this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2023
453 points (76.5% liked)

Asklemmy

43916 readers
1363 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
Cloak@lemmy.ml
mekhos@lemmy.ml
tmpod@lemmy.pt
14specks@lemmy.ml
453
Why are folks so anti-capitalist? (programming.dev)
submitted 1 year ago by o_o@programming.dev to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
894 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hi all,

I'm seeing a lot of hate for capitalism here, and I'm wondering why that is and what the rationale behind it is. I'm pretty pro-capitalism myself, so I want to see the logic on the other side of the fence.

If this isn't the right forum for a political/economic discussion-- I'm happy to take this somewhere else.

Cheers!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Nougat@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That is certainly true. Smaller capitalists definitely do not enjoy the protection of socialized losses in the same way that large capitalists do. This fact is exemplary of the inherent unfairness of capitalism: the people who need the socialization of losses more don't get it, while the ones who need it least, or not at all, receive it.

It's a scramble to the top of the wealth pile, and the ones who are higher get there and stay there by kicking the faces of the ones who are lower.

[–] markr@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A proprietor of a restaurant is not a capitalist, he’s a shopkeeper. An owner of a restaurant chain that is expanding constantly, a Macdonalds, a Starbucks, a corporation that has to demonstrate perpetual growth to satisfy its investors, that is a capitalist.

[–] Nougat@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I get what you're saying, but I also think there's a spectrum. It's easier, and more likely, for your shopkeeper to be fairer in their compensation of employees, even to the point of being "ideally fair." But it's also possible for that shopkeeper to be grossly unfair and exploitative, entirely within the law.

[–] markr@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sure. And to the extent that the sole proprietor has to compete with corporate chains their business almost has to be as shitty to their employees.

[–] Nougat@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

That shopkeeper looks just a bit more capitalist now. It's systemic.