I learned a new word recently, Financialization (from Abdul El-Sayed! on YouTube).
It's a term for things businesses do to make line go up that doesn't actually produce anything or make things better. It includes processes that should be illegal such as stock buybacks and private equity.
In the aughts, I lived in San Francisco during the rolling blackouts. Enron, you see, got overvalued, and it borrowed a lot of money based on that value. So when the market started wanting to correct, it engaged in shenanigans (which had something to do with turning off California generators and then forcing California to buy power from Texas at inflated prices) because Enron needed the value, but didn't have it, and was going to crash and its owners were going to get busted for shady dealing.
In the Trump era, we've undone all the laws we made from both the dotcom bubble and the subprime mortgage crisis, and the AI bubble is imminently about to collapse.
Libertarians are like house cats. Completely dependent on a system they neither understand nor appreciate and fiercely confident of their own independence.
We write about "paperclip optimizers" as if they're some future AI problem, but in reality we run them every day to make ends-meet while the people who own them just focus on the compulsion to have more paperclips with no regard for societal consequences.
Modern companies see the paperclip optimizer and say "yeah, these guys are doing it right."
I want everyone to realize that they won’t do it just for a dollar, they will do it for as little as a penny. Yes, that’s right, if you die they won’t care because they got a penny and hundreds of thousands more people lived who will keep buying their shit.
The sad part is this is literally incentivized to cut every corner you can, because if you don't the other seller is. The free market will solve it guys we just made the FDA for fun, not after 50 years of this problem not being solved - maga, somehow.
I think with the push for full AI automation this will just get worse as they will try to replace as many humans as possible for profit in every industry and then have these desperate unemployed people reduced to bonded labourers
I pine for the day when more people take advantage of any opportunities available to them to interact with corporatist politicians and their executive funders.
Luigi Mangione did nothing wrong and I hope that more people copycat him when possible.
"These suckers are socially obligated to give me free lemonade if I look like I really need it"
"Fuck you, you can't have my lemons to make lemonade for that slacker, I need my lemons"
"No one wants to provide the materials and do the dangerous work of fixing my roof for free! And now my house will collapse and I'll have nowhere to live..."
One of them lost a roof during some recent storms. He just moved into the neighborhood and no one had his contact info. I found his house listing on zillow, called his realtor and managed to get her to get him home in time to get his pets and documents secure before the next wave of storms hit.
My neighbors next to me are retired, they have an old dog and are struggling with health issues (all 3 of them) neighbor across the street had a falling out with his son, daughter is graduating high school this year. Other neighbor got a new job and a raise, has been working really hard on his yard and put in a nice gazebo and grill. The guys next to him are working on their drag racing VW Bug. The people on his other side are from Pakistan and are starting a food truck business.
Bro has never lived anywhere but buttfuck suburbia and it shows.
Can you explain how/why people in urban or rural areas would behave any different?
Your first comment is exhibiting the isolationist mindset of suburnites while simultaneously marking mutual aid as anathema to your world view. Seems completely captured by capitalism to me.
Your first comment is exhibiting the isolationist mindset of suburnites
Nah, they were just stating the reality. I know you'd like to keep your fantasy about an anarchist utopia intact, but in case you haven't interacted with many people lately, I'll just gently remind you that most people are not that altruistic.
while simultaneously marking mutual aid as anathema to your world view.
They didn't say anything about their personal worldview. Maybe they think that anarchist utopia of yours would be the dream. But they know that it is a dream and nothing more. Acknowledging the prevailing mindset in society and the limitations that mindset places on collectivist social reform is not an expression of personal conviction.
Your first comment is exhibiting the isolationist mindset of suburnites
I don't think you can narrow that general mindset down to suburbanites. People in all kinds of population densities form in-groups and outgroups, it doesn't matter if they are in suburbia, a big city, or out in the country. I lived in Baltimore for a year, and that was probably the most socially isolated I've ever been. The east coast of the US is just a bucket of crabs, everyone trying to climb over everyone else. The people there wouldn't even spit at you for free. My partner grew up in a very rural environment, like "outside city limits, and that city only had one traffic light of the blinking yellow variety" rural. The help they got growing up was from family. They would do odd jobs for neighbors and neighbors would do likewise, but there was always some expectation of barter or compensation for materials and services. They definitely had a concept of private property, and knew their tools, time, and expertise were valuable assets necessary to continue their desired lifestyle.
Please, contrast my experiences with yours. I'd love to hear a first-hand account from someone living in a current anarchist society.
is there a reason the lemonade stand wouldn't set it to the highest price that still sells enough for their workers to be paid so the workers have to work less?
Things weren't great before covid, but during that time the corporations just decided fuck it, gougefest, and we're never going back. Consumers will suffer, and they'll keep buying because they'll have no choice. Win win!
This reads like they're more pissed that products didn't get cheaper, than they are that companies lowered food standards immediately after regulations disappeared.
