How Neoliberalism (And Slave Labor?) Keep Central Park Clean

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This week's video is another case study, and it's a really interesting one, one that most of us would probably never think to investigate. New York City's Central Park relies on an army of workers to keep it safe, clean, and inviting...but where do those workers come from? The answer probably isn't what you think. Hope you enjoy!
Who Cleans Central Park? - Second Thought
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Citations and Further Reading:
Who Cleans the Parks
books.google.com/books?id=uvc...
journals.openedition.org/metr...
Maud Simonet and John Krinsky Interviews (in French)
​​ • Et si on travaillait t...
• Who Cleans the Park ? ...
Invisible labor
mashable.com/article/what-is-...
Workfare doesn’t work
www.vox.com/2016/6/20/1178998...
Workfare and other means of coercing free labor
www.jacobinmag.com/2020/06/er...
Privatization
​www.jacobinmag.com/2021/11/de...
• Privatisations : la Ré...
English Water
www.gov.uk/government/speeche... www.theguardian.com/business/... www.theguardian.com/business/...
1970s New York Fiscal Crisis
www.thenation.com/article/arc...
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[@QazwerDave]

"Profits are privatized, losses are collectivized" Great line !!

[@adamthethird4753]

I'd wear that on a T-shirt

[@myronidasvestarossa]

So true!

[@pixieskitty]

History of Argentina in a nutshell

[@vadimk3484]

A variation of this is incredibly widespread in Russian leftist discourse - "Privatization of profits, nationalization of losses". I wonder who's the original author.

[@undrtakr900]

@@pixieskitty History of America in a nutshell

[@prisoncommie8601]

Neoliberalism has ruined multiple generations and we are suffering through their reign. I just dealt with it recently, because I had saved money, got laid off from a business closing its doors, and am currently enjoying a bit of free time while I slowly look for more employment. Another person commented on how lazy and essentially un American it is to just not work. The same old arguments of your job helps define you and they need something to do with their time. I'm 33 and they were 45ish I assume. People are wasted feeling useless while they aren't being a well oiled cog in a machine. It's a very sad state of living

[@toppersundquist]

That sums up every discussion I've ever had online about UBI. "But if you didn't have to work, people would just lay around and be useless and then die!" When I ask if they'd do that, if they would become completely useless without a job, they say yes, they would, which is... sad, I think?

[@jborrego2406]

@@toppersundquist no they go to look at the poor areas an look at the crime rate

[@toppersundquist]

@@jborrego2406 What does that have to do with UBI and the work-is-life mentality?

[@nobody8328]

I had a mental break in 2016 and haven't had a paid job sense. I'm also busier and more fulfilled than I've ever been. I help my parents, who are in their 80s around their house and property so they can keep living on their own. I help my mother with her many medical problems including taking her to doctor's appointments, etc. I volunteer at several animal shelters and rescues, both because that was my profession and because it's good therapy for me. Recently, I've been helping a very close friend who's father has developed dementia. After working his whole adult life even past retirement age, he can't afford the assistance he requires. He did everything he was supposed to do in life to the absolute best of his ability, but he was never going to be wealthy. Genetics weren't kind to him. He has medicare AND private insurance, which entitles him to exactly 4 (FOUR!) hours of 'assistance' per week. Four. His daughter has had to quit working full time, and without my free help, she wouldn't have any sort of income at all. The kicker? He brings in 8 (EIGHT!) dollars a month too much to qualify for medicaid or any other extra assistance. My partner and I manage to squeak by on his income only because we live on family owned land. None of us are lazy, and none of us feel useless. But an extra $1000 per month would make a HUGE difference in our ability to eat healthily, get the Check Engine light in my 15 yo car looked into, buy more fencing to keep the groundhogs and raccoons out of my garden so we don't have to spend as much on food, etc, etc, etc. Plus, my friend might even be able to get a nap once a month or so.

[@melelconquistador]

@@toppersundquist I think people would be rather be useless than be miserable. Maybe we should make work all around fulfilling.

[@Envido32]

"To make up for the lack of compensation this labor gets imbued with a sense of value to society that is meant to hide the exploitation" this can also apply to health or education workers

[@Fenriswaffle]

A delightfully depressing example of this was the "essential workers" thing that went on early-to-mid pandemic. Public figures and companies trying to prop up those workers as doing a duty beyond themselves and claiming them as valuable to society while refusing to materially treat them as such beyond pathetic token gestures. Its both infuriating and unsurprising, its a core feature of neoliberal capitalism.

[@MrARock001]

I wish more parents would respond to this with "pay us for this work, or we'll raise the next generation to be socialist revolutionaries."

[@alexrogers777]

Remember when every company went on and on about how brave their "essential workers" were yet wouldn't pay 90% of them any more than normal. Pizza parties and a nightly round of applause does not pay the bills. They will do literally anything as long it's not paying you more.

[@Sara3346]

@@Fenriswaffle Huh, thank you for the explanation, I had been wondering why a lot of these workers weren't being given raises despite the fact that these businesses kept touting them as essential.

[@Sara3346]

@@MrARock001 something something about all Americans viewing themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires, rather than downtrod masses.

[@codacreator6162]

Everybody in the country needs to see (and pay attention to) this video. It’s not just about welfare recipients. It’s about every corner of social spending: education, healthcare, utilities, infrastructure, etc. Nothing Ronald Reagan told us about public investment beginning in 1980 was true. Nothing. All it did was begin the transfer of wealth in a devastating scale: $59 Trillion in lost tax revenue from the rich and corporations in the intervening years. Can you imagine if that money had, instead of creating the world’s richest oligarchs, been invested in healthcare, education, and energy? What kind of standard of living would we have today???

