#systemic corruption

[boycottdivestsanctions]

[nando161mando]

The Great Gaslight: How America Uses “Personal Responsibility” to Ignore Systemic Failures

https://medium.com/@madougherty90/the-great-gaslight-how-america-uses-personal-responsibility-to-ignore-systemic-failures-7dc5b5968173

[transgwender616]

"You need to understand why things are the way they are."

Figures out why things are the way they are

The reasons are bullshit

[cmweller]

Challenge #04361-K343: Executive Three Card Monte

The CEO was as evil as they came, so it would seem. They called the ones in the factories, "machines". But when Pax Humanis found them, they were caring for their children lovingly, and the young children also called the ones in the factories machines. Didn't the CEO, or the kids actually know the ones there were people? -- Anon Guest

[AN: Considering recent events... I will be trying to remain in the positive vibe zone]

Deregger polities generally have a light relationship with cogniscent rights. The ones that descend into utter evil are the ones that have to be stopped. Some are lessons "to encourage the others". Specifically, to encourage them about the benefits of NOT being a heinous stain on the general face of Humanity.

Then there's cases like this one. Greater Deregulation Upper East Corewards. The target was on record as calling his factory workers 'machines', and everyone knew that true evil began with treating people like things.

But when the infiltration team got there...

[Check the source for the rest of the story]

[macro-pulse]

🏛️ HOW THE GOVERNMENT BECAME BANKS’ BIGGEST ACCOMPLICE

Socialism for banks, capitalism for students 🤝

THE FFEL PROGRAM: LEGALIZED BANK WELFARE

💰 HOW THE SCAM WORKED (1970-2010):

🏦 For Banks:

✅ Make loans to students (collect interest)

✅ Government guarantees repayment (zero risk)

✅ If student defaults: Government pays bank in full

✅ Keep all profits: Heads I win, tails taxpayers lose

👨‍🎓 For Students:

❌ Still owe the money (even after government pays bank)

❌ Now owe government instead (with penalties)

❌ Higher interest rates (banks needed profit margins)

❌ Taxpayers backstop bank profits while students suffer

📊 THE NUMBERS:

Sallie Mae’s peak: $175 billion in government-backed loans

Market share: 4x larger than all other banks combined

Risk level: Literally zero (government guarantee)

Student protection: Also zero

THE REVOLVING DOOR OF CORRUPTION:

🚪 GOVERNMENT ↔ INDUSTRY PIPELINE:

From Government to Industry:

👔 Education Department officials → Executive jobs at loan companies

📋 Regulatory knowledge → Used to exploit loopholes

🤝 Insider connections → Favorable treatment for former employers

From Industry to Government:

💼 Loan company executives → Education Department positions

📜 Write regulations that benefit their former companies

🎯 Selective enforcement against competitors only

Real Example: The Navient Network

Education Dept → Navient: 12+ former officials hired

Navient → Education Dept: 8+ executives in government roles

Result: Policies written by people who profit from them

THE 2005 BANKRUPTCY LAW: BOUGHT AND PAID FOR

💸 THE LOBBYING INVESTMENT:

Sallie Mae alone: $9 million in lobbying (1999-2005)

Total industry spending: $25+ million

Campaign contributions: Millions more to key committee members

Return on investment: TRILLIONS in guaranteed profits

⚖️ WHAT THEY BOUGHT:

🚫 Private student loans = no bankruptcy discharge

🏛️ Same protection as federal loans (previously dischargeable)

🛡️ Equal to child support/criminal fines in legal status

♾️ Permanent debt with no escape mechanism

📊 THE LIE THEY SOLD:

Claim: “Students will abuse bankruptcy to avoid responsibility”

Evidence: None. Zero data supported this claim.

Reality: Student bankruptcies were extremely rare

Truth: Banks wanted guaranteed collection regardless of circumstances

CURRENT GOVERNMENT COMPLICITY:

🏛️ FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AS LOAN SHARK:

Biggest lender: $1.6+ trillion in federal loans

Revenue source: Interest payments fund government operations

Collection powers: Unlimited wage garnishment, tax seizure

Accountability: None. Government can’t go out of business

💼 LOAN SERVICING CONTRACTS:

Navient, Nelnet, MOHELA: Billions in government contracts

Performance standards: Minimal oversight

Profit motive: More profitable to keep people in debt longer

Consumer protection: Virtually nonexistent

THE REGULATORY CAPTURE PLAYBOOK:

