7d ago

You wouldn't even need to stop going to work!

62 comments

I kinda like electricity, and heat.
- IME you need to miss at least 2 payments before they shut off utilities, everyone not paying just 1 would be very very bad (for them lol).
  
  I can't even convince people to just not change the clocks and tell daylight savings to fuck off. Come on public utilities!
  
  would be very very bad (for them lol).
  Ok.. so the company that provides the infrastructure for you to get electricity and heat finds it no longer financially viable to operate and shuts down... What's the plan then?
  
  Not in the winter. They can't do it during the cold months in many states. Everyone stop paying in the beginning of winter.
- Trigger warning: this is a JRE clip, but there's always this: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HIRzpga121E

Do you know what happens when societal structure collapses?
People with power and wealth accumulate more power and wealth.
People with the means and willingness to do violence acquire power and wealth from the vulnerable.
People without power, wealth and the means to do violence die.
- Accelerationism is the ideology of idiots.
  
  People who never faced strife support accelerationism, let's see how you like it when you not only get beaten by the people above you but also beside you
  
  Accelerationism is the ideology of privileged idiots.
  FTFY
  
  Truer words were never spoken
- Corporations are not the provayers of societal structure. People can be good people with no one forcing violence upon them. What are they going to do, pay them with their worthless money?
  You're the one stopping progress.
  
  You say you want a revolution
  Well, you know
  We all want to change the world
  You say you got a real solution
  Well, you know
  We'd all love to see the plan
  You tell me it's the institution
  Well, you know
  You'd better free your mind instead
  Don't you know it's gonna be... alright...
- Yeah banks are pillars of societal structure. Utility companies are our defense against wealth accumulation by the ultra wealthy. Without billionaires, who would defend the marginalized?
  
  You do realize I'm not defending rich people, right? There was no such thing in what I wrote.
  What I did was describe what happens when a society experiences systemic collapse.
  Without the structure, the rich get richer faster, and the poor die faster, that's all.

Sometimes people here are just too eager for societal collapse.
I like having running water, hot and cold, safe and clean enough to drink it.
I like having a toilet that I just flush my crap away.
These will no longer be available during a societal collapse.
- When people are at the point where they are literally dying because they can't afford to live, you have to say there's not much else to lose.
  The powerful just try and keep that balance of having enough people fall into poverty to keep everyone else in line, and avoiding having too many people in poverty so that we don't all eat them like we're supposed to.
- Have you looked at the current political climate? That's under threat as-is, might as well go down swinging
  
  “Bad thing is already on the table, let’s make it happen for sure!”
  🤦‍♂️

Cool and then you and your family and loved ones starve, don’t get the medical attention and maintenance they need, same with meds, emergency services, etc.
Don’t forgot you’re one of the fucking morons living inside and depending on the society you’re gleefully imagining collapse. So many innocents will be killed just from the fall of all of these services and whatnot.

And then everyone who can't grow or rob their calories would be fucked.
- Basic necessities, like groceries, could be bought, I call out utilities because IME in most places it takes at least 2 months of missed payments before they can shut off utilities
  
  What do you think happens when a power company goes bankrupt?

I'm all for an organized, mass bill payment "strike" and some businesses would be effected, though not really any very large companies, who would benefit the most from having their competitors go out of business (and forced to sell or merge their assets for a fraction of their value) than we would by saving $100-200 per month, which we would spend, corporations would raise prices, and all of that money just flows back to the banks anyway.
Now tenant organizing and rent strikes, that's where you can actually fuck shit up and make demands many times. But like your gas company doesn't give I shit, you just won't have heat, fuck you.
It would be nice if this was true but it still based on the illusion of a free market

They would bring back debtor's prisons, and enjoy their new source of slave labor.

What is "wage garnishment" for 200
- That requires a court order, could you imagine the shit show the court system would be for companies everywhere to get court ordered wage garnishment against even 50/60% of the population lol shit would grind to a halt
  
  Or they could just do it and force you to go through the courts to stop them

Fun fact: Most red states derive a significant portion of their tax revenue from sales tax. In some places (like Texas) it accounts for 80% of the state's budget. If enough people significantly reduced their spending in red states, they could cripple the government and break no laws or contracts that would expose them to legal liabilities.
- What would crippling the government do other than massively harm regular people? Fight the real enemy, the billionaire class
  
  The government is a tool of the billionaire class. Weakening it weakens their power. Also any buying nothing movement would harm the billionaires much more than the government.
  You know that "defeating" the billionaires would screw over everyone on earth more than toppling the government of Florida or Texas? They have so much power removing their wealth, especially suddenly would destroy the global economy..
  Any solution to the larger problem of oligarchy is going to hurt everyday americans. Buying nothing would at least give them extra money in their pocket to adapt to the changes.

No they wouldn't
The second it became clear this was a larger theme they would sell the debt at a premium to the debt collectors
If it somehow got to the point of hurting a utility or big company government would ride in to the rescue

Reminds me of those chain text messages about kids skipping school. "They can't give us all detentention!" I don't remember it ever working though.
- Yes, they absolutely could give you all detention.
  Besides, most kids actually understand the point of school.

Finally, I get the support I need to get started on that fasting diet I've been considering

That's true and part of me would love to see that, but some utilities (such as water and electric) going under would probably be a bad thing if there wasn't a plan to swoop in and bring them under public control right away. Otherwise, things would get bad really quick in a lot of places if power and water stopped being available for everyone for an extended time. Things like hospitals, grocery stores, repair shops, etc. would all be working at greatly reduced capacity and capability. Barring a full-on revolution where the people could seize these utilities for public ownership and operate it themselves, I don't see that happening because the government would be likely to simply bail out a lot of the companies, or they'd be bought up and probably end up being consolidated by an even fewer number of people.

It would take years. This is a dumb take. Now not spending our money at big corporations and giving a little extra to the small places WILL help over time. And everyone can survive.

accelerationists love this trick

Jesus Christ now any revolution is accelerationism, huh? And this is the response on Lemmy of all places. We really are doomed.

Not taking a side on this. Instead asking a question and hoping for someone to explain
Those who do not support the idea of this kind of strike, do you support the idea of a general strike? A collection work-stoppage? If so, what is the fundamental difference? I have my opinions, but I really want to know yours.
Also, I fucking love mid-sentence exclamation points. It makes me happy every time I see it.
- They'll both accomplish the same thing, except my meme does it without risk to the individual losing their job since in the US there is no protection from termination unless you're already in a union and not working due to an official union action
  
  Well, there are no consequence free actions in any kind of scenario such as this. Lose your job for a general strike. Lose your utilities for a bill paying strike. Lose your job and you can't pay your utilities. Lose your utilities and you can't shower and will lose your job. Either way you're fucked. The only solution is to make sure you have enough people willing to join to make it impossible, or as close to impossible as possible, to ignore your demands.

They'd also stop providing whatever service they provide, which is why nobody will actually follow through on this.

Debtor's Jail 'bouta come back

Bro actually wants to die faster LMAO 🤣
Why don't you try flying off a building?

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