Pay More, Get Less - why everything is worse

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[@miaththered]

"The grasp of capitalism seems eternal and inexhaustible. So too did the divine right of kings."

[@NTNG13]

What came to replace monarchy was the awfulness of the merchant states that devolved into capitalism and communism. The breakdown of societal structure completely is a harmful endeavor despite what unread "revolutionaries" with a lust for destruction would like to believe. The man who tears down civilization without holding onto the best of the past is blind and dumb to history.

[@rosejones8058]

Fantastic way to put it. I'm gonna nick that!

[@idab9958]

*Whistles the Internationale innocently*

[@T-2856]

You'd be surprised how many still believe adamantly in the divine right of kings. I certainly was when the coronation this year of Charles Windsor.

[@station7thedoor]

A big problem in the corporate world is too much focus on short term goals. People are focused on their own metrics from month to month, and don't particularly care about the long term success of the company. Because their plan is to get as much success for themselves as they can, then get out before it comes crashing down. So it becomes all about gaming the system. And when you game the system, it throws off the system's ability to accurately measure its own success. This causes metrics to get more and more unrealistic, as the system tries to adapt.

[@voltijuice8576]

"The management regrets that it will not be showing a feature film, as it eats into the profits."

[@tropicata]

The Nintendo Switch is proof positive that "audiences demand cutting edge graphics" is utter horse crap. Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom have collectively sold over 50 million units and these are games running on Xbox 360 equivalent tech. I'd be perfectly satisfied if game graphics plateaued at 360/PS3 level if it means shorter dev cycles and developers get paid more and crunch less. In a heartbeat

[@fearlessknits1]

Sewing machines are such a good example of this. Six months ago I swapped my 15 year old sewing machine for a vintage Singer from 1957, and it's so so much better

[@KidarWolf]

All bar one of my sewing machines (yes, I have multiple sewing machines) are antiques (1890s Singer, 1910s Singer). The youngest is vintage, and only a decade away from being an antique (1936 Vickers - I named it Victor). I will never go back to an electric sewing machine, my hand crank ones I can maintain myself, I can usually fix myself, and they're not going to rush through a bunch of fabric I don't want them to if I should happen to sneeze while using them.

[@robinmiller5437]

Oh, Vera. When you got to the end of this and started talking about depressing everyone and the very neurodivergent urge to just grab all the context and throw it in a pot and make existentialism cookies. I know I don't usually comment but I appreciate this candor a lot. It is depressing, it is a lot, the honesty about it is helpful and validating. I think a lot of us are in situations where most of the people we know don't see this, and knowing that someone else does is invaluable. It costs something to put that out there. It costs something in time and energy and risk. So thank you for this one in particular.

[@roro-mm7cc]

I love how I got an ad for amazon prime video during this..

[@CouncilofGeeks]

It shouldn't say it's sponsored by anybody. I mean... aside from I suppose the length of the ad segment.

[@roro-mm7cc]

​@@CouncilofGeeks Yeh I know! I just thought it was ironic that the algorithm decided this video would be a perfect ad opportunity for the one streaming platform not criticised in the video.

[@intersexcryptid]

PLEASE NEVER FILTER YOUR BRAIN THIS WAS EXCELLENT!

[@bex9708]

This is probably my favorite video explaining enshitification! Also KZbin is a good example of enshitification, I'm old enough to remember when videos didn't have any ads on them

[@KidarWolf]

Bless us? Goodness no, bless you for being real, genuine, thoughtul, well spoken, and motivated enough to make this video happen. It's nice to know I'm not the only person who sees it this way.

[@TimothyMorigeau]

Thank you for this video. More and more people are realizing this and how corporations own this country. I’m glad we’re at least seeing more unions popping up.

[@renegarza9]

The revolution has BEGUN ✊🏼

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

I, for one, am quite fond of your brain and its ecclectic workings.

[@ElectricEvan]

Planed Obsolescence started with Harley Earl in the autoindustry. It's funny Henry Ford (who was not a good person) hated it. He liked the idea that the car was a thing that lasted. His failure to embrace it is what killed Ford as the dominant company in their industry.

[@scpatl4now]

I see a lot of discussion of economics and capitalism which is firmly within my educational scope of things I feel pretty confident in speaking to. First off, one of the biggest problems is unregulated capitalism which is where we land today. Every regulatory agency has, since the early 80's been starved for cash and whittled down to just a shell of what they were intended to be. It is the result of "free market solves everything" types in our government that really don't understand how our economy works at all. It starts with all the pontificating about cutting spending because we can't afford it. That, people, is a big lie. If you, the government, create the currency, and you owe all your obligations in that currency, insolvency is impossible. Those are facts. Federal spending is not like your budget at home. You cant print money, and states can't either so they ARE constrained. That is why the Federal government leaving projects for the states to pay for is a bad idea. The amount of "debt" the US records isn't really debt. It's just moving the furniture around. Social Security isn't going broke. Congress has the power tomorrow to fix it by simply appropriating the funds. It really is that simple. Then why don't they do it??? Because if government is "broken" who gets to run things the government has traditionally run...The Private Sector. So...politician says "government is the problem...it is broken", and then proceeds to break it by reducing spending that is necessary causing agencies to fail in lots of ways...then proclaims that the private sector should take over...say Social Security, thus charging fees that come out of people's retirement thus causing them to have less and less. It really is an insidious plan, and unfortunately even some who should know better buy into this "we need to cut spending" crap saying future generations will be crippled. They won't. Regulated capitalism is the only way it works. The other is just dystopia.

