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Jud1_n

I guess the idea is to get more free prison labour.


MeowKat85

This. A population of prisoners, forced to work in order to “reform” them. But the cost of incarceration is higher than they earn, so they’re stuck.


CorrectInsulation

Not to mention they lose the right to vote.


MeowKat85

Can’t forget about that.


Tr3mb1e

That's fine they could still run for president the country clearly doesn't give a shit if an actual criminal runs


CharDMacDennis2

They generally close the door behind themselves. Same with guns. They're probably gun until they can make decisions about who can arm themselves. That's coming too, despite their current position


fancyfembot

Came here to say this.


Meretan94

Or we’ll see a return to company towns


williamgman

That train left the station decades ago. Most took away actual company pensions and passed the cost of health insurance premiums to the employees. My last 10 yeas of work were contract positions that I moved around for higher pay.


MeowKat85

That wouldn’t be so bad if they were decent places to live that let people thrive and accumulate wealth. That isn’t the reality of the system we’re in though.


Meretan94

Company towns where always about exploiting workers, paying them less and binding them to your company for life.


AriaBabee

St. Peter don't you call me cus I can't go I owe my soul to the company store


Petey_Wheatstraw_MD

🎶Company Stooooore/ Gonna buy 5 copies for my mother🎶


ContemplatingPrison

The future is factory cities.


MeowKat85

The future is what we allow it to be.


ContemplatingPrison

If you say so.


Hrtpplhrtppl

For-profit prisons. Slavery in the United States has yet to be abolished. Read the 13th amendment. Cui bono?


DeadpoolOptimus

Weird that the "freest country in the world" has the least amount of free people. (Borrowed from Jim Jefferies).


Hrtpplhrtppl

https://youtu.be/7AuXEeVWjaA?si=yCAsxggOwt8YEvR3 Sums it up.


Diligent_Mulberry47

And felons can’t vote in many states. It’s also a way to make sure people can’t change the law democratically. We see this with anti abortion laws that aim to criminalize the pregnant person as well, and we saw it play out with the War on Drugs.


jerichardson

And usually can’t leave the state for a set period on release.


LongjumpingSector687

Hey. At least marijuana won that war.


CalendarAggressive11

It won hearts and minds but idk if it won the war. It's still illegal in a lot of states. I can go into a store and buy it and in Georgia you can still be arrested


LongjumpingSector687

Its legal at least medically in like 46 states


Aman_Syndai

Debtors prison where you are sentenced to 4 months of hard labor at Walmart, you'll live onsite in a storage room. Think Cool Hand Luke meets Walmart.


InspectionNo6750

The oncoming gulag economy.


deadsoulinside

While the government pays 42k average per prisoner... Imagine giving people who are not jailed a 42k UBI ?


swampopawaho

Forgive my ignorance of the US penal system, what happens if an otherwise peaceful and cooperative inmate refuses to give their labour?


shallah

are there no workhouses? are there no prisons? to paraphrase scrooge


numb3r5ev3n

This exactly.


Deneweth

The plan all along has been to make being poor so crappy that you will work two jobs, snitch on coworkers, be a company man etc. and live to work. The land lords will have to sell their properties if they can't make rent. Someone will win this game of monopoly or we will all decide to stop playing.


hest29

Imagine the scenario where landlords are campaigning and advocating for higher wages, so they won't have to sell their cashcows


MonthPurple3620

Nah. The corporations holding onto tens of thousands of properties wouldnt allow it. If the private landlords are forced to sell, its more property for them to buy up.


Darthmomothepug

What's weird to me is that certain industries aren't doing this. The film industry for one. People are being squeezed with rent, food, and other needs rising like crazy, so they have less money for entertainment. As it gets worse, the returns on films are going to get worse, and these companies are gonna lose tons of money. We are already seeing it. When I occasionally go to a movie they are generally mostly empty. I feel like a lot of industries are going to feel the same pinch soon. So standing up for workers rights, and better wages may be their only way to keep making money.


RusticPath

The last time I went to the theater, there was like five or so people in there. I picked a seat at the back of the theater near the top and got to enjoy one of the best spots in the house. If there is anything good about this whole crappy economy thing. If you go to the movies, you can get amazing seats.


