this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2023
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SO. MUCH. THIS.

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[–] Robin 38 points 1 year ago (2 children)

While these sorts of practices are legal, consumers need to be educated.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I have another idea - get rid of capitalism.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Great idea, what are we replacing it with?

[–] danielbln 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yeah, let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater just yet. Capitalism is an incredible engine, but it needs guard rails.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The whole infinite growth mentality caused by companies being public on the stock market is the real poison I think. So lets just axe the whole thing. No more stock market, every company is private again.

Which means no more stock speculators, or stock buybacks, or market manipulation schemes. Just companies selling their products to consumers based on their own metrics.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, for starters, this obliterates most people's retirement plans, so that's a bit of a hurdle.

That aside, what would happen is private equity firms and investment banks simply buying up most public companies, so I don't really see the grand improvement here.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I hate so much this talking point:

the system has captured the retirements, so we can't abolish it.

Like if we need this load of bull to support retirement, we should rethink everything from the ground up.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The point is that, whether you like it or not, abolishing something that most people are very strongly relying on for the last third of their life is something that's going to be incredibly complicated and met with a lot of opposition.

By all means, re-think away as you like, but don't be surprised when a lot of people aren't exactly a fan of what you come up with.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Provide food and shelter as a human right first, then dismantle everything else, and let people do what they enjoy.

[–] deleted 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

To be honest, you cannot achieve capitalism with guard rails.

Rich individuals will accumulate money then bribe or donate to politicians to earn more money thus more bribes then more influence and so on.

Take USA as an example, big corporations have monopoly on almost everything and you as a citizen cannot do anything about it. Sure you can vote but either way, donations to politicians always win.

EU is better but not much. After GDPR, every website would interrupt you to say how they will sell your data and tell you to leave if don’t like it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I agree, I don't think any one system is the answer, they all have their strengths and weaknesses... a combination of them would be a better idea.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why am I suddenly seeing so much discussion about capitalism these days? This is way above the usual background level of how often this topic gets brought up in various circumstances.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It's a convenient abstract entity that can be used as a general boogeyman and blamed for all things.

For sure, some things are indeed a direct consequence of capitalism, but lots of other problems come from the simple existence of things having costs, scarcity existing, and humans not being completely selfless. No amount of economic re-arrangement is going to get you away from those things, but it's nice to imagine so.

[–] deleted 3 points 1 year ago

I need security updates not education.