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When people talk about the “immanent collapse of capitalism”, I think old time videos like this demonstrate that it’s not capitalism that’s necessarily the problem – it’s the greed and corruption of the system that’s gotten us where we are today.

If you look at other economic systems that were destroyed by those same factors of corruption/greed, simply changing the system out or letting it collapse simply enables those doing the worst destruction to have even MORE free reign and control because now there is no police and no system to stop them. Modern history shows time and again that the people that helped collapse/change a government or economic system to replace it with another are usually the first people oppressed and killed by it.

It doesn’t matter if you’re going from capitalism to communism or vice versa. Witness what happened to the resources and industries of the former Soviet Union when it collapsed. They were all taken over by the oligarchs and firmly controlled by the new ruling class.

The French Revolution turned into the Reign of Terror – the wholesale slaughter of whole classes of elites, educated, and anyone branded a ‘traitor’ to the cause. Most of those who led the original revolution ended up beheaded by their own movement.

When the old tzars of Russia were overthrown or Mao overthrew China – the first things that happened were millions dying by famine, disease, and a very rapid deterioration of even basic goods and services. That figure excludes the open genocide of anyone that opposed them that started right after the revolution. Communist takeovers of Central and South American countries tell similar stories.

Contrary to current American arm-chair activists that think swapping ‘power systems’ will fix racism/classism/etc – the reality is you aren’t going to get rid of the mud by simply swapping the sheets on the bed. The rich and those in power can and will not just sit there. You have to go clean the dog or it’ll just jump up there again on the new sheets and keep being who they are.

This is why the Gospel is the only way to change the world – by the conversion of hearts. Even the Soviet Union/China/Cambodia/etc and other countries ruled by coercion learned that at some point, you simply don’t have enough guns to keep pointing at enough heads to keep it going. Jesus’ kingdom has outlived every world government and corrupt member in history by not fighting against oppressive systems – but by changing individual’s hearts.

Microsoft is also said to have imported Meta’s policy of blacklisting departed employees it doesn’t want back. In Microsoft’s case, BI said, the two-year bar applies only to people let go for underperformance. Microsoft also changing its bonus rewards system by increasing the rewards granted to workers producing the most results over periods of three or four years, rather than just one or two.

Microsoft’s actions follow similar moves by Meta, Google, and Amazon, which all recently introduced incentives for workers to produce at the highest levels they can—while regularly firing employees considered to be lagging.

Intel did this a number of years back under BK and it didn’t go so great. Many great employees left and never came back because of the punitive nature. An employee might not be a great fit for one group – but does that warrant black-balling an employee for ALL positions? It seems like a failure of management and hiring to me.

Articles

https://www.inc.com/bruce-crumley/microsoft-follows-competitors-amazon-meta-and-google-in-employee-productivity-crackdown/91186637

I was reading some fun stuff about the mysterious urban-legend arcade game Polybius. As part of the reading, I got curious if the mind control or brainwashing claimed was actually possible.

During some simple searching, I ran across this interesting video that claims getting information from people is very possible – but not via Hollywood brain wave machines and magical drugs.

Great little mini-documentary on creation of one of the first 3D adventure games: Alone in the Dark.

You can also watch the original GDC talk by Frederick Raynal

Movie theater popcorn can often have over a 1000% markup compared to how much it actually costs the theater to buy and produce. While that might sound excessive, bottled water is often marked up over 4,000%

In an effort to help people come back to theaters, Cinemark ran a promotion in which they would fill any popcorn container you wanted to bring for $5. People responded!