“Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men, for the nastiest of motives, will somehow work together for the benefit of all.”—John Maynard Keynes
I’ve been saying this for years. Some douchebag will always pop up to argue with me saying that under capitalism, the serfs have a choice of whether to work for this king or that king (er, I mean, Company)… and I just laugh and laugh. And point to the existence of Company Towns as a concrete example.
Also under classic Feudalism the lords usually did not micromanage your farm. At harvest time the collector would pass by and you had to fill your quota. How you got there was your problem but also your choice. It was often terrible because the quota was unrealistic, but you had an agency over your own work, that people today often lack.
Oh yeah, that’s because the vast majority of people beleive we jumped straight from feudalism to capitalism, without merchantislism in between.
That’s where a lot of the disconnect comes in. In a world of cottage industries and small holdings, choice really could mean something. Everyone being ruthlessly self interested could’ve, potentially, worked out. Without market makers etc. the best idea and the brightest people may well have risen to the top and the market could’ve made that happen.
However, that was merchantislism. In the world of capitalism, that’s make believe fantasy nonsense that shows capitalists to be just as utopian as any socialist.
I mean, it was literally invented, due to the changes brought about by the industrial because the aristocracy were terrified they might have to start working for a living. It wasn’t some natural state we defaulted to. It didn’t happen by magic or divine providence. It wasn’t chosen because it was the most fair or stood up to scrutiny the best.
Nope, it’s literally the greed and entitled laziness of the British upper classes, expressed in economic form.
Good points. I feel like mercantilism would have evolved naturally into capitalism even without the catalyst of the upper classes and their influence. But that’s another topic entirely.
Do company towns still exist?
When I meet someone in Seattle, I ask them if they work for Amazon or Microsoft. Usually I’m correct.
See also: cities where the healthcare system or hospital system is the largest employer.
Kings actually used to take care of their subjects, unlike modern capitalists’ CEOs.
No, lots of kings were brutal tyrants and/or totally incompetent rulers. The ones who took care of their subjects and who were wise and competent were extremely rare. These were the philosopher kings Plato wanted as rulers.
By what metric?
CEOs take care of thier subjects very well.
Thier subjects: $$$
There should be a system that pays for producing value to all life. Something bigger than UN.
This is totally possible under actual democracy, the only challenge is getting enough people to the point where they’re not voting against their own long-term interests, and voting system’s robust enough to withstand the influence of capital.
What I mean is, there are governments around the world already funding positive things, on the collective purse.
It’s just at the moment, it pales in comparison to the stranglehold capitalism has over our economies.
Just saying, we don’t need to wait for the entire world to join hands to move towards socialism.
And professionals instead of priests.
And like, specifically bureaucratic profesionals. There’s plenty of us out here with real jobs that require experience and specialty knowledge like skilled trades, culinary, medical, etc, but then there’s those asshats that pretend “synergy” is a thing and for some reason they make the most money???
How some have been deposed; some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;
Some poison’d by their wives: some sleeping kill’d;
All murder’d: for within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a kingDon’t most small farmers in the west at least own their own land. So not really like feudalism but I get your point.
Just as residents in cities are progressively owning less of the land they live on family farmers are being pushed out by corporate megafarms.
Ahh a small rural subset of the population rules their own land. But unfortunately they don’t own the rights to their seeds, farming equipment, and the food they produce (sometimes). They produce things that sell for so little sometimes they can’t be independent and need trade agreements with other feudal lords that work them to death. Aka a farmer still gets groceries at Walmart, healthcare, seeds from big seed Corp, and tractors from John deere so much so most small independent farmers are closing up shop
I beleive most farms in the UK are leased now days. Not sure about anywhere else though.
Debatable honestly. People inherited who were so bat shit insane even the “free market” can’t do worse.
Insane people inherit wealth today and lead their “kingdom” to ruin only to be proper up by somebody else only to fail again.
We just haven’t had this type of capitalism for long enough to see many Neros that had infinite power and then ruin it completely. We are in the holy Roman empire with 1000+ kingdoms constantly in strive with each other. Some are more powerful than others and ever so often one completely shits the bed because the inherited child is an absolute buffoon.
Also, it was by no means always inheritance. Quite often it was the most power hungry psychopath that won.
I’ll pay you more. Come with me! Well, that and God said that I should be king. It is my divine right! My great grandpa made a deal with his great grandpa! Oh, and never fight uphill, me boys. Not good.
I mean there were counts and dukes and shit too. But yeah.
LMAO bro never heard about Caligula.
He surely thinks Ivan the terrible was great with people hahahha
LMAO bro never heard about Caligula.
You mean the Caligula who was assassinated after a reign shorter than a modern US presidential term? Is that the Caligula that you claim OP is ignorant of and you’re not?
Yeah sort of, in the sense of the classes being so far apart. And nepotism hires can feel like hereditary rule.
But companies don’t generally go to war with each other. The comparison falls apart if you think about it too hard.
Mergers and acquisitions are quite combative at times, albeit not physically.
When it comes to going outside the western countries, companies absolutely do use violence to get their goals. There is multiple mining companies waging war on indigenous people in South America and Africa, murdering them to steal their lands. Look for the term Banana republic to see how US companies used to slaughter striking employees, etc…
I get that there are similarities, because capitalism came from feudalism. In feudalism the serfs were trading their labor for military safety provided by the king. The king got most of the resources from the serfs, but the serfs got something out of it too. While capitalism you are exchanging labor directly for money. Serfs generally had no ability to leave their kingdom. Under capitalism the employees can choose to quit and work for someone else. They could also start their own business. Starting your own kingdom wouldn’t have gone so well under feudalism.
That’s why capitalism and feudalism are two different words. They mean two different things.
