the i dont care about politics anymore thread

[Basanos]

I'd have no problems with Batman as a character if the entire schtick was him just delivering violence to his fellow billionaires. But no, he goes around and beats up poor people for mostly petty crime while he does nothing to address the material conditions that cause that same crime with his vast resources.

This is an allegory for conservative politics if I have ever heard of it.

[aussenseiter]

Originally Posted by Jobaber [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Mother fucking Tucker Carlson for president.

Then Pence turned serious

"January 6 was a tragic day. I was there at the Capitol. And let me assure you. It was not, as some would have us believe, a matter of tourists peacefully enjoying themselves,” Pence said to applause.

“Tourists don’t injure 140 police officers by sightseeing. Tourists don’t break down doors to get to the speaker of the House or voice threats against public officials.”

Pence said, the “American people have a right to know what took place at the Capitol on Jan. 6th. I expect members of the Fourth Estate to continue to do their job. And make no mistake about it: What happened that day was a disgrace, and it mocks decency to portray it in any other way.

“And to my fellow Americans who are gathered here: For as long as I live, I will never, ever diminish the injuries sustained, the lives lost or the heroism of law enforcement on that tragic day. So help me God.

“… President Trump was wrong. I had no right to overturn the election, and his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day. And I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable for his actions.”

[aussenseiter]

Originally Posted by Basanos [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

There are no ethical ways to become a billionaire.

What if you're only a billionaire because of the value of the stock(s) you own?

[unsunghero]

Originally Posted by Basanos [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You have totally missed the point of everything I have ever said if you think I believe the solution is Democrats. They're still capitalists. They aren't going to solve this problem.

However, I harp on that so much I choose to believe that you understand this just fine, it's just your team sports approach to politics that causes you to flamingo about it.

Well for one shoplifting tends to happen more in poorer communities. So it affects poor people the most. It’s poor people who work in those stores, and btw a small family owned business is a much better shoplifting target from a practicality standpoint because they won’t be able to afford nearly the theft prevention measures of a big chain

And maybe every once in a while a shoplifter kills one or someone innocent gets really hurt intervening

So it hurts poor people sometimes physically drastically, causes them to lose their jobs, their ability to buy stuff locally, and probably negatively impacts their general feeling of security in life

But it hurts the evil cartoon villain CEO by making him have to take a disappointed glance at his new stock value then go back to getting blown on his yacht. Gotcha

[Basanos]

Stocks aren't free. And I'd argue that they're not all that valuable unless you sell them, I guess. I don't know the nerd terms but if your stock plummets to x value, assuming you don't sell it, it may not matter as much since you haven't realized that loss. I think that's what all the crypto nerds mean when they talk about hodl, but figuring that out would require engaging crypto nerds in conversation and I don't like to do that.

I have no idea if a billionaire can, like, prove they have $1b worth of stocks in a company and then get a loan out against those stocks for some liquid cash without selling them. I bet there's multiple ways to make those assets into actual spendable money.

[aussenseiter]

Originally Posted by Basanos [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Stocks aren't free. And I'd argue that they're not all that valuable unless you sell them, I guess. I don't know the nerd terms but if your stock plummets to x value, assuming you don't sell it, it may not matter as much since you haven't realized that loss. I think that's what all the crypto nerds mean when they talk about hodl, but figuring that out would require engaging crypto nerds in conversation and I don't like to do that.

I have no idea if a billionaire can, like, prove they have $1b worth of stocks in a company and then get a loan out against those stocks for some liquid cash without selling them. I bet there's multiple ways to make those assets into actual spendable money.

Good instincts, that's exactly what Elon does for walking around money.

But he 'loses money' in the process, because it's a loan... Ow ow brain hurting words.

