cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/8503579
seize the means of production
Nitpick: eminent domain is not the means for publicizing a company, that's for land for public works
this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2024
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Ever since I learned that pretty much all utilities are publicly-traded stocks on the stock market as for-profit companies that wealthy mfs talk about "diversifying their portfolio" with "in the energy sector" I've been so disturbed.
The idea that utilities are for-profit is just so f***ed up and deranged.
You are allowed to say "fucked" 🤣
Thats the problem with internet you never really know what is allowed where. Doubly so in places like lemmy or reddit where rules depend on community
The fact that most companies are for profit is deranged. Utilities are necessary for day to day life, they go hand in hand with having a roof over your head in my book. Real estate should also be non-profit. Insurance should also be non-profit, put the excess money to use by fixing the things that are insured. Hospitals/medical anything should be non-profit. Food and water should be non-profit. Internet connectivity should be non-profit as well.
Give back to the citizens.
Not all at all. Lots of utilities are Consumer Cooperatives. Lots of people working at those cooperatives don't even know that consumer and worker cooperatives are market socialist and tend to be conservative which annoys the heck out of me.
If you wanna know what it looks like to have a city own the utilities and operate them for the public interest, one can look at Medicine Hat, Alberta.
I didn't know anything about this place, but being Alberta I had assumed that this would be a negative portrayal of government.
I was pleasantly surprised:
In 2021, Medicine Hat became the first city in Canada to achieve "functional zero" chronic homelessness, defined as three consecutive months where three or fewer individuals experienced chronic homelessness. They were able to achieve this due to their adoption of a Housing First policy to combat homelessness beginning in 2009.[13]
The entire nation of Finland is another great example of the government essentially eliminating homelessness (and in the process, creating super affordable public housing that isn't garbage).
The entire nation of Finland is another great example of the government essentially eliminating homelessness (and in the process, creating super affordable public housing that isn't garbage).
USSR. While it lasted.
The old Soviet builds are pretty Spartan. In fairness they're like 60 years old now, but yikes.
But, even at that, still a hell of a lot better than being homeless.
The old Soviet builds are pretty Spartan. In fairness they're like 60 years old now, but yikes.
Depends how old. Brezhnevkas have normal kitchen. Which, comparing to modern humant colonies, are big.
But, even at that, still a hell of a lot better than being homeless.
Absolutely.
Worth bearing in mind the very spartan Soviet blocks were incredible luxury compared to the homes people moved out of. For all of the torture, disappearing, political killing, forced labor, etc. that happened under Stalin, he at least got housing pretty well sorted for the people
he at least got housing pretty well sorted for the people
No, stalinkas were time consuming and expensive in construction. Real mass housing started during Khruschev and lasted until the end of USSR.
What if my hat is already full of things that aren't medicine?
Nationalize this!
Tbf, my city has a publicly owned utility company and it suuuuucks. Literally writing this comment on my phone during a 12 hour power outage during perfect weather.
I bet it's being deliberately underfunded and/or mismanaged to support an eventual attempt to privatize.
Deliberately underfunded or mismanaged, maybe. It's been like this since the 90s at least. But I don't think they need any intent for a buyout for it to suck. Afaik, there is zero interest from any private buyers for our utilities.
If I had to point to a specific failure, it's that the rates are set by city council, and raising them is wildly unpopular. Everyone who proposed it loses re-election. We have some of the cheapest power in the world but fat lot of good that does when it's not on.
How does that work? They still have to buy the power from someone, and those prices have increased. Or do they own their own power plant/turbine/whatever. Then they should sell the excess and subsidize their citizens.
They buy most power from TVA, the rate city council controls is the fixed rate markup they charge on top. Our power is $0.07/kwh by the time you pay for it.
Do you mean municipally owned? Publicly owned would mean it's traded on the stock market.
Publicly owned means owned by the government. You are thinking of publicly traded companies, which are non public companies that have opened up stock ownership to the public
means of consumption?
I had a gas stove once ands HATED cooking. Hated the smell and never felt safe.
yeah gas stoves are sketchy but if it's installed properly you should never have an issue. I prefer induction, fuck coil stoves. i have a electric coil stove and i fucking hate it.
coil stoves are okay provided they have glass tops, i have a coil stove with fucking cast iron plates on it which are IMPOSSIBLE to clean and they stay hot for ages after i'm done cooking..
still perfectly fine to cook with, though. it's just that anything else is even better.
i thought coil stoves with glass on top were induction stoves? i have the coil stove with the coil exposed. its a peice of shit but i have no choice since i live in a apartment.
no, you can tell whether it's an induction stove if it doesn't get hot, induction stoves heat up the pot by vibrating the magnetic metal atoms in it.
regular coil stoves are resistive, that's why transparent-topped ones glow, the coil is literally glowing hot like an old light bulb.
Coherent and good!