“democracy”?
Inflation. The money you have is worth less every year by design. It’s a secret tax on all of us.
Tbf we should always aim for slight inflation. You want to incentivize people to use their money on things so it circulates, and it being slightly depreciating is the best way to do that.
If it was the best option long term to just stuff money into a mattress and sit on it for a decade then that has it’s own problems
The best inflation is zero. The second best is slight inflation. The third best is slight deflation. Because they can’t control it that well they aim for slight inflation so it doesn’t go negative.
“best way to do that” for who? corporate profits, or humanity?
Lottery tickets, its everywhere. It gets shoved in my mailbox all the time. To me its just gambling but then with worse odds… How is it legal to market it so much?
It gives hope to poor people
Peak capitalism
Here in Texas at least, the lottery is state run and much of the money goes to help fund public schools and other charities or state programs. I’ve also never seen an ad for it in my mailbox. Just at gas stations and billboards.
I view it as a voluntary tax, with a chance to win big. Though of course any kind of gambling is problematic, I see this kind of lottery as one of the least problematic types of gambling.
Online gambling is a much bigger problem. I can’t believe that’s legal.
Prediction markets and recently-legalized sports gambling says hi.
Credit card “points” and travel miles. The only “points” that matter are the dollar. (or whatever currency)
AI being stuffed down our throat at every corner
Capitalism. The state. Cops.
Why did you say the same thing three times?
•Buying home •Private insurance •New cars •Haircuts •Eating at expensive restaurant •Fast food •Subscriptions instead of owning •Brands •Cotton-swab not for ear •Jiffylube •Carbon emissions from consumer vehicles •Tariffs •Freetrade agreements •Food deliver services
cotton swabs?
Name brand Q-Tips
How do you think used cars exist if there aren’t people that buy new ones?
And… owning a home? Huh?
You never truly own the home due to property taxes.
Crypto
Is it? I think it got normalized as a scam.
Exactly the scam is so normalized as a scam that people forget it is in fact still a scam.
I mean that people instantly know it’s a scam nowadays.
Yeah but its still everywhere. Its just a scam we’ve accepted.
“Earning a living”.
Implies that you don’t deserve to live. But they also make a large number of cheaper ways to live illegal. Buy some woodland away from town and live in a tent or caravan? No, can’t have you doing that.
College / university in many countries.
In the US at least, its become such a parasitic industry, with tuition fees rising exponentially and far exceeding wage rates and job availability, that it accounts for a large portion of most people’s personal debt.
With so many applicants for so few jobs, a college degree is the new highschool diploma / “minimum requirement” for nearly every job now. 1 / 4 US adults have student loan debt, with an average of 40k in student loans.. Nothing is putting the brakes on degree inflation, tuition, or the student loan industry.
The US federal government also makes a killing off of student loan interest fees, most of which is going to the MIC and Israel.
They’ve made the product they’re selling you (a degree), both required, and extremely expensive; the ultimate goal of any parasitic industry. Its a dream for state and private colleges, the US government and its military, and a nightmare for people either without a job, or chained to their desks for fear of losing their job and getting further behind on loan payments.
I worked 64 hours a week to pay for my College Tuition.
That is plus 18 hours of classes, and 18 hours of studies a week.
This was for the cheapest college near me at a rate of $4000 a semester.
I love being slaved to the point my grades were low only because of my work. When I saved enough / got scholarships, I was able to stop working, and my grades became a 4.
So in summary, slaving to afford a chance to have a low grade compared to those with wealth who can get to focus all their time to college.
Passive income. If value is being created and you’re being presented some of it without doing any work it necessarily means that someone else isn’t receiving the full value of the work they’re doing.
In most cases I agree with you, but what about a musician who makes passive income off of people streaming their music, or people who buy my fonts?
Not passive income, they did the work of creating the music or the font
Doesent all passive income require some upfront work outside of investing?
If you inherit/“born rich” I don’t think so…
No, that’s what makes it passive. Having money isn’t a job, investing isn’t work it’s gambling and extremely rigged.
Cap it at the original 28 years after creation. The current 70 years after the creator’s death is ridiculous.
Even 15 years is a lot of money for something you most likely spent under 6 months creating. Of course, we could always have a detailed system and not just one flat time frame.
I think people overestimate how much the average creator can get from their work over time. They need to keep creating to maintain a livable income. Also, 28 years is a good number because it prevents mega corporations from stealing from small creators. Imagine if some novel series becomes a big hit, but Disney or Warner Brothers could just adapt it whenever they pleased without paying the author.
Why should you be paid in perpetuity for work you did once? I’d love it if someone paid me residules for the work I did today making widgets.
But how should a singer who produces an album, or an author who writes a book, or whatever be compensated? Its popularity isn’t really known until after it’s published, it’s not really fair for a damn good writer to get paid the same as someone who produces slop.
subset of capitalism
Absolutely
Or you’re squeezing all the value and more out of the asset and users, while increasing externalities
Sounds cool til you realize the assets being squeezed are mostly just other people
No no no. I gave them CULTURE! A wonderful work culture.
And security! Sure, not the security I decided I need for myself, and it’s only really present as long as they’re profitable to me, but security nonetheless.
After all, I had the idea and stuck my neck out to secure the financing, which is far more important than the actual daily labor that keeps things running.
We’re like a family, see.
Even if the assets aren’t people, not squeezing value is required to maintain some fun and life as well as long term sustainability. If you squeeze it, you might squeeze it dry. I hate all the adverts everywhere. Can I just go somewhere to save my eyes…
Capitalism
Tipping (for the US and so), Tax and Rents
Progressive tax (based on income as well as the value of the item) isn’t a scam. Flat fee is a scam (eg: a hypothetical 0.02 cents to support veterans). Percentage based taxes like sales tax aren’t much better. Cliff based tax like luxury taxes are better but not as good as progressive taxes
I’ve always been in favour of tiered consumption taxes. Basic neccessities of life aren’t taxed. Sorta nice stuff gets taxed a bit. Uber lux stuff and harmful stuff gets taxed all the fucking way.
Example: bus pass? Free. Subcompact cheap EV? 20% tax. Lambo? 300% tax.
Rich fuckers have way too many ways of getting out of paying income tax. Tax the stuff instead so that you can’t live like a rich person without paying the kind of taxes rich people should be paying.
Business class ticket? 300% tax. Please have fun
I like tipping (in the US). I feel like servers would be a lot less friendly if they weren’t so directly incentivized to be nice. Plus I’ve been treated somewhat gruffly by servers in countries that do not have tips. Maybe that is just dislike of U.S. citizens.
| Maybe that is just dislike of U.S. citizens.
Quit possibly. I live in a country without a strong tipping culture and people are (generally) nice.
Ah yes, the culture of punishing people pre-emptively with the threat of not being able to afford to live, in order to force them to be nice to your smug ass
So you say you have to pay people to be nice? Thats fucked up…
Capitalism
Show me a working alternative that’s actually been implemented in the real and I’ll happily shift.
Until then I’ll happily stick with a well-regulated, Nordic-style market economy.
What you described is literally a working alternative to capitalism. Nobody said it cannot contain any capitalistic elements.
As for a further alternative - how about even more social programs? We all know the countries could easily afford it, so that’s an easy step forward.
Zapatista territories and Rojava (until recently dissolved by force), and a bunch of smaller examples worldwide (including many tribes that live more traditionally/non-capitalist).
They are definitely proof that alternatives exist. Whether they can scale to governing a state of disperate cultures and peoples is a different question.
But you did answer with some real alternatives, which I’ll look into more. Thank you.
Tipping
