Keep in mind that it’s actually really bloody hard to get potholes filled as a “private entitty” the only real option you have is to literally throw money at the “Local Government” whatever it might be called for you then tell them the flow will stop unless they do it.
Free market can’t do shit unless it’s actually free to do stuff like this.
Yeah it’s non-stop laughs here
I’d laugh, but I lost the ability to in an asbestos mine and don’t have health insurance to fix it.
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And Canada, too. Thanks Mulroney.
Privatized oil, privatized Air Canada, privatized Via Rail. They would’ve gone further if they could’ve.
Don’t forget the NAFTA-shafta. Selling all our manufacturing down the river.
And Australia, too. Thanks Hawke.
They’re really trying here in Alberta. I hate it here
Preach. It’s just getting worse and worse here.
I feel sorry for you.
God for the life of me… who was in charge then… Who was it Reah…
/s
Because Karl Marx said socialism is good, and they determined Karl Marx is bad, therefore socialism must be bad.
Other way. They determined socialism is bad first since that gives a real alternative to capitalism.
It doesn’t need to be an alternative. It’s a really effective way to regulate capitalism by standardizing and socializing private industries like education, police, fire, roads, internet access, healthcare, etc.
Socialism is the workers collectively owning the means of production, everything else is just details. (Well, the anti-heirarchy bit is important too, especially to keep the means from falling into something that isn’t just capitalism with extra steps, but complicated)
It is innately opposed to capitalism as a result. What it isn’t innately opposed to is a market economy.
That’s a socialist economy, not socialism. Socialized industries, like the ones stated above, are collectively paid for by all citizens and provided to all citizens equally. You don’t pay every time you need the police because their salaries are socialized by taxes. It’s an effective way to ensure quality of life for all citizens, with payments proportional to their income. Adding industries to tax socialization is an effective way to bring balance to capitalism, and improve the quality of life for vulnerable members of society, without the need of a full system overhaul.
If power remains with the capitalist class, and industry continues to be organized around their whim, you will not achieve meaningful reform, except in response to a threat, which will be taken away when that threat diminishes. FDR didn’t do the New Deal because he was secretly had socialist beliefs despite his family, but because he was old money buying guillotine insurance.
I was clarifying the difference between checking capitalism with socialism, and a socialist economy. You seemed to think socialism cannot be integrated into capitalism. Did my explanation help you understand the difference now?
What you are describing is social democracy, a subset of capitalism. That is not socialism integrated into capitalism, because once again, power remains with the capitalist class.
Socialism is when the government does stuff, huh
Socialism does not need to be regulated by a government. It’s a form of economy. However, we currently socialize many industries in a capitalist nation, and by socializing more industries, we can improve the lives of poor people at the expense of the wealthy, effectively keeping capitalism more equitable.
It’s okay to be a social democrat, buddy, welfare states are perfectly acceptable forms of ideological liberalism.
One might even call it a step on the path to actual socialism. Someone should write a book about these transitionary states, perhaps leading to the eventual withering of the state entirely.
Honey socialism is an economic system. A socialist economy is socialism.
Like, a honeydew melon is a honeydew.
Is a service economy inherently socialist? The person is the means of production and is self owned.?
🤔
The problem would start when you start organizing the service provision into company heirarchies. Especially if the main thing someone provides is owning the company. In that case, the “means of production” include the organization itself.
I could see a really idealized gig economy model working, though. Or just everything being organized as worker co-ops.
And, of course, then you have to start asking questions about how the service economy is actually procuring resources to function. Sure, you’re trade based, in theory, but who are you trading with? One of the reasons socialism tends to be globalist in nature is that it doesn’t do a whole lot of good for the idea if that “socialist economy” is actually supported by imperialism or someone else doing the ruthless exploitation of labor and then selling you those resources for cheap.
How socialist is your worker owned co-op, really, if you’re buying your food from a slave plantation?
The means of production would not just be yourself but also other work tools. A basic desk job wouldn’t really fall under this condition, since you usually don’t have control over your computer or the software running in it, for example. I couldn’t think of any example of a service job where all the work tools are worker controlled right now.
I would argue that the alternative is important even if you don’t do it. The USSR increased standards of living in capitalist powers by leaps and bounds, just by standing, even only on paper, for an alternative.
They’re waiting for The Trickle.
I feel like I have been trickled on my whole life. Kinda ready for it to stop honestly. Maybe they could take a step closer to the capitalist urinal.
No worries,mobility will tickle down eventually
I’m still waiting for the first round of trickle down economics to reach me…
Sure but almost everyone is richer than god. That mf needs money all the time.
Yeah…
…ha ha…
…funny…
Ghostface Kafka is an awesome username.
Similar thing happened to German telecommunication infrastructure (for an industry nation our internet is notoriously bad in compatison to EU neighbours), happened to our public transport infrastructure, especially to our trains, and is currently happening to our hospitals.
Privatizing critical infrastructure has never been a good idea.
It’s a good thing that the train infrastructure is now for the common good (gemeinwohlorientiert) and can finally renovate everything.
Don’t get me wrong: the trains are still for profit
(West-)German telecom was a government monopoly run by the mail service and it was terrible.
I hate the roads here in the UK. I feel like I’m driving a slalom every time I get in the car. So many potholes. Some are pretty tiny, but others are like god himself fisted the road
Why even have them? Guerrilla rail honestly seems simpler. Just take the most ruined lane and chop it up a little more, then pile some gravel, planks, and ties on top.
Spray paint cocks around every pot hole.
