I've come to the realization that we are "expendables" to the PTB.

[Boxerfan]

Who are those powers that be?. I'd wager the big money investment/ corporations DEMANDING that we do anything-hell or high water style-to keep the shops open & kids in school. Nothing we can regulate till we have an actual national workers rights bill.

All of the latest "advice" and protocols are aimed at keeping the cash machines flowing. And they all are not in keeping with even common sense.

This is going to end in a predictable fashion with a very sick & overwrought workforce that may collapse at any extra stress.

They have not cared about the well being of workers for the last 30+ years. Now they don't care if we just drop dead. As long as they can shove another peg into the slot they could care less.

Just my $.02

[LakeArenal]

1. Yep. Evidence is everywhere.

[rsdsharp]

2. In his first speaking role in a movie, Tony Curtis played a hotel bell boy

delivering a telegram to a guest. Before his short scene the director put his arm around him and explained his motivation for the scene, saying “All you want is the tip.”

All the PTB want from us is the money. All of it if possible.

[Hortensis]

3. Free, able people take care of themselves. That's basic.

We created government of, by and for the people to provide a stable, safe structure for ourselves, within which we were free to pursue our happiness. Not to take care of us. Being taken care of is strictly for those who cannot, who are temporarily in bad trouble or who are mentally and/or physically disabled.

Programs like Social Security aren't a gift; we created them as part of taking care of ourselves. We work, we pay into our government-guaranteed retirement savings that can't disappear, and we draw out. Same for others, including the ACA. We should make some others we want as part of taking care of ourselves.

As for "them," we are over 250,000,000 eligible voters. They're a few hundred thousand at most, @70,000 families. "They" don't do anything or get anything we don't allow.

From my point of view, WE are the powers that be. Yes, I know -- those who won't act like it are our problem, and a disgusting one, not the others we once stripped of much of their excess wealth and put on a regulatory leash. Maybe way past time to do it again, and mean it?

[Bluethroughu]

6. Thank you, perfect.

[BigmanPigman]

4. I agree, that makes it 4 cents...

for what it's worth. As a public school teacher in one of the top 10 largest districts in the US I can personally say that my health and the students' health means absolutely nothing to the school districts. It all boils down to the bottom line and the almighty $$$. I had to leave my teaching job due to constant illnesses that were preventable. The districts do not give a shit about the kids or the staff. School is a business and people need to realize who is pulling the strings. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[brooklynite]

5. In blaming the "PTB", you're also blaming a lot of Democratic elected officials.

[area51]

7. We've always been completely expendable to the PTB,

otherwise we'd have healthcare as a basic human right like the actual first world countries have.

[Irish_Dem]

9. PTB have made it perfectly clear that profits are more important than human life.

[Irish_Dem]

8. We are totally expendable. From Viet Nam war to Covid, there are too many

examples to list.

[pecosbob]

10. My wake up call was when Reagan arranged to delay the the release of the Iranian hostages

to secure his election. I probably should have paid attention to Nixon's bombing of Cambodia to secure his re-election, but I was like eleven years old. By the time Reagan came around I was old enough to distinguish between piss and rain. Then came the forty years of flat wages, erosion of any and all pensions and retirement plans, and the dismantling of the public health-care system and its replacement with worker paid premiums to satisfy the greed of the insurance oligarchs.

Forty years of trickle down, bait and switch, and moving goalposts. A lot of Democrats bought into this shit as well.