#corporatepower — Public Fediverse posts

Ah, another utopian tech dream built on the delusion that #decentralization will solve all of humanity's woes. 😴 Let's all pretend that a "scalable architecture" of acronym soup will somehow outsmart the evil corporations and governments. 🥱 Spoiler alert: it won't.
https://nostr.org/ #utopiantech #skepticism #scalablearchitecture #techdreams #corporatepower #HackerNews #ngated

History remembers the inventor with the patent, the money and the institution behind them—not always the person who got there first.

From Edison and RCA to Colossus, Margaret Knight and the Invention Secrecy Act, this is how genius gets captured, commercialised and rewritten.

The Great Invention Heist:
https://thomaster.substack.com/p/the-great-invention-heist

#History #Inventions #Technology #Patents #CorporatePower #HiddenHistory #ThomAster

While the world sees a tech brand, South Korea sees its entire economic engine. Generating roughly 23% of the nation's GDP, Samsung builds the skyscrapers citizens live in, operates the hospitals they visit, and drives the export pipeline powering the entire country.

#samsungcase #southkorea #economy #techempire #businessnews #globaleconomy #chaebol #technews #corporatepower #innovations

This is why I never use #Uber or #Lyft.
https://prospect.org/2026/07/09/dangerous-myth-of-flexibility-uber-lyft-gig-economy/ #BallotMeasures, #California, #CorporatePower, #GigEconomy, #Labor, #Lyft, #Massachusetts, #Misclassification, #Pricing, #Uber, #WorkingInAmerica

Follow-up to my piece on the Monsanto playbook.

Most common response in the comments: "Nobody forced farmers to use the products. Farmer's choice."

Yes, the contract was signed freely. In the same way, nobody forced anyone to sign a subprime mortgage in 2006. The system that made the alternative impossible was built deliberately.

New piece covers:

The agricultural treadmill (Cochrane, 1958): early adopters gain a temporary cost advantage; commodity prices fall as adoption spreads; the advantage disappears; and survivors consolidate. Rinse, repeat. The consistent winner in this dynamic is the technology vendor.

The risk transfer: when the system fails, the input companies still profit. The banks still collect. The downside concentrates where the power doesn't.

And the third squeeze: the precision ag platform that owns your field data when you leave.

https://gaggl.com/blogs/2026-06-28-the-treadmill-nobody-chose/

#RegenerativeAgriculture #AgTech #FarmDebt #FoodSovereignty #RuralAustralia #CorporatePower #Tech4Good

(Exception : ce ne sont pas des livres.)

Out today

https://deadpioneers.bandcamp.com/album/wagon-burner

C'est un album #punk #décolonial. C'est le troisième de #DeadPioneers. C'est beau. Ça vient de la résistance au cœur des so-called United States of Amerika.

#Genocide #SlaveTrade #CorporatePower #AmIAngry

None of us are free until all of us are free.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRnno9VIZx0

> Microsoft revokes Office 2019 perpetual licenses, then edits their website to gaslight customers.

Even for #microslop , thats a low move. "We" really need to get the heck out of post-factual software american #softwarevendors and #supplyChain 😊

#microsoft #consumer #corporateGreed #corporatePower

How unhealthy ultra‑processed foods are designed and marketed to make us crave them
#UltraProcessedFood #PublicHealth #FoodIndustry #Health #Diabetes #Nutrition #HealthPolicy #Obesity #FoodSystems #CorporatePower #Science #HealthyEating #HeartDisease
https://the-14.com/how-unhealthy-ultra-processed-foods-are-designed-and-marketed-to-make-us-crave-them/

Meta and Microsoft have joined the tech layoff tsunami – but is AI really to blame?
#AI #TechLayoffs #BigTech #Microsoft #Meta #Automation #Economy #Jobs #FutureOfWork #Tech #CorporatePower #SiliconValley #Innovation #Business #Layoff #Politics #World
https://the-14.com/meta-and-microsoft-have-joined-the-tech-layoff-tsunami-but-is-ai-really-to-blame/

GENERALSTRIKE - May 1, 2026!!
https://open.substack.com/pub/peoplepowerunited/p/workers-families-people-over-billionaires-a-may-day-demand-no-ice-no-war?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
#workersrights #billionaires #labor #greed #democracy #taxtherich #justice #uspol #noice #ice #fuckice #war #nowar #families #peace #publicmoney #opportunity #corporatepower #oligarchy #plutocracy #kakistocracy #lobbyists #superpacs #pac #students #generalstrike @peoplepowerunited

WSJ: Lobbyists Easily Destroyed Any Semi-Serious Antitrust Enforcers Left In MAGA

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.techdirt.com/2026/04/02/wsj-lobbyists-easily-destroyed-any-semi-serious-antitrust-enforcers-left-in-maga/

The Seduction of Simple Answers

https://urbanwronski.com/2026/03/30/the-seduction-of-simple-answers/

Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries "Kochland is a dazzling feat of investigative reporting and epic narrative writing" Sale: $23 to $2.99 by Christopher Leonard Rating: 4.5/5 (1,003 Reviews) #Kochland #Business #History #Energy #Investigative #CorporatePower #Nonfiction #BookSky ​

Kochland: The Secret History o...