[@Brett_S_420]

It would be closer to Europe's. There is a reason there is very little coverage on life outside the US. (Unless it is of poorer people & places.)

[@quangle-zi2oz]

Paradise. No doubt !

[@alythekat6560]

Hey JT! The quality of your videos has gotten so much better! Great typography, cinematography, lighting, and as usual, very relatable! I hope more and more people see your content. You (along w the Deprogram guys!) have changed my views so much and I truly appreciate your work! In Solidarity comrade! Love from Canada!

[@FerdarPleaseSubscribe]

Jecond thought?

[@alythekat6560]

Haha Purple book of Jecond Thought, so shall it be!

[@dayb4monday]

Q+qq

[@tschappotsscch4583]

He’s got the bisexual lighting

[@JamesConollyLives5353]

I'm still kinda nostalgic of the stick figures and cow

[@dylanlamb2396]

This channel is going from Second Thought to Red Thought and i'm honestly loving every second of it. Especially on how JT keeps getting snarkier every video, and how he has found his own style and diverged from a more generic infographic video channel to making his own authentic identity. Love from Brazil, camarada!!

[@Kaepsele337]

You should listen to his Podcast "the Deprogram" that he does with Hakim and Yugopnik. I've finally found something that's just a bit too radical left for me, but still good to listen to :D

[@Kaepsele337]

@@adamconover8950 Depends on your perspective I guess. If Hakim is not radical to you, can you recommemd some true radicals then?

[@rendomstranger8698]

@@CuddlyPsycho1134 No ethical consumption under capitalism. He has to pay the bills somehow and Patreon revenue can only do so much. Out of the sponsorships he has access to, I'm pretty sure that Audible is one of the least problematic. Although a sponsorship from a worker coop would be even better but I don't think many of them do sponsorships.

[@KristoKorps]

@@rendomstranger8698 lol, audible owned by Amazon isn't "problematic"

[@rendomstranger8698]

@@KristoKorps Oh, I didn't realize. Yeah, that is indeed a pretty big problem. Still, the fact remains that there is no ethical consumption under capitalism. If there was, you would be a massive hypocrite for using KZbin right now.

[@thealexfish4480]

I had no idea New York was blackmailing people like this. Just awful. Thanks for another amazing video! I still can’t believe you crank out one of these every week

[@julieannmyers8714]

"Workfare" is a nationwide scandal... not just in NYC. Not to mention prison forced labor.

[@randomgamerdude98]

Bro i just hope the CIA doesn’t kill this man for revealing the US’s corruption

[@minhducnguyen9276]

So that's what "service guarantee citizenship" the people who misunderstood starship troopers were talking about.

[@victoriajankowski1197]

If this hurts your brain, go look up who puts out fires in California.....

[@ra7319]

Ikr!

[@Dhumm81]

Wow, that's a large-scale version of what I've seen a lot of private, for-profit hospitals doing. Hospitals that, once upon a time, were "community hospitals" (at least somewhat) relied a lot on unpaid volunteers, especially elderly/retired volunteers. As they were fully privatized (read: stolen from the community) and converted into strictly for-profit businesses, they continued their now utterly meaningless "community" rhetoric and relying on unpaid volunteer labor. It's so infuriating to see (primarily) old folks hyper-exploited, doing free labor for private, for-profit grifters in hospitals which many of them are terrified to have to visit as a patient for fear of getting the unpayable bill. When I'm greeted by the friendly face of such an absolutely exploited elderly worker it doesn't make me smile, it makes me want to scream...and then go give a really, REALLY *BIG* "hug" to the CEO, the board members, and the shareholders. In Minecraft, of course.

[@franzzrilich9041]

The problem with hospitals is that when Medicare, then Medicaid came in, following a major catastrophe in the just finished polio lawsuit wars, lawyers began suing the business out of community hospitals, and MBA's had to be put in charge of his hospitals. Then came the Legiionaires' Disease mess, and lawyers began to hold hospitals to very high sanitation standards, so high that it is not usually possible to recondition existing hospitals. So lots of small and medium urban hospitals are closed down, or otherwise abandoned. Instead, there are now hospital sanitation engineers with advanced degrees, and utterly mind-numbing articles in trade publications on how hospital heating, ventilating, air conditioning micro details are to be carried out by around-the-clock centralized computer programs.

[@franzzrilich9041]

Dan, I have your response. The problem is that US hospitals are in a straight jacket they cannot get out of. My current hospital originally specialized in weird conditions of which I have several. My original hospital could not maintain its buildings, as it was a community teaching hospital, and I had noticed it was running out of funds from the big city it was in. My current hospital can no longer do research on my condition, because Covid costs restraints keep escalating. I get a lot of trade publications because I was once a technical writer. One deals with medical facility sanitation issues, such as ultra-clean air supplies to all parts of each facility. One odd thing is that I notice that the more nationalized health facilities in foreign countries have more hospital infections than we do. The time of day is late for me, and I cannot go into detail, but it is intriguing. When I was working on a defence project in 1978 to 1984 I was shocked by the poor quality of the more government-dominated health care systems, such as Sweden, France, and the UK. Wars generate vast numbers of injured people, and we were analyzing reports from US observers in Europe, comparing what they saw to what those governments told their own people and us. Both allies and neutrals could not provide more than a tiny fraction of usable facilities for emergency cases.

