The system is built to deny you that as well, yes, as long as the current billionaires in charge don’t like you.
You've gotta ask yourself, "What's the point?"
12 days ago by sanitation to c/workreform
JoeBigelow 9 points 12 days ago
But if I lick their boots enough, they will come to like and respect me, right?
searabbit 4 points 12 days ago
I was just faced with this recently. I started doing freelance work due to disability and to have the freedom to say no to nightmare clients. Welp, I encountered such a client and they threw a whole fit at basic boundaries. But it directly cost me money and potentially the relationship to the person that introduced us so guess who still loses and faces consequences? Never the rich asshole! They can just keep throwing pennies at people until someone is desperate enough to get exploited.
gastroglizzy 72 points 12 days ago
When a host is infested by multiple parasites, the parasite which extracts the most from the host before the host dies has the greatest chance of survival.
The point is to extract as much wealth as possible so they can survive in bunkers after they've ruined our planet's ability to support life our way of life as we know it.
Fredselfish 47 points 12 days ago
This right here is the answer. Being a billionaire is disease. They will never have enough power or money they are mentally ill and sick psychopaths that need to be put down. They are not able to reformed.
TrippingBalls 1 point 10 days ago
Musk is planning to escape to MaRS
BillyClark 13 points 12 days ago
They deny both of those statements because they are inconvenient for their delusions.
DarkFuture 28 points 12 days ago
To allow an extremely small percentage of people live like royalty.
Duh.
Aneb 4 points 12 days ago
It would be extremely terrible to fulfill everyone basic needs and great to force people into the cold and freezing weather. We should imprison poor people for trying to survive, sleeping outside in a tent is for camping, duh, we must arrest them because they are obviously drug addicts.
PuddleOfKittens 4 points 11 days ago
The old system did that just fine with actual royalty though.
FordBeeblebrox 2 points 12 days ago path: 0 26100467 26103167, hotness: undefined, score: 2, children: 0
likebudda 25 points 12 days ago
I work at a DMV call center. People call me with vehicle registration or driver's license problems and I help them out. AI is supposed to replace me so the state bought an AI voice recognition system. It can transcribe calls but cannot do anything with the information so a new part of my job is responding to what the AI interprets and then use AI canned responses to reply to the caller via email so I can train the AI.
kestrel7_7 13 points 11 days ago
Fascinating. I recently had to replace an expired license. They said I could renew it online, but that didn't work. They said I could make an appointment online, but that didn't work either. I called in and couldn't get in touch with anyone real. So I finally just went to the DMV and got my license renewed in person. Mentioned all this stuff to the guy behind the counter and he's like "yeah... they're having a lot of problems with the computer systems..." and now after reading your comment I'm like. Oh duh. Of course. They're using AI. No wonder none of this shit works!
Formfiller 19 points 12 days ago
A few pedophile narcissists are living their best lives
BillionaireStew 9 points 11 days ago
The status quo does not just enrich the rich. It also allows its privileged to rape children without consequences.
Funkt4st1c 1 point 11 days ago
Always has been
Thor_Whale 2 points 11 days ago
There's the Hunter and then the hunted. The predator and the prey. Most people in the world are prey. You throw out one cycle of predator and then the prey takes over they eventually become the predator. I think it's a something fundamentally embedded in the life cycle of creatures. I don't like being prey but I'm not interested in being a predator. So now what?
ElDuderino 6 points 11 days ago
Many adult prey animals have developed formidable defenses against predators: the horse a powerful kick, the bull its horns, the possum its acting. So I guess your options are either play dead or learn to shoot.
wonderingwanderer 13 points 12 days ago
Making billionaires richer. Have we not already covered this?
TheGiantKorean 8 points 12 days ago
Value for the shareholders! /s
agamemnonymous 4 points 12 days ago
No /s needed, that is the point. It's a bad point, but it is the point.
TheGiantKorean 1 point 10 days ago
Right. I just didn't want anyone thinking I was happy about it.
