this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2024
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A Boring Dystopia

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This is actually an older news story, and it does appear as though she recovered from this before her death.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14389544

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[–] UnderpantsWeevil 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

why would the economic model be failing? Because it’s profitable for the people with the money, and those in government.

The capitalist economic model is failing because of the law of diminishing returns coming into contradiction with the demand for higher next quarter profits. Individual sectors of the economy with the most leverage can raise their rents, but only at the expense of other areas of the economy. So Boeing can sell shittier airplanes by purging its staff of skilled engineers, but this creates downturns in neighborhoods where those engineers live. And it also scares people away from flying commercial airlines.

This was immediately profitable for Boeing (10 years ago). But its been awful for Boeing right now. And even worse for a government that needs Boeing's airplanes to maintain both commercial and military aviation roles. Folks with money in Boeing stock also aren't thrilled with this turn.

Why would the government be busy not preventing this?

Because government officials surrendered their role in manufacturing and regulating aircrafts to Boeing itself, on the theory that Boeing management would not behave shortsightedly. Oops!

Now the engineers who are blowing the whistle are showing up in court rooms (when they aren't killing themselves in the middle of a deposition) and government agencies are scrambling to figure out how to do jobs they haven't had to do in decades. But its a big ship and slow to turn.

we’re idiots that can’t see the hook through the bait

We're blind men feeling at an elephant. Its a big problem and when one guy's got the tail and another's touching the tusk, it may not seem like the same thing to everyone.

That's not because we're all stupid. Its because the problem is big and the solution is hard. But the process to solving the problem requires teamwork. That's where Americans tend to suck hardest.

Because we all assume the other guy is stupid, I describe the tusk and you describe the tail, and we both accuse one another of not knowing what we're touching.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The capitalist economic model is failing because of the law of diminishing returns coming into contradiction with the demand for higher next quarter profits. Individual sectors of the economy with the most leverage can raise their rents, but only at the expense of other areas of the economy. So Boeing can sell shittier airplanes by purging its staff of skilled engineers, but this creates downturns in neighborhoods where those engineers live. And it also scares people away from flying commercial airlines.

This was immediately profitable for Boeing (10 years ago). But its been awful for Boeing right now. And even worse for a government that needs Boeing’s airplanes to maintain both commercial and military aviation roles. Folks with money in Boeing stock also aren’t thrilled with this turn.

and squeezing as much money out the people of a community is useful to those who have the money to then buy up that community. Gentrification. This all inevitably leads to economic collapse being profitable to rich people, and those who enable them. I.E. corporations and the government.

Because government officials surrendered their role in manufacturing and regulating aircrafts to Boeing itself, on the theory that Boeing management would not behave shortsightedly. Oops!

Now the engineers who are blowing the whistle are showing up in court rooms (when they aren’t killing themselves in the middle of a deposition) and government agencies are scrambling to figure out how to do jobs they haven’t had to do in decades. But its a big ship and slow to turn.

probably also related to lobbying money, i'm almost certain that boeing lobbied for this, so that they could make more money, possibly even gave money directly to politicians. Boeing is probably in the middle of lobbying right now even.

That’s not because we’re all stupid. Its because the problem is big and the solution is hard. But the process to solving the problem requires teamwork. That’s where Americans tend to suck hardest.

it's probably because we allow corporations to lobby the government and decide shit for us instead of doing it ourselves. But that's another problem.

Because we all assume the other guy is stupid, I describe the tusk and you describe the tail, and we both accuse one another of not knowing what we’re touching.

you're assuming that i'm calling anyone specifically stupid, i'm not. My point is literally that WE, us, me and you, are sitting here, yelling about the technicalities about the actual problems, which we both agree exist. Rather than simply doing something about it. I assume that's also your point however. In which case, stalemate?

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Rather than simply doing something about it.

Do you have any recommendations?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

yeah idk, maybe get people to jointly hate the government, and how aggressively they overstep on our rights.

We just passed a funding bill for three different countries, two of which are actively at war. There's absolutely the possibility that we can do this but for basic economic shit.

Everybody hates tax, find a way that cleans it up such that both republicans and democrats like it. I've proposed moving income tax from the individual to the company, which means individuals no longer have to deal with income tax (though they still technically pay it) and that also makes it much easier for the IRS to go after income tax fraud.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

maybe get people to jointly hate the government, and how aggressively they overstep on our rights.

The Nine Scariest Words In The English Language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help".

~ Ronald Raygun

We just passed a funding bill for three different countries, two of which are actively at war. There’s absolutely the possibility that we can do this but for basic economic shit.

We passed a Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to the tune of $1.2T in federal spending less than three years ago. But the money is primarily focused on propping up private businesses friendly to the goals of the current administration.

Everybody hates tax

If you want to live in a country that doesn't have any taxes, try North Korea. 😆

But the preponderance of wealth makes the tax burden very uneven. We also spend absurd amounts on a military that's proven itself ineffectual and unreliable and a transportation system that's expensive and wasteful. This while draining money away from education, health care, and pensions. We've practically zeroed out our spending on public housing.

Folks don't mind kicking in to make their communities grow. But I'm living on a street that hasn't been repaved in over 10 years, using utilities that haven't been upgraded in at least 20, and I'm being told my property taxes are going up because my house's market rate keeps climbing. Where is my money going? That's the thing that annoys me more than anything.

I’ve proposed moving income tax from the individual to the company

Sure, fine, cool. But where will it go? To my local school system? To some border prison for migrants? To the newest payload of a bomb detonated over Rafa?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

The Nine Scariest Words In The English Language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help”.

~ Ronald Raygun

notoriously right wing governmental figure, and actor with no political background*

We passed a Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to the tune of $1.2T in federal spending less than three years ago. But the money is primarily focused on propping up private businesses friendly to the goals of the current administration.

that's a governmental problem, and also a corpo influence in government problem. I don't know what you want me to do about it. A lot of that funding went to critical infrastructure, roads, water utility, electric utility, internet, etc. A lot of those could be passing through private hands, but that's just the state of the market.

If you want to live in a country that doesn’t have any taxes, try North Korea. 😆

i mean yeah, you could also just not exist. That's also a solution to taxes, great blanket statement there.

But the preponderance of wealth makes the tax burden very uneven. We also spend absurd amounts on a military that’s proven itself ineffectual and unreliable and a transportation system that’s expensive and wasteful. This while draining money away from education, health care, and pensions. We’ve practically zeroed out our spending on public housing.

i mean yeah, that would have been why i proposed pushing it onto corpos, They control most of the money flow anyway.

Folks don’t mind kicking in to make their communities grow. But I’m living on a street that hasn’t been repaved in over 10 years, using utilities that haven’t been upgraded in at least 20, and I’m being told my property taxes are going up because my house’s market rate keeps climbing. Where is my money going? That’s the thing that annoys me more than anything.

i mean yeah, that's fair. That's certainly a valid complaint, but don't come swining at me, go swinging at your local representatives.

Sure, fine, cool. But where will it go? To my local school system? To some border prison for migrants? To the newest payload of a bomb detonated over Rafa?

it's the exact same, except that you don't fucking file it. Because the entity you work for does now. It's not like companies control where their taxes go, unless they commit tax fraud, which is a big no no.