Fake News
- Thread starter Tranquility
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florduh
Well-Known Member
I sure remember seeing this story basted everywhere this summer:
A guy shoplifted somewhere between $200 and $950 from a SF Walgreens. It generated well over 300 stories. The NYT, CNN, Fox all gave it a ton of coverage. Most used it as proof that there's no consequences for stealing in San Francisco. Except, the guy was arrested and is facing multiple felony charges. He's been held, without bond, since the summer. For his crimes against Walgreens. Yep, we should all feel real bad for this company...
Walgreens stole millions of dollars from their employees. Are any of their executives sitting in a prison cell right now? Nope. They simply had to pay about 22% of the money they stole back to their employees. No harm no foul. Oh, and during the exact time Walgreens was stealing millions from their workers, their CEO saw his pay increase from $7,000,000 to $17,483,000 per year.
Given that the news media is so concerned about theft, you'd imagine there were HUNDREDS of stories about this crime. After all, if a guy stealing hundreds out of desperation ruled an entire news cycle, obviously executives stealing millions out of pure greed is a huge story. Right?
So, nothing. Zero coverage.
Just a quick reminder to everyone: the biggest thieves and looters in this country all wear $5,000 suits, and sit in corporate boardrooms. Wage theft dwarves every other form of property crime in terms of raw dollars. And it almost always goes unpunished. Its victims rarely made whole. And the thieves never see the inside of a jail cell.
Remember this the next time corporate media tries to make you upset about petty crime committed by desperate people. They're simply trying to distract you from the much larger crimes being committed by their corporate peers.
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His_Highness
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king
Maybe we need unions to protect employees? Yeah, I know its not a new approach.
I sure remember seeing this story basted everywhere this summer:
A guy shoplifted somewhere between $200 and $950 from a SF Walgreens. It generated well over 300 stories. The NYT, CNN, Fox all gave it a ton of coverage. Most used it as proof that there's no consequences for stealing in San Francisco. Except, the guy was arrested and is facing multiple felony charges. He's been held, without bond, since the summer. For his crimes against Walgreens. Yep, we should all feel real bad for this company...
Walgreens stole millions of dollars from their employees. Are any of their executives sitting in a prison cell right now? Nope. They simply had to pay about 22% of the money they stole back to their employees. No harm no foul. Oh, and during the exact time Walgreens was stealing millions from their workers, their CEO saw his pay increase from $7,000,000 to $17,483,000 per year.
Given that the news media is so concerned about theft, you'd imagine there were HUNDREDS of stories about this crime. After all, if a guy stealing hundreds out of desperation ruled an entire news cycle, obviously executives stealing millions out of pure greed is a huge story. Right?
So, nothing. Zero coverage.
Just a quick reminder to everyone: the biggest thieves and looters in this country all wear $5,000 suits, and sit in corporate boardrooms. Wage theft dwarves every other form of property crime in terms of raw dollars. And it almost always goes unpunished. Its victims rarely made whole. And the thieves never see the inside of a jail cell.
Remember this the next time corporate media tries to make you upset about petty crime committed by desperate people. They're simply trying to distract you from the much larger crimes being committed by their corporate peers.
Often the employee is easily convinced they shouldn't join a union for reasons like it will cost them to join. And if the union fee wasn't enough to turn them off the company's management will also try to convince the employee that "we're all family here" and don't need any outsiders telling "US" what to do.
One of the jobs I had when putting myself through college was working at a supermarket chain. It was mandatory that you join the union and I had to pay the union fee out of pocket. I was only allowed enough hours to stay under the hours that would require the supermarket to provide full-time benefits like a health plan. I needed the money badly and felt I was being forced to pay for something I didn't want. After all, this wasn't what I expected to do for a career and I just needed the money.
I quit the supermarket because I needed more hours and they wouldn't let me work full-time because of the benefits they'd have to pay. I took another full-time retail job as a manager where there was no union ... that's when I found out how much more I was making at the supermarket because of the union and came to appreciate the union protecting the employee in other areas.
florduh
Well-Known Member
Absolutely. When shops in a given area start unionizing, even workers in un-unionized shops in that same area see their wages increase. In the recent John Deere strike, not only did hourly workers get a big pay increase, but salaried office workers also saw an 8% raise. On the other end of the spectrum, we have States like Florida. A "Right to Work" State.
"Right to Work" laws are some of the most 1984 sounding bullshit I've ever heard. In reality, they are "right to work for less" laws. They have nothing to do with "improving worker choice" or whatever bull corporate whore politicians sell it as. It's all about keeping wages down to increase corporate profits. It's like a law of nature at this point. Every State that passes these laws sees workers' wages suppressed.
