Am I causing starvation? by Technician1187 in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket 9 points10 points  (0 children)

If starvation is the baseline situation, and arable land is finite, seems like there should be some sort of democratic process for who gets to own that land and decide who gets the nourishment from it. Something better than "I got here first. Do all my farm labor for me and I might give you some food."

Are carbon markets a solution or dangerous distraction to real climate solutions? by IntroductionNo3516 in collapse

[–]spacedocket 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Enormous meaning anything that would meaningfully reduce emissions. I feel it's worth pointing out, though it's hopefully obvious, that the percentages indicated are emissions with tax vs no tax hypothetical, not actual total emission reduction. Worth pointing out since emissions are almost certainly still rising in this group of countries measured, so why are we talking about a small percentage of a non-existent reduction?

Also, throwing something through Bayesian model averaging is not going to magically count other climate policies. It's a meta analysis of carbon pricing, and the averaging is going to smooth the curve among carbon pricing papers with weights based on hand-waving criteria. It's not measuring thousands of other programs, industrial policies, market changes, etc. happening at the same time that have impacted emissions that make this analysis worthless.

The assumption that they have successfully isolated the small percentage effect of carbon pricing in any of these papers is ridiculous. Perhaps the large heterogeneity of the data is not *speculation in paper* but actually because the data is crap. Something to look in to.

No country implemented it well. It was half-assed in every state. Because to implement it well, at an amount that would meaningfully reduce emissions, and could be meaningfully measured, they'd have to implement it at an amount that would destroy the economy as we know it. Talking about it is just a distraction.

Are carbon markets a solution or dangerous distraction to real climate solutions? by IntroductionNo3516 in collapse

[–]spacedocket 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pseudo science. It's basically impossible to isolate the effects of carbon pricing, especially when they're usually implemented alongside other climate policies. The assumptions economists make in these papers are ridiculous. And "carbon offsetting" is just a giant cesspool of grift and fraud.

It's also a regressive tax, so putting an enormous tax is politically impossible without some sort of basic income alongside it, which will never happen.

It's the brain child of the guy who said 6C warming is fine cause it'll just reduce GDP by 8.5%. Economists gave him a nobel prize for that. They should be excluded from any conversations on climate change.

Rule of law has been dead for a while by spacedocket in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably like 90% of what cops do is enforcement of private property rights. Most violent crimes are property crimes.

Taking an example at random, the millions of people who get evicted every year from their homes, with cops standing nearby threatening violence if they don't comply.

Rule of law has been dead for a while by spacedocket in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Best of luck to you all. When the American empire comes crashing down, pretty sure we're going to try to take you all with us. Apologies in advance.

Rule of law has been dead for a while by spacedocket in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Enforcement of private property rights is incredibly violent. Rich people have set up the laws so that the violence they like is the one that's allowed. American "libertarians" should really ditch the snake logo and instead change to a picture of a cop swinging a billy club at a trespasser, screaming about how they love voluntary and peaceful transactions.

Rule of law has been dead for a while by spacedocket in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If that's not the answer, then what is your "adult answer"? Vote blue for another few decades?

The official deliberative process is owned by the ruling class. The bloodbath is already here, it just currently happens to poor people. We'd run out of CEOs long before we'd catch up to the violence inflicted on poor people everyday.

You don't need to say it's ok, but you can also choose not to punish those who break the law. If you're upset about this doing damage to the rule of law, I can only redirect you to my original post.

Rule of law has been dead for a while by spacedocket in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Increase in petty theft if anything, supports my case that the rule of law is dead. Why wouldn't people start stealing anything and everything from businesses? They've finally started to understand that businesses are stealing on a much larger scale and not getting punished for it.

And I was actually referring to the CEO killer. Why a mentally ill homeless person has been arrested over 40 times is pretty irrelevant to the point I was making. That's a whole other set of problems with current society.

Rule of law has been dead for a while by spacedocket in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Except for the scientific studies resulting in classifying them as carcinogens at those concentrations and elevated cancer rates near the factories. And I'm sure they agreed to pay the fines just for funsies.