[@franzzrilich9041]

But, bear in mind that hospital administators don't want to close their hospitals down. They typically wait until they are told by accountants to close down promptly that very day, when no options are left. The problem began during WWII, when medical insurance was exempted from wage-price controls, and unions began negotiating for medical coverage, which details varied like crazy. Then antibiotics were made available to civilians at the end of the war. Instead of most people dying before the age of 62, most lived another fifteen years, and ate up vast quantities of medical care. Community hospitals could not afford that, and Medicare-Medicaid came to their rescue. However, the paperwork was insane to the point where it was not possible to keep up with the rules Congress set up. unless your hospital could afford a costly computer. That is why Rust Belt cities have seen most of their small and medium hospitals closed down, demolished.

[@majesticglue9100]

@@franzzrilich9041 "where it was not possible to keep up with the rules Congress set up" yeah that's where the health insurance companies lobbied for those rules. Congress doesn't just enact complex rules like the for no reason, they do it because those privatized for profit health insurance companies lobbied for those rules to screw the community hospitals.

[@franzzrilich9041]

@@majesticglue9100 Experts call that regulatory capture. My dad was a master pharmacist during the period when Medicare and Medicaid were being discussed in Congress. In WWII the fed govt got involved in providing free medical care to defense workers. Each claim was run through a six month long verification process. No cmputers in use in those days. For a number of reasons, each group health care plan varied, and the plans were merged, and they got increasingly messy. The best way to determine how much of the complexity was the intent of regulatory capture by insurance companies, I suggest you contact your local college of medicine and ask to speak to health policy experts. Or, look up the topic in your library system, and order for your review the leading texts for each decade, starting in the 1890s, when Congress first heard of the German national health care plan. That proposal received initial support from Teddy Roosevelt, then collapsed after horrified US reports from Germany were published here. You will notice that volumes of details began to pile up in published proposals, as time passed by. I ,at this moment have a note to get a book by Rexford Guy Tugwell, a New Deal extremist who once ran the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. Also, the Technology Incorporated people most likely had detailed community hospital plans, too. These almost certainly fed into Medicare and Medicaid. The Tugwelians and Technocrats were not very pro-Insurance industry.

[@user-em6ie2be7x]

Unknowingly jacking up your own bills, while putting money in someone else's pocket, while believing you're being helpful in cleaning your own city....Unbelievable. 🤯

[@JaylaStarr]

When I was pregnant I was on welfare. I got 300 in food stamps and 300 in TANIF (cash, not cash cash but debit) I was forced to work for free at the Goodwill for five hours minimum a day up until the day before I gave birth

[@Mosstoad]

That's awful, what a fucking ironic name. I hope life is easier for you now, nothing but solidarity.

[@JaylaStarr]

@@Mosstoad it is thanks!! It sucked… it was better than nothing… but you would think being pregnant would’ve been an acceptable excuse 🤦🏻‍♀️

[@Mosstoad]

@@JaylaStarr yeah, literally being a day away from labor would definitely warrant some time off in a sane world. Glad you & your baby are okay, that kind of stress can be downright dangerous during pregnancy.

[@codacreator6162]

But, God help you if you worked and were paid anything at all. They would have cut your poverty welfare which is the “incentive” built into welfare NOT to work. If you can’t make enough to eliminate public funds including healthcare (!), you cannot afford to lose welfare. And if you could work enough hours to do THAT, you wouldn’t need welfare in the first place. It’s a f**king sham. Couple that with the multitude of hoops you have to jump through to get and continue support, and getting welfare takes more hours than a full-time job.

[@jborrego2406]

I didn’t know they made u work for free

[@BlastedRodent]

I’m facing unemployment, and this video made me break down in tears. It finally put words to why I am so terrified of being back in that position.

[@noname772fp2]

We notice the slight rebranding and definitely notice the uptick in video quality! Great work as always JT!

[@SecondThought]

Thank you!

[@GTAVictor9128]

Yeah, the algorithm seems to favor when the creator sticks their face into the thumbnail.

[@LucMMailloux]

Hey dude! I'm an ex-Libertarian (though Bernie was always my 1st choice until that option disappeared) and just wanted to share that your videos have played a role in me leaving some of those libertarian beliefs behind.

[@SecondThought]

Hey, thanks for sharing! I’m so glad to have been able to help!

[@nickb3164]

right wing libertarianism isnt the only kind ;)

[@LucMMailloux]

@@nickb3164 oh, totally, but the right-wingers ruined the name for everybody else (at least in the USA). Like I was comfy calling myself a left-libertarian for a few years, but now I usually use "anarchist" or "mutualist". I know neither of those are socialist, but they're definitely a lot closer than the Libertarian label is.

