The US to be just another 3rd World Country in 10 years? by 6IXSTRINGJACK

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

The US to be just another 3rd World Country in 10 years?

POSTED BY: 6IXSTRINGJACK
UPDATED: Friday, November 26, 2021 17:34
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Thursday, September 4, 2014 8:56 AM

Hehe..... sorry for the PN thread title, but I couldn't help myself....

As some of you know, I work overnights part-time at your local failing big-box store. There has been a freeze on wage increases, at least in my District, for 7 or 8 years, so I still make minimum wage after 2 years. :)

I'm not thrilled about my position in life in that regards, but then again, because I can live off of that there has never been much motivation to move along in this stagnant job market.

That is.... until 2 weeks ago......

Our store manager was axed and they brought in a "fixer" who has 30 days to fix what isn't broken (I keep being told that we're the 20 million dollar store and that we're by far the best performer in the district).

Ever since then, the shit is just rolling down-hill. What used to be a stress free job is starting to look much like the hostile work environment I was surrounded by twice in my life when I had jobs making over 50k a year.

I know that no manager in their right mind, especially one that wants to "fix" things, is ever going to give me any lip... but I don't take very kindly to co-workers being abused. ESPECIALLY if they ARE good workers, but the higher-ups know they're push-overs and they can get away with cracking the whip on them to make them do even MORE work for minimum wage.....

Two years just last month.... I've spent quite a bit more time with these people than my family in two years. They, like the people I worked with at the two other jobs, have become my second family.

When I was a kid, half the people I worked with at Toys R Us weren't old enough to vote. Now that I'm 35, I barely work with anyone in their 20's and most of them are in their 30's to their 60's.

These people NEED this job, and the assholes with the 401k's that make up 1% of the store and the people above them KNOW this because if we had something better to do we wouldn't be working for a place that gives ZERO rewards for hard work. (This is then compounded by the fact that because of fear of "discrimination" they won't fire anybody who is lazy and/or stupid).

Once again, I find myself in a position where I'm the only one who doesn't need my job because of my life outside of work. Just like those other jobs, work conditions and stress levels just completely suck. The only difference this time is instead of making 50k with full benefits, I'm making 8 bucks an hour with zero benefits. (I'd make about 150 a week unemployment, which is enough for me to live off of for however long it lasts these days, and I have at least a year of rainy-day funds if NOTHING came up, which I'm sure would never happen).

One of my work Moms was essentially fired the other day because we can no longer leave the store for any reason at night, even during the week when the manager is there. She and her husband are in a tight situation now and need use of the car during the same shifts so when she does work, she needs to leave for about 90 minutes. I know she wasn't making much, but that's about 800 bucks less a month they make now..... :(

It's obvious to me that my Manager is the next target. He's been in the retail game most of his life, and we discuss a lot of things, so he knows the writing is on the wall.

I dunno..... I'm not trying to be chicken little here or anything, but back when Nirvana was still putting out new tunes, I worked with a bunch of 16-17 year old kids who didn't really NEED the job. The store was fully staffed and we got the job done. Now I work at a store with 1/2 the staff payroll, with a bunch of adults who NEED this job, and most of them it's their 2nd job.

That's bad enough, but when I see minimum wage people who know they're never getting a raise no matter how hard they work being treated like shit, I don't know how to deal with it.

I'm REALLY not a violent person. I put bugs in cups and let them outside of my house.... for realz.... Sure, I have anger management issues, and I'm big enough that people just stay away when I get in one of those moods, but I'd be lying if I said that I haven't had dreams recently about doing horrible things to these people that view and treat us like nothing more than numbers.

Is THIS what America is becoming....? A place where people who work a minimum wage job with no benefits and no hope of climbing the ladder now worry so much that they might not have that job tomorrow that they're stressing out hard-core and doing WAY more work than what they're putting into it because they're scared.

WTF?

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Thursday, September 4, 2014 9:22 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Welcome to the libertarian dream.

