If you create an environment with no workers to build roads, and no wages to afford cars, then you cannot sell Teslas. If you create an environment with no workers to build and repair yachts, even billionaires will not have yachts.
It’s such a tragedy of the commons where each billionaire thinks the system can handle enough for their fuckery, but doesn’t account for all the fuckery of every billionaire together which combined brings it down.
I suspect any path forward depends on local communities building resilience systems but tbh not sure what that looks like because power has been centralized so much and technology controls every individual and their own access to livelihood. Like people saying to CA, don't pay your taxes to a fed that doesn't reciprocate, but what does that look like when payroll systems are computerized in alignment with tax requirements? Possibly regional agreements between states to try to preserve as much function as possible? The off-gridders with energy independence and owning land free and clear don't look so crazy now, do they?
Absolutely spot on. How does a cell phone company with a valuation of $3 trillion expect to keep its $3 trillion valuation if there is no middle class to buy its $2000 cell phones?
You know what else is funny? What do these Trumper scum think is going to happen if and when it finally dawns your average, sane nonTrumper that there is indeed no hope, and that their children’s futures are gone? In a hyper-capitalist, 2A-worshipping society filled with guns and ammo for sale?
Somewhat relatedly, have all the tech geniuses who are planning on using private security to keep their shit solved the Roman emperors’ problem with their Praetorian Guard?
You should read or listen to Douglas rushkoff. He tells a story about meeting with some of these guys who’ve built bunkers and plan to have private security at the end of the world. They asked him the best way to manage their team. Rushkoff: well, how about treating them well? Take an interest in their lives, pay them well. Rich assholes: “how about shock collars?”
Monitor all you like: if they have the guns and you have all the shit, even if you give them plenty, sooner or later someone’s gonna figure out that’s it’s a lot more fun to be your own boss.
It was so refreshing to see what I've been saying to my friends written in words by someone else. The cursing helped make it sound as though I was saying it lol
"Wrong. Wrong, mighty business geniuses! Now the house is falling down. The things that you thought would always be there are crumbling."
Well said. And it is difficult to see how to stop this. Maybe the best we can do is to think about how to build a better system at some point in the future. To prepare for the moment when the downward spiral has exhausted itself. It seems unlikely that then we can / should go back to what we had. So new ideas are needed ...
The way I understand Trump (on domestic economics) is as putting libertarian ideology into practice. Mises, Rothbard, Nozick, etc. I am pretty sure that this ideology cannot solve any of the problems humanity and Americans are facing right now. But even sth simple, such as the understanding of the value of public goods, has been lost. So there is a lot of work to do ...
Captialism isn't about profit, shareholder value, or angood product. Since I've been a kid I've watched capitalists slit the throat of their corporations over one dumbahit move or another.
Capitalism is about creating and exploiting or even just profitleasly harming an underclass. Elon's work with X, Welch's work with GE, every venture capitalist buying a billion dollar brand, gutting it for a few years worth of revenue upfront and selling the scraps at a steep discount. Fucking, the entire AI industry just nuked a trillion dollars after stealing the entire internt because why?
They were unwilling to focus on efficiency and curating inputs, both of which involve hiring a lot of smart people and paying them well for their time. Much easjer to pay a CS BS 100k to write a shitty webcrawler (which individual coders keep crushing with hall of mirror sites - the crawlers aren't even well written, they simply don't respect robots.txt!).
Everything is about making us poorer. They will be made poorer too, but not as fast. They eant to have more than us, but not in an absolute sense. Theyd be happy with a net worth of one buck as long as everyone they can see is starving and miserable. It's just something bred into any human with acquisitive heirarchical tendencies. (Which isnt all of us and I question whether those with those tendencies can be/deserve to be called 'human')
Ancient kings of Europe used to live in drafty unheated piles of rocks. In the winter, they ate pickles and beef jerky. They died of toothaches and flu, usually by 40. And they kept that system going for a thousand years because there is no point for people with brains/souls like that of improving their own living standards if it also improves the standards of the serfs.
They would have brought us here 100 years ago but FDR bought us two generations. And they tried to have him executed for it.
It sounds simplistic but it is the only theory of capitalism that stands up to the briefest inspection and frankly I've never seen any counter evidence.
"It's just something bred into any human with acquisitive heirarchical tendencies. (Which isnt all of us and I question whether those with those tendencies can be/deserve to be called 'human')"
This^^^^^^^
I still wager that it is a human quality, but only one that a very very few people have. Statistically minuscule. Because if it was more common, then humanity would have extinguished itself right out of the cradle practically. It's just that this quality can create such a massive negative impact that it seems like more people carry this disease than actually do. And capitalism has to be looked on as a spectrum. While certainly at the top you have companies like Amazon and Google and Facebook, but as you move down through the chain you get the capitalism that is simply about making money. Or at least it is a priority over hurting other people.
