A nation can enrich it's elites in the short term at the expense of its people, or it can invest in its people (education, commons, etc) at the expense of its elites.
The west, and especially my cesspool the US has made its choice.
China has been heavily building up its commons and infrastructure in the same 40 year span the US has let its commons and education fall into utter ruin in order to sell economically segregated education and gated communities for private profit.
The US is culturally indoctrinated to be hostile towards the very concept of society. Imagine resenting paying into universal healthcare because you don't want to accidentally pay for your countrymen's "bad decisions" like... Eating food.
I go on Rednote quite a bit. The US attitude towards China, just like non pure crony capitalism is "they are evil and from hell" for being a society. Their people, not their politicians, their people, are sweet, intelligent, and mostly treat Americans with an "are you guys OK? We've heard (true) horror stories."
Thats humanity. Why would I want my schaudenfreude and greed ruled cesspool to "win?" It's not about winning, it's about the wellbeing of ALL your people. If the US dominates the world culturally, all that would mean is that humanity stands for "fuck you I got mine" at which point I have no comradery with my species whatsoever.
Actual human worth/value is measured in empathy for one another, which makes the US destitude in what matters.
It does cap the wildest, antisocial forms of success that are insane excess.
Progressive taxation should mean you can never gain enough power, which capital is, to warp your society with power beyond your single vote, whether that power is expressed through direct bribery, lobbying, or mass media propaganda to try to trick your fellow citizens into voting and advocating against their own interests with your booming, capital powered voice that drowns out those you disagree with merely because you've exploited more capital into your private account than others.
I don't see any shame, horror, or problem with putting a hard cap on how much an individual can accumulate, as other people live here too.
Despite what Elon Musk believes, this whole planet shouldn't be his personal playground, but that's what it means to become a trillionaire, entire governments will bow at your feet. That's perverse. No unelected, unaccountable individual should hold so much power, unless humanity wants to live in a hell of its own making.
Ooh I am a social justice thief and agent of karma.
I used to deliver home medical equipment for a decade. Oxygen machines, hospital beds and the like.
I'd short the rich patient's supplies and give the always bitter and entitled fucks the oldest, loudest equipment, and give the extra and the nice, small, most portable and dependable equipment to the most destitute, who were always the nicest and unlike the patients in affluent towers would always offer me tips I'd always choose to decline.
When the rich fucks called to complain "their machine is too noisy" I'd always tell the management that explicitly told us to give the worst equipment to medicaid patients I gave them the best machine in my van, lol.
It wasn't much, but I'm very proud of that time in my life. Honestly I feel like I did more good in the world in that job than I did as a therapist. I made the lives of the elderly poor of the city I live in significantly easier and more manageable off the backs of the elderly wealthy, who often then went and private paid for their own brand new oxygen machines (that were the same models I'd given to their poor counterparts) anyway.
Cats bitch and moan when you disturb their routine.
Dogs are just happy to be interacted with.
I've seen cat owners waste half a dozen cans of food finding out what their cat is in the mood for that night. Cats just seem like another source of highly conditional affection. Might as well just go be social at that point.
I mean, in my perfect world the people would unite and burn the capital markets that have brought us to this place to cinder, and have a people's tribunal bring justice to the former largest stakeholders.
That could begin to right this ship, and really nothing short of that.
But I know they'd use their media to get us burning down each other's homes looong before we get to Wall Street, so I know we're irrevocably cooked. What do you propose that could conceivably circumvent all the soft and hard protections they've put in place?
I mean, that's just forming a gang, which I consider American police to simply be the largest and most well resourced of, a state sanctioned gang of gleefully violent thugs, unlike police in the developed world.
The US, it bears repeating captured by our capital markets, keeps most Americans on a paycheck to paycheck knives edge for that very reason. The ones most inclined to strike are the ones that have the most to lose by striking.
You're asking tens of millions of people to lose the roof over their heads for a very uncertain outcome.
The sad reality is that the capitalist bastards have their bases covered. Not surprising considering their effectively limiltess capital and the generational grudge the wealth class has over the formation of unions here to begin with.
Commit suicide by cop capital defense force? Because that's basically what "doing something" entails.
