• 0 Posts
  • 8 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
cake
Cake day: July 8th, 2023

help-circle


  • I’m so annoyed at coverage of these issues and the economy as a whole. Journalists have to use the biggest numbers they can to make people think it’s important.

    Ok a 64% reduction in profits is not good. But that also means that the company is still profitable and wants to fire the thousands of people, and in so doing harm the local economy, that gave it massive profits for decades.

    A 64% reduction in profits cannot be the company making a loss. Yet the article claims that BMW and Mercedes are “also making similar large losses”.

    Shareholders have been robbing employees blind for decades, and the second it gets a little bit less profitable we have to fire thousands of people?

    And yes, I understand there must be some consideration of future proofing costs against a shrinking consumer base, but such drastic measures are solely aimed at preservation of shareholder dividends and value (see Boeing).




  • I’ve been using the term “post-developed” for a while now, mostly as a crude joke. However, unfortunately I think as time is going on it is becoming more and more apt to describe certain western economies.

    Perhaps something along the lines of “when a society shifts from long-term investment to short-term cost saving, it is at risk of becoming a post-developed economy.”

    So much of the UK’s decision making seems centred around how “we are so great” (cough EU is stopping us from achieving our potential cough) rather than “we need to invest to be able to compete.”

    Even Thatcherism, as toxic and awful as that was, was centred around pushing the economy forward to a new level of (horribly misguided) development.

    Of course, I’ll caveat that I am severely under-educated on these topics, but it is a running theme I’m starting to see emerge.



  • Not seen anyone say this yet, but last year my partner and I were in a similar boat. Bumble (the dating app) has a “BFF” mode for making friends. It’s worked out amazingly for us and we now have a great group.

    It can take a bit of persistence, and like dating, some won’t work out. But it’s a great way to meet potential friends, and even in relatively small cities you’ll find some people on there.