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Who could have forseen the woes of capitalism? (lemmy.zip)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/memes@lemmy.ml
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[–] 90 points 2 years ago (14 children)

, we’ve decided as a society that even global leaders, scientists and life saving doctors who do the most important work don’t earn that much.

The US doesn't even pay the President $1 million a year salary. Arguably the most powerful person in the world isn't even considered a millionaire status job. And yet we allow shitfuckers like Elon to scam their way into hundreds of billions. It really says that the majority of Americans are A-OK with scams and cutthroat tactics representing them.

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  • [–] 82 points 2 years ago (10 children)

    We're at the point where the Pentagon needs to check with Elon Musk before making decisions because he personally controls 50% of the satellites in orbit and if he feels offended he can prevent the US, and anyone else, from using them. He can single handedly turn the tides of war. He's undoubtedly more powerful than the US president. He's unelected and has zero accountability. Why are we all ok with this??

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  • [–] 39 points 2 years ago

    Because these oil railroad tech barons have been good for the economy and therefore the growth of the United States, and no one wanted to stop one while there was still more money to be made and now it's late and gonna be an uphill battle to undo.

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  • [–] 28 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    The fact that the DoD hasn't seized control of Starlink as a national security asset is insane. They could even pay him a fair market price for the company and keep all the employees on. Just appoint government personnel at the highest levels to ensure it stays online.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    That's not a good solution either. The government seizing assets from private citizens isn't cool. That's oppressive. But the government should have built that network with our tax dollars, not given our tax dollars to a private citizen to build and keep all the profits from. I'm not saying he should retain control, but I am saying he should have never been given control.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago* (4 children)

    The government seizing assets from private citizens isn’t cool.

    It’s very good and cool.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    It would be very good and cool under a socialist state, but not in the US currently and I'll explain my reasoning. In the US, nationalization represents the transfer of an enterprise from a single capitalist firm to the capitalist class as a whole via the state. Nationalization can bring benefits to both the working and capitalist classes, but ultimately the workers are still being exploited by the state for private profits instead of social ends. When an enterprise is nationalized by a capitalist state, the former owners are usually generously compensated with state bonds bearing a fixed rate of interest; this enables them to continue to exploit the workers involved at a rate of profit now guaranteed by the state. The class struggle continues, but but it is now necessary for the workers to struggle not against a single private management but against the capitalist state in its entirety. This is one of the reasons why Mussolini and Hitler heaped praise on FDR for his New Deal policies. They did a lot of good for people during the depression, but they also were market interventionist in a way that put a lot of corporate control in the hands of the capitalist state.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    I won’t nitpick and just say that you’re mostly right. Nationalization within the imperial core has only ever provided small, temporary relief for a labor aristocracy that benefits from imperial super-profits.

    Nationalizations outside of the imperial core is a move toward independence from the imperialist states, so it’s much more significant. So significant that the imperial core may try for regime change to claw those resources back.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    You don't need to earn a million dollars per year to be a millionaire. The president gets a salary of $400k per year and has literally all of their expenses paid for, including room, board, maid service, butlers, cars, airfare, clothing, medical care, etc. They serve for 4-8 years, and they receive compensation for life. It doesn't take long to become a millionaire in that scenario. There are no US presidents that aren't millionaires.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The context of that quote is a little lost, because these days with inflation and housing prices, just owning your own home probably makes you a millionaire.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    I think you meant to reply to my other response where I quoted William Jennings Bryan. If so, you're right, the number has changed. $1M in 1896 is the equivalent of $36.5M today. But it certainly applies to billionaires, and we were talking about them, so I felt that it was relevant.

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