There's a lot of talk about inflation and its causes. Is it corporate greed? Supply chain issues? One clear base cause of inflation less talked about is having an inflationary currency supply. Any other inflation caused by supply chain issues, corporate greed, lack of market competition, etc is just added on top of that. Fiat...
yes, this is true. no, this isn't why wages haven't kept up with productivity growth or why you must work 40 hours to sustain yourself. you have to work because profit earned must increase and paying you even one iota more than you need to be able to show up to work again tomorrow is a loss of profit. if they could make you work 80 hours a week or 160, they would in heartbeat.
thankfully, this is outlawed because labor movements of the past fought to enshrine in law a limit on how much you can be forced to work and set a minimum bar for how much they can pay you. these laws are under fire - I explore why in the rest of this reply - and will be repealed eventually if labor does not resist collectively.
however, the rate of profit always decreases on a long enough timescale because of dead labor (technology, machines, etc), inter-capitalist competition - capitalists will steal profit from each other if there's more to be had - and because infinite growth is impossible so eventually externalities will always overcome the creation of new capital.
consequently, capital accumulates in the hands of the capital-owning class - an ever-shrinking group of them, at that - and this continues until you, the worker, make so little that you cannot actually show up to work the next day - the loss of social reproduction. reproduction here doesn't only refer to progeny but also feeding, clothing, housing, etc. yourself and your family, the meeting of the basic necessities that allow you to continue working, including your health - physical and mental. capital eternally strives to reduce what it must subsidize on your behalf as ensuring you can take better care of yourself reduces profits. a capitalist that makes more profit outcompetes and drives out of business all others who choose to make less profit, eventually.
this is also why capitalism has cyclical recessions, a fact predicted in the 1870s and termed crises of capitalism, when capital has accumulated in too few hands, profit can no longer be made, and workers struggle to feed themselves. you're just noticing Marx's second law - the law of capital accumulation.
The United States’ poverty rate experienced its largest one-year jump on record last year, with the rate among children more than doubling from 2021’s historic low of 5.2 percent to 12.4 percent according to new numbers from the US Census Bureau out today. They’re the latest data to reflect the devastating effects...
At the sentencing hearings for the five Proud Boys convicted for some of the most serious crimes related to the January 6 insurrection, the crocodile tears were flowing. Perhaps hoping for mercy from the Donald Trump-appointed federal judge, Timothy Kelly, one member of the neo-fascist gang after another claimed to have seen the...
you should read how the republicans plan to avoid congress in order to accomplish their aims the next time they seize the white house. and also how fast the dems are moving right on trans issues.
A recent USA Today/Suffolk University poll found that 80 percent of voters oppose a federal abortion ban, including 65 percent of Republicans. And what’s more, their base knows that’s exactly what their party is trying to do. Another poll from Navigator found that a majority of voters also “believe it is likely that...
it’s not about right or wrong – it’s about power. the Republicans understand that and the Democrats are doing their best to hide that fact from their constituents. you’re not going to convince anyone on the right with moral arguments.
it’s just further evidence that the rot in the economy is reaching a critical point. either some socdems push through reforms so the system can limp on or we’ll hit the 3 days of missed meals tipping point.
Historically, Iraq and other countries in the Middle East were not as homophobic as they are today. Rather, the Ottoman empire – part of which would later become present-day Iraq – was relatively permissive of homosexuality, particularly if it was kept out of the public eye.
Five House Democrats led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York wrote to the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, to demand a federal investigation of the conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, over his acceptance of undeclared gifts from billionaire rightwing donors....
James O’Keefe, the founder and until this past February CEO of the right-wing nonprofit Project Veritas, is currently under investigation by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office....
The not-so-secret fact about America’s economic “success” over the past 40 years is that its gains have been exceedingly unevenly distributed in favor of the country’s wealthiest. Accustomed as they are to sustaining and increasing their economic gains at the expense of America’s workers, any marginal change that...
did they leave the headlines? I’m pretty sure they’ve been there the whole time.
also, never forget that the “national solvency” concept is itself a product of austerity politics. if the US government wants to keep social programs funded, it can do so with no negative consequences, even if taxes don’t go up.
