(US Perspective) It’s hard to boycott food when like 10 companies own everything. Even store brands are just re-packaged “name” brands.
Edit: Obligatory: Fuck Nestle. I’m already boycotting the whole left side of that chart.
Not trying to gotcha you or nothing, but it’s funny, that image being hosted on amazon aws.
Haha. I was going to upload it to my own instance, but AWS-hosted media typically don’t block hotlinking. Saves me some bandwidth egress costs and storage xD
Fuck Nestle indeed. I’ve been boycotting their shit since they started hawking water bottled in communities without reliable access to clean water.
That’s not even just a US perspective. That definitely applies to North America in general and Europe. There are supposedly anti-monopoly laws but huh, would you look at that… it’s almost like they’re ineffective.
While the corporations own the government, the government will never effectively police the corporations.
It’s a bold statement to say the government polices anything other than the underprivileged.
My local farmers market is really nice.
Yeah, these are all prepared foods in the picture. Maybe people don’t know but you can just like… make your own food.
Lots of things are just flour with other ingredients baked in an oven. Soda is just sugar and fizzy water. If you’ve never had homemade potato chips, you haven’t lived.
This weekend, find a recipe for a basic ingredient that you like (ketchup, mayo, bread, etc.) and buy the ingredients for it. Then make it. You’ll be surprised how easy and tasty it is. Mayo is like eggs and oil. Why pay $5 for a crappy version of it?
Donxc forget the other issues on supermarket chain. Which are also an oligopoly.
One of the reason why european farmer are getting angry is that they are pushed to sell at low prices by supermarket purchasing departments and see the price of their products multiplied by 10 when sold to the consumer.
Not consuming highly processed food from Nestle is doable. Not buying anything at the supermarket gets complicated unless you have money and time (and I wouldn’t be surprised that many neighbourhood and organic shop still buy food through the large supermarket purchasing chain)
Nestle owns a whole lot more than what’s shown on that chart.
all of them do
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I tried boycotting food but then I got hungry.
I started foraging and buying from farmers markets…
You must smell amazing
In reality foraging is a great way to supplement your diet of farmers market produce on top of having an edible garden.
There is also the fact that my farmers market also includes a local soap maker…
If your local farmers market doesn’t have a soap maker go try your local craft market.
What does soap have to do with the sweet smell of berries and fruit?
Oh, my apologies I was on the defensive and took your comment sarcastically.
I assumed earthy forests and mushrooms and was now want to forage :)
It’s not possible to boycott a brand over an action if every other brand is doing the same fucking thing.
… some friends and I have been discussing a monthly meetup where we exchange around food or other things we do, like handiwork. I wonder what’s involved in baking up a bunch of corn flakes that aren’t made of garbage? Maybe it’d be fun to have people over and figure it out. Mix up the recipe a little each month, or pass it around between the group members.
I’m not trying to shame you like this is obvious, but I have also been thinking about “how can I escape this corporate hellscape???” and this is starting to be more the direction I’m heading.
People have tried that before - every attempt at a utopian society has failed. e.g. perhaps someone will bring “homemade milk”, and after the 99th time people begin to relax and whoopsie forget to check it, then a large portion of the group gets exposed to a serious illness, maybe many die, the problems with communal actions get revealed.
Or else that person decides to get REALLY serious with their milk, and people decide to help chip in each week to defray the costs… and voila, capitalism is rediscovered!:-D
Though for the therapeutic benefits alone, it’s probably mostly worthwhile - and anyway I’m cynical and bitter so please don’t let that stop you:-). Probably the fact that you can see people’s faces that would be affected by everyone’s actions may make the difference?
You’re right, that’s pretty cynical.
It’s a bit like going “zero waste” or something. 1 person being completely zero waste, or being completely self sufficient, isn’t helping anything.
But everyone reducing their waste or being a bit self sufficient world make a big difference.
There are risks with communal groups, bit we’re better placed to navigate them than ever before.
I dunno if every human reducing their waste would make a “big” difference anymore, at this point. I mean, I do it anyway b/c it’s how I want to face the world, but I no longer have any expectations that it will affect any positive change - like even if every human being on the planet were to switch from individual cars to bicycles, how many oil spills would entirely counteract that - just one major one, maybe two more normal ones, or three “small” ones?
So I am not saying don’t do the communal stuff - go nuts! It probably really would be fun, and again therapeutic. But from a “managing expectations” standpoint, it is a personal hobby, not likely to have a realistic impact.