Remember this anytime some lassaize faire dipshit talks about regulations not being needed because 'the free market regulates itself'.
Same for monopolies. Which now exist in virtually all major industries thanks to deregulation or weakened regs.
I think the point is that the excuse to remove regulations was that they were making it too hard on businesses and increasing costs. So removing the regulations should have made it easier and reduced costs. This line of thinking is obviously insane though as no company has ever reduced prices they've already proven people will pay just for the hell of it.
It's a pretty good analogy for how people are willing to look the other way with respect to environmental protection and workers rights for cheap consumer goods tho.
Yes. That is their job. That's what profit driven means. There's no such thing as an unregulated market. Either the government does it, or the market leader regulates the market to kill competition and maximise profit.
This is incomplete. They maximize profit now. They will always kill the goose that lays golden eggs, they will skin the sheep instead of shearing it, they will destroy a market for the sake of more profits this quarter, and they will be surprised when revolution occurs.
81 replies
I learned a new word recently, Financialization (from Abdul El-Sayed! on YouTube).
It's a term for things businesses do to make line go up that doesn't actually produce anything or make things better. It includes processes that should be illegal such as stock buybacks and private equity.
In the aughts, I lived in San Francisco during the rolling blackouts. Enron, you see, got overvalued, and it borrowed a lot of money based on that value. So when the market started wanting to correct, it engaged in shenanigans (which had something to do with turning off California generators and then forcing California to buy power from Texas at inflated prices) because Enron needed the value, but didn't have it, and was going to crash and its owners were going to get busted for shady dealing.
In the Trump era, we've undone all the laws we made from both the dotcom bubble and the subprime mortgage crisis, and the AI bubble is imminently about to collapse.
That was a really interesting watch! Thanks for sharing the video
Don't forget about the tariffs that we paid for.
The ones that were ruled unconstitutional.
The ones that the companies, who made us pay more to cover the tariffs, got and kept the refunds.
Line must go up, even if planet on fire and everyone dying of diarrhea produce.
The motive for the crime? Easy... Profit motive.
And this is why libertarianism is bullshit.
Libertarians are like cats. They're so confident of their independence, but who cleans their litter box?
We write about "paperclip optimizers" as if they're some future AI problem, but in reality we run them every day to make ends-meet while the people who own them just focus on the compulsion to have more paperclips with no regard for societal consequences.
Modern companies see the paperclip optimizer and say "yeah, these guys are doing it right."
I want everyone to realize that they won’t do it just for a dollar, they will do it for as little as a penny. Yes, that’s right, if you die they won’t care because they got a penny and hundreds of thousands more people lived who will keep buying their shit.
This only ends when we fight back.
They'll enslave you first
Nah, that's why they're heavily invested in AI/robotics... to cut out the worker.. and the humanity, which could be resistant about X.
The sad part is this is literally incentivized to cut every corner you can, because if you don't the other seller is. The free market will solve it guys we just made the FDA for fun, not after 50 years of this problem not being solved - maga, somehow.
those rules are written in blood
And explosive diarrhoea.
"Heehee what rules? In this market you gotta move fast and hurt people!"
--MBAs in 2026 probably
I think with the push for full AI automation this will just get worse as they will try to replace as many humans as possible for profit in every industry and then have these desperate unemployed people reduced to bonded labourers
I pine for the day when more people take advantage of any opportunities available to them to interact with corporatist politicians and their executive funders.
Luigi Mangione did nothing wrong and I hope that more people copycat him when possible.
America is the land of entitlement. People are too selfish to give up their lives for the greater good.
Not only was it nothing wrong it was just and rightouse!
He solved the railroad problem. Pull the lever, and then clear any arguments of bring partially responsible for murdering someone by shooting them.
That's if he actually did it though, which he didn't, because we were hanging out that night stomping spotted lantern flys.
Likewise:
How capitalists think socialism works:
– "My lemonade is set at this price and we make a loss. My boss says I can't criticise that decision."
– "Mine too. I'm not going to improve mine."
How (market) socialism actually works:
– "We have no boss and we use the lowest price that gives all lemonade workers a fair pay."
– "Same."
How capitalists think communism works:
(Same as the socialism one)
How communism actually works:
– "We made lemonade and still have some left."
– "Give whatever is good to those modestly asking for it."
How Capitalists Think Anarchism Works:
“I refuse to do anything”
How Anarchism actually works:
“Let’s use my lemons and your sugar to make some lemonade as someone was asking for some”
How anarchism actually works:
"These suckers are socially obligated to give me free lemonade if I look like I really need it"
"Fuck you, you can't have my lemons to make lemonade for that slacker, I need my lemons"
"No one wants to provide the materials and do the dangerous work of fixing my roof for free! And now my house will collapse and I'll have nowhere to live..."
Bro has never lived anywhere but buttfuck suburbia and it shows. I'd ask how your neighbors are doing but you dont know.
