Yes. The fact that these banks are effectively branches of the federal government shouldn't dissuade us from trying to do better.

"Do better"? Us, and what army? With the possible exception of Sam Altman, none of us has any non-negligible agency in the political realm of any nation, let alone our own.

And it's not just an issue of quantity: we aren't the people who control the mass media and thusly the opinions of the majority.

But you're not allowed to do better in the presence of the state. The regulations essentially dictate the way that you have to do things, which is the way that the banks are currently doing it. And you have very little chance of competing with them at that level.

Hogwash.

We're allowed to involve ourselves in the politics and push to update, modify, and otherwise "improve" the regulations.

There's too much of a "set and forget" mentality when it comes to government.

IMO, that's due to all the fear mongering over governments being bad. People feel obligated to then fight for private corporate power.

These things don't just "happen". They're planned and documented in government record. We often call them laws. They are specifically tilting the playing field.

Get involved and tilt them back.

>"Get involved and tilt them back."

Kind of easy to say when you're part of a majority. I'm part of an actually-oppressed-by-law minority. By virtue of Democracy, my minority's say has very little effect unless it's shared by the majority.

>"We're allowed to involve ourselves in the politics and push to update, modify, and otherwise "improve" the regulations."

It's always a game of compromise based on who has more numbers. Until such a time as arbitrarily small groups can self-aggregate within an area and split-off from a larger governing entity, it'll never be any better for minorities.

We're both part of the exploited majority. I'm not sitting on fuck you money. I grew up in a trailer on gov cheese, eating spam, being told I'm a mooch for not being born rich.

I'm 1/4 native american, though I look white. I knew my 100% native american relatives. I heard the stories, passed down. I literally smashed some racist a-hole in the face while hassling my obviously native american grandmother, among numerous other encounters. I mean it's easy to say you know what I am, and not have a clue.

Don't stand up to the machine itself then. Stand up to your family, friends, and neighbors. Challenge them to find ways to get off these services and avoid mindless consumption.

I've been helping people setup Raspberry Pi's with Syncthing to share their private files (mostly pictures). Fuck Facebook and Snap. Undermine them.

I am seriously weirded out by the tech scene, with all these smart folks that mindlessly go work for these companies rather than using their knowledge to simply help their neighbors solve problems. Narcissists and sycophants the lot of them.

Our time and effort are the means of production. Point them at alternative solutions. It's actually easier than you think

Yeah, this is somewhat heretical but I feel like democracy works best with monoculture, not the pluralist society that we have. Which is sad, in a way, but it seems like maybe the US is just too big, maybe we should embrace federalism and shift more and more power to the states. That way Kansas can go full Somalia and California can become a Nordic satellite state. Maybe everyone would be happier? Seriously.

Homophily

And just how involved have we been able to get? They've proposed and passed laws with objection before even they know what is written. Many laws are effectively written by industries which they will benefit and then passed to benefit the politicians. When foul play is called out, someone unaccountable falls on their sword while the regulation that benefits cronies and stifles competition remains on the books until "the most powerful" comes along to influence change. In none of these steps are the average citizen involved. Did the average citizen vote to have laws the effectively regulate away business and consolidate power in all industries to a few companies that are in bed with the government? If so what good is empowerment when you're part of the issues.

Is it? I feel there are other things to strive for that are more important than if we have a "free enough market" or not.

Perhaps, but you'd be surprised at the number of issues that would be solved by every market being "free enough". Of course, by "every market" I must also include the market on aggression, wherein government is, by definition, a (localized) monopoly.

Why?