• Ho_Chi_Chungus [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      Those lazy commies with their limp wristed excuses like: “The reality of living under a capitalist society”. Why don’t they just eat some bootstrap stew like my pa did and die of preventable illness generating labor value for someone else?

        • uralsolo [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          We were talking about worker-owned companies, none of those are worker-owned companies and therefore don’t actually refute anything.

        • marx_mentat [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          Wait…so these are your examples of people who “did something”

          Do you realize that the edge every single one of these companies had over the others is the willingness to do whatever it takes to extract as much value from labor for the least amount of money, right?

          You are just making the case for the complete destruction of capitalism. Only soulless psychopaths are rewarded here. Winning is not beating these people at the same psychotic game that they’re playing.

            • aebletrae [she/her]@hexbear.net
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              1 year ago

              This is the reasoning that leads to “if you think medicines are too expensive, stop buying them” with much the same problem of it not being quite that simple for the majority of humanity, whose “choices” are not as unconstrained as the ones you’re familiar with.

                • aebletrae [she/her]@hexbear.net
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                  1 year ago

                  I know you deleted your earlier nonsense, but I saw some of it first, so I know how out of touch you are. You were wrong about how much wealth people have, but even after having that corrected, here you are with “It’s just how the world works”, another incorrect assertion that might describe your experience of the world, but is unrepresentative for humanity as a whole.

                  Most people don’t have the luxuries you so clearly take for granted. Turning down exploitative employment is only an option for those with money in reserve. Most people do not have that. Going somewhere else means separation from family and friends—easy enough for the thoroughly unlikable, but community is important to most members of a social species. And, anyway, that’s assuming there aren’t legal restrictions like immigration controls. As I said before, most lives are more constrained than yours, and that isn’t because those people are any less deserving. That is how the world works.

                  I’m going to suggest you read the article “Why Fascism is the Wave of the Future” by Edward Luttwak. Don’t worry, it’s just a warning, and it starts:—

                  That capitalism unobstructed by public regulations, cartels, monopolies, oligopolies, effective trade unions, cultural inhibitions or kinship obligations is the ultimate engine of economic growth is an old-hat truth

                  so it’s not commie propaganda. But it might relieve you of some of your misconceptions, since you clearly aren’t listening to us here. Of course, you could just carry on regardless, but then it’ll be just far too clear that you’re not acting in good faith.

                • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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                  1 year ago

                  You sound so effeminate when you say that.

                  You sound extraordinarily misogynistic and insecure when you say that. Got some Jordan Peterson books in your mancave, bucko? up-yours-woke-moralists

                  • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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                    1 year ago

                    Dude, I am still cracking up over boot licker. That is some funny stuff. Did you use your big boy voice when you said that?

            • marx_mentat [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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              1 year ago

              No one cares if you “buy into” anything. It exists whether you believe it or not.

              The entire point of keeping unemployment at certain levels is so capitalists can dictate wages and responsibilities. It’s not a secret. Bourgeois media openly panics whenever unemployment levels get too low.

            • sharedburdens [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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              1 year ago

              I try to tell myself that most of the people bought into capitalism can be rehabilitated, maybe some just need to spend a few years breaking rocks to get it through their heads that other people fucking exist on this planet.

              Reading your comments has made me re-evaluate that

            • Egon [they/them]@hexbear.net
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              1 year ago

              I don’t buy into that lame beta theory of gravity. You go down. If you don’t feel like going down, go up. It’s that simple. That is the beauty of jumping. I can jump as high as I want

        • Cynetri (he/any)@midwest.social
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          1 year ago

          Tesla is not close to bigger than GM. They only make consumer vehicles and maybe a model of semi truck but I don’t think that’s being produced yet, while GM has been making consumer cars in addition to commercial and military vehicles for decades. They might be valued as more but that doesn’t really say anything in practical terms.

    • ThatWeirdGuy1001@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      You’re asking people with little to no resources to take on people who have all the resources.