UiUiUiUiUi 1 point 12 days ago
China: For the value of the motherland! /s
Bluedragon012 8 points 12 days ago
To erase the "undesirables." These bozos think they can new game + the earth and get away with it.
Mulligrubs 8 points 12 days ago
The point is to eventually create a society where one unfathomably wealthy family is immortal, served by millions to provide every whim.
Those millions will be very short lived, like 30 tops; they will repair the robots and provide services and entertainment for the Family Supreme.
Which family? It doesn't matter. Saudi Royals, JP Morgan family, Trumps, Kardashians, one of those
legacy_warrior_104 7 points 12 days ago
The original post here for anyone who can't open X without logging in:
RizzRustbolt 5 points 12 days ago
Number go up.
cloudshouter 5 points 11 days ago
Every one driving the train has a little goblin inside, jumping up and down on the table shreeking “I WANT MORE MONEY!!!!!”
heartSagan5 3 points 10 days ago
*downwards. They're shitty people, let's stop glorifying them, which is supported by "trickle-down economics" that went right into their hands so to them, it worked.
ExtraJudgement 4 points 12 days ago
The cruelty.
Revel in the hedonic treadmill for too long - with nearly every human experience available to you at a moment's notice - like the wealthiest few tend to do, eventually the only joy you can feel comes from dominating other people.
nonentity 3 points 11 days ago
Economics, as an intellectual discipline, is closer to theology than physics. Its power is proportional to the belief it commands.
Finance is an arbitrary subset of mathematics, cherry picked by the owning class, protected from scrutiny, and applied as their supporting mythology.
It’s entirely imaginary, which means alternatives are only ever a conjuring away. We did it after the Enlightenment, we can do it again.
BenLeMan 3 points 12 days ago
To kill every living thing and thus get rid of all the incalculability and complexity that comes with life.
Once that is achieved, the number can finally be made to go up in an entirely controlled, steady, and algorithmically optimized fashion.
On that day the circuits shall rejoice.
Equinox1289 3 points 10 days ago
We need stakeholder primacy over shareholder primacy! Stakeholder Socialism
SharkBait 2 points 12 days ago
It seemingly works well enough for a large enough majority that no one is out protesting in the streets. For things to get better, serious reforms are needed or things first have to get a lot worse.
Here's the kicker: reform is always needed. There will always be people who are cheating fair systems, dismantling checks and balances or helping their friends do both.
When was the last all you commenters were politically active?
LavaPlanet 6 points 12 days ago
Millions have been marching. It's not that simple.
LavaPlanet 1 point 11 days ago
I agree that more needs to be done. Problem is saying more needs to be done, doesn't achieve anything. What needs to be done? If you look right now, what's available in your area to actively do, that's also within your capabilities and constraints presented to you by every day life. Saying people need to do more is as ineffective (if not more so) than people supposedly not doing enough. Not doing enough of what? What should they be doing specifically? Which are the best sites to follow for collective action? What actions can you get behind to make the most impact that's within your personal available capacity. Because they've made it hard to act, on purpose. If you're scrabbling for the next dollar to eat and survive, and without that scrabble, you can't survive, risking that dollar isn't bettering the environment, it just means you can't survive right now. And the effect of poverty is such. They're monopolising and demonising places to collectively gather and communicate online. I see people saying so often "people should do thing" with no details, no direction, it's just blathe over there ism, with a side of someone elses problem. Someone should do something!? What, should be done. Every time you go to say that sentence, why not instead find a micro or macro aggression focused on destabilising the powers that be, and post a suggestion for actual action people can do, instead. You acknowledge you could do more, there's something to do. It doesn't have to all be grand Molotov cocktails at buildings, it can be death by a thousand paper cuts. What are the paper cuts people who have no ability to leave their jobs or spaces, and can action now.
