Ya know what was a foundational part of the American dream? Pensions. Ya know which employers still offer them? Counties, states and the federal government.
Private companies exist solely to make the people at the top very rich based on the stolen value of employee labor while dumping catastrophic losses in the public sphere. That's capitalism in a nutshell.
You'd have to be unbelievably gullible, naive, traumatized AND brainwashed to be a diehard for a system like that. But, somehow they've managed it. A deluded nation of Amway top performers just one move away from making their own imaginary millions. All simping for the system.
Yesterday an American accidentally admitted that they tip their landlord. It was at that point I said to myself “man you fuckers deserve to suffer under whatever republican you end up voting for next election because we all know that’s what you dumb ass motherfuckers are going to do”
Boy does this ring true. I worked for years for a giant multinational publisher and one of their biggest sources of income was taking government money for educational stuff for schools and turning that money into absolutely no useful products while making sure no opportunity to hire another middle manager was overlooked.
Among the other suggestions people have made in this thread, I’d like to add that just covering something and allowing the food to steam-heat makes a big difference. For instance I will usually poke a well in the middle of leftovers, put a tiny bit of water in (especially with rice, which dries out) and cover it with a plate. The water boils and heats it much better.
The USSR was amazing to live under, especially when you compare it to what it has become after the fact. People forget that Tsarist Russia was a cosmological shithole where your only joy was taking to the vodka. It’s easy to compare a fledgling nation that not even a decade ago was living in absolute squalor with one that just came off the heels of a massive genocide where they took everything for themselves and say one is better than the other, but if you put the two on even footing it’s not even a question which one you’d rather live under.
In fact, you’re going to see that as America starts to fall behind after their colossal head start that even you yourself are going to wish things were done differently, because as fun as eating your own shit is because you can’t get food (yes, this actually happened) that’s no way to live.
The USSR may have been amazing depending on what things you value in life. As far as I understand, the only thing that was in abundance is stability, which is not the only thing needed for an amazing life, as far as I am concerned.
Also, the image of USSR in pop culture seems to have improved a lot and is now much better than the real thing had ever been, but that’s just marketing bullshit
When you actually look at what it was not through the lens of cold war propaganda it does seem like a pretty nice place. Not to say the place was perfect but for what it was they did a really good job with what they had.
EDIT: and Russia just voted to classify homosexuality as “extremism” a perfect example of just how much going capitalist has fucked them up.
Looks at how Canadian ISPs led the world in early internet technology then once privatized, ignored it and allowed Nortel to be infiltrated and shut down by CCP spies, allowing then to steal 5G technology.
Hell, in Vancouver you have the private Canada /RAV line, and the public Skytrain line. One was built in the 1980s and isn't at capacity yet and the private one was finished in 2008 and is already over capacity.
Yeah there really is 0 comparison between public and private.
BC Ferries are so nice to ride on. Feels like a mini cruise. Canadian ISPs / mobile providers really do suck ass, makes the American ones look good some how.
Where I live they have semi-privatized utilities and it’s funny because unlike the fully private company they’ll actually do their job, but then they’ll make record profits and their directors will spend it all doing lines of coke. It’s most noticeable when you compare the lines of the private company to the semi-private one, and one will be overgrown and decrepit while the other will be completely spotless.
We also have a fully public utility and you wouldn’t even notice because the prices are dirt cheap and the infrastructure is taken care of. The only difference between public and private ownership is how much of your money goes into maintenance instead of up the board’s nose.
Because I dont want the most vulnerable folks in our society to just fuxking die. People have chronic conditions that require daily medical care that would not be available for the vast majority of folks in an anarcho capitalist society, if they were available at all. I used to love fantasizing about zombie apocalypses and the fall of society myself, untll i realized my partner who is a Type 1 Diabetic probably wouldnt live long in that future. Wanting an anarcho capitalist future is the highest indicator that you live a life of extreme privilege and dont care about fellow human beings.
Okay, fair enough, and I am by no means intending to criticize you for your kindheartedness here, but that’s literally the opposite of economic theory, which concerns itself primarily with achieving the maximum output possible given a certain input.
Also, consider that this does not mean that it is therefore by nature entirely inhuman and incompatible with caring about people, but rather that the ability to achieve a high productivity is required in order to have an excess of resources than can be used to care for those who cannot care for themselves.
If you think about it, this is in fact essential to maintain human life. Children for instance always require more resources than they can produce, so parents have to be able to produce more than they need for themselves if they want their children to survive. Same goes for society as a whole — the productive members have to be able to produce an excess or the unproductive (weak, sick, or old) will starve.
I made a number of well-reasoned and coherent arguments, to which responded with flippant one liners.
You’re free to convince me that I misjudged you by actually making an argument, but I’m afraid your childish insults aren’t going to change my mind anytime soon.
So you are saying we will produce in excess and give all of the excess to people who can’t produce (children, weak, sick, old…) So from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs?
I’ve started giving 1 star review for anyplace that does this. Especially if before I’ve even received my food. Please join me… They use shame and guilt as a weapon. We can also
They are better at maximizing profits at the expense of the employees, benefits, wages, local taxes and infrastructure. They work for the shareholders. They shovel money to the top few percent of the company. That’s what we call “efficiency”.
The government does not profit. They government pays standard government wages along with union wages and benefits. They maintain infrastructure. They are only as efficient as contracts allow.
Corporations do not have the same goals as government. One seeks to extract maximum profits for the few at the expense of the many, the other seeks to return to the many as much as is feasible in societal good - schools, roads, power, water, etc. at no profit.
It’s hard to believe that anyone with the mental capacity to lift a spoon to their mouth would vote for the right (who are solely responsible for mass privatisation in Australia anyway, im assuming it’s the same elsewhere).
Corporations do not have the same goals as government. One seeks to extract maximum profits for the few at the expense of the many, the other seeks to return to the many as much as is feasible in societal good - schools, roads, power, water, etc. at no profit.
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