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The whole thing was a scam

garymarcus.substack.com

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Re: The whole thing was a scam

#151

Post by LoganDark »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #145
stinkbeetle wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you say "HN", do you mean you? Who else was surprised? The place is full of people constantly commenting about how bad the US is, how corrupt the government is, how terrible CEOs (particularly Altman) are, late stage capitalism, etc., etc.

I’m one of those criticasters and I’m getting downvoted constantly. I don’t care about the downvotes. I do care about western countries slipping into fascism just because people are so proud to admit they voted for a stupid clown.

I think a lot of voters didn't know what they were getting the country into, or just were too ignorant or misinformed to notice, in voting for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party. There are actual fascists too, of course. I'm just disappointed that they won; the damage has already been immeasurable, and to some extent irreversible, and we're not even halfway into the term.

Re: The whole thing was a scam

#152

Post by kelnos »

yencabulator wrote: post #132
Nevermark wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simply spending money to get someone you like elected isn’t bribery. To the degree great inequality leads to this being decisive in elections, it is a corrupting influence, but the term for it is still not “bribery”. But when a presidential candidate tells oil companies they should donate because he is going to help them, that’s solid bribery. When companies pay to “settle” ridiculous accusations, or “donate” to a pr…

In actual functioning democracies political donations are capped severely. Say, a single donor can contribute a maximum of €6,000 per parliament candidate per election. Yes, that's a real limit.

We used to have laws like that, but apparently our supreme court believes that bribing politicians is political speech, and curtailing that speech is unconstitutional, so...

It's so broken.

Re: The whole thing was a scam

#154

Post by fnimick »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #145
stinkbeetle wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you say "HN", do you mean you? Who else was surprised? The place is full of people constantly commenting about how bad the US is, how corrupt the government is, how terrible CEOs (particularly Altman) are, late stage capitalism, etc., etc.

I’m one of those criticasters and I’m getting downvoted constantly. I don’t care about the downvotes. I do care about western countries slipping into fascism just because people are so proud to admit they voted for a stupid clown.

I'm more upset about the large group of people in the startup industry, possibly even a majority, who would be totally happy about countries slipping into fascism if they made a little more money along the way.

Who cares about ethics and morality? Those aren't profitable!

Re: The whole thing was a scam

#155

Post by kelnos »

gyomu wrote: post #127
bloomingeek wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flippant be hanged! IMO, it all started with W Bush, who put the icing on that cake by invading Iraq based on a televised lie. He was "sneaky" but the current administration doesn't even try to sneak. The mid-terms may be our final chance to save our nation.

> The mid-terms may be our final chance to save our nation. I don’t understand anyone who believes that. What do you expect to happen during the midterms exactly that would bring the US back on some mythical track of rule of law, with a just and fair government? The corruption runs so deep, the institutions have been gutted, there are no good people in charge left. This ride is going to last a while, and the way out…

Yeah, that's the thing. Even in the most optimistic of dreams, Democrats won't end up with supermajorities in both the House and Senate. They can pass whatever bills they want, but Trump doesn't have to sign them.

Sure, there will be things that Trump wants to do that he might actually need Congress for, and maybe there's room to make deals to advance some kind of progressive/liberal policies here and there. But I don't think this will slow Trump down too much, honestly.

And in 2028? Who knows what the state of things will be by then. Maybe we'll end up with a non-shit president at the start of 2029, but what kind of executive branch will they be inheriting? It would take an entire presidential term, possibly two, to undo the damage Trump and his shit-heels have done. And even then, it will never be the same, not to mention reputational, economic, and scientific losses that will -- at best -- set us back decades (if not permanently).

Re: The whole thing was a scam

#156

Post by 127 »

croes wrote: post #119

> In capitalism, the market decides. > In oligarchy, connections and donations decide. > but after Brockman had donated 25M to Trump’s PAC Sounds like they paid Trump and the government, can it get more capitalistic? Oligarchy and capitalism don’t contradict each other

Free market capitalism and corporatocracy are two opposite things. (Free markets don't exist without strong institutions and regulation)

Re: The whole thing was a scam

#157

Post by bloomingeek »

gyomu wrote: post #127
bloomingeek wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flippant be hanged! IMO, it all started with W Bush, who put the icing on that cake by invading Iraq based on a televised lie. He was "sneaky" but the current administration doesn't even try to sneak. The mid-terms may be our final chance to save our nation.

> The mid-terms may be our final chance to save our nation. I don’t understand anyone who believes that. What do you expect to happen during the midterms exactly that would bring the US back on some mythical track of rule of law, with a just and fair government? The corruption runs so deep, the institutions have been gutted, there are no good people in charge left. This ride is going to last a while, and the way out…

Well, you could bury your head in the sand, would that make you feel any better? Or one could vote out maga and, over time, start to rebuild. trump's election was helped mostly by two major factions: white women voters and many registered demo voters who stayed home. Thanks to these groups and his base of lunatics, we're in a hellish shit storm.

Re: The whole thing was a scam

#158

Post by jongjong »

sph wrote: post #104
knollimar wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it does matter and this quote is always flaunted like it's some deep insight but it intentionally ignored nuance. An amount you can comfortably retire on is way different than $5. We love to pretend humans have unflinching morals but they don't

On the other hand, immoral people would try to convince you that anybody would kill their own mother for the right price.

Yes, I guess that's a projection of how their own minds work.

Re: The whole thing was a scam

#159

Post by [deleted] »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #14
mentalgear wrote: post #3

PS: If openly bribing a crony gov to cancel your competitor is now the de-facto standard of making business in the US, I don't see how any rational investor could still see US companies as a secure investment. When the rule of law degrades into pay-to-play politics, the inevitable result is a mass exodus of both capital and top-tier talent.

the inevitable result is a mass exodus of both capital and top-tier talent To where?

[deleted]

Re: The whole thing was a scam

#160

Post by bloomingeek »

kelnos wrote: post #155
gyomu wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The mid-terms may be our final chance to save our nation. I don’t understand anyone who believes that. What do you expect to happen during the midterms exactly that would bring the US back on some mythical track of rule of law, with a just and fair government? The corruption runs so deep, the institutions have been gutted, there are no good people in charge left. This ride is going to last a while, and the way out…

Yeah, that's the thing. Even in the most optimistic of dreams, Democrats won't end up with supermajorities in both the House and Senate. They can pass whatever bills they want, but Trump doesn't have to sign them. Sure, there will be things that Trump wants to do that he might actually need Congress for, and maybe there's room to make deals to advance some kind of progressive/liberal policies here and there. But I do…

Indeed, that's why we have to vote maga out and start over. We can't get lost in what we think will happen, we have to vote and then pay closer attention. We have to vote in people to congress who know exactly what the people demand.
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