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[DeepEnigma]

This thread took a larger, but semi-expected turn. My question to you, Rentahamster , is...now what?

I've seen that video above before. I know about all of the things you and DeepEnigma are discussing since years ago about big corps. A lot of people here do too.

The issue I have now is the issue I've had back then: Some people who say these things will point out all of the problems, and then give out zero solutions. I agree with J jason10mm 's questioning on this.

I don't really see a tangible solution at this state other than a scorched earth collapse or a "great rest." Now where have I heard the latter before? Hmmm.

 

[jason10mm]

I don't think it needs to be scorched earth. Just a reasonable look at what is "too big" and force these megacorps to divest interests or fragment. We did it with Ma Bell back in the day and we all kept the ability to make phone calls. The US can find a balance between over-regulations that stifle innovation and risk and preventing exploitation of workers or consumers with shady business or labor practices.

For me, the real issue is that globalization of corporations is a mistake. Getting raw materials in Africa, machining them in China, assembling them in Vietnam, packaging them in Mexico, and then distributing them in the US all under one umbrella is too much. While it's nice that I can buy a set of silverware for $5 at walmart, SHOULD I really want that level of globalization if it also means that no one can really account for the environmental impact of that process or just how many slave states must exist to run it? What I see is really a race to the bottom in terms of quality, longevity, and sustainability, leveraged by megacorp political influence and no way for new systems to come up because the business atmosphere is stifling. Google works with amazon to drive search results in a closed loop, apple almost exists in parallel to the rest of us in the tech space, everything I see, read, or watch is really piped to me from just a few sources masked as diversity.

The cyberpunk dystopia isn't pink mohawks, rad cybernetic limbs, and hacking ATMs with black ice, it's wallowing on a couch, getting multi-ethnic food delivered from the same black kitchen, watching 5 streaming services all fed by the same studio, and getting pummeled with online tweets generated by the same AI.

 

[Victor Omega]

If you can't beat em,
If you can make an original content,

Merge em

 

[Rentahamster]

This thread took a larger, but semi-expected turn. My question to you, Rentahamster Rentahamster , is...now what?

If the next 20 years is anything like the last 20 years, or the 20 years before that, then now we are content to live under the same status quo that has us living in the greatest era of prosperity in humanity's history that distracts us from our boiling frogs.

The issue I have now is the issue I've had back then: Some people who say these things will point out all of the problems, and then give out zero solutions.

I gave broad based answers because it's easy to point out what doesn't work but difficult to really craft a solution that is going to fix things without breaking it in the process. Like I said in my first post, this is the world we live in when it's more beneficial for a company to become a monopoly and force their products onto consumers while laying off redundant staff rather than to make better products. Why is it like that? Because the laws that are in place to protect from that and the politicians in place to serve as a check on private power have been eroded over time. Why is that? Because it is better for a politician's future to serve the needs of the donor class because that's where a lot of his or her money is coming from. Why is that? Because there is little check on the amount of money that corporations can spend on a politician. Why is that? Because politicians learned that if they can write the campaign finance laws to allow for that, they can get more money.

To recap, monopolies are in the corporations' best interests, but not the general public's best interests. We learned this lesson in the late 1800s and enacted powerful anti-trust laws, but the last 100 years have given corporations enough time to pay for the right kinds of politicians to make the laws favorable to them now. Since many politicians get their money from private/corporate influence rather than the general public, they care more about the corporations' best interests instead of the general public's.

Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core

Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens - Volume 12 Issue 3

www.cambridge.org

Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.

What are the solutions? I have no idea. We can try things that will put a wrench in the current misaligned interests, but it's hard to reform a corrupt system when we rely on the beneficiaries of said corruption to enact that reform. I can suggest trying to outlaw super PACs or mandate more public campaign financing, but no one's going to do that. I can suggest implementing ranked choice voting rather than our current system in order to mitigate the "spoiler affect" but no one's going to do that. I can suggest forcing candidates to debate if they want to be considered for the ballot and also including minor third parties, but no one's going to do that. I can suggest larger barriers for mergers, more strict anti-competition laws, more penalties for outsourcing, and more benefits for hiring and manufacturing in America, but no one's going to do that. I can suggest wasting less money on the military, and a for-profit draconian prison industrial complex while investing in areas like child care, education, health care, and bailouts for the people, but no one's going to do that.