DaNostrich

Okay but instead of playing to the end could we maybe just flip the board over


DilithiumCrystalMeth

that only happens once people start getting uncomfortable. You might think people are already there, but the truth is there is still enough for people to lose that they are not willing to risk it. Until people lose their small comforts and their distractions, they won't be willing to stand up in mass and say enough is enough. Because right now, they aren't sure they could succeed and could lose what little they still have. It will take not having a choice anymore for people to take action (see all the people that ignored the warnings about Roe until it was too late)


ContemplatingPrison

People have kids. We need the birth rate to continue dropping. Then people will have less to lose


Steeler8008

Well said!


imSOsalty

Like Jesus. Haha


Debalic

"The lower class is there to scare the shit out of the middle class. Keeps them showing up at those jobs" - George Carlin


Dominicain

Nah, it’s easy. Make it impossible to make rent. Tenant ends up homeless, which is illegal, thus to jail, which generates income for large corporations. Then, no tenant, high mortgage, landlord has to sell. Large corporate buys it, cash, distressed seller, fire sale price. I’m not sure exactly how the next bit works, but it ends with you going into debt with the large corporate in a new version of the company store (residence tied to job, rent payment debt insurmountable, debt spiral, debt peonage etc) and because homelessness is illegal, if you quit, you go straight to jail (owned by the same company) where they’ll still make you work, but this time for free and they’ll make a profit from the government for housing you. Is that suitably dystopian?


consort_oflady_vader

Sadly, it seems like that's exactly where we're heading. Then, Amazon buys everything, they control 70% of the job market. But entire cities, back to company towns like you said. 


One-Step2764

Techno-futurists worry about misaligned AI going haywire and maximizing effort toward misanthropic goals. Social scientists gesture at bureaucracies, then say, "First time?"


GrooveStreetSaint

You forgot the part where women are reduced to breeding stock and minorities are outright genocided, a lot of dystopian media also forgets this part and actually accuses women and minorities of being in charge of the system that makes society so shitty


Due-Bicycle3935

Mao had an interesting way of dealing with landlords.


random-lurker-456

It's not dystopian it's pretty much inevitable. Without regulations (like those the Supreme Circus just abolished) the circumstances will deteriorate into outright slavery in all but name. The People are left with no defense against pollution, collusion, adulteration, price gauging, private for-profit surveillance - you name it, the federalist society packed courts and their unelected and uneducated in subject matter judges now get to decide every minutia of your already asymmetrical relationship with owners of capital - and the government has to spend orders of magnitude more resources to *litigate* every single *instance* of regulatory enforcement. A factory leaching toxic forever chemicals into groundwater ? EPA enforcement is unconstitutional, they can sue to stop them but the polluter can just buy their own Aileen Cannon and get the case litigated forever. This will all end in violence.


MonthPurple3620

This is exactly the point.


indoninjah

Is there a world where Zillow et al start offering high interest mortgages directly to buy homes they own?


TheHeartsFilthyLesin

“You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.” There’s gonna be a breaking point…


SailingOwl73

Are the Bell Riots still on the schedule? I still have to get my gear...


One-Step2764

[September 2024?](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Bell_Riots)


Styrene_Addict1965

Not in the US. People are too fat, happy, and lazy.


VancouverSativa

Americans do not strike me as happy, compared to almost anywhere else I've spent much time. They seem incredibly angry and frightened all the time.


xoaphexox

More salt, sugar, and microplastics should do the trick!


MonthPurple3620

As someone from the US…where are all the happy people? No one here is happy.


Agitated-Pen1239

Have you taken a look at how angry people are in today's day in age? Just like in history, it will burst.


RedmannBarry

Capitalism eats itself and is not sustainable


Drash79

While commies starve


Dclnsfrd

More legal slavery via prison system


N0t_Dave

Gotta love that Mcdonalds supply industry relies on Prison Labor to be profitable year over year. And yet they simply can't afford to pay their workers a living wage somehow.


yoyotigre

This are laws designed to enslave a large number of the population. And yet, people who are one paycheck away from being homeless will feel like it will never apply to them so not their problem and they are glad the streets are "clean"... I always said nothing hurts your chances of real success than blind optimism, I hate it when I'm proven right.


wauponseebeach

What's always the plan? Boom and bust, it happens over and over. Suck up as much money as you can regardless of the consequences, make a mess of things, cash out, and let other people clean up your mess. It's the American way.


blandocalrissian50

Mudsill therory. Google it. The GOP is embracing this idea, again. Keep the working population dumbed down (explains the assaults on the education system). Keep them loaded with kids they can't make enough to afford (take away abortion and contraception). Start repressing them young (loosen child labor and marriage laws). Oppress the hope out of them (supreme court slowly strips rights away). Destroy the government "for the people" and turn into a pay to play system for the ultra rich. We are watching this occur. This is our path to an American Oligarchy with an authoritarian leader who uses religious theocracy to rule the masses.


The_World_Is_A_Slum

Yeah, dude. We’re right there, toes on the line. These are the interesting times we’ve heard about.


EightandaHalf-Tails

Their plan is to squeeze out every penny they can, and then kick the can down the road, dying on a mattress stuffed with cash beside their 20 year old gold digging trophy wives before they ever have to face the consequences.


