We live in a capitalist dystopia

[Rhinox]

I understand that medical science and research is very expensive. I am all for companies recouping those costs. But the time limit before generics are allowed needs to be shortened dramatically. And if public funds are used, then there should be some serious price caps.
All that said, there is no reason whatsoever why any of the price gouging we've seen in recent decades to be allowed. Legally or morally. It kills me that Martin Shekri was just ahead of the curve.

I could go on a lovely rant about all of this and dovetail nicely into the health insurance scam, but that'll take a while to type out.

 

[Pocket]

I understand that medical science and research is very expensive.

Which is why none of it should be the domain of for-profit companies anymore, at all.

 

[Rhinox]

Which is why none of it should be the domain of for-profit companies anymore, at all.

Until the government steps up to fund it all, we have to do what we can with what we've got. I have no issue with privately sponsored medical research.

 

[Dekafox]

Kroger executive admits company gouged prices above inflation

Kroger's senior director for pricing Andy Groff said the grocery giant had raised prices for eggs and milk beyond inflation levels.

www.newsweek.com

 

[Ironbite4]

I swear to god these people are gonna end up dead one day. And the C-Suite isn't going to understand why.

Ironbite-until some CEO's head is delivered in a box with the message "Find out time" that is.

 

[Stepwise]

I was reading about this whole merger this morning in Morning Brew and thinking "they want to compete with Walmart . . . how about not charging way more than other stores for no apparent reason, and maybe having a better selection . . . ?"

 

[wonko the sane?]

I was reading about this whole merger this morning in Morning Brew and thinking "they want to compete with Walmart . . . how about not charging way more than other stores for no apparent reason, and maybe having a better selection . . . ?"

Why would they do that when they can just absorb the competition until they're reasonably sized compared to walmart then collude with them to fix prices?

 

[Pocket]

Do they even compete with each other, presently? I thought they only owned regional chains that have almost no overlap. So I can't imagine what merging would actually do.

 

[Anonymous X]

Going off topic here, a bit, but all your supermarket chains are regional rather than national, aren’t they? (I mean, ours are national, the 6 or 7 main ones. But we of course have a much smaller land mass and higher population density.)

 

[Pocket]

It's complicated. I believe every region has a regional chain or two, often with silly names like Safeway and Giant Eagle and Piggly-Wiggly, but then there are chains with a spotty presence across the country like Aldi (yes, the same Aldi that's in the UK) and Trader Joe's (owned by the other Aldi) and Whole Foods. And then of course there's Walmart and Target, which are "big-box stores" that carry everything from electronics to toys to gardening supplies to car batteries. Of course, every national chain started out as a regional one, and new ones move in from time to time to replace the ones that died out; Kmart is down to one store in the whole country, but Meijer, another big-box store, moved into the area recently.

And even a lot of the regional chains, as I've said, have merged behind the scenes while keeping their names. Collectively, I'm pretty sure they have a larger number of stores than the openly-national chains combined; around here it's still a much shorter trip to Acme or either of the two Giant Eagles than Walmart or Target, and there's a third Giant Eagle not terribly far either.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Publix is king down here. They charge extra because they have a reputation for quality despite mostly carrying the same national brands as everybody else. Funny how that works.

The stuff they actually make in-house is quality though. Their subs are phenomenal.

 

[Rhinox]

Kroger owns so many "small town" groceries it's not even funny. Here in north east Kansas, the store name still says Dillons, but it's Kroger.

 

[Stepwise]

We used to have Albertsons and Safeway. Safeway disappeared from this area a long time ago, but now the name belongs to Albertsons. We do have Fred Meyer, whose business model seems to be "Walmart but more expensive," and they're owned by Kroger. So they do sorta compete.

 

[Ungnome]

Surprise Surprise. So the open secret is now on official record. This should be reason enough to NOT allow the merger to go through. While we are at it lets make Walmart and Amazon divest some of their assets.

 

[Dekafox]

In Leak, Facebook Partner Brags About Listening to Your Phone’s Microphone to Serve Ads for Stuff You Mention

One of Facebook's alleged marketing partners explained how it listens to users' smartphone microphones and advertises to them accordingly.

futurism.com

This is why turning webpages into apps on phones was a mistake.

 

[Rhinox]

In Leak, Facebook Partner Brags About Listening to Your Phone’s Microphone to Serve Ads for Stuff You Mention

One of Facebook's alleged marketing partners explained how it listens to users' smartphone microphones and advertises to them accordingly.

futurism.com

This is why turning webpages into apps on phones was a mistake.

Least surprising "surprise' ever.
How many times has anyone ever said something in passing and then gotten targeted ads? We knew they were listening. Their level of subtlety is less than.

 

[Dekafox]

On the plus side, Google's booted them as a partner:

noodlejetski :verified_gay: (@[email protected])

@[email protected] @[email protected] according to 404media, Amazon denied ever working with them, so their claims are at least partially untrue. and Google booted them as a partner. it's not the first time they've made that claim, either...

masto.ai

And presumably setting the proper permissions to block mic access would work, but this is why if something doesn't -need- to be an app, it shouldn't be.

 

[Dekafox]

Not sure if this qualifies but that's a heck of a jump... not to mention their subscription options looks like a Microsoft Windows version list:

And gotta love how even when paying for the no ads option the fine print says there may still be ads(setting aside the whole "we're paying and still getting ads" enshittification, considering that's just a replay of what happened with cable TV):

 

[wonko the sane?]

Speed running cable 2.0

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

So, time to go back to the old ways. Who's got the rum?