[@natbarmore]

It’s worth noting for anyone reading this that it’s not that there’s _no_ limit on US federal spending or “printing money” - it would be _possible_ to add too much money to the system too quickly, causing economic problems. Some of those problems could be reduced by smart decisions, or regulated out of existence, but some would be inevitable because we’re part of a global economy. But - and this absolutely agrees with your point - that limit isn’t “when federal spending exceeds tax revenue” and almost certainly isn’t “federal spending exceeds all non-governmental economic activity, combined”. We don’t know where the exact limit is, but we have solid evidence that we’re nowhere near it. And it’s a largely made-up limit in any case. As Trump’s financial history and the valuations of companies that have never made a profit show, if people and institutions believe that you’ll pay as promised (whether that’s repaying debt or paying wages or funding projects), then the amount of debt doesn’t matter. Things don’t fall apart when you reach a mathematical limit; they fall apart when you reach a trust&belief limit. And that’s even more true for a sovereign nation that controls its own currency and is, until we screw it up, the world’s reserve currency. While nobody _knows,_ increasingly it’s looking like the modern monetary theory folks are closer to reality than the traditional monetary theory folks. If they’re right, then the limit isn’t “when federal spending exceeds federal revenue” - it’s “when all spending, governmental and private combined, exceeds the _capacity_ for meaningful economic productivity”. IOW, if we try to spend more, on an ongoing basis, than could _possibly_ be earned or spent or saved. It might not even matter whether we’re trending towards that theoretical maximum economic productivity. I dunno, I’m no expert - but it’s clear from the past ~15 years that the Keynesians and Austrians and Chicago School and traditional Monetarists _don’t_ know how the macroeconomy works.

[@scpatl4now]

@@natbarmore I would go further with this analogy. Think of all government spending as new money and all taxes collected as going into a furnace never to be seen again. That is much closer to what actually happens. There is no account that says "taxes collected". The one thing taxes do is to make the currency legitimate. You can only use US dollars to pay US taxes. Yes there is a limit to how much money can be in circulation. When there is more money to spend of stuff that there is ability to produce, you have to cut back on the spending a bit...but I don't think we have ever been remotely close to that, but when it comes to Social Security, Healthcare, Infrastructure (trains and local metro systems that states struggle to pay for) there is ZERO reason that the government cant spend to fund all of that and on top of it all...there is a rather large multiplier on all of it. People in the US have been brainwashed by the Neoliberal elite that nothing can be done by "the government" when it just isn't true. Your right about MMT...they have had a pretty good handle on this for a while.

[@maddenedgeek7726]

Nobel Prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz’s book, ‘People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent’ is a great read and a great explainer when it comes to the ills of “free market fundamentalism” and how regulation can work to save our economy from it.

[@saphcal]

id prefer we just ditch capitalism altogether.

[@Silverwind87]

From _Men at Arms_ by Terry Pratchett: _The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. ... A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet._ The rich probably never have to worry about planned obsolescence. They can buy a refrigerator, and it'll be the only refrigerator they'll ever need.

[@userasdf]

While this is true for a lot of things, even if you have the money, lots of things are just shittier. There actually is no million dollar fridge that lasts for life anymore. Sure there’s thousand dollar cooking sets that will last your lifetime. There’s a couple of buyit for life type clothing but the most expensive clothing is still enshitified. You will still spend a $100k on a shirt that will be out of style in 2 months and will be torn to shreds in a year. End stage capitalism eventually hits everyone. The rich just have enough money to ride it out.

[@Wurmze]

That’s how it used to be. Now everyone suffers and the rich are just less affected by having to replace the things than the poor

[@PepeSlake]

Great rant as always, Vera! Capitalism is getting worse everyday so I think it's important to share these kinds of messages. More people need to understand how we're all being taken advantage of as users/clients of all kinds of services and hopefully that'll help us figure out a way out of this rotten system. Again, great video and thanks so much for your awesome content :)

[@wrensview171]

Absolutely all of this (and now I need to rewatch that smn episode). My biggest annoyance lately has been with the quality degradation of clothes, but absolutely the streaming services keep getting more expensive every time I blink. I've started trying to build up my dvd collection again for anything I tend to rewatch

[@jeffharris7668]

Great work, especially calling on the Maytag man as a historical note. But it's left me in a bit of a quandary: I both want to watch the Dr. Who episode "Oxygen", because that's what I'm thinking of, and I don't want to watch that episode because it hits too close to home right now.

[@davidson8939]

watch blink afterward in a dark room. have a coat stand with a large coat or two on it in the shadows nearby. it will distract you just a little especially if you can get someone to cosplay appropriately that evening.

[@otakubullfrog1665]

The solution is for all the customers to abandon ship as soon as the corporations alter the deal and it's clear that no amount of prayers will prevent them from altering it any further, but people seem to be terrible at this when it comes to entertainment. Plenty of people are mad at streaming services or video game publishers, but not mad enough to miss out on the show their coworkers are discussing at the watercooler or the game that all their friends are playing.

[@kaworunagisa4009]

What pisses me off most is that the companies use the same model for consumables. For example, in the going on 8 years I've been feeding my cats Champion Petfoods' kibble, they've updated their contents at least 3 times, and definitely not for the better. The packs got smaller, too. How much growth do they want if they have to sh*ttify a super popular consumable sold pretty much all over the world?

