5 ms·
> 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 mone
by calvinmorrison 8mo 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 8mo 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 8mo agoi purchase a hell of a lot more stuff from Walmart than I do fine art.
- conception 8mo agoI think what you think this says about you is not what it actually says about you.
- shimman 8mo agoYou're telling me there's more to life than being a consumer?
- shimman 8mo 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 8mo 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 8mo 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 8mo agoI'm sure the OP intended an /s at the end of their post :)
- deleted 8mo ago[deleted]
- testaccount28 8mo agoi wished i had a pony, which is why i VOTE VERMIN SUPREME.
- Sl1mb0 8mo agoThis is where we're at huh?
- antonvs 8mo agoThis is their brain on capitalism
- zeckalpha 8mo agoIn Ireland?
- tropdrop 8mo 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 8mo 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 8mo agoArtists who were paid for by willing buyers, not tax payers who don't have a choice.
- devmor 8mo agoYour taxes subsidize walmart and you don’t have a choice either.
- hackable_sand 8mo agoYes. Everyone's gotta eat, even if Walmart refuses to pay fair wages.
- terminalshort 8mo 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 8mo 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 8mo ago[dead]
- ErroneousBosh 8mo 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 8mo ago[dead]