[@nickb3164]

@@LucMMailloux anarchism is 100% socialism

[@falpsdsqglthnsac]

@@LucMMailloux anarchism can be socialist. take it from me, an anarcho-communist

[@khrashingphantom9632]

Amazing as usual! A good compliment piece to this would be breaking down the horrifically exploitative practices of temp agencies. Millions of people are employed by them, and almost no one talks about how they ACTUALLY work. Thanks for posting

[@erinmcdonald7781]

I second this idea. Temp agencies are the bane of 21st century workers. *shudder*

[@WallebyDamned]

I worked through an agency and got hired to a job that had great benefits. Except I didn't qualify for those benefits, not the insurance, bonuses, nothing that wasn't already part of the facility. Instead I had to pay for the insurance through the agency, which had been grandfathered into not covering behavioral health. So instead of being able to have decent insurance that would allow me to get the meds and therapy to stay fully functional for work, I had to quit 6 months in so I could qualify for state aid to get remedicated. The temp agency did nothing to help, nothing to address the concerns I and others under this contract, other than to remind me I was supposedly THEIR employee when I decide to chew my agent out. Another agency that required weekly check-ins moved offices about 3 miles away to a different city in the covered area. They didn't bother to tell any of their active placements, so it was by sheer luck of them having moved somewhere on my route home that I knew the new address. Tl;Dr fuck employment agencies, they treat us as cash cowsk

[@VanillaMacaron551]

Couldn't believe it when my house cleaner told me how much she has to pay the agency she works through - it's daylight robbery. I never even hired her through the agency ( just 2 hrs a fortnight, keeps me sane) - inherited her when a neighbour left the street. Cleaner & I have made all our arrangements direct between ourselves since the beginning 15 years ago.

[@bookbeing]

I worked for a temp agency years ago and I soon left that job because of the sheer dishonesty and exploitation that I saw the management carrying out against their "associates" and clients alike. a client/company would call and say hey I want to have 20 workers to do this project for 2 weeks. I want to pay them x amount of dollars per hour. the temp agency would turn around and offer the associates/ workers several dollars less per hour and keep the difference even though they were giving the bill rate to based in the higher hourly wage. I spent many distressing morning meetings arguing with management about the ethical implications in doing this and I was getting sick just is this greatly conflicted with my own value system and sense of integrity. I couldn't seem to appeal to any sense of morals or decency in management so I gave up and quit. It was one of the most toxic soul killing environments I've ever worked in and when I was hired I had so much optimism I was thinking oh I'm helping put America to work helping people feed their kids and make the house payment. It was a painful lesson I learned there about the way our economy and businesses operate.

[@khrashingphantom9632]

@@bookbeing That's just the of the iceberg unfortunately, but NO ONE seems to want to address it. Not even channels like this one. It might be because a LOT of people outside that world just don't know how nefarious it is. Hopefully my original comment gets enough likes to turn some heads, BUT I will keep bringing it up. Lol. This horrific practice NEEDS to be addressed/discussed!

[@AbdonPhirathon]

Amazing video as always! Generations of Americans have been sold this idea that privatization of public services makes everything “more efficient”, and “cheaper”. The private sector made a boogeyman out of the government and it made this corporate takeover quite easy. Now people can’t remember a time where government provided these services to the public.

[@tayzonday]

What do you use for stock footage?

[@guy-sl3kr]

According to his intersectional liberation video, he uses storyblocks

[@GeahkBurchill]

I love that there is now at least one Tay Zonday comment on every new Second Thought video

[@SecondThought]

Hey! I use StoryBlocks and Artgrid

[@WanderingEternity71]

@@SecondThought I love you please don't stop

[@emmas1366]

@@GeahkBurchill ikr

[@SimGunther]

They're basically making a nice spot for their economic demise. "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" employment like this sounds like being trapped in the 9th level of hell.

[@bennybundi9671]

Dude has leveled up over the past 4 years

[@-ASTROMAGIC]

Nah, this is the best and most thorough his content has ever been. Being a good youtuber isn’t all about numbers

[@SecondThought]

Appreciate you Benny and Astro! Zaydan, do you have anything constructive to add? Not much I can do with your current complaint.

[@grmpEqweer]

@@SecondThought ... Request: how the necessary struggle for clean energy technology is _fueling_ our drive towards repressive right-wing government in the United States, via the fossil fuel magnates' attempt to retain control. (I kind of see the connection, but I need more info to flesh it out)

[@bennybundi9671]

​@Zaydan Naufal to be fair i was only talking about his sexiness, the content is only a bonus for me. Its easy to ask for better but a lot harder to do better. Its some top class stuff, if you know anyone else producing better content on the same subjects who is also sexy then please let me know I'd subscribe to them.

[@morezco]

Hey, a piece of feedback. Seeing your face makes the content more immediately trustable to people I’ve shown this to. I’ve been with the channel for a while now, the quality of your work is improving visibly. Well done. 🙂

[@grmpEqweer]

He's got a nice face.

[@TheCaptainblaubeere]

he needs to show his hands when hes speaking

[@IronKnight2402]

Hey Second Thought, you should do a video on how Philippines is still (sort of) a US colony.

[@thedoruk6324]

@Zaydan Naufal than it is definitely a us colony or vassal

[@non-gmobuttplug6204]

We're being treated like a colony. Value extraction all the way while we're just out here to consume and work

[@monika.alt197]

JT is a person who's voice matches their face in my opinion.

[@TheButterMinecart1]

Average white American male (in a good way)

[@InfernoYeet]

Didn't know what this man looked like before his last video but I gotta say the online left has gained another cutie.

[@namelesswalaby]

Yep, that’s what they need. More effeminate looking men. That will show those righties.

[@deeplyhenry3139]

Is he related to Coby from Coby Xplanes????

[@pinguinocomentador9743]

He looks gayish

[@TheVoidisEternal]

Calm down

[@anothermeantroll8376]

You're gayness is showing

[@chef4797]

Yes the case based is useful as it draws theory off the page and into the material world. Thanks for all of your great work along with Hakim and Yugopnik. Salut to you all!

