[Tainari88]

This is terrible folks. It means a private company creates a private government for them within democratic and independent nations who do not hold power over these places.

DeSantis stated Disney wanted to create its own laws and rules within Florida. Independent of the laws of Florida. The Right Wing in Latin America want to sell off their nations to private corporations and let them take the nation's wealth and workers and land in some kind of horrible neocolonialism.

If you allow these horrible privatizations to happen with impunity? It is going to destroy any semblance of democracy.

What is your opinion?

[Potemkin]

This is terrible folks. It means a private company creates a private government for them within democratic and independent nations who do not hold power over these places.

DeSantis stated Disney wanted to create its own laws and rules within Florida. Independent of the laws of Florida. The Right Wing in Latin America want to sell off their nations to private corporations and let them take the nation's wealth and workers and land in some kind of horrible neocolonialism.

If you allow these horrible privatizations to happen with impunity? It is going to destroy any semblance of democracy.

What is your opinion?

This is the logical endpoint of neoliberalism - the privatisation of human society itself. I’ve heard they’re currently trying to privatise rainfall too - collecting rainfall in a bucket will soon be classified as ‘theft’. Once cities are privatised, and once nature itself has been privatised, then our enslavement to capital will be complete. Nature offered its bounty to our ancestors freely and openly. But humanity is determined to find a way of enslaving itself so that a few can have everything and the majority nothing.

[Politics_Observer]

@Tainari88

DeSantis is losing that battle with Disney too. It hasn't been exactly an easy fight for DeSantis, even here in the United States.

[Tainari88]

This is the logical endpoint of neoliberalism - the privatisation of human society itself. I’ve heard they’re currently trying to privatise rainfall too - collecting rainfall in a bucket will soon be classified as ‘theft’. Once cities are privatised, and once nature itself has been privatised, then our enslavement to capital will be complete. Nature offered its bounty to our ancestors freely and openly. But humanity is determined to find a way of enslaving itself so that a few can have everything and the majority nothing.

But all this water, and air is private and you need to pay for breathing and drinking clean water, and you need to eat the shitty food that is GMO modified for fast production and you need to be ruled by a corporation is slavery. But if you love capitalism till your dying breath? Then be a slave. But leave the ones who do not want this crap system to build their own system without having to go to war to do it. But no....they want to go to war and get their dreams smashed. Because once you knock on doors telling people that you need to pay for clean air and clean water and can't grow your own food with your own seeds and you can't keep your own children from watching videogames and consumption and bullshit...they will have a war on their hands. Slavery always loses in the long game. Always. Who the fuck wants to be a slave their entire life to credit card debt, student loan debts, and company debts and to be always working for peanuts for some horrible multinational corporations without any souls?

They are asking for trouble.

[Tainari88]

@Tainari88

DeSantis is losing that battle with Disney too. It hasn't been exactly an easy fight for DeSantis, even here in the United States.

Disney makes money galore and wants to create its own laws. In Disneyland in California they are paying 'cast members' (employees) some shitty wage of $13 dollars an hour. It is not enough to get a rented apartment in Anaheim or Orlando. When they are making huge profits all the time.

It is a trend. Do not follow laws of some nation. Follow your own laws and control the laws of employees and the public common space no longer exists. It is all privatization. Neoliberalism on steroids. Let the Market Rule the World.

[Deutschmania]

Such "capitalizm" , as described in the dystopian fiction novel , "Jennifer Government" , by Max Barry , is nothing new in human history. It is simply a further development of the company town. As @Tainari88 alluded to, Walt Disney tried to set up something similar, and even arguably more totalitarian, with regards to his EPCOT.

Epcot, according to Disney, “will always be a showcase to the world for the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise.” It was intended as “a planned, controlled community, a showcase for American industry,” with “no slum areas because we won’t let them develop.” Disney was adamant that no one would own their homes, and “therefore no voting control.” Above all else, every resident at Epcot must work as a cog in the machine of the corporation – “There will be no retirees; everyone must be employed.” (1) Living in a radial city that expanded outward, residents would be subject to constant surveillance and could have their homes regularly entered without their consent by authorities. Epcot was Disney’s utopia – a perfectly fascist city, free from unions, privacy, democracy, and social security. When you could no longer work, Epcot would discard you to keep the corporation efficient.