Football has a real fossil fuel problem – and it’s not sustainable
#Football #ClimateChange #FossilFuels #Sustainability #FIFA #WorldCup #SaudiArabia #Qatar2022 #ClimateCrisis #Pele #GreenSports #CarbonFootprint #Environmental #GlobalSport #CorporatePower
https://the-14.com/football-has-a-real-fossil-fuel-problem-and-its-not-sustainable/

They didn’t leave the planet. They left accountability.
Mars isn’t exploration—it’s an exit hatch.
Decision-making moved beyond workers, voters, and courts by design.
#ElonMusk #Davos #CorporatePower #Mars #Democracy #HorizonAccord

http://cherokeeschill.com/2026/01/18/they-didnt-leave-the-planet-they-left-accountability/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

When corporations push risk downward and lobby immunity upward, that’s not growth — it’s control.

Corporations vs people. Same move. Different decade.

#WorkersRights #CorporatePower #Silicosis #OSHA #NPR #Democrats #Republicans #Accountability #AI

http://cherokeeschill.com/2026/01/16/they-didnt-grow-the-economy-they-shrunk-the-worker-inside-it/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Part II: Food for Profit

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://sein.com.au/articles/kill-the-corporation-2-food-for-profit/

How a Small Group of Wealthy People Shapes What You Think.
Senate hearing exposes how mining billionaire Gina Rinehart's $4.5 million funded the IPA think tank, revealing Australia's billionaire propaganda network that shapes public opinion on climate, energy, and policy.

#auspol #mediawatch #billionairepower #thinktanks #politicalinfluence #propaganda #climatepolitics #energytransition #fossilfuels #corporatepower #democracy #publicinterest #ipa #mininglobby #wealthandpower

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yFKNtpBkv8

The Hidden Link Between EV, Tariffs, Wind Energy, Greenland, Venezuela, and Oil Imperialism

The fight over EVs and renewables exposes how resource extraction still drives U.S. economic and foreign policy.

After a €120M fine, X has banned the European Commission from running ads. This retaliatory move highlights the growing friction between big tech power and democratic regulation.

https://1312blogs.org/kalvin0x58c/elon-musks-x-bans-european-commission-from-making-ads-after-eu120m-fine

#ElonMusk #X #EuropeanCommission #BigTech #Regulation #DigitalRights #AdBan #FreedomOfSpeech #DigitalServicesAct #EU #TechNews #Democracy #Censorship #CorporatePower #SocialMedia #1312blogs #kalvin0x58c #InternationalRelations #TechEthics

Trump Helps Ellison Fight Off Netflix In Bid For Warner Brothers By Pretending To Care About ‘Antitrust Reform’

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.techdirt.com/2025/12/03/trump-helps-ellison-fight-off-netflix-in-bid-for-warner-brothers-by-pretending-to-care-about-antitrust-reform/

When a 'megafab' needs a home, apparently a 91-year-old loses hers. Micron's $100B project in New York is raising eyebrows. The human cost of progress, eh? Where do we draw the line between technological advancement and individual rights?

Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/micron-superfab-evicts-91-year-old-new-york/

#TechNews #CorporatePower #CommunityImpact #Ethics

Trump Tries to Ride Zohran Mamdani’s Momentum in Awkward Oval Office Lovefest

Trump tries to align himself with Zohran Mamdani’s rising progressive movement, but Mamdani keeps the focus on affordability, justice, and workers.

#corporatePower #costOfLiving #democraticSocialism #donaldTrump #egbertoOffTheRecord #fdrPortrait #gazaHumanRights #iceEnforcement #incomeInequality #independentMedia #mediaSpectacle #newDealLegacy #newYorkCityHousingCrisis #nycAffordability #nycHomelessness #policingAndPublicSafety #politicsDoneRight #progressivePolitics #trumpPressConference #workingClassIssues #zohranMamdani

https://wp.me/p1OjMZ-oey

Another shining example of what happens when money talks and First Nations culture walks. Andrew Forrest is once again trying to bend the sacred Ashburton River in the Pilbara to his private gain, seeking to build a cluster of weirs and irrigation works along a stretch of water deemed spiritual country by the Buurabalayji Thalanyji Aboriginal Corporation.
This isn’t about “regional sustainability” or “closing the water-gap” as the gloss might suggest: the tribunal previously found that the primary beneficiary of the project would be Forrest’s own pastoral-and-mining interests, not the wider community. Meanwhile the Thalanyji people are forced into court-rooms fighting for respect of their heritage, forced to watch their river, their serpent spirit Warnamankura’s home, become fodder for corporate ambition.
This is a vivid illustration of how the wealthy and well-connected continue to appropriate land and culture for private enrichment—while Indigenous custodians bear the cost. If we are truly serious about justice, we should be calling out not just miners drilling into deserts but billionaires bending rivers and courts to suit their balance-sheet.

