Adderbox76

"Baby"

as in: "Baby girl, get your ass off my head, I'll get up and feed you dammit."

Baby Girl is Ripley, a 110 pound mastiff with clinging issues.

On the upside, Trump is actually right for once when he says "They're not sending their best".

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought I read that their factory is actually built in occupied territory.

It's the reason I've always refused to but one.

Politics aside, holy shit is that a powerful photo.

I hope its not AI...

"Compromises the innocence of children"???

Unless you are incredibly liberal parents, children don't even know what the fuck those are until they're old enough to recognize it as anything more than just a "tube". By the time they grasp the idea that it's something sexual, they're old enough to handle that knowledge.

"smaller government" apparently just means few dildos for the inspector to have to count.

Keep in mind, this is a new Gilded Age. Trump would most certainly call in the Pinkertons for some good ol' fashioned strike breaking.

For you, Teal is Green.

Uhhh...no. For me, Teal is Teal. But that wasn't one of the options...

Glad I could help.

Based on the average age of Lemmy, I'll go out on a limb and say I'm probably older than you.

What you call "informed positions" is simply giving up on seeing the reality over the propaganda. Your cynicism doesn't allow you to separate the theory of capitalism from the reality of capitalism. You're essentially no different than those people who say that anything except the current situation is essentially "socialism", which by definition must be bad. But just because corporations have taken over capitalism, doesn't mean there isn't a fight to be had to try to change that.

I'm very close to 50 years old. I've got plenty of my own life experience that I don't need any of yours thanks. If you want to give up, go right ahead. Some of us believe is a system where capitalism is contained by strong government regulations and social safety nets. Why do we believe this, because there's plenty of European countries that already do this. Just because North America is completely bought out by corporations doesn't mean that's just what capitalism is.

Go be a sad sack defeatist on your own time.

Capitalism is inherently parasitic

I fundamentally disagree with that.

Venture Capitalism is parasitic. But Capitalism itself is not at all. At it's heart, if we continue with the landlord analogy, let's say that you are renting a house from the OP's Aunt. She's paying the building insurance. She's paying the maintenance, (or in some good old fashioned cases doing it themselves). She's dealing with the paperwork involved in owning a home. Hell, in some cases you don't even have to mow your own lawn. So of course she's charging you rent. It's not a charity.

But if she's a private owner, than your rent stays with her. She uses what she needs to maintain the building and...yes...makes a profit that then gets spent in the local economy.

The only time there's an issue is when your rent is being sent to a corporation that may not even be in the same country as you, and that money leaves your local economy for good.

To use an anecdotal example, I've worked in my time for two different furniture stores in my town. One was a chain, and one was/is a family run operation from the beginning. And yes...that family is wildly successful; I'm not guessing millionaires, but close to it. And I don't begrudge them at all for that. Because it's family owned, they aren't forced to only care about a stock price or about profit. My boss would randomly come up to me, sometimes multiple times a year, clap me on the back and say "You're doing a good job, I'm going to add a buck an hour to your wage."

Because they can. Because for all intents and purposes, you've got a better chance to be treated like a human being when a corporation isn't in the way.

The chain furniture store would only give out raises when forced to by government mandated cost of living increases, because anything more would cause the stock price to go down.

The heart of capitalism is my first example. The reality of capitalism is my second unfortunately. But that's not the fault of capitalism itself, it's the lack of government oversight protecting us from predatory corporations.

Gorgeous painting.

But can I add that I hate the fact that we now live in a world where I instinctively count fingers before appreciating any art.

No.

I of course can't speak for anyone except myself, but for me, what your aunt is doing is what essentially capitalism is all about.

Its when those landlords get replaced by venture capital corporations and reits that it becomes a problem.

In your aunts case, the rent money stays local, contributes back to the local economy, etc...

In the case of venture capital and corporate ownership, the only goal is to increase a stock price for a corporation. None of that money gets returned to the local economy except for possibly hiring a local property management firm to handle things on the ground for them.

When capitalism remains about people, all of good. When corporations take the reins of ownership so their profit becomes the sole motive is when things go bad.