It’s probably worth giving a try - I usually bake my own bagels and that’s an economically reasonable activity… I’d be worried that cereal would be unreasonable to do without a dehydrator or other specialized equipment but there’s a lot of cook-ready food you could make. Pickled veggies and peppers are amazing, perogies or dumplings are easy to make in a freeze friendly manner, spaghetti sauce is insanely good vut usually doesn’t freeze well - that’s a classic example of a dish where it takes equal amounts of effort to prepare for two people or two dozen.
Cereal might not be the best but there are alternatives if you can get a group together… especially if you can cut across food cultures!
The corporations returned to oligopolism years ago. The government knows, and they’re complicit.
Small actions are possible.
I won’t buy Kellogg’s any more.
Who knows, maybe all the own brand cereal manufacturers are doing horrible things too.
But I find peace in taking some action when some awful thing is done. As otherwise, I’d just have to hang my head in hopelessness.
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I learned what cowards Americand are when it was admitted that the Iraq War was started on lies and everyone just shrugged and went about their day.
Why are they cowards? Why would they care if it doesn’t affect their daily lives? Obviously some people care, but the majority would indeed just shrug and go back to making ends meet.
This comes down to the good old “keep the masses fed”. People are being given just the right amount of wealth. Not enough to be free and not too little to revolt.
I like that you asked a question and then answered it.
it’s still possible there were weapons of mass destruction. I mean just about as likely as it seemed back then. very very slim.
What’s the alternative? Price control by state?
Get corporate money out of politics, bust up monopolies/oligopolies, implement better regulations that hold executives/board members personally liable
Seize the means of production!
More seriously though, follow the money.
If the profits of the company were predominantly distributed to the workers-as-owners then they probably won’t be mandating 5% year-on-year profit growth or chasing an ever growing share price.
They could, but it’d be themselves they’ll be exploiting.
Where there is an “out of sight out of mind” separation between the owners (shareholders, board, CxO’s) and workers then exploitation is invisible and the money is the only important aspect.
Sure, subsidize producers and give people a UBI. Problem solved.
What am I going to do? Starve? There isn’t a grocery store in my area that’s not doing this. So those are my choices.
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Look man, I’m not trying to isolate you or pick on you… But I find this kind of victim mentality to be exhausting and frankly, intellectually dishonest.
You know darn well that your choices are not limited to pay or starve. You have the ability to adapt your life and to change your consumption patterns.
I even called out the “I guess I’ll die then” mentality in a previous comment. Get a grip on your own life, and stop being a feebleton, acting like a trapped animal that has no ability to govern their own life.
Perhaps there is a middle solution, where you examine your consumption patterns and realize that you’ve become a victim of the “convenience tax” and you can opt out at any time.
Hard disagree. I already buy the store brand. Already buy in largest container with best $/Oz. Already restrict buying certain things unless they’re on sale. Already cook from scratch as much as possible. Next step is buying a damn cow.
Of course I can make room in my budget. Right next to the record setting rent prices that are already causing record levels of homelessness.
What convenience are you talking about? Are we supposed to grow our own vegetables, as well as work multiple jobs and cook from scratch? What’s next? Instead of shopping the outside, buying only on sale, and cooking from scratch we now to timeshare a fucking farm?
This doesn’t make sense at the micro or macro level. The economy works best when people and companies are specialized. If you have to take time out to grow your own food then that’s lost economic productivity. It’s also probably too expensive in terms of the trade off for what you’d be paid at a job and covering your other bills
So put down your oblique attempt to use the avocado toast meme and go read some real news.
Ah yes. The old “I bear no responsibility for my own life so I’ll ball up a bunch of grievances and represent them as an insurmountable brick wall. I’ll double down on my hysterics and start talking about growing vegetables rather than take a sober look at my own consumption patterns because it is emotionally more soothing to point the finger at others; I’ve made myself a helpless victim. I’m nothing more than a cork floating in an ocean, subjected to huge forces beyond my comprehension and control. What happens in my life is like Brownian motion. Please do not mention anything about how I govern myself” meme
Get. A. Grip.
Wow you really drank the Kool Aid in the whole poor people are lazy thing. I honestly hope you never find out what the Poverty Trap is. But for the sake of your knowledge you should probably look it up. While you’re at it, look up what a Food Desert is too.
