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Oh wow. Look. Another thread of vitards arguing over team red vs. team blue. Meanwhile the bankers, corporate CEO's, their shareholders and oligarchs here in the US, who are amassing more wealth, than during the largest transfer of wealth since the early 1900's are laughing their f'ing asses off. U.S. billionaire wealth has now reached $4.5 TRILLION dollars.
Cal-Maine Foods, largest egg producer in the U.S., had profits surge by 718% this past quarter but no, it's "Inflation!".
The U.S. food giant/conglomerate Cargill raised the price of bread to 22%, flour 21%, butter 31%, but their profit doubled to $6.7 billion.
Just an example...
These corporations are raising prices because THEY CAN, but we just argue with eachother over whose party is right or wrong without focusing on the real problem. Until we put an end to this hijacking of the U.S. economy like we did after the gilded age, and again in post 1920's, we're doomed.
....and the beauty of capitalism is that you and your friends don't have to buy their products at their prices.
So what do you propose as a solution?
Borg. You are a Democrat right? I am not but I can explain why. You are not an average Democrat. You are far too logical and are looking for legit reasons. Seriously....you should be running the DMC. And I should be running the RNC. Of course we would spend our days listening to guitar based music and arguing endlessly on who is the best. We may through endless compromise end up at SRV. Just sayin. Notice that I never said Malmsteen, Vai, Moore, Price, Halen, Bettencourt, McAlpine etc. And I think Hendrix and Claptain are over rated. Shit.......now I have to go and hide.....................have your office call mine and we will set up a meeting....
But can you NOT buy their products at their prices considering our food, banks, airlines, media, technology etc etc etc. have all become conglomerates of larger corporation(s)? Short answer...nearly impossible.
Take Comcast for instance...the largest conglomerate in the U.S.
It now owns, AT&T, Xfinity, NBC Universal, Sky, Telemundo, CNBC, Peacock, Patriot Media, EMKA, Dreamworks, Xumo the list goes on and on and that's just in the U.S. They own tech and media companies all over the world. They control it all which leaves little choice for any of us "capitalists".
Tyson Food Corp owns over 30 different, and very large companies that makes thousands of different food products each...most of which are probably in your fridge or in your pantry. They own over 11,000 farms! All under the guise of "Independent Farmers"...LMFAO.
They get to set the price on ALL of those tens of thousands of products including poultry, meat, milk, flour etc etc for each of their brands that use them. You think you have a choice on where to buy your food or from whom? That's wishful thinking my dude.
As for banks, in and around 1966 there were close to 24,000 independent banks. Today? Less than 6,000. Why? Because regulations were loosened starting in 1980 and continued into the 90's which allowed banks like CitiGroup and Bank of America to eat up all the banks under one roof, and further allowed these big banks to engage in speculative trading and gutted the post-great depression Glass-Steagall act that barred large banks from combining commercial and investment banking under one roof. And whose money do these big banks use to do this bullshit? Yours and mine. Who gets rich? The bankers and stock holders. Who gets bailed out when they pillage the economy every 10 years? The bankers and stock-holders. Who gets shafted? People like us vitards who point fingers at a political party, both of which are complicit in this ponzi scheme on the working-class of which has now become so normalized, that these robber barons don't even give a shit. They laugh all the way to their private jets, yachts, country clubs, overseas shell accounts and mansions in multiple countries. They simply watch the common worker argue over this manufactured narrative of petty cultural/identity politics bullshit all the while they gobble up the entire cake. Meanwhile, we fight each other over the leftover sprinkles left on the carpet that hasn't had a deep clean in 30 years. It's hard to accept, I know. But that's what is happening and it's right in front of our faces.
It's not capitalism anymore, it's straight up theft and greed with ZERO consequences. The solution is simple...break up these conglomerates across every sector of our economy like they were in the 1930s-1970s and then watch the middle class resurge, thrive and stop eating each others faces over petty bullshit that we are all being spoon fed 24/7 and thought to believe this is normal and "just how it is". It wasn't this way 60 years ago and it shouldn't be now, but we are all distracted. Just how the system has been reconfigured to do so.
Diatribe over. But I stand by my position and hope everyone will take a moment to dive deeper into the root causes of this manufactured chaos in America.
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Careful, start posting reality like that will have you creating a following of, squat to pee downvoters, who trail around after you, no matter what you post.
There's an entire band of lurkers here without the stones to go into full detail about the, spoonfed political bullshit they've been taught.
So they think they accomplish something by hiding in the weeds, drinking bud lite, and pushing their little thumbs down button.
What you've said is spot on.
And ties in with the entire, green new deal, garbage.
Just look at what's happening with the farmers in the Netherlands.
And new York just passed a bill outlawing gas for cooking and heating in all new construction.
It's all about slowly controlling everything.
But...
It seems to be happening under this leftist regime, faster than ever before.
These are publicly traded companies right? Individuals, retirees, and pensions funds invest in them right? Actually anyone is welcome or encouraged to own a part of these companies. Doesn't a publicly traded have a responsibility to it's share holders to make money? As much as it can? And can't everyone agree that agricultural based industries and businesses are a perilous business to be in due to weather concerns, disease, any number of things, so they have to "make hay while the sun shines". The real villain is not publicly traded companies, it is our government taking those companies and our earnings. Big corporations function, make products or services, are rewarded for being efficient. Most of the very wealthy have publicly traded companies anyone can own a part of. Bezos, Musk, Warren Buffett, anyone can have a piece of their action. Our government does not perform like that, and much of the money they take from us is used to manipulate our behavior, such as thinking it is evil to be wealthy or commerce and the free enterprise system is bad. Companies that are profitable earn your money through making great or desirable products, the government takes it by force.
Great post.
Most people have no idea how much risk these companies take. And how much the government is watching for price fixing.
