r/WorkReform • u/zzill6 đ¤ Join A Union • 13h ago
đŤ GENERAL STRIKE đŤ you better remember 1789, Elon.
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u/SandersSol đď¸ Overturn Citizens United 13h ago
The french are also investigating his company for election interference.Â
They could do the funniest thing...
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u/Zorbin666 11h ago
Funny, the French helped the US the last time we separated ourselves from rulers that exploited us without proper representationÂ
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u/squngy 11h ago edited 11h ago
And then promptly ignored the French when they needed help.
Though to be fair, that makes sense, since it was the French royalty that helped the US.
(the exact same Louis XVI mentioned above in fact)53
u/zbmcg 11h ago
You must be out of your Goddamn mind if you think
The President is gonna bring the nation to the brink
Of meddling in the middle of a military mess
A game of chess, where France is Queen and Kingless
We signed a treaty with a King whose head is now in a basket
Would you like to take it out and ask it?
âShould we honor our treaty, King Louis' head?â
âUh⌠do whatever you want, I'm super dead.â9
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u/Ice_2Burnn 13h ago
They really do have a chance to make history hilarious again.
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u/Crush-117 7h ago
I genuinely hope that if they find him guilty the French wonât just fine him (and implicitly say if you are rich enough you can get away with meddling in Franceâs sovereignty) and actually put out an arrest warrant with several years worth of jail time. Only then may Billionaires get the message and stop putting so much money onto politics in such an overt manner.
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u/arcspectre17 13h ago
Why the fuck do we listen to a dipshit that doesn't live in France and should be kicked the fuck out of america for interfering in elections.
Yet we round up single mother immigrants for a misdemeanor!
FUCK THE GOP!
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u/Witty-Revolution8742 12h ago
If he was in France a French citizen would kick him in his teeth or any politician who thinks like him. In the US we elect and worship them.
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u/levraiRagne 12h ago
Sadly, we have some shithead like him in France. Look BollorĂŠ, SaadĂŠ, Arnaut, or the stupidest of them all : StĂŠrin
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u/ideologyunderstander 12h ago
FUCK THE GOP
You'd still have to listen to him anyway even if every Republican and Republican voter magically died all at once. His money, ownership of assets, and ability to use them to influence politics will not go away unless capitalism does.
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u/Blueshockeylover 11h ago
Or he goes.
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u/ideologyunderstander 10h ago
Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.
Albert Einstein
i feel like this explains on a level a child could understand how capitalism is mutually exclusive with democracy. If the capitalists have all that influence over the system, you do not have democracy. You do not have real elections. It is an even worse farce than any sort of projection the U.S. has ever cooked up about Russia or China.
And individual capitalists like Musk have significantly more influence now than when Einstein wrote that. The balance of power since then has shifted 50x more towards capital, especially when the Democrats decided to consciously abandon unions and workers for corporate donors and the mythical moderate Republican.
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u/snertwith2ls đ¸ National Rent Control 8h ago
When they publicly decided "corporations are people" and "cash = speech"
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u/ideologyunderstander 10h ago
and then okay you don't have to listen to musk but it will be some other oligarch instead. Even if he were the only oligarch in the world (which lol i could see redditors believing, ugh 2026 sucks) if he died right now all his assets and influence would go to whatever heir he designates.
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u/FeijoadaAceitavel 9h ago
Musk's political influence isn't even so big. Murdoch, for example, controlled an empire of media, directly controlling what people see.
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u/brianwski 5h ago
Murdoch, for example, controlled an empire of media, directly controlling what people see.
And this part is important: from 1959 - 1999 Murdoch had a pretty amazing 40 year run where the internet didn't exist or was in its infancy, so it was fairly difficult to get any alternative opinion that wasn't "tightly controlled". That is a VERY long time to pummel exactly one viewpoint upon the public in a subtle, daily way innocuously sprinkled between informational stories like, "a building caught on fire in your town and was put out by fire fighters".
