The problem we have with managing our economies effectively is gross misunderstanding as to the nature of #currency and #taxation, why they exist, and how they ought to function.
It is not the rate which is so important as upon *what* we actually levy taxes.
#Taxes should not fall upon productive effort or #capital investment, but should be levied solely upon fixed resources which rightfully belong to all, the ownership and monopolization of which enables #rentseeking.
"Lesson 1: There’s no such thing as a free lunch
Then: In the early 2020s, a series of cyberattacks linked to Russia, China and Iran left the federal government reeling. The Biden administration called on major tech companies to help the U.S. bolster its defenses. In response, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pledged to give the government $150 million in technical services to help upgrade its digital security. It also offered a “free” security upgrade for government customers.
Now: Last year, the Trump administration announced a raft of agreements with tech companies that were meant to help federal agencies “purchase enterprise AI tools at government-friendly pricing.” Agencies could use OpenAI’s ChatGPT for $1. Google’s Gemini for 47 cents. Grok by xAI for 42 cents. The administration hoped that the low-cost pricing would make it “easier for federal teams to acquire powerful AI capabilities … to enhance mission delivery and operational efficiency.”
The takeaway: Be wary of freebies. Our investigation into Microsoft’s seemingly straightforward commitment revealed a more complex, profit-driven agenda. After installing the upgrades, federal customers would be effectively locked in, because shifting to a competitor after the free trial would be cumbersome and costly. At that point, the customer would have little choice but to pay for the higher subscription fees. The plan worked: One former Microsoft salesperson told me “it was successful beyond what any of us could have imagined.”
(...)
Agencies looking to buy AI tools at discounted rates today must consider how the costs might balloon down the road. The General Services Administration warns that AI “usage costs can grow quickly without proper monitoring and management controls” and advises agencies to “set usage limits and regularly review consumption reports.”"
https://www.propublica.org/article/federal-government-ai-cautionary-tales
#USA #FederalGovernment #BigTech #CyberSecurity #Microsoft #RentSeeking #LockIn
We’ve been reporting on cybersecurity for years. As President Donald Trump and his Cabinet say artificial intelligence will transform the nation, the messaging isn’t new. It follows a familiar pattern.
100% support destroying robots that are used to replace humans for the sole benefit of #rentseeking #neoliberalism #neofeudalism. #Technology should be used to enhance human #productivity not replace it.
Delivery services might not seem like an important or pretigious form of #employment, but it's a job that should be treated with #dignity and paid a #LivingWage.
If you don't understand how #money #currency and #economics actually work, they are worth studying.
The reason why our economy is so stagnant and fragile is because #rentseeking is extracting so much of our productivity that end users are sacrificing their futures to pay the demands of rentseekers today, just to stay alive and viable.
Something has to give. Savings have plummeted, debt has ballooned, essential costs of living have skyrocketed, due to the rapacious avarice of the #ownership class, the neo #aristocracy.
People are now commonly paying over 50% of their wages in housing costs. …
@wyatt_h_knott It's the ultimate expression of "the ownership society". #Ownership is a license to print money via #rentseeking.
When you own everything, you can charge for everything, and the only real competition you have is other rentseekers who are looking to maximize their extraction rates.
It's why gullible right wing voters view #immigration as competition, and not as cooperation.
You will own nothing, and the #aristocracy will be happy.
Over the past fifty years, the U.S. economy built a giant rent-extraction layer on top of human limitations: things take time, patience runs out, brand familiarity substitutes for diligence, and most people are willing to accept a bad price to avoid more clicks. Trillions of dollars of enterprise value depended on those constraints persisting. – Citrini Research
The Last Gasps of the Rent Seeking Class
#HackerNews #RentSeeking #Class #TheEconomy #Innovation #Disruption #EconomicJustice
Over the past fifty years, the U.S. economy built a giant rent-extraction layer on top of human limitations: things take time, patience runs out, brand familiarity substitutes for diligence, and most people are willing to accept a bad price to avoid more clicks. Trillions of dollars of enterprise value depended on those constraints persisting. – Citrini Research
' You'll find buildings like this all over the place. A building like this could get filled if the goal was higher occupancy rates, but that's not the primary goal.
The system isn't collapsing, it's financializing, and that changes how the market behaves; it can make it seem nonsensical from the perspective of the renter because none of the goals are really for the renter. '
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9L12HUuI40
#urbanism #housing #rentseeking #PoliticalEconomy #LandValueTax #LVT #Economics #monopoly
@Misofist that is by design!
Because the people behind #ValueRemoving & #RentSeeking proprietary tech like #HEVC want to shaft consumers and manufacturers for #licensing money, because that's how their business ROI's itself!
I just wished #AV1 would have feature parity in that regard…
Gemma Seymour
Miguel Afonso Caetano
Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐
N-gated Hacker News
Hacker News
Bruce Simpson, Ph.D.
Kevin Karhan 