Considering how rapidly the right’s “war on woke” is expanding, it was perhaps inevitable: Self-identified “mama bears” on a Texas school board are angry that a classroom had a poster showing people of different races holding hands. Last week, the school board in Conroe, Texas, a small city north of Houston, turned the...
“Dungan referred to a first grade student whose parent claimed they were so upset by a poster showing hands of people of different races, that they transferred classrooms.”
not unless the Ds suddenly decide they want to fight back and pack the court or something. barring that, the right has a majority on the court for the next generation.
We shouldn't have to work 40 hours a week to afford a basic life. We do because our currency is constantly losing value. This is by design.
There's a lot of talk about inflation and its causes. Is it corporate greed? Supply chain issues? One clear base cause of inflation less talked about is having an inflationary currency supply. Any other inflation caused by supply chain issues, corporate greed, lack of market competition, etc is just added on top of that. Fiat...
Child poverty in the United States just more than doubled. You can thank Joe Manchin. ( www.motherjones.com )
The United States’ poverty rate experienced its largest one-year jump on record last year, with the rate among children more than doubling from 2021’s historic low of 5.2 percent to 12.4 percent according to new numbers from the US Census Bureau out today. They’re the latest data to reflect the devastating effects...
Why the Proud Boys' sentences matter: They're scaring the rest of MAGA straight ( www.salon.com )
At the sentencing hearings for the five Proud Boys convicted for some of the most serious crimes related to the January 6 insurrection, the crocodile tears were flowing. Perhaps hoping for mercy from the Donald Trump-appointed federal judge, Timothy Kelly, one member of the neo-fascist gang after another claimed to have seen the...
The GOP has a master plan to criminalize LGBTQ people ( www.damemagazine.com )
Some quotes:...
Republicans Are Wrong on Abortion—and They Know It ( www.thenation.com )
A recent USA Today/Suffolk University poll found that 80 percent of voters oppose a federal abortion ban, including 65 percent of Republicans. And what’s more, their base knows that’s exactly what their party is trying to do. Another poll from Navigator found that a majority of voters also “believe it is likely that...
Over half of Americans say they're not even close to financial freedom ( scrippsnews.com )
About 36% of U.S. adults say they have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts....
Landlords should have to pay income tax on their rental properties regardless of whether they're rented out or not. ( gothamist.com )
cross-posted from: lemmy.crimedad.work/post/12162...
Iraq is considering the death penalty for LGBTQ+ people - and you can thank the British for that ( www.thecanary.co )
edited: to put entire article in body of post, instead of just beginning & end....
AOC leads call for federal ethics investigation into Clarence Thomas ( www.theguardian.com )
Five House Democrats led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York wrote to the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, to demand a federal investigation of the conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, over his acceptance of undeclared gifts from billionaire rightwing donors....
James O’Keefe Is Now Under Investigation for Looting Project Veritas ( www.thenation.com )
James O’Keefe, the founder and until this past February CEO of the right-wing nonprofit Project Veritas, is currently under investigation by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office....
Inflation Is Falling. So Why Are the Fiscal Austerians Back in the Headlines? ( www.thenation.com )
The not-so-secret fact about America’s economic “success” over the past 40 years is that its gains have been exceedingly unevenly distributed in favor of the country’s wealthiest. Accustomed as they are to sustaining and increasing their economic gains at the expense of America’s workers, any marginal change that...
Newest "anti-woke" tantrum: Right-wingers don't think kids of different races can be friends ( www.salon.com )
Considering how rapidly the right’s “war on woke” is expanding, it was perhaps inevitable: Self-identified “mama bears” on a Texas school board are angry that a classroom had a poster showing people of different races holding hands. Last week, the school board in Conroe, Texas, a small city north of Houston, turned the...