The solution is this: every sector of the economy has been optimized to extract as much money from everyone as possible. This is the implicit role of government–to help the rich get richer. Have an idea that makes money? The government will help you make it happen. Does it materially harm the public, like sports gambling? Then you better make a lot of money to pay off the politicos!
This through-and-through corruption means that we now graduate in lifelong debt, working jobs that don’t cover the rent of places we can never own and spend money on health insurance we can never use because we can’t afford the co-pays. We are forced to finance expensive car because that’s the only way to get to work because the bus routes have all been purchased by car companies and liquidated long ago while regulations keep out cheaper foreign cars for “safety” while massive trucks and SUVs are killing pedestrians and cyclists at record rates. Forced to work longer hours and with less money in our pockets, our third spaces disappear. Now stuck at home, we are forced to buy electronics now at inflated prices because of the AI bubble and use oligopoly internet that should have long ago been regulated as a utility but for the massive campaign contributions those companies make to politicians to have a shadow of a social connection with each other.
It’s about money. But a nice side effect is that it keeps the people busy so they have little down time to reflect on why they are in that condition, or more importantly, no time left to take action, as well as the threat that if they do anything, it could endanger their job and life. That’s why they don’t take away too much from too many, otherwise suddenly those masses don’t have anything to threaten and a lot of free time to notice what happened and by whom. Bread and circuses.
That’s a pretty good summary of the situation, but it’s the problem, not the solution.
Sooner or later, something’s gotta bend or it’ll break. The oligarchs know this, and that’s why they’re putting so much effort into pacifying with false promises while tightening surveillance and control. They hope to starve us out or put us down before we reach our breaking point. They want us broken and weak long before it comes to that.
And honestly, the level of technology and the global hegemony of the capitalist order present us with a situation that’s never been seen before. The level of control and the efficiency of the surveillance state, the impersonal nature of automated weapons, makes for more than just an uphill battle. Calling ordinary people the underdogs is an overstatement of the hope we have.
And with more and more tyrants in the world learning what they can get away with, and the so-called “free world” opting for passivism and appeasement while handling their own internal threats with kiddie gloves and being more or less complicit with the plutocratic interests behind it all, it seems there’s very little hope this time for outside intervention saving us either.
So much rests on these midterms coming up. I hope they happen fairly and without too much ratfucking, I hope the people come out in droves to punish the fascists for what they’re doing to our democracy, and I hope the results of the election are duly acknowledged and the peaceful transfer of power happens smoothly. I hope enough people of good will make it into the next congress to successfully put a halt to the fascist agenda and block them from ratfucking our elections even worse, and I hope in two years we elect somebody who will restore our institutions and see justice done to those who have been dismantling it.
I don’t believe it’s too late for the world to make a comeback, but so much rests on these upcoming elections. Doomsayers will come out of the woodworks to try to discourage us from voting. We cannot listen to them.
The solution is this: every sector of the economy has been optimized to extract as much money from everyone as possible. This is the implicit role of government–to help the rich get richer. Have an idea that makes money? The government will help you make it happen. Does it materially harm the public, like sports gambling? Then you better make a lot of money to pay off the politicos!
This through-and-through corruption means that we now graduate in lifelong debt, working jobs that don’t cover the rent of places we can never own and spend money on health insurance we can never use because we can’t afford the co-pays. We are forced to finance expensive car because that’s the only way to get to work because the bus routes have all been purchased by car companies and liquidated long ago while regulations keep out cheaper foreign cars for “safety” while massive trucks and SUVs are killing pedestrians and cyclists at record rates. Forced to work longer hours and with less money in our pockets, our third spaces disappear. Now stuck at home, we are forced to buy electronics now at inflated prices because of the AI bubble and use oligopoly internet that should have long ago been regulated as a utility but for the massive campaign contributions those companies make to politicians to have a shadow of a social connection with each other.
We are no longer citizens. We are livestock.
This is unsustainable.
It’s about money. But a nice side effect is that it keeps the people busy so they have little down time to reflect on why they are in that condition, or more importantly, no time left to take action, as well as the threat that if they do anything, it could endanger their job and life. That’s why they don’t take away too much from too many, otherwise suddenly those masses don’t have anything to threaten and a lot of free time to notice what happened and by whom. Bread and circuses.
100%, The New Deal in the USA was largely a result of the fear of a communist revoltuion during the Great Depression.
That’s a pretty good summary of the situation, but it’s the problem, not the solution.
Sooner or later, something’s gotta bend or it’ll break. The oligarchs know this, and that’s why they’re putting so much effort into pacifying with false promises while tightening surveillance and control. They hope to starve us out or put us down before we reach our breaking point. They want us broken and weak long before it comes to that.
And honestly, the level of technology and the global hegemony of the capitalist order present us with a situation that’s never been seen before. The level of control and the efficiency of the surveillance state, the impersonal nature of automated weapons, makes for more than just an uphill battle. Calling ordinary people the underdogs is an overstatement of the hope we have.
And with more and more tyrants in the world learning what they can get away with, and the so-called “free world” opting for passivism and appeasement while handling their own internal threats with kiddie gloves and being more or less complicit with the plutocratic interests behind it all, it seems there’s very little hope this time for outside intervention saving us either.
So much rests on these midterms coming up. I hope they happen fairly and without too much ratfucking, I hope the people come out in droves to punish the fascists for what they’re doing to our democracy, and I hope the results of the election are duly acknowledged and the peaceful transfer of power happens smoothly. I hope enough people of good will make it into the next congress to successfully put a halt to the fascist agenda and block them from ratfucking our elections even worse, and I hope in two years we elect somebody who will restore our institutions and see justice done to those who have been dismantling it.
I don’t believe it’s too late for the world to make a comeback, but so much rests on these upcoming elections. Doomsayers will come out of the woodworks to try to discourage us from voting. We cannot listen to them.
This is not the explicit role of government in a functional social democracy. Which the USA obviously are not.
They’re functional for the owners of the government, which are not the majority of constituents.
The U.S. is an open air prison
Open-air farm.
so what would be your first act as president
Whatever the corporate owners say it is.
After that speech, I guess I’d start trust-busting, but that’s presuming just being president would give me that power.
long way to go after that i guess
at least the markets might regain some of their function