@pluralistic
This classic Ed Zitron article will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about how corrupt CEOs advance their corporate juggernauts by any means they can get away with.
You'll also find out why NVIDIA's strange growth strategies are curiously reminding people of such historic market disasters as Lucent, WorldCom, and Enron.
In ironically saying that NVIDIA is NOT Enron, Sitron made ME think that that's only because the scale of the financial stakes are much higher today -- and, potentially more devastating.
Also the US currently has a regime that is all-in on making as much as they can off this scam before the bubble bursts.
Trust me, a lot of speculators are already shorting Ai stocks as fast as they can -- knowing that the party is about to come screeching to a halt.
Slightly off-topic side note: Trump is about to achieve a trifecta: crashing the US government and with it the economy, causing a stock market crash that will make Hoover's look minor by comparison, and destabilizing the world order leading to multiple new wars.
#NVIDIA #Ai #JensenHuang #EdZitron #USPolitics #Capitalism

This is why I believe in anarchism ✊ #anarchism #socialism #capitalism #anticapitalism #EatTheRich #FeedThePoor #acab #AllCopsAreBastards #activism #antifascism #antifa #equity #equality

Boot licking as a kink thing: hot, sexually gratifying, impressive

Boot licking as a corporate support thing: bad bad bad bad bad

#capitalism

Imagine a world so fascist that you are told that unless you are flogging your body to its limits in acts of commercial worth then you are a useless non-being.

Oh wait. You live in that world.

Decolonise your mind. And your neighbour's too.

#politics #capitalism #fascism #anarchy

One problem with #capitalism, especially around publicly-traded companies, is that there is really nothing that prevents a group of rich people from buying up a popular company, saddling it with debt to the purchaser’s company, then bleeding it dry of cash, slowly ruining its products, and then selling the corpse for parts. This often nets the buyer a tidy profit, but leaves employees without a job, and customers without a product they love.

What possible countervailing force exists in a capitalist system to stop this? Absolutely nothing. Everything is above-the-table legal. All buyers need is enough money to purchase the company outright. Then squeeze, profit, discard.

Capitalism assumes people will try to profit by providing goods and services that customers are willing to buy for a premium. This assumption is often used to justify the glorification of capitalism, but this assumption is obviously false. The greatest profiteers in capitalism are “financial engineers” that produce nothing of actual value.

Today's mood #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #Fascism #AIHype

The value of mutual aid seems to be misunderstood. It’s meaningful because it levels the playing field and segregates our needs from the capitalism machine.

I believe in mutual aid. I don’t trust wealthy people or government systems to inherently take care of people. We need to take care of each other. Good, healthy mutual aid is a beautiful thing. This is the way.

(Image is from an old Black Panther zine.)

#MutualAid #Community #Capitalism #Socialism

@pluralistic
This classic Ed Zitron article will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about how corrupt CEOs advance their corporate juggernauts by any means they can get away with.
You'll also find out why NVIDIA's strange growth strategies are curiously reminding people of such historic market disasters as Lucent, WorldCom, and Enron.
In ironically saying that NVIDIA is NOT Enron, Sitron made ME think that that's only because the scale of the financial stakes are much higher today -- and, potentially more devastating.
Also the US currently has a regime that is all-in on making as much as they can off this scam before the bubble bursts.
Trust me, a lot of speculators are already shorting Ai stocks as fast as they can -- knowing that the party is about to come screeching to a halt.
Slightly off-topic side note: Trump is about to achieve a trifecta: crashing the US government and with it the economy, causing a stock market crash that will make Hoover's look minor by comparison, and destabilizing the world order leading to multiple new wars.
#NVIDIA #Ai #JensenHuang #EdZitron #USPolitics #Capitalism

This is why I believe in anarchism ✊ #anarchism #socialism #capitalism #anticapitalism #EatTheRich #FeedThePoor #acab #AllCopsAreBastards #activism #antifascism #antifa #equity #equality

Imagine a world so fascist that you are told that unless you are flogging your body to its limits in acts of commercial worth then you are a useless non-being.

Oh wait. You live in that world.

Decolonise your mind. And your neighbour's too.

