Tootfinder

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People who are not anti-capitalist sometimes wonder: "Why is there a monopoly on X life-critical thing?" (E.g., epipens, insulin, web search).
This one is really simple actually: because monopolies are more profitable than competition, and the foundation of capitalism is that capital = power.
Various societies have recognized the necropolitical outcomes of monopolies and have tried to erect barriers to monopoly; we all know that monopolies are bad, death-and-suffering-causing things. But since these societies mostly remain capitalist, they allow these barriers to be eroded by the power of capital (to do otherwise would be to repudiate capitalism because it puts a limit on the power of money). The barriers are ineffective, and the capital = power equation holds, and monopolies result and get to do their killing & maiming thing (remember: even things like social media monopolies that you wouldn't expect to pay for political assassinations like a mining company still profit from inciting genocides). *Sometimes* there are oligopolies instead of monopolies, but instances of really competitive markets are pretty rare for things that are widely sought-after.
The "government will manage the markets to prevent bad outcomes like monopolies" strategy has failed repeatedly, spectacularly, and almost universally. To actually prevent monopolies you need a population that no longer believes that money should equal power, it's that simple. Sadly, it's actually not that simple, since all of the alternatives which equate something else to power, like "the king" or "party loyalty as judged by the supreme leader" have the same problems or worse. The attitude you need to cultivate is "nobody should have power," which is hard because *all* of the power-systems we have constantly propagandize against this attitude in myriad ways. Still, in the future once we've broken free of this age where hierarchy is accepted, people will look back and wonder whether the historical records are even credible given how much needless death and suffering were endured with little resistance.
#anarchy #capitalism

Financial capitulation: Why the ruble collapsed and China controls Russia’s banks: https://benborges.xyz/2026/01/18/financial-capitulation-why-the-ruble.html

Endra, whose AI tools automate mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design for commercial buildings, raised a $20M seed led by Notion (Jeremy Kahn/Fortune)
https://fortune.com/2025/12/18/endra-ai-startup-automating-mep-design…

Exclusive: Swedish startup automating mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design for commercial buildings raises $20 million in seed round
Notion Capital is leading the seed round for Endra, which says reduces the time to design buildings' electrical systems from months to hours.

Pardoned Capitol rioter tried to bribe child sex victim with promise of Jan. 6 payout, officials say (NBC News)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pardoned-capitol-rioter-tried-bribe-child-sex-victim-promise-jan-6-pay-rcna244627
http://www.memeorandum.com/251118/p155#a251118p155

Just me and my trusty phone going up against Western imperialism and its trillion-dollar propaganda machine.
#Anarchism #Capitalism #Fediverse

The EU is considering a two-step EU membership for Ukraine.
The first step/level would allow Ukraine to gain access to the EU market, subsidies, and development funds.
Not everyone is keen on the idea though:
https://unn.ua/en/news/eu-de…

EU is developing a new two-tier system to accelerate Ukraine's accession, but the plan frightens European capitals - FT
Brussels is considering a revision of the EU accession system, proposing a two-tier model that could accelerate Ukraine's entry. This plan raises concerns among some member states about its implications for the Union.

We desperately need to figure out how to flip this: how to lift up the creators of wonderful things, instead of rewarding whoever can acquire power over their creations.
I don’t think we know how to do this. There’s a vast spectrum of schemes for fixing this, ranging from capitalist versions of “intellectual property” to Marxist “just end capitalism” notions to various versions of “easy, society should just be different.” I find them all lacking, both in theory and in practice. This is a problem that’s existed for millennia, not decades, and I’m not convinced we have a clear solution.
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Adaptive Security, which uses AI to simulate social engineering attacks and help companies prevent them, raised an $81M Series B led by Bain Capital Ventures (Chris Metinko/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/pro/enterprise-software-d…

Exclusive: Adaptive Security raises $81M to stop social-engineered attacks
Bain Capital Ventures led the Series B round.

Paris-based Upciti, which offers city operations software and hardware to over 150 municipalities in 17 countries, raised a $20M Series A led by Notion Capital (Tamara Djurickovic/Tech.eu)
https://tech.eu/2025/10/16/upciti-closes-20m-to-dr…

UPCITI closes $20M to drive global growth of its urban operating platform
UPCITI, a Paris-based company building an operating system for cities, has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Notion Capital, with participation from Point Nine and Chalfen Ventures.UPCITI combines proprietary software with purpose-built hardware to help municipalities run critical operations, such as traffic flow, street management, and public safety, more efficiently and securely, with a clear ROI that simplifies adoption. By owning both the software an…