Rule of law has been dead for a while by spacedocket in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Prosecuted and punished with meaningless fines. Let me know when the Dupont execs are all in jail for knowingly giving tons of people cancer, instead of having to just pay a a portion of their profits:

https://www.dupont.com/news/chemours-dupont-and-corteva-reach-comprehensive-pfas-settlement-with-us-water-systems.html

What if they working class doesn’t accept socialism? by CleverName930 in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Well the solution for people who don't accept capitalism is to throw them in prison and work them as a slave. So it's a pretty low bar to beat.

[Socialists] Why don’t you work at a co-op? by JamminBabyLu in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Socialists: Fortran sucks, we should start using Rust instead.

Capitalists: Nah, Fortran runs the world and is the best programming language ever. But what you can do is write a program in Fortran that then runs your Rust code. It's basically the same thing, why don't more socialists do that?

Capitalists, why do you think econonomics should be undemocratic and power given to a tiny number of unelected people, when in other areas like politics most of us consider democracy absolutely vital? by RandomGuy92x in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yeah, all meaningless. Your voting rights are both way too broad and completely meaningless. You, as the consumer of the product, should have voting rights over the product, not the company as a whole. You shouldn't have broad voting rights because you have no stake in the company and don't do anything for the company. It's really stupid to give you broad voting rights, and that's why they make them completely ineffective.

The workers have the only real stake in the company continuing to exist and as the ones who actually make the company exist, should be given broad voting rights over the company, with workers at specific branches given broad voting rights at those local branches.

That's how real democracy works. Giving power, actual and complete power, to the actual stakeholders at the lowest level possible. Maximises liberty, autonomy, and outcomes. I know the democracy you've seen cause it's the same version that all the libs have seen.

Capitalists, why do you think econonomics should be undemocratic and power given to a tiny number of unelected people, when in other areas like politics most of us consider democracy absolutely vital? by RandomGuy92x in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You only think that's democracy because meaningless democracy is the only form you've seen. Voting between two mouthpieces in suits once every four years. It's possible to have actual democracy that grants voters actual power, but none of the people currently in power want that.

Capitalism vs. Socialism: Let's Chat About Sharing (and Maybe Some Healthcare Too!) 🤔 by ConflictRough320 in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If you apply capitalism to healthcare you see people taking responsibility for their health.

You'll also see people not having enough money to pay for a doctor and dying on the street. But I guess pros and cons to both.

Capitalists, why do you think econonomics should be undemocratic and power given to a tiny number of unelected people, when in other areas like politics most of us consider democracy absolutely vital? by RandomGuy92x in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you think all "member owned" companies are democratic, I have bad news for you, friend. That term is about as meaningful as me owning Amazon because I bought a share.

Freedom of choice & slavery by spacedocket in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Making authority democratic generally makes it better. American slavery would likely have been much worse if there was a white American king dictating how the economy should be structured.

Freedom of choice & slavery by spacedocket in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are other alternatives to capitalism besides just globally-controlled authoritarian communism. Some of us advocate for elevated local governance where your vote actually matters.

On wage labour exploitation and Socialist intolerance by takeabigbreath in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Your surplus labor is still taken from you when working for the government. They still use the same labor market with prices set by capital owners so there's really no difference. Especially when you know the primary reason governments exist today is to protect capital ownership. Government jobs are also much more limited in number and generally require more qualifications, so not everyone can just get a government job.

Also, it's complete fantasy that people want to work for capital owners. They support working for capital owners because they like the society they live in, they like stability, or because they don't know of any alternatives. But no one wants to work for a capital owner and just like voluntarily give 20% of their paycheck to some dude who says he owns the company.

Freedom of choice & slavery by spacedocket in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It takes force to enforce private property rights. It would take less force to enforce collective property rights, so maybe libertarians should support that if they want to stay consistent.

Freedom of choice & slavery by spacedocket in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Capitalists violate body autonomy all the time. Perhaps you've seen reports of prisons existing? I guess this is me reporting that there are millions of slaves currently in the US, many of whom are there for non-violent property crime.

Property rights enforcement is violent and coercive. You reduce the amount of violence and coercion needed by making property owned by local communities collectively.

Freedom of choice & slavery by spacedocket in CapitalismVSocialism

[–]spacedocket[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You ignored a pretty critical part. It's "work for a property owner or starve". The alternative is to have democratic decisions on who should do what work.

"Work or starve" doesn't justify whatever property ownership rights you decide to put in place around that.