#politics #capitalism #fascism #anarchy

Today's mood #ClimateEmergency #Capitalism #Fascism #AIHype

One problem with #capitalism, especially around publicly-traded companies, is that there is really nothing that prevents a group of rich people from buying up a popular company, saddling it with debt to the purchaser’s company, then bleeding it dry of cash, slowly ruining its products, and then selling the corpse for parts. This often nets the buyer a tidy profit, but leaves employees without a job, and customers without a product they love.

What possible countervailing force exists in a capitalist system to stop this? Absolutely nothing. Everything is above-the-table legal. All buyers need is enough money to purchase the company outright. Then squeeze, profit, discard.

Capitalism assumes people will try to profit by providing goods and services that customers are willing to buy for a premium. This assumption is often used to justify the glorification of capitalism, but this assumption is obviously false. The greatest profiteers in capitalism are “financial engineers” that produce nothing of actual value.

If the global order continues on its current trajectory, future history books might look back at this moment, an aging superpower governed by a democratically elected president surrounded by tech oligarchs, as a symbolic ending to the era of US dominance.

It’s hard to imagine a clearer display of our systemic failure.

#USPol #USA #China #Capitalism

Expensive repairs are making it impossible for people to maintain the vehicles they already own. Simple fixes that used to take minutes now cost thousands or force you back to the dealer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S45rLuY48w4

#capitalism #economy #usa

AI is exposing the deep absurdity of late capitalism. Much of the economy in the West consists of what Graeber called bullshit jobs which are roles that even people performing them struggle to justify. I’d argue these types of jobs are uniquely vulnerable to replacement by AI.

🧵 1/4

#ai #technology #economy #capitalism

https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/a-complete-guide-to-quitting-spotify

How to quit Spotify: a guide from Brian Merchant.

He's gone with Qobuz, a platform that I'm also running with. I'd love to try Coda, as they claim to give artists the most money; I've listed my favourite music-streaming platforms on a page: https://garden.pivic.com/music/music-streaming-platforms - please let me know if I've missed a good platform that treats musicians like human beings.

While places like Spotify and Tidal are overrun by AI slop, Qobuz feels *clean*.

#BrianMerchant #spotify #BrokenRecord #Björk #Qobuz #capitalism #greed #DanielEk

A lot of people are resistant to any kind of business uses for the #Fediverse , but consider this:

- While most of us here are rightfully scornful of #Capitalism , the notion of a "market economy" is not going to go away. There are innumerable small to midsized businesses in the world who _aren't_ like the Capitalists we know and loathe - they haven't established any monopolies, they haven't managed regulatory capture, and they are oppressed by Big Tech just as much as ordinary people are.

- For many such businesses, maybe even the majority, a #Facebook Business Page is more important than a website, and thus many such small businesses _only_ have a Facebook Business Page, since it is far easier to set up than hosting your own website on your own domain, it is easier for your customers to find you there (because #GoogleSucks ), and it is easier for you to interact with your customers as well.

I think it would be very worthwhile if the Fediverse would develop an alternative to Facebook Business Pages for such businesses.

A good example for an industry that could benefit from such "Fediverse Business Pages" would be the #TTRPG industry. While some gamers might whine that "RPG books cost too much these days!", the reality is that this is an industry that has razor-thin margins, and only the very biggest TTRPG companies have employees that number more than in the single digits. Every business decision they have to make must involve the question:

"Is this worth the effort?"

Well, if there _was_ a Fediverse Business Page system that was either easy to self-host, or easy to join on larger instances, and which had a similar design to Facebook Business Pages, then there wouldn't be much effort involved in adding the same material to the former if they already maintained the latter. And as #Meta declines, the Fediverse could gradually take its place.

What would such a Fediverse Business Page require? It would need an ActivityPub-enabled feed, of course. It would need a configurable link list that would point towards their product pages or sales platforms, as well as space for all the usual business information. And it would require a robust scheduling system with a calendar view (I used the one provided by Meta for a time, and I think it is possible to do better).

Did I miss any important features?

Oh, and the same system would work well for non-business organizations as well - whether clubs, NGOs, or even political parties!