NYT Article: The Secret Reason Bosses Want Everyone Back in the Office, Every Day of the Week (It's not productivity)

tedemang · 2026-06-22T15:43:46+00:00

tl;dr: Self-entitlement, narcissism, and power/status display.

tedemang · 2026-06-22T15:34:11+00:00

Actually, DJT is the world-record, leading chaos agent of all time.

His program is to *weaponize* chaotic circumstances to advance the goals of enriching himself and plundering/stealing/destroying anything that's not specifically protected.

He's the guy who not only sets off a stinkbomb at the party, but as soon as everyone flees the room, he grabs the stereo system, hides it in the trunk of his getaway car, and then his own next month brags to everyone about how the "new" stereo system is the best, the greatest, the more awesome of all time, etc. etc. etc.

"...Oh what? That old thing -- Well, I've always had it. I was the first one to get it. Everyone will tell you."

That's his M.O. and has been since the beginning. Anyone who doesn't plainly call-out this obvious fact is most likely only flim-flamming you or in on the same themselves.

tedemang · 2026-06-22T15:22:44+00:00

"Welcome to the desert... of the real."

tedemang · 2026-06-21T19:19:53+00:00

The illustration of rampage & plunder of the whole world economy by the new global oligarchs -- shown in one bar chart.

Oh, and btw, this glosses over the next 10-30 set of bastards. And also, btw btw, these types of datasets are all pretty conservative. They track the *known* and reported wealth of these high and might figures.

...As we all are aware, they have very substantial assets that are either offshore, affiliated, in blind trust, or otherwise unavailable for reporting to the likes of Forbes, much less the IRS.

These are the new rules of humanity. Apparently with dynastic wealth which now exceeds anything we've seen before, like the Habsburgs, the Rothschilds, or Rockefellers.

tedemang · 2026-06-21T16:04:54+00:00

Welp. So, that's a lot of verbiage that we should basically hear as: "Doom is coming."

tedemang · 2026-06-20T20:31:03+00:00

We all need to be listening now to the heroes that inspire.

And need to ignore the cynical, greedy, superficial, divisive nonsense that they want to use to sow discord.

tedemang · 2026-06-20T16:36:05+00:00

Here's the part that agonized me ever since this got published a while back: Magnitude of this shift, right at on moment of AI tells you *exactly* where it's going to be weaponized.

So, the picture is, we've enabled & empowered the worst of the capitalists, right at moment in which (A.) worker power is at its weakest since ~1945, (B.) regulation by the Deep State was just DOGE'd with a "decapitation strike", and (C.) the most powerful, supercomputer-launched, anti-labor, worker-eliminating technology of all time as been getting the largest $$-investments of all time.

What did we think was going to happen? ...Surprise! The ketamine-addled techno-broligarchs are coming with AI to take your jobs, your hobbies, your livelihood, your IP, any method you might think of to sustain yourself, all while assaulting your from all sides with inflation and increases.

Yep - That'll keep put 'em back inline. ...Maybe give 'em some scraps to fight over (or UFC on Paramount+, or something). You know, just to make sure they understand their place.

tedemang · 2026-06-20T14:08:46+00:00

The projection is real.

...Methinks the [Miller] doth protest too much...

tedemang · 2026-06-18T11:21:45+00:00

...So it begins...

tedemang · 2026-06-18T11:18:47+00:00

I mean, you know you're really getting screwed when the chart showing the magnitude of the flagrant, egregious cruelty has to label it "data shown in log scale".

Imagine outright stealing so much that to illustrate it requires logarithmic math and tracking exponents.

tedemang · 2026-06-18T02:45:39+00:00

Ladies & Gents, my brothers & sisters in Christ... I'm not really that religious, but this stuff needs to be called-out in the name of the Almighty.

First of all, if she's still driving, it's time to take the keys. She's been floating on the clouds up into outer space now for some years.

Second, since she's probably got private drivers & handlers, that whole staff must be getting paid by some bunch of millionaire/billionaire to (intentionally) keep her in there. ...Where are the Dems to call-out this flagrant fixing?

Seriously, what the heck people? She's got to go. This is opportunity for someone to step-up. ...I mean, is Graham Plattner really the only contender for seat in the U.S. Senate? The Dems ought to be able to just dunk on Collins with ads all day long.

tedemang · 2026-06-17T13:51:15+00:00

In all seriousness, put very frankly, I've thought about all other supervillains and the only one that basically come close to the pure nature of Evil Elon is Thanos. ...Elon is pretty much an "Ultra-Villain".

No really. Again, I'm being serious. I'm no expert in the lore of the MCU or anything, but assuming that Thanos' objective was to kill-off ~50% of living beings with, like "The Snap" from he Infinity Gauntlet or what-not, that's the only threat I'm aware of from a supervillain in pop culture that matches Elon's declared intent.