#australia #indigenousrights #environment #corporatepower #auspol #olygarchy #greed #Twiggy #pissofftwiggy #fuckofftwiggy
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-04/andrew-forrest-traditional-owners-in-sat-ashburton-river-plan/105966594

Why look at corporations to understand inequality? 💰

In our latest Just Access Podcast, host Dr. Miranda Melcher speaks with Professor Joel Bakan, author of The Corporation and The New Corporation, about how “good” corporations deepen inequality and threaten democracy.

🎧 Listen on Acast, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts
👉 https://shows.acast.com/just-access/episodes/why-look-at-corporations-to-understand-inequality

#HumanRights #Democracy #Inequality #CorporatePower #TheCorporation #JoelBakan #JustAccessPodcast

Race You To The Water

The other day I expressed some misgivings over the word that Earthworks chose to apply to water in the first sentence of its report, Polluting the Future: their characterization of water as an “asset,” I said, made me uneasy. The water flowing from springs and brooks, the water of rivers, lakes and streams, the raindrops that fall from the sky and the dew on the morning grass, the water in our bodies, in plants and trees, the water in dogs, flowers, bugs, fish, elephants, walruses and caterpillars, the water in everything that is alive on earth — water is and will always be something greater, more wondrous and something other than a mere entry in the accounting ledgers of some grand business enterprise, which is all that the word “asset” conjures for me.

I came across the word again today as I was reading an editorial in The Detroit Free Press. I am in complete sympathy with the position it takes against plans to build a huge network of oil pipelines carrying diluted bitumen (or dilbit) across the Great Lakes region, and to transport crude oil by barge across Lake Superior. These are reckless, irresponsible ideas. The threat they pose to the integrity of the Lakes and the life the Lakes sustain is only made worse when you consider a couple of salient facts. First (and it is curious that the editorial does not mention this), the new mining around Lake Superior — as I’ve noted repeatedly — is already going to put pressure on Lake Superior and the Lake Superior watershed; the shipping of oil by barge would bring even more industrialization and greatly heighten the risk of environmental catastrophe. Second, the company building and running the pipeline (the Canadian company Enbridge) has already been responsible for an environmental disaster in Kalamazoo, Michigan — the worst inland oil spill in US history, in fact.

The editorial takes the position that these plans betray a “deep misunderstanding of the true value of the lakes,” but when the editors try to say what that value is, they run into trouble:

It’s easy to wax poetic about the value of the Great Lakes to Michigan and the other states they border. The beauty of the lakes, the wildlife and fish that dwell in and around the lakes, the environmental benefits the lakes present — they’re incalculable.

But let’s get practical: Clean freshwater is one of the scarcest commodities there is. And it’s only going to get worse. Clean water will be an asset that’s worth far more than oil. Jeopardizing the Great Lakes isn’t just morally and ethically wrong. It’s financially foolish, as well.

It’s interesting how the argument here moves, in just a couple of short paragraphs, from the “incalculable” to the crudest of calculations — the “worth” of clean water. This is tantamount to arguing that what is “morally and ethically” right should take second place to what is financially sound — as if finance should have more claim on the imagination and intellect (and the heart) than morality, and monetary value should be privileged over moral and ethical considerations.

I suppose that’s the way it goes nowadays, and I just need to get real. Still, there’s a great swirl of confusion in these two paragraphs, and I have a number of questions about the concept of morality being invoked here, how we’re to distinguish it from ethics, and why those things don’t seem to figure into what are called “practical” considerations. Practice and finance here are unmoored from and unrestricted by moral and ethical concerns; it’s precisely that kind of thinking that got us into the precarious situation we’re now in.

One remedy for all this confusion may lie in the perspective that holds water to be a basic human right — a perspective I also found missing from the Earthworks report. But even then we need to go beyond talking about assets and recognize the limitations of the argument that “clean freshwater is one of the scarcest commodities.” Why? Follow the link from The Detroit Free Press editorial to the National Geographic site on the “Freshwater Crisis.” There you enter a Malthusian world:

While the amount of freshwater on the planet has remained fairly constant over time—continually recycled through the atmosphere and back into our cups—the population has exploded. This means that every year competition for a clean, copious supply of water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and sustaining life intensifies.

Here, all of humanity is engaged in a contest or race. More and more people enter every year to compete for the same, limited resources. This is one reason why it’s imperative to recognize freshwater as a human right. Otherwise, history becomes a death match, or a big, global reality TV show: intensifying “competition” over this scarce “commodity” means that there will be winners and losers in the water game. The winners are fully vested with their rights; the losers struggle to survive in arid, toxic regions, or simply die of thirst.

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