Another proof to your point can be shown in the fight for universal healthcare. Shouldn't businesses and corporations be on the front lines of that fight? They sure like to complain about the portion of employees insurance that they have to cover. So if profits were the pure motivating force, then they would be for universal healthcare as well. But it's about the control. The kind of extortion that you can inflict on someonewho desperately needs that healthcare even more than they need the job. It demobilize people and takes away their agency. And that's what gives big business their Boner
Thank you once again. You got a gift man. So much of this beautiful world has been being murdered by capitalism for far to long. One day this shit will end. We might even have a chance of making a new better start…probably not. But if we are going to try a whole lot of us need to get brave right now. Not much time left.
For the record I have no idea how this happens. But I hope to be ready when it does.
Depressing? That's not entirely my take away from it. The people who brought us to this place are going to feel the impact of it more than those of us who have so little. The bigger they come the harder they fall. They still have more collateral, influence, and power than us working class plebes, and by definition a stronger incentive to staunch the bleeding so to speak. Now they are the ones that are going to have to use their collective bargaining power to get out of this mess.
But your larger point is worth noting. I think the hurt is going to come a lot faster than anyone had anticipated. And like I was telling a friend the other day, this is the way that this moment is very different than Germany under Hitler in the late 30s. Hitler made a point of stabilizing Germany and its economy thereby garnering a whole lot of goodwill among German citizens, at least the ones that weren't Jewish. Trump and musk are doing the exact opposite.
Incidentally, the age of social media has allowed us all to see how fucking moronic all of these "business geniuses" actually are. The culmination of the policies they support, as you point out, was predictable, but it's not the only evidence that these people are imbeciles.
It is astonishing how so many people that rise to the top are just overgrown children that think they can do it all by themselves and take all the complex underpinnings of a stable, functioning society entirely for granted.
Maybe you haven't worked much in the private sector? Truly bright people who are able to integrate multiple evaluations into decision-making are exceedingly rare in business. Most businessmen are quite stupid, hedgehog rather than fox, and the adulatory business press makes it worse by promoting the Cult of the Entrepreneur.
If you create an environment with no workers to build roads, and no wages to afford cars, then you cannot sell Teslas. If you create an environment with no workers to build and repair yachts, even billionaires will not have yachts.
It’s such a tragedy of the commons where each billionaire thinks the system can handle enough for their fuckery, but doesn’t account for all the fuckery of every billionaire together which combined brings it down.
I suspect any path forward depends on local communities building resilience systems but tbh not sure what that looks like because power has been centralized so much and technology controls every individual and their own access to livelihood. Like people saying to CA, don't pay your taxes to a fed that doesn't reciprocate, but what does that look like when payroll systems are computerized in alignment with tax requirements? Possibly regional agreements between states to try to preserve as much function as possible? The off-gridders with energy independence and owning land free and clear don't look so crazy now, do they?
Absolutely spot on. How does a cell phone company with a valuation of $3 trillion expect to keep its $3 trillion valuation if there is no middle class to buy its $2000 cell phones?
You know what else is funny? What do these Trumper scum think is going to happen if and when it finally dawns your average, sane nonTrumper that there is indeed no hope, and that their children’s futures are gone? In a hyper-capitalist, 2A-worshipping society filled with guns and ammo for sale?
Somewhat relatedly, have all the tech geniuses who are planning on using private security to keep their shit solved the Roman emperors’ problem with their Praetorian Guard?
You should read or listen to Douglas rushkoff. He tells a story about meeting with some of these guys who’ve built bunkers and plan to have private security at the end of the world. They asked him the best way to manage their team. Rushkoff: well, how about treating them well? Take an interest in their lives, pay them well. Rich assholes: “how about shock collars?”
Omfg. In reality, they’ll get Ex Machina-ed, sooner or later.
they're probably planning on closely monitoring their employees' phones, with or without permission
Monitor all you like: if they have the guns and you have all the shit, even if you give them plenty, sooner or later someone’s gonna figure out that’s it’s a lot more fun to be your own boss.
hey, if it takes 3rd-world warlordism to rid us of Musk, then I’m all for it.
Yes
It was so refreshing to see what I've been saying to my friends written in words by someone else. The cursing helped make it sound as though I was saying it lol
"Wrong. Wrong, mighty business geniuses! Now the house is falling down. The things that you thought would always be there are crumbling."
Well said. And it is difficult to see how to stop this. Maybe the best we can do is to think about how to build a better system at some point in the future. To prepare for the moment when the downward spiral has exhausted itself. It seems unlikely that then we can / should go back to what we had. So new ideas are needed ...
The way I understand Trump (on domestic economics) is as putting libertarian ideology into practice. Mises, Rothbard, Nozick, etc. I am pretty sure that this ideology cannot solve any of the problems humanity and Americans are facing right now. But even sth simple, such as the understanding of the value of public goods, has been lost. So there is a lot of work to do ...
IMHO this is among your best stuff. It's why I'm a subscriber. Thanks.