[@joshgribbon8510]

Some other dark history of that park is that it wasn't empty - Seneca Village was a mostly black community, the first free black community in New York! There were also some Irish and German people, with the whole population being around 225 when the city told them they all needed to leave their homes and tore them down. It's weird how eminent domain always seems to be used as a weapon en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Village

[@justinwatson1510]

We should use it to start seizing businesses.

[@Andre-qo5ek]

@@justinwatson1510 seize businesses to what end though? with so many businesses simply around for profit, seizing them does not add social good. seizing them and consuming their parts to insert socially needed services, absolutely. Do we have the game plan for that? of course every community has different needs. I am not suggesting a one size fits all approach. but there are definitely outlines to help communities start the healing process. Seize 9 of the 10 liquor stores / salons / 99cent stores in a one miles radius, and do what with the spaces? and more importantly, staff and support the lives of those staff, how exactly? unfortunately most services that people need are not things that generate enough support to keep afloat. and things that people do not need have a hell of a better marketing campaign backing them and an audience that is much more willing to consume what is being pitched. the words are great, the sentient, the big picture goals are all admirable. but on a practical point capitalists will only see this as taking from them, stealing from them. How does one pitch this to the average person that barely understand that they are capitalist? --- but hey, nothing that can be solved on the youtube platform. i have yet to come across one, but it would be great to get a socialist think tank of some kind, a war room, more than just some scattered online videos and blogs.

[@justinwatson1510]

We can close the ones that don’t do anything useful and repurpose the space for something useful. We don’t need 20 brands of toilet paper or 14 types of toothpaste; we can have people work together to produce the best possible product and that’s what we will all use. Collaboration is the backbone of science. Humans can do really amazing things when we are working together, so let’s stop forcing ourselves to compete.

[@dirrdevil]

7:28 there's a typo: "Losses" is written as "Loses." I love your older videos, but your new style is excellent. I feel like you have the makings of a director: editing, pacing, framing, cinematography, you've got it.

[@mrchristoph5674]

52 videos a year just isn't enough my friend. On the other hand I don't want you to be overworked so I will be happy with what you can contribute comrade! We need more warriors like you!

[@cybersandoval]

"Profits are privatized; loses are collectivised." Yes, the outcome shovels money upward in the swindle of neoliberalism, typical of help from tycoons.

[@revolutionaryape7568]

The new Logo is amazing, comrade!

[@SecondThought]

Thanks so much! It was time for an update

[@revolutionaryape7568]

@@SecondThought Yeah, it looks amazing, especially the red background perfectly synchronises with the revolutionary cause!

[@Fearmylogic]

Hell, one volunteer service that you didn't mention, but is one of the most important roles in a city, and one of the move loved, is Firefighters. SO MANY towns have a volunteer firefighter service. And they don't just stop your personal house from catching fire...They stop the neighboring house from catching fire...and that neighbors neighbor...etc. We don't exactly have a plethora of "Fuck the Firefighters" songs in pop culture...But for many places, it's an unpaid, dangerous, highly important and well loved job. I'm not sure how it's done in larger cities, but in my area of midwest ohio, a lot of the small towns firefighters are ran on volunteers....While at the same time, the same towns sell of their garbage collecting service to a private company that employs 1/3 the people to pick up your trash, and almost none of them actually live in your town. Hell, my town is so small, a few years ago, they totally got rid of their police department. Only because we have an officer from the sheriffs department living here, do we have any police presence at all. Can't say i'm exactly sad about that. At least my tax money isn't going to some cop sitting in an AC'd car for 8 hours, monitoring a speed trap, and then collecting overtime, and getting paid twice my yearly wage. But you'd think SOME of that money they saved from the trash collection and the removal of the police station would have somewhat gone towards offering SOMETHING to the firefighters. But no...The school needs a new track course, and new football field....to replace the perfectly fine football field, and to add a track...because they want to. Sports can be important for a students health...but jesus, priorities people! I just wanted to rant.

[@grmpEqweer]

I hear you.

[@erinmcdonald7781]

Important people, firefighters. He should do a video on them. Here in California, we have inmate firefighters who are out there in some of the sketchiest firefighting conditions. They are learning a valuable skill, but they're not paid enough, nor do they get the recognition they deserve.

[@kerlyenai]

Central Park was built by evicting a whole (mostly) black neighbourhood called Seneca village. On July 21, 1853. Through eminent domain, New York City "took control" of the land to create the first major landscaped park in the USA. They called it “the Central Park.”

[@thephilguy1]

Another reason we need publicly owned and managed infrastructure, collectively owned and operated urban green spaces, etc. The "muh roads" people can get bent. Even Adam Smith wrote that the state should facilitate infrastructure. This neoliberal model of marketizing everything is a dystopia.

[@person-yu8cu]

I admire your approach to rehumanizing communism by showing your face. We communists are just ordinary folks, like the guys selling your strawberries on the side of a country road. I've recently started telling my non-communist friends I'm a communist, and they are surprisingly open to the idea with a little debunking of capitalist and imperialist propaganda. Let us fight, provoked by their aggression, while being inspired by life and love!

[@DecolonialGato]

You know I’ve had similar progress telling my non leftist friends that I’m an AnSoc and plenty of them have been open to the idea of discussing topics which never really get a lot of attention in the news or social media, the message works because it’s true albeit biased but it’s the facts and people are starting to wake up to the idea that the system is failing and we need to do something to prevent total societal collapse

[@ChrisGuerra31]

The likes should speak for themselves. Your videos are getting even better and even more nuanced. Good work!

