Lanhdanan
110994
2589
37
Dec 20, 2022 1:06 PM
Lanhdanan
110994
2589
37
IamMadeOfShamrocks
Tip of the iceberg baby. Read Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky and Ed Herman. Or check out the vids on YouTube.
Blabulus
Putting up with a little inconvenience so your fellow man can live decently is what the christmas spirit really is!
davethesailor
Goes to show you that press is bought and paid for. You won't get the truth delivered by your paper boy.
rantsaboutpants
Revenue isn't the correct measuring stick though, what percentage of that is going to the workers? What percent is profit?
B4Ctom1
It's worse than that, the railroads are the cause of a lot of the inflation and fuel price increases. Proof: https://youtu.be/P7EFCIOwexg
path0sMathos
It's simply barely in the news cycle at all
cyounghmfce
I like to remember this period as the f*ck around period. The find out period is where there is a massive walkout and 1/3 of good stop movin
SiriSinger
The economy is billionaires. They just don’t say that.
Starfury42
Biden fucked up on this. Should have told the rail companies "You can afford this - or we can raise taxes on your profits."
marihikari
Won't somebody please think of the economy?!!
trippingthelightfantastic
BootsDusty
TheRedCat13
Maybe it’s poor word choice but revenue includes the money used to pay workers etc. I assume they mean profits?
Hurch
yep
FartPoweredPogoStick
*oligarchy.
stopdoggybarking3
That’s ‘we raked in’ the whole network is publicly owned but run by ‘private companies so we’re the shareholders. Coordinated strikes?
ArkoneAxon
Our culture has a very messed up definition of "hero." Someone who was volunteered without their consent, forced to suffer and endure, then>
ArkoneAxon
abandoned and ignored by those who benefited. "Heroes! They're HEROES! Praise them... then ignore them so we can get back to business."
DoIactuallyneedaUserName
The Rich need their new Yachts…
Eskieguy
The only argument I have with that statement, is it doesn't tell us how much profit. Revenue means nothing if they're breaking even.
Shnowonlymemes
Yeah, this is super important. The revenue is irrelevant if they didn't make money, and framing it this way is deliberately misleading.
michaelfire
1885 NYPD 1st Superintendent became a millionaire, US back to oligarchy https://time.com/4384963/nypd-scandal-history/ 1/
michaelfire
https://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us-is-an-oligarchy-2014-4
mardukkur
What rail strike? Nobody's striking.
TheN8
This is the UK. Rail workers ARE striking over Xmas. Support striking workers ✊️✊️
mardukkur
Ah ok, US rail strike was averted.
KEbmeistergeneral
*made illegal by corporate millionaires. Fixed it for u
mardukkur
That's not what happened.
KEbmeistergeneral
So millions of dollars didn't pour into elected officials accounts as they prepared to vote on wether the workers are allowed to strike?
blaghart
Reminder that Biden and the Dems passed a law making striking illegal for rail workers and gave them LITERALLY NONE of their demands.
leadinurface
I thought this as well, but it is def more complicated than that, congress/biden forced the 4/12 unions that had not agreed to the contract
blaghart
the 4/12 unions represent 86% of the union employees. So yes, Biden and the Dems literally fucked over workers.
leadinurface
To accept the contract. So 8/12 unions had already agreed. So the strikes would have happened with 2/3s majority against striking.
leadinurface
Not saying it is good or bad (I hate it) but biden didn't make striking illegal, they made 2/3 majority enough for the contract to go throug
leadinurface
If I explained that badly or incorrectly, please correct me! <3
pangolinx
I don't disagree with the sentiment, but $27b in revenue is meaningless and therefore deceptive. The right metric to look at is profits.
Curryfrenchfries
To get a proper look we'd need to see all of their books in that light. The whole picture is important when they're saying there's no room >
Curryfrenchfries
To pay labor fairly. Expenditures typically cooked for tax purposes etc. Revenue is important for "you had it where'd it go?"
Curryfrenchfries
Because the laborers are the ones who made it for you.
Curryfrenchfries
If my roommate says they can't pay rent, but they had it and spent it on drugs, their profits are meaningless in my argument.
pangolinx
I don't think imgur comments is a good place to talk through this but I agree with the general sentiment of prioritizing workers, although /
PoliticalWanderer
1) Rich people know unions work, because they're all in a union to tilt tax and employment law in their favor. That's why they and their
PoliticalWanderer
2) companies want to squish unions as hard as possible, the last thing they need is the poors using methods that work against them.
ShitIcantthinkofausernameagain
Yes what we need is to form more unions run by educated people, organize strikes and protests
KillerTofu69
When they frame it as "if they strike, it'll ruin the economy" I'm thinking, they're THAT crucial and your fighting them on paid sick days?
KillerTofu69
The answer is don't let them strike. If they're that important to the economy, give them what they want and you won't have a problem.
IMayNotKnowWhatIAmTalkingAbout
But what about rich peoples yacht money?
pandemicmodedad
Or have the president reclassify them as slaves.
ArkoneAxon
This. I'm genuinely curious to see what will happen if they do strike. Will the Biden administration send in the military like before?
itsko
"I'll take plutocracy for $100, ALEC."
Keeperofthe7keys
https://delong.typepad.com/plutonomy-1.pdf
itsko
Could there be more smarmy hubris in the radical financial theory posed by a bank that the wealthy should run the economy..
itsko
"The earth is being held up by the muscular arms of its entrepreneur-plutocrats, like it, or not."
FuckmotheringxVampire
In the US, the rail lines get special status pretty much across the board because of how essential the system is. While most people would
FuckmotheringxVampire
See that as a good reason to expand said system as much as nessasary, the powers that be like being the powers that be so ?♂️
ThatDamnChickenAgain
Every service this essential is basically a utility and should be run by the government.
FuckmotheringxVampire
Don't you bring rationality into this, there are profits to be made!
afatrollofmyown
Internet, energy, medical care + insurance, housing, rails, etc.
Voidhawk42
My proposal: nationalise one of everything. Others are free to compete, but there should be a gov run one to set a baseline.
ArdentSlacker
Not a great idea. There's multiple conflicts of interest there, and the private ones will always violate laws to increase short term profit.
vegivamp
Pretty good idea of implemented well. It's why France has had decent internet connectivity everywhere for decades.
Voidhawk42
Private ones getting away with law breaking is an entirely different issue - one that is rampant under the current system anyway.
SilentHowling
humans are the problem unfortunately. Set bounties to reduce invasive wildlife. Humans create farms to breed the wildlife for money 1/2
SilentHowling
Politicians' that own corporations have been kneecapping government services to lie that privatization reduces cost for decades 2/?
SilentHowling
A government baseline? Too easy to setup for failure. 3/3
Immaletchufinishbutno
Possible, but I'd imagine "experts" they hire would kneecap the gov one so the private looks more appealing. Gov can't pay leadership $$$$$
Voidhawk42
Step 1 of any planned improvement is "keep conservative pyschos away", preferably by jail or execution, but settle for conviscation of power
Immaletchufinishbutno
That's right wing talk, my friend. Any calls for execution puts you in risk of convincing people like me to go against you.