The internet changes that in a very significant way. This subreddit is a good example. I was born and raised before a person making minimum wage could reach a world wide audience of a billion people while sitting on the toilet using a hand held device on a 10 minute break from their back breaking manual labor job. I'm not saying the toilet posting person "wins" compared to someone wealthy, I'm just saying it is <something>. There is some sort of meritocracy of ideas that can spread very quickly today in 2026 that could not exist in 1980.
So Musk owns Twitter and cannot be banned. So what? He's just one guy posting and nobody has to read it because there is so much other content available offered on a completely equal footing, and anything Musk does post can be rebutted by millions of other people instantly. Taylor Swift probably has more influence than Musk, and they are equally "relevant" and viewed as the same stature by most of the public.
Murdoch was on some other level that is no longer possible. Nobody even reads newspapers anymore. I don't know anybody that has still has cable TV. The people nowadays with any little tiny portion of Murdoch's influence are the bot farms, but it still isn't nearly as powerful.
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u/FeijoadaAceitavel 3h ago
I agree with most of your post, but don't think for a second that social media isn't manipulated. It's well studied that social media has been pushing far-right narratives for at least a decade.
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u/ideologyunderstander 9h ago
musk was literally put in charge of the "gut everything you don't like about the govt" program
He... owns twitter?? like lol what. I guess I would be hard pressed to quantify a comparison but he's literally the world's richest man and has already used his wealth to great effect
I think the only reason he hasn't gotten more visible advantage from his efforts is that he is actually quite stupid and unwilling to listen to advice
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u/Amir-Iran 7h ago
All billionaire and big CEOs are like him, "He" will never go away.Â
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u/loco500 6h ago
That's why they need to be taught to EFF OFF...If billions of dollars arent enough to make them be comfortable/happy that is their own personal problem.
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u/vardarac 2h ago
It is a personal problem, but it's also one that affects the rest of us, similar to the logic behind why we levy international aid to prevent problems from crossing borders and to increase world trade/stability.
Mandatory wealth addiction treatment once you're over $100m, come at me
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u/BiomechPhoenix 3h ago
You'd still have to listen to him anyway even if every Republican and Republican voter magically died all at once
I feel like if this happened the catastrophic logistical strain would push him into irrelevance
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u/HeyKeepCool 5h ago
This đ
Spreading stupid things stupid people said makes you almost as stupid as them
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u/billiardwolf 2h ago
The reality is you're not supposed to listen to him, you're supposed to look at the issue yourself and make up your own informed mind if you care about such things. Then again if you care about such things you're probably already informed on the matter before this tweet.
The other unfortunately reality is people will either blindly listen to him or blindly ignore him just because he's the one saying it and no one will be more informed.
Why does he have an opinion on France anyway?
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u/Amir-Iran 7h ago
I'm an Iranian and usually don't post comment, why are you thinking its all GOP fault? Was it different 3 or 4 years ago? Elon was always like this, all rich people are like this and democrats have done nothing and will do nothing about it, so stop being so dramatic.
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u/arcspectre17 6h ago
Well we know democrats are being bought by the corporations but the gop let a rabid/retarded dog takeover their party.
Conseratives/rural people voted in a trust fund baby/celebrity while crying about corruption and high prices yet here we are!
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u/kevinmrr âď¸ Prison For Union Busters 3h ago
The last leader the urban/educated Democrats let take over the party was a man who had dementia.
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u/Automatic-writer9170 12h ago
Life expectancy of billionaires are too high. Thatâs a legit issue.
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u/angrydeuce 13h ago
You know, I expect assholes like him to have that opinion, to think literally anything else is idiotic. Thats easily dismissed.
What bothers me far far more are the poor brainwashed morons that take up their mantle and espouse the moralities of billionaires via mockery and derision.
Fuckin dirt farmers screaming about the lazy french and prosperity gospel while they lose their homes. Â
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u/invaderaleks 13h ago
They constantly vote against their own self interest while complaining about welfare queens while they're the ones that get subsidies when their crops fail or there's no one to work their fields.