[@HonoredMule]

Planned obsolescence is really a different thing altogether. Enshitification is just slang for market capture with a focus on the last, most _blatantly_ anti-consumer stage.

[@skytl3431]

As a 16-year veteran of the game industry, I can say some of the game industry stuff is spot-on, but some, in my experience seems off. A lot of the stagnation in gameplay concepts is more due to companies needing to reuse concepts they know will work - because failing to succeed can essentially bankrupt a studio. Also, when you get into actual design theory, creating new mechanics that actually work, and are fun, is a lot more time-consuming and difficult than you might think. Some games actually start with an interesting idea for a new mechanic, then problems force the design to change, then new problems force more change- and next thing you know, your cool new mechanic has morphed into something very much like other games' mechanics, because that's pretty much the only way it can work effectively. 🤨

[@Parker8752]

That's all fair, but the stagnation is also why I haven't bought a AAA game in over 5 years (assuming one can consider the Warcraft 3 remaster AAA; if not, make it 10). Budgets seem, from an outside perspective, to have swollen to the point where even a successful game might see a studio closed because the publisher that owns them didn't make enough more profit than the year before - and most of the swelling appears to have come from the marketing budget.

[@barbararibeiro6426]

But it's important to mention that AAA games are exploiting their workers more and more only to only lay them off at the end of the project. (You have already made a whole video about it, it just fits so well against the argument of "things cost more now")

[@xilj4002]

I'm old enough to remember the entertainment genome projects. Huge databases of movies, songs, books, games, indexed and sorted by user submitted data for 5-10 years, the best recommendations I've seen in my life. Then one day we tried to log in and found something like a "we sold it all to Amazon, but you can pay corporate money to access it" message. And the corporations who payed heavy bucks made it worse so it recommends profitable stuff. We cant have nice things.

[@memyselfiamweird]

For me personally, as a non-car-haver, I've been seeing more annoyance with the subscription model in the digital areas, like Microsoft, Adobe (!!!) and other subscriptions like the Nintendo Online, being necessary for certain games. Anywhere that you used to pay a single license that has now changed to a monthly cost is (literally) incredibly draining. En-shittification indeed.

[@Stephen-Fox]

The one asterisk I'd add to this is that 'growth over profit' is a thing that comes from being publicly floated more than size. And, yes, the larger the company the more likely it is to be publicly floated, but there are some oddball exceptions out there. But other than that, absolutely. Fully agree with... The bulk of what you said, it's a long video, it's unlikely there's literally nothing else in there that I disagree with. (Though I will just add my usual 'I want shorter games with worse graphics made by people being paid more and I'm not joking' _thing_ - 150 hours of gameplay with bland but realistic art made by a developers who were crunching is not a selling point for me. A 10 hour indie game being made by three people in a heavily stylized art style that's not doing anything technically sophisticated? Is.)

[@intersexcryptid]

I so 800% agree on the video game thing. I don't really play a lot of modern games that aren't indie for this reason.

[@witherschat]

I can always enjoy myself some nice improved graphics, but it is never the main selling point (unless the visual art is a big part of the story). I'm not against triple A games existing. Heck, some of them are actually worth the price. But a lot of them aren't. Then, to be fair, I almost never buy new installments of the same franchise without actual gameplay innovations (which is why I like how 3d mario games are handled. They don't feel like "the exact same thing but slightly better"). And shorter indie games are also amazing (I think about Undertale more often than I think about most triple A games, for an example). TL:DR What I want from games is quality, and if in a series actual substantial improvement from previous installments.

[@soniashapiro4827]

Weird how something so elemental and obvious isn't so easy to see or say. Eloquent. Thank you

[@Elwaves2925]

Excellent video and I agree with everything you said. One minor point though, as you made me laugh when you said "Yeah, that's how old I am" with reference to game cartridges. Here's me, with games coming on cassette tape and they ranged from 99p to £15....and this was for big releases. You 'younglings' have no idea. 😁

[@Carabas72]

Games on cartridges predate games on cassettes by a fair amount of time. The Atari 2600 generation exists.

[@Elwaves2925]

@@Carabas72 Yes they do predate cassette but my comment wasn't about which came first. It also doesn't apply to the ones Vera is taking about, which were post the cassette years. My comment was about them classing themselves an 'old' gamer, nothing more. 🙂

[@samleheny1429]

The more I look into how phenomenons like blitzscaling, enshitification, increased consolidation, and increased worker exploitation, the mroe it all seems to convergea one legendarily bad policy adoption in the form of the Chicago School of Economics. It just keeps coming back to them and their unpsidedown land interpretation of antitrust law that we've been stuck with for four decades.

[@annaglover2470]

Awesome dump!!! Let's get rid of the idea of money, let people do the kind of work they want to do, let everyone share in what they want to get, and those who don't have a particular calling, let them explore and come to their talents eventually. I never knew I'd end up being a technical editor! I studied marketing, worked in business for a couple years after college, and got out as fast as I could! I discovered that the exploitation and manipulation was not my cup of tea... at all! and I went into the public sector so I could feel like I made a difference (and, yeah, there was no way I was joining the armed services....I would spend my entire career in a brig, at least that's what a couple friends who were officers in the military told me, and they knew me all too well! lol). People will eventually find themselves and their callings or at least what makes them get up in the morning, and with a system like that, if you're not constantly worrying about putting food on the table and a roof over your head, you can always switch jobs and try something entirely different. Ah...if only. I know, pipe dreams and all that.

