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this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024
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Sure there are more of us than there are of them, but the entire economy is oriented around their existence and continued support. We can strike and organize (and must) but it takes messaging to organize, and it takes messaging to win support from the public at large. It takes people pointing out just how absurd the current system and how morally and intellectually bankrupt its winners are in order for people to understand the need for change.
Also, "lobbying" involves money. We may have the pure numbers, but we do not have the money...and that's an important part of why you can't get there without being able to criticize the people who created and get the most benefits from the current status quo and shifting the mindset from "these people are smarter / work harder / are more innovative than everyone else" to something more akin to "these people are greedier and often times more morally bankrupt than everyone else".
EDIT: There's another thread here that's a messaging thing that I think is important: billionaires are often miserable themselves...the end game of this shit doesn't serve anyone...including the rich.
When poor people stop spending money, the economy goes into recession. We have buying power. Collectively we have enough money to make waves. We aren't organised and part of that has to do with the fact that we aren't all on the same page. Because we don't all understand what's going on. I know it takes more than just one or two of those things. But we had power and regulations once.
Worst case scenario is we burn it all to the ground. Because that's an ultimate equaliser. But it will absolutely have a detrimental effect both on the number of people dedicated to change, and their lives. Doing so has to be a last resort because it will cannibalize any movement that attempts it. Poor people will fight not to make their lot in life worse if push comes to shove.
Poor peoples' spending is less optional...you cannot exactly just stop buying groceries or clothing in hopes that the system changes. "Vote with your dollars" is essentially meaningless...especially when the very same billionaires we're talking about have conglomerated the goods in the essential economies. The food systems and the medical systems are practically cartels at this point. (i.e. Boycott Goya all you want, are you really sure that they aren't still producing your beans anyway under the store brand?)
I also think that the above is a gross oversimplification of what a recession is. The poor have been mostly buying only essentials for a while now (because it's all they can afford with the recent inflation) and we still aren't technically in a recession.
EDIT: I personally think a better means to protest monetarily for the non-well off is actually debt strikes. Most people don't have a lot of spare cash, but they sure do have a lot of debt. Unfortunately, it's another one of those things that only works if a whole lot of people do it at once.