Lesley Carhart 
I think about this, a lot. Even in the case of prison labor and indentured corporate servitude, the market for even small luxuries basically gets destroyed.
morb@hacks4pancakes societal collapse is inevitable
Eric McCorkle@hacks4pancakes my money's on stupidity and myopia.
One thing I learned in ivy league, finance, etc. is that the legacy admission, unpaid internship affording, getting jobs by mommy/daddy's network social class is really, really... REALLY stupid.
Florian Idelberger@hacks4pancakes I just read parable of the sower by Octavia butler and her world is probably a good example. Especially as it seems (is alluded to) not all countries suffer the same breakdown. So supposedly Canadian or other companies f e produce cheap goods using Californian indentured servants / debt slave labor.
maswan@hacks4pancakes I used to have a mental model of right-wing economical theory being geared towards maximizing profits from and creating new companies like GE, Ford, etc - but I couldn't get it to match what policies were actually made.
When readjusting this mental model as striving towards classic English landed gentry with a servant class totally dependent on their every whim for survival, it started to match better.
Personal power over others, not GDP or even stock gains.
schrotthaufen@hacks4pancakes The cynical part of me thinks this is part of the strategy to manifest fascism. A couple years ago, there was a small scandal (saying the quiet part loud) involving something a dude from the AfD said. “The AfD is better off, the worse Germany fares.” (Inaccurate translation from memory.)
Michael Olsen@hacks4pancakes greed is inherently blind and selfish...
Scruffy looking packet herder@hacks4pancakes This is explained nicely in Sorry To Bother You.
Earthworm 🐌Is this a book or what?
Fear and Tooting in Las Vegas@hacks4pancakes Por que no los dos, and all that.
Simon BitdiddleIt's because everything is an externality to them; it's like how people can be fully employed by Walmart and still have to be on food stamps.
Walmart doesn't have to take up the slack by raising their pay, it's someone else's money.
They fully believe that there'll always be a marketplace for their products because someone else's company is paying a customer/client wages and they don't have to worry about their own employees.
Martin Seeger@hacks4pancakes There is no concept for an endgame. They perceive the world totally different than we do. They treat it as if there is always more money to earn, more resources to mine, more customers. They do not believe in boundaries....
The 500 Hats of LambdaCalculus@hacks4pancakes What we seriously need to do is wheel guillotines into boardrooms and point at everyone around the table.
Parade du Grotesque 💀There is no "end point".
There is no grand project, or grand conspiracy.
These people are complete idiots, psychopaths at best.
Yes, they do not see anything beyond the next quarter results.
I am absolutely, 100% serious.
@ParadeGrotesque I am certainly willing to believe it, but I think this needs to be said out loud!
Say it with me: CEOs are just lucky psychopaths who happened to be in the right place, at the right time.
Most rich people just inherited their wealth.
Both categories of people above are usually dumb as bricks.
Seize the means of production and impose democracy and the rule of law in your companies! By all means necessary!
Mike (no not that one)@hacks4pancakes I think its a tragedy of the commons problem. Or something analogous. Each of these uber rich is working towards their own interests. They see what these things individually will do to their bottom lines and find moralizing ways to justify them to themselves. I don't think they do have grand long term strategy. I don't think they are thinking about what it will ultimately mean for them or anyone else. Not really. They are just rationalizing their selfishness.
Guillaume Rossolini@hacks4pancakes we can’t even get that one over here
https://mastodon.giftedmc.com/@haui/113151445958436226
https://mastodon.giftedmc.com/@haui/113151445958436226
haui (@[email protected])
EU citizen? Have you signed off on taxing the rich yet? Chances are you didnt as only 300k people of the needed million have signed. We have less than a month! How should we expect to change anything if we cant even agree that 2000 people owning the world is a BAD IDEA??? Please do your citizens duty and sign the petition! https://eci.ec.europa.eu/038/public/#/screen/home You are not one of them and you will never become one of them. Dont let them brainwash you into thinking they need your help.
OldGeekAs others smarter than me have pointed out they want us all to be serfs.
@oldgeek I agree, but I don't think they understand the implications of a serfdom. You don't get to live in our modern society anymore. You can't run to a taco shop. There's no nice county fair to go to.
MarioB 
@hacks4pancakes @oldgeek Addiction to Max Profits at any cost - I don't even think they are pushing for want/see the serfdom looming, or the end of "customers" - because no one will make enough to be able to afford anything beyond basic needs. Killed me with "You can't run to a taco shop" 💔
Matt Palmer@hacks4pancakes if you value power over everything else, it might not seem so bad to degrade your standard of living a bit if you get to have absolute control of others. Although I doubt they're thinking that far ahead; the drive to "win" capitalism ("money is just how we keep score") is more than enough to explain why these people are the way they are.
@womble I do wonder. What quality of world to party in and enjoy are they willing to sacrifice to be a feudal lords, and do they ever consider this?
@hacks4pancakes RTO mandates are a good demonstration of how much value is placed on the possession and exercise of power to the exclusion of all other considerations. As to how much the ultra wealthy consider the long term consequences of their actions, I'd say it's closer to absolute zero than the temperature of helium ice.
Calicoday 
@hacks4pancakes UBI. I'm no capitalist but even if I were: UBI keeps capitalism function (and lets us survive it). Economy must FLOW!
Ryan Lounsbury@hacks4pancakes At some point the populous at large gets pushed far enough and you probably end up with mass unrest. We saw a little bit of that with the 1% protests.
But it sure does seem capitalism has run its course and we are ripe for a fundamental change in a lot of categories. I suppose the question is how much longer can the ruling class can hang onto the system that got us here.
Of course a third of the country thinks a fascist oligarch will save the country.
Josh@hacks4pancakes Quarterly profits. The guy with a three year plan is a visionary.
Nonilex