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Slavery is not a function of capitalism, though. Capitalism is being able to 1) firstly, own yourself and your body 2) thus sell your labour however you wish. I

Slavery is not a function of capitalism, though. Capitalism is being able to 1) firstly, own yourself and your body 2) thus sell your labour however you wish. It's the alternatives economic systems that prevent you from being free.

heavyset_go 5y ago
And yet capitalists imposed slavery upon multiple places around the world, often for decades or centuries.
- throwaway3699 5y ago
  Putting emotions aside for a second, slavery is very inefficient in a free market. It is not a coincidence free countries are all capitalist (and vice versa).
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - banannaise 5y ago
    That's because the United States invades free countries that aren't capitalist.
    - throwaway3699 5y ago
      Oh yeah. The US is guilty as charged, but there's no such thing as a free country that's not capitalist, until we live in a post-scarcity society. Technologically we are many centuries away from that.
  - heavyset_go 5y ago
    So are famines, but that didn't stop the market from starving millions of people, either.
    - throwaway3699 5y ago
      When did markets cause famine? We are living in an age of wasted food because we have so much cheap crap (as well as high-quality) available. People are too fat because there's no barrier to over-consumption. Whereas a socialist system causes famines due to central planning leads to poor decision making.
      - heavyset_go 5y ago
        The causes of the Great Irish famine were those imposed by capitalism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)#Causes_and_contributing_factors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)#Causes_... The market decided that the starving people who harvested crops didn't need to eat them, because people would pay more for those crops elsewhere: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)#Food_exports_during_Famine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)#Food_ex... 10 million people starved in the Bengal famine: https://www.mensxp.com/special-features/today/27992-the-forgotten-famine-how-capitalist-british-killed-10-million-people-in-bengal-for-profits.html https://www.mensxp.com/special-features/today/27992-the-forg...
        throwaway3699 5y ago
        How would socialism have dealt with the first scenario? My understanding is there simply wasn't enough food to go around, and no economic system can fix that. Capitalism at least provides a profit motive to solve the problem (eventually). The Bengal famine was a top down project specifically designed to profit. There is no "free market capitalism" in that scenario.

heavyset_go 5y ago

And yet capitalists imposed slavery upon multiple places around the world, often for decades or centuries.

throwaway3699 5y ago
Putting emotions aside for a second, slavery is very inefficient in a free market. It is not a coincidence free countries are all capitalist (and vice versa).
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- banannaise 5y ago
  That's because the United States invades free countries that aren't capitalist.
  - throwaway3699 5y ago
    Oh yeah. The US is guilty as charged, but there's no such thing as a free country that's not capitalist, until we live in a post-scarcity society. Technologically we are many centuries away from that.
- heavyset_go 5y ago
  So are famines, but that didn't stop the market from starving millions of people, either.
  - throwaway3699 5y ago
    When did markets cause famine? We are living in an age of wasted food because we have so much cheap crap (as well as high-quality) available. People are too fat because there's no barrier to over-consumption. Whereas a socialist system causes famines due to central planning leads to poor decision making.
    - heavyset_go 5y ago
      The causes of the Great Irish famine were those imposed by capitalism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)#Causes_and_contributing_factors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)#Causes_... The market decided that the starving people who harvested crops didn't need to eat them, because people would pay more for those crops elsewhere: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)#Food_exports_during_Famine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)#Food_ex... 10 million people starved in the Bengal famine: https://www.mensxp.com/special-features/today/27992-the-forgotten-famine-how-capitalist-british-killed-10-million-people-in-bengal-for-profits.html https://www.mensxp.com/special-features/today/27992-the-forg...
      - throwaway3699 5y ago
        How would socialism have dealt with the first scenario? My understanding is there simply wasn't enough food to go around, and no economic system can fix that. Capitalism at least provides a profit motive to solve the problem (eventually). The Bengal famine was a top down project specifically designed to profit. There is no "free market capitalism" in that scenario.