[@fourcatsandagarden]

these days when people ask me if I'm a communist/socialist/whatever, I tell them 'no, I'm a Trekkie' because Star Trek's economy is my goal. No money, everyone gets housing and food and healthcare, and the freedom to truly pursue their passions.

[@davidson8939]

that is called communism. to date this has only been successful at small scales. (co-ops and something Hebrew that i can barely pronounce much less spell). given the greed and desire for power at the heart of human nature we probably need to try the Posadist technique.

[@gamewrit0058]

Communism is only one flavor of socialism - there are various philosophies around how to structure a communist community - and greed isn't human nature: Cooperative projects and communities are scattered or exterminated by the owning class, both by economic pressures and deadly physical force. If you'd like more references, I suggest looking up c*p city and any of these breadtubers and their inclusive contemporaries (along with their reading lists and community organization efforts): F The Algorithm, Andrewism, Philosophy Tube, Jessie Gender, Mainley Mandy, Ponderful, The Fat Culture Critic, JohntheDuncan, Jim Sterling (Stephanie), Renegade Cut, F.D Signifier, Khadija Mbowe, Olurinarri, AnRel, Alice Chappelle, Aranock, Caelan Conrad, Chill Goblin, CJ The X, Colormind, Dr. Fatima, Leslie Exp, Tirrrb, Tee Noir, Hoots, Innuendo Studios (especially the series "The Alt-Right Playbook" and the vid "You Go High, We Go Low"), Knowing Better, LegalKimchi, Zoe Bee, Shaun, Sophie from Mars, Swolesome, BABILA., The Leftist Cooks, Thought Slime, Tom Nicholas, Brigitte Empire, Atom Fellows, Vivian Strange, and We're in Hell, just to name a few creators and communities engaging with these discussions here on yt. Enjoy!

[@iriskrane2433]

“You buy it (a DVD) they only sell you it once” Allow me to introduce you to the Disney Diamond collection, your favorites remastered for a new generation. Get rid of your old copy of Disney’s Dumbo, the limited edition Diamond collection edition is the best way to watch it. You don’t want the kids to experience last year’s version do you? Seriously they’ve been doing this for forever.

[@quink4334]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, this video gets a big ole "Yup" from me. I dont have the answer either, but my politics lean towards co-ops, sailing the high seas when i dont want to support the big corpos, and encouraging smaller creators, mutual aid, right to repair, stuff like that. As rubbish as all these capitalist shenanigans are we can do better, and we will get around it as a community. I always appreciate the parting message at the end of every video so I will leave one for everyone in return; "Hope is a radical act. It will be okay, but it will be different. A new world is waiting to be born from the ashes of the old one".

[@DesOkun]

My family and I noticed this when I was a kid/teen and have been seeing it get worse over the years. I am now in my mid-40s and must say that I saw this, and many of the current issues, coming for many, many years. The pandemic only exacerbated the problem and we may never fully recover from that setback and change to the way things work. Inflation and supply/demand are not the driving force behind "profit" as much as the greed of the top management and investors/shareholders in any business. Thank you for this vid.

[@EmmaCosgrove123]

Came for a council of Geeks video, left with the refreshed knowledge of the Horse armor DLC 😭😂

[@SplotchTheCatThing]

Had a discussion the other day about the right to repair which ties into a lot of these ideas -- and especially what you're talking about with your car. One thing I hadn't known is that companies will take advantage of copyright law to prevent you from repairing your own appliances and, probably, vehicles -- the reason why a lot of ovens or washing machines play little musical jingles is so that you can't have someone take it apart without, technically, tampering with that copyrighted work. On a larger scale I've heard problems with one's own ability to repair equipment has really been causing problems for people in agriculture, because if a tractor or a harvester breaks down miles away from the nearest corporate nerve-center they can lose a lot of harvest having to wait a day for a repair-person licensed from the manufacturer, even it's a problem that they should have been able to fix themselves with a little WD-40 and duct tape. It's also been causing some real issues in health care where manufacturers are refusing to repair devices that should still work, and no-one else can do it. On the other fork of the tail I must have found a very good dealer for my car repairs because I've taken it in for repair a good few times now and they've never tried to up-sell.

[@jamesstewart7736]

Here's a radical thought. We could all cancel our subscriptions and hit them where it hurts but we won't. We are hard wired to accept gradual degradation of something and just pay for it in autopilot.🤷🏻‍♂️

[@jasonthayer1309]

And no, right-wingers, this has nothing to do with any company “going woke”. 😜

[@Loxalair]

I've worked grocery for a number of years and this is something I've come across a lot. It's called "shrinkflation" there though, where you're paying the same price, but there's less food. One that particularly bothered me was when a large soup brand changed their can size, so there was a full ounce less of soup. Same price as the larger cans. And then a month later, that price went up. So you're getting a shittier experience (less soup) for now more money. It's been a few years and that soup can hasn't gone back up, and the price hasn't gone down

[@jaceladag]

Infinite growth is the philosophy of the cancer cell.

