I’m really jaded on whether reforming tax and investment law is a sustainable solution. Because the countries that did that are all trending in the direction of reversing those changes as capital accumulates and gains power over the political system and people (voters) themselves. Even in high union density places like Finland where unions and reformist socialist policy have slowed this process you can see people electing governments on austerity for the many. A policy squarely favouring their rich class. This speaks to erosion of the understanding of why the previous regulatory regime was introduced, who it benefitted, what would be the long term results of abandoning it, how things were before it. And this erosion isn’t random. There’s all sorts of information channels through which the rich convince people in explanations about the world that favour the rich. I hope there is some ingredient that if added would avoid this in the future for a very long time, but I’m not too hopeful. High prevalence of worker co-ops perhaps. I don’t know. Jaded I tell you!
It’s hard not to be jaded. In the past few decades it seemed like we might be able to make progress on climate change. But now we’ve fallen into a weird right wing rut, where people seem to vote squarely against their own best interests.
I dunno. I think everyone was implicitly on board with neoliberalism for a couple of decades, and now they find themselves poorer and lower status than before. So they blame the trappings of big-L liberal parties, scream that they want woke to end, and shoot themselves in the foot.
people see to vote squarely against their own best interests<
So much of this it is unbelievable. I have a buddy who has been unemployed his whole life, lives with his mom, who both rely extensively on physical and mental health services while both collecting disability pay. He is also bisexual. He is a trump supporter and votes conservstive in every level of election. I literally cannot comprehend it.
I’m really jaded on whether reforming tax and investment law is a sustainable solution. Because the countries that did that are all trending in the direction of reversing those changes as capital accumulates and gains power over the political system and people (voters) themselves. Even in high union density places like Finland where unions and reformist socialist policy have slowed this process you can see people electing governments on austerity for the many. A policy squarely favouring their rich class. This speaks to erosion of the understanding of why the previous regulatory regime was introduced, who it benefitted, what would be the long term results of abandoning it, how things were before it. And this erosion isn’t random. There’s all sorts of information channels through which the rich convince people in explanations about the world that favour the rich. I hope there is some ingredient that if added would avoid this in the future for a very long time, but I’m not too hopeful. High prevalence of worker co-ops perhaps. I don’t know. Jaded I tell you!
It’s hard not to be jaded. In the past few decades it seemed like we might be able to make progress on climate change. But now we’ve fallen into a weird right wing rut, where people seem to vote squarely against their own best interests.
I dunno. I think everyone was implicitly on board with neoliberalism for a couple of decades, and now they find themselves poorer and lower status than before. So they blame the trappings of big-L liberal parties, scream that they want woke to end, and shoot themselves in the foot.
But yeah. I gotta hope!
So much of this it is unbelievable. I have a buddy who has been unemployed his whole life, lives with his mom, who both rely extensively on physical and mental health services while both collecting disability pay. He is also bisexual. He is a trump supporter and votes conservstive in every level of election. I literally cannot comprehend it.