new blog post: Businesses without Workers
https://blog.lx.oliva.nom.br/2026-01-09-businesses-without-workers.en.html
a reflection (with some economic disappointment) on @pluralistic@mamot.fr's A World Without People
https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/05/fisher-price-steering-wheel/
https://blog.lx.oliva.nom.br/2026-01-09-businesses-without-workers.en.html
a reflection (with some economic disappointment) on @pluralistic@mamot.fr's A World Without People
https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/05/fisher-price-steering-wheel/
and, if we indeed live under feudalism as the dominant economic system, that hints at why they set out to control governments. just like feudal lords collected taxes from their serfs, governments collect taxes from their subjects, and direct those taxes to fund various activities, some productive, some part of the rent extraction, but all ultimately flowing into feudal lords' pockets. also, by controlling governments, they largely control the laws of the land, so that they can discipline those who attempt to overthrow them, and so that they can facilitate the rent seeking and organize the flow of resources towards their pockets.
CC: @tetrislife@qoto.org
CC: @tetrislife@qoto.org
the only solution I see for this conundrum is that they're indeed feudal businesses: they extract value through rent rather than through production. so we workers produce value outside their control, then they take it from us in the form of rent. this reinforces my notion (borrowed from Varoufakis) that we no longer live under capitalism as the dominant economic force: the dominant economic agents are (now techno)feudal ones (i.e. rent extractors), and this includes the financial businesses. to me, this has been the case since the so-called imperialistic phase of capitalism set in.