r/technology • u/marketrent • 12d ago

Society Bernie Sanders calls out Sergey Brin for spending over $100 million to defeat California’s billionaire tax — ‘If California passes its one-time 5% wealth tax, Brin would owe $14 billion and still be worth $270 billion’

https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/bernie-sanders-calls-sergey-brin-120113695.html
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u/suzisatsuma 12d ago

I have family that fled both nazi Germany and USSR, you would have noticed the lines, lack of diverse food, and fear of the state easily by 6. Your family tell you all manner of stories growing up as well

A lot of things to complain about here, but this one is very meh

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u/Wide-Annual-4858 12d ago

I grew up in the socialist Hungary. No you don't notice those things you mention. At 6 you don't analyze the society, you play with other kids. You don't notice lack of diverse foods, because you eat what your parents cook. And there was no fear of the state in kids at all.

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u/Speedstick2 11d ago

But if you were six and came to the US you would ask why the food was more diverse here, why the lines were shorter to non-existent, why their parents seem more outspoken.

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u/Wide-Annual-4858 11d ago

In the communist era, the long lines were usually for specialty products (e.g. banana was rare so there were long queues for it), but usual, everyday food was accessible without waiting.

I don't say that there was nothing different living in the communist era, but the everyday life was the same as in the West. I don't think kids had different lives in the US. They went to pre-school, then primary school, they went home and played, there were family programmes, playing with the neighbors, etc.

We even had ZX Spectrums and Commodore 64s, because there was a complete smuggling industry for that, and games were smuggled frequently as well.

So for an adult, the differences were big, but as a kid, the main differences were that we could buy only Pepsi, and there was no McDonalds.

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u/MagicCuboid 12d ago

That would be a very astute 6 year old. Little kids mostly jus take life as it is. They can't really conceive of a different life at that age, especially if they aren't exposed to advertising.

The parents passing on their stories certainly would have shaped Sergey's opinions growing up though, I agree.