Sweden also stopped investing in infrastructure in the 1980s but not because of privatisation. It’s just very expensive. Now everyone one is blaming each other when everything breaks down, especially politicians that are no longer in the government. There is no “accountability” for the government.
I remember when driving from Finland to Sweden, the road quality markedly dropped when we crossed the border. I found that funny, because I was sharing a car with some friends who had had an unfortunate time in Sweden and they joked that the sudden dip in road quality was more evidence of Sweden being cursed.
But I was told that Sweden is a socialist utopian paradise where there is no right wing, all the cities, bridges, and sidewalks are clean, new, and shiny, you can walk or cycle everywhere 365 days a year, free healthcare and lollipops are offered on every street corner, and everyone is happy and productive all the time!
Did the internet lie to me???
You can just look at any objective metric of wealth or wellbeing and notice Sweden very often near the top of the list. You don’t need to invent some theoretical internet opinion in your head to be mad at.
It’s pretty accurate though.
It’s thoroughly capitalist, but most people pay hefty taxes so public funding is in a much better place than most countries.
But no right wing is wild. There’s quite a hefty following down south and historically Sweden was “neutral” in WW2 which included selling to the Nazis and transporting their troops around.
This might be revisionism but laying down flat and doing your enemy’s bidding is the same as joining them.
Any source for that?
Stories like this will always by its nature opinionated. There will have been expenses made but who can say it was enough? That was kind of my point in the original posy though, that it’s very easy to blame someone or something. Here are some pieces that may paint the picture of Swedish rail. I will leave translation to the reader rather than trying to do that myself.
Everyone seems to agree that investments are needed but no one wants to invest:
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Opinion piece (2024, Left), “Everyone is blaming anyone else”: “I Sverige är järnvägen ett virrvarr där alla skyller på andra och ingen tar ansvar för att tågen kommer fram i tid.” https://jarnvagar.nu/det-kravs-storre-satsningar-pa-jarnvagen/
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Government statement 2022: “Behoven inom infrastrukturen är stora och en satsning på höghastighetsjärnväg skulle tränga undan andra nödvändiga investeringar.” https://www.regeringen.se/pressmeddelanden/2022/12/regeringen-lagger-om-vaxlarna-for-jarnvagsinfrastrukturen/
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Opinion piece 2014, blaming the creation of SJ 1988 [Wikipedia says SJ was founded 2001, weird]: “Järnvägssystemet har brutits sönder och fel bannedläggningar gjorts under mer än 50 år.” https://www.dagenssamhalle.se/samhalle-och-valfard/infrastruktur/tagexperter-den-svenska-jarnvagen-har-havererat/
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Wikipedia, citing a lot of dates. Excerpt: “Denna nedläggningsutveckling påbörjades strax före andra världskrigets utbrott (bland annat nedläggning av linjen Lund–Bjärred våren 1939), stannade av under kriget, accelererade på 1950-talet, nådde en topp kring 1965, gick sedan nedåt för att nå en ny nedläggningsvåg i mitten och slutet av 1980-talet.” https://sv.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sveriges_järnvägshistoria
*Opinion piece (2023, Right): “Det bedrövliga tillståndet för den svenska järnvägen är ovanligt tydligt just nu. Decennier av bristande underhåll har skapat ett järnvägssystem med stora – och växande – brister.” https://www.di.se/ledare/lyssna-pa-wallenberg-och-storsatsa-pa-jarnvagen/
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The child in me takes some twisted pleasure in hearing of Scandinavians suffering from similar problems to us over here who seem to be unable to right the ship. Maybe it’s a misery loves company thing. Maybe it’s because I think the more of us suffer, the quicker we can all work together on a larger scale to come up with a fix. Just feels a bit hopeless at times, and I guess it’s by design.
And I wish the best for you in Sweden, I don’t mean to suggest I am hoping for your failure at all. I just see a picture painted here and on Reddit so frequently of a bustling utopia, and it can be a little demoralizing at times.
Maybe it’s because I think the more of us suffer, the quicker we can all work together on a larger scale to come up with a fix.
I’d love to share that line of thought, but then I remember the COVID response and that initial plan for a patent free vaccine.
Same shit different day it feels like. I just don’t know what it’ll take for a full on workforce strike. Whoever is pulling the strings does a great job balancing taking away our liberties with working us to the bone.
You’re absolutely right though, and it just leaves me feeling like what now, what do we do? And then we fight over stuff amongst each other.
Do guerrilla rail, figure out the nearest land contiguous place with a smart grid, and the nearest place with coherent train signalling. if their system isnt shit, adopt the standard. If it is shit, look up whatever the Japanese are using and rip off their shit. Block by block. Just appropriate a traffic lane, say the outside one.
Its not the best way, but I do genuinely think people could fund construction and maintenance of rail lines on their streets. Making them IT and electrical arteries as well (you’re already running communication and high voltage lines, possibly small wireless solar setups for signal redundancy) makes sense. Get rural broadband and really good fucking economical transit.
I wish there were a community of extremely obsessive online rail nerds that could be tapped to plan something like this, down to the level of a proper network (with like the tiny tolerances you get in modern rails), so we could just, like, look up our blocks and order the necessary parts off a list and start building.
‘Us’ starts with u.
Love the energy but cant understand how it would work or what it would achieve.
Being able to get around, eventually.
Maybe “there are 4 people so rich they are basically gods” is more apt?
Pretend gods.
The whole point of divinity is immortality.
Last I checked, death is still the ultimate equalizer.
Yet, at least
I mean, even if we cure aging, everything eventually decays.
Read ‘The Shock Doctrine’…