📋 STEP 1: COMPLEXITY

Make rules so complicated that only industry experts understand them

Ensure those experts work for the companies being regulated

📋 STEP 2: SELF-REGULATION

Let industry write their own rules

Government rubber-stamps whatever they submit

📋 STEP 3: ENFORCEMENT THEATER

Occasional small fines that look like punishment

Fines smaller than profits, so violations remain profitable

No criminal charges for executives

📋 STEP 4: NARRATIVE CONTROL

Blame borrowers for “irresponsible” behavior

Frame debt forgiveness as “unfair” to those who paid

Ignore systemic issues, focus on individual responsibility

REAL CONSEQUENCES OF GOVERNMENT COMPLICITY:

💀 FOR STUDENTS:

42.7 million people trapped in government-designed debt system

Average $37k debt with no escape mechanism

Lifetime of payments regardless of income or circumstances

Credit destruction for those who can’t pay

💰 FOR BANKS/SERVICERS:

Guaranteed profits from government contracts

Legal immunity from most consumer protection laws

Regulatory capture ensures friendly oversight

Political protection from meaningful reform

THE BIPARTISAN NATURE OF THE SCAM:

🔴 Republicans:

Openly support bank profits over student welfare

Block forgiveness programs as “unfair”

Push for more private lending with fewer protections

🔵 Democrats:

Talk about reform while maintaining the system

Incremental changes that don’t threaten bank profits

Focus on managing debt rather than eliminating it

Result: No matter who wins elections, the debt machine keeps running.

WHY THIS MATTERS:

This isn’t just about money - it’s about democracy itself. When corporations can buy laws that guarantee profits at public expense, we don’t have a government of the people anymore.

Next up: The specific law that made student debt impossible to escape 🔒

Your government is supposed to protect you from predatory lenders, not partner with them. ⚖️

GOTO NEXT POST -> CLICK!

GOTO FIRST POST -> CLICK HERE

[belongstolove]

S Y S Y E M S

[reality-detective]

I'll leave this 👆 here... You Decide 🤔

[jangillman]

[brucewaynehater101]

Alright. Willis Todd being an abusive father to Jason is a trope often utilized. Comparing this version of him to Bruce's reactions to Red Hood is fantastic. Lots to analyze there.

However, I raise you. There needs to be more fanwork addressing the classism behind Willis Todd being characterized as an abusive alcoholic. In some version of canon, Willis Todd was a good dad in a shitty situation. He was poor, his wife (Catherine) was sick, and he had a newborn baby he needed to provide for. In this horrid situation, where he has no family to fall back on and no higher education to obtain a decent well-paying job, he tries to get quick money. He's desperate to keep both his wife and son alive.

Catherine turns to drugs because it's easier and cheaper to buy drugs than healthcare. The pain she experiences is debilitating, and she'd do anything to not feel pain for one godsdamned second. Unfortunately, this turns into an addiction.

This ultimately shapes the way that Jason views crime. Bruce, while he may be sympathetic to individuals who resort to crime to pay their bills, will not understand huddling in Crime Alley in the dead of winter as he debates whether to buy food or pay for heating. He won't understand the bitterness, hatred, pain, and resignation of never having enough money to survive as you get chewed up again and again.

If Jason's dad is just an abusive criminal, that not only perpetuates the notion that all criminals are evil, but it will shape how Jason views those who commit crime. Breaking the law doesn't make someone bad. There's plenty of reasons people commit crime, whether to survive, protect someone, or something else. The issue, especially in Gotham, is the system that perpetuates wealth inequality through bribes and unethical governmental practices.

Anyway, I think Jason's Red Hood is more fleshed out if it accounts for him acknowledging the desperation behind goons and small-time criminals because he grew up without other options.

[fireflysugarpie]

need to get this idea out about Shang Qinghua being an actual god/deity lmao

okay, so we all know that Shen Qingqiu's system has Luo Binghe as its power source and shut down when he was in another dimension right?

and that Shang Qinghua transmigrated before Luo Binghe's parents even met each other, but his system was still active, albeit less so because it was before the plot and he was a side character.

what if Shang Qinghua's system used him as a power source to run not just itself, but the entire world of SVSSS/PIDW?

