Asking legitimately not as a joke

  • grandkaiser@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    within a capitalist society

    Besides slavery, I cannot think of any successful societal system to date that did not prioritize rewarding the productive and/or powerful. Not saying that you’re wrong, just that it’s far from exclusive to capitalism. (The bar for “success” here being a society that exists over many generations)

    • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Socialism and communism are specifically designed to put the needs of the people first. ‘From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.’

      • grandkaiser@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Socialism and communism, in theory, are structured to prioritize the needs of the people over profit or power. That slogan captures that ideal beautifully. However, history shows that the implementation of these systems falls short of their ideals. Issues like bureaucratic inefficiency, corruption, or the consolidation of power within ruling parties have led to systems that still reward the powerful or productive, just in different ways. I’d argue that the challenge isn’t the system itself but the difficulty of designing any system that fully aligns with such principles while addressing the complexities of human behavior and societal needs. Capitalism embraces it while socialism and communism pay lip service to ideals while also committing the same sins in practice. My point that it’s not exclusive to capitalism remains.

          • xenspidey@lemmy.zip
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            8 hours ago

            You mean cronie capitalism. The Fabian Socialist were big into eugenics, remember. Straight capitalism is based on a free and open market. That’s not what anywhere has.

            • leftytighty@slrpnk.net
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              5 hours ago

              “Free and open markets” work in theory, lol.

              Private ownership over the means of production and allowing people to hoard capital will ALWAYS concentrate wealth and will ALWAYS produce an oligarchy.

              You just unironically made a “capitalism hasn’t actually been tried yet” post in a thread where you’re on the “communism and socialism never work” position.

              The irony is delicious

              • xenspidey@lemmy.zip
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                4 hours ago

                I never said it’s never been tried, lol. But when the government picks winners and losers, it’s not a free market

                • leftytighty@slrpnk.net
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                  4 hours ago

                  The government exists as a check on the power of huge corporations in this model (and is required to enforce private property in the first place). Who stops the richest company from picking winners and losers? Who stops companies from buying up their competition then cranking up prices? You need a framework to keep the market “free” in the first place.

                  Anarcho-capitalism is an oxymoron, right-libertarianism is an oxy moron.

                  The problem is capitalism, full stop. There’s no good and bad kind, there’s just capitalism. An owning class dictating over a working class isn’t freedom.

                  You don’t need private ownership over the means of production to have trade and markets and productivity.

                  • xenspidey@lemmy.zip
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                    4 hours ago

                    Right, so corrupt governments only wanting control and power is the answer? That’s just the government being a massive evil corporation

            • surph_ninja@lemmy.world
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              8 hours ago

              No one would want to. Letting capitalists run rampant (more so than they already do) would be extremely destructive for any society.