Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Lawjarp2 OP t1_irjpuy7 wrote

Reply to comment by natepriv22 in Singularity, Protests and Authoritarianism by Lawjarp2

Consumption is not a power but a liability. If you say you won't consume resources as a protest no one will care.

The whole production and consumption is to sustain a middle class that can produce better workforce to do more stuff. Without need for a middle class there is no need for a consumption based economy. As long as enough resources are being produced to keep the military going everything else can be ignored. It's a common dystopian theory. Few rich with mostly urban slum dwellers surviving off of UBI.

5

natepriv22 t1_irjqhqj wrote

That's not true. An economy works off of supply and demand. One without the other doesn't work.

If no one demands products or services, then supply becomes essentially useless.

There's plenty of examples where consumers organize demand protests, and companies or governments are forced to change their practices.

0

Lawjarp2 OP t1_irjr5rn wrote

The consumers here matter. Because they are the producers of something else. If everything was just based on demand then no one would have less than what they need. There would be no poor.

The government could still demand more weapons, better robots, more missiles etc. All of this could be met without wasting resources servicing demands of people who are irrelevant.

3

natepriv22 t1_irjrm7h wrote

The government doesn't raise money out of thin air. Every single dollar or equivalent currency has to be at some point raised through taxation.

So the government demand is actually population demand but under another name.

1

Lawjarp2 OP t1_irjsah4 wrote

It can print money from thin air. Money doesn't even matter at that point. Consumption based economy as a whole isn't meaningful anymore.

Can't you really see someone mining and building stuff when they literally own everything and have infinite labour.

5

mootcat t1_irlhqgw wrote

They actually literally do.

Of existent money 95%+ is debt that has been leveraged to create more money. When you go to the bank to take out a loan the bank magics into existence the 100 thousand you need. They then use your contact as an asset and borrow against it, usually at a 10 times its value.

When the Federal Reserve printed 80% of currency in circulation in two years since 2019 that wasn't tied to anything real or tangible, hence the massive inflation we are dealing with now.

2

natepriv22 t1_irn70ye wrote

So you agree with me. I'm not saying the money is directly coming from tax, but eventually it has to come through tax. We have reached such a breaking point.

1

natepriv22 t1_irn733x wrote

What do you think inflation actually is?

It's really just another form of taxation that eventually ends up in the govs hands.

1

mootcat t1_irnfspj wrote

Indeed! And it's intentionally maintained and raised/lowered as a mechanism of control over the populace.

1