grafmax

19 ms·

151.
by grafmax 1y ago
I think most people don’t feel like they have much control over their world and resign themselves to it. This atomization is a central feature of the pseudo-stable system we live under. The antidote is solidarity and collective action. But
152.
by grafmax 1y ago
Plenty of layoffs and offshoring have occurred under Democratic administrations as well. Both parties serve the wealthy against the working class. One is indeed more brazen about it however.
153.
by grafmax 1y ago
Land values have risen faster than wages due to growing wealth inequality - whereas as land value tax does not pass, empirically speaking, through to renters - because there is a fixed amount of land. In other words higher land value taxes
154.
by grafmax 1y ago
> and democratic process ability to fix this Actually we’ve shifted into authoritarianism and confidence has only worsened.
155.
by grafmax 1y ago
Big tech effectively owns the government, at least in the US. If people really want to fix this mess we need mass strikes.
156.
by grafmax 1y ago
YouTube offers free hosting and is widely available. Presumably that’s why it was chosen to host these videos. Other people cannot duplicate YouTube. VCs financed YouTube to build a free service with network effects that allow them to turn
157.
by grafmax 1y ago
The billionaire owners of these systems are the entitled ones. They profit by using VC money to offer something for free, then turning around to exploit network effects and lock-in so they can charge the working class various forms of rent
158.
by grafmax 1y ago
Why is what is effectively the digital commons privately owned and we are okay with that?
159.
by grafmax 1y ago
These businesses built what have become the commons, which they retain control over through mechanisms like network effects, which allow them to make unaccountable decisions on the one hand and profit from rentierism on the other. It would
160.
by grafmax 1y ago
The US has turned to authoritarianism. It seems naive to think this is going to go away in an election. Our government is owned by the ultra wealthy who pursue their own narrow interests at the expense of the common good. Some of these peop
161.
by grafmax 1y ago
Subsidies, depending on the market, often produce some degree of the effect you’re talking about, but it’s not black and white. The term is pass-through and full pass-through is rare with partial pass-through being typical. Often with sub
162.
by grafmax 1y ago
> Kinda like how expensive healthcare is since it is paid for by insurance. If your argument were correct, socialized medicine would lead to higher costs, but it usually does the opposite. Insurance profit margins are a small portion of
163.
by grafmax 1y ago
I tend to get more benefit from looking at why someone thinks what they think - than what they think.
164.
by grafmax 1y ago
Because hidden costs like ‘no refunds for cancellations’ is the same as transparent price competition - what the deregulation you’re referring to ushered in. Not all deregulation benefits the consumer.
165.
by grafmax 1y ago
It turns out capitalism devolves into authoritarianism too when money gets concentrated enough. Basically any extreme concentration of power (wealth concentration or Stalinism) is going to tend toward this kind of outcome.
166.
by grafmax 1y ago
Exactly. These supposed benefits of deregulated markets dissolve when the sellers have pricing power.
167.
by grafmax 1y ago
Deregulation once again helping business at the expense of consumers.
168.
by grafmax 1y ago
Sanctions against Russia only are somewhat effective with BRICS. Without the US, sanctions lose even more of their power.
169.
by grafmax 1y ago
It’s actually a trend since 1980s. Things like deindustrialization and financialization, outsourcing (which collapsed the unions), deregulation (incentivizing externalities primarily felt by the working class - the 2008 collapse, environmen
170.
by grafmax 1y ago
That presumes some kind of just system imprisoning the husband. In fact the US pursues its power and wealth, supporting dictatorships and undermining democracies to the degree it believes doings so benefits its special interests and geopoli
171.
by grafmax 1y ago
> our collective failure to build enough housing There has been net transfer of housing ownership to the wealthy through increasing LTV and rentals - interest and rent are two ways of transferring money from the working class to rentier
172.
by grafmax 1y ago
> Firms are basically Equity+Debt, and because inflation wipes out the value of Debt, then the value of Equity mechanically increases I don’t think this holds water as an explanation. The equity risk premium is basically zero.
173.
by grafmax 1y ago
They’re forcibly mass starving people. That’s genocide. There are military objectives, sure. It’s still genocide.
174.
by grafmax 1y ago
Capitalism is a system where one class of people (workers) sell their labor for the profit of another class (owners/capitalists). So feudalism was neither capitalist nor industrialist. Colonial capitalism - not typically industrial but
175.
by grafmax 1y ago
The Chinese government’s rising life expectancy story is corroborated by estimates by independent organizations such as the WHO: https://data.who.int/countries/156
176.
by grafmax 1y ago
Strange to me that the US has fallen behind is supposedly due to its commitment to freedom. The ownership class sold out the industrial base for profit, beginning with Reagan. They’re the ones who have driven policy - and continue to do so
177.
by grafmax 1y ago
60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. It depends on which Americans you are looking at if you want to understand who capitalist ownership is benefiting.
178.
by grafmax 1y ago
I thought we were talking about the role of colonization in violence in China over the past 250 years. Most events you listed (Taiping rebellion, Boxer rebellion, CCP-KMT civil war) were the result of weakening of the Qing dynasty by forei
179.
by grafmax 1y ago
It’s worth considering the famine in India at the end of the 19th century. The British integrated India into the world capitalist system in a way that directly led to famine: promotion of cash crops which led to vulnerability when drought s
180.
by grafmax 1y ago
What is this, an article of faith? This ignores the many famines that have occurred under capitalism during colonialism and through the present day.

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