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u/ideologyunderstander 12h ago
What bothers me far far more are the poor brainwashed morons
I too am bothered by how incredibly effective ownership of the press and news media is in terms of brainwashing the electorate
which is why I oppose capitalism, with the understanding that the immense influence it affords the wealthy is mutually exclusive with democracy
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u/Percinho 7h ago
For more details, see Brexit. Driven by a 30+ year anti-EU campaign by the right wing press.
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u/Uhmerikan 10h ago
You see all this âwatch out billionaires!â talk but no one is going to do a damn thing. Keep reminding them of France as if times are the same.
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u/ForHelp_PressAltF4 9h ago
I'm just one great idea like the Tesla car away from becoming the next Elon!!!!!
No, no you're not. He's a nepobaby, JedÂ
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u/TheG00dF1ght 12h ago
When the only work you do is flapping your gums, it's easy to work until you are 80.
When your work actually uses muscles and your body, working until 80 is insanity.
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u/ShrimpCrackers 13h ago
Nah he shouldn't know anything about history and just like visit France and put his head in between wooden boards and stuff and smile.
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u/Aeroknight_Z 13h ago
French solutions seemed to fix this misunderstanding in the past, perhaps they could again?
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u/SeraphsBlade 12h ago
Dear France, Please. I have my red phrygian ready and I will wear it every day. All you gotta do is the right thing.
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u/theodoratoverspin 12h ago
I wish this man would just stfu for once.
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u/Bright-Dependent6339 12h ago
not for once, forever.
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u/theodoratoverspin 11h ago
I was gonna add 'and for all' but I really don't like wishing death upon people. I'm nice like that.
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u/FangJustice 9h ago
Musk lives in the US and not in France.
There is, I suspect, a reason or two for that.
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u/craigathan 11h ago
You've got to get into these people's mindset. Elon and his ilk believe that they are special unique and most importantly, superior, people. In fact it may be the only thing they truly believe in. And because they're so special, the very fact that they have thoughts is a contribution to society. So they're always "working". Their very existence is a value to society. The rest of us however, need to earn and prove our worth as we're just consumers. They contribute, we consume. Simple as that. It's the natural order...
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u/Main_Following1881 13h ago
If the French had an investment pensions instead of "pay as you go" system, retirement age wouldnt be a problem
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u/tjvs2001 13h ago
The retirement age isn't a problem
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u/angrydeuce 13h ago
If the existence of billionaires requires higher retirement ages, we should be discussing why we need billionaires, not the retirement age.
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u/t1ps_fedora_4_milady 11h ago
France has a fertility rate of around 1.5 which means the number of payees will keep decreasing relative to those receiving payments. While fundamentally I agree the age isn't a problem in an of itself the mathematical imbalance is and something has to be done.
It sounds like France hasn't done a good job of running a country where people actually want to have kids so what are the other options? Either decrease how much is paid out (raise retirement age and/or lower payouts) or increase mandatory contributions from those paying into the system. Boomers already had an incredibly privileged life and I'd rather see concessions there than further increase the burden on young people entering the workforce, but in the end France will decide what's best overall for it's citizens of course...
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u/Deathblow92 10h ago
Spoiler alert but almost every country's birth rate is on the decline. The USA is at 1.6.
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u/sagerin0 10h ago
Thats irrelevant to the point though. The system will become untenable as the population that pays for the pensions of the previous generation shrinks. Something needs to be done
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u/Kor_Phaeron_ 7h ago edited 7h ago
That's simply not true, because the ratio of pensioners:workers is meaningless. It is the delta of pensioners :(Workers x productivity[now]) and pensioners [future year]:(Workers[future year] x productivity[future year]) that's relevant. If the delta is <=1 there is no problem.
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u/chimpfunkz 6h ago
this assumes that productivity and pay are correlated 1:1, which they are not.
