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When someone blames "capitalism" for something, what they usually mean is that they'd like if this thing didn't happen, but don't have any concrete proposal for
by circlefavshape 5y ago
When someone blames "capitalism" for something, what they usually mean is that they'd like if this thing didn't happen, but don't have any concrete proposal for preventing it. It's equivalent to blaming "society"
- ryandrake 5y agoYou could also substitute "unregulated capitalism" for "capitalism". Often when someone criticizes capitalism for allowing some social ill, the underlying message is: This wouldn't happen if there were some regulatory guard rails and a legal system that punished this particular ill.
- kelseyfrog 5y agoA lot of us actually mean capitalism because we believe that the incentives it creates are inherently baked into its structure. For example, the construction of capital markets inevitably lead to labor exploitation through a natural series of actions and reactions. That's anti-capitalism 101. Anyone who has worked at a heavily funded startup knows this. They may not have the words for it, or they may even like it, but they cannot deny that the situation creates the incentives.
- bravura 5y ago"the construction of capital markets inevitably lead to labor exploitation through a natural series of actions and reactions" Can you explain what this means, with some key examples?
- kelseyfrog 5y agoI really wish I could, but this is essentially asking for a distillation of Capital Vol 1 in a Hacker News comment. If this is something you're interested in, I encourage you to read it from the source. It spells out exactly this. If that doesn't quite suit you, feel free to reach out (email in profile) and I'm sure we could find a way to convey this conversationally.
- ClumsyPilot 5y agoIf we followed this logic, we'd still have slavery because "you can't blame capitalism" and the famous poster at protests "race mixing is communism"