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submitted 19 hours ago by yogthos@lemmygrad.ml to c/news@hexbear.net
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[-] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 13 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

For an economy focused on consumption/spending this is the end of the line (end of growth).
(This isn't bad for the people, it's "bad for the economy" if "the economy" is measured by GDP & stock markets.)

They sucked what juices the lower class had left, then middle class, now (lower) upper class is failing too.

[-] miz@hexbear.net 4 points 7 hours ago
[-] LangleyDominos@hexbear.net 26 points 12 hours ago

Battlepass Economy.

[-] SovietBeerTruckOperator@hexbear.net 37 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

I work retail, a large hardware store specially. All our customers are bored boomers buying fancy ass grills and over priced yard equipment to make their 3 acre plot look nice. The fucking hardware store recently opened a section that sells like fancy jams and sauces for dinner parties. The whole economy is re-gearing to just jerk off petite-bourgeois.

[-] BanSwitch2Buyers@hexbear.net 6 points 6 hours ago

The Gamestop-ification of retail.

[-] DragonBallZinn@hexbear.net 16 points 9 hours ago

I’ve kind of noticed this restructuring too. A lot of ads I’ve been getting have all been “for your business” and every slop is just some dumb business tech or how to hire ’the unicorn’ faster.

Even once I had the opportunity to visit my more successful brother in a major city and a lot of the ads on public transport are the same way, that by being within a city, ads assume you must be rich.

[-] stink@lemmygrad.ml 8 points 8 hours ago

DC ads are literally just pictures of missiles and jets with a company's logo next to it.

[-] GladimirLenin@hexbear.net 19 points 13 hours ago

Death of the US middle class - visualised

[-] largerfather@hexbear.net 16 points 13 hours ago

rat-salute

bless them for giving back like this. doing their part. mostly small businesses benefitting, i’m sure

[-] DragonBallZinn@hexbear.net 6 points 9 hours ago

Unironically, this is why some lesser porks have supported Bernie, and arguably why it seems like the wealthier citizens tend to be more left-leaning.

It kind of checks out: “How am I supposed to have customers if no one has any money?” Contrary to what redditors believe, capitalism needs to be saved from itself over and over again and some capitalists recognize they cannot have too good of a deal.

[-] CredibleBattery@hexbear.net 32 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Gregg Hudson, 53, renowned medium-business owner of a paint and chemical company you've never heard of and is yet somehow essential for the functioning of the MIC, goes out and buys exactly 5368 bottles of BBQ (xtra sweet) sauce every week.

Gregg's paint coats the body of the GBU-39 glide bomb, it fell in an apartment in Tehran ten hours ago.

Gregg is hoping they use the ''Big One'' in Fordow, also covered by AmeriCoat-Tek™ buy American 's special coating; it would really help his sales.

[-] ihaveibs@hexbear.net 8 points 8 hours ago

This is so accurate it pisses me off

[-] ComRed2@hexbear.net 19 points 14 hours ago
[-] CredibleBattery@hexbear.net 16 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

just to clarify, gregg hudson is not real he's just the result of a creative writing exercise, any gregg hudsons that also own a small business that you might come across in real life are just pure coincidence

[-] ComRed2@hexbear.net 11 points 12 hours ago

That's oke, the burning american flag is always appropriate.

[-] WoodScientist@hexbear.net 29 points 16 hours ago

Some say that if AI really does take off, that ultimately companies would be forced to still hire workers or support some sort of UBI. After all, who is going to buy their products if they have no employees? This data indicates the flaw in this thinking. As the economy automates, more and more people will simply be shut out of the regular economy entirely. You could absolutely see an economy where the 1% own all the raw materials and the automated factories that produce everything. And the 1% uses the output of those factories primarily to sell to other 1%ers. The economy can function just fine with the top 1% owning and consuming everything while the bottom 99% is homeless. Sure, historically that kind of madness would be solved by pulling out the guillotines, but that's what the robot soldiers are for...

[-] darkcalling@hexbear.net 16 points 14 hours ago

It would likely be more than 1%. If I had to guess, you'd have the top 1%, among them the top 0.1% of course. Then you'd have also the top 5-10% who would be high level servants of the 1%, such as the politician class, the military generals, and also vital designers, scientists, engineers and a few artists. These would include the software writers, debuggers, designers for the robot soldiers, for the robot factories, for the AI itself. Those who maintain the machinery at the highest levels would be compensated with a PMC type lifestyle to keep them loyal and prevent them from having an interest in joining an uprising and sabotaging the robot armies or the robot production. Beneath them and supervised by that group you'd have some amount of low level techs, repair techs, mechanics, junior programmer types who assist a bit who would live on the edge, constantly in threat of being pushed out into the homeless masses if they cause problems or don't meet performance targets.

