Great article though. Your description of late stage capitalism is apt, but I think it's worse than that. The wealthiest corporations don't add any value. They just buy companies that make things (or not - they buy each other) and skim profits. Somebody has to pay for that, in higher prices, lower pay, and lost jobs. They replace management on the theory that the original management might actually give a shit about their workers. Pitchfork time?
The cheap shit is also the most easy to acquire—one-day prime delivery.
Most people are so overwhelmed and numb from the day-to-day grind of their lives, that it's hard to spare a moment to think. It feels like a clever, inescapable design because the system/those who represent it get paid to concoct better schemes leading to higher profit margins.
The question is, when do we push back, in a way that matters?
I went through a phase of only buying stuff if it scored well in an 'ethical shopping guide'. But it was exhausting and overwhelming, so now I justify my evil corporation purchases with 'I do good in other ways'.
The answer is, of course, is to stop buying stuff we don't need. Nothing I own has been fashionable for at least a decade - if we're lucky, frugality will become fashionable. 😊
Here's a game of tit-for-tat we could play:
Become a paid subscriber of my Substack and I will become a free subscriber of yours!
:D
You like your own shit? Holy shit.
Great article though. Your description of late stage capitalism is apt, but I think it's worse than that. The wealthiest corporations don't add any value. They just buy companies that make things (or not - they buy each other) and skim profits. Somebody has to pay for that, in higher prices, lower pay, and lost jobs. They replace management on the theory that the original management might actually give a shit about their workers. Pitchfork time?
Fab article and impressed we actually learn which bits u made up :-D
The cheap shit is also the most easy to acquire—one-day prime delivery.
Most people are so overwhelmed and numb from the day-to-day grind of their lives, that it's hard to spare a moment to think. It feels like a clever, inescapable design because the system/those who represent it get paid to concoct better schemes leading to higher profit margins.
The question is, when do we push back, in a way that matters?
But the cheap shit is so cheap!
I went through a phase of only buying stuff if it scored well in an 'ethical shopping guide'. But it was exhausting and overwhelming, so now I justify my evil corporation purchases with 'I do good in other ways'.
The answer is, of course, is to stop buying stuff we don't need. Nothing I own has been fashionable for at least a decade - if we're lucky, frugality will become fashionable. 😊
"....creating a system where they are at the top, and everybody else can't do anything but comply with their rules."
Dude, you just described Hollywood. The old-school moguls acted exactly like that, and so did the corporate sharks who replaced them.
The trouble is less people want to comply with their "rules", because, as you said, they're making too much "cheap shit" now.