[@bolshevikY2K]

This video more so than some other ones has felt like a nexus point of a lot of things I've read and seen elsewhere, which is a fun coincidence for me. There's the myth of the "mean, lean private sector" that gets explored in David Graeber's book Bullshit Jobs, there's the Clinton era workfare program that I read about in Eric Tang's book Unsettled, and there's the notion of "privatize the gains, collectivize the losses" that I've heard time and again on The Young Turks (who in many ways I consider my introduction to socialism even if they aren't all overtly socialist). Godspeed on the journey to bring socialist discourses back to the masses, my dude.

[@Maya-di1wg]

Workfare workers do the most vital and undervalued jobs throughout NYC parks, not just in Central Park and not just in parks that are run or subsidized by non profits, but the whole system. Some people move up into full unionized employment with the parks department, but a lot of people work for years in this role. Advocates are trying to get the city to double the parks budget, but I don't know how many people are trying to transform the "job training" system into full paid jobs.

[@ShadeandShadow4ever]

It's shocking to me how if I hadn't taken a Popular Culture class at my university with a particular professor who I knew was into Marxism, I would never have heard of Neo-Liberalism. Or Lenninism-Marxist theory. As it is I've taken 3 socialism classes now, and I am very happy to see someone making these eye opening videos. Thanks second thought!

[@SurgeonPrice]

Loving this style of content, it's informative, relevant and thought provoking. The expose format works well for this channel. Please keep up the great work!

[@GTAVictor9128]

In regards to "Work-fare" (8:55): One other state that attempted implementing workfare in the past was the British empire during the Irish potato famine - the British neoliberal ruling party (Whigs) believed that the starving Irish peasants shouldn't be given out free food handouts, and should work for it instead. As a result, the British made the starving Irish peasants do grueling work building pointless roads from nowhere to nowhere, thus only exacerbating the famine as the food given was less than the minimum calories required to do the back-breaking work. So yeah, the US wasn't the first to implement workfare!

[@NoNTr1v1aL]

"I'll go with blue. Hmmm... on second thought, red is much better."

[@Ar1AnX1x]

every time I'm in a good mood I'm reminded that we live in a dark dark world

[@aerialstealth8666]

Hi JT, do you think you’ll ever make an episode on the deprogram on why climate change is a problem in capitalism?

[@GhostieTheML]

Wait was his former channel called JT?

[@troywalkertheprogressivean8433]

You mean how creating an environment in which life can't exist, and how that might be detrimental to capitalism?

[@sonjahyvarinen7692]

I'd really like to see that

[@troywalkertheprogressivean8433]

Munecat did an excellent video kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5O8oZWOgrqmj68

[@Bhatakti_Hawas]

Checkout Our Changing Climate

[@erinmcdonald7781]

Prison or inmate labor would be another topic for you. Here in California, we have valuable inmate firefighters that help with our intense fire season, but they get neither the pay nor recognition they deserve. Also, I think some Americorps or Conservation Corps workers are used, as well. Btw love your videos, including this new format. This particular one is a good one to share with people who don't see the real costs of capitalism/Neo-liberalism. 💜✊

[@ellarevmira]

the case study format really works! great way to pull ppl into a story, then show them the wider machinations at play.

[@TheDoubleBee]

I like the fact that you are appearing on camera, makes the videos more personable. Also, I see you've redesigned ST logo, I like it!

[@matthewhaas403]

Love the new icon and video format! Your video quality has been improving and it really shows, and thats really saying something because I thought your older videos were already great quality! Keep up the amazing work

[@aftokratory]

Love your new logo/branding! The production value of your videos have been incredible lately.

[@EnderSheeper]

I woke up from a long rest, feeling drowsy and confused. I went to KZbin to find a video to watch, and you're there on the front page, entirely rebranded and with a new format, and it feels like I must still be dreaming. But, good video! Interesting rebrand!

[@ebubechiibegbula5968]

Honestly we can't thank people who reveal information like this to the rest of us enough....

[@Awesomeallover]

i dont know how to convey how insanely good your content is holy shit youre a genius. the topics, the format, youre so clear and enjoyable to listen to my god

[@daviddaws3521]

I'm liking this new arc of ST showing his face and spitting facts. What a fantastic video this was!

[@jaythephoenix]

"Wait this doesn't seem like a depressing enough title for a Second Thought video." ST: "It's basically indentured servitude." "That's more like it."

[@christophertletski4894]

I hope you do a video on how Central Park came to be. Cuz there's a very dark past.

[@minhducnguyen9276]

I think you are figuring out a new way for socialism to reach to the American workers. While it's time consuming to gather information, having an analyse of the jobs that form the backbone of the society from a socialist view might raise class consious within them. Maybe making a few more videos on essential civil workers like construction workers, janitors, teachers,... To make people understand the importance of their work and the challenge they are facing under the capitalistic system?

[@Smerpyderp]

Yes

[@iamnohere]

I: That´d be a great idea! Hopefully he´ll see your comment Not sure if this´ll work, but: @SecondThought

[@minhducnguyen9276]

@@iamnohere We need a socialist version of dirty jobs.

