#Governments and Regulation

[thedaddycomplex]

One of my recent posts pissed of the MAGA cult and they're crawling out from under the refrigerator to spout all the classic conspiracy jams in the comments. But, I wanted to address one specific challenge tacked to the end of this guy's particularly tedious rant...

First of all, *your.

And you want 5 things the Democratic Party did to improve your day-to-day prosperity? Here's just a handful of the countless things FOX News will never tell you because they like Republicans to stay scared, uninformed, and angry. (Hint: It's how they make money off of you.):

Medicare and Medicaid (Medical debt is the No. 1 reason for personal bankruptcy in the U.S. and these programs help you avoid that.)

Social Security (We all pay in so we all can live a little better in retirement, but the guy you voted for is likely going to make it go away. Oopsies!)

40-hour work week (That's right, Democrats gave you "the weekend.")

Overtime pay (Bet you've enjoyed that a time or two.)

Federal Farm Loan Act (Among other things this act does, it helps farmers get affordable food to your table… or it did before the guy you voted for started dismantling all that, but whatevs!)

Family and Medical Leave Act (Yes, Democrats gave you paid sick leave.)

Pell grants and student loan program (I'm assuming you don't care about this because it's about getting a better education.)

Affordable Care Act [This helps everyone get health insurance by creating a competitive marketplace (capitalism for good!), expands Medicaid eligibility (socialism for good!), and makes sure your employer can't fuck you over if you get sick (government regulation for good!) Oh, also, if you enjoy the Affordable Care Act, but hate Obamacare, boy, do I have some shocking news for you… They're the same thing.]

And thanks to Warren, Ohio's Tribune Chronicle — specifically, Ron Urchek's Letter to the Editor of that paper — that compiled these and other reasons to thank a Democrat. Because journalism also matters.

In fact, it's so important it's the only profession mentioned in the U.S. Constitution because a free press is supposed to keep the powerful in check. But, you'd just call that fake news, I guess.

[ozzgin]

There needs to be some sorta part 2 to player reader! Imagine her life is just getting kidnapped by another suitor every other day or somethin. Or gettin forcibly married to one with a legion of other monsters interrupting the weddin. Girl is livin my dream of bein desired by monsters! 😩😢

See, that’s the trouble, I feel like everything else from now on should be up to imagination. Will Reader be serially kidnapped? Serially married? Will the mayor of Monstertown have to intervene and turn Reader into some sort of publicly owned existence that can be borrowed within a strict interval like a library book, in order to avoid the monsters killing each other?

“I’m here to return Reader”, the Eldritch creature says, pushing the little card onto the counter with its tentacle appendage.

“Uh huh. That’s one week past deadline, so I’m afraid you’ll have to pay a fine.” The worker responds, checking the files.

“Of course.”

“Is Reader alright?” The employee questions upon noticing the feverish state of the human. “It looks a little worn out.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. Might’ve gotten too enthusiastic.”

“Happens, happens. I’ll let you know when it’s available again.”

Also, as a little side note, this was the initial idea I had for a header picture but I can’t be bothered to do anything beyond this doodle. Found it funny so I thought I’d share. :)

[onlytiktoks]

[captainjonnitkessler]

I think I've identified the reason I get so worked up about anarchism in relation to labor rights and safety in particular.

Three years ago I watched my coworker almost die when a piece of machinery we were moving unsafely fell on him. It missed his head by an inch and snapped his leg in half instead. It took months of recovery and multiple surgeries for him to walk again and he will be disabled for the rest of his life. And it didn't happen because of Capitalism or profit motive or because our evil bosses were forcing us to work unsafely. It happened because he'd done similar things a hundred times before and it had always been fine, and because I didn't know enough to clock just how dangerous what we were doing was, and just because of some plain shitty luck. Mentally it fucked me up for months in ways I didn't recognize until well after the fact.

And the thing is, almost every construction worker can tell you about the time they saw a fatal or near-fatal accident. An apprentice younger than me had a heart attack and was out of work for over a year after shocking himself on a live circuit. The woman who runs our apprenticeship program has a husband who had his arm blown off in an arc flash incident. One of my teachers had a coworker die after getting hung up on a live circuit and he wasn't found until the end of the day.

Construction is one of the single most dangerous industries to work in, and I believe this is why rates of drug and alcohol abuse and suicide are sky-high in the industry. I think many construction workers are low-key traumatized by knowing constantly that they could die or be permanently disabled due to a very simple mistake or oversight. It is simply inherently unsafe when you are working with live electricity, power tools, heights, thousands of pounds of machinery, cranes, etc. And so yes, I do believe that safety protocols and the ability to enforce them are absolutely necessary to preventing a massive amount of death. The number of worker deaths in the US has been slashed by 60% since OSHA was instated.

And so to get online and have someone who has never set foot on a jobsite in their life condescendingly explain to me that actually, we don't need OSHA or the ability to enforce safety standards because in a perfect world everyone will just suddenly start working perfectly safely, and I'm just too stupid or brainwashed to realize that The Real Villain Is Capitalism, and if we just get rid of that it will somehow also get rid of the inherent safety issues involved in the entire construction industry - well it turns out it pisses me off a little bit!

