‘No way out’: how video games use tricks from gambling to attract big spenders

"The very uncomfortable truth for Apple and Google: much – 70-75% – of App Store and Play Store revenue comes from exploitative casino games, mostly expertly designed to target the most vulnerable among us, like gambling addicts, children, people with mental issues like depression, and so on.

https://www.osnews.com/story/136433/no-way-out-how-video-games-use-tricks-from-gambling-to-attract-big-spenders/

#predatory #gafam #apple #google #appstore #playstore #gambling #gaming

American Capitalism’s growing Dysfunction is what makes it so Vulnerable to Revolt

#RainerShea

https://rainershea.substack.com/p/american-capitalisms-growing-dysfunction

The aging of the country’s #infrastructure as funds go to #waging-endless-wars, the #selling-of-utilities to #predatory #companies, the #dismantling of #social-services, the #deregulation and #consolidation of the #banks, the #exacerbation-of-inflation by a #proxy-war; they’ve all rendered the #people without the #resources to be able to absorb #emergencies.

#american #capitalism #dysfunction #vulnerable #revolt #profit #ohio #health #safety #labor #corporate #crime #chemicals #train #crash #derailment #fema #era #contaminated #water #pollution #us #environmental #catastrophe

American capitalism’s growing dysfunction is what makes it so vulnerable to revolt

The systemic breakdown that our socioeconomic system is creating has the potential to do more than worsen the suffering of the people. Capitalism has survived so long because it’s been able to exploit the crises it creates, to profit off of wars,...

#meme #studentloans #predatory

Debt as Power

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok1WwG3t19Q

' #Debt is #power. #Extractive power over #people and #planet. #Class #societies ensure that the debts of the extractors are never paid while insisting that the debts of the #exploited are #sacrosanct. In this episode of #LTIO we dissect debt and discuss how to #overthrow its hold over the many.'
#LetsTalkItOver #yanisvaroufakis #frankbarat #astrataylor #jayatighosh #conversation #panel #capitalism #economics #economy #politics #classwar #risk #gdp #abolition #antidemocratic #predatory #finance #neoliberalism #society #diem25

Banks have returned to the pre-2008 world of automatic credit-limit increases for credit cards used by already indebted people

"'Proactive credit line increases' (PCLIs) are when your credit card company increases your credit limit without your asking for it; it was very common prior to the 2008 crisis, but the post-crisis rules largely put a stop to it. Now, banks have figured out regulatory loopholes that allow them to throw PCLIs at their most vulnerable customers, leading to record-high national levels of credit-card debt of $880b as of last September, higher than the pre-crisis high."

"Credit cards are the most profitable loans that the finance industry originates, and 2019 was the best-ever year for the banks' profits from credit cards, with interest rates soaring to a 20-year peak. The US banks made $179b in credit card fees and interest in 2019, and 2020 is projected to be even better. Credit-card debt is the fastest-growing form of debt in the USA."

#finance #banksters #predatory #credit #debt #personalfinance #PCLI

Banks have returned to the pre-2008 world of automatic credit-limit increases for credit cards used by already indebted people | Boing Boing

“Proactive credit line increases” (PCLIs) are when your credit card company increases your credit limit without your asking for it; it was very common prior to the 2008 crisis, but the …