Inequality: Why are the rich getting richer?

Commercial banking, together with the Intellectual Property system, is one of the greatest Rentier swindles of all time. We are literally renting the money we use, for extortionate prices [1]. "The dollar as a reserve currency transfers wealth from the rest of world to the USA One final way in which money works today that has a substantial effect on the workings of the global political economy is the use of the US dollar as the international reserve currency. This follows the decision of the OPEC countries shortly after the end of the Second World War to accept only dollars for their oil. Today, the dollar is used for trade in many other commodities. This acts as a huge subsidy to the US economy, since countries elsewhere in the world sell goods and services to the US, but instead of buying back from US companies, they keep the dollars so as to be able to trade among themselves — as well as to be able to protect their currencies from speculative attack. This effective transfer of wealth from the rest of the world to the US permits the US to be easily the world’s largest debtor nation, while driving the unprecedented widening of wealth disparity within the global community (Douthwaite, 1999)." [2] [1] [this video] [2] [link]

> No they're usually used by basically all companies that aren't tiny. Ummm... that's what I said. That's my point. It's become normalized for corporations to not take responsibility. The working class always ends up paying the price here. Collectively we in the working class now expect corporations to treat us badly and that we have to accept this abusive behavior. In the context of more and more of the working class now starting to work in "non-jobs" in the gig economy, this current trajectory is becoming a bigger and bigger nightmare for the working class all over the world (see Nomadland, Sorry to Bother You, The True Cost, Blood in the Mobile, Push (Fredrik Gertten)). I argue that, along with banking and other rentierist institutions [1], tech corporations are a parasite on society because they monopolize and destroy our shared inheritance, and try to pretend they are immune to regulation because they see themselves as lone geniuses [2]. "By virtue of their position as digital middlemen, Silicon Valley companies are able to extract vast amounts of capital from all over the world. The most salient example is Apple: recently crowned the world’s most valuable company, Apple rakes in enormous quarterly profits even as the Chinese workers who actually assemble its products are driven to suicide. Whereas we were once led to believe that the network society would produce an egalitarian world, we increasingly see tech as a machine for the commodification of information itself. S

Unfortunately yes - although in many cases of course they are much more fragile than the bigger studios. Indie game developers are a part of the labor aristocracy - they still create artificial scarcity where none need be. Overall I see our world as a black box hellworld. I don't think most hardware and software are high quality at all. Proprietary tech is a straightjacket. I believe we can definitely escape it though. Some even say overcoming proprietary tech is essential if we want to make it out of global warming: "The current political economy is based on a false idea of “immaterial scarcity.” It believes that an exaggerated set of intellectual property monopolies – for copyrights, trademarks and patents – should restrain the sharing of scientific, social and economic innovations. Hence the system discourages human cooperation, excludes many people from benefiting from innovation and slows the collective learning of humanity. In an age of grave global challenges, the political economy keeps many practical alternatives sequestered behind private firewalls or unfunded if they cannot generate adequate profits." In other words, the problem lies with our outdated capitalist property and money systems, and the way proprietary tech slows and even stops the development of science and technology. Today we do not evenly distribute those things that belongs to all of us. I am excited by both Valueflo.ws and Holochain as proposals for the new economy and system: they are the backbone

> Automated, and hidden taxes is one of the reason the government can actually steal errrr collect as much money as it does The government creates, and then rents to us (usury), the money we all use [1]. It holds a monopoly on money creation. Governments can create money to build infrastructure, hospitals and housing (many leftist governments in Europe have [2]) at will. Government doesn't need to collect taxes to do any of the things I mentioned, that's a myth. External constraints on national budgets are a myth. National budgets are just monetary debts by the government carried by citizens. [3] [1] Inequality: Why are the rich getting richer? | Positive Money: [this video] [2] What could Vienna’s low-cost housing policy teach the UK? | Rent controls mean public sector workers and those on lower pay can afford to live and work in the Austrian capital: [link] [3] The truth is out: money is just an IOU, and the banks are rolling in it - David Graeber, [link]