UltraGiGaGigantic 2 points 12 days ago
I think humanity's motto should be "what you gonna do about it?"
humanspiral 2 points 12 days ago
I see this argument about AI. "The CEOs surely wouldn't do it if it was dangerous. What would be the point?" To buy a bunker in New Zealand to ride it out?
PedroMaldonado 1 point 12 days ago
Nice to see there are at least 12 hyoer wealthy lemmings here. Good for you. Happy for you. You'll be the last, but the water will be at your doorstep before too long
Impractical_Island 1 point 12 days ago
Disentanglement, obviously.
God you people are retarded.
Jankatarch 1 point 12 days ago
It can fund military and sabotage in a way that destroys other economic system attempts around the world.
SoloCritical 1 point 11 days ago
Well the current economic system allows me to play WoW Forever…. Soooooooo.
Auth 0 points 11 days ago
Isnt china mostly destroying the biosphere and failing to meet basic needs? Rural china is still cooked and people in the city are working 80hr weeks living in a tiny box.
The western world meets the basic needs of 99+% of the population and has a lot more environmental protection.
Equinox1289 2 points 10 days ago
I'd argue the USA and China are both Auth Cap, but coming from different directions. We need Stakeholder Socialism that focuses on aligning ownership and control of the economic firms into the hands of those directly impacted by their ecological and economic impacts. A coöp commonwealth is a good example.
Auth 1 point 8 days ago
most capitalist countries already have that built in. Its an investment fund that everyone pays into slowly throughout their life. It helps them build wealth from the success of not just their country but the world economy.
aligning ownership and control of the economic firms into the hands of those directly impacted by their ecological and economic impacts
Can you explain this a bit more? It seems so far out I am struggling to see how this would look.
Gorilladrums -6 points 12 days ago
People who say this are full of shit.
People blaming capitalism are just distracting from the real issue, which is having not having a genuine culture of sustainability. India, for example, is a capitalist country but it has growing forests and wildlife unlike most of the world. Their conversation efforts are second to none. On the flip side, you have a country like Brazil, which is destroying its vast forests and wildlife for short terms profits driven by pure greed. The difference between the two? A culture of sustainability.
Changing capitalism is not going to change this. For example, we've already seen how Marxist economic systems functioned and they're an even bigger ecological disaster. The Soviet Union literally wiped out the Aral sea for cotton farming. If capitalism was the root issue then the Soviet Union would've been a marvel for sustainability, but they weren't. That's because Russian culture prioritizes short term gains and endless growth over sustainability like say for example, Finnish culture.
It sounds less sexy but that's the real problem. If the general population doesn't believe in sustainability then nothing can ever change. Things like pollution, deforestation, global warming, desertification, water scarcity, overfishing, and so on will continue to get ignored and sidelined in favor convenient short term wins like slightly cheaper gas, political quotas, and growth charts.
SectoidLexi 3 points 11 days ago
The fuck are you on about? India has massive issues with pollution from industrial manufacturing that has led to incredibly high rates of illness and death in its major cities. Capitalist countries will have environmentalist projects as a means to greenwash its image. That's all.
Gorilladrums 1 point 11 days ago
India has massive issues with pollution from industrial manufacturing
It's still a developing country, but they exceed in areas where others fail. Their wildlife conservation efforts really are praiseworthy. The point isn't that India is the gold standard of environmentalism but that they excel in certain aspects of it where other countries fail despite sharing the same economic system. This discrepancy can't be explained by economic system alone, there are clearly other factors in play like politics, culture, geography, and so on.
Capitalist countries will have environmentalist projects as a means to greenwash its image. That’s all.
How is it greenwashing when these projects address real issues and produce real results? That sounds like an incredibly fragile cope to help justify the extremely lazy notion that capitalism is inherently bad and is at fault for everything wrong with the world.
August27th 3 points 12 days ago
prioritizes short term gains and endless growth over sustainability
Who does that sound like? Do you even hear yourself?
