jordy 🍞🌹

@whobenefits.bsky.social

Missourian with many thoughts, opinions, & questions. You can usually find me talking to strangers & learning their stories. Free Palestine. End empire. Land Back. Talks too much about class/labor history, power dynamics, native plants & reciprocal flow.

a norwegian on Threads posted this and i just don’t know how much more clearly we can emphasize how much Americans are being ripped off by our system which is built to concentrate wealth at the top

Cost of Living:
Seattle vs Oslo
A couple with children. Parents in their mid-30s.
Dual income (median), two children aged 1 and 3.
threads.com/@trond_solberg71
Seattle
Oslo
Dual income
221 579 1)
Median couples w/children income for 2024
1757134)
Median couples w/children income for 2024
Income taxes
45 7762)
20,7% tax rate. Federal + FICA. No state, no local tax in King County.
44 953
Calculated. Effective tax rate: 25,6%. Includes
"social security tax" of 7,7%.
After tax income
175 803
Calculated from the income and tax numbers.
130 760
(4)
Median after tax income for families w/childrer
Childcare
41 280
(3)
Current number
5565 5)
Capped by law (max fee + sibling discount.
Much cheaper from 2025.
Healthcare
15 240
3)
Employee share of premiums and out-of-pocket.
668
6)
Max out-of-pocket for public health services for two adults in 2024. Children are free.
Housing
32 6523)
29 398 7)
Basic living costs
47 040 3)
Food, transportation, other necessities.
Includes sales tax.
421208)
Food, transportation, other necessities.
Includes sales tax.
"Life money"
39 591
53 009
2024 numbers retrieved and currency conversions done on Feb 11th/12th, 2026.
All numbers converted to USD for readability. Comparison is based on real local costs, not PPP estimates.
Sources:
1) https://data.census.gov/table?q=B19125:+Median+Family+Income+in+the+Past+12+Months+(in+2024+Inflation-
Adjusted+Dollars)+by+Presence+of+Own+Children+Under+18+Years&g=160XX00US5363000&y=2024
2) https://smartasset.com/taxes/income-taxes
3) https://www.epi.org/resources/budget/budget-map/
4) https://www.ssb.no/en/statbank/table/06944
5) https://www.udir.no/regelverk-og-tilsyn/barnehage/foreldrebetaling/
6) https://www.helsenorge.no/en/payment-for-health-services/exemption-card-for-public-health-services/
7) https://www.ssb.no/priser-og-prisindekser/boligpriser-og-boligprisindekser/statistikk/leiemarkedsundersokelsen

Portraits showing how Black people were artistically depicted in the USSR vs in the USA. In the USSR, there was so much solidarity and respect for Black people. Paul Robeson and Muhammed Ali visited the USSR and could attest to that. Now compare that to the rampant racism in (white) American art.

Gotta say, it's infuriating to see the people who say shit like, "COVID is the flu" and dropped all precautionary measures in 2021 to go back to brunch pretend that they have the moral high ground over RFK. They're all dangerous, reality-denying eugenicists that only care about themselves.

Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man meme

AI is capital’s latest growth sector created to generate profit for the few while extracting <so fucking much> from everything it touches. Workers’ labor value, artists’ creations, our finite natural resources. Fuckin up once-stable ecosystems & the cognitive abilities of its users.

Alejandra Caraballo@esqueer.net · 2w ago

Every time I post stuff about AI, I lose followers even when I'm neutral or critical of it. I could just easily say AI sucks and rake in the likes and followers but I don't because I think this site is burying its head in the sand and making the left unable to be taken seriously on regulating AI.

You were wiling to sell out trans people, and now you’re willing to sell out immigrants, and by the time you get all your big shiny wins you’ll have a Senate full of men only distinguishable from Republicans by color of their ties. Stand for something, you fucking coward.

On this day 39 years ago, one of the greatest African revolutionaries of all time, Thomas Sankara, was assassinated in a French-backed Coup and buried in an unmarked grave. All because he dared to free his people from western colonialism and provide them with basic rights like food and healthcare. 🇧🇫

When the US collapses, it will be good long term for the rest of the world. But very, very bad for the people living here in the core. The various groups of fascists are organized. Hundreds of thousands of them. They are armed, they have money, and they have reach with people.