[benjaminallhope-fulltimemind]

No fucking duh, of course people are getting concerned over the economy. With chaotic tarrif policies and practices, plus oligarchs in power stripping America for parts people aren't secure in the economy. No one wants to say the words recession or crash cause it might cause one, meanwhile Republicans will cut social security to line Elon Musk's and Trump's pockets and they will cut social programs like they always want to do.

[dumb-patrol]

Hello Canadians

If you are someone who thinks AI needs to be regulated, I encourage you to email your Member of Parliament about it. I just sent mine an email today. The more emails they get, and the more MPs that get emails, the more likely it is that our concerns will be addressed. It is our job as citizens to demand the change we want to see. If you don't know what to say, here is what my email said:

Hello [MP]

I am a resident in [Riding] who is writing to you today because I feel passionately that the government needs to address the issue of AI, and soon. What is the government doing to protect people's jobs from AI? Prime Minister Carney's platform says he wants to "incentivize AI adoption" and "calls for AI to slash repetitive tasks and reduce costs in the public service. " But what about the people whose jobs it will take? People need to be able to work, and giving jobs to computers that people could, and have been, doing doesn't help anyone but company's bottom lines. It certainly doesn't help the person who lost their job. Also what about the environmental impact of AI? Interesting how no one cares about the environment anymore when it comes to increasing profits for multi millionaires and billionaires. Additionally, what is being done to combat how AI can be used to create fake news and spread misinformation? Me, and others like me, don't want the government to incentivize AI use and to build water and energy wasting data centers, we want the government to regulate AI in order to protect people's jobs, to protect the arts, to deal with the copyright violations AI is rife with, to protect the environment, and to limit the spread of misinformation.

Thank you for your time,

[Your Name]

feel free to change it up if you want obviously but if you're struggling to come up with what to say here's how you can start.

If you don't know who your MP is you can find out using this website: https://www.ourcommons.ca/Members/en

(I encourage American's to do the same, but idk how their politics work and if you can just like email your representative in America like you can in Canada)

[gamer2002]

This is how Dems want every business to operate

[alyfoxxxen]

Trump directs agencies to quietly repeal regulations — without public notice - POLITICO

[phoenixyfriend]

I feel like maybe I just need to do a whole post on What Even Is Trade, at this point.

It's one part politics, one part finance, three parts logistics.

[onlytiktoks]

[nonenosome2]

Why new dressers suck at storing stuff

Jesus. Can the Government not help themselves from regulating everything?

[vyeoh]

I just realized that the hermit permits have centralized the hermitcraft economy and as such, established socialism

[political-us]

Feb 14 (Reuters) - The rise of "pig butchering" scams and the increasing use of generative artificial intelligence likely lifted revenues from crypto scams to a record high in 2024, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

Revenue from pig butchering scams, where perpetrators cultivate relationships with individuals and convince them to participate in fraudulent schemes, increased nearly 40% in 2024 from the previous year, the firm estimated in a report published on Thursday.

Revenue in 2024 from crypto scams was at least $9.9 billion, although the figure could rise to a record high of $12.4 billion once more data becomes available, it said.

"Crypto fraud and scams have continued to increase in sophistication," Chainalysis researchers said.

The company pointed to marketplaces that support pig butchering operations and the use of GenAI as factors making it easier and cheaper for scammers to expand operations.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/crypto-scams-likely-set-new-record-2024-helped-by-ai-chainalysis-says-2025-02-14/

[gamer2002]

lmao, regulations do wonders

[askagamedev]

Hello, I've been paying attention to Dustborn and the only actual question I would like to make is if you see anything worth dissecting on the fact that it got tax money from the EU? Games funded by a government are very rare, so I wonder if analyzing the game from that perspective provides something interesting into game development.

Getting tax breaks and incentives from various governments is actually very common. Government investment is often a lot like scholarships to university - they have bundles of money set aside for applicants that meet certain criteria. Most governments are interested in encouraging economic activity within their borders, especially tech industry growth. Tech pays pretty well, isn't large on space, and encourages secondary growth - tech workers that move to the area will buy usually houses and spend with local businesses, leading to a positive cycle of improved economic growth for the area.

As an example of this, in 2020 the Department of Community & Economic Development of Pennsylvania offered a [tax credit] of 25% of qualified expenses for the first four years of development and 10% for each subsequent year back in 2020 to game developers who spent at least 60% of their total production costs in Pennsylvania. The politicians were hoping to encourage game developers to move to Pennsylvania and they were offering tax credits as incentive.

Similarly, the Norwegian Film Institute offers funding to [audiovisual productions that meet their criteria]:

The screenplay, or the literary work on which the screenplay is based, has originally been written in the Norwegian or Sami language

The main theme is connected to Norwegian history, culture or social conditions

The action takes place in Norway, in another EEA country (countries of the European Union [EU] plus Iceland, Liechtenstein)

The work contains significant contributions from rights holders or artists resident in Norway or in another EEA country.

Dustborn ticked enough of these boxes that the NFI agreed to fund them. It wasn't a special thing, it was government money set aside to encourage the development of Norwegian-focused cultural audio visual works. That includes video games, movies, television, or any other kind of audio visual production. Lots of smaller works, games included, find funding through programs and grants like this.

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