[@roberts.2300]

There is no infinite growth in the end the company cannibalizes itself till it becomes no more (or a shell of what it used to be). It's the golden parachute for the one person while everyone else dies in a fiery plane crash. That one person goes to the next company to start again. Almost like a serial criminal if you will.

[@Inachis]

I think that the only thing I can add is that things aren't quite as bad here in Europe. Sure especially with large international companies we're in the same swamp but at least on the surface the local companies are better. I'm not saying that the same symptoms aren't noticeable here too. But with more goverment oversight and smaller markets the progress towards enshitification is slower here at least. With the slow but noticeable change in how some of the younger people do business, maybe that will lead to a better outcome in the future.

[@buffyslyth1517]

Its resonating with me a lot with our situation in the UK.

[@trapsaltnburn]

To be honest? This was kind of depressing. Especially working for a big box retail chain during the holidays. BUT! I also appreciate you making this video. It was reassuring to hear all this from an outside source, that things I've seen and noticed are in fact there. So thank you, thank you, thank you for making this video.

[@quinnsinclair7028]

My father bought me an Ipod when I was seven years old. It worked till I was 16 and I only replaced it because a connection came loose causing the light up function of the screen to stop working. The next Ipod I bought, same model just modern, lasted six months.

[@Yan_Alkovic]

Your unfiltered brain is very logical and reasonable, Vera, don't you worry!

[@icebergthedragon]

I’m so sick of subscription models like do companies think most people can afford to have like 10 different subscriptions? I guess not, that’s not the point. $18 a month to heat car seats. Ridiculous gouging, it should really not surprise me any more.

[@eatatjoes6751]

Hulu’s whole ad campaign when they were free was hilarious.

[@quinnsmusings]

Okay but what if we measured a good economy by it's sustainability rather than growth? Is that even possible? I don't know enough about economics to be able to tell. A sorta corporate (Irish/UK/European idea of the local Co-Op) Co-op style economy? again is that even possible?

[@CouncilofGeeks]

Possible in theory? Sure. Possible to implement when the whole world has bought into the system as it currently is? I don't know.

[@quinnsmusings]

I mean based on your video it would have to be done at the investor level

[@witherschat]

Not only would the system work, it would also work MUCH better. Now, the tricky part is to implement it from what we have now.

[@EmeralBookwise]

Not a Maytag, but my parents bought their first microwave in the 80s, and not only does it still work 40 years later, it's never even needed repairs. My sister has owned three different Microwaves since moving out, none of which has lasted longer than five years.

[@hatchetfieldharpie3276]

Corporations sure love giving people reasons to pirate

[@CouncilofGeeks]

"You can't steal from a corporation. It's called reclamation." ~ Stephanie Sterling

[@tinah7112]

I love so much that I have found your channel. You really speak about all the stuff that rumbles around in my brain as well. And honestly - just hearing you talk about these things soothes my anxiety. Thank you so much ❤

[@davidson8939]

a point. a small point, true. but some years ago there was a push to allow shareholder (investors) to vote down CEO (executive) pay packages. after some money changed hands and op eds were written it was made an advisory vote. so when the shareholders vote down a pay package its 'embarrassing'. so even the shareholders are marks. the companies are run for the benefit of the executives. the shareholders are the scapegoats.

[@CouncilofGeeks]

It's a reciprocal relationship. High stock performance is what allows CEOs to bank obscene bonuses, and the actions of those CEOs frequently drive up the stock for the benefit of investors (even as the actual business might be getting run into the ground, since strong business fundamentals and stock price are completely detached concepts at this point.).

[@quinnsinclair7028]

Incidentally, large companies that try to not do this type of thing get killed by the companies that do because they don't want people to see what a sustainable model looks like.

[@tobrinajolly3714]

49:40 It’s always easy to listen to you! I just had my phone near and watched while I prepared dinner.

[@jasonthayer1309]

Yeah, I remember when Hulu was free. I watched SO MUCH anime in those days because I didn’t like Crunchy Roll’s player.

[@TheDopekitty]

My sister's been having a lot of issues with her major home appliances and I was reminiscing about the maytag man..

[@buffyslyth1517]

I have a good disposable income but I've always refused to buy anything that is overpriced on principle. I will pay the value of the product. I v'e really noticed over the past few years that the amount of 'you get what you pay for' products has declined and now it's all limited edition, 'be grateful-you've got it' products.

[@chpest16]

I remember my first experience with downloadable content was to get Star Wars characters in our Soul Calibur PlayStation game. And then in a few years or whatever, being so confused when my brother (who was a much bigger gamer than me) talked about essentially having to buy/subscribe to get a fully working form of a game. It drove me bonkers.

[@emris2697]

Infinity train is such a good show 😭the entire fifth season’s script is written and ready it just isn’t animated and produced yet aaaaggghh

[@anibalclericot1173]

Also, the game's graphics increased their realism to manufacture demand for the new generation of consoles/graphic cards/processors. AAA Games are literally the ads for these industries too, thus console wars...

[@lunaskies624]

Brilliant summation. Agree with all of it. Thank you

[@xxeebbk]

Thank you for this video

[@cathyn7640]

I drive a beat-up 21-year-old Rav4 and it just keeps on going. Minor conveniences like the ability to charge my phone have gone by the wayside over they years, but the basic go/stop/air condition me in the summer just keeps on going. I dread when I have to replace it. Never gonna be able to get something that dependable again.

