Old Fucking Punk @lwriemen@librem.one

There Are Only 300 Wolverines Left in the Lower 48. Why Won’t the Government Protect Them? https://inthesetimes.com/article/wolverine-endangered-species-act-climate-change

The Numbers Show Covid Is a Mental Health Crisis - The U.S. mental health system was already in tatters. https://inthesetimes.com/article/mental-health-covid-pandemic-medicare-for-all-single-payer

@LeoSammallahti @dynamic Yes, some people don't want to be rats in a cage.

Harry Chapin's The Cat's in the Cradle has to be the most depressing song ever. Combine it with Descendent's Suburban Home and you have the blueprint for #FML.

@dynamic @LeoSammallahti IANAE. Why are big cities formed? It's surely not just about socializing. Most people don't have millions of friends and family they need to be in close proximity with. Trade for necessities doesn't require it. It limits travel for specialized needs, but how often do such needs arise? It would be hard to find any instance of a large city that wasn't formed around some centralized power structure. i.e., money, religion, government.

@dynamic @LeoSammallahti I'm referring to scale. Small communities used to have stores, that were much like the corner store in a large urban neighborhood. Evan at smaller scale you have producers and services. The rush to capital has driven those things out of the community and into centralized bigger locations. The cost of cheaper goods has been lower wages and less jobs. Urbanization is largely a byproduct of a need for a cheaper local workforce.

@LeoSammallahti @dynamic Small densities work just as well as big ones. The corner store, small medical centers, etc.

The Pain of Pandemic-Induced Unemployment in America Is Brutal and Unceasing https://basicincometoday.com/the-pain-of-pandemic-induced-unemployment-in-america-is-brutal-and-unceasing/

The Trump Administration Has Planted a Land Mine in Federal Agencies https://theintercept.com/2020/12/18/the-trump-administration-has-planted-a-landmine-in-federal-agencies/

Up to 3 million devices infected by malware-laced Chrome and Edge add-ons https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/12/up-to-3-million-devices-infected-by-malware-laced-chrome-and-edge-add-ons/

@dynamic @LeoSammallahti A lot of exciting data from studies on indigenous farming practices these days.

I think (at least in the USA) if one could disconnect the nostalgia of the idea of the small farmer from the minds of voters when talking about ag subsidies and insert the picture of the industrial ag behemoth, then more progress would be made toward ag reform.

@LeoSammallahti @dynamic I'm more for tearing down urban areas. I think high population density creates more problems than solutions; it's not ecologically sound, but the only way out is to put the human population into balance with the world resources. i.e., massive population reduction.

OTOH, you're absolutely right about higher population density easing access to services.

@LeoSammallahti @dynamic Maybe I'm focusing on "cheaper" when the meaning is affordable. Cost of essential goods rising would have to be more than offset by tax cuts.

We are probably talking around each other. I think I now understand your original post as focus on services rather than consumption of goods, and achieve affordability through better government spending/more sensible taxing.

@LeoSammallahti @dynamic
"Wage earners would now have more money to spend, and it would be cheaper to hire someone to do something for you."

Change "Wage earners" to "Business owners" (or maybe "Job creators"[sic]) and you have the very basis of the argument for trickle down economics.

The crux of the issue is how they choose to spend that money. Assuming "wage earner" is someone in a middle to lower income level, then tax cuts are likely to go back into the economy.

@LeoSammallahti @dynamic Services cheaper equals lower salaries for service workers or cost of overhead reductions. I assume goods means nonessential goods or the service worker gets a possible double negative impact.