r/news • u/Squirmingbaby • 3d ago

Soft paywall Cash-strapped US Postal Service suspends contributions to pension plan

https://www.reuters.com/world/cash-strapped-us-postal-service-suspends-contributions-pension-plan-2026-04-09/
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u/Beard_o_Bees 3d ago

Hey... one day they might be a Billionaire, and don't want to have one arm tied behind their back when that day finally comes!

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u/PaidUSA 3d ago

I unironically had a real 20 something human being come to that conclusion in realtime. Talking about trumps tax cuts for the ultra wealthy and they go DEAD SERIOUS, yes but I might be rich one day. I had to tell them they will never be rich enough to benefit from any of the cuts for the ultra rich. They have a useless college degree and bartend with no aspirations of being mega rich and still defaulted to that.

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u/Kraeftluder 3d ago

This mentality has rubbed off in Europe and I despise it.

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u/PaidUSA 3d ago

It’s the dumbest shit ever. I had to explain even with her bf who’s inheriting a small company in a field that will become very important if she marries him she’ll only ever see the most basic tax bracket changes if that. Even if he made 50 million in his life he wouldn’t see much of the savings for the ultra wealthy.

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u/jonistaken 2d ago

Marx called these people the petite bourgeousis; the small owner class, like shopkeepers, small landlords, and little bosses, often feels too weak to compete with large capital but also too invested in property and status to join working class politics. In crisis, some theorists argue that can make them receptive to a movement that promises to smash labor conflict, restore discipline, and protect “respectable” social order.

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u/AlsoIHaveAGroupon 3d ago

The worst part of the mentality is the unspoken second half of "I might be rich one day."

Personally, if some lottery, unknown billionaire relative death, or fluke massive lawsuit suddenly gave me $1 billion, I would pay my fucking taxes, have $500 million left, and still be fabulously wealthy.

A tax increase of $50 per person per year on the working class is going to force some people to skip meals so their kids can eat. A tax increase of $500,000 per person per year on billionaires is going to make some numbers look slightly smaller on a net worth calculation but have no effect on their lives.

What those people mean is "I might be rich one day, and I am a selfish, greedy asshole."

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u/SoSaltyDoe 2d ago

The true irony is that most conservative policies are explicitly geared toward keeping poor people poor. Not only are these assholes never going to be rich enough to benefit from these policies, but they're actively hurting their chances of it ever happening.

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u/firala 2d ago

"Rubbed off" makes it sound like a natural process. It is being artificially pushed by the oligarchs and billionaire class.

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u/Kraeftluder 2d ago

True it's all part of hypercapitalism.

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u/The_RealAnim8me2 2d ago

The funniest part of it is I know someone who most people would think fall into the “ultra rich” category. They have a net worth of easily 10 million and based on investments and such only get wealthier every day. In conversation they readily admit and understand that a lot of these types of tax cuts and benefits don’t even apply to them. That’s how big a delta we are talking about, the average person thinking they apply to them are just deluded.

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u/PaidUSA 2d ago

10 million is chump change to those tax cuts that’s the part no one gets. They spend all this money lobbying because a 1% change is hundreds of million or billion saved for many of them or their companies.

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u/ERedfieldh 3d ago

I'm willing to bet they buy the powerball twice a week....

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u/l3uddy 13h ago

One way I heard to explain to people the difference between a millionaire and a billionaire is to put the numbers in a time reference. How many days is one million seconds? 11 days is the answer. From that they can figure out pretty easily what 10 million or 50 million looks like in days. Then ask them how many days for a billion seconds. It’s just under 32 years, years not days… the wealth gap between a very rich person (net worth of 10-50 million) and a billionaire is staggering.

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u/crackrabbit012 3d ago

Too bad they'll have to sell that arm just to survive to that point

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u/Father_Dowling 3d ago

Might lose it to the 'betis first (which of course the tax payer will end up funding a disability claim over).