this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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[–] taanegl@beehaw.org 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

This is the neuance. Could there be a fair form of capitalism? It depends upon the systems and the people that run them. Centralisation of ownership is the next step beyond the centralisation of power, because after a while they become intrinsically the same. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, absolute wealth corrupts absolutely.

But also, the stock markets which can be beneficial are also forms of glorified gambling where the house always wins, the commodification of the housing market, the silly notion of shell and shelf companies (easiest, most effective way of side stepping regulations and laundering money), debt slavery, the price gouging of life saving medicine, the race to the bottom where costs, quality of product and salaries need to be cut, where the line between product and service becomes thinner for every day to the point where you retain less and less ownership by each year, which you can't really blame anyone for, because all of these systems are designed to be a constant, churning, soul killing rat race, turning the pace of life to a literally unlivable speeds, which also reveals that even the ones up in the hierarchy become degenerate with greed, mostly because they live so far up that their human brains can't fathom the effect they have down the chain, because it goes against their interests.

Instead of then going on another witch hunt, we need to look at these systems and the effects they have on the human psyche.

But hey, that's just my take.

[–] Lesrid@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

No there cannot be a fair form of capitalism because it is centered on exchange. You have to center your life on turning your time into a profit to afford the whole rest of society's product also sold at a profit, at its most basic level it is unsustainable.

[–] taanegl@beehaw.org 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Like the idea of shell and shelf companies is a capitalist concept, that and mother companies, daughter companies, etc.

I particularly dislike shell and shelf companies, because they are almost always used to sidestep law and regulations, as well as being used for money laundering. It's a system whereby you can easily move around money, back and forth, up and down, to the point where the money has been obsfucated in so many accounts that it requires a large team of exonomists AND all the accounts to figure out wrongdoing.

Because of this you could make a ton of profit off human trafficking, put that money into a south African shelf company, launder it for like a max 30% and boom: legal tender.

Capitalism causes tons of economic crime that can never be solved.

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The word you're looking for is "commerce".

[–] taanegl@beehaw.org 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

No, that's not it. You don't need all the gunk I wrote about to have commerce. In fact, you can still have commerce without it.

You strike me as one of those guys who thinks capitalism defines the concept of money and markets.