Walt died in 1966, and his less ideological executive counterparts recognized that few would voluntarily live in these fascist conditions. They opted for a theme park instead, but not without drawing serious inspiration from Walt’s original vision. After buying up land in Central Florida for a song using shell companies, Disney set to work on establishing total legal control of the territory. In 1967, the Florida legislature created the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID), which effectively granted total governing authority of the area to the corporation. Disney the corporation has gone to tremendous lengths to maintain said control, even de-annexing its new urban city Celebration to avoid granting homeowners a voice in municipal affairs. It’s a truly corporate town with legal rights that the US government doesn’t even recognize for other countries. According to the terms of the RCID, Walt Disney World Orlando effectively has greater legal standing to pursue a nuclear program than sovereign states like the Islamic Republic of Iran or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. I wish I were making it up. https://truthout.org/articles/uncle-walts-kingdom-the-fascist-political-economy-of-disney-world/

It's the sort of situation referred to in this old song.

[Rancid]

They need to kick those companies out!

[QatzelOk]

They need to kick those companies out!

Disney Corporation probably has enough money to buy the next governor of Florida, if push comes to shove.

Why should a successful corporation like Disney have to live under the control of some popularist demagogue who has been "elected" by a fentanyl-addicted gang of deplorables?

Disney World is much better run than Florida: no homeless people, no grafitti, all the mice and fairies are employed, no BLM or Antifa hell breaking loose...

For more advice on how to arrange the perfect society, I suggest reading "Brave New World" or "Amusing Ourselves to Death."

Both of these novels explore the means by which humans are turned into cattle through the use of targeted entertainment products.

[Deutschmania]

They need to kick those companies out!

It might seem to be a nice heroic notion, but also easier said than done. The last time something like this happened the Central American countries were dominated by the United Fruit Company , giving rise to the term "banana republic". The attempts to overthrow this order of things has been mixed. Augusta Sandino was opposed by U.S. Marines , when he tried to carry out an insurrection. The presidency of Jacobs Arbenz was deposed by the Central Intelligence Agency. Only Fidel Castro , upon rejecting multiparty elections , declaring his regime Communist, and aligning Cuba with the then Soviet Union was ultimately successful in resisting U.S. imperialism. The past examples of U.S. interference in the affairs of Latin American nations is said to have been a factor in Castro's decision to reject liberal democratic reformism in favor of Marxist-Leninism . https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-debate-over-fidel-castro_n_583ba640e4b09b605601061d So this would be the dilemma faced by any would be opposition movement. Do they choose participation in elections or do they stage an insurrection? If they do choose to start a revolution , rather than work within the established political system, would the revolution be armed or nonviolent in its tactics ? And in the event that they do manage to attain power , how do they deal with counter-revolution and foreign intervention ? And will they choose to be democratic , like Salvador Allende , or might they instead decide to follow the examples of either the Communist Fidel Castro, or maybe even the nationalist Juan Peron ? Each of these options comes with various challenges , in terms of both ideology and methodology.

[QatzelOk]

It might seem to be a nice heroic notion, but also easier said than done. The last time something like this happened the Central American countries were dominated by the United Fruit Company , giving rise to the term "banana republic". The attempts to overthrow this order of things has been mixed. Augusta Sandino was opposed by U.S. Marines , when he tried to carry out an insurrection. The presidency of Jacobs Arbenz was deposed by the Central Intelligence Agency. Only Fidel Castro , upon rejecting multiparty elections , declaring his regime Communist, and aligning Cuba with the then Soviet Union was ultimately successful in resisting U.S. imperialism. The past examples of U.S. interference in the affairs of Latin American nations is said to have been a factor in Castro's decision to reject liberal democratic reformism in favor of Marxist-Leninism . https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-debate-over-fidel-castro_n_583ba640e4b09b605601061d So this would be the dilemma faced by any would be opposition movement. Do they choose participation in elections or do they stage an insurrection? If they do choose to start a revolution , rather than work within the established political system, would the revolution be armed or nonviolent in its tactics ? And in the event that they do manage to attain power , how do they deal with counter-revolution and foreign intervention ? And will they choose to be democratic , like Salvador Allende , or might they instead decide to follow the examples of either the Communist Fidel Castro, or maybe even the nationalist Juan Peron ? Each of these options comes with various challenges , in terms of both ideology and methodology.

This is a very comprehensive list of some important attempts to expel multinational corporations. And in the past, this has always been a national policy that can bring on an invasion by the army of one of the countries that is owned and operated by these multinationals (USA, France, etc.).

But hasn't something changed in the last few decades regarding the popular understanding of what corporations "are?"

Wasn't the human race a lot more ignorant and naive regarding economics and imperialism, one hundred years ago?

