This is Joel Pett's cartoon for the USA Today on December 13, 2009. It's the highlight of his career, and yet still it hasn't reached the people who need to see it most.
this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2025
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Thanks for adding context
I think about this comic probably once a week at this point. I don't know if anyone will ever be able to boil the problem down any further than what's here — "but what if we make a better world for nothing?"
Unfortunately I have tried to show this to people, or use the line that illustrates it, and the gist of the general response is "my comfort comes before our safety."
Yeah this comic is perfectly accurate, plus the one with the man in the business suit, talking to some children around a campfire in a post-apocalyptic setting, saying “yes the world was destroyed, but for a beautiful moment in time we made a lot of value for it shareholders.”
EDIT - this one:
my comfort comes before our safety.
Then the billionaire says the same and crushes their lives.
"But it's not profitable." -people who wouldn't profit off it anyway, on any issue about socialism.
"Comfort means nothing without safety. "
Or maybe
"you won't stay comfortable long that way."
Very old, still relevant. (Actually, more relevant)
We wouldn't want to make the world better, there isn't anything in it for the shareholders.
Self described most intelligent species.
Maybe the rare few who actually drag this suicidal group-think and cowed species kicking and screaming into the future very seldomly. Yet the masses will take credit for their efforts the same way a billionaire takes credit for what the workers do simply because they own the fruits of their labor.
The shittiest part of this is that they have the most to gain, they're just too godamn stupid to realize it.
They only care about short term growth. They don’t care about if the growth is unsustainable in the long term.
This year’s numbers must be better than last year’s numbers.
We would be so much better off without capitalism and religion.
For sure, we could all be so much more than this though.
It's a godamn shame.
I'm more than sure that climate change will negatively impact the economy.
So I'd just say that there is something for shareholders (not to mention investment opportunities in green technologies), it's just that some people greedy shits who don't think about what happens in future.
Why would you even type this? What does it have to do with the next quarters earnings?
Many such cases
"What if we get rid of cars with a really sick revving sound?"
We could probably recreate the sound without burning gas, the newer electric cars sound like alien ships which is definitely a different vibe
Run this software and connect the output to the electric car motor. You can now have the full experience of any engine you want while burning no fuel.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2381620/Steam_Engine_Simulator/
Proof of concept: https://youtu.be/4U41OxHiqI8
My favorite political cartoon of all time!