I worked at Target in HS and college. At least a couple times I was forced to watch their anti-union propaganda videos. My favorite part is when they have a fictional employee saying, "It's hard enough to make ends meet, and now the union wants to take money out of my paycheck every week? No thank you."
I remember thinking, "if $5-$10 a week is causing you to fall behind on bills, it sounds like the problem is your boss isn't paying you enough. Not the union". Like, "I'm always $5 away from falling behind on my bills" is a pretty good reason to join or form a union.
Planck
believes in Dog
One would think you need to be a special kind of stupid to believe the least powerful people in a society are responsible for all the problems. However there is this
And this chilling study
florduh
Well-Known Member
Officer Whose Bullet Killed a 14-Year-Old Girl Wanted to ‘Change’ the Police
As an L.A.P.D. officer, William Jones Jr. said he wanted the public “not to be scared of us.” He is now under investigation for a shooting that killed Valentina Orellana Peralta and an unarmed assault suspect.
A bunch of cops responded to a call about a guy going crazy, attacking people with a bike lock in a crowded store. They reacted in typical cop fashion, playing Call of Duty with long rifles. Lo and behold, one of the bullets hit and killed a 14 year old girl.
Here's who the "Paper of Record" chose to quote in their story about this tragic incident:
- A Spokesperson for cop union
- The cop's Lawyer
- Two people mentored by the cop
- The Attorney General (i.e. a cop)
- A Professor (and former cop)
- Lawyer for the victim's family
- The cop's Lawyer, two more times for good measure
The Old Grey Lady is really giving her readers a fair and balanced view of the incident.
Robert-in-YEG
Well-Known Member
Armless French Dummy Hospitalized With COVID
florduh
Well-Known Member
Admittedly, I don't consume a ton of news anymore. But it seems like any time I do and the subject of inflation comes up, the news is really fucking Fake. When inflation complaints started popping up, I wondered "how much of what is being called inflation is just businesses padding their prices to make up for a slow 2020?" It turns out, that's most of it.
mattstoller.substack.com
Current inflation is pegged at about 6.8%. If the US corporate rate of profit remained the same as it held from 2012-2019, inflation would be at 3.8%. Up from 1.8% pre-pandemic. That would be far more manageable. It would mean the difference between a raise and a pay cut for workers like my girlfriend. Her 5% raise is now a 1.8% pay cut. Mostly because of pure corporate greed.
So why is this is the "Fake News" thread? Because every time I turn on the news, the explanation I hear for inflation is the government created too much money with the pandemic stimmy. When in reality, that was not the major cause of price increases. If inflation is up 5% from pre-pandemic levels, and 3% of that is explained by corporations simply padding their after cost profits, then only 2% max could be caused by the government money printer.
And that 2% isn't just stimmy spending alone. It also includes all the supply chain disruptions. Because the same business geniuses driving current inflation with price gouging also built an entire global supply chain on thin ice. So when the pandemic hit, the whole thing fell apart.
The line that stuck with me from the Fake News Media is that "inflation is taxation without legislation." And they're 100% correct. This current "tax" wasn't decided by legislators. It was almost entirely enacted by unelected corporate executives. And they're able to get away with it because their partners in the corporate media are busy blaming inflation on some poor schmuck who cashed a$2000 $1400 stimmy check a year ago.
Corporate Profits Drive 60% of Inflation Increases
Higher prices aren't just a result of supply chain chaos or government spending. Inflation is being driven by the pricing power and higher profits of corporations, costing $2,126 per American.
mattstoller.substack.com
Current inflation is pegged at about 6.8%. If the US corporate rate of profit remained the same as it held from 2012-2019, inflation would be at 3.8%. Up from 1.8% pre-pandemic. That would be far more manageable. It would mean the difference between a raise and a pay cut for workers like my girlfriend. Her 5% raise is now a 1.8% pay cut. Mostly because of pure corporate greed.
So why is this is the "Fake News" thread? Because every time I turn on the news, the explanation I hear for inflation is the government created too much money with the pandemic stimmy. When in reality, that was not the major cause of price increases. If inflation is up 5% from pre-pandemic levels, and 3% of that is explained by corporations simply padding their after cost profits, then only 2% max could be caused by the government money printer.
And that 2% isn't just stimmy spending alone. It also includes all the supply chain disruptions. Because the same business geniuses driving current inflation with price gouging also built an entire global supply chain on thin ice. So when the pandemic hit, the whole thing fell apart.
