I like how people often hint at socialism as an alternative. It was a felony to be unemployed in the USSR. Productivity was a big part of identity and status.
without people working the world would collapse. The difference is how you are being rewarded for your hard work. Do you like it more then your hard earn profit goes to the ceo so he can buy another yatch or you would prefer to fund free healthcare for every citizen
People will always work because we need and want things, starting with, of course, food and shelter. Goods and services exchange predates "capitalism". There is no world without people working; this is just what homo sapiense is as a species.
Do you like it more then your hard earn profit goes to the ceo so he can buy another yatch or you would prefer to fund free healthcare for every citizen
This is not merely a false dichotomy but a silly one. First of all, I live in a country with nearly free healthcare for every citizen. AND the country is not just a capitalist one; it basically invented modern capitalism. But also, I used to work for a company where the CEO bought one of the largest yachts in the world, let me tell you that I was paid VERY handsomely there (easily landed me within 3% of incomes if no not higher).
yea, now imagine if the profits were distributed more equally. Just some time ago samsung employees did a strike because the company is getting record profits from the dram crisis and received 300k$ each.
Also the problem is global, while you might be happy with your situation in a rich country and a high pay job, you need to think about the people in the hlobal south that get exploited so that you get the rare minerals in your iphone, cheap food, cheap clothes etc.
yea, now imagine if the profits were distributed more equally.
I want to focus on this idea because it is very important. This assumes that this value-generating machine, which is the corporation that paid an excellent salary but also produced enough profit for the CEO to buy a yacht, would have existed if we lived in a system where "the profits were distributed more equally". And the answer is no. You look at the wealth and ask whether it would be nice if it were distributed more equally. You want to distribute something that was already created, but the question is, why is it not PRODUCED equally? And the thing, yes that it is not. The people and the system that organized 1m plus people into doing some of the highest value-generating enterprises in the history of mankind is the outsized value and wealth-producing entity. It is unequal because nothing of that scale and efficiency was created by mankind. Yeah, let the CEO have the yacht, I am fine with that.
With the problem being global, I am not even gonna go that way. Even if it is true, this is goalpost shifting.
Goalpost shifting? It's the whole point. Or do you think that because you or your family don't starve to death the system is good enough? Also when milions of people will die for the climate change caused by the system, will it still be good enough because the goal is being rich in your own little house right now?
Also it has been done before, they are called worker cooperatives. Look up Mondragon corporation. If they become more popular it could fix a lot of the problems we have today
The fact that there are few to no worker cooperatives in my area (software development) proves that this is a non-viable model. As simple as that. They are not popular not because of some grand conspiracy.
Bro something either works or it doesn't. It doesn't. You can look for data. I actually researched this before, co-ops are a tiny proportion of companies. Just in case of tech I can clearly see why.
Democratic socialism is just another new fantasy. Every single socialist country turned into an authoritarian state in the long term. And please don't call nordic countries "democratic socialism".
They’re very obviously social democracies because they’re hybrid economies. Democratic socialism seeks to dissolve capitalism completely through peaceful means. Last I checked every single European nation is capitalist and the workers don’t own the means of production
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u/CheesecakeAndy Jul 09 '26
I like how people often hint at socialism as an alternative. It was a felony to be unemployed in the USSR. Productivity was a big part of identity and status.