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[return to "Power Failure: The downfall of General Electric"]
1. roenxi+Hd[view] [source] 2025-05-27 00:28:00
>>gwintr+(OP)
The "5. The Human Wreckage" section is probably the most interesting - on paper, everyone came out much worse (losers identified are workers, pension holders, shareholders, investors and executives which seems superficially comprehensive).

However it is important to recall that the people who actually made all the money extracting the wealth got out years before, retiring and/or selling stock. They're bystanders now and probably happy to run the whole operation again.

Although as an aside who these people are who think corporate pensions are a good idea is beyond me. People really should be in charge of their own savings in preference to their employer, expecting some random corporation to cover the cost was always a bit crazy even when it seemed sort-of possible that the system was stable. It is easy to have some sympathy but, as a practical matter, it was never going to work and it isn't a surprise that it didn't.

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2. potato+jW[view] [source] 2025-05-27 10:48:09
>>roenxi+Hd
>However it is important to recall that the people who actually made all the money extracting the wealth got out years before, retiring and/or selling stock. They're bystanders now and probably happy to run the whole operation again.

And therein lies the problem with modern society. Whether you're an MBA wrecking a company or a voter wrecking the local economy there is no mechanism for the people who you've wronged to get at you so there's no incentive not to behave that way.

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3. eadmun+z71[view] [source] 2025-05-27 12:37:15
>>potato+jW
Be very very careful about what you wish for: your definition of who’s wronged whom and others’ definition of who’s wronged whom are going to vary, and often be in direct opposition.
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4. LocalH+Eb1[view] [source] 2025-05-27 13:06:45
>>eadmun+z71
That definition should always favor the small guy over the megarich. It should be inverse of the situation's power balance.
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5. DocTom+ek1[view] [source] 2025-05-27 14:03:19
>>LocalH+Eb1
But then, before you know it, you’re back in the terror phase of the French Revolution—because once the guillotine demands to be fed, “the powerful” quickly becomes “whoever we don’t like.”

After several iterations of this pattern throughout our history (other examples are the Leninist/Stalinist purges or the McCarthy era), perhaps it is time we seek a better path—one that doesn’t end up written in the darker pages of our history books.

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6. toyg+Qz1[view] [source] 2025-05-27 15:49:31
>>DocTom+ek1
Well, one side of the struggle has all the means and time to find this better path. Are they doing that? No. So why should the weaker, poorer side do it ...?
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