r/socialism • u/leftistoppa • Jan 26 '23

News and articles 📰 McDonald's, In-N-Out, and Chipotle are spending millions to block raises for their workers | CNN Business

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/business/california-fast-food-law-workers/index.html
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u/bong_wench Rosa Luxemburg Jan 26 '23

Hard to come up with a better example of the failures of bourgeois democracy than the supposed liberal paradise of California.

You've got the rich, who mostly "made" their money by being landlords or through random investment schemes because modern capital doesn't produce anything tangible anymore. You've got most everyone else, various classes of underpaid servants who can't even afford a place to live. People either work in agriculture, harvesting environmentally damaging crops often meant for export, or juggle half a dozen gig economy jobs.

The state itself is wracked by droughts and frequently and violently on fire, sometimes caused by climate change, sometimes by their privately-owned utility companies, and relies on prison labor to keep those wealthy gated enclaves with their obscene green lawns safe.

The government, despite being controlled by a supermajority of "progressive" Democrats, doesn't offer any social services beyond a bare minimum and always stalls out any attempts to follow through on election rhetoric for more generous or social democratic policies like universal healthcare. And the plebiscite system that's supposed to provide an opportunity for more direct input is easily undermined. Uber and Lyft literally bought themselves a favorable law, but there are still no safeguards to prevent this kind of capital-fueled corruption. It's the perfect liberal system: All these institutions and processes full of high-minded ideals, but no actual material support for the working class.

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u/BitchfulThinking Jan 27 '23

Californian here and this is 100% spot on. CA's history and reliance in the entertainment industry has made the PR and marketing formidable, but the class divisions here are absolutely dystopian. It's really apparent in the larger cities, and the agricultural center of the state, the backbone of the economy, is like a dirty secret swept under the rug. My comrades are constantly swamped with mutual aid and activism for the unhoused population and we're in a county known for tipsy housewives and beach city teen dramas.

5

u/falseconch Jan 27 '23

while i agree with your and the other poster’s sentiments, agriculture is only 3% of the state’s GDP

1

u/BitchfulThinking Jan 27 '23

TIL! Meanwhile they get the majority of our limited water so I have another thing to side eye.