1
jrbelmont 1 point ago +1 / -0

What you're describing is a roundabout way of saying that for a society to remain healthy it needs to instill certain cultural and social values in each new generation.

Leftists would call these "institutions". Why do you think they went after everything from K-12 to comic books? Videogames, movies, TV, commercials, comics, books... these aren't just timewasters or hobbies and diversions. SJWs understand that these are the ways society tells itself stories about itself.

Just look at the Federation's internal culture Star Trek TNG and DS9. With matter replicators the concept of money and wealth is pointless, you can have any thing at any time. But at the same time private enterprise is still thriving. We see private freighters and transports, inventors, we even a privately owned family restaurant.

It works because the culture written for Star Trek's Federation is an idealized form of protestant work ethic. The entire Federation is based on a culture of striving to build things and explore. People want to work, they embrace challenge and even hardship.

That's the power of institutions. You don't need to dial back technology and the economy to make things suck again, you need to dial back the self-destructive perversion of social and cultural institutions that have run rampant on both the left and the right thanks to Bezos and his buddies.

8
jrbelmont 8 points ago +8 / -0

Listen leftists are ranting about how ties are phallic symbols and should be banned. We might actually get something good out of them for once.

5
jrbelmont 5 points ago +5 / -0

"Federation" and "Federal" had and still have meanings beyond the context of the US Federal Government. Just like "liberal" still actually means something other than a snarl word for lefties.

2
jrbelmont 2 points ago +2 / -0

Like almost everything it's a matter of degree, the question is where you draw the line. Almost every reasonable person who's grounded in reality can agree on the most egregious examples, things like outright scamming people or blatantly predatory actions like truck systems and high double digit (or triple digit) mafia style "payday" loans.

It's close to the normal side of things you start running into problems. Particularly where you have misleading but not outright fraudulent systems, like multi-layered student loans that to a non-accountant seem like you're paying off but in reality you're just paying interest and never any principal.

A lot of this could be solved by regulating the "informed consent" side of things rather than trying to regulate every new insane financial instrument people come up with. If you require lenders to make the terms clear in plain fucking english with clear examples of all contingencies then you'll see a lot less people getting ripped off or making stupid decisions. One of the founding principles of capitalism is that people are making informed decisions with full information. A system where you need a week with two lawyers and an accountant to understand what the fuck is going on for every freaking transaction isn't a healthy free market, it's one filled with rent seekers and deliberate distortions by bad actors.

view more: ‹ Prev