I think if they need an extra income stream, it should be physical manuals, discs/disks, boxes, and feelies. Say that GOG has System Shock, Ultima VII, Thief Gold, and TIE Fighter planned for a limited edition boxed edition, but needs pre-orders. Plonk down $20-40, get those things when the funding goal is reached.
I guess Sanders and DeVito used a fusion dance to achieve this form.
I was raised in a rural area. The amount of friends I made in life after forty years is…zero. Aside from a sibling, I don’t have anyone to count on. I am also too poor to afford visiting bars or other social things, so I can’t learn how to be around people, let alone establish ties. It is my belief that America’s shitty economy is the source of these issues, because a person can’t blossom if they don’t have the fiscal agency to escape a tiny bubble.
The internet let me develop as a person, but that can only go so far. I can’t afford risks, such as trying beer, an escort to lose my virginity, or travel. Poverty is a prison without walls.
I think it is because the wealthy have constantly reduced the wealth of the average American. Each individual has to spend more time working, for less pay. This deteriorates their mental and physical health, prevents socialization, saps energy, limits the amount of money, time, and travel they can spend on politics.
IMO, the “lazy” European gets about 95% of an American’s work efficiency for the time spent, but are not nearly as damaged by their work/life ratio. This lets them have far greater agency in the politics of their land. If this continues, I think the assorted cultures of Europe will be far more documented in history than their American peer. The corrosion from beating the good life out of American workers, means that there is little incentive for Americans to want their culture to survive nor spread.
Current politics are partially driven by apathy, one born from the learned helplessness that life won’t get any better. We will need French cutlery to be deployed, so that the blood of tyrants can water the tree of liberty. Just as with the French, I think America can recover from a dead end. Whether that happens…well, we will see within a decade.
Here’s hoping the good guys destroy Dogey America, and replace it something that people can take pride in.
Progressives should support a boar hunting program, along with offering assistance for moving, dismantling, and inspecting game. People who learn how to hunt, know how to shoot. That might be a very valuable skill in the times ahead.
We kill two boars with one bullet.
Fifteen birds in five fir-trees, their feathers were fanned in a fiery breeze! But, funny little birds, they had no wings! O what shall we do with the funny little things? Roast 'em alive, or stew them in a pot; fry them, boil them and eat them hot?
Burn, burn tree and fern! Shrivel and scorch! A fizzling torch To light the night for our delight, Ya hey!
Bake and toast 'em, fry and roast ’em till beards blaze, and eyes glaze; till hair smells and skins crack, fat melts, and bones black in cinders lie beneath the sky!
So dwarves shall die, and light the night for our delight, Ya hey! Ya-harri-hey! Ya hoy!
By making America seem like a good neighbor. Would you lend a hand to someone who doesn’t treat you decently?
Treaties, military aid, investment, all of them requires the feeling that things will turn out alright if you get involved. A dickhead like Trump makes it clear that he would shank you and fuck your mother, just because he feels likes it. To say the least, no reasonable or good person would want to associate with a Trumpian nation.
Nations within and without, are built on relationships.
I already tried it about a month and a half ago. Linux is really user-unfriendly if you got games that aren’t Steam exclusive or like modding. I got lots of older games or ones meant for a Japanese locale system, and I had issues with installing DLC via Heroic Games Launcher / Lutris / or just getting Mini Galaxy to work properly.
In any case, I want Steam to work with the EU on a EU Linux, since they got lots of money, data, and influence to help develop the distro. Plus, Gabe doesn’t want his platform locked onto Windows, so you got a personal motivation for Steam to seriously cooperate with the EU. The EU can put lighter sanctions on Steam if people buy games while using EU Linux. This would help drive adoption and normalize Linux usage among normal people after a decade or so.
I would like the EU to make an official universal Linux distro, intended for the ordinary person to use on their PC. Bonus points if they can collaborate with Steam to make it compatible with gaming stuff. The big reason I stuck to Windows 11 is for the sake of games, but if compatibility and ease of use to customize was improved, I would be happy to switch away.
The big thing that the EU can bring to the project is contributing lots of money for making Linux suitable as a daily driver, along with mandating its usage on government machines.
High injury and fatality rates. An astronaut risks their life everytime they ride an occaisional rocket, but a lumberjack has to deal with falling trees on a daily basis.
Money is imaginary. It was invented for the purpose of saving time through pure convenience. Why not go a step further, and sacrifice some profit for the sake of giving everybody some security and agency? What efficiency we lose, we get back in people being able to enjoy the fruits of civilization. Money only has value if people agree that it does, and we should apply that understanding towards redefining the purpose of money: luxuries.
The elite have hoarded the value of what workers have provided to society, and then consistently throws those same workers under the bus. Your “material conditions”, is just unfettered abuse.
Also, the system I laid out? It gives political agency to ordinary people, because they can protest and strike without losing their home or starving. This takes away the greatest tool of coercion that capitalism wields against workers. That is way more valuable than raw profit, because people can oppose bad actors in society. Like Schuemer, or Trump himself. Same goes for shitty workplaces - people can genuinely wait for a better job. This will force many bad companies out of business, because people want to be treated humanly.
No, cavemen were very egalitarian. This is because back then, you couldn’t hoard much of anything - food spoils quickly, sex requires your partner to like you, and personal possessions were things like tools or the odd bit of clothing. It was when wealth could be preserved, such as livestock, stored grain, jewelry, and eventually coinage, that wealth became an hereditary thing.
This is why a future economic system has to be designed to prevent the excessive hoarding of wealth. Not too little, nor too much. Humans weren’t evolved to be free of consequence, especially from each other.
I have been trying to put together a document that attempt this concept of ensuring the survival of people, while making money into something used for lifestyle upgrades. Also, heavy emphasis on wealth limits and preferring people over corporations. IMO, corporations are great for personal interests, but are beyond terrible when it comes to the wellbeing of people. Thus, we should make having a job optional, but rewarding.
UNIVERSAL RANKED INCOME
I think the problem with Communism and Capitalism, is that both were implemented in the first place without specific goals or structure. Those things got added on later, such as the 5 year plans or how lobbying works.
IMO, we will need a v2.0 Constitution in the future, designed not only to address political issues, but also create fiscal rules. Things like universal benefits and healthcare, how much people should be payed, wealth limits, workers voting for their leadership, and so on. This, like the Magna Carta or the French Revolution, will require force in order to displace the ways of old.
It will suck, but conflict seems inevitable. Might as well make the most of it, and forge a new way forward.
That is pretty much why the Constitution had checks and balances, in order to insulate it from the human element, by pitting elements against each other. It worked, until capture of the assorted branches became too concentrated for the checks to balance.
This isn’t to say that the Constitution is a bad idea. Rather, I view laws and bureaucracy as a type of social technology. There are merits and demerits in the make and placement of components, and without good design, maintenance, or a well thought out replacement, the technology will inevitably fail.
We need a v2.0 Constitution for a better United States, one designed to eliminate flaws, loopholes, or even add new checks & balances outright. For example, term and age limits on supreme justices, with each state having 1 popularly voted supreme every 10 years. We don’t want congress nor the president to select who interprets law, because it becomes a game of trickery or horse trading. We need younger and more diverse justices to represent the land’s people.
In addition to this, I believe that we will need floors and ceilings to be set on wealth, alongside the provisioning of universal benefits to all people. By doing this, America and other nations can guard from the corrosion that excessive individual wealth can cause. We have to prevent the existence of future Musks, and design an economy that allows the many to live in comfort and freedom, without letting individuals metastasize into a cancer.