Captialism isn't about profit, shareholder value, or angood product. Since I've been a kid I've watched capitalists slit the throat of their corporations over one dumbahit move or another.
Capitalism is about creating and exploiting or even just profitleasly harming an underclass. Elon's work with X, Welch's work with GE, every venture capitalist buying a billion dollar brand, gutting it for a few years worth of revenue upfront and selling the scraps at a steep discount. Fucking, the entire AI industry just nuked a trillion dollars after stealing the entire internt because why?
They were unwilling to focus on efficiency and curating inputs, both of which involve hiring a lot of smart people and paying them well for their time. Much easjer to pay a CS BS 100k to write a shitty webcrawler (which individual coders keep crushing with hall of mirror sites - the crawlers aren't even well written, they simply don't respect robots.txt!).
Everything is about making us poorer. They will be made poorer too, but not as fast. They eant to have more than us, but not in an absolute sense. Theyd be happy with a net worth of one buck as long as everyone they can see is starving and miserable. It's just something bred into any human with acquisitive heirarchical tendencies. (Which isnt all of us and I question whether those with those tendencies can be/deserve to be called 'human')
Ancient kings of Europe used to live in drafty unheated piles of rocks. In the winter, they ate pickles and beef jerky. They died of toothaches and flu, usually by 40. And they kept that system going for a thousand years because there is no point for people with brains/souls like that of improving their own living standards if it also improves the standards of the serfs.
They would have brought us here 100 years ago but FDR bought us two generations. And they tried to have him executed for it.
It sounds simplistic but it is the only theory of capitalism that stands up to the briefest inspection and frankly I've never seen any counter evidence.
"It's just something bred into any human with acquisitive heirarchical tendencies. (Which isnt all of us and I question whether those with those tendencies can be/deserve to be called 'human')"
This^^^^^^^
I still wager that it is a human quality, but only one that a very very few people have. Statistically minuscule. Because if it was more common, then humanity would have extinguished itself right out of the cradle practically. It's just that this quality can create such a massive negative impact that it seems like more people carry this disease than actually do. And capitalism has to be looked on as a spectrum. While certainly at the top you have companies like Amazon and Google and Facebook, but as you move down through the chain you get the capitalism that is simply about making money. Or at least it is a priority over hurting other people.
Another proof to your point can be shown in the fight for universal healthcare. Shouldn't businesses and corporations be on the front lines of that fight? They sure like to complain about the portion of employees insurance that they have to cover. So if profits were the pure motivating force, then they would be for universal healthcare as well. But it's about the control. The kind of extortion that you can inflict on someonewho desperately needs that healthcare even more than they need the job. It demobilize people and takes away their agency. And that's what gives big business their Boner
Spectacular! This is why I've been paying for this subscription, my faith did not go unrewarded. Now about that premise...
Not so easy to address as I try to figure out a way to shout it from the rooftops.
And there won’t be any journalists to report accurately on any of this shit!
So fucking dumb.
Excellent piece. Thank you!
Thank you once again. You got a gift man. So much of this beautiful world has been being murdered by capitalism for far to long. One day this shit will end. We might even have a chance of making a new better start…probably not. But if we are going to try a whole lot of us need to get brave right now. Not much time left.
For the record I have no idea how this happens. But I hope to be ready when it does.
excellent, but i fear depressingly accurate article.
Depressing? That's not entirely my take away from it. The people who brought us to this place are going to feel the impact of it more than those of us who have so little. The bigger they come the harder they fall. They still have more collateral, influence, and power than us working class plebes, and by definition a stronger incentive to staunch the bleeding so to speak. Now they are the ones that are going to have to use their collective bargaining power to get out of this mess.
I anticipate in a few months the people will start firebombing Teslas.
That long? Interesting
(:
But your larger point is worth noting. I think the hurt is going to come a lot faster than anyone had anticipated. And like I was telling a friend the other day, this is the way that this moment is very different than Germany under Hitler in the late 30s. Hitler made a point of stabilizing Germany and its economy thereby garnering a whole lot of goodwill among German citizens, at least the ones that weren't Jewish. Trump and musk are doing the exact opposite.
Except the Cybertrucks . . . those will just ignite on their own!
Savage, but deserved.
Incidentally, the age of social media has allowed us all to see how fucking moronic all of these "business geniuses" actually are. The culmination of the policies they support, as you point out, was predictable, but it's not the only evidence that these people are imbeciles.
It is astonishing how so many people that rise to the top are just overgrown children that think they can do it all by themselves and take all the complex underpinnings of a stable, functioning society entirely for granted.
Maybe you haven't worked much in the private sector? Truly bright people who are able to integrate multiple evaluations into decision-making are exceedingly rare in business. Most businessmen are quite stupid, hedgehog rather than fox, and the adulatory business press makes it worse by promoting the Cult of the Entrepreneur.
Liked for “Cult of the Entrepreneur” - there’s a great book you might like: Entreprecariat