A nation can enrich it's elites in the short term at the expense of its people, or it can invest in its people (education, commons, etc) at the expense of its elites.

The west, and especially my cesspool the US has made its choice.

China has been heavily building up its commons and infrastructure in the same 40 year span the US has let its commons and education fall into utter ruin in order to sell economically segregated education and gated communities for private profit.

The US is culturally indoctrinated to be hostile towards the very concept of society. Imagine resenting paying into universal healthcare because you don't want to accidentally pay for your countrymen's "bad decisions" like... Eating food.

I go on Rednote quite a bit. The US attitude towards China, just like non pure crony capitalism is "they are evil and from hell" for being a society. Their people, not their politicians, their people, are sweet, intelligent, and mostly treat Americans with an "are you guys OK? We've heard (true) horror stories."

Thats humanity. Why would I want my schaudenfreude and greed ruled cesspool to "win?" It's not about winning, it's about the wellbeing of ALL your people. If the US dominates the world culturally, all that would mean is that humanity stands for "fuck you I got mine" at which point I have no comradery with my species whatsoever.

Actual human worth/value is measured in empathy for one another, which makes the US destitude in what matters.

As an American, I hope his presidential guard at least killed some of us.

It does cap the wildest, antisocial forms of success that are insane excess.

Progressive taxation should mean you can never gain enough power, which capital is, to warp your society with power beyond your single vote, whether that power is expressed through direct bribery, lobbying, or mass media propaganda to try to trick your fellow citizens into voting and advocating against their own interests with your booming, capital powered voice that drowns out those you disagree with merely because you've exploited more capital into your private account than others.

I don't see any shame, horror, or problem with putting a hard cap on how much an individual can accumulate, as other people live here too.

Despite what Elon Musk believes, this whole planet shouldn't be his personal playground, but that's what it means to become a trillionaire, entire governments will bow at your feet. That's perverse. No unelected, unaccountable individual should hold so much power, unless humanity wants to live in a hell of its own making.

Ooh I am a social justice thief and agent of karma.

I used to deliver home medical equipment for a decade. Oxygen machines, hospital beds and the like.

I'd short the rich patient's supplies and give the always bitter and entitled fucks the oldest, loudest equipment, and give the extra and the nice, small, most portable and dependable equipment to the most destitute, who were always the nicest and unlike the patients in affluent towers would always offer me tips I'd always choose to decline.

When the rich fucks called to complain "their machine is too noisy" I'd always tell the management that explicitly told us to give the worst equipment to medicaid patients I gave them the best machine in my van, lol.

It wasn't much, but I'm very proud of that time in my life. Honestly I feel like I did more good in the world in that job than I did as a therapist. I made the lives of the elderly poor of the city I live in significantly easier and more manageable off the backs of the elderly wealthy, who often then went and private paid for their own brand new oxygen machines (that were the same models I'd given to their poor counterparts) anyway.

Welcome to the party, pals!

This is why I'm a dog person.

Cats bitch and moan when you disturb their routine.

Dogs are just happy to be interacted with.

I've seen cat owners waste half a dozen cans of food finding out what their cat is in the mood for that night. Cats just seem like another source of highly conditional affection. Might as well just go be social at that point.

Exactly.

It's not accusing the being gay of fucking them up, it's accusing the unhealthy repression.

I mean, in my perfect world the people would unite and burn the capital markets that have brought us to this place to cinder, and have a people's tribunal bring justice to the former largest stakeholders.

That could begin to right this ship, and really nothing short of that.

But I know they'd use their media to get us burning down each other's homes looong before we get to Wall Street, so I know we're irrevocably cooked. What do you propose that could conceivably circumvent all the soft and hard protections they've put in place?

🔔🔔🔔 We have a winner

I mean, that's just forming a gang, which I consider American police to simply be the largest and most well resourced of, a state sanctioned gang of gleefully violent thugs, unlike police in the developed world.

The US, it bears repeating captured by our capital markets, keeps most Americans on a paycheck to paycheck knives edge for that very reason. The ones most inclined to strike are the ones that have the most to lose by striking.

You're asking tens of millions of people to lose the roof over their heads for a very uncertain outcome.

The sad reality is that the capitalist bastards have their bases covered. Not surprising considering their effectively limiltess capital and the generational grudge the wealth class has over the formation of unions here to begin with.

"Communism has killed trillions of people!"

Meanwhile... in an American tent city or under your nearest American freeway...