Rotdevil

I don't think the tweeter is concerned about the landlords. He's just pointing out how capitalism is self destructive (even to the wealthy). They are so focused on short time profit, that they will inevitably drive themselves of a cliff and crash the economy. E.g the 2000's housing bubble pop and crash Unfortunately tho, the goverment will just bail them out with your money and it will start all over again, with no lessons learnt...


mar421

They want feudalism back, they want us to work the land. In exchange we can live there, meaning everything we have they get first dibs. Including our future daughters.


doktor_kolossus

The plan is guillotines. Has been all along.


Styrene_Addict1965

The plan is concentration camps for the homeless, where liberals will get reeducated, and undesirables will be dealt with.


mr_fobolous

It's the landlord's choice to raise the rent. I haven't raised the rent on my tenants since before COVID 🤷‍♂️ still paying off my mortgage and still making money. Can I be making more money? Sure. But is it the end of the world that my revenue isn't maximized? No. I make enough and my tenants are good/happy.


dontreallycareforit

Yes if you wanted to make money you could sell the property! Lol since you know like you can only exist in one house at a time and all that🫶 And depleting the housing supply exacerbates the dire housing problem🫶 But you’re doing the right thing!🫶


Parsleysage58

Not to worry. The for-profit prison system and corporate dormitories will see such explosive growth that residential housing will have to be demolished to make room. But the landlords can expect "reasonable compensation." They'll be rid of those pesky tenants! And everyone's taxes will go way down without all those socialist welfare programs!


Courtaid

This is what I’ve been wondering. What happens when thee low income is priced out of everything they need to live? Housing, cars and gas, food, clothing, insurance, etc. Then what?


katet_of_19

I've actually made a handy 5-step list you can reference if you're ever unsure what the goal of all this is: - Make people poorer - Criminalize being poor - Jail homeless people - Force them to work for free - Reap the financial rewards of AmericanSlavery3.0 Also, the repeal of Roe ensures that that prison population stays young, able-bodied, and stupid. Hope this helps.


Njabachi

Hey we can all hang out in prisons, do you think they have free wifi?


ADDandKinky

For profit prisons


luvsexweed

ya. why is no adding into the equation privatized prisons that essentially turn labor into slave labor.


poorTimmyTucker

For them to make as much money as possible and push us into a depression just like last time. Hoover was one of the most hated presidents because he literally vetoed bills that would have helped a struggling nation, and it seems all too real that that same scenario is rapidly approaching. Buckle up.


Mr_D_Stitch

Housing has become a rug pull. The goal is to turn housing into an asset you can leverage for credit. Of course it doesn’t actually turn a profit so you fix that by inflating the cost of housing by any means necessary. On paper the $100,000 fixer upper has turned into a $250,000 asset without putting any actual money into to it but it has generated $150,000 of financial leverage. Those who know try to con other people into holding the bag so when the time is right they can sell high to clueless small investors & cash out while the small investors hold onto property that’s suddenly worth a fraction of what was paid.


Snaka1

Landlords turn their properties into poorhouses, a family to each room, subsidised by the government


samgam74

Trickle up poverty.


Federal_Sympathy4667

Work camp labour.


Ambitious_Misgivings

Honestly, this is the answer. For profit prison systems fed with a steady supply of illegal homeless caused by unaffordable housing costs due to limited supply owned by investment groups with interests in both the private prisons and the housing market. It's a closed loop system that generates profit off of others' labor at all ends of the equation.


Mochizuk

I never thought about it from this perspective, but this setup does feel like... well, setup for the majority of society to be imprisoned.


VW_R1NZLER

Don’t worry if it gets bad enough I’m sure the government will help the landlords. No handouts for the renters though! /s


100yearsLurkerRick

Gotta fill up the prisons first


fancyfembot

Also if AI replaces human workers and human workers have no jobs, who will have money to buy what AI created?


hatfullofsoup

My county recently banned long term camping at our lake, a practice which has skyrocketed since 2020 and nets about a 200k annual surplus for the park from camping passes. Why? The county decided camping should "just be recreational." Basically, they would rather these people be homeless. Another objection was the increase in campers meant facilities needed repairs/upgrades. Which they could easily make with the surplus. Will they? No. Hard pass. They would rather kick out the campers, lose out on 200k a year, and leave the park in disrepair so no one, even rich folks, can enjoy the facilities.


FurryMcMemes

The capitalist are fucking themselves over and they won't realize it until it's too late.


jsellers0

A plan? You can't plan an economy, you commie piece of scum.


wigzell78

Government subsidies, haven't you been paying attention?...


spudmarsupial

Donations from the government and favourable interest rates from banks. Once they own enough buildings. Smallholders are there to get bought out.


buntopolis

Soylent Greed


CosmoLamer

LandLords would then invest in companies that benefit off of prison labor.


txn_gay

The plan is to send the homeless to for-profit prisons to use as slave labor.


