Food insecurity had been pretty dire in Germany over much of the prior two decades.
Not-so-fun fact: this is what worries me the most about the current political tendencies across the Western world. Historically, food insecurity has been the most common factor between regime changes, revolutions and other uprisings - and now we have been through about five years of rampant inflation (either direct or "hidden" behind shrink/skimpflation) with wage raises not even coming close to matching it, and many even centrist politicians don't care.
I wouldn't mind a re-roll on the upcoming American regime. Raise taxes on the wealthy and beef up programs that help the poor. Nobody should be rich enough to buy elections
Honestly, it's about time. The US and UK/Commonwealth are the only countries whose constitution hasn't ever been updated to match reality in many hundreds of years other than maybe a few cosmetic patches. Everyone else has had their constitution, laws, customs, in some times even the very borders itself or real estate ownership turned over and rebooted from scratch, for some not just once but twice or more.
And that shows, not just in a society that has a wealth inequality not seen since landed gentry in the medieval ages, but also with the complete and utter breakdown of public trust in government itself and the shift towards ever more absurd populism. Or if you want something really small, the fact that elections in the US are still held on a Tuesday because Sunday was Mass Day and Monday was reserved for travel on horseback.
Be careful what you wish for. The wealthy white collar types who got rich perpetuating whatever the system is don't tend to fare well in those sorts of things. A lot of HN would wind up losing their heads or swinging from the overpass same as the French and Russian minor nobility.
Both when it comes to wealth and politics, I'd be on the side of those with the pitchforks anyway.
The key thing that today's oligarchs and elite-rich forgot to learn from history: at least some time in a year, the rain falling down on the plebs shouldn't be shit but gold. When the population feels like their personal / family wealth/status cannot be influenced by whatever they do or not do, bad things can happen - some gang up for a revolution, others disconnect from the system entirely and become some form of hermit or completely rely on government aid, with zero motivation to contribute to society.
Most of HN is affected by layoffs and a bad market, yet at the end of the day, most of our material conditions are better than most of our peers both in white collar industries as well as the larger population.
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Not-so-fun fact: this is what worries me the most about the current political tendencies across the Western world. Historically, food insecurity has been the most common factor between regime changes, revolutions and other uprisings - and now we have been through about five years of rampant inflation (either direct or "hidden" behind shrink/skimpflation) with wage raises not even coming close to matching it, and many even centrist politicians don't care.
I wouldn't mind a re-roll on the upcoming American regime. Raise taxes on the wealthy and beef up programs that help the poor. Nobody should be rich enough to buy elections
Money helps but it can't reliably buy elections. The losing side in the 2024 Presidential election actually raised more campaign funding.
https://www.opensecrets.org/2024-presidential-race
I think you underestimate how likely that re-roll would be to turn up worse.
Honestly, it's about time. The US and UK/Commonwealth are the only countries whose constitution hasn't ever been updated to match reality in many hundreds of years other than maybe a few cosmetic patches. Everyone else has had their constitution, laws, customs, in some times even the very borders itself or real estate ownership turned over and rebooted from scratch, for some not just once but twice or more.
And that shows, not just in a society that has a wealth inequality not seen since landed gentry in the medieval ages, but also with the complete and utter breakdown of public trust in government itself and the shift towards ever more absurd populism. Or if you want something really small, the fact that elections in the US are still held on a Tuesday because Sunday was Mass Day and Monday was reserved for travel on horseback.
Be careful what you wish for. The wealthy white collar types who got rich perpetuating whatever the system is don't tend to fare well in those sorts of things. A lot of HN would wind up losing their heads or swinging from the overpass same as the French and Russian minor nobility.
Both when it comes to wealth and politics, I'd be on the side of those with the pitchforks anyway.
The key thing that today's oligarchs and elite-rich forgot to learn from history: at least some time in a year, the rain falling down on the plebs shouldn't be shit but gold. When the population feels like their personal / family wealth/status cannot be influenced by whatever they do or not do, bad things can happen - some gang up for a revolution, others disconnect from the system entirely and become some form of hermit or completely rely on government aid, with zero motivation to contribute to society.
^^^ This.
Most of HN is affected by layoffs and a bad market, yet at the end of the day, most of our material conditions are better than most of our peers both in white collar industries as well as the larger population.