The line that stuck with me from the Fake News Media is that "inflation is taxation without legislation." And they're 100% correct. This current "tax" wasn't decided by legislators. It was almost entirely enacted by unelected corporate executives. And they're able to get away with it because their partners in the corporate media are busy blaming inflation on some poor schmuck who cashed a
florduh
Well-Known Member
Haha, Fox News what a joke...Rupert Murdoch could not get away with his bullshit in Oz so he moved to a more bullshit receptive place and has literally made a killing!
florduh
Well-Known Member
florduh
Well-Known Member
Admittedly, I don't consume a ton of news anymore. But it seems like any time I do and the subject of inflation comes up, the news is really fucking Fake. When inflation complaints started popping up, I wondered "how much of what is being called inflation is just businesses padding their prices to make up for a slow 2020?" It turns out, that's most of it.
Corporate Profits Drive 60% of Inflation Increases
Higher prices aren't just a result of supply chain chaos or government spending. Inflation is being driven by the pricing power and higher profits of corporations, costing $2,126 per American.
Current inflation is pegged at about 6.8%. If the US corporate rate of profit remained the same as it held from 2012-2019, inflation would be at 3.8%. Up from 1.8% pre-pandemic. That would be far more manageable. It would mean the difference between a raise and a pay cut for workers like my girlfriend. Her 5% raise is now a 1.8% pay cut. Mostly because of pure corporate greed.
So why is this is the "Fake News" thread? Because every time I turn on the news, the explanation I hear for inflation is the government created too much money with the pandemic stimmy. When in reality, that was not the major cause of price increases. If inflation is up 5% from pre-pandemic levels, and 3% of that is explained by corporations simply padding their after cost profits, then only 2% max could be caused by the government money printer.
And that 2% isn't just stimmy spending alone. It also includes all the supply chain disruptions. Because the same business geniuses driving current inflation with price gouging also built an entire global supply chain on thin ice. So when the pandemic hit, the whole thing fell apart.
The line that stuck with me from the Fake News Media is that "inflation is taxation without legislation." And they're 100% correct. This current "tax" wasn't decided by legislators. It was almost entirely enacted by unelected corporate executives. And they're able to get away with it because their partners in the corporate media are busy blaming inflation on some poor schmuck who cashed a$2000$1400 stimmy check a year ago.
I was curious. Who are these totally unbiased fact checkers Instagram is consulting.
Corporate price hikes are not root cause of soaring US inflation
Facebook posts claim that the rising cost of goods in the United States is due to price gouging rather than inflation. But experts rejected the idea that corporations are the main culprit and said the spike in prices follows big federal spending, heightened demand, and supply problems, all of...
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize a senior fellow at the Corporate Whore Foundation said corporations would never price gouge! My bad!
What a fucking joke. These are the unbiased "fact-checkers" who must not be questioned?
What a brilliant insight, professor. That sort of thinking is totally worth the 6 figures a year you get paid to work like 20 hours a week. The "change" that happened is that corporations had a slow 2020. So they padded their profits in 2021. They're able to get away with it because their allies in corporate media run cover for them with "inflation" stories.
Economics is just ideology masquerading as science. When reality doesn't jive with their little religion, it's reality that must be wrong. Corporations took a higher rate of after cost profit in 2021 than they did from 2012-2019. Corporate greed isn't the only cause of inflation. But it is the largest single cause.
Jesus is this bleak. Something tells me AFP won't be flagging any tweets that read "tax cuts for the wealthy corporate elite will trickle down to working Americans".
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florduh
Well-Known Member
Four minutes of the media begging the Brandon Biden Administration to cleanse the earth in nuclear fire.
I love how reporters have just turned into the Children of Atom from Fallout 4.
mod note: Corrected. Please don't turn yet another thread into a political mess with childish name-calling.
I love how reporters have just turned into the Children of Atom from Fallout 4.
mod note: Corrected. Please don't turn yet another thread into a political mess with childish name-calling.
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No money in that...a long-drawn-out conflict for all those weapons manufacturers and the pollies they pay so they can all make a 'killing' is all that will happen...with no US casualties they will hope it lasts forever.
florduh
Well-Known Member
You're right, and that's the only comfort here. Nuclear Winter is terrible for shareholder value.
Ginning up war fever is good for ratings. And the "defense" industry is more than happy to help. Virtually every former General the networks use as a talking head is a current defense industry board member.
My favorite is the reporter who basically says "A Russian GoPro drone reportedly entered Russian airspace... so can we please launch the nukes now????"
