U.S. Politics

altcunningham said:
Theres the schadenfreude part that says to enjoy what you're reaping .
Click to expand...
I feel like I've gotten to the point where even the schadenfreude isn't doing it for me anymore. At this point I'm just largely keeping my head down and trying to only open the pain box (any news feed) once a day. Even that's probably too much. I've been tanking through so much personal stress outside of the politics stuff that the volume on everything else just seems muted (which I know is one of many signs of depression).
 
JakeEkiss said:
I feel like I've gotten to the point where even the schadenfreude isn't doing it for me anymore. At this point I'm just largely keeping my head down and trying to only open the pain box (any news feed) once a day. Even that's probably too much. I've been tanking through so much personal stress outside of the politics stuff that the volume on everything else just seems muted (which I know is one of many signs of depression).
Click to expand...
I hear you on all of that. Going through my own long dark night the past few weeks.
 
Very much in the taking care of myself and my circle, and only working on things that I can control stage.

Your whole talk about what you bring to everything with non-violence and everything, a lot of my activist friends are calling on me just to make art and be the artist because people need the distraction. But I'm hoping I can become a masked vigilante at some point.
 
altcunningham said:
But I'm hoping I can become a masked vigilante at some point.
Click to expand...
The only part of aging that I've liked is I have a little grey patch/streak in my hair that is *exactly* the kind of bullshit a 90's era mutant would have and let me tell you if I discover I've got secret mind powers there's gonna be some people in a million pieces the very next day. I will blast them into little glowy bits.
 
docsilence said:
If Amazon lays off 30,000 people BEFORE the holidays, that's not "AI efficiencies," that's a fucking recession alarm bell, yeah? I cannot wrap my brain around why these fucking oligarchs are so determined to rule over a barren wasteland of a world. They're crashing the economy out of spite. Or stupidity.
Click to expand...
Well first look at Russia. The oligarchs there know where their bread is buttered (and their safety). So they stay in line. Something similar is happening in the US.

Second they are actually beholden to the shareholders to try and maintain, and increase, share value. That leads to short term thinking and actions (sounds like politics right?). It is all about how are we doing now and next quarter. Who cares about a year from now, or how your (former) employees are doing. That is the governments problem. (Actually it is their problem to, but....)

Third the US versions of oligarchs are lording over infinitely larger companies than most other countries. With an international reach few people have in this world (even superpower leaders). So they can pull this kind of bullshit and it is just part of doing business while spreading the pain over a wider area. The scary part is that 30,000 is only 2% of Amazon's workforce. That is a huge number of employees they can hold hostage over different jurisdictions. Hell they closed all operations in Quebec after they successfully unionized because they knew they wouldn't get punished by the public, and they could shift operations to compensate. They are currently opening their third warehouse in Ottawa (across the river from Quebec). That doesn't even consider all the social media/IT companies with offices around the world and no "physical" products to sell. They have huge reach and as such the CEOs wield a lot of influence.

Finally it is just ego. They all think they are the smartest person in the room and that their success was because of them and not in spite of them. So they don't consider that they could ever make mistakes or that things could turn on a dime. That is for other people, not them. They are the exception, not the rule of companies that come and go over the decades.
 
canprime said:
Finally it is just ego. They all think they are the smartest person in the room and that their success was because of them and not in spite of them. So they don't consider that they could ever make mistakes or that things could turn on a dime. That is for other people, not them. They are the exception, not the rule of companies that come and go over the decades.
Click to expand...
The most stark example of this sort of thinking is in the court filings for the Titan sub. That guy was so high on his own supply it was absurd. I really do think that a certain amount of wealth is basically brain damage. Your interaction with reality becomes so warped that you not only don't care about what's true anymore, you couldn't figure it out with a gun to your head.
 
I have a good friend who is loaded thanks to inheritance. They invest to keep it growing and don't work at all. (Could even put them in our Adults Who Can't Function thread.). But they do charity and help people out with their money and are a great human being. Thankfully they have empathy and are doing their part right now.

That said, they live in a bubble. Take out every meal every day. Groceries delivered. Uber XL anywhere. All of our hobbies are just Value Menu impulse buys to them. And it shows when you express any stressors or hardship with money. "Just throw money at it, here have some to throw." Just every decision that we weigh even if it's just getting lunch and how that might impact whatever your plans are for the week, it's a non-issue to them and you can absolutely see it change how they approach life when they have an infinite resource.

There was also that study about Monopoly. Even in a fictional scenario, once you have property and control the money, something switches in people.
 
altcunningham said:
I have a good friend who is loaded thanks to inheritance. They invest to keep it growing and don't work at all. (Could even put them in our Adults Who Can't Function thread.). But they do charity and help people out with their money and are a great human being. Thankfully they have empathy and are doing their part right now.
Click to expand...
And I bet by loaded we're still talking 7-8 figures. Hell, even 100mil, compared to these folks, is poor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top