Because the rest of us can’t be bothered to sit here and listen to you tell poor people to take responsibility for record inflation after they were already deciding which utility bills to pay each month. That’s a toxic attitude and I’ve literally watched it get people killed overseas.
The victim mentality around here is astonishing.
Your comment seems so out of touch with the reality of majority of people. I think you are taking an extremist and unreasonable stance.
It doesn’t matter, because boycotts are generally futile since they at best only address skin level symptoms (at worst, and almost always - you’re just giving your money to a different scummy capitalist), they can’t cure the cancer, which is precisely why they’re touted as a wonderful solution (by capitalists trying to ensure the public don’t take any meaningful action against them).
I partly agree but I do think you have cause and effect (or disease and symptom if you will) swapped around. You‘re saying people don‘t do boycotts because they are futile. I would say it‘s the other way around and to answer OPs question, I think it largely comes down to commodity and mindlessness. But either way I think you are definitely right to suggest there must be systemic change and that all of this co2 compensation bullshit is just corporations guilt-tripping us into thinking we can consume our way out of this mess. However, the problem is that both approaches, the personal boycotts and the systemic change share a common factor, which is the requirement of mass action. If people aren‘t mindful enough to stop buying a particular kind of yoghurt, how are you ever going to get them to vote, much less stage a revolution? I think we need to get out of our passivity and boycotting things is a step in the right direction to establish a feel for personal agency.
If people aren‘t mindful enough to stop buying a particular kind of yoghurt, how are you ever going to get them to vote, much less stage a revolution? I think we need to get out of our passivity
How about people who aren’t mindful enough of those who can’t stop buying one brand or another, but especially of the reasons why??? (like - they only have one local store that only carries the one brand, or they carry two brand made by the same parent company, or they have three brands, two by the same company and the third by another one with just-as-bad practices. Or they’re too poor to buy the more “ethical” brand, or they simply don’t have the time in their day to even be aware of a boycott over exploitative practices, because they themselves are being exploited at 3 different jobs just to survive) I guarantee that a lack of that kind of mindfulness hurts the working class significantly more than the kind you’re angry about.
If you want people to stop being “passive” - you destroy the system designed to keep them that way (not actually passive at all, they’re probably more active than you’ll ever be, just deliberately kept undereducated and too busy trying to survive), insisting on them continuing to play by the rules said system has made available to them (precisely because they have no real impact) only serves those in power to maintain the status quo.
That article needs to be its own post
George Monbiot is a fantastic writer.
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Because boycotting food means you starve.
Boycotts work in luxury markets with strong competition. Necessity markets with highly concentrated monopolies? No chance. Without legislation to protect consumers, they are powerless to defend themselves against the greed and exploitation of corporate interests.
The biggest shrinkflation culprit is food. People need food. Recent trends do, in fact, show that American consumers have been switching to cheaper brands and reducing consumption of some items, but boycotting is unrealistic. People need to eat and a handful of massive corporations own most brands.
What, haven’t you all spent three months to grow one head of lettuce? Just skip breakfast for breakfast and eat cereal for dinner!
This is extra funny to me because I do grow leafy greens.
In my view, the issue is that most people are not willing to change their own patterns in the slightest.
It’s always somebody else’s responsibility to give things exactly how they want. Personal responsibility and decisions have no play.
“Fuck Nestle. Oh yeah but I needed water, what was I supposed to do, die? I had no choice but to purchase water in plastic, there was no other store around and I don’t know how to plan for my needs in advance. There is simply no way to anticipate that I could have needed water and fill a reusable bottle before I leave the house.”
“The price of fast food is insane. It does not occur to me that I don’t need to purchase this, and I have no inherent right to get it at a cheap price. It has also never occurred to me to go to the grocery store. Oh wait, yes it actually did occur to me, but I really don’t want to cook, I want somebody else to make the food for me and for it to be cheap.”
Personally, I’m done with Sony, I’m done with Nestle, I’m done with Walmart, I’m done with fast food, I’m done with Netflix. I’m done with all the places that behave unethically, and it would not be fair of me to complain about them while also patronizing them. I don’t think you’ll find this attitude in general population.
It’s also because “the free market will fix it” is neoliberal bullshit that is pushed precisely because it doesn’t work. It’s just a way of blaming consumers for the horrifically immoral actions of corporations and they’ve suckered you right in.
Regulations could immediately stop Nestle using child slaves, no boycotts required.