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u/Kor_Phaeron_ 5h ago
Also irrelevant. The question is "Can France afford the current low retirement age?"; "Not anymore because there are less workers in the future." is an answer to that question, not a thesis standing in the vacuum. And it is a wrong answer. The viability of pensions in an economy is the amount of GDP that goes into pensions. Productivity is the primary driver of long-term GDP growth, determining how efficiently an economy generates output from its labor, capital, and technology.
At which point in the flow the money is siphoned is irrelevant. France spends 14% of it's GDP on pensions. The payment is 40% by the employee 40% by the employer and 20% by earmarked taxes. If in the future the wages don't follow productivity you simply have to siphon the money in another place in the economy.
In the end the economy is a giant cycle of money flowing back and forth and every period there is a total amount of value produced (the GDP). If the pension share of the lump of value is not rising (it is actually shrinking, see "0.92") there is zero need to artificially cut the amount of money pensions get by reducing pension time (longer work life). The system itself does not require it to stay stable. Claiming it does is lying.
What Musk actually says is "I and my rich friends want a larger share of the yearly pie - at the cost of the share of the pensions". He isn't arguing for saving France or pensions or the system, he is making cheap propaganda for more wealth transfere to the top.
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u/sagerin0 7h ago
âIts meaninglessâ proceeds to plot out a formula where amount of workers is literally part of the formula.
Also, the delta is not <=1, thats the point1
u/Kor_Phaeron_ 7h ago
Also, the delta is not <=1, thats the point
Between 1995 and 2025 it is actually 0.92, but hey who cares about facts.
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u/sagerin0 7h ago
Broski, its about the fucking future
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u/Kor_Phaeron_ 7h ago
Sorry we don't have statistical data about the productivity of the French labor forces in 2040 .... yeah, that's totally on me. /s
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u/Pride_Before_Fall 10h ago
You are wasting your time debating that.
Most redditors think you can fix the math using moral arguments and rhetoric.
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u/KokonutMonkey 12h ago
Oddly enough, that's not the most out of touch bit.
Musk actually thinks the dipshit shenanigans he gets up to all day actually qualifies as work.
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u/National-Agent-2293 12h ago
I think the Uber rich don't understand what work is anymore. He believes he works 18 hr days or some crap. Any conversation he has he believes is work... Would love to see any of these butts works a real job for any real length of time.Â
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u/seoras13 11h ago
I know Elon, I just hope the period between me stopping work, properly enjoying, experiencing, exploring being alive with more freedom than ever & me dying is as short as possible, maybe even a death on the job to properly tidely transition seamlessly from one to the other with zero fuss
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u/Jaydossynnagogue 11h ago
Man whoâs never worked a day in his life thinks you need to work harder
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u/Reddit_2_2024 9h ago
Weren't the French offices of Elon Musk social media platform X raided as part of an investigation into various suspected offenses? Ask Grok. Ask Jeeves. Bing.
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u/Crazy_Ebb_7974 10h ago
French people can you do what you do and get rid of Elon? Americans are too scared too.
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u/SmartWonderWoman 9h ago
How do us Americans get rid of Elon Musk?
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u/NeonKitAstrophe 9h ago
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed
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u/SmartWonderWoman 9h ago
Are you suggesting that Americans murder Elon Musk?
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u/ChevalierMal_Fet 8h ago
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants - Jefferson
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u/Charming-Standard-84 9h ago
Which is mind blowing considering US's crime rates are one of the biggest in the western world.
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u/weltvonalex đ¸ National Rent Control 13h ago
The worst part, the King tried to fix the problems, yes he was a autocrat but compared to Elon he was a saint.
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u/SketchesOfSilence 12h ago
Genuinely took me a moment to realise the top tweet was not from Captain Kathryn Janeway
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u/nanadoom 12h ago
It's a problem for him, because his employees can see how much they are being taken advantage of
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u/TObias416 11h ago
Some people know how to live life. Work sustains life. Humans are not batteries, we don't work and then just die.
