#capitalism :(

[probablyasocialecologist]

Lindt, Mondelēz, and Nestlé together raked in nearly $4 billion in profits from chocolate sales in 2023. Hershey’s confectionary profits totaled $2 billion last year. The four corporations paid out on average 97 percent of their total net profits to shareholders in 2023. The collective fortunes of the Ferrero and Mars families, who own the two biggest private chocolate corporations, surged to $160.9 billion during the same period. This is more than the combined GDPs of Ghana and Ivory Coast, which supply most cocoa beans. Decades of low prices have made farmers poorer and hampered their ability to hire workers or invest in their farms, limiting bean yield. Old cocoa trees are particularly vulnerable to disease and extreme weather. Many farmers are abandoning cocoa for other crops, or selling their land to illegal miners.

#capitalism #chocolate #cocoa

[prokopetz]

One of these days some enterprising con artist is going to make up a fake quirky little sci-fi movie, claim that it's been fully produced but Warner Bros. permanently shelved it for a tax writeoff, raise a couple million dollars in crowdfunding to "buy back the rights", then disappear off the face of the planet and take the money with them, and they'll 100% get away with it because really, who are we going to believe?

#media #movies #warner bros #tax writeoffs #capitalism #con artistry #scams #spanish prisoner 2.0

[dispatchesfromtheclasswar]

#class war #class warfare #classism #capitalism #short staffing #overwork

[mywitchcultblr]

If you are an American artist/fan, change your pixiv account region! Because there's new censorship

Number 5. If your drawing has no 'educational/scientific/artistic value' it won't be allowed to exist. These new censorship are absolute nonsense pushed by credit card company and conservative politicians. Fucking bonkers

It's the same thing when Tumblr banned NSFW and they promised that 'artistic nudity' will still be 'allowed'. I hope every purist on the internet realized that when they whine over anime fan art they are repeating what conservative billionaires and politician are pushing:

The death of art...

#pixiv #art #fan art #censorship #capitalism #this is corporate puritanism #I'm not joking #first it was patreon then gumroad noa this #puritanism #politics #twitter #news #Also the poor and queer can't even express themselves or jack off anymore because rich people and politician said nooooo

[politijohn]

Source

Huge win for workers

#politics #us politics #government #the left #working class #workers rights #capitalism #progressive #current events #news #good news

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The Canadian and Ecuadorian governments continue to forge ahead with free trade agreement (FTA) plans, despite opposition from social movements and Indigenous Peoples within Ecuador, along with rampant instability. In these negotiations, the spotlight is on the Canadian mining industry. Canadian mining investments in Ecuador are valued at $1.8 billion, with Canada’s trade commissioner noting that Canadian companies are “leading investors” in Ecuador’s mining sector. The trade commissioner also praises Ecuador’s “mining-friendly legal framework.” On March 5, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa met with Justin Trudeau in Ottawa. Both leaders welcomed “the imminent launch of negotiations toward a Canada-Ecuador free trade agreement.” The day before, Noboa spoke at the 2024 convention of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), an annual event that promotes Canadian mining interests globally. March 4 was “Ecuador Day” at PDAC, and Noboa used the opportunity to promote his country as a “mining destination” to Canadian investors. This is despite what MiningWatch Canada calls “serious human rights violations [that shed] light on the state of conflict over mining projects in peasant and Indigenous territories” in Ecuador.

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland @allthegeopolitics

#Indigenous #ecuador #neoliberalism #capitalism #Minining #Human Rights #Justin Trudeau

[bunninova]

nothing new to add to the watcher fiasco so here's this. not to make it personal but I'm gonna make it personal.

what they get payed per brand deal could pay for a year of uni for me. what they make with patreon per year would change my entire family's life. my 50-60 year old parents could finally drop one of the multiple jobs they have, my sister could spend time with her kids and finally afford a proper wedding, I could go back to much needed therapy. we could travel more and go to concerts and nice restaurants, we could get tattoos and professional haircuts, we could spend money on spoiling our pets, we could buy books and clothes and go to the cinema without having to carefully budget, things the watcher folk do regularly without giving it a second thought. I could buy my best friend with unstable housing an apartment for their family for fucks sake. I'm out here skipping meals on school days because I can't afford to spend £5-10 a day to eat at uni, 'borrowing' necessities from big stores, and missing out on social events or birthdays that involve going out. I've only donated £20 in total in the last couple months to help people in Gaza and it devastates me that I can't donate more. I'm still privileged in many ways, the world is in shambles and regular people are being hit with an economic crisis, where housing and food is hard to secure.

I've been a huge fan of Shane and Ryan since I was thirteen, they were my comfort creators. I even checked their shows and merch to see if I could afford it (no) because I wanted to support them. their content has gone down hill for the past year and I still sat through the forced cringey parts because I used to love their videos. I respected them, they brought me joy and inspired me to create. "we priced it low enough that anyone can afford it". fuck off. day 3 and not even an acknowledgement. this has felt like the biggest "fuck you, poor" ever to me and I'm crushed.