What the public is going to do is bask in the relative comfort of the status quo and eat shit and like it.

 

[DKehoe]

 

[Drew1440]

Media consolidation continues. Soon we'll be down to just 3 corporations owning 90% of the American media. This is one reason why the thoughts of ordinary people are so tightly controlled in the US

Isnt that already the case? Blackrock and Vanguard own shares in a lot of companies.

 

[ReBurn]

Lina save us

 

[juliushandle]

this goes through then it's Apple buying Disney

 

[Victor Omega]

Majority of consumers encourage merger. Everyone who is against mergers and feel it stagnants competition and new content, myself Included, are adult the minority

 

[Mr Hyde]

Three shit companies merging together to form one gigantic

 

[ADiTAR]

They should merge and renamed themselves, DP.

 

[Rentahamster]

This thread took a larger, but semi-expected turn. My question to you, Rentahamster , is...now what?

I've seen that video above before. I know about all of the things you and DeepEnigma are discussing since years ago about big corps. A lot of people here do too.

The issue I have now is the issue I've had back then: Some people who say these things will point out all of the problems, and then give out zero solutions. I agree with J jason10mm 's questioning on this.

Usually I don't bug other users for updates, but you asked me specifically and I took 5 minutes to think about and write you an answer. Are you satisfied with my answer or does that still leave you unfulfilled?

 

[March Climber]

Usually I don't bug other users for updates, but you asked me specifically and I took 5 minutes to think about and write you an answer. Are you satisfied with my answer or does that still leave you unfulfilled?

I did read your answer back then and decided not to reply, not only because you won't like my response, but also because your answer amounted to: There's pretty much nothing that can be done.

That response doesn't help the average TV/Movie watcher like me and if anything it would just lead me down the doom-scrolling/conspiracy path of looking at hundreds of problems with zero solutions. I've been in that stage of life, and it's easy to be stuck there getting more and more upset at bigger entities that I as one random guy in a big pond, have no say so or stake in. Instead, I'll continue to do what I've been doing and do some research and look up smaller organizations, movements, and ventures to see who's attempting to make meaningful changes in this space and many others, to see how I can assist in a more local way. To me that feels more fulfilling even if the changes take years to implement. Also I still feel that J jason10mm made the best points in regards to everything that was discussed.

 

[The Stig]

I swear all this consolidation.

Its like in Deus Ex or cyberpunk. Everything is going to fall under a few megacorps, we wont have nations, just corporations.

 

[Rentahamster]

I did read your answer back then and decided not to reply, not only because you won't like my response, but also because your answer amounted to: There's pretty much nothing that can be done.

That response doesn't help the average TV/Movie watcher like me and if anything it would just lead me down the doom-scrolling/conspiracy path of looking at hundreds of problems with zero solutions. I've been in that stage of life, and it's easy to be stuck there getting more and more upset at bigger entities that I as one random guy in a big pond, have no say so or stake in. Instead, I'll continue to do what I've been doing and do some research and look up smaller organizations, movements, and ventures to see who's attempting to make meaningful changes in this space and many others, to see how I can assist in a more local way. To me that feels more fulfilling even if the changes take years to implement. Also I still feel that J jason10mm made the best points in regards to everything that was discussed.

Perhaps I wasn't as clear as I could have been in my post, but you did ask for solutions and I did give them to you, but with the caveat that the entrenched establishment interests are probably too big to overcome at this point. I'm not sure why you think I won't like your response, as I appreciate what you wrote and value your feedback. It's good that you want to elicit positive change in your local environment, since that is where we can have the most influence, proportionally speaking. Few of us ever get to a point of relevancy or power where we can change things on a national scale all by ourselves.

Do you think J jason10mm 's argument is fundamentally different than mine? Unless I'm misunderstanding what he wrote, he's generally making the same overall points that I am - increased regulation of these giant multinational corporations so that they serve more of the public interest is probably necessary to counteract the last 80 years of propaganda that worldwide free market capitalism cranked up to 11 is always a good thing no exceptions.