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It's not like Ireland is getting rid of unemployment insurance. And insurance sales and carpet installation are professions where there are jobs that actually p
by hn_throwaway_99 9mo ago
It's not like Ireland is getting rid of unemployment insurance. And insurance sales and carpet installation are professions where there are jobs that actually pay a living wage.
A lot of societies have realized there is value in supporting art and culture. For thousands of years that activity was sponsored by monarchs, royalty and other nobility. Up until actually quite recently, most first world countries without monarchs and nobles also provided substantial support for the arts.
- calvinmorrison 9mo ago> A lot of societies have realized there is value in supporting art and culture. Basically outlandishly rich and gaudy benefactors have always had so much money they could employ OTHERS to do trivial pursuits. Now - the average taxpayer will bear that cost.
- shimman 9mo agoI'm sure if you asked the average tax payer they would prefer programs like these rather than corporate welfare nonsense. So yeah, seems alright to me. I'm a tax payer.
- calvinmorrison 9mo agoi purchase a hell of a lot more stuff from Walmart than I do fine art.
- conception 9mo agoI think what you think this says about you is not what it actually says about you.
- shimman 9mo agoYou're telling me there's more to life than being a consumer?
- shimman 9mo agoYes and do billion dollar corporations really need that much government subsidies? Turns out yes they do, but sure enjoy your plastic trinkets from China I guess. Hopefully you thank a tax payer that pays for the welfare and medicaid of those Walmart workers, and the local town for cheaper property taxes and utility rates at Walmart. God knows Walmart couldn't exist with all this rampant welfare.
- testaccount28 9mo agowalmart solves a major logistical problem: provide government subsidized goods to low income neighborhoods. the government should like to give walmart money, as it is plausibly a cost-effective way to provide these goods to people who need them. the administrators of walmart are well rewarded for providing this public good.
- shimman 9mo agoThe only thing Walmart solves is destroying local ecosystems both biological and human. Acting like the executives paying themselves exorbitant salaries is a virtue is frankly odd and deeply disgusting as a human being, I'm sure the lowly workers wished they could vote themselves higher salaries too. Maybe if workplace democracy was enforced upon Walmart it would be an entirely different entity, likely for the better too.
- wolvoleo 9mo agoI'm sure the OP intended an /s at the end of their post :)
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- testaccount28 9mo agoi wished i had a pony, which is why i VOTE VERMIN SUPREME.
- 9mo ago
- zeckalpha 9mo agoIn Ireland?
- tropdrop 9mo agoWhat's interesting is that you don't realize how much of that stuff from Walmart had artistic processes embedded into it along the production line. Did those shower curtains have a design? Did your sweater have a color and style? Probably so, but you never pay attention to how the world of "fine art" refracts into your daily life. If the products were cheap, it's likely someone unpaid is responsible for the design. See, for example, the lawsuit against Zara over theft of ideas from small-time designers [1]. In any case, cheap Chinese brands do the same thing as Zara en masse (copying designs – note the "external suppliers" bit in its defense PR), and those products then end up in Walmart/on Amazon. The artists starve but you have your shower curtains and are happy with the price. [1] https://www.grossmanllp.com/independent-artists-on-the-offensive-after-zara-allegedly-steals-designs https://www.grossmanllp.com/independent-artists-on-the-offen...
- BobbyTables2 9mo agoEven when people are paid, it’s not necessarily fair nor driving the price paid - like clothing/purse manufacturing in low income countries for high income markets.
- terminalshort 9mo agoArtists who were paid for by willing buyers, not tax payers who don't have a choice.
- devmor 9mo agoYour taxes subsidize walmart and you don’t have a choice either.
- hackable_sand 9mo agoYes. Everyone's gotta eat, even if Walmart refuses to pay fair wages.
- terminalshort 9mo agoAnd I don't like that either. Being ripped off once doesn't mean that I should be ok with being ripped off again. That doesn't offset.
- subpixel 9mo agoIt's funny that you put it that way, b/c I have definitely spent more money on art (not even 'fine' art) that I have at Walmart over the years.
- computerthings 9mo ago[dead]
- ErroneousBosh 9mo agoWalmart is an insanely profitable business that pays most of its employees well under a living wage. Maybe we should have a structure in place that taxes companies based on how many benefits their employees claim, say five times the total amount of money claimed.
- knowitnone3 9mo ago[dead]