#vent #watcher entertainment #watcher #wearewatcher #we are watcher #ryan and shane #shane madej #ryan bergara #mystery files #ghost files #steven lim #capitalist hell #capitalism #personal rant #rant post

[polyvaportrash]

The monkey's paw of Capitalism really heard us when we were 7 years old saying "I want to live with all my friends when I grow up, and be a firefighter and a teacher and run a shop".

That finger curled around, wish granted, and forced us to split the inflated rent with the homies and work 3 jobs for the privilege.

#capitalism #anti capitalism #monkey's paw

[bravecrab]

Because it seems I can't stop looking into what's been happening with Watcher, I think something that hasn't been talked enough about the wider issue, is that trying to escape the system of ads and ad reads has been a factor in the attempt to move to this new platform, and not as some have put it, because they're just so greedy.

The proliferation of ad reads within YouTube content is an issue few talk about, and usually only in the context of problematic companies like Better Help. However the reliance on sponsorships, to subsidize from the lack of viable payment from the YouTube platform has been largely accepted without much criticism towards YouTube or the sponsoring advertisers. Combine that with a cultural attitude under capitalism that results in artists' work being thoroughly devalued, it puts creatives in a difficult place.

You have to build a following through a combination of putting your stuff out for free, often chasing trends to insure algorithm relevance, and take on sponsorship ads, and the time it takes to properly vet those companies and their potentially shady products/services is additional unseen labour.

As much as I think that Watcher fumbled this, I do not begrudge them from trying to escape the shitty system of YouTube algorithms and attempting to court sponsors, to try to make the content they want to create without having to dilute themselves to make themselves marketable. If they had expressed this sentiment more clearly instead of focusing on "TV quality shows" and bringing Worth It to Watcher, I do think the audience would have been more sympathetic, instead of seeing them as a company cutting them off and extorting them for cash.

If this whole thing has made you think that Watcher are villains, that's fine, but they're not the sole villains. The YouTube platform, and various parasitic companies have also got a hand in this, and it's important to keep that in mind, to see the bigger problems in our current media environment.

#watcher #youtube #capitalism #enshittification

[theconcealedweapon]

"But socialism is worse."

I don't care. Not even a little.

Capitalism is happening now. Socialism is only happening in your dystopian nightmares.

If one person is actually suffering in real life and another had a bad dream, I'm obviously going to care more about the person who's suffering in real life.

#capitalism #socialism #wealthy privilege #eat the rich

[troythecatfish]

#important #social justice #current events #human rights #us politics #usa politics #united states politics #american politics #late stage capitalism #anti capitalism #capitalism #political #political posting #politics #leftist #socialist #communist #free palestine #free gaza #palestine #gaza strip #gaza genocide #gazaunderattack #save gaza #gaza #genocide joe #butcher biden #gazaunderfire #stand with gaza

[dispatchesfromtheclasswar]

#class war #class warfare #classism #capitalism #pro sports #sports stadiums #distractions

[role-population-heart]

#ghosts #trash of the count's family #Texas #lfw #sasuke #spider gwen #traditional tattoo #banana fish #capitalism #mature woman #mr robot #feminised #booktok #zoey deutch #the gray man

[irbcallmefynn]

Capitalism is bad for many many many many many *inhale* many many many reasons. But one of those is that it makes it hard for me to give gifts to people I like. I should be able to walk over to my friend's house and just. Give them something. No buying it no long distance travel none of that. Because giving people gifts is so important and good and I wish we could all do it more.

#bedposting #capitalism #anti capitalism #oh how i wish i could buy nice things for people and they can actually receive them #...oh how i wish i could buy things...

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Toronto city council says it has strengthened its short-term rental bylaw to crack down on operators who exploit regulatory loopholes.

Council is raising registration fees, increasing vetting of hosts and allowing for snap inspections through changes to the city's short-term rental bylaw. The city will also hire nearly two dozen more inspectors.

Council passed changes to the bylaw at a meeting on Thursday night.

Mayor Olivia Chow said on Friday that the bylaw amendments will help to address the city's housing crisis. She said the changes will allow legitimate users to rent out their homes while giving the city increased powers to crack down on speculators.

"Yesterday's motion actually achieved a fine balance. We're going to have more inspectors and we're closing loopholes," Chow said. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

#cdnpoli #Toronto #Ontario #Olivia Chow #housing crisis #capitalism

[keirstarmerhateblog]

Honestly, after what sunak has been saying and how the tories are just going full mask off with their prejudice, anyone who votes for them still is suss af

#uk politics #british politics #britpol #ukpol #britain #british #tory party #capitalism #uk