Notices by Kyle Montanio (fantasticaleconomics@geekdom.social), page 2

@BeAware

Cool, let me know what you find out.

Uncool about the Truth ad. On the plus side, this seeing that means there's a fair chance it spends more on advertising than it rakes in as ad revenue. So there's that ;)

@SrRochardBunson

#LawFedi question: is there any legal obligation for social media companies to remain within a semblance of politically neutrality (looking at you X/Twitter)?

Is there precedent related to it and/or laws in the works that speak to this? Does it differ substantially based on where a company is located and/or operates?

I've been seeing a lot of posts about the government stepping in to stop Musk's blatant hands on the political scales, but don't get the sense it has legal authority to do so.

The more I learn about this #Walz character, the more I like the guy.

“We can't move too fast when it comes to addressing #ClimateChange.”
- Tim Walz

“Tim Walz had the best climate record of any of the VP contenders and has been unafraid to take on #BigOil.”
- Jamie Henn, of Fossil Free Media

"He can't be bought by the #FossilFuel industry. Walz is a climate champion moving Minnesota toward 100% clean energy.”
- Gina McCarthy, co-chairs America Is All In.

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/08/nx-s1-5065725/harris-walz-climate

Reading about fantastical death cults cannot be considered escapism when it helps you make sense of contemporary politics.

@SrRochardBunson

Truth. Understanding cults and conspiracy theories may be the best way to learn about the weird world we live in these days, sadly.

@SrRochardBunson

Did you find them to be useful?

Most of what I have found is that it is very, very difficult to help deprogram someone unless they are actively seeking help on their own. (Very similar to what I know of helping folks with addiction.)

I don't think I read those two books you suggest, but I will take a peek if you think there are practical takeaways.

@SrRochardBunson

Alas. I still may check them out though and appreciate the recommendations. I've fallen out of the podcast game, so this may prompt me to get back in it.

Glad to hear you escaped before it was too late for you! Maybe you have some insights for how you saw the light, but maybe not as, I agree, things have changed an awful lot in the last 20+ years...

California is experiencing it's fourth largest forest fire.

"The frequency and magnitude of extreme wildfire events more than doubled in the past two decades."

The burned area from forest fires in the Western U.S. has "increased by a factor of four since the 1970s" due to human-caused climate change.

#ClimateChange is already causing massive damage worldwide, and is just getting started. We had a choice between mitigation, adaptation and suffering. We chose suffering.

https://www.axios.com/2024/08/03/climate-whiplash-fueling-park-fire-california

Capitalism's greatest trick was stealing so much of our time that we cannot imagine living without the 'conveniences' it sells back to us.

You know how we've been screaming for a global #WealthTax to help fight #ClimateChange without much hope of it happening? There's hope.

"Ministers from the G20 group of the world’s biggest developed and emerging economies are meeting in Rio de Janeiro this weekend, where Brazil’s proposal for a 2% wealth tax on those with assets worth more than $1bn is near the top of the agenda."

The 20 richest nations are debating it, right now. That's huge progress!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/28/brazil-radical-plan-tax-global-super-rich-tackle-climate-crisis

#economics

@thomasfuchs

I'm not sure these things are mutually exclusive. I fully agree fighting fascism is more important than worrying about harming the neurodiverse community, and others, who identify as weird.

If folk think "weird" is disproportionately better to shame and humiliate those on the right who deserve such mockery than other words, have at it.

But I'm pretty sure we can get the same effect without the damage to our allies by substituting in "creep" or something similar, almost always.

@zspencer

100%. Yes, we should mock, criticize, and ostricize those on the right. Call them out; make them uncomfortable.

But I refuse to use the word "weird" in this context. I'm proudly weird and am not going to dirty the word by associating it with creeps and psycopaths and delusional idiots.

Keep weird weird, in all it's wonderful, glorious ways.

@thomasfuchs

A graph that should be headline news everywhere.

#ClimateChange

https://www.axios.com/2024/07/23/earth-hottest-day-record-set

If you haven't seen the Mastodon-specific way to donate to the #Harris campaign, I suggest you check it out!

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/mastodon-for-harris

Pleasantly surprised to see the lack of information they request - no address* nor email* is required to donate - so you don't even need to worry about being placed on a donor list to receive endless requests in the future.

(*Turns out I'm an idiot and/or this information was autofilled. Sorry for the misinfo. Still check it out though.)

#USPolitics #VoteBlue

This article belongs in every principles of macroeconomics class.

Central banks across Europe are getting confuzzled trying to determine how to calculate inflation when there are #TaylorSwift concerts. Should the increase in hotel prices and such from the ERAs tour and across the service industry be treated differently because it is a temporary shock? How should that impact monetary policy?

Same question for things like the Olympics and Euro 2024.

https://www.axios.com/2024/07/19/taylor-swift-eras-tour-europe-economy-inflation

#economics

"The fact is, the wealth held by the 26 richest capitalists in the world is equivalent to the total assets belonging to the worlds poorest 3.8 billion people - nearly half the worlds population. Can this be a coincidence? Surely not.

We should think of it the following way: we usually think of capitalism as something that provides wealth and abundance, but the truth is quite the opposite. Capitalism is a system that functions by producing scarcity."

- Kōhei Saitō

My wife called me a radical leftist for the first time today, thanks Fediverse.

And because I know it's hard to figure out sarcasm, I just want to be clear this is not it. Conversations here have definitely pushed me further left, and I'm better for it.

Genuinely, thank you.

"Make no mistake, today's decision is a power grab."
- Justice Sonia Sotomayor

It's sad just how many recent decisions this could be referencing...

No, CNN, there is no "fertility crisis" and, in fact, we should be celebrating that populations will begin falling. Hopefully that happens before the predicted 2064.

Changing demographics that will "upend the consumer culture upon which mature economies depend" is a problem of the economic system, not birth rates.

Time to move past the Ponzi scheme that relies on ever-increasing growth as the man-made economy is easier to change than biophysical constraints. #degrowth

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/25/investing/premarket-stocks-trading/index.html

It's an interesting world we live in. And by interesting I mean scary as hell in weird ways.

Putin is doing his nuclear saber rattling - which is being echoed by some in NATO - while China is rattling literal sabers in the South China Sea. Ok technically the weapons used to slash the Philippines' rubber boats were "an axe and other bladed or pointed tools." Close enough to literal sabers for me.

China is escalating in another conflict to test US response. Scary times.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/20/asia/philippines-footage-south-china-sea-clash-china-intl-hnk/index.html