I hate Walmart too and we definitely gave up fast food. But my only other choice for groceries is Reasors and they are fucking us on prices. So where do I shop for my groceries?
This guy wouldn’t know the meaning of the phrase “food desert” if it hit him at 60 mph while he was in a crosswalk.
I agree saw his reply to another comment who raised a similar point and he thinks we are just not looking hard enough. Dude clueless. Must be nice to live somewhere that has 1000 choices.
It’s a tough pill to swallow
But 150 years ago, folks were being given swaths of land, not knowing dick about that land, just for like… Fighting in wars.
Now, they let veterans starve and kill themselves.
Just saw a sad gif of a long line at the Costco rotisserie chicken stand.
People won’t say enough is enough until they’re hungry.
We’re close.
The most lucrative positions are experiencing enormous layoffs.
2025-2030 is going to be WWIII and the greatest class war.of all time.
I just hope shit turns out okay for 2030 and beyond. Global warming ain’t making that likely.
Sorry for doomer. But we either have a Renaissance era and burn or have an enslavement era and burn. I’m not loving the odds.
I am not a historian, but I get a sense that perhaps the intellectuals at least seemed to think that democracy (in the USA specifically, but also perhaps everywhere?) were just waiting to see how this grand “experiment” turns out. So there has practically always (since 1776 when the fire of democracy was re-ignited in the world after its long hiatus) been this expectation that we might someday fail, and each time something highly challenging comes around they likely re-visited that thought that perhaps it would be soon?
The difference is that this time, it’s for real. Even if there were solves already in-place for both globalization and automation, how would climate change be dealt with? I am not saying that it’s a 100% certainty - nothing ever truly is, until it has already happened - but I am agreeing with you that there seems less room for hope than ever before, that our way of life will survive intact.
I predict, for instance, that people will start demanding that their employers offer them housing. They might even start demanding longer-term contracts. In essence, they WANT slavery, as opposed to what is coming: anarchy & lawlessness. What good is “freedom” when you have no home, no job, no food, and can’t do what you want anyway? This whole “government = bad” idea will cause many people to take refuge in the only other thing that offers even a glimpse of a good(-ish) life: enslavement to corporations. In return they will house, feed, and clothe you - if only barely - and you will in turn commit your very soul to looking after their needs rather than your own, including devoting every waking moment of… oh my, we are already there! (except without the “taking care of you part”)
The difference is that this time, it’s for real. Even if there were solves already in-place for both globalization and automation, how would climate change be dealt with?
When I was a kid all the churches said that globalization was a sure sign that we’re in the end times. I think it’s interesting that you now quote that as one of the signs that we are.
What good is “freedom” when you have no home, no job, no food, and can’t do what you want anyway?
This is defeatism. It’s surrender. There was a group of men 247 years ago who demanded death if not given liberty. They would rather die than live under monarchial rule any longer. We have fallen quite far if a return to corporate servitude is considered a viable option a mere hundred years after defeating its last ugly resurgence during the industrial revolution. You do not reward your oppressors with capitulation, you reward them with combat.
Tbf, I was accepting that there is a situation in front of us that needs to be dealt with, i.e. accepting that there WILL be a crisis - any question on that front seems in the past. But I never said who I thought will win:-) Honestly I don’t know the latter, though in either case yes I do think that a lot of people will give up rather than fight.
The REALLY odd part about all of this, imho, is that the type of person who previously fought on the side of freedom, now is mislead to be acting on behalf of the oppressors. Those who grabbed their muskets and fought to the DEATH against the external British overlords, are now the ones voting for increased corporate power, and increased non-aggression or even thoughts of aid towards the expansionist Russia, which will only be friendly in return for a few decades until it decides that it wants us as well. Yes, this side has “guns”, but what good are even fully automatic machine-gun rifles when pitted against TRULY modern weapons like weaponized viruses, nukes deployable from fucking orbit, and perhaps most dangerous of all, the ability to control all flow of all money, which puts a strangle-hold on all supply lines such that failure to comply means starvation.
In short, you are correct that I do not put much stock in the mere words that people are throwing around, no matter how “tough” or “inspiring” they sound. Instead I am looking at the trajectory of actions, such as USA Republican obstructionism, UK Brexit, Russian expansionism, and the like. And to me, it seems like fascism is winning. People BLED and DIED to fight against it as recently as WWII - but that was then, while now they would be turning over in their graves to find that their children’s generation (Boomers) are just handing the world meekly over to it within their/our home countries. McCarthism is back, book burning is back, and everything old it seems we are trying over again, like it was for the first time. Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it.
