The human species has essentially been transformed into a giant machine to generate profit for corporations.
Under capitalism, humanity exists to serve the interests of the corporation. We are all livestock; beasts of burden used to carry margin expansion forward from quarterly statement to quarterly statement. Enjoyment of life has no value other than the extent to which it can be used to increase the net worth of the shareholders.
That’s why everyone’s so unhappy. We’re not living with purpose. We’re not working together to build a better world and a better future, we’re just pulling levers to turn gears to make the arrow line go up on the graph in the conference room. It’s a hollow, pointless way for people to live.
It makes our whole culture vapid and soulless.
Crosspost from https://news.abolish.capital/post/56355
That’s a wild take. Profit isn’t the issue. Exorbitant profit is. Who gets the profit and how its used is. When workers are the state and own the means of production, profits can be planned and used to keep production lines running, decrease hours while increasing wages, paying more taxes for basic human rights such as clean food, air, water, quality housing, quality healthcare, quality education, reduction of waste and emissions, r&d of better ways to produce, better medicine, and more!
Profit is entirely the issue, profit is undue costs on goods and services above production requirements.
Profit is exploitation commodified.
With that line of thinking, no one would get a raise or improved quality of life. This is not a binary issue, unless you are talking about socialist production vs capitalism/fascism.
Like what was already said, life would be a lot more boring. But at least we’d be free of the hamster wheel.
And yeah, no, you wouldn’t get a raise, because there’d be no money. You can’t get a raise if you can’t make a profit, very correct.
Look, imagine these initial conditions: start with 100 people in a moneyless society. Give each person 100 coins. Now ask everyone to make a profit.
That means creating money out of thin air.
The system is b-r-o-k-e-n.
The current Western system is working as designed. Do you imagine a fantastical leap forward without any sort of transitioning steps from here to there? I’m working hard to understand you.
I know it’s working as designed — working against us.
I’m not imagining a leap forward, I’m imagining a leap backwards, to freedom before there was money. Sorry if this has been unclear all along…
Would you be so kind as to elucidate in some detail?I didn’t realize who you were until I scrolled up. Barter is cumbersome and greatly limits mobility. Do you propose means to overcome that?
I do not. Like I said, again, life will be a lot more boring and cumbersome. Trade-off.
Which is why ditching a capitalist system is also required. One should not have personal profits, one should have basic needs met.
Every dollar of profit is taken from the back of a worker further down the line.
Here you go: >When workers are the state and own the means of production, profits can be planned and used to keep production lines running, decrease hours while increasing wages, paying more taxes for basic human rights such as clean food, air, water, quality housing, quality healthcare, quality education, reduction of waste and emissions, r&d of better ways to produce, better medicine, and more!
Bolding added, here
State capitalism is still capitalism. It still works on the exploitation of those down the line at some degree, profit is not generated from thin air, it is taken from others earning less than their fair share or paying more than something is worth.
There is no ethical capitalism, be that private or state (states are also not the people) owned.
https://lemmygrad.ml/post/11887529
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/the-anarchist-faq-editorial-collective-an-anarchist-faq-full
I’ve already told you, I began with anarchism and moved to communism. I’m not saying it’s entirely impossible, either, and I’m not entirely opposed to anarchy, rather that we need a practical, disciplined, and proven means to achieve it, if it’s ever to be realized in materiality. It doesn’t mean I like practicalities, rather that I recognize them as necessary.
It’s not state capitalism. If you’re interested in an understanding that differs from your preferred narrative, they are abundant on grad. If you can stomach it.
Did… you actually read the comment to which you originally replied?
If “socialist” production has profit, it is capitalistic.
Not wild at all. It isn’t even a “take”, just basic facts and logic. Everyone cannot make a profit. That’s just not possible.
Your scenario of workers owning the means of production and all that, they’d still be participating in the grand world scheme of paying for things with money. It doesn’t make a difference.
What sort of circumlocution is this? You are arguing against nothing I said.
I’m saying everything you said is irrelevant to the point I’m making. Sorry if that was unclear.
What fucking bullshit.
Profit is a goddamn lie. It’s MY FUCKING LABOR, anything bit returned to me and the crew after operating costs are covered is stolen wages.
Profit IS rent seeking, and requires that actual progress of the community be violently suppressed. People with an honest desire to help the community are forced to accept exploitative conditions that enable this theft, otherwise you starve and die.
Nothing good has ever, or will ever, come from the system you describe, since it CAUSES every god damn problem that it supposedly fixes. resulting in a vicious cycle of pain and more pain and nothing else.
It seemed to work in AES states well enough.