12mo ago

What is an average person living in the US supposed to do about corporations raising prices?

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.

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You need to be the example you want to see in this world. Buy ZERO Corporate.
That’s it.
Delete subscriptions. Replace your music collection with pirated MP3s. Same with movies.
Learn to cook.
Obviously you’ll have to buy gas. Nothing is perfect.
Make a start.
- Tbh, in the digital world Lemmy is actually a nice step imo. But more steps can always be taken (as long they're reasonable). Whether its physical or digital.
  
  Moving everything to Fediverse is a great next step.
- Voting with your wallet is literally plutocracy -- those with more dollars get more votes.
  Not only is our theoretically bad, but it's practically bad: the impact of a boycott is negligible, but the impact on the people doing the boycott is huge: not having access to the conveniences everyone else has puts us at a significant disadvantage compared to our peers.
  And finally, it's not just practically bad, it's actually contraindicated. The executives of a corporation are legally required to maximize immediate returns to their investors. It's literally illegal for a CEO to move a company in the direction of civic responsibility over profit. And it's not just "profit" -- it has to be increasing profit. Line has to go up; they can't just keep it flat, even if "flat" is hugely profitable. To withdraw our financial support will just cause them to squeeze harder on everyone else.
  (There's an argument that there might be more profit in social responsibility, but unless you have numbers to back that up, and it demonstrates immediate returns in addition to long term benefits, then it's just a guess, and a guess is never going to be more convincing to shareholders than facts.)
  The only way to change this is with regulation, and a cultural shift away from "line goes up" mentality. And you can't effect political change when you're spend 3x as long making dinner because you're boycotting processed food.
  Suggesting that we just give up all the conveniences that our labor, our creativity, and our cultural contributions have enabled, for the sake of convincing a CEO to be nicer is just ineffectual.
  
  This moves me.
  Thank you.
  I’m so distanced from all regulatory processes that they seem literally as impossible as your vision of boycotts. And yet, I now see how pressuring regulatory bodies for the change we want is a very effective tactic.
  But it look how long legalized marijuana has taken — that process started in the 70s.
  Look how fast Musk was able to turn Twitter into the mouthpiece of fascism. Weeks.
  This is what we are dealing with.
  I want to push back on your sense of “convenience.”
  I am not covetous of streaming. I have abandoned it.
  I’m in charge of my media libraries.
  What I’m saying is that we can do both: apply pressure on regulatory bodies WHILE abandoning crushing predatory capitalism.
  I eat healthily. It does not hurt ME that I refuse to eat corporate bile.
  I choose my media. It does not hurt ME that I never see ads.
  Anyway — hoping that you can appreciate you have made me value the regulatory pressure argument while I still believe we are powerful.
  
  Oh I pirate the shit out of everything -- and partly it's a boycott, but I think mostly it's the convenience. "Owning" things and enjoying them on my terms (no Internet? No problem) is just better than subscriptions.
  And I block ads, 100% for sure. I would literally give up most of the Internet rather than subject myself to ads -- I'm "on the spectrum" and I have a very hard time with overstimulation and distraction, so ads substantially interrupt my ability to read (which I already have trouble with).
  Like -- I love lemmy and everything, but I'm here because Reddit disabled the ad-free app I used to use. I was a daily reddit user for like 13 years. if I could still use Relay, my ethical resolve against their anti-user practices, and my personal commitment to foss, probably wouldn't have held up.
  My feeling is, if I behave in a way that's conducive with good mental health and life satisfaction, and what I do is also a political statement, then the universe is in harmony.
  It's really just the "voting with your wallet' perspective I mean to illuminate and undercut -- it's a very tempting idea, but I would rather we (as a resistance movement) remain sane and comfortable than ascetic and underengaged.
  
  The executives of a corporation are legally required to maximize immediate returns to their investors. It’s literally illegal for a CEO to move a company in the direction of civic responsibility over profit. And it’s not just “profit” – it has to be increasing profit. Line has to go up; they can’t just keep it flat, even if “flat” is hugely profitable.
  Pretty sure this is a myth. https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/8146/are-u-s-companies-legally-obligated-to-maximize-profits-for-shareholders

430 comments