The REALLY odd part about all of this, imho, is that the type of person who previously fought on the side of freedom, now is mislead to be acting on behalf of the oppressors.
I think there’s some American mythology causing you to see things this way. In short, the American revolution was fueled by Washington recruiting a lot of drunks and fuck ups, and after they won the war they wanted Washington to be king. Similar to Scotland and the movie Braveheart, the mythology has gotten so popular that people start to think the majority or even all of the fighting force was ideologically aligned to some idea of freedom and inalienable rights or something. It wasn’t.
Tbf, they did not desire taxation without representation, and a local king would have met the goal for them to feel “represented”. At least more so than the remote one in England, who had to spend tons of money on far-away matters such as dealing with France, Spain, Portugal, etc. A local King would instead spend money on local matters, such as dealing with the indigenous peoples present in the Americas. Still taxation, but they would benefit from it more.
Democracy hadn’t been a thing since ancient Greece, after which it languished under Turkish rule for several hundreds of years, and I wonder how much most uneducated people at the time knew even about that. Though some French philosophers such as Voltaire, and the English Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (I had to look him up: he was Genevan:-) were popular reading at the time, among the elites, and possibly they shared some of that as stories at the local pubs or whatnot. So anyway, it makes total sense to me that they wanted him to be a King: that was all that they really knew about, at the time, to meet their goal?
But now I am saying that the situation is reversed: the ones pushing for the RADICAL changes, especially using VIOLENT means to overthrow the government, are not trying to throw off the shackles in order to return America to a more pristine state of “democracy” - the so-called “conservative” Republicans want to overthrow democracy, and instill Trump as their emperor. That’s moving backwards, towards fascism and away from democracy (VERY unlike the case with Washington, where they intended a more sideways move, not fully knowing that more was even possible).
Likewise, the UK wanted to exist within the scope of the EU but also not at the same time so… bye-bye I guess. Now they are shocked, Shocked I tell you, SHOCKED that they are “out”. Even they seem to think now they have moved backwards, and many report wishing that they could undo what was done. They can do as they please yes, but they seemed not to realize that others have that same privilege as well. Especially the ones living in other countries, now shocked to find that they may be expected to pay taxes in those sovereign nations - what did they THINK was going to happen!?
Americans I presume would eventually be the same - not enjoying life under Trump’s boot heels, but like Brexit, the ability to return would have been lost. The ones pushing for that WANT the democracy gone, and for it to be replaced with a more useful (to them) fascism, bc with globalization and automation, they do not have need of a large educated workforce, such as doctors and scientists, and they seem to be wanting to “streamline” the population, much as companies are currently streamlining their direct employees. An example is Trump’s COVID policy of “just let them
eat cakedie”. Fewer resources taken up by worthless people - like Oxygen consumption and smaller populations being less susceptible to pandemics - leave more for the rich to have whatever they want.I think you’ve (perhaps inadvertantly) hit the nail on the head by drawing a comparison to revolutionary groups. Even plagued by the encroaching mythology and rhetoric it’s easy to see why the same group of revolutionary boosters are today’s reactionary retrogrades:
In revolutionary times, monied interests and industry desired to evade England’s taxes, and today those same groups seek to continue perpetually evading the taxes of America’s government.
In other words, the rich fucks think they’ll be able to fair better under Trump as dictator than they would facing the occasional failed attempt at tax reform by Democrats.
The gravy seals are partially led by the nose by the exact same group of affluent pig fuckers as the minutemen and, in other cases, they aren’t being led as they simply are the same rich group.
Among the other elements present at the January 6th insurrection were sizable numbers of the American landlord class, some even chartering private flights to attend and participate.
That’s what I was saying yes: a tool is just a tool, the intent lies in the hand of those who would wield it. Though in this case, the BLAME lies in both those who hollow themselves out to be willing to become such a tool, and those who would use them: case in point those who showed up on January 6 to “defend the Constitution” - how many now have the good sense to be horrified at what they were involved in? Regardless, it is up to those who are cognizant to do something about it, or else just sit back and watch it all happen.