Any positions that could "do something" are on the Fascist's side, including the for profit news media. We are just as trapped in this capitalist web of coercion as we were before it went full fascist.
Why do you think filthy socialists and commies like myself were telling anyone who would listen, including getting laughed off of occupy Wall Street by the people we were trying to save, I was there, that the capital markets were our doom and our end? Because they were, and here we are.
I'm just glad their dream of this malice continuing in perpetuity truly is just a malignant dream. Climate change has something for this greedy, sociopathic civilization's ass, and the fact that we're turning our habitat against the species effectively permanently can't be bribed, black bagged, discredited, dissappeared, reframed, or any of the other dirty tricks the capitalist fascists have used to get their way and steamroll the innocent.
Oh I'm sorry the adults have adult things to talk about, like how that person at work was rude to you, you don't know what this acquaintance meant when they said that unimportant shit they said, and you need to get gas and pick up skim milk tomorrow. So mature!
I'm 40 and married with a kid, and pity the adults who decided to "grow up." I make it a point to NEVER give my work life so much as a passing comment or thought the second I leave it. Life is ridiculous, nonsensical, gallows hilarious, and absurd, better to revel in that than actually be childish and play pretend it's harrumph a super serious undertaking I do declare.
In Republican's fever dream scenario, they'd consider splitting the nation up to be marooning 200 million people at gunpoint stranded to die standing room only on a military embargoed Puerto Rico. They'd call that perfectly fair and not mass murder.
Get your logic out of here as to why that isn't possible.
I'd still go. I'd find it macabre and funny, it wouldn't make me anxious. Private plane!
Humans like to believe a lot of stupid stuff without evidence, and feel like it becomes more true the more other people believe in the same stupid stuff.
A nation can enrich it's elites in the short term at the expense of its people, or it can invest in its people (education, commons, etc) at the expense of its elites.
The west, and especially my cesspool the US has made its choice.
China has been heavily building up its commons and infrastructure in the same 40 year span the US has let its commons and education fall into utter ruin in order to sell economically segregated education and gated communities for private profit.
The US is culturally indoctrinated to be hostile towards the very concept of society. Imagine resenting paying into universal healthcare because you don't want to accidentally pay for your countrymen's "bad decisions" like... Eating food.
I go on Rednote quite a bit. The US attitude towards China, just like non pure crony capitalism is "they are evil and from hell" for being a society. Their people, not their politicians, their people, are sweet, intelligent, and mostly treat Americans with an "are you guys OK? We've heard (true) horror stories."
Thats humanity. Why would I want my schaudenfreude and greed ruled cesspool to "win?" It's not about winning, it's about the wellbeing of ALL your people. If the US dominates the world culturally, all that would mean is that humanity stands for "fuck you I got mine" at which point I have no comradery with my species whatsoever.
Actual human worth/value is measured in empathy for one another, which makes the US destitude in what matters.
As an American, I hope his presidential guard at least killed some of us.
It does cap the wildest, antisocial forms of success that are insane excess.
Progressive taxation should mean you can never gain enough power, which capital is, to warp your society with power beyond your single vote, whether that power is expressed through direct bribery, lobbying, or mass media propaganda to try to trick your fellow citizens into voting and advocating against their own interests with your booming, capital powered voice that drowns out those you disagree with merely because you've exploited more capital into your private account than others.
I don't see any shame, horror, or problem with putting a hard cap on how much an individual can accumulate, as other people live here too.
Despite what Elon Musk believes, this whole planet shouldn't be his personal playground, but that's what it means to become a trillionaire, entire governments will bow at your feet. That's perverse. No unelected, unaccountable individual should hold so much power, unless humanity wants to live in a hell of its own making.
I've also heard kangaroo
Ooh I am a social justice thief and agent of karma.
I used to deliver home medical equipment for a decade. Oxygen machines, hospital beds and the like.
I'd short the rich patient's supplies and give the always bitter and entitled fucks the oldest, loudest equipment, and give the extra and the nice, small, most portable and dependable equipment to the most destitute, who were always the nicest and unlike the patients in affluent towers would always offer me tips I'd always choose to decline.