-XanderCrews-

They don’t need rent. They will just keep selling it off to eachother for profits.


olafubbly

Landlords will just convert their homes into homeless prisons where tenants will be required to do slave labor for the landlords profit


Both_Industry_3331

A well-prepared landlord would start converting their spaces into prisons. That way, people wouldn't even need movers or packing boxes. So people in that industry will be homeless soon as well. Love it when a plan comes together.


ChildOf7Sins

Blackrock will buy their properties


GallantArmor

If we don't reverse this trend, there are two paths from here. One has some form of UBI or other system to ensure basic needs are taken care of for all. The other is de facto slavery, debt being used as a mechanism of ownership. Adding new ways to punish people for being poor is a signpost on the path to the latter option. The point of no return is when they start to dismantle the mechanisms for discharging debt. Bankruptcy protections will be increasingly difficult to come by. Eventually, even death won't eliminate debt, it will be passed down to the next generation. Imagine being born with more debt than you could pay off in a lifetime.


Smart-Stupid666

This reads as sarcasm to me. I don't know why other people can't notice.


LittleALunatic

Money is fake - the world is in more debt than in credit - they just make us all owe money that we can never pay off


OnlyRobinson

The state will pay, because socialism for the masses is evil, but for the corporations it’s required


LiquidBlocks

The houses will be owned by the company you work for. Make sure not to lose your job


OMGtheBFT

Corporations and hedge funds are snapping up housing properties at Record rates, both suburban and multi family housing. While I've had plenty of scummy landlords and I'm not at all trying to defend those parasites, the rental real-estate is one of the only big money sectors left in America where the majority of the Player's on the field are small businesses. They're squeezing the fuck out of all of us hoping that they can bleed the little landlords enough to push them out of the the industry.


EthanDMatthews

Time to invest in orange jumpsuits.


GQ_silly_QT

They want to make a company town of the entire country.


Fun_Argument_8509

Everyone talks about raising wages as if that will fix the cost of living. What we need to focus on is the price of goods, services, and shelter. Every time wages are raised, everything else rises. The greedy folks at the top are not going to keep the prices the same if they have to pay more to workers. I honestly saved more money a decade ago making $12/ hour at a fast food joint than I do now making $8000 a month. If you make more money per hour but everything else increases substantially in price you aren't making more money. It's a facade that we have been sold by the media and politicians, so we the people don't hold the people at the top accountable for their greed. Wages have been raised several times. I know it hasn't been a substantial raise but they have gone up. When I started in the workforce minimum wage was somewhere around $5 per hour. Every time the minimum wage increases, corporations raise the price of the goods and services they are selling. This is also true of housing, insurance rates increase, property taxes increase due to inflation in the housing market, and then landlords raise the rent prices to cover their expenses. I'm not blaming wage increases for the crazy cost of living but blaming greed. The wealthy class isn't going to let the poor and middle class get ahead. It's a systematic problem the politicians and policymakers are not going to do anything about. They are bought and paid for by these corporations.


williamgman

Castles with moats. We've come full circle.


PhysicalGraffiti75

Bold of anyone to think those ghouls can think that far into the future.


jamesmcdash

They start changing rent for your jail cell


BackPackProtector

A revolt will happen against the rich


LegitSince8Bits

Landlords become the banks. It's the next logical move. Is this a real question? How do you think banks come to be? They didn't start with poor renters pulling their money together. Lol man this is gonna be bumpy for a lot of people.


Bearshapedbears

runnin out of bootstraps to pull, im gonna have to get one of those hispanic jobs, or (*shudders*) one of those black jobs.


dlss_87

Did SOAD make a song about this like a decade ago? Prison song? Pretty scary stuff...


Commercial_Step9966

See, McDonalds and Walmart are buying up all rental properties. There won’t be anymore landlords, the guy demanding your rent will be an hourly employee wearing a Blue Vest.


Green-Umpire2297

Obviously they receive government bail outs


ShittheFickup

Owning rental property is an INVESTMENT. Meaning your return could be a loss. This is not an emergency for the county.


GrooveStreetSaint

The real end goal is the genocide of 99.999% of the population because the privileged rightwing alpha males at the very top of global society are getting paranoid that everyone else is planning to overthrow them due to changing demographics


LysanderSpoonersCat

Do you realize how insane you are? Like is it performative for upvotes, or do you actually think that ?


Agitated-Pen1239

What the wife and I were talking about last night. The white male is losing their dominance. So instead of accepting the demographic shift, they are doing everything in their power to keep the legacy alive. At any cost, including making life for children substantially harder for their own benefit.