This is why I really don’t understand modern day US political discourse from the right side. What’s with people thinking Biden is going to instigate a Marxist plot when it’s guys like him who are more interested in military spending than infrastructure — Albero
All these people working in thousands of companies possess a vast pool of knowledge about how to run things. — Bitter Crank
Gulags? But also, really, what would that look like? — schopenhauer1
this is leaving out something major — schopenhauer1
He is content with his cart. — schopenhauer1
In a socialist economy, with the workers owning and running the operations, the management-line worker antagonism can be minimized. — Bitter Crank
Socialism will not eliminate assholes, alas. For that you will have to wait for the Kingdom of Heaven or evolution, whichever comes first. Don't hold your breath. — Bitter Crank
Marx didn't leave it out, I did. I can't represent all of Das Capital here. Full Disclosure: I have not read all of Das Capital. Entrepreneurs are engaged in the act of 'original accumulation': It's the news stand owner who eventual becomes the owner of the New York Times. It's the tailor making clothes for a few minors who eventually becomes LEVIS. It's the garage tinkerers who eventually becomes Microsoft and Apple. — Bitter Crank
I tend to think that people are more alike than they are different, and that social influences determine a lot of our character. It matters a great deal how one is raised up from childhood.
There isn't any final answer here. Individuals have managed to flourish, and have failed to flourish, under all sorts of arrangements. For instance, I tend to be a loner; I do not like intense complicated social engagement. I am not usually ambitious on a sustained basis. I live fairly simply. Under which economic system would I most effectively flourish? I can imagine being unhappy in a socialist society, and I have certainly been unhappy at times in our capitalist scheme.
People find arbitrary and capricious control very unpleasant. It is also the case that most of us are perfectly capable of being arbitrary and capricious, and cruel in unusual ways. Only one snake was required to ruin paradise. — Bitter Crank
It could very well be that the hotdog cart is one of a fleet of hotdog carts owned by the mafia-controlled cart cartel. What looks like individual entrepreneurial activity might actually be an egregiously exploitative form of retail drudgery. I never buy anything a la cart. It's disgusting. Car exhaust falling on the wieners; flies and people buzzing around breathing on the merchandise. Everybody knows pickle relish is made from the pickles that fell on the factory floor. As for then buns, they are ancient rolls loaded with preservatives so they can not mold, however much they might want to. As for wieners-- even Nathan's kosher all beef version -- there's a reason sausage [and laws] aren't made in public. — Bitter Crank
Ok, so what does he say about this? Simply that they are necessary but will be discarded? Again, what about the hot dog seller? — schopenhauer1
Right, but I guess what would socialism have to do with that? It wouldn't solve it. It's simply interpersonal stuff. — schopenhauer1
Hot Dog Comradeship Coop — schopenhauer1
↪Bitter Crank
Agreed. But sometimes regional management makes the wrong decision. Then what? — schopenhauer1
Then what? — schopenhauer1
Warren Buffet might make the same wrong decision. — Bitter Crank
Then life goes on, or it doesn't. — Bitter Crank
I think we are confusing corrupt capitalist practices or capitalism with bad loopholes and lo — schopenhauer1
Im just surprised you wouldn’t be for a higher authority stepping in with socialist tendencies. — schopenhauer1
Your higher socialist authority has revealed the future: You will sell vegan hotdogs on stale sugarless gluten free buns with ersatz condiments from a cart at a slaughter house. Yes, of course there will be a 5 year plan for you to follow and a daily quota to keep you on your toes, lest you fall into old fashioned capitalist sloth. — Bitter Crank
What is “capitalism”? I told you how I define it, and I think it fundamentally illegitimate. It’s not simply a matter of bad loopholes and loose regulations. — Xtrix
Being able to own the capital to make products to sell. — schopenhauer1
What a surprise a capitalist suck-up can't even minimally define the term. — StreetlightX
Every definition is a variation of the same thing. Private ownership, free markets, etc. — schopenhauer1
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