When the rich fucks called to complain "their machine is too noisy" I'd always tell the management that explicitly told us to give the worst equipment to medicaid patients I gave them the best machine in my van, lol.
It wasn't much, but I'm very proud of that time in my life. Honestly I feel like I did more good in the world in that job than I did as a therapist. I made the lives of the elderly poor of the city I live in significantly easier and more manageable off the backs of the elderly wealthy, who often then went and private paid for their own brand new oxygen machines (that were the same models I'd given to their poor counterparts) anyway.
Welcome to the party, pals!
This is why I'm a dog person.
Cats bitch and moan when you disturb their routine.
Dogs are just happy to be interacted with.
I've seen cat owners waste half a dozen cans of food finding out what their cat is in the mood for that night. Cats just seem like another source of highly conditional affection. Might as well just go be social at that point.
Exactly.
It's not accusing the being gay of fucking them up, it's accusing the unhealthy repression.
They aren't really centrists.
They just don't want the blame or accountability.
I mean, in my perfect world the people would unite and burn the capital markets that have brought us to this place to cinder, and have a people's tribunal bring justice to the former largest stakeholders.
That could begin to right this ship, and really nothing short of that.
But I know they'd use their media to get us burning down each other's homes looong before we get to Wall Street, so I know we're irrevocably cooked. What do you propose that could conceivably circumvent all the soft and hard protections they've put in place?
🔔🔔🔔 We have a winner
I mean, that's just forming a gang, which I consider American police to simply be the largest and most well resourced of, a state sanctioned gang of gleefully violent thugs, unlike police in the developed world.
The US, it bears repeating captured by our capital markets, keeps most Americans on a paycheck to paycheck knives edge for that very reason. The ones most inclined to strike are the ones that have the most to lose by striking.
You're asking tens of millions of people to lose the roof over their heads for a very uncertain outcome.
The sad reality is that the capitalist bastards have their bases covered. Not surprising considering their effectively limiltess capital and the generational grudge the wealth class has over the formation of unions here to begin with.
"Communism has killed trillions of people!"
Meanwhile... in an American tent city or under your nearest American freeway...
I keep seeing this. What is there to do?
Commit suicide by
copcapital defense force? Because that's basically what "doing something" entails.Any positions that could "do something" are on the Fascist's side, including the for profit news media. We are just as trapped in this capitalist web of coercion as we were before it went full fascist.
Why do you think filthy socialists and commies like myself were telling anyone who would listen, including getting laughed off of occupy Wall Street by the people we were trying to save, I was there, that the capital markets were our doom and our end? Because they were, and here we are.
I'm just glad their dream of this malice continuing in perpetuity truly is just a malignant dream. Climate change has something for this greedy, sociopathic civilization's ass, and the fact that we're turning our habitat against the species effectively permanently can't be bribed, black bagged, discredited, dissappeared, reframed, or any of the other dirty tricks the capitalist fascists have used to get their way and steamroll the innocent.
Oh I'm sorry the adults have adult things to talk about, like how that person at work was rude to you, you don't know what this acquaintance meant when they said that unimportant shit they said, and you need to get gas and pick up skim milk tomorrow. So mature!
I'm 40 and married with a kid, and pity the adults who decided to "grow up." I make it a point to NEVER give my work life so much as a passing comment or thought the second I leave it. Life is ridiculous, nonsensical, gallows hilarious, and absurd, better to revel in that than actually be childish and play pretend it's harrumph a super serious undertaking I do declare.
In Republican's fever dream scenario, they'd consider splitting the nation up to be marooning 200 million people at gunpoint stranded to die standing room only on a military embargoed Puerto Rico. They'd call that perfectly fair and not mass murder.
Get your logic out of here as to why that isn't possible.
I'd still go. I'd find it macabre and funny, it wouldn't make me anxious. Private plane!
Humans like to believe a lot of stupid stuff without evidence, and feel like it becomes more true the more other people believe in the same stupid stuff.
They'll need to use an electron gun to carve the face on the regular sized head if they want to make the scale accurate.
As a dad my life is forfeit if and when it can serve to protect my son.
That said it sounds like his pastor turned him in.