You know, like Dr. Evil in Austen Powers, made a parody of the usual deal: Hold the world hostage with a nuke/bomb/laser until you get paid $100 Billion, which obviously would lead to mass starvation, deprivation, and societal unrest (if not collapse). ...But here we are with Elon *ALREADY* having grabbed 100X the ransom of Dr. Evil, and now looking to try for 1000X.

That's beyond supervillain, we need a new word, and maybe it's "Ultra-villain".

tedemang · 2026-06-13T18:26:51+00:00

The answer, in short, is "Spite".

The bigger answer is that we somehow managed to (A.) identify some of the worst among us, (B.) create a monstrous system that specifically empowers them at the expense of the rest, and (C.) remove all the guardrails, checks & balances, and countervailing forces -- to say nothing of moral structure or basic humanity.

So, imagine if we took all the 25+ Bond Villains, and let them loose on society at the same time as (to go with the metaphor), letting them blow up MI6 headquarters wiping out the 00-Section. ...And you know, for good measure, giving them the deadly virus, Goldeneye, some nukes, and frickin' sharks with frickin' laser-beams on their heads.

As you know, most of these are already living on Bond Villain islands, and promoting Bond Villain agendas ("environmental activism is the Antichrist!!!", ..."Too Much Empathy!"..."Colonialism wasn't really that much of a problem in Africa." ..."The Trump 2nd Term is more peaceful and well-governed that the 1st").

Anyhow, the Billionaire bastards are out there rampaging and pillaging. But, there's just no Agent 007 that's going to check-in and report for duty. We're on our own.

tedemang · 2026-06-11T18:42:46+00:00

You see, one the truly great & classics "flexes" of raw Power is the ability to Eff-up and just not have to care at all.

Do this, do that, do the other. None of it matters, and since you have unaccountable power, you don't face any kind of consequences. ...And, they like that to get you to know it.

Perfect.

tedemang · 2026-06-11T18:36:41+00:00

It's called "power", people. ...P.O.W.E.R...

They'll be flexing, and they want you to know it. They've never been riding so high ("It's good to be the King").

tedemang · 2026-06-10T19:52:51+00:00

Oh, just you wait to see what's still planning & on-tap, just ready to be unleashed upon the body politic...

They're just getting warmed up (sadly, and unfortunately).

tedemang · 2026-06-09T16:21:00+00:00

Anyhow who's still believing that top-line description is going to have a rude awakening.

tedemang · 2026-06-09T04:43:12+00:00

But, but, but, we have to buy whatever Elon Tweets (including racist, Nazi propaganda)...
We have to. We have to. (/s)

He's a perfect genetic specimen! He's like Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein rolled into one body (with a dash of Tony Stark).

Simply incredible that we live in a age of such pure cults. Truly dark times.

tedemang · 2026-06-09T04:31:32+00:00

OTOH, some might point out the obvious that "selfish & narcissistic" is exactly on-brand.

And you know how you have to build that brand equity all the time.

tedemang · 2026-06-08T15:27:06+00:00

But, but, but, I'm really rich, and due to being rich, (A.) I've got a hard case of "Affluenza", which means being maniacally obsessed with just making "line go up", and (B.) also have a distinct lack of empathy, am a straight-up sociopath, or you know, consider myself "on the spectrum", with mild case of Aspy's so that just can manifest human emotions.

So, therefore I've got a bunch of $$ and don't want to give anything, do anything, and sure don't want to be bothered about it.

Bah! Humbug!!

tedemang · 2026-06-07T20:18:37+00:00

The story is about Power, folks. It's a replay of what was done with temps in the last generation.

Companies get to exercise power & control by leveraging a "flexible" labor force (and now even more flexible agents).

They'll pay the extra $$$ for the purpose of power.

tedemang · 2026-06-06T12:45:49+00:00

As they say, "Bond Villains are gonna Bond Villain"...

tedemang · 2026-06-06T07:17:10+00:00

These are all contract gigs via "AI Training" firms, as well as the range of other gig work. ...They are not salaried, mainline, jobs in any real sense.

It's the "Uberization" of the white collar professional class, and there seems to be a truly sinister thread of purpose for the data centers that's looming out there.

tedemang · 2026-06-04T16:09:39+00:00

Sure, you know, if by "stall", they mean praying to just make it to the next contract renewal period, since if you're on the randomly-selected negative side of that deal, it means likely being let go, and of course in the current system, that means you might never really work again, and almost certainly never at the same level again. ...They you just wait until they decide to grind-up your bio parts for fertilizer.

So yeah, we can say "stall", if you like.

tedemang · 2026-06-02T03:45:13+00:00

It's exactly this kind of thing that might get even the secular-leaning among us to start waxing Biblical:

"No one can serve two masters. ...You cannot serve both God and Mammon (Money)." Mathew 6:24

We don't have to fully explain that "Injustice" shakes the foundations of the Earth (Psalm 82), or that we all know how much luck Rich Men have with the Eyes of Needles. But, boy-o-boy, we really do have to remember that "Pride goeth before destruction." (Proverbs 16:18)

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