[@TearfulFriend18]

I gotta tell you this video came at a bad time for me. My own company is having some issues along those “growth” needs and it’s looking like my co-workers and I need to possibly prepare for the worst. So yeah, this didn’t do much to help out my anxiety levels, BUT it was a very good video. Well done, it’s great to see you go unfiltered in these matters.

[@OmegaII]

Good news and bad news, you did not depress me... because I already knew this so already depressed. You explained this though, so more goood news?

[@frozenchicken418]

So to follow this to it's logical conclusion, ensh*ttification is the inevitable warning sign that a business with an Enron-esque profit structure (investment growth over business profitability) is reaching it's slowdown point and is being forced to actually function as an actual business rather than a...let's use the word 'empire' (as in, something that is expansionist, consolidates control over its' domain, and values the power of its' position more than its' supposed duties). There's probably a method here of using this fact to pinpoint the boom and bust cycles of businessesand possibly discourage people from following this growth-focused profit-model...but I can't help feeling that actually trying to do so incautiously just invites the professional denizens of the capitalist hellscape to take the wrong lesson away and start trying to figure out how to make a profit off ensh*ittification.

[@quinnsinclair7028]

Smash Bros Ultimate's major selling point was them bringing back all the stages and characters they'd left out of previous installments.

[@Summer_Lilac]

A part of me does wonder if a company could come onto the scene and make things not only repairable but built to last and market that as such. Because right now I am so tired of things breaking. I'm trying to make my own things now. I've knit and crochet things that have lasted for nearly a decade. I want to be able to fix things when they break because I hate e-waste. So a company coming in to disrupt things would be nice, and sure it might be more expensive but you lean on the reliability of it to sell. and once you hit saturation you pivot. sell replacement parts after a while.

[@rochelebierhalspereira7106]

thanks, I feel so seen, have been saying this for ages

[@josgibbons6777]

Given that you attribute these problems to growth being more profitable to investors than dividends, the solution could be taxing the former (e.g. through taxes on share sales that are sometimes sdvocated to stabilize financial markets), possibly in a revenue-neutral way to subsidize the latter.

[@SimberPlays]

Great analysis of the problem

[@gamewrit0058]

Well said, Vera! 👏👏👏👏👏❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤💗💙💖

[@forhelghan]

Great video man.

[@knitcrochettiger361]

30 seconds in.....oh lord, Vera, that PLUS scares me...what is it?

[@bowtiesrcoolmonksrnot3272]

Totally off topic but my brain is weird too. The way I generally relate to the world is some version of ‘that happened in Doctor Who!’

[@Brunoxsa]

Thank you for the video, Vera! The final objective of capitalism: corporations will be eternal landlords, while regular people will pay for everything multiple times and they will love do it. What really pisses off about the current dystopian state of capitalism is how the "Piracy, It's a Crime" parody meme has become even more close to reality and justifiable: "You wouldn't download a car" "F*ck You / I would if I could". I understand people making the argument for physical media in order to retain true ownership of products, however, with everything migrating or becoming only available digitally, it is just a short-time palliative measure at best. That is why when I hear about people going for pirating stuff, except for small creators, I do not feel sorry at all for the corporations. Even if some people will use the arguments of "you just not want pay for stuff" or "you are literally stealing", so what? Did these defenders really believe that any corporation will close down their doors because of piracy making they lost some millions at the worst case scenario? And regardless piracy becoming a real problem for these corporations, they will still keep making these services/products worse and double down on the exploitation, both at the consumers' side as their workers' side, anyway. Nothing in capitalism supposed to be reasonable or negotiable. That is the entire point of it. Partially quoting Jim Stephanie Sterling: "It's morally okay to pirate" any corporations' products.

[@sarahwithanhyouheathen3210]

I shudder to think what my next car will be like. I drive a 2000 corolla. This car has 200,000 plus miles on it and I've hit 3 deer in it. Barely any bells and whistles. It has a tape deck, for christ's sake. I take care of it and it still runs great. I'm gonna drive it til it falls apart.

[@wreckitremy]

Nah the customer isn't a cow. Those get taken care of outside of capitalistic factories. Customers are the golden goose getting slaughtered.

[@danielbillingsley8073]

Ive noticed this kind of thing with the gaming industry in particular. You pay more for a lot less content, and there are hardly any innovative and fun games now compared to the 'classic era'/golden age. Its all about realism, multiplayer and realeasing an unfinished product that can be 'fixed' later. I think the worst example of companies making money was the Marvel Avengers game. They rode off the immense popularity of the name, released a buggy game that only got worse with additional updates, delayed release of 'content' (even using Chadwick Bosemans death as an excuse), charged tonnes of money for cosmetics, and engaged in some very anti-consumer practices. Oh, and if you chose to spend a small fortune on those cosmetics? They became free for EVERYBODY in the end... But it does suck when you realise just how prevalent all of this is in the way the world works.

[@redheadmedia7901]

I know this video is probably about more than just streaming services but that's I want to talk about here so I am. I'd love to have a discussion about it. Because the whole "Pay more, get less" truly defines streaming today. It seems every month we hear of price increases to Netflix, Disney Plus, Max, etc and in the same breath they remove or cancel content that people loved. Especially something like Max which has made it a habit to erase art from their service for tax write off purposes. So not only are we paying more than we ever had for these services, but we're not getting anything in return, in fact we're getting less. Disney Plus is wondering where things went south yet they only release shows for two of their big franchises in Marvel and Star Wars, and even then half those shows don't meet the quality we expect from those franchises. Netflix puts out so many shows, a lot of them being great, but over $20 a month is asking a lot. Eventually all these services are going to implode and begin merging. We're already starting to see the start of it. But what worries me is that when there services do merge, that we'll still be paying more and more. Once Netflix gets to $30 a month, i don't believe the content they provide is worth it anymore. Despite having some of the best shows, especially animation, within the last decade.