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

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Thursday, September 4, 2014 10:46 AM

JONGSSTRAW

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK

Is THIS what America is becoming....? A place where people who work a minimum wage job with no benefits and no hope of climbing the ladder now worry so much that they might not have that job tomorrow that they're stressing out hard-core and doing WAY more work than what they're putting into it because they're scared.

Not for anyone with an education, a positive work ethic, and a desire to succeed. My two kids have already each made more money in the last ten years than I've made in forty. The American Dream is very much alive and well.

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Thursday, September 4, 2014 11:10 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by 1kiki:
Welcome to the libertarian dream.

Throw whatever stones at me that you feel you must throw 1kiki :)

I'd just ask you to please read this book before you do:

http://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Williamson-Chapter-American-Lawlessness/d
p/0252062337

I'm not bitching about my own life.

I can think of 3 people at least that I TRULY know that would LOVE to trade places with me. 5 if you include women in the "random" poll at my job. ;)

Chances are that any guy married for just 6 months would trade spots instantly with me if I gave an OBO on eBay for my "life"....

I have like ZERO responsibility. It's like Home Alone sans the broken shopping bags and the two dildos trying to rob the place.......

Whether I consider myself a libertarian or not, I believe that most, if not every one of them I work with consider themselves Democrats. Even all of the white ones. Honestly, it's the first time I've ever felt the reverberations of the BEAT DOWN from this side of the fence.....

I'm going to miss that when it's gone. I hope some of us make an effort to keep in touch when we're not, well, yanno.....

Thank you 1ikki for pointing out something I never considered that is different this time.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thursday, September 4, 2014 11:18 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Sorry... read it again and you probably don't know the conclusion I came to.....

I didn't change at all on the surface. Same Old Shit, Different Year.....

My current Work Family is completely different and just about as diversified as you can get.

Killing Our Night Shift is like Killing MKJ's DREAM. Period.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thursday, September 4, 2014 2:05 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Six

We seem to be on parallel conversations. My comment merely reflected this fact: the only thing that's keeping those people from starving to death on the street are the horrible government interventions like the minimum wage, food stamps, medicaid etc. But give libertarians time and even those will be gone. Then we'll have reached libertarian nirvana.

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Thursday, September 4, 2014 5:28 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Six, what you are describing is the type of scenarios that led people to taking collective action and unionising, as well as fighting for decent working wages and conditions.

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Thursday, September 4, 2014 11:11 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Is THIS what America is becoming....? A place where people who work a minimum wage job with no benefits and no hope of climbing the ladder . . .

A world power other than the USA has fallen into the same trouble, but worse. Social scientists are struggling to answer the question, Why are Russians dying in numbers, and at ages, and of causes never seen in any other country that is not, by any standard definition, at war?

A major clue to the psychological nature of the Russian disease is the fact that the two brief breaks in the downward spiral coincided not with periods of greater prosperity but with periods, for lack of a more data-driven description, of greater hope. www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/sep/02/dying-russians/

The Americans are still far behind the Russians, but if the elite really put their minds to it, the USA can achieve parity with Russia.

The American Dream is very much alive and well. A large number of people with connections enjoy extraordinary perquisites compared to the vast majority of the population. The wealth-and-privilege gap is no longer "concealed by the tall fences around the nomenklatura summer houses, the textbook and newspaper depictions of Soviet egalitarianism, and the glacial pace of mobility into one of the favored groups at the top."

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Friday, September 5, 2014 9:55 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them. SECOND: I am so very sorry I libelled you by labelling you a Russian Troll. I apologize for this. http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=64646&p=2

What do you mean "in ten years"?

We're already there.

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

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Friday, September 5, 2014 10:36 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
What do you mean "in ten years"?

We're already there.

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

The Nuclear Superpowers are competing. The USA has not yet achieved Russia's low level, but it is possible for Americans to catch up, if they work as hard as the Russians. www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/sep/02/dying-russians/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Friday, September 5, 2014 11:30 AM

STORYMARK

Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:

Not for anyone with an education, a positive work ethic, and a desire to succeed.

And a whole lot of luck. Or are you unaware of the unemployment rate amongst even those with all of the above?

