We live in a capitalist dystopia

NovaSaber

Well-known member
Citizen
Because it's not just politicians and fundamentalists who are starting to say quiet parts out loud.


A Bank of America executive stated that “we hope” working Americans will lose leverage in the labor market in a recent private memo obtained by The Intercept. Making predictions for clients about the U.S. economy over the next several years, the memo also noted that changes in the percentage of Americans seeking jobs “should help push up the unemployment rate.”
The memo, a “Mid-year review” from June 17, was written by Ethan Harris, the head of global economics research for the corporation’s investment banking arm, Bank of America Securities. Its specific aspiration: “By the end of next year, we hope the ratio of job openings to unemployed is down to the more normal highs of the last business cycle.”

What the memo calls “the ratio of job openings to unemployed” is generally calculated the other way around — i.e., the ratio of unemployed people to job openings. The more widely used ratio offers one measurement of the balance of power between workers and employers. The lower this number, the more options unemployed people have when searching for work and the greater opportunities employed people have to switch to jobs with better pay and conditions.

The memo is an uncanny demonstration that the economist Adam Smith was right when he described the politics of inflation in his famed 1776 work, “The Wealth of Nations.”

“High profits tend much more to raise the price of work than high wages,” Smith argued. “Our merchants and master-manufacturers complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price. … They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people.”

Thus, exactly as Smith would have predicted, Bank of America complains loudly about the bad effects of high wages in raising prices, but appears to be silent about the pernicious effects of high profits.

This is especially remarkable given the role that corporate profits have played in the recent increase in inflation. After-tax corporate profits stood at 8.1 percent of the economy at the beginning of 2020 but have since shot up to as high as 11.8 percent of the GDP. In an economy the size of the U.S., that equals an increase of more than $700 billion in profits per year. These higher corporate profits have been the cause of over 50 percent of recent price increases.

Instead, the memo is focused on the enticing prospect of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, slowing the economy, and bludgeoning workers back into line.
 

CoffeeHorse

*sip*
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
I am doing my part to balance things out by filing job applications that get rejected in a day.

The people whining about not being able to find workers right now are lying. There is something else going on here.
 

Paladin

Well-known member
Citizen
They don't want "Workers" because workers have to be paid. That's the endgame- indentured servitude in perpetuity.
 

Monique

Guess whos back
Citizen
It seems awfully wild that the party that wants to oppresse people into forced servitude are also the party that wants to make sure the oppressed people can be armed to the gils should you know.. any reason to use those arms might come up.
 

The Mighty Mollusk

Scream all you like, 'cause we're all mad here
Citizen
If the poor are armed, then clearly they're a threat and they can be hunted for sport with impunity. It's not a bug, it's a feature.
 

The Mighty Mollusk

Scream all you like, 'cause we're all mad here
Citizen
And those idiots will just feel even more entitled to shoot whoever they want, because if anyone could have a gun, then anyone is an acceptable target.

Mind you, for most of them, it's gas on a fire, because they already have so little self restraint anyway. But, any excuse.
 

Dekafox

Fabulously Foxy Dragon
Citizen
As I've said before, we basically got the worst parts of a Cyberpunk dystopia without any of the cool stuff. No chromed implants for super-strength(though we're getting there, they aim for natural over chromed), All the fancy neon's been replaced with web ads, no flying cars, etc. Waferjacks and DNI are also on the way I suppose... Musk-brand BTLs?

Especially disappointing is no dragons or magic, given we're still roughly on the Shadowrun timeline - COVID is effectively our VITAS, but we're still lacking a Great Ghost Dance.
 

abates

unfortunate shark issues
Citizen
It seems awfully wild that the party that wants to oppresse people into forced servitude are also the party that wants to make sure the oppressed people can be armed to the gils should you know.. any reason to use those arms might come up.
As long as they can continue to convince people that minorities and immigrants are the reason why things are bad, it's not really a problem for them.
 

wonko the sane?

You may test that assumption at your convinience.
Citizen
As long as they can continue to convince people that minorities and immigrants are the reason why things are bad, it's not really a problem for them.
Going to be honest with ya: while they haven't stopped attempting this, it kinda feels like less and less are falling for it. Just an "outside looking in" perspective.
 

Rust

Slightly Off
Citizen
The people whining about not being able to find workers right now are lying. There is something else going on here.

Most worker shortages are corporate mandated to generate more profits. They're trying to squeeze every ounce of productivity from their existing workforce until they burn out and quit en masse, which will result in the ability to "re-negotiate" starting wages down below the current poverty-level wages.

This is all about profits. "Nobody wants to work" is more internal speak for an increasingly burned out existing workforce to placate them (I've become so sick of my coworkers complaining about "People on benefits" I've taken to just wearing ear pods during my breaks/lunches to drown out the propaganda).

It seems awfully wild that the party that wants to oppresse people into forced servitude are also the party that wants to make sure the oppressed people can be armed to the gils should you know.. any reason to use those arms might come up.

A reminder that California has the strictest gun control laws specifically because Governor Ronald Reagan was upset with the Black Panthers for practicing their Second Amendment Right.
 

Pocket

jumbled pile of person
Citizen
And the biggest step forward we made in gun control laws on a national level happened as a direct result of Reagan's own assassination attempt. Never forget that the current Republicans think it's totally OK that Hinkley had the means to almost murder their beloved Saint Ron.
 

Pale Rider

...and Hell followed with him.
Citizen
FB friend:

America is a nation of entrepreneurs. This is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness.

The American entrepreneurial spirit has produced many great innovations. But it also leads to a hustler's mentality, where everyone is always looking for a business opportunity. Unfortunately, as Putin and his cronies have demonstrated, there is no greater business opportunity than privatizing a public service.

Why do you think American health-care is the way it is? Because making it a public service would eliminate a business opportunity. Why do you think Americans are the only people in the developed world who must fear ambulance fees? Because making ambulances into a public service would eliminate a business opportunity. Why do you think America has more people in prison than any other country on Earth? Because prisons have been privatized, so every single person sentenced to prison represents a business opportunity.

Of course, privatization isn't the only problem. Why do you think FOXNews exists? Because Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes noticed that fascists were being underserved by the media, so they saw a business opportunity.

When an entire country is full of hustlers looking for "business opportunities", it's the public that suffers.
 

abates

unfortunate shark issues
Citizen
I'm not sure why that is a problem for him when he is rich and does not have to take public transport ever.
 

NovaSaber

Well-known member
Citizen
Because if more people took the train he'd sell less cars.

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