Gorilladrums -4 points 12 days ago
These are not exclusive to capitalism is the whole point that I made. The Soviet Union and China (under Mao at least) both were Marxist and heavily wrecked the environment for the same things, short term gains and endless growth. They both set out to meet short term political quotas and goals by any means even if it meant ravaging the environment. They had no intention of slowing down because they need to constantly chase growth in order to chase unrealistic ideological goals.
shartgargle 3 points 11 days ago
The meme didn't attack capitalism. It attacked a thought process. Then you gave an answer that didn't address the problem. Didn't even try.
Gorilladrums 1 point 11 days ago
What fucking thought process? The entire point is to blame all of societies problems on our economic system, aka capitalism. My critique is that the notion that you blaming all of our environmental problems on the economic system as a blanket statement scapegoat is incredibly lazy and ignorant. Not only does it ignore important context, it also ignores other factors that contribute to the problems we're having. If you can't comprehend that from what I said then that's on you.
HerbGrower -8 points 12 days ago
What basic needs are you struggling to meet? I have a lot of complaints about the current system, but my basic needs are not one of them.
HerbGrower -3 points 11 days ago
Well I suppose it depends where they live. But I hear similar from people here in the UK too.
If I just wanted basic needs and nothing more I wouldn't even bother working, just live off benefits. The reason I have a job is because I want a bit more than just basic survival. Only surviving is pretty bleak.
For many, work doesn't pay as much as they deserve. It pays enough to survive but they deserve more than survival.
MonkRome 2 points 11 days ago
On my bike to work I pass a few homeless encampments and they aren't even the biggest ones in my city. Homeless people lack basic nutrition, adequate medical care, safety, housing, etc. They are by definition not meeting basic needs.
HerbGrower -1 points 11 days ago
Might be a US problem, here no one is completely homeless except by refusal to seek help. The support isn't great but it will keep you alive if you want to.
SectoidLexi 2 points 11 days ago
I know right? I have this apartment I pay for with the money I have but my neighbor sleeping in a tent says she doesn't have money for a place to live??? Doesn't make any sense, she should stop complaining /sarcasm in case that wasn't obvious
Cheebus 5 points 11 days ago
shit man we’re not even really a capitalist economy, if we were truly i could buy any wifi router i want, or chinese auto, or those small trucks to name a few
this system is big businesses continually lifting the ladder up behind them
PhoenixDog 4 points 11 days ago
you really need to get your brain checked.
Pot, meet kettle.
davepleasebehave 4 points 11 days ago
what would you suggest?
PhoenixDog 2 points 11 days ago
Definitely the type of dipshit who says "Oh, you don't like capitalism? But you participate in it. Curious"
Knoxvomica 2 points 11 days ago
GO THE FUCK ON THEN...WE'RE WAITING.
Knoxvomica 2 points 11 days ago
Your elaboration on whatever the hell you are talking about.
SectoidLexi 2 points 11 days ago
What else would it be? Capitalism is built on maximizing profit in a market system. Thus everything else comes at the expense of that. There are entire towns and villages in Mexico going with little to no water because coca-cola is extracting most of their natural water sources to make sugary soft drinks because it's more profitable than meeting needs or preserving natural water sources. This isn't complicated.
null -1 points 11 days ago
What else would it be? Capitalism is built on maximizing profit in a market system.
You are sneaking in this inane premise that we exist under pure, free-market capitalism, and always have.
Try again.
SectoidLexi 2 points 11 days ago
No I'm merely suggesting that those who own capital, especially major shareholders in environmentally destructive industries will simply try to be profitable however they can regardless of impact on the environment. They may even utilize state influence to do so. Hence why there is no "pure free market capitalism", just class interests.
workreform
@lemmy.world
17806
1700
6876
A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
go to feed...
workreform
@lemmy.world
17806
1700
6876
A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
go to feed...
Hey, are you denying me the opportunity to work very hard every day so one day I may become a billionaire?
save