The purposeful degradation of repair.
Here in Sweden we currently have the problem that hospitals are understaffed and keeping wages of nurses so low that a lot of nurses quit and leave the others with an even crazier workload so the hospitals buy nurses semi permanently from temp agencies that cost multiple times more and the rental nurses have better pay and agreements of overtime and such. We had a well functioning health care but then the privatisation of everything and selling out communally owned services to private profit making schemes since the 90s. Because our government has been dominated by right wing market liberals and "sossehöger" - social democrats that jump on right wing populism to stay in power when they can rather than being consistent in left wing ideals.
Fucking end the market liberal experiment already. "The market solves all problems" - yeah, of it's own interest which is how to squeeze out more profits regardless the how and how low it stoops.
Damn, I didn't know America was contagious...
It's been the strategy of the right wing here since forever - get in power sell out as much they can (and for some unfathomable reason for discount prices), fuck things up in general, leave it to a left wing government to salvage what can be saved while blaming them for public service being garbage so they can motivate selling out more when they have power again. It's a mix of blind idealists and profiteering scum that are in liaison with the right wing nationalist party with former nazi connections and obviously the Christian democrat leader that models the party according to the republicans is the most buddy-buddy with the fringe right.
And the populist right wing of course romanticises about the good days when everyone had housing and was safe and provided and so on - that was built solely by the left and the right wing fought them every step of the way and that they have since then torn down. Blatant lies and disinformation all the way.
But it is what people vote for. We get the societal break down we deserve.
Thats fucking sad
Recently?
How a lawyer in America got jailed for legally fighting against(and defeating) an American multi-national oil company that polluted the Amazon and more importantly harmed the lives and health of the locals with the pollution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OtIAZMqrZE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Donziger
Donziger’s story is heartbreaking and infuriating, and I’m continually disappointed that so few people are familiar with his story and what the courts did to him. It’s one of the clearest examples of judicial corruption and the power and benefits that are afforded to corporations and almost never extended to the people fighting for what’s right and just.
You can finance a pizza
Ugh I dunno if I just noticed it but the spread of "only x small payments!" financing for the smallest purchases can't be a good sign
My boss once said to a group of new joinees including me," Eventually you will be able to afford subscription to all the streaming services."
Well, that was a lie.
That person who was in a car that ended up crossing three lanes, hitting a pole and then hitting a tree. They declined an ambulance because they were scared of the ambulance bill - then got a bill for $150 for refusing the ambulance. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I cannot find the exact quote but it was something like "If you don't grow, you're dying". This is the source of all enshittification. Companies are being forced by VCs to increase revenue every year to meet unreasonable revenue goals just to satisfy a handful of investors.
Microloans, also called microfinances. Very popular in developing countries in South Asia, and also the same thing that is responsible for the suicide epidemic of farmers in India. With high interest rates and fixed time-period constraints, they're the most cruel and fucked up things to ever exist, they're worse than indentured serfdom.
Sounds like 'pay day loans' in the US.
Back in the day, a loan shark was a criminal who charged an outrageous 20% interest for money. Working class folks were at the mercy of these "six-for-fivers."
Ronald Reagan became President and now established banks could charge 35% or more.
(Looks at my credit cards)
Yall got any more of that 20% interest?
Yeah, a factory worker would get $5 and pay back $6 the next week. That was a terrible crime. Then Reagan deregulated the banks and it became business as usual.
To be fair, usury is much older plague than capitalism, but it's been one of capitalism roots, and capitalism cranked it up incredibly.
I'd like to add that there are good versions of "microloans"! I learned that there used to be (or still are, didn't check) non-profit " banks" in some parts of India (and South africa I think) that would give out small loans of a few dollars to a few hundred dollars (which can be quite a lot of money in India). There was no collateral and low interest, but a group of people had to apply for a loan together. Until the first loan was paid back, the rest of the group couldn't apply again. It was meant to provide financial backing and capital to microbusinesses (e.g. fishers, farmers, peddlers) that would otherwise be excluded from the financial market due to a lack of collateral and otherwise be forced to take high-interest loans.
