Technology

Agreed, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.

To take it a bit further: this is why the elite echelon of society is full of narcissistic assholes. Normal people feel shame when asking for more than their fair share. All the rich know is "gimmee" and "mine" so they naturally plunder their way to the top through their shamelessness and lack of self reflection and empathy.

Normal folks could get a bit more shameless about demanding our fair cut and a huge chunk of the rich and powerful could stfu and shamefully reflect on everyone they exploited to get to where they are. Actually we could all reflect a little more because even the low middle class American/European lifestyle floats on a pool of blood and exploitation, even though we like to pretend our shit doesn't stink.

We talk about "top-down" economics. How about "bottom-up" instead. Once everyone has free healthcare. Once everyone has food. Once everyone has basic human rights. Then, and only then, does the money trickle up so you can buy a yacht. The incentive to make society succeed is still there, but suddenly there's an incentive to uplift the most vulnerable instead of ignoring, mistreating, or even exterminating them.

How about tax hikes that slow down when quality of life indicators go up. The faster and more comprehensively corporations unfuck their shit, the slower we hike it. Comply or pay.

I know this already a wall of text, but I also want to tie it in with bargaining. Have ya'll ever been to a big street market in a country with shopkeepers who are extremely skilled and shrewd when it comes to bartering? The rich and powerful are the shopkeepers and we're the naive American tourists flooding the market. They're gonna tell you that their kids are gonna starve if they knock $10 off that fake Rolex or that their boss will be angry. They definitely try to make you think that it cost them more than the screaming deal they're giving you. That's not always true, but the narrative is often effective to separate the tourist and their money. We have to be shrewd, we have to be cutthroat, and we have to be willing to walk when companies don't play on our terms.