That, at present, is where the wealth is coming from.
I would argue that increasingly it is not. The relative value of labor is and has been declining due to automation.
Money is their only real leverage.
It isn't - there is also legal ownership, of natural resources and other types of property, and there is the force backing that ownership, which is also subject to automation.
If you are skeptical about the idea that wealth can exist at all independently from labor, consider the distinction between a dictatorship with an economy based on oil or mining and a more democratic country with an economy based on a diverse array of skilled professionals. Yes, in both cases laborers are involved in what the country produces, but in the latter, circumstances give them more leverage, because their active engagement and relative consent is more of a prerequisite to achieving that product. That leverage equates to a higher market value of their labor. I can imagine a future where everyone is effectively reduced first to slaves in a mine and then to skeletons next to mining robots.
The allegation in regard to TikTok isn’t ‘dangerous speech’
...On the very surface level, sort of.
Romney replied, "Some wonder why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down potentially TikTok or other entities of that nature. If you look at the postings on TikTok and the number of mentions of Palestinians, relative to other social media sites — it's overwhelmingly so among TikTok broadcasts."
The allegation in regard to TikTok isn’t ‘dangerous speech’, it’s the platform’s collection of user data and the manipulation of available content via an algorithm that they claim is a tool of a hostile foreign entity.
If the US government really cared about collection of user data and manipulation of content, they could demand things like increased transparency and open protocols for social media. Instead, they are here requiring that the issue be redressed with TikTok being shut down or handed over to a company subject to direct US influence and control.
This is indistinguishable from an act of censorship. If the government is intimately connected with the people and companies running the oligopoly of services which control moderation of virtually all public discourse in the US, when it uses force to defend that oligopoly and eliminate competition that is not in the club it is abridging the freedom of speech, even if it is doing so through one layer of proxy.
In the past, Trump has accused Canada of accepting a $100-billion subsidy from the United States. It's unclear exactly what he is referencing, but it may refer to the trade deficit between the two countries.
But on Tuesday, that purported $100-billion subsidy rose to $200 billion. CTVNews.ca has reached out to Trump's media office to clarify what the $200-billion figure represents.
"I love the Canadian people, they're great," he said. "We're spending hundreds of billions a year to take care of Canada. … We can't do it forever."
It sounds like what is going on here is, Trump is doing the normal Trump thing of starting with a conservative narrative (austerity, cutting off moochers) and brazenly lying about the state of the world to fill in the blanks of that narrative, knowing his supporters are happy to live in a fictional world, knowing he can't be called out on it in a way that will matter, knowing that it will get people to continue paying attention to him.
most of the lower class won’t be able to purchase anything other than essentials like food.
No new cars, no tech gadgets, no fancy dinners, no vacations, no disposable income.
Bold of you to assume the rock bottom of wealth inequality includes the ability to purchase food and is survivable.
When we get there the economy collapses because there’s no money going into it.
The profits stop rolling in, unnecessary goods stop being produced, and the luxury goods producer’s shut down.
At this point the money they worked so hard to hoard becomes worthless because they can’t buy anything with it.
Money doesn't come from people, it comes from the fed issuing debt. The economic "value" backing that money also doesn't necessarily come from people, it comes from control over things that are valued, which may include human labor, but that labor can be automated. The actual value of human life is not represented by money or other financial instruments.
Economic constraints aren't preventing the world from decaying into an enormous desolate golf course.
I'm fine with seeing things I don't like or agree with if it is a fully formed thought, but I still think downvotes are a nice trap for lazy inarticulate people to feel like they are doing the equivalent of dropping a low effort flame comment while actually doing basically nothing. I have display of vote scores disabled and don't have to know or think about the approval of people who are only voting, which is nice. If they had something to say that isn't already fully communicated by the downvote button, maybe they would say it instead despite downvoting being an option.
Depending on what it is, publishing on i2p could just be a way to get it out there initially after which other interested parties would seed it elsewhere
It's not great, but at least downvotes barely affect anything other than visibility of top level comments on popular posts, and are easy to hide. Better that than people disagreeing using lazy insults and tired truisms.
Someone once said to me, "I have to go to the capital of the house, and please do not be wise for the vessel of the Beita. She said, "Wise, with a finger and a ram." B'Tselem 'L' on her forehead.
Well, the years draw and don't always stop
Full of rules and I'm on the road
There is no point in living without joy
Your intelligence is wise, but your head is weakened
There's a lot to do, a lot to see
What's wrong with taking the hidden alleys?
You won't know if you won't go
You will not shine if you do not shine
Oh now, you are a star god
Take the game, prepare a player
Oh now, you're a rock star
Make a show, take a salary
chicken @ chicken @lemmy.dbzer0.com Posts 0Comments 1,230Joined 2 yr. ago 
I would argue that increasingly it is not. The relative value of labor is and has been declining due to automation.
It isn't - there is also legal ownership, of natural resources and other types of property, and there is the force backing that ownership, which is also subject to automation.
If you are skeptical about the idea that wealth can exist at all independently from labor, consider the distinction between a dictatorship with an economy based on oil or mining and a more democratic country with an economy based on a diverse array of skilled professionals. Yes, in both cases laborers are involved in what the country produces, but in the latter, circumstances give them more leverage, because their active engagement and relative consent is more of a prerequisite to achieving that product. That leverage equates to a higher market value of their labor. I can imagine a future where everyone is effectively reduced first to slaves in a mine and then to skeletons next to mining robots.