[misterbonkers]

Originally Posted by Patriam1066 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I am pretty “rich” and it’s because I’m married, have never been unemployed, bought a house as soon as I could and mostly drove a piece of shit ford Ranger and then various Toyotas and Hondas. Many people make different choices, but I’ve exploited precisely zero people

I think you should make a distinction between someone with an estate that will be passed down to many, many grandchildren vs a corporate profiteer actively lobbying and manipulating the government to maintain his/her financial primacy

Or don’t, but fuck the rich is different than fuck the bankers. Also, being poor doesn’t absolve you from committing crime. Even if circumstances are more difficult, it is a choice to shoplift vs becoming a paramedic or electrician or welder, etc

it doesn't, but i'd rather someone be alive and a thief than dead, full stop. to me, rich is almost interchangeable with billionaire, or approaching that inhumane level of wealth, but saying billionaires leaves too much room for those making hundreds of millions. maybe ultrawealthy instead of rich? [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Basanos]

Originally Posted by unsunghero [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Well for one shoplifting tends to happen more in poorer communities. So it affects poor people the most. It’s poor people who work in those stores, and btw a small family owned business is a much better shoplifting target from a practicality standpoint because they won’t be able to afford nearly the theft prevention measures of a big chain

And maybe every once in a while a shoplifter kills one or someone innocent gets really hurt intervening

So it hurts poor people sometimes physically drastically, causes them to lose their jobs, their ability to buy stuff locally, and probably negatively impacts their general feeling of security in life

But it hurts the evil cartoon villain CEO by making him have to take a disappointed glance at his new stock value then go back to getting blown on his yacht. Gotcha

It's more like a 99.9% versus .1% of the problem issue. I used to run a small business. I got mad when this dude fucked up the decals on my car for no good reason. But I never bothered to report it to the pigs.

I also used to work in shitty hotels. Shitty hotels are often the last step some folks have until they're full-on homeless. Guess what my job role was as the AGM at the time? Throwing them out when they can't make their payments.

I quit on the spot before I actually had to do that. Yes, those people probably still got thrown out but I couldn't afford to pay their tab myself, since even as an AGM I was getting poverty wages.

What you're doing here, possibly inadvertently, is letting CEOs off the hook while pitting one poor person against another. That serves only the goals of the owner class. The fact that you've adopted this mentality means the owner class has accomplished their mission - your opinions of the poor are condescending and you feel more solidarity with management than you do the fellow poor.

If you are going to talk about the causes of crime, you have to be comprehensive.

[aussenseiter]

Originally Posted by misterbonkers [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

it doesn't, but i'd rather someone be alive and a thief than dead, full stop. to me, rich is almost interchangeable with billionaire, or approaching that inhumane level of wealth, but saying billionaires leaves too much room for those making hundreds of millions. maybe ultrawealthy instead of rich? [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Least psychotic LTOV adherent.

[Patriam1066]

Originally Posted by Basanos [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

When I say "eat the rich", I am generally not referring to those who are mere millionaires. There are ethical ways to become a millionaire.

There are no ethical ways to become a billionaire.

Even if the Feds did or didn't bail out banks or other corps deemed 'too big to fail', I'd still approve of shoplifting. Because of the things like bonkers said, like Walmart keeping shitloads of people in poverty by underpaying their workers.

Wage theft is a huge amount of lost revenue to workers, and both the media and the companies themselves almost NEVER talk about it. So, I have zero pity for corporations complaining about retail theft. Even if it's all true, and I very much doubt it is.

Plus, whenever politicians talk about looking out for 'small businesses', it is almost always just cover for large corporations. Democrat or Republican.

The answer to degeneracy isn’t to become a degenerate. You can’t build by destroying, despite what people like to say. Revolutions are almost always violent enterprises that result in chaos instead of progress

We should want more rule of law but importantly, that to be applied to our corporate and government class. I agree with you that the shoplifter isn’t shit compared to whatever unethical bull shit Jeff Bezos has had to do in his career, but I disagree that we should look the other way. Again, we need paramedics. Hard, hard job I’m sure. But it pays a living wage and it’s extremely important

We should be raising the bar as a population for our collective morality imo