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We don’t vote them in. Walmart and Amazon place them there to uphold the status quo.

1MachineElf 5y ago
A very clear example of this, but with Citigroup: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/10/15/wiki-o15.html https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/10/15/wiki-o15.html
- leesalminen 5y ago
  Your source doesn’t claim that Citigroup wanted to maintain the societal status quo, though.
  - 1MachineElf 5y ago
    Depends on your definition of societal status quo. If it includes "not out of business", then I think the example still holds. Citigroup's positioning helped them secure $20 billion in government bailout loans following the 2008 crash, while most Americans wanted to let them fail.
shadowgovt 5y ago
That's a pretty lie that citizens in a democracy get to tell themselves so they don't have to take responsibility for the will of the people coming to a bad decision. Walmart and Amazon can afford to shape the news, but they don't hold the pen in the voting booth. "Absolute governments, (tho’ the disgrace of human nature) have this advantage with them, they are simple; if the people suffer, they know the head from which their suffering springs; know likewise the remedy; and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures." ~Thomas Paine
- burnbabyburner 5y ago
  I like this perspective. I hear you. It just seems that the list of candidates (for which we vote) is assembled by corporations with the intent of writing laws that promote their profits (at the expense of the people and other businesses). I don’t see how we (the people) can vote who gets on the list in the first place. Until that happens I don’t consider it to be true representation.
  - shadowgovt 5y ago
    The list is decided during the primaries. In the US at least, the biggest problem is that very few Americans seem to understand how significant primaries are; we usually see sub-30% turnout for those elections, but those are the elections where questions like "Trump or Cruz" or "Clinton or Biden" are decided (to say nothing of federal legislators, which are a full branch of government, or state government, which has more day-to-day impact on most Americans than who is President).
    - burnbabyburner 5y ago
      Yeah that is a serious problem. Is there a buy-in to participate in the primaries?

A very clear example of this, but with Citigroup: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/10/15/wiki-o15.html https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/10/15/wiki-o15.html

leesalminen 5y ago
Your source doesn’t claim that Citigroup wanted to maintain the societal status quo, though.
- 1MachineElf 5y ago
  Depends on your definition of societal status quo. If it includes "not out of business", then I think the example still holds. Citigroup's positioning helped them secure $20 billion in government bailout loans following the 2008 crash, while most Americans wanted to let them fail.

shadowgovt 5y ago

That's a pretty lie that citizens in a democracy get to tell themselves so they don't have to take responsibility for the will of the people coming to a bad decision. Walmart and Amazon can afford to shape the news, but they don't hold the pen in the voting booth. "Absolute governments, (tho’ the disgrace of human nature) have this advantage with them, they are simple; if the people suffer, they know the head from which their suffering springs; know likewise the remedy; and are not bewildered by a variety of causes and cures." ~Thomas Paine

burnbabyburner 5y ago
I like this perspective. I hear you. It just seems that the list of candidates (for which we vote) is assembled by corporations with the intent of writing laws that promote their profits (at the expense of the people and other businesses). I don’t see how we (the people) can vote who gets on the list in the first place. Until that happens I don’t consider it to be true representation.
- shadowgovt 5y ago
  The list is decided during the primaries. In the US at least, the biggest problem is that very few Americans seem to understand how significant primaries are; we usually see sub-30% turnout for those elections, but those are the elections where questions like "Trump or Cruz" or "Clinton or Biden" are decided (to say nothing of federal legislators, which are a full branch of government, or state government, which has more day-to-day impact on most Americans than who is President).
  - burnbabyburner 5y ago
    Yeah that is a serious problem. Is there a buy-in to participate in the primaries?