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”? Isaac Asimov

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Friday, September 5, 2014 11:52 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
Quote:
Originally posted by Jongsstraw:

Not for anyone with an education, a positive work ethic, and a desire to succeed.

And a whole lot of luck. Or are you unaware of the unemployment rate amongst even those with all of the above?

All depends on the definition of "success". There is a video of the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances from the Federal Reserve Board at http://bcove.me/jzrv8fwg

Some results: The distribution of family usual income is split into three groups, the bottom 50 percent of families, the next 40 percent of families and the top 10 percent of families. In 2013, mean income was $27,000 for the lowest income group, $84,700 for the middle income group, and $397,500 for the top income group.

In 2013 mean wealth was $99,200 for the lowest income group, $380,600 for the middle income group and $3.3 million for the top income group.

If you're in the bottom 50 percent of families, you might not be feeling "successful".

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Friday, September 5, 2014 10:16 PM

SHINYGOODGUY

Allow me to quote from the Matrix, Morpheus:

"Welcome to the real world"

The 1-percenters are making a statement, not all of them, but enough to affect the landscape. In effect: "Me Tarzan, you Jane" The game has been rigged for years against certain folks, but it has become more like class warfare, hence the feeling that the Third World has landed on our shores.

They demand that "we" grab our ankles and proclaim: "Thank you sir, may I have another"

SGG

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Saturday, September 6, 2014 3:12 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Whether I consider myself a libertarian or not, I believe that most, if not every one of them I work with consider themselves Democrats. Even all of the white ones. Honestly, it's the first time I've ever felt the reverberations of the BEAT DOWN from this side of the fence....

Yah well, be careful what you wish for, right ?

FYI: One of the reasons I despise Eddie Blake so much is that, had I stayed the course instead of walking out on the powers-that-be over Nicaruagua, I woulda been just like him, and that makes me queasy, yanno ?

-F

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Saturday, September 6, 2014 3:13 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr

I hated that movie, but thats a great scene.

Wut nun uv the politicianz are talking about iz that it haz to go that way unless we giv up on the entire 'job' paradime. Cheap forin labor wuz only the preview. Automated production will continue to eliminate factory work everywhere and service jobz will start going away faster & faster till their arent any. You dont need to be a starry eyed visionary to understand that we hav been working on eliminating all labor for 200 yirz and the job will be finished this century.

The only question iz how to get stuff to people after the pay-for-work thing duznt work anymore. Are we going to end up with a Hunger Gamez scenario, in wich the wealthy hav successfully manuevered everybody else into safely distant powerless poverty, or will the entire mess crash into a Road Warrior landscape?

----------------------------
DUZ XaT SEM RiT TQ YQ? - Jubal Early

http://www.nooalf.com

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Sunday, September 7, 2014 2:46 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Some results: The distribution of family usual income is split into three groups, the bottom 50 percent of families, the next 40 percent of families and the top 10 percent of families. In 2013, mean income was $27,000 for the lowest income group, $84,700 for the middle income group, and $397,500 for the top income group.

In 2013 mean wealth was $99,200 for the lowest income group, $380,600 for the middle income group and $3.3 million for the top income group.

If you're in the bottom 50 percent of families, you might not be feeling "successful".

Hrmmmmm.....

I wonder where Grossing less than 12k a year puts me?

Then again, I am currently a family of one...

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, September 7, 2014 2:53 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
Six, what you are describing is the type of scenarios that led people to taking collective action and unionising, as well as fighting for decent working wages and conditions.

In a perfect world, maybe.....

But there is no unionizing now....

The UNIONS already ruined that for us. ;)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, September 7, 2014 3:22 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

All I can say is that in my going-on-20-years of work experience, I have seen some pretty drastic shifts in the work environment.

I know that by making minimum wage, part-time, I'm living well below my potential. Part of the allure of that for me was that it was a stress free place for all of us to work.

Some need to be babysat, and haven't been, but that's a very small minority. I'd say on a shift with nearly 20 workers, only 2 or 3 of them are too stupid or lazy to do the job. 14 of them do just as much work as I'd expect from minimum wage employees and the other 2 or 3 of them constantly out-perform for what they're being paid.