When food prices go up, it’s usually because cost of production went up, which is usually tied to rising fuel prices.
"squat to pee down voters" That's a good one.
We’re getting somewhere with these posts that show people are paying attention. Nice!
About the demise of regional & local banks: our dear sweet gov’t under the previous glorious liberal leader (when Joe was busy skimming money as VP) changed the rules for regional & small banks that made things more difficult or damn near impossible and that began the “merge” or “consolidation” of several regional/small successful banks into larger groups or “corporate banks”. The Donald changed some of that back to a more “small bank friendly” system; however, that’s what some are pointing at as to why some of these banks are failing…
As some of our wiser members have pointed out, it’s simply greed and a failure to ACTUALLY REGULATE PER CURRENT BANKING RULES. Have ANY Banking Regulators been fired or disciplined? Has the Administration done ANYTHING other than throw money at this problem AND give Big Banking WHATEVER they want? The answer is…the answers are…simple..
No.
Joe is a proponent for The Establishment & Wokeism. PERIOD. That’s all there is to this. Look at the woke-banks like Silicon…etc. How’s that working out? Oh, and, why did all of Joe’s friends get BAILED OUT BEYOND THE INSURED AMOUNTS?! (Are we all aware of any of that crazy shit?)
Don't you have a coronation to get ready for?
Monkeys.
You would think.... but honestly , i wouldnt say 'nobody is bothered' , but the only house in my close of 15 houses with flags up, has a daughter that will be riding in the parade, as part of the Kings Troop.
Compared to the jubilee , which was the last 'Royal Thing' , i would say its 20% of the interest.
Not only that , ticketed events around the country are being canned through lack of interest , some of that might be cost related, but generally there is a whole load of MEH about it.
I am going racing.
Anyone that would vote for Sleepy Joe, must also be a mental invalid.
Because the way we vote sucks, you rarely actually vote for someone. You’re almost always just voting against the other candidate. The one you dislike the most.
Fact.
Registered Republican. Never voted for Democrat in my life.
I don't know who is the best guitarist but I know who I listen to the most.
Jeff Beck
David Gilmour
Jimi
At least right now that's the lineup. It will probably change but will probably never include Malmsteen but will include Larry LaLonde.
Are you the ranked choice voting guy? Haven’t read anything about that socialist nonsense lately.
Yes, the lesser of two evils, is still evil……
Pit Row
That vote cast "for anyone but Trump" turned out to be for a globalist regime 10X more evil than the evil you voted against. Whoops.
It’s socialist to support a voting system in which you can vote for the candidate you like the most, without having to worry about just tossing away your vote? Damn this socialist terminology has a pretty wide net.
Lol we have ranked choice in all statewide elections here and it’s fucking awesome. The normal election process is garbage and only serves to encourage and support the two party system.
Primaries are fucking stupid and basically guarantee you have candidates with no real policy ideas, just bluster to appeal to their political base
Don’t you identify as a socialist? Or just a left leaning loon?
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-ranked-choice-scam-alaskans-for-better…
I am neither a socialist nor a loon. I consider myself a filthy moderate
All that article describes are the growing pains associated with moving away from a broken system that we’ve clung to for far too long
Ranked choice is flawed in a big way. You have to pick a second choice before you know
the outcome of the first counting. While you may think candidate #539 is your second choice,
after the first round, you might think strategically you should choose another. But it's too late,
you had to pick before you know the next lineup. Stupid on steroids. When the landscape changes
you can't change with it because you've already cast a second pick.
TM
I suppose you're arguing that having fewer choices is better than having more choices then? Picking between 5 candidates vs. picking 2?
The process you describe encourages people to vote for the candidates in the order that better represents their preferences. The majority of opposition from ranked choice voting comes from groups who think it puts them at a disadvantage. Namely, the establishment "swampy" types many of you guys denigrate on a daily basis.
Corporations are generally a positive for our economy until they get too big. What I hear in Mac's message is just that. They try to buy up as much of their competition as they can so they have more control on pricing. That might be good for them and their shareholders but not for the economy in general. I agree with you that government is a problem but it's not one or the other. It's both. Sometimes geopolitical events or weather situations are the cause of increased prices. I also understand that. I see solid points in both of your posts.
The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen. And by the same token, the bigger the corporation, the smaller the consumer.
Big corporations have learned how to get government to work for them and not for us. It's the government's job to see to it that corporations do not develop monopolies. Because so many politicians rely on their money they not only look the other way but they accommodate lobbyists constant rent seeking. If you are not sure what that term means, look it up. It's a major obstacle to competition. When I hear the phrase "public private partnership", I hear fuck the citizen and fuck the consumer.
Big Corporate America is the problem. They own the politicians.
You buried the lead! What class are you racing? Bike make, model? My word…
Big corporations get their power from making products or services we ask for and want. They provide things we wish for, no corporation continues in business making unwanted things. If anyone thinks Amazon, McDonalds, or Disney is an evil empire controlling politicians and our political process they are free to not buy the product or the stock. The leadership of the fortune 500 companies in this country is as diverse as the population of this country itself, and many of the current CEOs have come from nothing. To keep their jobs as leaders of these big corporations these people have to focus on selling products and making their stock appealing to investors full time and then some. Undoubtedly big corporations wishes, lobbying, or influence is felt in our politics, but not anymore than many other groups. Probably less so. I think most people would be shocked how big of a lobbying effort real estate agents, health insurance, teachers, and the media have.
Despite the fact many Americans believe big corporations run politics, look at big corporation's relationship with government. The oil industry is mostly at odds with the government always, as is the auto industry, forestry, big agriculture, mining, and textiles. Politicians often pick the low hanging fruit of "standing up for the little guy", and play the class envy song again and again to pander to their audience.
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