• Wooster@startrek.website
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    68
    arrow-down
    12
    ·
    9 months ago

    Article mentions nothing with regards to holding corporations accountable nor any plan or threat of action on the president’s part.

    • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      44
      arrow-down
      17
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      These kinds of comments frustrate me… They fundamentally conflate the presidency with a more king-like position.

      The system is setup against him doing anything other than speaking out about the issue and trying to motivate others to do something about it. The president ultimately has little power … it’s more of a oversight/cheer leading position (with some extended powers over the years to deal with imminent issues – e.g., authorize short term military operations, which is still scary in the wrong hands) while congress is the office workers that are supposed to actually get the law writing done.

      Unfortunately, we’ve had roughly a decade of Republican lead stagnation due to slim majority Democrat representation or outright majority Republican representation – the Republican platform is after all the “do nothing because more government is bad” platform.

      He’s doing exactly what he should be doing, using the office to call people out and bring attention to issues/start conversations. That can result in brands either going “… lets make a voluntary change to get the heat off” or the public going “yeah that’s a good point calls congressional rep to complain.”

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        9 months ago

        Well put!

        The president ultimately has little power … it’s more of a oversight/cheer leading position

        And let me emphasize this is a good thing, even if the previous officeholder ignored legal restrictions on his power

    • Blackbeard@lemmy.worldM
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      33
      arrow-down
      25
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      What are you suggesting he do about it?

      edit for the knee-jerk downvoters: Everything the government is authorized to do is codified in federal statute, including agency powers. If Congress doesn’t give an agency the power to regulate the size and shape of a peanut butter cup, the agency cannot regulate the size and shape of a peanut butter cup, full stop. The reason the President isn’t proposing a fix to this is that Congress hasn’t given anyone the authority to fix this problem. The FDA can sorta kinda regulate slack fill (i.e. the empty space in your bag of chips) but only if it’s non-functional or deceptive. Shrinkflation is quite legal, so long as the size/weight of the product is clearly labeled. If companies get away with it, that’s because we’re stupid, clueless consumers who never read labels. And they will continue to do it until a) we stop buying their product, or b) Congress passes a law to make it illegal. Unless that happens, we’re stuck with it because the President is not an all powerful god who can will things into existence.

      Once again, civic literacy in this county proves profoundly lacking.

      • Fisk400@feddit.nu
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        30
        arrow-down
        11
        ·
        9 months ago

        Make it expensive to change the weight of a product. Standardize the size and weight of a given type of product. Require the packaging to alert consumers that the weight have changed in the last year and how much it has changed. Tie the trademark of a given product to a certain weight.

        Are these good ideas? I don’t know, I literally made them up just now while shitting. I am sure the president of the United States could hire at least one dude to come up with better ones.

        • Blackbeard@lemmy.worldM
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          27
          arrow-down
          13
          ·
          edit-2
          9 months ago

          Make it expensive to change the weight of a product.

          The President literally can’t do that.

          Standardize the size and weight of a given type of product.

          The President can’t do that. Not sure the FDA can even do that, as just about all they can weigh in on is product safety (i.e. “does not contain more than X of any harmful substance”) and categorical definitions (i.e. “ice cream must meet this definition”). They can’t say, “all M&Ms must be this big and weigh this much”.

          Require the packaging to alert consumers that the weight have changed in the last year and how much it has changed.

          Neither the President nor the FDA can do that. The FDA doesn’t have the regulatory power to do anything even close to that.

          Tie the trademark of a given product to a certain weight.

          That’s…not how trademarks work, at all.

          Look man, it’s as frustrating to me as it is to anyone, but y’all can’t just make up a bunch of fanciful, largely illegal remedies to the problem and then lay the blame for their impossibility on the President’s desk. That’s just ridiculous.

          • Fisk400@feddit.nu
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            arrow-down
            18
            ·
            9 months ago

            I understand that you are very into the position of going face down ass up for corporations but can I interest you in the idea that politicians are allowed to express things they would like to work towards even if they are personally not able to make it happen the second they say it.

            Biden is a very powerful man that employs a large number of very smart people. If he wants to he can put together an action plan on how to make things happen.

            • Blackbeard@lemmy.worldM
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              12
              arrow-down
              12
              ·
              9 months ago

              I understand that you are very into the position of going face down ass up for corporations

              You know that point when people stop taking you seriously? That’s right here.

              can I interest you in the idea that politicians are allowed to express things they would like to work towards even if they are personally not able to make it happen the second they say it.

              So this is just a circle jerk about imaginary fantasy lands? Good to know we’re just aimlessly flailing now.

              Biden is a very powerful man that employs a large number of very smart people. If he wants to he can put together an action plan on how to make things happen.

              He is not a dictator, nor a god. We have a system of very rigorous checks and balances, and it’s abundantly clear that you have no earthly idea how our government actually functions. Just because you can put together an action plan, doesn’t mean what the plan calls for is actually legal or achievable.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          17
          arrow-down
          9
          ·
          9 months ago

          All great ideas if it weren’t for the fact that we have a court system heavily weighted towards pro-corporate conservatism, so none of that would survive legal challenges and there would be a shit ton of corporate challenges.

          • Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            9 months ago

            Food in general doesn’t even go through the FDA, does it? They only get involved if there’s a problem. If it was pre approval, it would be a super slow process likely.

            Edit: my train of thought was if it needed approval, any size changes would go to a slow line, but in reality, any small company would go to slow lines also, which would truly suck.

      • ZeroCool@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        9
        ·
        9 months ago

        What are you suggesting he do about it?

        Oh don’t expect an answer from that OP. They’re here to blame Biden. It doesn’t matter if there’s anything he can actually do about the issue.

    • pinkdrunkenelephants@lemmy.cafeOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      9
      ·
      9 months ago

      Of course it doesn’t. They probably don’t have any actual plan to enforce laws. 🤦

      I can’t wait until I become High Galactic Overlord of this planet so I can boot those motherfuckers off of a cliff.

    • eksb@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      15
      ·
      9 months ago

      Talking a big game and then not doing anything? You have stumbled onto the secret plan of Joe Biden Democrats politicians Homo sapiens.

      • RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        18
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        9 months ago

        Yeah like Democrats trying to give out free school lunches to children, and then the Republicans just saying no.

        It must be “homo sapiens”.