      You don’t seem like you understand modern capitalism.

      • galloog1@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        People will donate a significant portion of their wages to ineffectual radical politicians but won’t bother to consolidate capital to support co-ops. That’s the actual system I see.

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          What poor people do you think are donating wages to “radical politicians”? Have you ever met any poor people?

      • Neuromancer@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I do. I am not asking anyone to do anything. I am pointing out they are free to start their own business and compete if they think they can do better.

        Nobody thought Sears could be beat and now they’re mostly gone.

        Starbucks started with a small investment and now look at them.

        I think people want to make excuses for everything because they don’t want to take the risk or don’t know how to run a company. It’s easier than actually going out there and doing it. Running a company is hard work. It is a risk. I have done it several times. Never made an ass load of money but I left each one to the employees when I was done. Each one they ran right into the ground.

            • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Okay I said I was done talking with you but I actually love any excuse to nerd out on this so here:

              The state of California has mandated compostable household and business waste be separated out and picked up separately much like recycling is already separated. This is a law that is already in effect; however, they have declined to enforce it so far. They have recently began making statements that they will begin enforcing the law and fining businesses and property owners for not complying.

              Many small municipalities (and some big ones) have not even started setting up the infrastructure to do so. They’re way behind.

              This means there is a captive market for a company providing those services. A potentially huge market.

              Now anyone can set up a waste collection service, it’s pretty standardized, but here’s where my idea is different. A technology called pyrolization.. It mostly requires organic materials, lots of em. In essence, it’s burning without fire. The input is organic material, the output is a stable carbon-rich solid called biochar (similar to charcoal except not as flammable), and something called syngas, which is similar to natural gas. With the right machinery, the process produces energy and is carbon-negative.

              The carbon-negative aspect is the selling point. Do you know how many carbon-negative businesses there are? You could probably count them, globally, on both hands. This would play EXTREMELY well in California.

              Pyrolysis is not a new technology, but applying it at scale is. Currently it’s mainly in use as a way of processing human waste. There’s a company called BioForceTech in the Bay Area that has a successfully operating pyrolysis machine processing human waste, and they have machines globally that also process feedstock like wood chips and nut shells. Municipal organic waste would require a sorting machine for sure, but other than that it could use their machine just fine. And the sorting machine wouldn’t have to be as complex as those in municipal compost systems: if plastic gets mixed into your compost, that’s bad. If plastic gets mixed into something you’re just going to burn and bury, not a huge deal.

              $850,000 is not enough to set something up like this on the municipal level. That would take millions. It’s enough to get buy-in from BioForceTech, ReCology (bay area waste management company that has experience with waste-gas powered trucks, and compost sorting machines), investors, and local and state government (the state has several grant and loan programs for “green” businesses, especially in waste collection).

              In my opinion the biggest, most profitable market would be Santa Clara County or Alameda County, both in the bay area and both have limited compost pickup presently. But that’s a big bite to chew and I think beyond the capabilities of a new business. Something like small towns in Mendocino County would be perfect - small enough that they don’t have municipal organics collection aside from maybe yard trimmings, liberal enough that the carbon-negative aspect would play well, rural enough to have plenty of cheap land for a processing facility.

              So that’s our market. We get to charge customers for the pickup, and then sell the power generated as “clean energy”. Not to mention the whole thing functions like a peaker plant. When electricity prices are low, you can adjust the output ratio to create more biochar - adding to the carbon-negative selling point (and getting some money from cap and trade). When electricity prices are high, you can get more syngas and burn it as carbon-neutral energy.

              The one thing I’m not very familiar on and would need to consult experts on is the regulations involved in the “selling electricity” aspect. The regulatory burden may make that part not feasible, I just don’t know enough about it.

    • PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Surprise, when there are obstacles standing in the way of your goals, people may mention those obstacles when asked about progress towards their goals. What an absolute flaccid take.