I mean, the guy was transmigrated as a baby, and he's had a lot of time to butterfly effect things in ways he probably didn't even try. and since the System's main goal seems to be fixing/improving the core story for the audience's entertainment, it potbelly had to nudge a lot of stuff back into place to ensure the core plot was still recognizable.

it would make sense as to why Shang Qinghua's system was a lot more emotionless, infrequent, and stingy with points than Shen Qingqiu's system and why it was more restrictive in certain ways with Shang Qinghua.

it could be a cool concept that as the happy ending was reached and the System stepped back, Shang Qinghua slowly got more control over his world and storyline. he proudly wouldn't even notice at first, with all of the work and information he has to deal with in both realms. it would start off small with him just knowing certain things about the quality of goods a merchant was trying to sell his King, thinking he read it somewhere in his mountain of paperwork. then it could escalate into 'remembering' specific details about the lives and dynamics of side characters' families and relationships that he doesn't actually remember writing down, but obviously he must have of he knows that the 3rd sister of the Hé family hates tanghulu because she chocked on one as a child. And then that would snowball into him actually having prophetic abilities and the power to alter fate.

it would also be pretty interesting if the world itself obviously favored him, like flowers moving to face him if he meditated in the same spot for a few hours, birds and other wildlife generally being friendly or non hostile, the wind carrying his humming to the ears of those who are down in their luck, ancient and extremely rare treasures and artifacts really wanting him as their wielder, other divine or mythical beings that are able to tell something is off about Shang Qinghua but can't tell what because of the System, and other people not noticing him because he really really doesn't want them to.

just, Deity Shang Qinghua that doesn't know that he's a deity lol

[nando161mando]

Young White Male Anger Is a Systemic Failure Too, We Just Don’t Like Admitting It

[manversus]

10/06/2022 , 21:25

Την ώρα που η έρευνα της αρμόδιας Αρχής για τον έλεγχο πόθεν έσχες έχει βάλει στο στόχαστρο και συνεργάτες αλλά και μακρινούς συγγενείς του Γιώργου Τράγκα που εμφανίζονται να είχαν συμμετοχή στις επιχειρήσεις του δημοσιογράφου, η προέλευση των ράβδων χρυσού αποκτά κομβική σημασία

Ερωτήματα… φωτιά προκύπτουν όχι μόνο σχετικά με την τεράστια περιουσία του Γιώργου Τράγκα και τα 17 πολυτελή ακίνητα σε όλο τον κόσμο, αλλά και για τις ράβδους χρυσού που είχε στην κατοχή μέχρι να φύγει από την ζωή και πλέον διεκδικούν οι κληρονόμοι του.

Μάλιστα, λέγεται ότι συνολική τους αξίας είναι 2,5 εκατ. ευρώ, ενώ θα είναι οι πρώτες που θα κατασχεθούν, εφόσον δεν αποδειχθεί η προέλευσή τους.

[jajanvm-imbi]

My two favorite anarchists 🥰🥰

[cellgatinbo]

fit and his ability to spot pac from literally miles away, or somehow, through fucking walls ???

[mirrorofliterature]

not people calling padmè amidala an aristocrat who doesn't understand democracy

padmè is not an aristocrat she's a career politician, those are two distinct things

bail organa is an aristocrat; aristocrats refer to a certain upper class of society, old wealth, think bridgerton and downton abbey

padmè is middle class, in origin. although george lucas called her a queen because #aesthetic, he's showing his american - that's not what that word means! padmè is elected by the people of naboo as queen; functionally an elected head of state akin to a president

the intergalatic republic senate is a worldbuilding mess. but with naboo, we know that the senators are appointed by the democratically elected queen - padmè is, in essence, a diplomat, a public servant representing the queen representing the people, like a UN delegate.

anyway yeah padmè serves the people. her whole entire arc is about serving people; she didn't become senator because she desired it but out of a sense of duty (see: AOTC conversation with anakin about her appointment). in TPM she came back and fought with her people. in ROTS she has become trapped by a decaying system; she is pregnant, there is no clear enemy she can fight against; her role is in the public arena; she loses.

padmè fights for democracy and she loses, her mentor holding the dagger and stealing her husband from her in the process. that's her tragedy.

to claim that padmè only cares and fights for the aristocratic class is laughable. watch the actual movies. yeah just because padmè's politics isn't shown doesn't mean that she is not fundamentally a public servant who realises throughout ROTS that the democracy she swore to uphold has died and decayed and all her life's work has amounted to nothing.

god forbid a woman have flaws and try, but be unable, to resist the creeping rise of fascisim in an inherently corrupt senate