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I see we've come full circle and are bringing back the good old fashioned company town complete with a company store. It's only a matter of time before they sta

I see we've come full circle and are bringing back the good old fashioned company town complete with a company store. It's only a matter of time before they start paying in company dollars. As a matter of fact I once did business with a company acquired by Amazon several years after that acquisition. They offered my struggling bootstraped company AWS credits in lieu of payment after payment in dollars had already been agreed to... and work had been performed. Maybe we're close to peak late-stage capitalism or maybe it can go further, only time will tell. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town

MomoXenosaga 5y ago
I'm worried because we are now in a hyper individualistic society were everyone's living in their own bubble. Will we be able to form Unions like the last time and save ourselves from this slavery?
- Arrath 5y ago
  I'm quite worried as well. At this point I expect resistance to top out at the level of some social media protest.
- taurath 5y ago
  It’ll take another generation to even be okay with the idea of unions. By then all the billionaires will be in New Zealand or elsewhere and their hoard will be untouchable.
cratermoon 5y ago
Nah, instead of paying in company dollars they will offer payday advance loans at usurious rates.
unclebucknasty 5y ago
This is what I find bewildering about people who want to essentially dismantle government, because "freedom": where do they think the power goes? We'll be living in a company country.
- gruez 5y ago
  >where do they think the power goes? Private companies competing each other to provide the best service?
  - unclebucknasty 5y ago
    So, you would prefer zero regulation?
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - gruez 5y ago
      No, what made you think that? Follow up question to yours: are you talking about literal anarchists (ie. people who don't want a government) or just libertarians (people who want less government)?
      - unclebucknasty 5y ago
        >are you talking about literal anarchists...or just libertarians?" Probably less binary and anywhere along that continuum. That is, it's a question of degree wherein my concerns go up the closer things get to zero. It's difficult to discuss in earnest without somewhat painstakingly specific scenarios, but the gist of my comment was that as you shed government, its powers don't simply disappear; they're redistributed elsewhere. And, given that our government is (at least theoretically) by the people, we're really talking about relinquishing the power of the individual to corporations. Taking it back to the topic of this thread ("Amazon factory towns"), I believe that's essentially what the country would become—wholly owned by corporations. I don't believe in the concept of corporate personhood and I don't think corporations need more power, so I don't believe that's a good outcome.
        jjk166 5y ago
        There are lots of powers which if shed would not be picked up by somebody else. For example if you remove the government's ability to grant FISA warrants for wiretaps, that does not suddenly grant wiretapping powers to other entities. Shut down the EPA and no one gains the ability to regulate sulphur emissions. Shut down the FDA and no one gains the authority to stop drugs from going to market. Shut down the patent office and no one gains the ability to grant patents. There are cases where the government is actively limiting other entities abilities to abuse their powers. For example you want to restrict who a power company can shut off service to so they don't extort people in the middle of winter. Giving up the regulation of such utilities would simply be a power transfer (no pun intended). But this represents only a small fraction of the governments powers, and in general unregulated means exactly that.
cyanydeez 5y ago
am surprised there isnt amazon currency. youd think they could basically corner any crypto at their whim

MomoXenosaga 5y ago

I'm worried because we are now in a hyper individualistic society were everyone's living in their own bubble. Will we be able to form Unions like the last time and save ourselves from this slavery?

Arrath 5y ago
I'm quite worried as well. At this point I expect resistance to top out at the level of some social media protest.
taurath 5y ago
It’ll take another generation to even be okay with the idea of unions. By then all the billionaires will be in New Zealand or elsewhere and their hoard will be untouchable.

cratermoon 5y ago

Nah, instead of paying in company dollars they will offer payday advance loans at usurious rates.

unclebucknasty 5y ago

This is what I find bewildering about people who want to essentially dismantle government, because "freedom": where do they think the power goes? We'll be living in a company country.

gruez 5y ago
>where do they think the power goes? Private companies competing each other to provide the best service?
- unclebucknasty 5y ago
  So, you would prefer zero regulation?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - gruez 5y ago
    No, what made you think that? Follow up question to yours: are you talking about literal anarchists (ie. people who don't want a government) or just libertarians (people who want less government)?
    - unclebucknasty 5y ago
      >are you talking about literal anarchists...or just libertarians?" Probably less binary and anywhere along that continuum. That is, it's a question of degree wherein my concerns go up the closer things get to zero. It's difficult to discuss in earnest without somewhat painstakingly specific scenarios, but the gist of my comment was that as you shed government, its powers don't simply disappear; they're redistributed elsewhere. And, given that our government is (at least theoretically) by the people, we're really talking about relinquishing the power of the individual to corporations. Taking it back to the topic of this thread ("Amazon factory towns"), I believe that's essentially what the country would become—wholly owned by corporations. I don't believe in the concept of corporate personhood and I don't think corporations need more power, so I don't believe that's a good outcome.
      - jjk166 5y ago
        There are lots of powers which if shed would not be picked up by somebody else. For example if you remove the government's ability to grant FISA warrants for wiretaps, that does not suddenly grant wiretapping powers to other entities. Shut down the EPA and no one gains the ability to regulate sulphur emissions. Shut down the FDA and no one gains the authority to stop drugs from going to market. Shut down the patent office and no one gains the ability to grant patents. There are cases where the government is actively limiting other entities abilities to abuse their powers. For example you want to restrict who a power company can shut off service to so they don't extort people in the middle of winter. Giving up the regulation of such utilities would simply be a power transfer (no pun intended). But this represents only a small fraction of the governments powers, and in general unregulated means exactly that.

cyanydeez 5y ago

am surprised there isnt amazon currency. youd think they could basically corner any crypto at their whim