[@Bairinde]

People stopped pirating shows because legal streaming services were a more convenient way to watch the shows they wanted to see. Now piracy is increasingly more convenient than legal streaming services...

[@redheadmedia7901]

​@@Bairinde You know it's bad when creators of these shows have to tell you to pirate because you can't buy their shows anywhere anymore. That happened with the cartoons Infinity Train and Over the Garden Wall

[@Gxbbzee]

I was entirely with you until the video game portion - I think using a fighting game as an example probably isn't the best indicator of the gaming industry as a whole - I'd say look at Spider-man or Baldurs Gate, sure, the previous instalments were great, but map size/detail/animation quality/sound design/amount of NPC's at one time etc are all major pulls now and while I can happily go back and play something like Mortal Kombat or Pokemon, newer games are made significantly better with newer hardware. Not having loading screens at all in Spider-man for example is massive for immersion, and you just couldn't do that on the PS4/360. Video games are also just incredibly cheap for how many hours of entertainment you can get from them. I'm honestly surprised they've not shot up in price.

[@magus104]

I would say Netflix is doing with password sharing what Blockbuster did with rentals. Blockbuster ignored the Netflix threat until Netflix eclipsed blockbusters existence. Netflix hasn't tried to enforce the password sharing rule for years and now there are so many other streaming services out there and people like myself who cut the cord to get away from ADs and wanted all out media in one home.... Well now streaming services are fighting over rights to content, each streaming service has its own originals to try and keep audiences. Also Netflix dropping the whole show at once, which some of us love, that means people who only want that one show are hooked in for months while waiting for the weekly episode. And then we need to justify the fee. Am I going to pay for netflix when i mostly watch it on PC where they force 720p on me even if I pay for 4k (see Louis Rossmann) video on "piracy is completely justified" TLDR when you pay a premium for a product and they dont deliver on that product because you arent using their apps.

[@sharonbaker3007]

Cars! Cars in particular are annoying in this respect. We do not need electric locks and windows to live a modern life. Fixing electric controls for these is a challenge, and you’re left with an unlocked car until then. I’m not super skilled with any maintenance, but on my older cars I knew how to change oil, brake pads, spark plugs and wires, but that was all (other than knowing how to top off fluids). Sometimes mechanical is more practical than electrical. Everything else you’ve mentioned about media/games I agree. Marketing folx are hired to extract more and more money from customers for less and less, while convincing us we are getting more, or something novel.

[@stewartwerner3338]

In regard to video games, most video game series continue because they are continuing the storyline. When I get the next Gears of War game every time a new one is released, it's because I want the new story. Yeah the graphics and game play are great and necessary, but I play for story. That's why I want new games in a game series. Sometimes a series doesn't just continue for sake of improved graphics.

[@tkayube]

Some parts of this video led me to re-examine some old comments I've made in the past on KZbin and possibly other places. Specifically, whenever a new piece of video game hardware would come out, and big new games in a series would be released for it, I'd often see people complaining that the new game wasn't available for older hardware as well. (The specific example I saw, though the original comment itself seems to have been lost in the shuffle of some KZbin update that happened in the 10 years since my comment, seems to have been someone wishing that Fire Emblem: Awakening was available on the DS as well as or instead of the 3DS.) And at the time, my attitude was "By that logic, Nintendo should just keep making all their games on NES and Game Boy!" I did understand that not everyone could afford new hardware, but didn't see any sense in a company going out of their way to do that sort of thing on a regular basis. But there is a deeper point behind such complaints, which is that the point at which more powerful hardware increases the possibilities for what a game can actually do, as opposed to just letting it look nicer, is behind us. It's not at the level of the NES of course, but honestly, looking back on it... there probably could have been a version of Awakening on DS that did the job fine. Also, it is pretty cool when indie developers *do* make games for old hardware and also make them available on modern platforms as well, though that's not really the same thing.

[@rootyful]

Streaming services have been going downhill, this is known. I've actually started buying more dvds and such again, for this very reason. If I want to watch a movie, and likely want to watch it again, I want it to be in a form I can access easily. It sucks how many decent shows and such are just wiped off the digital space. And are they getting an alternate physical release?? Bet not. In a similar vein of Capitalism Sucks: Hasbo just laid off 1,100 employees 2 weeks before christmas. Likely to make these numbers look better, or like, less bad? What's even more baffling though is that even daughter company WotC had to lay off a bunch of people. I assume got told by Big Brother Hasbro that they have to reduce this and that many positions. They fired art directors, community managers, analytics and engineers. WotC is one of their most profitable department, with MtG and DnD going strong (though WotC themselves are wrapped up in lots of controversal business decisions by their upper league), and Hasbro just gutted it anyway?? Because short term numbers are more important than long term steadiness I guess.