I LOVE NOT BEING BABYSAT! I THRIVE on being given a very long leash and taking advantage of my situation and have earned the trust of the higher-ups while not alienating my peers. Sometimes I make mistakes and ideas I had backfire on me, but more often than not I just go ahead and do something that makes sense and end up smelling like roses on the other side.

For example, in my current work environment I never would have been able to affect the biggest quality of life change that has happened to the night shift at my store. The Consecutive-Nights-Shift.....

About 4 months after I started working there, I was getting sick of the 1 night on, 1 night off garbage. You felt like you were working 7 days a week because you worked practically every other night, so you slept every day and were up on your off nights......

My manager and I got into a little heated argument about it and he said something like "you said you had 100% availability on your application". "You're damn right I said that, but it didn't mean that you could take my 24/7 and ravage it as you like every week. ESPECIALLY when people work at night, they should have 2-3 day weekends in between work shifts."

When it seemed like we wouldn't come to an agreement, I asked him if I should give my 2 weeks notice now or just leave, and he thought a moment and worked it out. I had to work weekends for about 6 months to get my straight days, but it worked. (Now I'm Monday through Wednesday, SCORE!!!) What I noticed from then up until now though is that my manager has been doing that for everyone.... not just me. Even if he's not able to give everyone ALL consecutive days, he makes every best effort to never give somebody less than 2 nights off at a time. He never even considered this until I brought it up....

I hope that plan stays in effect.

My boss has in many ways been rendered ineffective now. Which, shit rolling downhill and all, renders my thoughts almost meaningless. My store manager is gone...

It's just so freaking weird... Twilight Zone-Like, even......

I'm watching almost a carbon copy of 2009 in my last Great position....

It seems like there is so much less at stake, but when you're making minimum wage with zero benefits it's because you absolutely can't live without that money.

It's one thing to be able to say to yourself at a nice office job with benefits.... "F--k this shit, I'll just go work at McDonalds!!!!"

What do you do when your minimum wage Nirvana becomes just as shitty a place to work?????

"F--k this shit, I'll just go do the jobs that American's don't want to do??????"

I will, if you pay me right ;)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, September 7, 2014 4:18 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by 1kiki:
Six

We seem to be on parallel conversations. My comment merely reflected this fact: the only thing that's keeping those people from starving to death on the street are the horrible government interventions like the minimum wage, food stamps, medicaid etc. But give libertarians time and even those will be gone. Then we'll have reached libertarian nirvana.

Wow.....

A lot of poor relief is leaving Gary because of something I voted on. It is unfair because although most people here have better jobs, they're not "rich"..... There's no gated communities or McMansion projects around....

Still though. It's nice living this close to Gary and not having to sleep with a gun under your pillow...

LOL.....

IN the end WE LOST there too.....

My property taxes were lowered about $250 bucks. As little as I make, my County tax was raised and cost me almost $200 bucks. If I made a lot more money, it would be a lot higher a figure.

I voted for that.....

So long as I stay at nearly the bottom and get foodstamps I make out on the deal. If I ever get a decent job again, not only did I re-divert funds that just flowed into the Gary Government Coffers, but I just helped force a much larger tax on the middle class in the process.

You seriuosly need to have to pass the bar to be qualified to vote......

Even if you were, why would you care?

95% of us are so stupid and/or self centered.....
Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, September 7, 2014 5:10 PM

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

In a perfect world, maybe.....

But there is no unionizing now....

The UNIONS already ruined that for us. ;)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

I'd say that one of the reasons why its so shitty to be in the US if you in the lowest wage bracket IS because you are so poorly unionised. That's where unionism grew out of, the most poorly paid, poorly treated workers being sick to death - literally in some cases - of being treated with contempt and cruelty by employers.

Collective action has many benefits. I wouldnt diss it if you are feeling so put upon.