Dont retaliate on broadstrokes with broadstrokes. We get lost in the bushes fighting ourselves while cunts contunue ruling the world
One of them lost a roof during some recent storms. He just moved into the neighborhood and no one had his contact info. I found his house listing on zillow, called his realtor and managed to get her to get him home in time to get his pets and documents secure before the next wave of storms hit.
My neighbors next to me are retired, they have an old dog and are struggling with health issues (all 3 of them) neighbor across the street had a falling out with his son, daughter is graduating high school this year. Other neighbor got a new job and a raise, has been working really hard on his yard and put in a nice gazebo and grill. The guys next to him are working on their drag racing VW Bug. The people on his other side are from Pakistan and are starting a food truck business.
Can you explain how/why people in urban or rural areas would behave any different?
Your first comment is exhibiting the isolationist mindset of suburnites while simultaneously marking mutual aid as anathema to your world view. Seems completely captured by capitalism to me.
Nah, they were just stating the reality. I know you'd like to keep your fantasy about an anarchist utopia intact, but in case you haven't interacted with many people lately, I'll just gently remind you that most people are not that altruistic.
They didn't say anything about their personal worldview. Maybe they think that anarchist utopia of yours would be the dream. But they know that it is a dream and nothing more. Acknowledging the prevailing mindset in society and the limitations that mindset places on collectivist social reform is not an expression of personal conviction.
I don't think you can narrow that general mindset down to suburbanites. People in all kinds of population densities form in-groups and outgroups, it doesn't matter if they are in suburbia, a big city, or out in the country. I lived in Baltimore for a year, and that was probably the most socially isolated I've ever been. The east coast of the US is just a bucket of crabs, everyone trying to climb over everyone else. The people there wouldn't even spit at you for free. My partner grew up in a very rural environment, like "outside city limits, and that city only had one traffic light of the blinking yellow variety" rural. The help they got growing up was from family. They would do odd jobs for neighbors and neighbors would do likewise, but there was always some expectation of barter or compensation for materials and services. They definitely had a concept of private property, and knew their tools, time, and expertise were valuable assets necessary to continue their desired lifestyle.
Please, contrast my experiences with yours. I'd love to hear a first-hand account from someone living in a current anarchist society.
The only way we can work together as a people is through the almighty dollar or Sun God worship. Anything else is ridiculous.
What makes you think people work together even with the threat/promise of those two things?
is there a reason the lemonade stand wouldn't set it to the highest price that still sells enough for their workers to be paid so the workers have to work less?
"Their" workers? The business belongs to them, not the other way around.
Definitely busts the myth that more regulation leads to higher prices.
You would think, but when those regulations come BACK and they crank the prices because of it, it's just going to reinforce the myth for those idiots.
Plus the propaganda machine will juat start feeding the Idiot Cult that "See, The RaDiCaL lEfT raises prices!" to prime then for next election.
No it doesn't.
"Failed system"
Works exactly as designed
shrug
Nobody designed it. There's no purpose to it. It still failed.
Yes, they will. Our relationship with business is to survive their attempts to kill us. The wealthy are always at war with the rest of us.
Things weren't great before covid, but during that time the corporations just decided fuck it, gougefest, and we're never going back. Consumers will suffer, and they'll keep buying because they'll have no choice. Win win!
that’s because they’re looting. everyone knows the jig is up, so it’s a smash-and-grab.
This reads like they're more pissed that products didn't get cheaper, than they are that companies lowered food standards immediately after regulations disappeared.
Remember this anytime some lassaize faire dipshit talks about regulations not being needed because 'the free market regulates itself'.
Same for monopolies. Which now exist in virtually all major industries thanks to deregulation or weakened regs.
I think the point is that the excuse to remove regulations was that they were making it too hard on businesses and increasing costs. So removing the regulations should have made it easier and reduced costs. This line of thinking is obviously insane though as no company has ever reduced prices they've already proven people will pay just for the hell of it.
It's a pretty good analogy for how people are willing to look the other way with respect to environmental protection and workers rights for cheap consumer goods tho.
The corporations were cutting corners with food production long before, it's just easier to do now.
The reason why those rules existed because companies where doing exactly that.
Yes. That is their job. That's what profit driven means. There's no such thing as an unregulated market. Either the government does it, or the market leader regulates the market to kill competition and maximise profit.
This is incomplete. They maximize profit now. They will always kill the goose that lays golden eggs, they will skin the sheep instead of shearing it, they will destroy a market for the sake of more profits this quarter, and they will be surprised when revolution occurs.
I sure hope you mean this to say the "market" is bad, actually.
And then have nothing to spend it on, but they did their goal, like a mindless AI drone.
The regulations were removed because corporations wanted to cut corners and increase profits.
Tax wealth, not work.
Capitalists gonna capitalist
J Wellington Wimpys.
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