this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2024
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A Boring Dystopia
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The capitalist economic model is failing because of the law of diminishing returns coming into contradiction with the demand for higher next quarter profits. Individual sectors of the economy with the most leverage can raise their rents, but only at the expense of other areas of the economy. So Boeing can sell shittier airplanes by purging its staff of skilled engineers, but this creates downturns in neighborhoods where those engineers live. And it also scares people away from flying commercial airlines.
This was immediately profitable for Boeing (10 years ago). But its been awful for Boeing right now. And even worse for a government that needs Boeing's airplanes to maintain both commercial and military aviation roles. Folks with money in Boeing stock also aren't thrilled with this turn.
Because government officials surrendered their role in manufacturing and regulating aircrafts to Boeing itself, on the theory that Boeing management would not behave shortsightedly. Oops!
Now the engineers who are blowing the whistle are showing up in court rooms (when they aren't killing themselves in the middle of a deposition) and government agencies are scrambling to figure out how to do jobs they haven't had to do in decades. But its a big ship and slow to turn.
We're blind men feeling at an elephant. Its a big problem and when one guy's got the tail and another's touching the tusk, it may not seem like the same thing to everyone.
That's not because we're all stupid. Its because the problem is big and the solution is hard. But the process to solving the problem requires teamwork. That's where Americans tend to suck hardest.
Because we all assume the other guy is stupid, I describe the tusk and you describe the tail, and we both accuse one another of not knowing what we're touching.
Do you have any recommendations?
The Nine Scariest Words In The English Language are "I'm from the government and I'm here to help".
~ Ronald Raygun
We passed a Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to the tune of $1.2T in federal spending less than three years ago. But the money is primarily focused on propping up private businesses friendly to the goals of the current administration.
If you want to live in a country that doesn't have any taxes, try North Korea. 😆
But the preponderance of wealth makes the tax burden very uneven. We also spend absurd amounts on a military that's proven itself ineffectual and unreliable and a transportation system that's expensive and wasteful. This while draining money away from education, health care, and pensions. We've practically zeroed out our spending on public housing.
Folks don't mind kicking in to make their communities grow. But I'm living on a street that hasn't been repaved in over 10 years, using utilities that haven't been upgraded in at least 20, and I'm being told my property taxes are going up because my house's market rate keeps climbing. Where is my money going? That's the thing that annoys me more than anything.
Sure, fine, cool. But where will it go? To my local school system? To some border prison for migrants? To the newest payload of a bomb detonated over Rafa?