Health Insurance that covers next to nothing but costs a fortune anyway.
☝️ recently got a covid test that based on all my research beforehand, it should have been covered except for $10 I would pay.
Jokes on me, it actually cost me $200 they charged to my credit card two weeks later. I didn't even get to know the price at the time I needed medical care.
Sometimes other countries make fun of America for things they don't understand. Not on this one, America deserves every bit of mocking it gets for it's medical coverage atrocity.
You can get free rapid covid test kits from the US government with a valid mailing address.
It's a developing country. You will catch up.
Also we guys in western Europe are happy we are not ruled by Russia or China, and that's because of the USA I think.
I kind of like the US culture, but it's ridiculous how they treat human beings when money and power is on the line.
A lateral flow test or something using a lab?
Must be a lab test as lateral flow is like £2:
https://www.boots.com/flowflex-antigen-rapid-test-lateral-flow-self-testing-kit-1-test-10312288
Or $7 in Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Flowflex-Covid-19-Antigen-Home-Test-1-Test/837992467?classType=VARIANT&athbdg=L1200
Americans stupidity is another one that they get correct but there’s plenty of things to laugh about America as there is to laugh about 3rd world countries.
“Vote with your wallet” means more money gets you more votes.
Some users leaving Reddit/instagram/twitter is not a problem, especially considering network effects, but some advertisers leaving is a crisis.
I think you misinterpreted the phrase. "Vote with your wallet" means that if you're unhappy with a product/service, you stop using/paying for it.
“Vote with your wallet” means more money gets you more votes.
This is the basic idea of capitalism. The more capital you have, the more say you have in directing the meas of production.
Some people have so much capital, they can singlehandedly decide that thousands of people are going to work on some space launch company, for example.
So long as the capital markets were willing to continue funding loss-making future monopolists, your neighbors were going to make the choice to shop "the wrong way." As small, local businesses lost those customers, the costs they had to charge to make up the difference would go up, making it harder and harder for you to afford to shop "the right way."
https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/12/give-me-convenience/
Food for your thought.
Again, I think you are misinterpreting the phrase. The quote you provided proves it. If you're not happy about the "right way" of buying things you can buy elsewhere, aka "vote with a wallet". The phrase means that you pay for a product/service you are comfortable with. For example, if Amazon offers a great deal on something you'd like like to buy and the price is, let's say, 30% lower than a regular retail price, voting with a wallet would mean that you ignore the Amazon's deal and buy directly from a merchant.
Are you purposefully missing the point? If the greater market is uninformed and buying inferior offering; soon that is all that will be available.
Your mom always expects me to leave money on the dresser in the morning.
Some random company that sells fruits overthrowing another country's government; it's so ludicrous I'd say it's too silly to be the plot of a serious movie and like no no, actually this ludicrous story is actually real.
Charging money for supplies after people had there whole lives uprooted by a natural disaster. Cough cough hurricane helene
Don't forget cops and military protecting stores in disaster zones, full of supplies that will wind up getting paid for by insurance anyway and will go bad before the store reopens.
I once read that there are some states in the U.S. where firefighters don't put out fires in houses that don't pay a monthly subscription.
I live in an area with a subscription fire service.
It’s not expensive - around $200/year. And if you don’t have a subscription they still come and put out your fire or cut you out of the car or whatever needs to be done. You just get a bill for $3000/hr/apparatus that responds.
But I still find it abhorrent. Just put it in my fucking taxes and be done with it. Jesus.
I live in an area with a subscription fire service.
I thought the earlier guy was doing a joke. I knew that those were a thing in the 1800's or something, but even today?
You just get a bill for $3000/hr/apparatus that responds.
That's pretty insane. So basically the firemen and ambulances are too expensive for the average citizen to use, and if you happen to be black, you probably don't want to call the cops either.
Great services.
Crassus would be proud.
Time for melting some gold.
That sounds apocryphal.
Owning more than one home
The US Empire.
Federal Circuit court blocking the ban on noncompete agreements
Projecting ads onto the tunnel walls off of a moving subway. Seen in mainland ~~Taiwan~~ China.
You can’t make me pick one.
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