But one thing I want to make clear: this is not just the one-dimensional Rich vs. the Poors. This is some Rich folk who don’t really give a damn either way - b/c they’ve bought both sides - vs. some different set of Rich folk who do, and the latter making use of the Tools at their disposal to get their way. Among the former are probably people like Bill Gates who literally cannot spend enough in his entire lifetime to ever get rid of even a fraction of it, plus Warren Buffet who literally advocates for politicians to raise taxes (it’s not like they ever will ofc, no matter what he says:-D). Then in the second category I would expect to find people like Jeff Bezos who tracks his workers time in the bathrooms, making them choose between washing their hands vs. getting back to work on time so as not to get fired, regardless if they are pregnant or whatever; and ofc Elon Musk.
I am saying that the TRULY, generationally wealthy, likely don’t even give a damn, and some seem to even want their taxes RAISED - obviously not so much as to lower their standard of living, but if it helps avoid revolts then they would be okay with that - while the “wannabe” Rich are the ones who seem to want their taxes kept low.
And yes, there are some Poors who truly do side with the Rich, I guess b/c they either hate themselves or think they are displaced millionaires, but either way they have bought into the pyramid/hierarchical thinking concept that the Rich are the ones who deserve their wealth.
So to bring this back to my original point several comments back: if I sound defeatist it is b/c originally the goals of the Rich and the Poor just happened to align in the Revolutionary War, and too in WWI, WWII, etc., whereas now, for perhaps the first time in a truly completionist way, they no longer align. What I mean by the latter point is that, for example having a ready-made source of young soldiers to fight wars for you, it used to be to the benefit of the Rich to keep the Poor vaguely happy. Whereas now, with automation bringing robots rather than humans to the battlefield (and everywhere else as well), they seem ready to throw off the shackles of needing to keep the Poor in any state whatsoever. So let them
eat cakedie already, it makes little difference to them anymore.
Your dystopia doesn’t account for automation. Corporations don’t even want your labour.
A social crisis seems inevitable on our current trajectory.
Then for WHO are the corporations creating products for? There isn’t a growing pool of rich people. It’s shrinking.
They won’t be at that point. Their extraction of all the wealth will be complete, and all of their needs met. As for us? Well who knows?
Well I did say that people would demand it… which as you correctly point out, is by no means a guarantee that corporations would want to accept.
Can you take that last part, put it to a cool font, add some vaporwave and a filter, and make it the stylings of an Cyberpunk 80s movie?
With a bit of rewording, it would be rad for a pixel indie game or something. It goes hard.
And its uncomfortable so I want it in a more palatable form lol
Best I can offer is this:
I believe it is a self-portrait of Donald Trump’s clone from 2040?
It’s an interesting perspective. Wherein I see people deliberately destroying property of the “automated” on a scale of property damage the world has never seen.
Like it won’t be kings heads rolling. It’ll be their drones burning.
I mean sure, that too but… what would it accomplish really? There is an arms race, but look at Bill Gate’s house… exactly (first, where is it, second, which one(s), third, they are on like entire HUGE islands, fourth they can move the whole thing at a moment’s notice, fifth there are other defensive options too, etc. etc. etc.), plus there will always be the “collaborators” who will say “but no, they are the JOB creators” as if that justifies doing, or not doing, anything at all.
Anyway, tech has reached the point that we can put it inside of our very bodies, to hide & power it, plus with CRISPR the tech flat-out becomes our bodies. At least, if you are talking about the stuff available to
billionairestrillionaires, whereas to us “normies” all we get are cellphones to mollify & pacify us, yay (and even that privilege comes at the cost of also tracking us, plus can be taken away if we do not cooperate fully or fast enough).Anyway, tech is neither Good nor Evil, it simply is - and automation isn’t the problem, though it could be part of the solution, e.g. if it were to solve climate change for us?
but look at Bill Gate’s house… exactly (first, where is it,
1835 73rd Ave NE, Medina, Washington, USA
You can drive right up to the front gate, but that’s as far as you’ll get. The entire property is built for security. 2/3rds of it is underground, one side of it is against a cliff, and the gate itself is solid steel, probably 10 inches thick. I’ve been there, and you can’t see anything except for the gate and guardhouse from the street. Beyond the front gate are buildings on both sides before the second gate, like an old castle barbican, complete with kill zone.
It makes sense. It might also be the house of like his butler who delivers him food occasionally, while he himself lives in a plane flying around the earth that never sets down… or something. I am mostly joking here ofc:-).
Would you put your Buttler up in a 131 million dollar 48,160 sq ft mansion on Lake Washington, in the most expensive city in Washington?
