Loved this essay. It is important to articulate what is happening (even if it is unclear what is happening or how to fix the problem). The iPad ordering is hard for older people who have not kept up with technology, people travelling in a foreign country whose phones are not set up for roaming, or when your phone needs to be charged. I was in a restaurant in London with my family that had iPad ordering. My phone was not charged so they had to order for me. When we had to return an incorrect order, we discovered that no one working there spoke English and that the workers all spoke different languages, so everyone had to use Google translate to communicate. An inconvenience for us, but a good thing for them that they could find work without speaking English.
Monopolization masquerading as the free market 100% - have felt / observed / experienced the same things when I am back in the US, especially since living abroad you really noticing the smallest details. Adam Curtis has some great documentaries he made for BBC about the rise and fall of the Soviet Union and he eludes to the similarities of the direction the US was going in, even back then in the 90s and early 00s. Wild times, pendulums swinging, worse before it gets better but it will have to get better eventually. Right?
It took the Roman Empire 400 years of slow systemic failure to collapse in 410 “officially”. The Communist Empire failed inside 70 years. The US Empire, if one said was the dominant Western power after 1946, is in its 77th year and showing all the systemic signs of corruption and regulatory capture any empire in the process of failing would typically demonstrate. War is now the main economic driver of the US economy and takes the majority of discretionary funds from the US taxpayer. This alone is a clear sign of a state in the process of failing as the main economic drivers are the negative impulses of destruction and not the positive impulses of building. What you’re describing is the process of late stage capitalism slowly eating itself. Add into this mix the process of war being spread around the globe by the Washington-Pentagon-WallSt troika and you not only have a failing state but a hugely belligerent one as well.
A failed state? No, the government apparatus is still running, albeit poorly. A failed society? Absolutely. On top of atomization and the largely successful deconstruction of communities (with the exception of self-segregated, crime-ridden neighborhoods) the two sides cannot even agree on basic reality: that's very fundamental. Josh's interesting article today about men dropping out of college highlighted another chasmic disagreement: the "men are the problem" side and what I call the "we are all human" side, the former of which is in part responsible for causing men to ditch academia. These are not your average "love or hate Hawaiian pizza" disagreements. (Though I speak in jest: that, of course, is the most serious disagreement :D ) Countries have gone to Civil War over differences like this. We'd probably be in one already if people weren't so accustomed to the good life.
As for iPad restaurants, thankfully they're only trickling into this part of the world. There's something about them that makes it easy for companies to not care about customer service or employees: the employee can be replaced, while the customer should know how to use it because we're all plugged in. Don't reckon this will take us to a good place.
Interesting! Anti-monopolization could easily be a powerful bi-partisan issue. Let's hope.
Loved this essay. It is important to articulate what is happening (even if it is unclear what is happening or how to fix the problem). The iPad ordering is hard for older people who have not kept up with technology, people travelling in a foreign country whose phones are not set up for roaming, or when your phone needs to be charged. I was in a restaurant in London with my family that had iPad ordering. My phone was not charged so they had to order for me. When we had to return an incorrect order, we discovered that no one working there spoke English and that the workers all spoke different languages, so everyone had to use Google translate to communicate. An inconvenience for us, but a good thing for them that they could find work without speaking English.
Monopolization masquerading as the free market 100% - have felt / observed / experienced the same things when I am back in the US, especially since living abroad you really noticing the smallest details. Adam Curtis has some great documentaries he made for BBC about the rise and fall of the Soviet Union and he eludes to the similarities of the direction the US was going in, even back then in the 90s and early 00s. Wild times, pendulums swinging, worse before it gets better but it will have to get better eventually. Right?
This -> "monopolization masquerading as the free market" is spot on.
It took the Roman Empire 400 years of slow systemic failure to collapse in 410 “officially”. The Communist Empire failed inside 70 years. The US Empire, if one said was the dominant Western power after 1946, is in its 77th year and showing all the systemic signs of corruption and regulatory capture any empire in the process of failing would typically demonstrate. War is now the main economic driver of the US economy and takes the majority of discretionary funds from the US taxpayer. This alone is a clear sign of a state in the process of failing as the main economic drivers are the negative impulses of destruction and not the positive impulses of building. What you’re describing is the process of late stage capitalism slowly eating itself. Add into this mix the process of war being spread around the globe by the Washington-Pentagon-WallSt troika and you not only have a failing state but a hugely belligerent one as well.
A failed state? No, the government apparatus is still running, albeit poorly. A failed society? Absolutely. On top of atomization and the largely successful deconstruction of communities (with the exception of self-segregated, crime-ridden neighborhoods) the two sides cannot even agree on basic reality: that's very fundamental. Josh's interesting article today about men dropping out of college highlighted another chasmic disagreement: the "men are the problem" side and what I call the "we are all human" side, the former of which is in part responsible for causing men to ditch academia. These are not your average "love or hate Hawaiian pizza" disagreements. (Though I speak in jest: that, of course, is the most serious disagreement :D ) Countries have gone to Civil War over differences like this. We'd probably be in one already if people weren't so accustomed to the good life.
As for iPad restaurants, thankfully they're only trickling into this part of the world. There's something about them that makes it easy for companies to not care about customer service or employees: the employee can be replaced, while the customer should know how to use it because we're all plugged in. Don't reckon this will take us to a good place.
Seems more of an airline issue than a broad economic issue. Too much of a stretch to apply problems with airlines to all companies everywhere.