The game 'Monopoly' (with deficit spending by corporate culture added) has come to the part where one player has all of the money and the other players can't afford to participate.
About "deficit" political scare mongering...notice that's never a problem when it's flagrant spending for useless weaponry or corporate bailouts. Only if for the poor, the unemployed, etc. Especially cruel when econ policy for the last 40 years is to control inflation by deliberately maintaining a certain percentage of unemployment. One of the many theoretical assumptions with little, if any, empirical evidence. But the right wing Chicago School of Econ dominates, so what they claim is accepted as gospel by both major parties.
It should be! Monopoly the game is very much like "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps." Meant to evoke sympathy for mistreated workers and poor people by showing the impossibility of yanking yourself up when the structures are rigged to keep you down.
The money worshipping know that numberspeak is unlimited and only works because people believe in money and the mathmatical projections of economics. When real life happens, throwing numbers of dollars at the situation won't save the moment, the present U.S. Administration is being very blatant about that.
What the executives forget is that AI can easily do their jobs as well. Thus whoever "owns" the firm will be the one reviewing the output - basically big investors and their chosen surrogates. The alternative may well be locally based businesses and a back to simple basics life style.
Isn't it wonderful how the multi billionaires want to replace all of their workers. How will these bozos going to get rich if none of the workers can afford to buy their products because the workers have no income?
If the bots are going to take our jobs then the bots should be paying income taxes. Interest on the national debt is approaching $20 Billion per week. At what point does the debt become unsustainable? Democrats will use a pick and shovel to dig deeper into the debt hole. Republicans will use a backhoe. This should be the lead story every single day. We refuse to tax ourselves at a level sufficient to maintain a modern nation state. Trump's DOGE will see to that. He admires Al Capone and I think he's trying to run the country like an old school protection rackett. Same thing with NATO. God help us.
The scare mongering about deficit spending is mostly an excuse not to fund infrastructure repairs, national healthcare, or programs for the least among us. There's never such talk when it's trillions for wars or 100s of billions to bail out reckless banksters. It's that this array of priorities fits with the right wing Chicago School of Econ, the source for the econ policies of both major parties for the last 40 years. Doesn't matter there is little, if any, empirical evidence for their claims. Or that the Chi School's founder, Milton Friedman, was an advisor to Chile's dictator Pinochet because "democracy interferes with market efficiency."
The federal government is not the same as a family budget. The subject is complex, but the gist is that the government is the source of the money supply, the currency issuer. It spends into the economy. Suppose the U.S. govt spends $100 into the economy but only collects $90 in taxes. The accounting entry is a $10 "deficit," but the govt minus is a $10 plus for someone else in the U.S. economy. Like the jet building company or road construction crew.
Taxes aren't the source for government finance--think about it. Where does the money for paying taxes come from? Taxes create a demand for the currency because people have to work to earn the currency accepted by the government, thus money is put into circulation. Taxes aren't for collecting money per se; government already has the Mint. What govt does need is a military, courts, parks, bridges, highways, research, whatever. Which means paying people to do the work; wages in U.S currency.
The main source for this way of seeing the interconnections of government and the general economy is called Modern Monetary Theory. It seems shocking only because Chi School economic theories are so dominant. Friedman's acolytes have engaged in a sleight of that 'invisible hand,' simply declaring as did Margaret Thatcher "there are no alternatives." There certainly are--and they work. Keynesian and New Deal economics are proof! Furthermore, the outline above about gov-econ is also in the writings of Adam Smith, the founder of the capitalist economics the Chi School econ cabal wants us to believe is exclusively theirs.
The national debt should be a much higher priority. The price of pennies and paper dollars have been on my whine list for a decade. I am glad waste is being cut but I don't have much faith in the most bankrupt person on the planet and his evil Bond villain henchman. Sorry to say they are still in love after valentines day.