Among those latter group you'd also have the prostitutes, the sexual "entertainment" of the rich that is, a few of which would be elevated to socialite status in the top 10% but most which would be kept precarious to allow abuses and higher exploitation of them.

Of course personally I think if it gets to that they either engineer or allow a natural plague to run its course and kill large swathes of the population. Other ideas would be say gutting health and environmental regulations and pouring poison into the water and soil and food of these lower dregs and the land they inhabit to cull them. That or nuclear war perhaps or simply counting on climate change to murder off a lot of them.

Of course this doesn't solve capitalism's problem which is sooner or later the capitalists will still eat one another as they seek to maintain a rate of profit and can only extort each other. The problem I suppose is this may happen after they've disposed of most of us.

[-] Dirt_Owl@hexbear.net 53 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

I have noticed a slow shift in advertising the last 15 years. Big increases in adverts for things normal people can't afford. Cruises, insurance aimed at people who collect luxury cars, shit like that.

But more than anything I noticed a LOT of ads are now aimed at businesses and landlords, weird when thats only a small percentage of the population. House insurance ads telling landlords to keep their home safe from their tenants, finance ads telling business owners they can save by switching to whatever book keeping software. There's so much of it now.

I'm not sure if this is just because I wasn't an adult 15 years ago, but I swear it wasn't this bad.

[-] GrouchyGrouse@hexbear.net 46 points 18 hours ago

Lol they priced the working poor out of the treat economy I hope every single person involved in this decision chain is guillotined

[-] 30_to_50_Feral_PAWGs@hexbear.net 28 points 16 hours ago

death-to-the-poorspeech-side-l-1Let them eat Twinkies!speech-side-l-2

[-] BanSwitch2Buyers@hexbear.net 32 points 17 hours ago

I'm guessing that's who's buying Switch 2s. Because I don't know who else can afford it.

[-] TheSpectreOfGay@hexbear.net 26 points 17 hours ago

for real, i am utterly baffled by the fact they're being sold out. it has to be an artificial scarcity thing because there's no reality in which the average person is dropping $500 on a console that has 1 game right now

[-] machiabelly@hexbear.net 10 points 15 hours ago

They've actually produced a ton of units. Its one of the most successful console launches ever. Like, 3m in a week or something.

[-] TheSpectreOfGay@hexbear.net 7 points 15 hours ago

but why...................

[-] Le_Wokisme@hexbear.net 9 points 15 hours ago

gaming PCs are 2-4x the price depending on how much compute you want to buy

[-] CarbonScored@hexbear.net 2 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

~$500 can buy you used medium-end laptop that can absolutely play any and all modern games. Source: I did this earlier this year.

[-] TheSpectreOfGay@hexbear.net 5 points 15 hours ago

I mean yea. but i can play more games on my shitty laptop than just 1. i totally get buying the switch 2 when it has more games but idk why ppl r going out in droves to buy them now

[-] stink@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 8 hours ago

Buy that shit on Klarna then default on the payments, it's free money!

[-] Le_Wokisme@hexbear.net 7 points 15 hours ago

maybe there are hundreds of thousands of framerate enjoyers who want to finally play switch 1 games at stable 60hz

[-] machiabelly@hexbear.net 7 points 14 hours ago

Because its the next big thing, and its still cheaper than cycling, motorsports, traveling, eating out, fashion, wargaming, many types of art, and a lot of other activities. Also, the release got delayed and has been anticipated for a long time, so people have had the chance to save for it.

[-] TheSpectreOfGay@hexbear.net 1 points 3 hours ago

okay this answer makes the most sense to me thank u

[-] Owl@hexbear.net 5 points 14 hours ago

It's been five years since the last console release, and eight years since Nintendo's last one; their longest console generation ever.

I don't understand people who buy consoles at launch either, but, whoever they are, they've had longer to save up between consoles than ever before.

[-] Chronographs@lemmy.zip 44 points 18 hours ago

Surely those top 10% are contributing 50% of the labor because they’re just so incredibly productive right?

[-] glimmer_twin@hexbear.net 27 points 17 hours ago

Oh man, I hate it when my overproduction starts crisising

[-] fart@hexbear.net 15 points 16 hours ago

Think about the sheer amount of stuff u need to fill and maintain an average single family home

[-] blame@hexbear.net 9 points 16 hours ago

india numbers

this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025
128 points (100.0% liked)

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