[@that_morrigan6184]

Another fantastic car company example is how they'll now connect to your phone and take as much of your info as they can (giving you access to phone calls and your music in the process) to sell. They're not just charging you subs for the seat warming, they're also selling *you*

[@unclegumbald989]

03:45 I dunno if you meant to time the ad that way, but the ad played the NANOSECOND before you said **The Word** 😂😂😂 If you meant to do it: nice touch! Lmao

[@CouncilofGeeks]

Actually, KZbin auto-placed that one.

[@Parker8752]

Wait, hulu isn't free any more? I don't think we ever got access to it here in the UK, but when I used it with a vpn maybe 10 years ago or so it was just free with ads, or you paid to not have ads.

[@quinnsinclair7028]

The subsidaries of a company that actually are profitable and are growing are often the ones that get punished for losses in other subsidaries. The layoff at Wizards of the Coast didnt happen because WotC fucked up. It's because Hasbro's other companies weren't doing so they made up the difference by laying off folks at the company that was succeeding. So even growth doesn't get rewarded.

[@ThAlEdison]

Nintendo mostly resists micro transactions in its mainline games. DLC, but take Pokémon: to get the DLC in generation 2 you had to buy the Crystal Version, a new copy of the game you already had. Now Nintendo will shamelessly restrict access to games and make you buy the same game over and over across the years. And they love micro transactions in their side games.

[@tblackthorne]

i love your lipstick

[@userasdf]

For games, inflation is a thing too. But yeah. Lots of predatory nature in games. Stuff like sports games are definitely cash grabs with just new team members and stats every year with no real change otherwise.

[@sephirothii13]

what is prescient is that Hasbro just fired 1100 workers from WotC (which has a 40% growth year to year) because Hasbro's toy lines as shit the bed. With WotC like M:tG, Pokemon, and them getting D&D Beyond which started growing again, even after the first of the year Hasbro trying to force WotC to change the OLG and that blowing up in their face. Because the toy line lost money they took it out on WotC because the fans of D&D went to pitchforks and torches earlier this year, and they couldn't milk the fans and creators out of more money decide, instead of doing what Nintendo did when they lost money and have the CEO take a pay cut to a) keep the workers and b) show that the mistakes stop with the leader of the company, decided that two weeks before Christmas fire 1100 workers. maybe we should start eating the rich (not really though a friend of mind says if the masses did it to one or two of the billionaires maybe they would change their tunes, I am not in favor of that. also have you seen some of them. They don't look healthy enough for that)

[@KidarWolf]

The problem with eating the rich is they can afford botox. I don't fancy getting botulism.

[@barbararibeiro6426]

I guess you did mention games not being accessible unless you have the ultra expensive new console, right? It's not like they couldlower the quality like they do for when you want to lower the graphics.... oh wait

[@barbararibeiro6426]

Movie tickets must be super cheap where you're at if subscription is worth more than a single ticket..

[@CouncilofGeeks]

I don’t have any theater chains so it’s small local business and yes it’s cheaper.

[@saphcal]

@@CouncilofGeeks when i lived closer to the border, i remember going to a small theater to see movies in vermont and yeah it was like less than half as expensive as going to the Regal and other theater chains here in NY.

[@jeanetteblankenship6107]

I would pay $100 for a complete game with no bugs and no micro transactions. I would do it every day, all day with a smile on my face…. I used to play a lot of different games. I specifically like RPGs and I play The Sims. There hasn’t been (except Baldur’s Gate) any good games for me to buy and enjoy. So I just don’t buy any. I have disposable income I can hand these companies right now and I am offered buggy, half finished games full of micro transactions, so I don’t buy any. The Sims is awful at this point., Sims 4 sells its consumers about a fourth of the content they used to get when they release an expansion. I’m not giving them my money anymore, the last expansion came with NINE lots and is a buggy mess. Bethesda? Elder Scrolls Skyrim is such a downgrade from Morrowind and Oblivion that I am scared of what ES6 will be. BioWare? There’s Anthem and Andromeda recently. Bloodlines 2 was cancelled, now not cancelled and they will only be releasing four clans at launch and the player character is named and voiced so the RP aspect is basically out. All other clans will be…. Micro transactions. I’m good, I’ll keep my money. It’s the same with streaming services. I used to have almost all of them but over time I have slowly unsubscribed from everything except Amazon (mainly for Prime) and Max which is included in my cell phone bill every month. I have disposable income I just don’t want to give it to companies that pull this kinda stuff. Yes I can play indie games and I can pirate all media I want but I don’t want to do that. I want value for the money I spend. I would rather things be more expensive and better quality than what I am offered now. I would say it’s sad but I just figure I’ve aged out of being a meaningful demographic at this point. They don’t want my subscription, they don’t want me to buy their games. And cars, ugh. I hate the whole computers in them thing

[@CirianAlani]

You were a NES / SNES kid? I was a SEGA kid, back in the day. Are we enemies now?

[@KidarWolf]

Hi fellow Sega kid!

[@quinnsinclair7028]

Nintendo consoles very literally could survive a bomb being dropped on them back in the 90s. Now, you drop them from a foot in the air and they shatter.

[@maldaror7097]

This is not a mutation, increasing profit and reducing margins is how it works, it's unsustainable.

[@panduh_go_crazy-.-9957]

When did humanity forget how to settle down and be happy? What’s wrong with an End Goal? These corporate leaders are never satisfied with the amount of money they make

[@userasdf]

The higher ups wanted more for a long time. They were just kings and queens and warlords. Now they’re ceos and investors.