I don’t think what you or I would do is anywhere close to an accurate measure as to what to expect from one of the richest people on the planet… But if I were swimming in money, then yeah - I’d for sure share it with others. That must be the reason why I am not a trillionaire:-).
USA was never a democracy, though. It’s a republic, and recent decades have shown it to become more and more the banana variant.
Wikipedia:
The United States is a federal republic of 50 states
I dunno, it is a plutocracy now, but why wasn’t it a democracy when it started?
Democracy has it’s own inherent issues, for one the majority has complete authority over any minority group. At its worst democracy is a mob that doesnt care about any minorities issues. As in if you cant get your issue/cause agreed to by more than half of the population, it’s never going to happen. Democracy isnt inherently good,
What I think could actually help would be to put into law that the per-weight price needs to be displayed just as prominently as the actual total price.
The problem right now is that largely people don’t notice if the packaging is the same size but the weight is slightly lower and the price is the same. If the per-weight price was shown as prominently as the actual price, people might suddenly notice the price hike more easily.
Or at least require actual prices instead of crap like “3 for $8.00 with card”. You have to read through several different fine-print prices at the very bottom of the label to find what the actual price is.
A lot of stores put that on their labels, but they engage in fuckery making you do the math yourself to compare. An example is that they’ll show how much something is per ounce for one brand, and then show how much it is per can/pound/bag/whatever for another brand.
I’ve always attributed that to incompetence. maybe that’s due to working with some people who made some labels though. they weren’t very sharp. large chains should be able to centralize and standardize it by now though.
Hmmm I don’t see that kind of stuff in Denmark, possibly we already have laws preventing that sort of crap.
Safeway is the worst about it. They mark everything up by a preposterous amount, and then sell it at the regular price, but only if you’re a “club member” and only if you buy 4 of whatever you needed one of. Then they sell your data after you make the purchase. Oh, and those were perishable goods, so you either massively overpaid for one item and wasted money, or you bought four, half of it spoiled before you could use it, and you wasted money.
Sounds pretty shit. We have “nemlig” for home delivery of groceries. Used it a few times, seemed reasonable.
I’m already jealous. Do the label prices also include taxes? Cause ours sure don’t. lol
Of course, it’s always the same tax anyway and it must be included by law. The per weight price is also always stated but it’s always in tiny text - my suggestion is simply to require it to be displayed just as prominently :)
Between you and Sandi Toksvig making it sound amazing, I’m seriously considering retiring to Denmark lol
It’s the best country in the world if you ask me :)
But getting temporary and then later permanent residence, let alone citizenship is not easy, especially if you are not in the EU. Not that it’s impossible.
In Québec, (some) of the grocery price tags include a fine print with the $/100g.
They go out of their way to make this the smallest thing possible though.
There’s plenty of other misleading tagging going on too.
And I think it’s only certain items, maybe not all.
It’s a good idea and helpful, but should be more prominent and apply to literally all foods.And that’s before tax, although not all foods are taxed.
We have per weight pricing on a lot of items in The Netherlands. It’s great for comparing different items when you’re in the supermarket, but doesn’t really work against shrinkification. You simply don’t remember the price-per-kg from last week.
We have it too in Denmark but it’s usually a tiny font compared to the actual price. Which is why I say just as prominently. I’ve actually started to write per weight prices down so I can compare better.
We have that where I live and it honestly makes buying per weight / per sheet, incredibly helpful.
There’s been so many times, just looking at the packaging, I thought it was a great deal to then see the per weight price and release what a rip off it was.
Massive quality of life for sure!
We have it too in Denmark but not as prominently as the actual price.
We live in an apartment. I can’t grow my own food. What do you expect us to eat? Do you have any idea how hard it is to actually avoid buying products that support one of these greedy brands? It’s almost everything on the shelf.
Boycott Nestlé
Do this first, boycott other companies who make a profit with child-labor and exploiting the poor. Don’t buy from companies that steal people’s water. Destroy the rainforest or harm animals unnecessarily.
I think this is far more important. Feel free to boycott shrinkflation on top. I try to do all of that if I get that choice and can afford it and have the knowledge available to me. But those products are also still on the shelves.
Nestlé does indeed suck. Here’s a list of their properties if anyone wants to join:
I certainly have stoped buying a lot of things. Skipping our vacation this year as well. I’m never gonna spend $8 on a box of cereal, they can get fucked on that price point. Buying more in bulk at Costco. I already didn’t use Amazon.
