We live in a capitalist dystopia

[KidTDragon]

Samsung in six months: "Why did our phone sales drop so sharply?"

 

[Ungnome]

Well, given the stuff Apple has been getting away with for years, of COURSE Samsung is gonna try to do something similar, seems to be their MO. Granted, Samsung doesn't have the cultural momentum Apple does, at least not in Western markets.

 

[wonko the sane?]

Yeah, but it also might just a move to ruin apples anti-consumer bent: because if they get brought to court and ruled against on this; it would be precedent that could be applied to apple, among others.

 

[Ungnome]

Hopefully, but I won't hold my breath. Frankly I'd GLADLY have my phone be a few MM thicker so I could replace the battery without removing glue, but late-stage capitalism won't allow it.

 

[Pale Rider]

FB friend:

This is your periodic reminder that when a "brilliant" billionaire hedge fund investor actually tried to run a real business, he did a hostile takeover of Sears, emptied out its store maintenance fund to give dividends to shareholders, and then told its executives that Sears was going to stop wasting money on stores and become a customer data broker now. He probably read about data being the next big business frontier in Forbes.

He ran the company into the ground, all the while screaming at subordinates that they were stupid for not understanding his visionary approach.

People like this don't create anything. They're more like a plague of locusts.

 

[Pale Rider]

Feds raid corporate landlord, escalating nationwide criminal probe of rent increases

Over the last four years, rents have skyrocketed by an average of over 30% nationwide and are a major factor in the overall inflation rate.

popular.info

 

[NovaSaber]

Controversial Chick-fil-A Summer Camp Charges Kids $35 To Work At The Restaurant

Campers will learn customer service skills, how to take an order, and other tasks.

www.delish.com

And this one...I mean knowing their history, it's not that surprising, but still...

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/11/business/chiquita-banana-liable-paramilitary-group-colombia/index.html

 

[Ironbite4]

.......I sense a manager who's gonna have his head put on a pike in order to appease the masses.

Ironbite-holy late-stage capialism!

 

[abates]

Banana giant Chiquita to pay millions over human rights abuses

Banana company Chiquita was accused of making illegal payments to the AUC, a paramilitary group known for its violent kidnappings and killings.

www.usatoday.com

Major US company found guilty of funding a right-wing paramilitary group in Columbia.

Admittedly the penalty of $38 million is a slap on the wrist given they make about 3 billion yearly, but hey.

 

[KidTDragon]

"Cost of doing business."

 

[Pocket]

I don't know if there's ever been a point in history where bananas haven't been essentially edible blood diamonds. Certainly not in my or my parents' lifetimes.

 

[wonko the sane?]

"Edible blood diamonds" is not a phrase I expected to parse first thing in the morning. Thank god I hate the damn things already.

 

[Pale Rider]

Can we lay this at the feet of capitalism too?

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1801585450169016590

 

[Pale Rider]

FB friend:

We live in a world where middle-class parents can't make ends meet unless both of them work outside the home at well-paying jobs and nobody has time for parenting, work, and friends, so one of those has to go.

And yet people still wonder why depression is on the rise.

Westerners when we feared that the next pandemic would come from a Chinese wet market: "All wet markets should be shut down now!"

Westerners now that the next pandemic is likely to come from industrial chicken farming: "We obviously can't shut down industrial chicken farming. There's no way I'm paying $25 for a family-pack of chicken breasts".

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

Clearly we can fix depression with more pills. Can't be depressed if you're too drugged up to feel anything, right?

Sure, Americans won't be able to actually afford the pills because health care lol, but if you're too busy working, you're not out protesting.

 

[Pocket]

I haven't been following the Boeing scandal too closely, but hadn't the higher-ups there been trying to systematically cover up the problems with their planes? It'd be sadly ironic if it turned out what they were trying to stop us from finding out was that it was never their fault in the first place.

 

[Ungnome]

Separate issue. Boeing can't keep from shooting themselves in the foot, though. First they use parts rejected by QC to finish building some aircraft, then not one, but two whistleblowers "commit suicide" and now it turns out they can't even vett their suppliers to ensure the are actually getting the actual raw material they requested.

 

[Pale Rider]

FB friend:

Justin Trudeau, leader of Canada's Liberal party, actually came out and said the truth about why they won't try to lower the cost of housing, and nobody noticed. He said that they don't want to make housing prices drop because older people rely on high housing prices to fund their retirement, and the government needs to protect their interests, so ... without saying it out loud, he basically said that young people can go pound sand. And if you think the conservatives are any less likely to take the side of affluent older homeowners, I have a bridge in Florida to sell you.

This is not about liberals versus conservatives: it's about old people versus young people. Much like the so-called "War in Gaza", the generational war is one in which both sides express equal emotional hostility, but almost all of the actual suffering is being inflicted on one side.

 

[Pocket]

Reminder that hating old people is not "agism" for the same reason that hating white people is not "racism": They're the privileged ones taking our rights away.

 

[abates]

Similar things have been said in NZ. One politician actually said "nobody wants house prices to fall." Investments usually come with risk, but because the people who are in charge of things tend to be property investors and want to eliminate the risk, the people who actually just want a house to live in are largely screwed for reasonable prices.