Economy The Capitalism Crumble

[aerius]

You're assuming there will still be a Constitution

Well, if it gets that bad it's time to go full Luigi Mangione.

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

It was pretty interesting to see that Infographics was pretty much thinking along these same lines:

this sounds very negative. would love to hear a critique of it, but i can't really offer one.

 

[Sinister]

this sounds very negative. would love to hear a critique of it, but i can't really offer one.

"Obviously the US did Capitalism wrong. Blame the Government, not the people paying the Government as if they are employees."

There, that should about cover it.

 

[Sinister]

This is a good video about why FDR is still so relevant in American politics as a turning point which set in motion things still effecting us now. And the Powell Memo is also discussed as the moment the Class War was declared:



Its interesting to actually see and hear some of the elitist propaganda put forth by the Capitalists. But man did I not know about Smedley Butler and the direct attempt at a fascist coup where they werent covert about calling it that, but General Butler ended up ratting them out:



Why isnt the tale of this American Hero and ANTIFA O.G. told in US schooling? The guy who curtailed fascism right here at home! Smedley, the absolute legend:

 

[helltoupee]

Was watching this MPU video about Starbucks earlier:



So essentially Starbucks turned to treating employees and customers like sh*t in every way and making stores less welcoming, while at the same time charging more for everything.

Sounds like a recipe for success for a company once known for being pleasant community places where spending money wasnt a requirement to exist in the space.

I have a funny little anecdote about Starbucks.

I live in Ocean Beach, which is a little community in San Diego on the beach. It's kind of a peninsula, with basically one road in, and it's a sleepy little beach community with a bunch of ex-hippies, surfers, skateboarders, etc.

Starbucks wanted to open a branch in Ocean Beach and the people raised a ruckus, not wanting them to waltz in and take business away from mom-an-pop shops. Initially, they were barred from opening a branch here, but insisted by finagling something with the town council. Indeed, Starbucks opened a branch in Ocean Beach, the big bad egotistical capitalists that they are.

Well, less than a year later the place was all boarded up and closed down because nobody patronized them. Literally nobody. The funny part was there would be a long line at a coffee shop owned by a Vietnamese family that was directly across the street, and Starbucks would be dead empty.

 

[LeonardoBjj]

That tends to happen across lots of businesses . Build up customer loyalty with good service and products, then start scaling back hoping the customers are too loyal to care.

- And sell to profit. Used to be common with gyms, restaurants and gas-stations, dont know how thats works now.

 

[Sinister]

I have a funny little anecdote about Starbucks.

I live in Ocean Beach, which is a little community in San Diego on the beach. It's kind of a peninsula, with basically one road in, and it's a sleepy little beach community with a bunch of ex-hippies, surfers, skateboarders, etc.

Starbucks wanted to open a branch in Ocean Beach and the people raised a ruckus, not wanting them to waltz in and take business away from mom-an-pop shops. Initially, they were barred from opening a branch here, but insisted by finagling something with the town council. Indeed, Starbucks opened a branch in Ocean Beach, the big bad egotistical capitalists that they are.

Well, less than a year later the place was all boarded up and closed down because nobody patronized them. Literally nobody. The funny part was there would be a long line at a coffee shop owned by a Vietnamese family that was directly across the street, and Starbucks would be dead empty.

Starbucks are so overpowered now despite declining sales, but here in Vegas almost any of the Etheopian shops have FAR better coffee and I'm not even a coffee drinker. My wife is and she inspects them. She has yet to encounter one yet, no matter how run-down or troubled, whose coffee tastes worse than Starsucks.

 

[Sinister]

- And sell to profit. Used to be common with gyms, restaurants and gas-stations, dont know how thats works now.

Man I havent even gotten into the role of private equity in all this. But Company Man is an excellent channel to see how businesses fail, especially nostalgic ones. The moment you hear "they were then bought by a private equity firm"...sh*t is over:

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Man I havent even gotten into the role of private equity in all this. But Company Man is an excellent channel to see how businesses fail, especially nostalgic ones. The moment you hear "they were then bought by a private equity firm"...sh*t is over:

- It's used to be a pretty comon thing decades ago, before this fitness boom. You know that well, you've been inside that market for decades. Build a clientele and hope to sell and make a profit, people that bought said business(gym) usually seen their crumble. I will give a look at this channel

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Starbucks are so overpowered now despite declining sales, but here in Vegas almost any of the Etheopian shops have FAR better coffee and I'm not even a coffee drinker. My wife is and she inspects them. She has yet to encounter one yet, no matter how run-down or troubled, whose coffee tastes worse than Starsucks.

- They opened a Starbucks here. I think two years ago, i like coffe, but when i make the coffe, never been the type of person to go out and buy.Maybe will do that and see if theres any diference.

 

[Sinister]

- They opened a Starbucks here. I think two years ago, i like coffe, but when i make the coffe, never been the type of person to go out and buy.Maybe will do that and see if theres any diference.

There was an old thread in the D&S section here. Poster named Terumo who was a biochemist doing an experiment of trying their most highly caffeinated coffee. It was pretty hilarious, he said something about wanting to get the taste or burnt hair out of his mouth.

Starbucks' claim to fame isnt good coffee, it's the ability to turn your coffee into ice cream

 

[LMP]

What we have seen is that both parties are controlled by neo liberal economic policies imo. They are bend the knees to the wealthy in thus country. We have continued to elect people that are bound to their donors. The sole goal to be to allow those with the most capital to continue to hoard it. Capitalism needs safety nets and rules or else it will fail. What has happened for a long time in this countries is we have worshipped corporations and allowed them to spread the idea that we need them to exist. For a healthy economy we need more wealth in more hands.

Wealthy have gotten a ridiculous amounts of tax breaks. These get property tax breaks when they promise to build. They claim we will have more jobs, yet they take the money out of the communities, pushing it upwards. Paying low wages. Take a company like Wal-Mart. They come in offer lower prices and make it harder for a small shop to operate. They also signed large contracts with American manufacturers then pulled the rug out when those manufacturers geared up to serve them. This meant that they were dropping customers to meet Wal-Marts demands, then when those manufacturers were beholden to Walmart they wanted to tell manufacturers they wouldn't pay the previous agreed on prices any longer. Manufacturers either shipped jobs out or shut down.

This was a net negative for the economy. Many of our higher pay low skilled jobs were lost in the 90s and 00s because of similar practices across the board. On top of this you have venture capitalist buying companies then stripping them of assets and taking loan against the companies. They didn't worry if those previous profitable companies failed or not.

In rural areas you see similar affects with how corporate farming drove uo land prices and drive small businesses out of the market. They hired machanics for far less than taking it to the repair shops in the small towns. Hired welders brought immigrant workers in and paid less. The wealth piles up in fewer hands and doesn't get reinvested in to the communities. Smaller farmers can't compete in expansion of their operations and they use their buying power to price the small farmers out. Large corporate farms eat up the subsidies that many small farmers relied on. Even snaps is a farm subsidy aimed at keeping farmers able to sell their goods.

Until everyone stops fighting over stupid shit the ultra wealthy will continue to buy up everything leaving the rest of us with nothing. They don't really reinvest in the economy, they simply move money around between themselves while the rest of us become slaves. We will own nothing, do you like that yet?