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Tuesday, September 9, 2014 9:55 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
I'd say that one of the reasons why its so shitty to be in the US if you in the lowest wage bracket IS because you are so poorly unionised. That's where unionism grew out of, the most poorly paid, poorly treated workers being sick to death - literally in some cases - of being treated with contempt and cruelty by employers.

Collective action has many benefits. I wouldnt diss it if you are feeling so put upon.

I'm not dissing it. That's not what I meant. :(

The "idea" of Unions makes a TON of sense to me, and in the history of Illinois alone a LOT of people actually DIED for a better quality of life for their family and the future.

The problem is, at least in Illinois, the Unions are run by people who are just as corrupt as the politicians. (I won't say it's like this everywhere in the US). Low wage unions like at grocery stores do absolutely nothing for you except give you a very high tax on your earnings which nearly nullifies the extra money over minimum wage you do get.

Also, the Good Unions are ridiculously overpaid compared to most people who don't at least have a bachleor's degree, or more likely a master's degree. Is it seriously ANY wonder why I can't get into a Union job without any family working in them?

I guaranty that on any given night I work, I hustle more than 80-90% of the Union Workforce in Illinois, yet some of them are banking 6-7 times an hour what I make, and are constantly offered overtime putting them at 10-12 times what I make an hour. Double-Time-and-a-Half on Sundays? I don't want to even think about it......

I know that welding is a skill that shouldn't be taken for granted. My point is, if at least 50 other dip-shits didn't get the job every year I applied because daddy was an Ironworker then I'd be a pretty goddamned fine welder at the ripe old age of 35.

I really don't know what to say MD.....

I REALLY want to LOVE Unions.

But when I'm making 200 bucks a week and I have to pay a plumber $200 bucks for an hours worth of work to rod out my drain to my sewer, I'm not a real big fan......

I'm not bitching that I did half of the work. I wanted to learn. Next time it will cost me for a $25-50 rental to do it on my own. It was basically a high-priced crash course.

Wouldn't it be nice to be a lawyer or something and just sit inside watching the News while he did the work because there was no way you're ever going to get your hands covered in your own, literal, shit?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Wednesday, September 10, 2014 9:26 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

FREM!

Actually had a great night at work last night for a change.

My "work Mom" that was fired is back! I don't know if the attitude we all had about it was what made the new manager reconsider, at least for a little while, "mom" said that the store manager said that she'd work with her for now until they can get a 2nd car. :)

Also, I was getting REALLY tired of watching people nearly killing themselves trying to get heavy product out to the floor. This new manager seems hell bent on moving away completely from using pallets when unloading the truck so we're using "4 highs" and flat beds to push the product. On paper, this is actually pretty smart because it can eliminate a step to getting the product on the shelf.

Sometimes though, it just doesn't work. They were seriously loading a pallet worth of bleach and detergent chemicals on a flat bed and expecting us to roll a few of those out every night. In the first place, these things haven't seen any WD40 since they were born in the 60s and they aren't the easiest things to maneuver with a light load on them. They aren't even designed to bear this much weight. When they're loaded up with 1,500 lbs of liquid, they're damn near impossible to drag halfway across the store on my own, and there aren't many there who can haul what I can haul.

When this was brought up to the new manager we were told back that we just have to deal with it because that's the new "protocol".

Last night, I had it. I just watched old man Al take literally 15 minutes to get his flatbed out to the floor and I thought he was going to have a heart attack. There is NO reason to make us do something 10 times harder than it needs to be just because you can't admit that even a part of your grand plan is a mistake.

I left a note for the receiving crew on days that said "Load the HEAVY chemicals on a pallet or YOU can pull it out to the floor for us before you leave. THANKS!!!"

I'm already not the new manager's favorite employee and I hear that I'm actually on her shit list now. Boo Hoo.

That being said, all of the chemicals were loaded on pallets for us today.

SCORE two for the downtrodden part-timers!!!!

Today was a good day. ;)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Friday, November 26, 2021 5:34 PM

JAYNEZTOWN

Inflation sinks Biden’s approval ratings as Americans deal with rising prices for gas and other essentials

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-inflation-
sinks-bidens-approval-ratings-as-americans-deal-with-rising/

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