It seems to me that billions of humans today realize how destructive economic predation and race-based hegemony are to the long-term survival of humanity and many other species. Hasn't this changed humanity for good, and doesn't it mean that a revolution that kills capitalism once and for all ... is possible today?

[Tainari88]

This is a very comprehensive list of some important attempts to expel multinational corporations. And in the past, this has always been a national policy that can bring on an invasion by the army of one of the countries that is owned and operated by these multinationals (USA, France, etc.).

But hasn't something changed in the last few decades regarding the popular understanding of what corporations "are?"

Wasn't the human race a lot more ignorant and naive regarding economics and imperialism, one hundred years ago?

It seems to me that billions of humans today realize how destructive economic predation and race-based hegemony are to the long-term survival of humanity and many other species. Hasn't this changed humanity for good, and doesn't it mean that a revolution that kills capitalism once and for all ... is possible today?

This is why Q, the system wants to know everything about its citizens and the privacy issue is so critical. There is no privacy. Snowden really exposed how bad this goes. The government is gathering enormous amounts of data on private citizens. It basically spies on everyone and gets all that data to control the masses ruthlessly.

They are hand and glove with the big tech companies and the social media giants. The government in corporate hands can go and start ferreting out who the ones most likely to resist whatever the system wants to implement and either neutralize them or defund any opposition. It is actively trying to rid itself of any accountability to the voters. It wants absolute autocratic control forever. They start with small nations like Puerto Rico or Honduras. if they are successful the go on to total control of larger nations and larger populations. It all depends on controlling vital information on the citizens who refuse the corporate plan for neoliberal failed policies. We know they are failed policies. But they got to be what people must accept and not give us any resistance. We have to have the last word.

They fail to realize that if enough people get really frustrated and tired of the constant bullshit they will be burned to the ground in the most absolute way.

Sometimes I think corporations fail at understanding the threshold for what revolutionary situations are like in this world. They are insulated from many perspectives. Like white men being the norm in facial recognition systems and then do not understand why so many people do not fit the profile. The world is not white. And in general women tend to outlive and outnumber men in many fields.

Got to wake up and smell the coffee Q.

[QatzelOk]

This is why Q, the system wants to know everything about its citizens and the privacy issue is so critical. There is no privacy. Snowden really exposed how bad this goes. The government is gathering enormous amounts of data on private citizens. It basically spies on everyone and gets all that data to control the masses ruthlessly...

Exactly.

The company town mentality and reality that many people live in today is compounded by "the company mind" that is accoplished through Internet censorship and mainstream media control of narratives.

If everyone is stupid and believes lies, they cannot rebel against the power abuses that they don't understand or pay attention to.

*Enter mass media and social media gatekeepers*

Company towns...if the primary company experiences hardship or fails outright, or the industry fades in importance ... the economic effect on the company town can be devastating. Without a source of employment, the communities lose property value and population as people leave to find work elsewhere.

Some company towns have had high ideals, but many have been regarded as controlling and/or exploitative

Typically, a company town is isolated from neighbors and centered on a large production factory...

Isolated, dependent, and fragile. This is what company towns have to offer their residents.

[QatzelOk]

Way back when, in a coal-mining company town near where I grew up ...



The mining company that owned the town used to give out free cigarettes to new, young, healthy recruits.
This was a good move by The CompanyTM for two reasons :

1. Cigarettes are addictive, and The CompanyTM ran all the local stores that sold them, as well as the machines that sold them on site.

2. Whenever miners starting hacking up black tar, The CompanyTM would blame this on their employees "love" of cigarettes, thus deflecting blame away from the unhealthy conditions in The CompanyTM's mines.

[SpecialOlympian]

This is about Próspera, a libertarian/crypto-enthusiast project. Like all libertarian Shining Economic Development Zones Upon Hills, it will fail.

IIRC this was covered on one of the paywalled episodes of Qanon Anonymous, and involves descendants of the Habsburgs. A special kind of people well suited to living on the frontiers of capitalism with their amazing genes.

[QatzelOk]

This is about Próspera, a libertarian/crypto-enthusiast project. Like all libertarian Shining Economic Development Zones Upon Hills, it will fail.

IIRC this was covered on one of the paywalled episodes of Qanon Anonymous, and involves descendants of the Habsburgs. A special kind of people well suited to living on the frontiers of capitalism with their amazing genes.

As a commercially employed writer, one learns to cover the tracks of one's mafia bosses by distracting the audience with nonsense.