Fuck that defeatist bullshit!
Of the top 10 largest protests in US history, two have happened this year, and they were both largely in response to Trump.
Movements are being built, organization is happening, people are pissed. Excuse us for not jumping straight to violence without a plan like the J6ers.
God. The “Americans Bad” circlejerk on Lemmy is so lame.
I think you’re exactly right.
A few years ago, we saw a huge amount of mobilization for George Floyd. People fighting cops and winning.
After that, we saw a submarine full of billionaires implode & people cheered.
Recently, a health insurance CEO was shot to death in the street, and people rallied around the shooter as a hero.
Trump has been a uniquely effective vehicle for the ownership class to launch bullshit distractions at a population of Americans who are showing signs of class consciousness. Keep 40 or 50% of people mad at trans people and immigrants and DEI, and the rest busy trying to minimize the damage being done. Motherfucker said Haitian immigrants were eating cats and dogs in a presidential debate, and people somehow still take him seriously.
But he’s not long for this world. Dennis Prager has all the charisma of a bad case of trench foot. Rupert Murdoch is ancient, we’re already down a Koch brother, everything Elon Musk touches turns to shit, and I’m crossing my fingers that all the HGH gives Peter Thiel a heart attack.
The ownership class has got to make hay while the sun shines. Things are primed to turn around on them quickly.
Look at that dip right before 2020! Wonder why America dipped so much lower. Surely, face-masks as a way to prevent the spread of infectious disease wasn’t suddenly a controversial issue!
He also decided to kill thousands of low-level criminals instead of like ten rich people.
Imagine one day a mega-billionaire has a fatal heart attack. Found in his possession is the name of another mega-billionaire, scrawled onto whatever was near them in their own blood.
The next day, that billionaire drops dead. Another heart attack, another name found near the body. Rinse and repeat.
Eventually, one gets smart. Publicly pledges to give away their entire fortune and take an oath of poverty the day their name is found. The reaper skips him, and the message is sent: if you’re ultra wealthy and want to live, stop being ultra wealthy.
Sure, it may not be foolproof: there’s probably a lot of super rich people whose identities are more or less private. Maybe one of them can pull a fast one & hide their wealth rather than give it away. But still, it’d probably be more effective than what Light did with less killing to boot.
Jesus Christ, yes, I am a comfort hunter. You think I get up at the ass crack of dawn every day for fun? You think I want to push buttons on a computer all day because I’m just weirdly into it?
No! I do this shit because I have to!
Fucking hell. I’ve already accepted that I have to make your company money if I want to live in a house. For the love of all that is good in this world, PLEASE do not make me pretend to like it. I’m already weirded out that you’re so into it.
Folks. Publicly traded companies will ALWAYS compare the expected value of breaking the law with compliance.
Say it costs $100 million to follow the law. Breaking it comes with a $300 million fine, but only a 20% chance of getting caught.
They compare a 100% chance of paying $100 million to a 20% chance of paying $300 million.
Average cost of following the law: $100 million
Average cost of breaking it: $60 million
If we’re gonna do capitalism (which I would rather we not, for the record!), we have to make that expected value calculation break in favor of following regulations. If it is cheaper to break the law than to follow it, you’re not just losing money by complying: you’re giving ground to your competition. Fines need to be massive. Infractions need to get caught and punished. Executives need to be held personally accountable. Corporations need to be dissolved. Fines cannot be just the cost of doing business.