Yeah, screw those Democratic Socialists!

Wait... Where are they?

Oh no!?! Did no one say anything that was necessarily the perspective of a Democratic Socialist? Is it possible that there are more than two ways of looking at the world? Can people doubt the wisdom of employer based benefits outside of pay without necessarily fitting neatly into the gross caricature I project onto the people who might disagree with me?

And if that's the case, maybe the view of the world I've constructed doesn't match reality?

That can't be the case! Because if that's the case, then maybe yelling at those other boys on the playground and calling them names didn't really impress anyone. And I know that's not true. Everyone was really impressed. They were all laughing and everything! I mean, they couldn't have been laughing because they too were just scared, insecure, adolescents trying to look impressive in front of the aggressive kid who makes fun of other people on the playground.

No! It's not true. I was right back in the playground days and I'll stay right so long as I keep up the ethos that worked for me when I was 12.

So, fuck you, you bunch of Democratic Socialist pansies, with all your AOC's, and your ACA's, and your commie Green New Deals! Now I'm gonna go hang out with all my cool friends from the playground. We're still together because we share knee-jerk anger about those who might have different perspectives from our own, a sure sign of a life well-spent.

You're probably right. Fuck it. All employers should eliminate any kind of tuition assistance programs. Leave it up to the govt to decide who gets what.

So, there are only two options? Either this idea is so good that no one should doubt it or the government gets to decide who gets what?

My goodness, I'm glad I don't live in a world composed of such binary dilemmas. You know, there are other possibilities, don't you? Just to think of one very simple straightforward option: Amazon could raise employee compensation an amount equivalent to the projected cost of this tuition assistance program and allow the workers the freedom to invest in themselves as they see fit.

my provided healthcare continued after retirement and until Medicare kicked in at which time it reverted to secondary status

Delighted that your employer based healthcare was of a high enough quality that it sustained you until your government funded healthcare kicked in.

My snark is only partial. I really am glad it worked for you. The fact is, however, it doesn't work for a great many and it leads to lock-in for employees that ultimately weakens their bargaining position in the workplace. This latter point is my main concern.

I should sooner any day that employers raise pay equivalent to what these benefits cost and allow employees to use the money to pay for tuition, private healthcare plans, etc. The amount employers must pay for each individual employee healthcare plan is absurd, and most employees don't even realize it. This disrupts market function even more than our distorted system already would.

You'll probably be really pissed that I was able to open 3 total retirement accounts.

No. Good for you. Glad you're comfortable.

If your hatred of a company is so white hot intense [...]

Huh? I don't think addressing public problems through employer benefits is an effective solution. Who has white hot intense hatred?

another example of their evil

I didn't call anyone evil. I said employer based insurance has been disastrous. These are different things.

You've formed a narrative

You've decided that I'd be pissed at your retirement accounts, I have white hot hatred against a company, and that I think they're evil... and I'm forming narratives?

This is certainly true. But it doesn't solve the core issues involved in the cost of education. In much the same way, most of the health insurance reform proposals we've dealt with (and enacted) leave the cost issue largely untouched. Thus, we get the ACA and still rapidly increasing insurance premiums at the same time.

You might say this isn't Amazon's job, and you'd be right. My concern isn't with Amazon, however. My concern is that the public looks ever more to private employer benefits to address a problem that is of broader public concern. Such an approach leads to greater employer leverage in a system that already tends to favor the voices of large companies over the needs of communities and the common good.

Employer based insurance has proven to be nothing short of a disaster. I doubt employer controlled tuition payments will redound to the benefit and independence of the employee.

It's a dodgy technology that was popular because it worked well enough, especially when TVs weren't that great, either.

In this context, it's worth reminding people that VHS wasn't really invented or marketed for watching movies at home. It was created to record broadcast at home so you could watch at different times. The intended usecase of VHS was much more like DVR's than DVD's. With this in mind, the 'good enough' quality becomes readily explicable.

10-15? I can make that trip in less than 12 parsecs every time!

Sorry it had to be that. There are better facts.

No. Your response is either disingenuous or ignorant. In case it's merely ignorant, I'll explain:

I have no love of Zuckerberg. Criticize him all you want for things he's done. His company is, I believe, a net negative for the world. But criticism should be focused on those things, not his religious background. The triple parentheses in this context are a reference to the fact that he is Jewish. They are an unnecessary part of criticizing him and are the antisemitic aspect to which I am objecting.

That being said, the very fact that you repeated the triple parentheses shows that you're aware of this, are being disingenuous, and are probably trolling. But I respond all the same for those who might not be aware of this kind of nonsense.

I have no mod points at the moment, otherwise I'd downvote this. But why on earth is anti-semitic trolling from an AC getting modded up? Is this Slashdot now?

It's a popular plot because it assuages the guilt of the audience, who in the West has benefited from imperialism of one sort or another, while simultaneously reaffirming the superiority of the audience.

"Yes, my culture has exploited these other, pure, noble savages and their sacred land. But I wouldn't have done something like that. I would have fought for the oppressed while quickly learning to embody all that is good about them and their connection to nature. And of course, I'd use my superior education and the greater prowess of my phenotype to save the stupid, helpless, rubes from their unenlightened and prejudiced oppressors."

More Slashdotters should be familiar with their work. Most of us are getting old enough to show significant UV damage.

Sounds like they retrobrighted a veneer.

This kind of lazy, thoughtless response that prevents reform in many spheres.

Give MTailor a try. I liked it. I'm a rather lanky fellow with an unusually wide neck. This always forced me to buy shirts off the rack with the bodies fit for a much larger guy. Their shirts were some of the first I experienced where they fit in all dimensions.

Then COVID hit, my gym closed, and I put on more weight than I've ever had. So... yeah. But I can't blame MTailor for that.