[@iamnohere]

@@minhducnguyen9276 I: Yeah! A socialist version of _many_ current media, in fact

[@forg4308]

Quick question: I am a pianist, and I practice for ~5 hrs/day. I obviously don’t get paid for that, but I get paid for the concertizing and private students that practice directly enables. However, the majority of my time spent ‘working’ is practice. Given my choice of career, this is completely normal and no cause for resentment. However, would this practice count as unpaid labor?

[@minhducnguyen9276]

If we are following the theory of labour value, the answer is yes. Because those hours of practising contribute to the quality of the service you provided it should be counted as part of the production process.

[@InnuendoXP]

Not necessarily, when it comes to general practice for your self-determined repertoire of skills & pieces. If you work as an independent musician, the beneficiary from your practice is yourself. The benefit you receive is as you describe, the enabling of your skillset to provide a service & as a multiplier on the rates you can demand. So the rate is both for the hours given to the customer, as well as the hours spent to maintain what you provide. Similar to how the procurement & upkeep of an independent tradesperson's toolset isn't paid for directly by the customer, but that cost is factored into the rate they charge. There's nobody profiting off your unremunerated loss if you don't apply your practice professionally. But whatever you consider the cost to be, you'd factor that in to your prices or acceptable pay rates. That becomes murkier if you do something like work for a production company or something though.

[@minhducnguyen9276]

@@InnuendoXP Agreed it's considered both as entertainment but also practices to increase the quality of the service so it's not easy to quantify.

[@forg4308]

@@minhducnguyen9276 thank you both for these concise answers

[@kamilareeder1493]

I would say yes. I do what you do except im a dancer, so I've got to expend physical hours of work and burn calories. If manual work deserves to be paid than I think you do too

[@ashkitt7719]

I like this sort of format. It's like a combination of your old stuff and your new stuff.

[@andrewrockwell1282]

Thanks JT, I always tune in to watch your videos and listen to the Deprogram. Each topic opens my eyes wider to what is going on around us.

[@2Links]

Very interesting. I'd love more videos like these, although your more general videos are also great and important. Perhaps you can mix these in every once in a while, at least?

[@JaylaStarr]

I love love love seeing your face… not only because you’re super cute… But because it makes me feel more connected to you and the story

[@mentonerodominicano]

We stan a handsome king using his looks to educate the masses.

[@justintownsend4555]

ANOTHER banger video! You should be proud man you're on a hot streak of amazing content lately.

[@rendomstranger8698]

Based on the other comments, it might be a good idea to create an introduction video to the harm that a lack of transport choice causes North America. It's a rabbit hold that I dove into about a year ago and it is used to strongly limit the opportunities of poor people and minorities that are disliked by the local government. I highly recommend mentioning and linking more specialized channels at the start or the end of the video if you do decide to cover the topic I've already seen on channels like "Not Just Bikes" that infrastructure is a good pipeline to get people introduced to socialism and communism. As well as socialism being a good pipeline to get people interested in infrastructure. And because infrastructure tends to be controlled on the local level instead of the national level, people will much more quickly get involved in active movements. Even if a lot of your viewers are already pretty educated on the damage caused by car culture, it's definitely an important topic for those who aren't to learn about.

[@Ascend777]

Shouldn't "unpaid work" be classified as "slavery?"

[@DraycoVideo]

Yeah, I kinda like these smaller scale deep dives, but honestly your content is pretty consistently good

[@bradee129]

Love the new video style, love the bump in production quality, love the new logo, love the more ambitious title. Channels moving in a great direction

[@masterofalltrades_]

I wasn't aware of this issue. Thanks for bringing this to attention.

[@hotzemusic]

LOVING the new format man! You're doing such important work Cheers from DFW dude!

[@SecondThought]

Hey, thanks so much! Also, howdy neighbor 🤠

[@onlyghosts7152]

It took me a couple days to realize this was a second thought video, was not expecting you in the thumbnail 😂 Great video as always.

[@blu0065]

I just love the intros to your videos. You don't even give a pause when going into "the neoliberal lie you have been living begins here."

[@HSamee]

This is quite literally the first time I've seen your face. Holy ship. Great videos man. Love the revamped channel and this new format. More personalized and hopefully will help your channel grow by heaps and bounds

[@johnalexander5789]

Changed the logo, eh? Nice ☺️

[@se7enei8htnin97]

This is awesome, it’s like a mix of Second Thought’s Old Vids mixed with his new vids

[@3enedictterry]

I'm actually digging the recent makeover on this channel. The new logo and video style all look great!

[@glitchyfruit2503]

All I could think about through the sponsored segment was that this video was sponsored by Jeff Bezos! They really do sell us our own rope.

[@happyarmadillofarm9026]

I enjoy seeing you on camera! Super enjoy your work!

[@vanessaheesen8154]

+1 for the case study style! This was very enlightening and showed just how these types of policies are applied, which is particularly helpful for one trying to understand the ramifications of various policies being discussed and even implemented.

[@anthonydelfino6171]

So an added point to this: the time people are spending doing this work for welfare is time that they aren't spending looking for paid work. This is doubly so when you consider how most of the time the unpaid work you do for the welfare is typically required to be done during the same hours as you'd be expected to go in for job interviews, networking, and things like that. AND when you go to file your renewal or application for the assistance, guess what? That's ALSO only during the M-F 9-5 hours, and, of course, they never run on time. So you make an appointment, but they're running late. And you have to stick around because that's how you're getting food this month. So you then can't schedule any interviews for jobs on any day that you might need to go in to renew your welfare because there's no way of knowing if you'll actually get out of the government offices in time to make it there.

