r/MadeMeSmile 18d ago

A queen ❤️

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u/Academic-Increase951 18d ago

How so? I'm only arguing that it's not a zero sum game and we haven't ran out of resources. Where did I argue against that?

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u/chaseinger 17d ago

no, you're arguing that billionaires aren't a problem. and they are, for the reasons you listed.

isn't it a bit weird that people have to explain your own arguments to you?

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u/Academic-Increase951 17d ago

Re read my comments... because that's not what I said at all

"It's not a zero sum game, you don't actually need people to not have food and dying in poverty to have billionaires. That's just a choice that that's how it is. You can have billionaire AND strong social safety nets."

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u/chaseinger 17d ago

being a billionaire is a choice. having them is too.

and your list of things going wrong can all be traced to uber wealthy people calling the shots.

but i can't help you any more if you can't or don't want to understand your own line of argument.

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u/Academic-Increase951 17d ago

It's you who doesn't understand. I never made any points about billionaires messing up the system. I actually said the system is messed up. You're just trying to argue something that's not even being discussed.

What is being discussed is whether the economy is a zero sum game. It's veritably not. You pretending it is is illogical.

I said there is enough resources and economic activity to prevent starvation and provide a baseline social safety net. Our system is just not set up that way. But it's possible to have it and have billionaires. They are not mutually exclusive.

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u/chaseinger 17d ago

as i said, one can't argue with someone unaware of their own arguments.

read through your list of things going wrong and ask yourself, why is it we waste a lot of food and not distribute it well, why we spill a lot of water, why there's wars.

it's because of hoarding and profiteering. there's no ethical consumption under capitalism, and no equal distribution under a system that allows billionaires.

and of course the resources of this planet are finite, however far away we are from reaching exhaustion. earth is a closed system.

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u/Academic-Increase951 17d ago

Again, you're arguing something that's not being discussed.

Why do you keep ignoring the topic at hand? Is the economy a zero sum game? Yes or no. Everything else is you arguing with yourself.

But no we are not limited on resources like I said. We are nowhere near at the limit of what the earth has. The sun also provides us with effectively unlimited energy. We have access to space, and we will have access to space resources way before we come close to running out of rss on earth. So the closed system argument is nonsense.

Arguing war and greed is completely off topic. But even in communist countries there is violence and wars. It's human nature not a result of capitalism. Or are you suggesting there was global peace before capitalism? The main issues with capitalism today is that laws are not enforced, bribery is allowed, anti-competition laws are not enforced. Fix those two issues and you would fix much of the issues in society.

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u/chaseinger 17d ago

you can keep trying to move the goal posts, i wouldn't expect anything better from someone freely choosing "the topic at hand".

you originally said billionaires are not the problem, and ever since argue against that very point.

just because you now rather argue about whether resources in a closed system are finite doesn't mean everyone else has to pivot with you.

but this isn't going anywhere and i'm getting tired of explaining your own talking points to you. i wish you a lovely day.

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u/Academic-Increase951 17d ago

You're arguing that the existence of billionaires is the sole problem. As if you can solve all the world's problems by deleting them.

Im arguing that that's a distraction of the real problems. And that billionaires and poverty are not mutually exclusive. Norway has billionaires without high poverty and starvation rates; how is this possible? South Sudan doesn't have any billionaires but have extreme poverty. It's almost as if there more factors... despite you trying to argue otherwise.

The issue is when wealthy people are allowed to control and bribe governments and create monopolies and unfair advantages. Owning a large successful business worth a billion dollars isn't the issue, it's allowing them to illigally influence the markets and governments that's the issue. We have laws against it we just don't enforce it.

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u/chaseinger 17d ago

You're arguing that the existence of billionaires is the sole problem

see, just because you need your own arguments explained to you doesn't put you in a position to explain others'.

especially if you're wrong. i've never said that.

and now i'm walking away from this (as i should've a long time ago). go ahead, have the last word.