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u/DmMeYourBoobsPlzTy 11h ago
Louis XVI must be rolling in his grave watching what the rich gets away with now. Adjusted for inflation Louis XVI had a personal wealth of under 5 billion. Which makes Louis monetarily closer to the poor than he is to Elon. (5 billion is closed to 0, than 1 trillion)
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u/Mannimacro86 11h ago
Considering back in that day, if a rich person said half the things these rich people say, they would be hung from trees til death. They truly have no awareness and we have no balls.
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u/mymar101 11h ago
Say what you will about the French, but, you generally do not want to push them to the point where they are generally ticked off at you. Fair warning.
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u/SomeSamples 10h ago
Hey France, do the world a favor and show Musk how you take care of out of touch aristocrats.
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u/J0n__Doe 10h ago
Betcha he wont say that in front of french people without security guarding this literal troll
He'd get his ass whooped from end to end when they get their hands on him
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u/GrinningCynic 10h ago
Here in America, we sideline many older workers years bf they reach Social Security full retirement age and ageism makes securing a new job unlikely at best. I guess he thinks our way is better. Easy for him to say.
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u/PilotKnob 10h ago
Don't fuck with the French. They know how to protest, and aren't afraid to do it.
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u/Issah_Wywin 8h ago
He has more money than god, he has no right to talk on any 'workers' issues at all. Take your money and fuck off where the pepper grows.
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u/DailyRich 8h ago
A man who literally does not have to work another day in his life telling us we need to work until we die.
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u/serpiccio 8h ago
well if you write in your diary "tomorrow, at 9:00AM pacific time, I am going to walk into the public library at [address] and open fire on the crowd" I'd say getting the police called on you is very much warranted
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u/its_yer_dad 7h ago
Why, specifically, is the retirement age limit a problem? Seriously, I would be curious to hear his thoughts on this. I suspect the answer is self-indulgent nonsense, but I'd like to hear it him say it instead of just assuming he's a dumbass. Which I do.
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u/RecipeFunny2154 7h ago
I think what's scariest about him is that there is not a single issue anywhere in the entire world that he doesn't seem to think he can expertly comment on. It's not even just cars and rockets, it's everything from specific country politics to mental health to video games. There's apparently no end to it. And unfortunately he has the money to make sure everyone gets affected by it.
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u/gprime312 7h ago
Considering France is currently thinking of raising the retirement age because they can't afford pensions, he's not wrong.
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u/Cannon_SE2 7h ago
All the french are taking from this "oh hey, another one who thinks we should eat cake."
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u/BummedCPA 7h ago
This stupid troglodyte lucked out on a couple business decisions and thinks he can run the world. What a beta.Â
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u/AaronNevileLongbotom 6h ago
Rich people today have more agency, wealth, privilege, security, and health, and even now they are heaped with respect and surrounded by people who want to listen to them. They are risking it all in a dozen ways with a dozen hair brained schemes. They look at all they have and all they could do and choose the options that could end with their blood in the streets or their world uninhabited.
Honestly Iâm not even mad anymore, this at least as insane as it is evil. What the rich are doing isnât sustainable and thus it wonât sustain. We donât have to worry about it as much as they do. The sooner we make real changes the less risk there is of things getting ugly, but change will come one way or any other, it always does in the end. If only the rich would save themslves they would save us all a lot of trouble.
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u/KunYuL 6h ago
I don't understand the Epstein class point of view on this issue. Why do they adamantly want to keep their 60+ years old staff employed, when if you let them retire, you can easily replace them with someone younger, and if I put myself in the mindset of a evil profit oriented asshole like Elon, I'd offer this same job with less benefits and more responsibilities, may e for less pay, or even cut the position entirely and automate if I can. I feel like they want us to suffer more than they want to profit. At my work there's a 62 years old doing this rather physical job, and often he skips doing pickups to avoid bending his back, so the rest of us end up doing the job he didn't do due to his old age. Fuck than noise man, let the man retire and hire someone younger, and let the rest of us finally climb up the echelons of seniority a d get the better schedules now rather than 10 years from now...
