I bet the Pentagon had a big bash planned and everything when their engineering corps brought them the bad news. Then they had to spin the sour grapes.

Source: Vibes

But what is the relationship between this vision and democracy? Imagine you are a member of the two-thirds of U.S. workers who work in the local service economy—a statistic cited by the authors—who get up every morning to clean houses, cut hair, apply cosmetic treatments, service appliances, drive for Uber, manage medical appointments, or answer angry customer requests. Who has the most money to spend on these services? Those who have much more than you. You are constantly confronted with people who are living in abundance, who have fridges stacked with fresh produce, who drive silent e-vehicles, who overlook green lawns. From where you sit, the problem is not that there is not enough material wealth around but that you are shut out; that after working long hours, juggling care work and several jobs, you are still living in scarcity while others are dwelling in abundance.

This is the vantage of most people. To build a new political order, Democrats must win back the large numbers of working people who stayed home in the last election and win over the losers of Trump’s shock therapy. Will they be mobilized around a happy go lucky vision of green abundance where all distributional and power conflicts have disappeared? I doubt it.

...

Having researched China’s market reforms for many years, I can say that it’s baffling to argue China’s success in building out critical infrastructure is simply a result of a combination of power abuses and the absence of regulations and “debating with judges.” There are many countries in the world that have authoritarian governments and loose environmental and building regulations. None of them has managed to build high-speed rail at breakneck speed.

In fact, a quick search on the internet is enough to find a detailed study by the World Bank on how China managed to build its high-speed rail so quickly and efficiently. Among the key factors are: a 15-year plan that lays out long-term goals and was followed up with five-year plans to specify construction projects and revise goals based on past progress (these have all been upward revisions); special-purpose construction and management companies that are joint ventures between central and provincial governments; coordination among rail manufacturers, research institutions, and engineering centers; managers with clear responsibility and significant performance-based compensation that incentivizes them to stay for whole projects; a high degree of standardization in design and procedures; and a steady stream of projects to enable the creation of a “capable, competitive supply industry.”

Weber is ultimately a liberal, but I'll take a 15 year plan lib who understands China and isn't blinded by the beautiful glow of their lawn over a fucking aboondance lib any day.

Her book on China and shock therapy was great btw

That's it. That's the post.

shocked, appalled, betrayed, dismayed

if so; WACK

“They’re replacing Steak n Shake with a halal restaurant.

Somebody get your mans, this dude is fucking dying holy shit lmaoooo

https://subium.com/profile/marisakabas.bsky.social/post/3loqls3i6tk2s

Post them now. Maybe in the future things will start, dare I say, ~~happening~~.

my boy

sorry I don't have a video link I streamed it

Wow, I got the Savings Master achievement in the Penny-pinching Vanguard category

It's still just so weird seeing this Skinner Box video game shit break containment and permeate everything

ACAB forever. AmeriKKKan pigs might shoot you and laugh about it, but Brit cops will gangstalk you, shoot you, then lie through their teeth for no reason than to prove they can do it.

I'm done chat. I'm fucking done.

Watching Y'all make fun of people for being virgins or calling people virgins really hurts.

Posting here on an alt because my normal username can be linked to me in real life, but I post here daily. Most of you have probably upvoted my posts at one point or another. But yeah, I'm old, and I'm a virgin, and while it doesn't bother me much anymore, it's really bad praxis to call people virgins as an insult or to make fun of them for being virgins. Incels are bad not because they are virgins but because they just blame women for their cause. Make fun of them for their shitty beliefs, not because they are virgins.

I think for a lot of us we still hold on to the capitalist idea of success that has been handed to us. That we need to have money and a job and a partner and kids and all that to be seen as good. And that's not possible for a lot of us. I know that's not possible for me I've been unemployed for years at this point. So we make fun of them for believing in the system but still not having it. I think it's right when people point out here that the things a lot of the alt-right are mad about are rightful things to be mad about. It's just that they then blame them on the (((globalists))) and muslims and immigrants and SJWs when really it's capitalism and actual rich people.

But seriously, that's all I have to say. Please think before using virgin as an insult. It's just a state of being, that of having not had sex, and every single one of you were a virgin at some point in time. Thanks for reading. I love all y'all anyway.

It’s ghouls all the way down, folks