[@user-em6ie2be7x]

New York could never face Bankruptcy...But it was perfectly fine for Detroit?....(Hmmmm I wonder what the big differences between those 2 cities was. 🤦🏿🙍🏿‍♀️🤦🏿‍♀️🤦🏿‍♂️💢)

[@phelllandborn6478]

I do like the case-study style, and your videos in general; but more than that, I think these videos are incredibly important. Thank you, specifically, for the comparison to domestic work. Interesting story: I have begun to blatantly seek discussion about compensation for domestic work (specifically child care, specifically for parents,) with people in general, as opportunities have arisen to a current sum of around a dozen or so instances, and I have noticed a fascinating and rare pattern emerging already. Not one of these individuals has had a single thing to say for, against, indifferent or even adjacent to the subject. Nearly unanimous is the response of blinking thoughtfully before changing the subject or ending the discussion, and twice I've seen the blinks get followed by a jump to watchful criticisms of the wealthy like some kind of "reverse-classicism" detection effort. Very odd, especially when I only ever speak to poor folks, like myself. But the confusion that proceeds, always follows, since dehumanizing humans is dehumanization, regardless and no group exists as a monolith. Just as there are good whites who genuinely want to help destroy prejudices such as racism and actively work towards such ends despite having racial privilege and benefiting from systemic inequities; just as there are good straights who genuinely want to help destroy prejudices such as homophobia and transphobia and actively work towards such ends despite having social-sexual privilege and benefiting from various identity oriented cultural inequities, so too are there good wealthy and powerful people. I think they're, perhaps, still figuring out how to define themselves, but they exist. And that assertion, no one seems to have any response to. I like to think that I may have pushed a few people to think critically about our systems and the expectations inherent to them, but I can't help but wonder if people are just dismissing these things offhand. Not but a couple of years ago, we were discussing UBI: surely paying people for real, measurable work isn't so damn crazy an idea. Keep fighting the good fight, sir. Ignorance is a most worthy choice of foes.

[@Lastbornschwab7]

This reminds me of National Honor Society in high school. You are required to work so many hours of community service each month to remain in good standing, and said volunteer work is supposed to instill positive community values. In reality, the vast majority of kids only do it because NHS looks good on your college application transcript, which is somehow supposed to show your potential value/quality as a prospective student.

[@alextiedt4481]

I liked the case study format, I'd be interested in watching more. It might just be my phone but I noticed a volume decrease after your 'you clean the parks' line.

[@maluslupine5412]

Great video dude! Love that you're showing your face now, keep up the fight!

[@finitecurve]

Love the direction the channel is going

[@alexp9621]

With regards to water privatisation in England, something that's been in the news a lot recently is just how often these firms are also dumping raw sewage into our seas and rivers. Such a great system... :/

[@TheHotDog1]

Definitely keep up this video format. It's something that I can easily share with others who don't quite understand the critiques without an hard outline of the issues like this.

[@MrPryzeLurker]

Keep up the great work!

[@PapaMagnum]

Love this channel!!

[@fiveoh3814]

I love the way you tangle theory with a common lived reality, history and storytelling. I understand that there is still a lot more to learn, like the numerous examples of local governance with democratic oversight which have led to a better sense of community while also provide a public good. But this format def makes the problem more tangible which is just a better way to operate within one's questioning.

[@T.H.E.O.R.Y.]

It's Friday so you know we gotta watch Second Thought.

[@scorcher5083]

Parents do get covered by the state in the form of WIC if they qualify same for EBT, but I will admit, how they calculate if you make “too much” is a bit broken if not down right stupid so it would be a challenge. I am the sole bread winner in my home. I cover mortgage, utilities, and internet plus the blasted HOA. Had to live paycheck to paycheck, avoid any unnecessary spending to be able to buy groceries. But no, I made too much money to qualify for EBT. Like if I earned any less I wouldn’t be able to afford to pay bills? What logic is that? Stupid country. Stupid system.

[@nairsheasterling9457]

To be on welfare is to be in crushing poverty. Then you are blamed for it. Welcome to the neoliberal hell we exist in.

[@HeroOfTheDay16]

Nice new branding Second thought loving the new style including yourself makes the vids a ton more personable and its awesome to bring new faces into the leftist-tube and streaming community 😁

[@Jgpadilla]

I love this new format of videos, this videos really shows what things we take from granted

[@LogicGated]

It doesn't get more blatantly coercive than the concept of 'workfare', always love the bits of historical context added to the videos!

[@codacreator6162]

I remember when New York was on the brink of bankruptcy. I was a kid. They blamed it on the people of New York and mismanagement.

[@CoolisKid]

I think you should do more of these case study videos, they’re more relevant and real world examples and you’re still explaining things in a Marxist way, keep it up! Love from New York ❤️

[@glensather8317]

Gotta say I'm already loving this new format of actually showing your face. It makes the videos feel more personal. (In before you're just running out of stock footage LOL)

[@lolaurabc]

I loved this new format where you give specific real life examples!!! I think it makes it so much more interesting

[@goutamboppana961]

NEW LOGO OMG AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[@redsprites5216]

Ay, new logo

[@SeanPeavy]

I just love each time your videos started with (in a pronounced tone) “this episode is…”

[@ashleynoble4483]

Great video!! Just wrote one of my final law essays on the topic of the financialization of welfare and workfare (with specific focus on charities and philanthropy)! So obviously I enjoyed this🥰