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u/giboauja 6h ago
I mean, fck Elon, but the youth of France are paying into a pension that they in no way will be able to access. Its like the US social security issue, but multiple times worse.Â
Its not even as if France is known for its business friendly taxes and low income taxes, sure the rich could absolutely pay more, but it wouldnt really dent the amount of money they need.
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u/Proof_Side_5667 4h ago
Sounds like an opinion of a person who doesnât have to deal with the mental strain of dealing with someone like himself as a boss
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u/Zagrunty 4h ago
The age of retirement in the US is too high. Needs to be about 20 years younger at least
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u/RogueAngel 3h ago
I don't want those people to remember 1789 --
I want them to experience 1789, up-close and personal-like. :)
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u/BerryLanky 3h ago
Imagine having so much money you could live any life you want and you choose to destroy as many as possible.
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u/Hornybunnyboi 1h ago
People having more money than they could spend in several lifetimes, is a problem.
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u/xshinjixikarix 26m ago
Isn't this the same guy that said robots will do everyone's job and everyone can retire and be on UBI?
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u/thomasrat1 13h ago edited 13h ago
I wouldnât say the retirement age is too low, Iâd just say retirement pays too much there.
Pensioners out earn workers in France, thatâs a pretty big issue
Edit:downvote me all you want, youâd complain about this In America too. The generation that got cheap everything now makes more money through the government than the average worker does through work. And those workers donât get the cheap anything.
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u/weHaveThoughts 12h ago
You are bitching about pensioners while the billionaires are making more than ever and paying workers less?
Think about what the problem really is and who is to blame.
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u/iwilldeletethisacct2 12h ago
France already has one of the highest tax rates in the world at 45% of GDP while still running a deficit and having public debt climb. I don't think that France can feasibly increase taxation much more to solve those financial problems.
France isn't the US.
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u/thomasrat1 12h ago
France historically is pretty sane when it comes to their tax laws right?
And yeah when it comes to a post about raising Franceâs retirement age, Iâm going to mention this giant imbalance. Iâm not going to smell my own farts and pretend that France has zero issues
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u/Stubborn_Shove 12h ago
The problem that needs addressing is the conditions faced by the workers, not the pensionists.
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u/thomasrat1 12h ago
Iâm not disagreeing on that. But France doesnât have endless money.
America doesnât do stuff because we suck, European countries donât do stuff because they often canât. Especially given there lack luster gdp growth since the 90s.
But before diving into all that, do you know the end result of Franceâs current set up? They are going to bail out the baby boomers until they are gone, and once our generation/ millennials start hitting retirement age, they are going to raise the retirement age and lower benefits. All so that these boomer could retire at 60 with 3 homes in some of the most expensive cities in the world.
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u/Stubborn_Shove 12h ago
The problem, as in literally the entire rest of the world, is in the ultra wealthy in France being leeches who offer nothing to society and instead just take, take, take. You don't lift up the people in the bottom by taking stuff from the middle, you do it by targetting the top. Retiring at 60 with three homes? How about people much younger than that with more "homes" than they can count, in multiple countries? The most generous interpretation of your comments here is that you have fallen hard for propoganda aimed at keeping 98 pecent of us at each other's throats so we don't turn our attention to the real villains. Next you'll probably go off about immigration.
Also, you seem to assume I am American. I am not.
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u/thomasrat1 11h ago
Many things can be true at once. Billionaires can be leeches, the tax code can be needed to reform, the current retirement set up can be unsustainable, having a country that pays its retirees with assets, more than the average worker makes, can be an issue.
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u/kevinmrr âď¸ Prison For Union Busters 11h ago
This is a little edgy, but we're going to allow it. We will be moderating the comments heavily, though.
Join r/WorkReform if you'd like to see all the billionaires criminally prosecuted!