They keep raising prices, stating that it’s due to inflation, but then they keep having record profits.

Meanwhile, the average American can barely afford rent or food nowadays.

What are we to do? Vote? I have been but that doesn’t seem to do much since I’m just voting for a representative that makes the actual decisions.

  • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Voting is necessary but not sufficient.

    The big other thing is to build external power. That’s not like militias per se (though with the rising fascism it’s not a bad idea), but rather stuff like gardening, learning to do repairs, and practicing mutual aid. Reduce your and your community’s dependence on the corporations. And make it an issue people around you care about.

    • SuperDuper@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Learning to do repairs yourself has never been easier thanks to YouTube. There’s also a ton of sources for replacement parts online these days, many of which provide repair videos for the more common parts. My dishwasher broke a few months ago; $60 for a new intake pump and a few hours of my time and it’s working as if it’s brand new. My TV died out a little over a year ago; $35 for a new power supply (probably could’ve repaired it for a few bucks if I had just replaced a capacitor or two) and less than an hour of my time and it’s right as rain. Most repair jobs are a lot less daunting than people assume they are.

      • phillaholic@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Giving everyone more money will not fix the price of housing, It’ll do the opposite.

        • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 year ago

          It will partially fix it because part of the problem is wealth inequality; housing is a form of wealth and becomes more out of reach as wealth concentrates away from people. Giving everyone money serves as redistribution.

          • phillaholic@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Think about it. If everyone has more money that means so do the other people bidding against you. It’s like the college tuition problem. Everyone can get student loans, so colleges have no incentive to keep costs reasonable. Giving college students more money doesn’t fix the problem of college being too expensive.

            • Pat_Riot@lemmy.today
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              1 year ago

              You still think you’re bidding against other people for housing. That’s not the case, often, these days. Corporate land grabbing is the largest proponent of the housing crisis. That has to be ended before anything will get better on that front. Education for profit is another absolute crime against the citizenry. College should only cost what education costs, not what it costs to hire the fucking football coach and build a goddamn stadium.

              • phillaholic@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                You’re bidding against both, and increasing the amount of money people have also gives people who already own a home the opportunity to buy another one and get in on the investment those corporation are. All you’ll get is inflation and probably a crash leaving you owing more than the homes worth when it all comes tumbling down. Throwing money isn’t the solution. Building more multi-family buildings and legislating multi-home ownership including corporations is.

            • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              1 year ago

              If everyone has more money that means so do the other people bidding against you

              This would make sense if what was being proposed was increasing everyone’s wealth proportionally to how much wealth they already have, but I don’t think anyone is really suggesting that. Think about it this way; say you have 300k and are bidding on a house against someone who has 50 million dollars. They have a strong advantage. Now say you both were gifted 10 million dollars before bidding on the house. Your adversary still has the advantage, but much less of one.

              As an aside I think what you’re saying elsewhere about adjusting laws for more housing is right, but that can’t be the whole solution when the market value of labor is being eroded away. Even if there is a large supply of housing, a share of wealth is needed to buy it, that share has to be somewhat evenly distributed or there are unavoidable problems.

              • phillaholic@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                You’re ignoring the hundred other people with 300k that will getting money and now bidding against me. It’s Supply and Demand.

                • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                  1 year ago

                  I am not, I intended the person with 300k in this example to represent the whole class of people with less. Your assumption seems to be that the relatively accumulating mass of wealth held by the few is just not in competition for houses, but that begs the question, why wouldn’t it be? You can extract rent from housing to profit on it over time. It serves as a safe investment very likely to increase in value. You can convert it into other forms of real estate. You can have multiple homes for convenient travel. There is a lot of incentive there.

                  An important feature of supply and demand is that the weight of demand doesn’t depend on a quantity of people, but a quantity of money chasing the same supply. If no one ever had a reason to want more than one house for themselves, maybe it would have more to do with the quantity of individuals, but I think that’s just not the case, they do want more, and it scales.

                  • phillaholic@lemm.ee
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                    1 year ago

                    I’m not following your point at all here. I’d you give just me extra money, I can probably buy a house. I’d you give everyone more money then I’m back to bidding against everyone else and the cost of housing just rises. We don’t have enough housing in many areas of the country.

        • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          No the price of housing is caused by low interest rates and the money printer. This makes companies take out cheap loans and buy all the houses, thus driving up the pricing even more.

          • phillaholic@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            You’re kidding yourself if you think everyone having more money is going to do anything but increase bidding on housing right now though. I’m not blaming housing prices on people having money, I’m saying it’s not going to fix those underlying issues.

            • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              No they don’t have money. The money is created out of thin air.

              Has anybody learned anything from 2008? The entire reason that Bitcoin was even created?

              • phillaholic@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                To scam stupid people out of money? I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, and I’m not sure you do either.

    • SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      But big daddy government says guns are really bad and only they should have them!!! (jk)

      Learning skills like sewing, planting/storing extra food, first aid and knowing how to use a gun isn’t something for crazy bunker dwellers or the Amish. It’s skills that my grandparents knew.

      It makes you more resilient and capable, especially in an emergency when supply chains/govt are strained (that’s why the preppers do it). You don’t have to go all Stardew Valley but I think it’s good stuff to know at a basic level.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah I have mixed feelings about guns because on one hand an armed proletariat is more able to resist, but on the other hand sure seems like easy access to weapons is helping fascists more than anyone else and fuck am I just exhausted by the constant and unyielding gun violence in my country as well as the fact that any weapons that are effective against a larger force on shared turf are illegal for anyone but cops and troops. But antifascists and workers demonstrating our capacity to organize as a militia may make fascists rethink action.

        But yeah aside from my rambling as a tired American, these skills aren’t even just for emergencies. Gardening is a hobby that gives food and sometimes drugs as a reward. And it’s healthier stuff, with the added benefit of being in season. Repair skills not only save money, they save the planet and they make you feel more comfortable and capable.

        My girlfriend is an Appalachian leftist who does a lot of the prepper stuff because growing up impoverished in a place where that was normal and it’s just useful even now that she’s middle class and out of all that. When you get comfortable with repairs and making stuff you can just turn other people’s stuff they want to get rid of into things you want. You can just make furniture if you have the tools. And yeah it may not look as polished, but it’s often sturdier because you’re not going to use particleboard to build your bed, but companies sure will