Like a sci-fi movie, only scarier. Since when have corporate powers cared about mere humans? Maybe, just maybe, humans will be allowed to repair the bots. If we are smart enough to build them, we can learn to manage them. Brave new world? All we need is more brave, and less new. A world without people is no world at all.
How will these displaced humans buy groceries and pay rent?
I asked this in 1969. When they were gearing up for the Brave New World. When I was still in High School. Receiving a top notch education. Which has served me well so far, but won't protect me from chaos engendered by mob rule of psychopathic morons.
The election was manipulated electronically by cyber-criminals.
How many of us remember the coming of automation? 80's or was it 90's The argument was that Americans would have a shorter work week, time to spend in leisurely activities with family,....
What they did not say was the pay check would also drop accordingly Also that goods made overseas would mean lower prices for consumer goods here So here we are more &Mre sliding into poverty And now it's on steroids!
What ever happened to building a consumer base or having a target market? I am paying off and closing out my credit cards, going back to cash in hand, journey to zero. My big problem is how will l be able to continue my Lowdown subscription with no longer having any credit cards?
I heard on NPR yesterday about the decline in reading AND reading comprehension, as young people have trouble with keeping attention on any text longer than, say a Sonnet. Reliance on chat gpt/AI writing and responses has dulled wordsmith skills. This cannot be good.
Having had to deal with multiple customer "service" lines that use bots ('m here to help. What can help you with? You can say, "sales, billing, etc. etc. NEVER " WANT TO SPEAK TO A HUMAN BEING," I can only hope that massive pushback from us--we are the only ones who can do it, will have some effect. Not only do I not want to "speak" to a machine, but the whole process involves an endless loop, always returning to"What can I help you with today"
Questions I’ve been asking for a while: 1. What is the carbon footprint to build and power the huge server farms needed for AI to run. 2. What happens when the AI machines decide they no longer need humans to do any living?
They're the worst--outright plutocrats. But they had plenty of help from the Ds. The Dem party was taken over by neolibs in the late '70s. (The term "neoliberal" is not political; it means people who support the econopathic system of trickle up.) The D elite dumped the New Deal and abandoned the majority working class. And by moving rightward, they enabled the Rs to go full on crazy right wing. In the '70s, the Rs still had progressives in office. Now rare even among Ds.
If you doubt this, explain why the Ds are fine with corporate and 1%er donations--whose interests do you think count? The Ds also did FOR the suffering, unemployed Rust Belt/Appalachia same as they did TO the Wall St. vultures who caused the '08 crash-- NOTHING! The same region now leads in what are called 'deaths of despair.' The New Deal era financial regulations, passed because of the 1929 crash and Great Depression, were repealed by Clinton. Which lead to the '08 debacle and bailouts for banksters but not for the many workers who lost jobs, pensions, houses. And no new regulations were enacted to prevent this reckless financial behavior from happening again.
The D party elite, de facto oligarchs, say nothing about the rapacious econ system. One where devastation of human communities and destruction of ecosystems are defined away as unimportant externalities. They follow the same econ assumptions as the Rs; the Chicago School of Economics, dominant for the last 40 years. Founded by Milton Friedman, who advised the Chilean dictatorship of Pinochet because "democracy interferes with market efficiency." Yet very few, if any, of Chi School theories are based on anything empirical. Like British PM Thatcher, the tactic is just to assert "there are no alternatives." But there are--Keynesianism and the New Deal are proof--and they work! The Vichy D party, collaborators in the destruction, must have FDR spinning in his grave.
“End stage capitalism”….no capacity for empathy
The game 'Monopoly' (with deficit spending by corporate culture added) has come to the part where one player has all of the money and the other players can't afford to participate.
About "deficit" political scare mongering...notice that's never a problem when it's flagrant spending for useless weaponry or corporate bailouts. Only if for the poor, the unemployed, etc. Especially cruel when econ policy for the last 40 years is to control inflation by deliberately maintaining a certain percentage of unemployment. One of the many theoretical assumptions with little, if any, empirical evidence. But the right wing Chicago School of Econ dominates, so what they claim is accepted as gospel by both major parties.
