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[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 24 points 4 months ago

Retired people are generally working class too. Unless the person owns/owned a large corporation, that is.

[-] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 7 points 4 months ago

Doesn’t that make them not retired?

[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 15 points 4 months ago

I cannot functionally tell the difference from doing 2 hours of work at a Hampton vacation home and being retired. So I would say "not necessarily".

[-] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago

It’s a dollar amount in America though.

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

You’re allowed to work as many hours as you want and continue to collect Social Security once you reach full retirement age. You’ll be taxed on your earned income as well as Social Security benefits.

https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/whileworking.html

[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

That's my point. A billionaire owner can be functionally retired while still being "employed". A worker who's 65 years old cannot.

[-] Bye@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Sure but they get their money the same way the rich do, via capital gains.

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Not necessarily. Social Security is taxable income. About 40% of people who collect it make enough to have to pay taxes on it. They’d be in the same tax brackets as the lower end of the working class. The remaining 60% make too little to pay taxes on their annual income.

https://www-origin.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/taxes.html#:~:text=About%2040%25%20of%20people%20who,in%20addition%20to%20your%20benefits.

[-] Neato@ttrpg.network 5 points 4 months ago

That would be in lieu of income taxes, yes. Also doesn't apply for ss or pensions.

[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Capitalism forces even the unwilling to participate. It's a matter of fact that the only way to afford a retirement in the last 50 years as a worker is to invest in private capital. I already want to see the total annihilation of coerced labor, I don't want to work for my entire life.

[-] GBU_28@lemm.ee 1 points 4 months ago

What government or economic system doesn't do that? Even if the system is fully autonomous and opt in, it implicitly obligates interaction if it is enforced by any means (or the use of another system is prohibited)

[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

If you're asking about that bit of snark at the end about coerced labor, I can try to explain it.

I consider there to be 3 loose types of labor: forced, coerced, and controlled. Forced labor is what it sounds like: incarcerated labor, slavery, etc controlled through violence and defined by the bosses total control over their labor and often their life. Coerced labor shares a bit of overlap with forced labor, but it's primarily defined through modern capitalist work in which workers must perform waged labor due to economic pressure.

Controlled labor would be the free association to work where the worker wished and contribute at their own pace. I consider the picturesque version of controlled labor to be a unionized worker cooperative in which all management is elected within a socialist economy. Work is still directed by management, but it's free of coercion due to the lack of economic pressure that would require a person to be forced to work.

There will still be coercion through other means within such a socialist society, and it will still be just as evil as economic coercion. But we should strive to eliminate it wherever possible. That's why I believe even the co-op would need a union, to establish protections against such coercion.

this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2024
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