This board has brought up multiple times on how bad our govt is, CDC, FDA, etc and yet barely anyone mentions just how destructive major corporations are. I would even argue that they are more destructive because they've damaged the fabric of our society.
Let's take Uber for example: it started off as a start up that allowed drivers flexibility to earn extra income without having a boss watching over you. It was championed as a pioneer and innovator in the transportation industry that disrupted the other regulated taxi monopolies.
Now, it has morphed into a giant conglomerate that refuses to change. It recently released a statement that they plan on improving their profitability by slashing driver pay, despite the fact that they haven't increased it since 2018. Now mind you, the 2 biggest driver expenses(his car and fuel) went up in price by over 30% since 2021.
So how can they do this? By hiring illegal aliens to drive for bottom of the barrel wages. Used to be that Uber paid around 1$ per mile. Now due to the fact that they have iilegals, they pay as low as 30 cents per mile. At the same time, Uber increased the fares for the passengers as well.
You might think: what's stopping anyone open a new company to challenge them, and the answer is: regulations. Once Uber made it big, they lobbied the federal govt to implement regulations to "improve" the ridesharing experience. In reality it was just extra layers of protection against their competitors.
And Uber is just 1 example. Ever notice how companies now don't even let you own your own products? You buy a phone but you can't upgrade it, you buy a car but you need to take it to the dealership to work on it because of the artificial increase in complexity they do. And don't get me started on the whole wanting to implement subscription software for your car without which you wouldn't be able to drive it.
Also, let's talk how corporations destroyed the job market. First they come in with the notion that they need to close down and outsource the factories to stay profitable, but don't worry the prices aren't going up, because the labor is going to be cheaper. Then they hire H1Bs to replace specialized labor to keep costs down. This makes them more competitive and drive competitors out of business after which they bump the price. Not to mention the quadrilions spend on ads to turn normies into brainless consumers.
I can go on and on, but the bottom line is that big business has been as damaging to the fabric of our society as big govt has, and yet barelly anyone talks about it.
There's a big component that not enough are aware of.
The Senior Executive Service. It where big corporations and the government align. Unelected lifers, running COG and using corp money, to build the G. Corruption on steroids.
But to address your post.
I travel weekly for work. Was in San Francisco, LA, and now San Diego this week. I haven't been here in over a year.
As far as Uber etc. All those bs gig jobs are going to die. Waymo is everywhere here. Self driving cars that will destroy Uber. No need to pay a robot.
I shared an elevator yesterday with a fucking robot cooler that took food to the 5th floor and the 5 buttom just lit up.
On every street corner these saymo and coco food deliveries are running around. This will kill door dash etc.
Ai is going to destroy a lot of these low level jobs that require zero skill.
I'd focus on the mega corps. Coke, Pepsi, Marlboro and how their money is used by those in the SES.
Kim Cheatle who headed the SS during the assassination. She's SES. Was appointed by Cheney, given a job at Pespsi, headed SS, was ran out, and I guarantee, went back to SES with a cushy corporate position.
Not so sure about waymo or all these delivery services. We already saw supermarkets trying to implement self checkout, only to roll it back because of all the theft.
As someone said, I don't think these corporations realize the budget that is going have to go into these cars or delivery machines simply because their owners maintain them. All the uber/doordash drivers fuel, maintain and clean their own cars free of charge.
Waymo and co will literally have to have people do all of the above. Now imagine having also to maintain cars that are vomited in, pissed in, damaged, broken, stolen, etc. You'd need to hire a fleet of mechanics that are going to maintain the software and mechanical component. These are all extra expenses because specialized labor ain't cheap.
Personally I think they won't be able to compete with individual drivers simply because of the flexibility they offer. Most people to this day prefer a real human behind the wheel as opposed to a waymo for example, for the next 20-30 years I don't see them becoming mainstream.