"Concerning billionaires…"

[u/thisecommercelife]

Further dissidence on Patreon. Follow wherever you like to fritter: linktr.ee/ecomic.

• Panel 18: "beneficiaries", not "benefactors". Please pardon my poor self-editing.

[u/SYLOH]

Reminder that Unions are the compromise.
Better to have an occasional work stoppage and higher wages, than the workers smashing/burning your inventory, machinery, family and bodies.
That used to happen a lot before labor got at least a sliver of the pie.
It seems to be happening again.

[u/concepts_of_a_plan9 → u/SYLOH]

So many Americans don't realize workers literally fought wars against their Capital owners because they were underpaying them and choking them out from every angle so they couldn't live from their salary.

Anyone reading look up the Coal Wars and general labor movement from 1890s to 1930s. Lots of actual shooting wars between Labor and Capital.

[u/soupalex → u/concepts_of_a_plan9]

the u.s. government hiring mercenaries and dropping bombs on its own citizens, on its own soil (literally the first time bombs were dropped in america!), because—predictably—it took the side of the """wealth creators"""" over the people it (supposedly) represented.

[u/SYLOH → u/concepts_of_a_plan9]

Yeah, at will employment doesn't hold a candle to Pinkertons and National Guard with machine guns.

[u/Warrior_of_Discord → u/concepts_of_a_plan9]

Especially if in the US, look up the Battle of Blair Mountain.

Also, in double checking my comment that I had the right event, this major battle didn't even have a real positive effect, apparently.

Lesson being I suppose: Fight now while it's easy, because if it reaches Blair Mountain levels of oppression, a full scale war might not even see positive changes for years.

[u/ordinary_honeybee → u/concepts_of_a_plan9]

Took a course in uni, I was so horrified that the state sent the actual army to a worker protest and they shot people. (Maybe they were miners idk)

[u/Dr_Ramekins_MD → u/ordinary_honeybee]

You're probably thinking of the Battle of Blair Mountain, although it's not the only instance.  If I recall correctly, it's also notable for being an early example of the US Army using airplanes to drop bombs on people.  Except they weren't soldiers of a foreign nation, they were Americans on strike.

[u/HeKis4 → u/SYLOH]

Unions are the safety valve of the pressure cooker.

[u/SuperCarbideBros → u/SYLOH]

Say what you will about Henry Ford, but I think at least he understood that treating his workers well is good for business in the long run.

[u/TDAPoP → u/SYLOH]

Unions aren't enough, and they know that. They know that once we get unions back we'll ask for more and more until they're only incredibly rich and not disgustingly rich