Game over, yes?
It should be! Monopoly the game is very much like "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps." Meant to evoke sympathy for mistreated workers and poor people by showing the impossibility of yanking yourself up when the structures are rigged to keep you down.
The money worshipping know that numberspeak is unlimited and only works because people believe in money and the mathmatical projections of economics. When real life happens, throwing numbers of dollars at the situation won't save the moment, the present U.S. Administration is being very blatant about that.
“End stage capitalism” — nice term.
Jobs? What jobs? You don't need no stinkin' jobs!
Customers? What customers? We don't got no stinkin' customers... Sad.
Time to boycott all the big corporations that are perpetrating this new disaster. Boycott, resist and monkey wrench them whenever possible!
Already cancelled Amazon! On to the next one...
Pay no attention to the AI robot behind the curtain!
There's a better job for you right over here...ummm, right over there...er, somewhere...
Plant a garden
What the executives forget is that AI can easily do their jobs as well. Thus whoever "owns" the firm will be the one reviewing the output - basically big investors and their chosen surrogates. The alternative may well be locally based businesses and a back to simple basics life style.
Isn't it wonderful how the multi billionaires want to replace all of their workers. How will these bozos going to get rich if none of the workers can afford to buy their products because the workers have no income?
If the bots are going to take our jobs then the bots should be paying income taxes. Interest on the national debt is approaching $20 Billion per week. At what point does the debt become unsustainable? Democrats will use a pick and shovel to dig deeper into the debt hole. Republicans will use a backhoe. This should be the lead story every single day. We refuse to tax ourselves at a level sufficient to maintain a modern nation state. Trump's DOGE will see to that. He admires Al Capone and I think he's trying to run the country like an old school protection rackett. Same thing with NATO. God help us.
The scare mongering about deficit spending is mostly an excuse not to fund infrastructure repairs, national healthcare, or programs for the least among us. There's never such talk when it's trillions for wars or 100s of billions to bail out reckless banksters. It's that this array of priorities fits with the right wing Chicago School of Econ, the source for the econ policies of both major parties for the last 40 years. Doesn't matter there is little, if any, empirical evidence for their claims. Or that the Chi School's founder, Milton Friedman, was an advisor to Chile's dictator Pinochet because "democracy interferes with market efficiency."
The federal government is not the same as a family budget. The subject is complex, but the gist is that the government is the source of the money supply, the currency issuer. It spends into the economy. Suppose the U.S. govt spends $100 into the economy but only collects $90 in taxes. The accounting entry is a $10 "deficit," but the govt minus is a $10 plus for someone else in the U.S. economy. Like the jet building company or road construction crew.
Taxes aren't the source for government finance--think about it. Where does the money for paying taxes come from? Taxes create a demand for the currency because people have to work to earn the currency accepted by the government, thus money is put into circulation. Taxes aren't for collecting money per se; government already has the Mint. What govt does need is a military, courts, parks, bridges, highways, research, whatever. Which means paying people to do the work; wages in U.S currency.
The main source for this way of seeing the interconnections of government and the general economy is called Modern Monetary Theory. It seems shocking only because Chi School economic theories are so dominant. Friedman's acolytes have engaged in a sleight of that 'invisible hand,' simply declaring as did Margaret Thatcher "there are no alternatives." There certainly are--and they work. Keynesian and New Deal economics are proof! Furthermore, the outline above about gov-econ is also in the writings of Adam Smith, the founder of the capitalist economics the Chi School econ cabal wants us to believe is exclusively theirs.
God, I hope he follows closely in Capone's footsteps--Capone was finally imprisoned on tax charges. And we STILL HAVEN'T SEEN TRUMP'S.
The national debt should be a much higher priority. The price of pennies and paper dollars have been on my whine list for a decade. I am glad waste is being cut but I don't have much faith in the most bankrupt person on the planet and his evil Bond villain henchman. Sorry to say they are still in love after valentines day.
