I guess you could say that I wanted to believe in Marx’s view that capitalism is inherently exploitative, but not for its own sake. I don’t find the personal identity of being a communist appealing. Hell, I don’t even enjoy calling myself a democratic socialist even though the term is probably the best fit for my beliefs. The main reason I wanted Marx to be correct is that it explains how such terrible injustice can occur in a world where most people try to do the right thing.
Even if a capitalist tries to make every decision ethically, they eventually run into the evil of the mechanics of capitalism. They are forced to underpay their workers for the value they generate. They are forced to make decisions that harm the common good. If they don’t, then they’ll get out competed in most circumstances. There’s often little malice in most of capitalism’s evil. The system fundamentally rewards terrible behavior.
I recognized that the current system not only doesn’t serve most people, but it also actively harms even the people at the top. It doesn’t matter how rich Bezos is, he’s still eating food filled with microplastics like the rest of us. It doesn’t matter how smart his team is, some property he owns will be ruined by climate change. Eventually the externalities inherent to capitalism will hurt everybody.
More relevant to the conversation, people will eventually fight back against exploitation in what ways they can. When legal remedies don’t work, it causes faith in the system to be eroded. When support for the system wanes enough, then violence and instability occurs. Violence and instability aren’t good for business by themselves, even if the violence isn’t directed at the rich and powerful. These sort of situations are huge gambles for large players as they stand to win big, or lose hard. Outside players often win the most in the end, but eventually they’ll probably have the same shit happen in their society.
In the end, no one is safe from the consequences of exploitation. Some are lucky and never experience these consequences, lulling the rich and powerful into a false sense of security. It’s not karma. There’s no cosmic arbiter of justice. It’s merely the logical conclusion of the basic economic truth that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Exploiting the environment has a cost, and exploiting people does as well. It just seems like many people that claim to understand economics don’t consider how economics ties into the larger world.
I find the idea that I’m mindlessly regurgitating commie ideas ludicrous. That I haven’t thought critically about Marx hilarious. I don’t view Marx as some prophet or absolute source of knowledge who was right about everything. He was just a philosopher who made some good points, and some bad ones, same as any philosopher.
I guess you could say that I wanted to believe in Marx’s view that capitalism is inherently exploitative, but not for its own sake. I don’t find the personal identity of being a communist appealing. Hell, I don’t even enjoy calling myself a democratic socialist even though the term is probably the best fit for my beliefs. The main reason I wanted Marx to be correct is that it explains how such terrible injustice can occur in a world where most people try to do the right thing.
Even if a capitalist tries to make every decision ethically, they eventually run into the evil of the mechanics of capitalism. They are forced to underpay their workers for the value they generate. They are forced to make decisions that harm the common good. If they don’t, then they’ll get out competed in most circumstances. There’s often little malice in most of capitalism’s evil. The system fundamentally rewards terrible behavior.
I recognized that the current system not only doesn’t serve most people, but it also actively harms even the people at the top. It doesn’t matter how rich Bezos is, he’s still eating food filled with microplastics like the rest of us. It doesn’t matter how smart his team is, some property he owns will be ruined by climate change. Eventually the externalities inherent to capitalism will hurt everybody.
More relevant to the conversation, people will eventually fight back against exploitation in what ways they can. When legal remedies don’t work, it causes faith in the system to be eroded. When support for the system wanes enough, then violence and instability occurs. Violence and instability aren’t good for business by themselves, even if the violence isn’t directed at the rich and powerful. These sort of situations are huge gambles for large players as they stand to win big, or lose hard. Outside players often win the most in the end, but eventually they’ll probably have the same shit happen in their society.
In the end, no one is safe from the consequences of exploitation. Some are lucky and never experience these consequences, lulling the rich and powerful into a false sense of security. It’s not karma. There’s no cosmic arbiter of justice. It’s merely the logical conclusion of the basic economic truth that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Exploiting the environment has a cost, and exploiting people does as well. It just seems like many people that claim to understand economics don’t consider how economics ties into the larger world.
I find the idea that I’m mindlessly regurgitating commie ideas ludicrous. That I haven’t thought critically about Marx hilarious. I don’t view Marx as some prophet or absolute source of knowledge who was right about everything. He was just a philosopher who made some good points, and some bad ones, same as any philosopher.