Remote View
Something something far-left
Something something far-left
188 comments
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Yeah you're right, the shareholders really have my best interests at heart!
Thankfully in this case I AM THE SHAREHOLDER.
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what is a shareholder
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no ur not 🤦
your government is
how about you tell me right now what a shareholder is because it really seems like you don't know
the shareholders only care about themselves, but the system that they collectively create through mutual competition and distrust for each other provides (ideally) cheap and (ideally) high quality products for the costumer. Why isn't this the case irl? Not enough competition, which the govt can safely encourage with antitrust laws.
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Price - Cost = Profit
Shareholders take their cut from the Profit side. Under the capitalistic owner-worker relationship, workers take their cut from the Cost portion. Customers want to minimize the price.
The shareholders and the workers are directly in conflict, and the shareholders are the only ones who get to appoint the board of directors. Shareholders want to maximize Profit, which means they want Price to be as high as the market can bear, and Cost (including workers wages) to be as low as the market can bear.
This directly, mathematically, incentivizes shareholders make things worse for workers and customers, and then roll those profits into the next business venture. Clever lawyers can justify their Cost by saving bigger Costs, as can lobbyists. Heck, if you're clever enough you can get legislation drafted to specifically target your competitors. Every antitrust law just invents a new fun little puzzle for clever lawyers.
The difference between a government and a company, is that I can vote out the greedy people in my government. I can't vote out greedy shareholders. Both will eventually become corrupt, but only one is built with countermeasures.
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I can’t vote out greedy shareholders
you do it by boycotting them
Every antitrust law just invents a new fun little puzzle for clever lawyers.
then make better laws
I can vote out the greedy people in my government
No? Have you looked at the news in the last few months??? Voting doesn't work as nicely as you would like it think it does
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you do it by boycotting them
No, you don't. "Vote with your dollars" does not count. So long as some people have more money than others, that gives some people more vote.
then make better laws
Then better lawyers, repeat ad infinitum. There's no such thing as a perfect law, there's always some loopholes. If you can't lobby your way around it, that is.
Have you looked at the news in the last few months??? Voting doesn't work as nicely as you would like it think it does
Certainly. But it's even worse when it comes to private companies. As weak as the countermeasures baked into government are, they're ironclad compared to the countermeasures in capitalism.
No system is perfect. The goal is to find one that's least bad.
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“Vote with your dollars” does not count.
its a weighted vote based on how much money you are willing to spend. If you want a larger impact orginize a boycott
Then better lawyers, repeat ad infinitum. There’s no such thing as a perfect law, there’s always some loopholes. If you can’t lobby your way around it, that is.
Then if they get better lawyers you make better law. There are several examples of an eternal cat and mouse chase in the modern world
No system is perfect. The goal is to find one that’s least bad.
I want to own my own things and I want to own whatever factories I spent money constructing. My personal property. And to stop me from abusing my workers or whatever there can be laws that stop me
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its a weighted vote based on how much money you are willing to spend.
Correct, which means capitalists with orders of magnitude more money has more influence than a boycott. A company with lots of money can weather a boycott longer than people stay committed. A company with massive market share cannot be effectively boycotted. Look at Nestle, constantly being boycotted but they're rich enough and diversified enough to ignore the boycotts. This isn't a lack of conviction of the consumer, it's a fundamental property of the system.
Then if they get better lawyers you make better law. There are several examples of an eternal cat and mouse chase in the modern world
You keep trying to put bandaids on a gushing wound. We've shown beyond any doubt that the bandaids are incapable of keeping up.
I want to own my own things and I want to own whatever factories I spent money constructing. My personal property. And to stop me from abusing my workers or whatever there can be laws that stop me
I want my own things and don't want anyone to siphon enough money from the value created by others to afford constructing a factory. No one earns that much money. Those fortunes come from being a parasite.
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188 comments