Them: “Gee things are getting bad… The last time the poor were this bad off heads started rolling… How did we avoid that? Ohh yeah! Concessions! What if we SAY we want to give them concessions, and then tell the government not to? That should work!”

-The wealthy leeches, enemies of humanity

I think it’s better to think of it like this:

How do you make your money? Do you need to make a wage? Or can you let your property (land, buildings, stocks, etc.) be your income?

The real amount doesn’t matter, it’s whether you have to work to live or not.

If you have to work, you are the working class. If you don’t, you are the owner/capitalist class. But your analysis is still somewhat correct: millionaires and small business owners are closer to the working class than billionaires, it does still matter how they make it though.

Exactly. It’s how you make your money, not how much you make.

No need, the Soviets made a river of natzi blood in the 40’s.

A well thought out response. You got me lol. One day I hope to live up to your intellectual standards.

/s

And what are you going to do about it? Be upset? That sounds like a waste of your time, emotions, and intelligence.

Like I said in another response, I’m sure what happened is mostly true, but the framing is for political purposes. It’s important to be critical of the purpose of an article (to inform? Or to influence?) so you can focus your energy on the politics that you have influence over.

I remember the article. And I’m not saying that didn’t happen, in fact I’m sure the Russian Oligarchs are siphoning tons from the Russian people.

But the fact remains, the article you shared is American propaganda being used to drum up support for more sanctions, or war, or some other purpose, which will just result in American Oligarchs sending Americans and/or their money to places they should never be. There is truth to the article, but the framing is for political purposes.

You want to support oppressed people? Great! You want to denounce a tyrant? Great! You see folks across the Atlantic rising up in revolution against oligarchs? Also great!

But being critical of how the media is presented can go a long way towards supporting the right causes, being upset about things that are worth being upset about, and making sure you don’t waste your energy pushing the agenda of some government which should be minding its own business.

And the working people always suffer, and will always suffer, as long as our representatives don’t represent us.

Good point. North east US.

And you are right they didn’t mention a storm, but that’s not my point. The article title clearly exacerbates the problem, and points the blame in a way that suggests the Russians are either too stupid or too poor to fix the problem. Why should any of us care about such a small thing for one? And two, what is their intention? It’s well known that NYtimes toes the state line when it comes to propaganda against American “enemies” .

Really the only thing useful from the article is:

“20,000 without heat in Russia due to infrastructure failure. Crews working to fix it.”

But then why would anyone care about that?

Lol. I wasn’t showing any support for anyone, just pointing out the clear goal of the article, and especially it’s headline. It’s important to check sources, especially when there is a news article pertaining to your geo-political enemies.

Wow, infrastructure breakdown left 20,000 without heat for a few days? That’s not news. A good storm in the northeast can knock the power system out for days here. Just more mindless propaganda trying to make you think a certain way.

You might not, but the majority of people who know what neoliberalism is would.

Yeah and then Israel can go back to their peaceful genocide right? I get it death is bad, but ignoring context (settler colonialism) to feel superior by saying both sides are bad is dumb. None of us can sit here and tell an oppressed people how to fight their oppressor.

12 days of Christmas by Bob and Doug Mckenzie

https://youtu.be/1DTwLqR071M?si=SpMC1J3ZPPSNECcJ

It is one of the consequences of monopolies, but monopolies are a consequence of economic competition.

The “winner” gets the losers stuff and customers (mergers for example), making the winner bigger and more able to manipulate the market to their benefit.

When there are few enough companies profits can be chased without consideration for anything else (planned obsolescence, shipping jobs outside the country, lay-offs, etc.)

So, like you said except in a for profit market, monopolies are inevitable.

Imagine thinking a few hundred people you disagree with is worse than a mega-corp manipulating information for profits.