Re: "national debt"-- read what I just posted below Edward Gardner's comment. MMT.
Like a sci-fi movie, only scarier. Since when have corporate powers cared about mere humans? Maybe, just maybe, humans will be allowed to repair the bots. If we are smart enough to build them, we can learn to manage them. Brave new world? All we need is more brave, and less new. A world without people is no world at all.
Richard Heinlein "When H.A.R.L.I.E. Was One".
How will these displaced humans buy groceries and pay rent?
I asked this in 1969. When they were gearing up for the Brave New World. When I was still in High School. Receiving a top notch education. Which has served me well so far, but won't protect me from chaos engendered by mob rule of psychopathic morons.
The election was manipulated electronically by cyber-criminals.
How many of us remember the coming of automation? 80's or was it 90's The argument was that Americans would have a shorter work week, time to spend in leisurely activities with family,....
What they did not say was the pay check would also drop accordingly Also that goods made overseas would mean lower prices for consumer goods here So here we are more &Mre sliding into poverty And now it's on steroids!
What ever happened to building a consumer base or having a target market? I am paying off and closing out my credit cards, going back to cash in hand, journey to zero. My big problem is how will l be able to continue my Lowdown subscription with no longer having any credit cards?
Use a debit card...from a credit union.
I heard on NPR yesterday about the decline in reading AND reading comprehension, as young people have trouble with keeping attention on any text longer than, say a Sonnet. Reliance on chat gpt/AI writing and responses has dulled wordsmith skills. This cannot be good.
Having had to deal with multiple customer "service" lines that use bots ('m here to help. What can help you with? You can say, "sales, billing, etc. etc. NEVER " WANT TO SPEAK TO A HUMAN BEING," I can only hope that massive pushback from us--we are the only ones who can do it, will have some effect. Not only do I not want to "speak" to a machine, but the whole process involves an endless loop, always returning to"What can I help you with today"
Questions I’ve been asking for a while: 1. What is the carbon footprint to build and power the huge server farms needed for AI to run. 2. What happens when the AI machines decide they no longer need humans to do any living?
Read RUR by Karel Capek, a cautionary play from the 1920s about robots.
I’m guessing that Musk already has an AI bot ready to take over for Trump before the end of his 3nd term
I wonder how the Republican Party is going to feel when history calls them the party that destroyed our country. I weep
They're the worst--outright plutocrats. But they had plenty of help from the Ds. The Dem party was taken over by neolibs in the late '70s. (The term "neoliberal" is not political; it means people who support the econopathic system of trickle up.) The D elite dumped the New Deal and abandoned the majority working class. And by moving rightward, they enabled the Rs to go full on crazy right wing. In the '70s, the Rs still had progressives in office. Now rare even among Ds.
If you doubt this, explain why the Ds are fine with corporate and 1%er donations--whose interests do you think count? The Ds also did FOR the suffering, unemployed Rust Belt/Appalachia same as they did TO the Wall St. vultures who caused the '08 crash-- NOTHING! The same region now leads in what are called 'deaths of despair.' The New Deal era financial regulations, passed because of the 1929 crash and Great Depression, were repealed by Clinton. Which lead to the '08 debacle and bailouts for banksters but not for the many workers who lost jobs, pensions, houses. And no new regulations were enacted to prevent this reckless financial behavior from happening again.
The D party elite, de facto oligarchs, say nothing about the rapacious econ system. One where devastation of human communities and destruction of ecosystems are defined away as unimportant externalities. They follow the same econ assumptions as the Rs; the Chicago School of Economics, dominant for the last 40 years. Founded by Milton Friedman, who advised the Chilean dictatorship of Pinochet because "democracy interferes with market efficiency." Yet very few, if any, of Chi School theories are based on anything empirical. Like British PM Thatcher, the tactic is just to assert "there are no alternatives." But there are--Keynesianism and the New Deal are proof--and they work! The Vichy D party, collaborators in the destruction, must have FDR spinning in his grave.