whole System Is A Scam Set In Place To Keep Power Among Already Wealthy Families
#55
Every Policy That Strengthens And Expands The Social Safety Net Is Called “Socialism” By The Right - Including Labor Unions, Social Securiry & Medicare
TotallyNOTAFox 16 hours ago (edited)
The issue starts with a lot of people not knowing what socialism actually is - It begins way beyond universal healthcare or different policies to make life of those in need easier
#56
Rep. Dean Phillips Is The Only Politician I've Seen So Far Actually Acknowledge Our Rage Toward Unitedhealth
#57
Hell Yeah They Should Pay For Our Time
#58
Fastest Way To Increase Your Salary
#59
Repeat After Us: It Doesn't. Work. Anymore
TotallyNOTAFox 17 hours ago (edited)
“I don’t pay good wages because I have a lot of money; I have a lot of money because I pay good wages”. - Robert Bosch.
#60
This Is An Indictment Of Both The Cost Of Housing And Education In America
#61
Is This The 'Unnecessary Care' That Unitedhealthcare CEO Andrew Witty Keeps Talking About?
Robert Millar 13 hours ago
Corporations are legally a person. Is that right? So if Brendan dies, the corporation should be charged with willful manslaughter (or whatever this crime is.)
#62
Our System Has Failed
#66
Tying Healthcare To Employment Is Just Another Way American Oligarchs Subdue And Control American Workers
#67
Israel Has Mandatory Universal, Socialist Healthcare. USA Politicians Claim America Can’t Afford It, While They Ship Trillions To Israel
#69
I'm Just Tired
#70
Looks Like The Bernie Bros Were Right
Luke || Kira (he/she) 11 hours ago
I secretly hope that the massive success of Mamdani will finally motivate people to vote in socialist-leaning Democrats instead of those milquetoast "centrists" who are just like two inches left from the GOP
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What do you think ?
Sparky4 14 hours ago
Thanks. My family is ok right now, but don't know what is going to happen when I reach retirement age in about 5 years.
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Biccus Diccus 14 hours ago (edited)
Pure capitalism/Pure communism are both extremes of the social system that by themselves lead to disenfranchised citizens. Most nations that have a mix of capitalism with a touch of socialism are comfortable and doing ok. America has lost its way and may never understand why the rest of the world thinks you are Fn 🥜, no socialised healthcare but guns for everyone. Dumb as s**t.
DC 11 hours ago
But, the extremism that capitalism is nowadays is never adressed as such. It's viewed as "centrist" simply because it is neither left nor right wing extremism, but a sort of that is indifferent to that scale.
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Sparky4 14 hours ago
Thanks. My family is ok right now, but don't know what is going to happen when I reach retirement age in about 5 years.
Load More Replies... Biccus Diccus 14 hours ago (edited)
Pure capitalism/Pure communism are both extremes of the social system that by themselves lead to disenfranchised citizens. Most nations that have a mix of capitalism with a touch of socialism are comfortable and doing ok. America has lost its way and may never understand why the rest of the world thinks you are Fn 🥜, no socialised healthcare but guns for everyone. Dumb as s**t.
DC 11 hours ago
But, the extremism that capitalism is nowadays is never adressed as such. It's viewed as "centrist" simply because it is neither left nor right wing extremism, but a sort of that is indifferent to that scale.
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