#Bernie2020

[Kugelfisch]

I've read the Better Korea is trying something similar by building a socialist utopia city (built by starving peasants and their children, of course). That place will probably only be populated by Kim's BFFs and various extras pulling an IRL Truman Show (at least during those times they actually let in journos and foreigners).

I'm sure they'd love that but they can't even build a hotel.

[TheBilthCollector]

You're thinking too much about money. Increased pay means jack shit in socialism because there's nothing you can buy for it anyway.

I had an old Hungarian tell me the same story about the Soviet era in his country.

He was a pilot in the Air Force and made pretty good money for military service. He lamented that all he could do with it was blow it on parties. Any kind of investing or securing of assets was completely forbidden by the communist system. The currency was utterly worthless outside the USSR. Even shoving it under the mattress was pointless because by that time currency controls/exchanges were in full swing.

So what he do with it all? Party. He'd walk into a restaurant or bar and ask the manager what he made on a good weekend. He'd then offer double or triple (in cash) to rent the place and have the entire staff cater to him and roughly half dozen friends for an entire day.

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

I'm sure they'd love that but they can't even build a hotel.

Didn't stop them from making money off of one in Berlin for years.

[Guest]

Would crawl through fire to suck on AOC's fat titties though.

I like how she says "banal".

I prefer her way. All girls should pronounce it this way from now on.

[Le Redditeur]

Would crawl through fire to suck on AOC's fat titties though.

I like how she says "banal".

I prefer her way. All girls should pronounce it this way from now on.

Yeah, such a Khazar beauty, I almost can't contain my vomiting. I mean, boner. Oy gevalt!

[RedLine]

You know you want it.

SpoilerShow

[Kugelfisch]

Any kind of investing or securing of assets was completely forbidden by the communist system. The currency was utterly worthless outside the USSR.

The currency was worth next to nothing. Three months of pay would buy you a pair of jeans or an LP on the black market if you were lucky. I know I keep mentioning coffee but that was a huge deal. Coffee was fucking expensive even in West Germany, in the DDR it was like gold.

Within the nation it was close to worthless as well. Housing was coupled to your work status. You still had to pay for the place but you also had to be allowed to buy it in the first place so just saving up got you nowhere. Same with cars. If you were a basic pleb you could get a Trabant and you had to apply for it. Average waiting time was five years. If you were in the higher social classes you could get a Wartburg.
That's why the Volvo was such a big deal. They were given to people that have been on the waiting list for a Wartburg for at least five of the seven years it usually took. Many chose to trade it in because it'd easily get you a very nice Wartburg plus a camping trailer and some other commodities on top.

It can't be stressed enough how little money meant in socialism. You could have a million bucks and were still living in a Plattenbau dumpster and ate the same regular market slop in regulated amounts because that was your allowance and that's it. Imagine it like living with your parents but they are ultra strict assholes about fucking everything, respect your privacy even less and have way more control over you. And instead of being grounded it's off to the gulag.
They were ultra authoritarian in ways not even the Nazis were.

[mad bum]

You may hate Bernie, but Bezos is the ultimate scumbag.

[rabidtictac]

That's because Amazon is basically a monopoly now.

[Kugelfisch]

That's because Amazon is basically a monopoly now.

I wonder how many taxes the state-owned monopoly retailer would pay and it they would pay out overtime to their workers in the first place.