I’m just curious for the new or existing people? Lemmy.ml has taken a hard turn to the right since the reddit exodus. There’s been a lot of pro-imperialist propaganda being posted on world news, and a lot less diversity of opinion. It feels more neoliberal and neo-con to me.
Does anyone want to share what their political leanings are?
I’ll start; I’m anti-imperialist pro-state regulated capitalism. I believe we should have usage based taxes (toll roads, carbon tax) and luxury taxes, and I disagree with wealth taxes for people with less than $250 million. The state should spend more money on consumer protection in all industries (environment, health, finance, etc.) I believe in multipolarity vs. US hegemony.
I believe that a social democracy is the best compromise we can make. The market should be able to innovate but rules set in place to protect workers and the environment. Social safety nets so people do not fall into despair - happy people equals less sickness and more productivity.
I believe UBI can play a role but I’m still not sure how exactly, luckily I’m not a politician.
In the end I’ll always vote more to the left, even though I’m well paid I think a society is healthier when there are less major differences in wealth.
With more automation showing up in all different fields, I’m warming up to the idea of UBI or something like it.
Theoretically, more production is happening per human being, so everybody should have a higher standard of living. But (among other issues) people at the top are hoarding an unfair portion of the profits, and UBI seems like a straightforward way to help offset that.
It’s tricky because yeah in theory more production should be happening. I listened to a podcast recently that talked about how kitchens changed during the years. That the initial idea for stuff like washing machines and ironing boards was that women (in that time) would have to spend less time on chores and could be more free (it was argued from a feminist point of view). The reality was that the expectations just went up. Suddenly people expected the towels to be ironed etc.
What podcast? I like a good podcast.
Yeah, I feel like that phenomenon happens elsewhere too. I read the book B.S. Jobs last year, and it talked about is all the (debatably) useless positions popping up at companies - extra layers of management, assistants to make the managers feel important, corporate lawyers that are only there to cause trouble for the other team’s corporate lawyers. Just a whole lot of man-hours spent not making products/services/whatever.
(I wouldn’t say I’m 100% on board with all the book’s arguments, but it sure made me think)
Sorry for the late reply! It was an episode from 99% invisible: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-frankfurt-kitchen/
Did the book discuss how this is a way that cronies prevent competition? If we all have to have useless jobs to survive, and those jobs tire us out and keep us on a treadmill, then none of us have time to start our own thing (that might eventually compete with their thing / or make us more self-sufficient so that we need their thing less)
I don’t recall if it did, but that’s a good point
i dont think our house had a hot iron even
My views seem to align pretty well with this.
With regards to market regulations, my view is that capitalism is an efficient way to deal with scarcity when the market has competition, demand is elastic, and everyone has perfect information. Because those things are hardly ever all true, the role of government is to regulate to either make the market that way or to shore up the public’s interest (provide healthcare since necessary medical care is inelastic, ensure safety standards because information isn’t perfect, etc.).
A UBI integrates with this view as a way to give an effective baseline for meeting needs in a way each individual sees fit, but still allows for markets to work. Additionally, my opinion is that having a base safety net for everyone would spur more innovation and cause more business formation by allowing lower income people less risk to pursue entrepreneurship.