a capitalist without capital is called "a fool"

when anticommunists tell u that “you havent paid attention to history” or “you need to study history” what theyre really saying is “why wont you take at face value the biased and often reductionist history you were taught by capitalists about why socialism is evil”. when they talk about “studying history” theyre not interested in talking about every coup the cia backed, every terrorist group the us funded in order to “fight communists”, every war that imperialist powers started over profit, or every innocent person killed in those wars. they dont want to talk about the history of violent racism and police brutality, or about every person the us government has tortured, or the history of suppression of leftists and the working class, or how companies fund right wing death squads, they just want to say “the ussr is why communism is bad”

govts and corporations have deliberately put the onus on yr individual choices so the system can continue being as destructive/profitable

God bless this post this pisses me off so much Also this hyper-individualist shift of responsibility is largely an American thing and consumerism is framed as a solution- e.g., buy more shit that’s sustainable! That’ll fix the problem (buy a new, green water bottle! buy a new, green car! buy a new, green whatever-the-fuck that’ll just ultimately produce more waste)!

Thank you.

Extra important note for spoonies. Please don’t feel bad for needing disposable medical equipment, pill bottles, long showers, micro fiber blankets, packaged pre-made food, straws, paper plates etc. You’re not individually ruining the environment, you’re doing the best you can while taking care of yourself. The blame is on corporations.

And now this ridiculous straw ban nonsense. They FEEL like they’re accomplishing something so that’s all that matters. And they simply don’t care or don’t believe disabled voices.

they’re certainly trying - spread the word about game workers unite! https://www.gameworkersunite.org/about-us

I’m so tired of this bullshit. Individual capitalists maximize their own self-gain through the accumulation of profits, while the state as an institution enacts policies that look out for the longevity of capital as a whole, specifically when the choices of disparate capitalists cause crises or civil unrest. Some Keynesianism here, some worker concessions there. That isn’t socialism – those policies are created to prolong capitalism and prevent socialism (i.e. prolong capital accumulation and top-down ownership over the means of production, and prevent worker self-management and broader economic democracy). The state, through its structural functions, maintains the status quo and keeps capital accumulation going into the long-term. You can call this “corporatism” or “cronyism” or whatever the hell else, but it will never change the fact that the preconditions of “pure capitalism” will always give rise to a legitimizing apparatus with a monopoly on violence to maintain the class stratification of “pure capitalism”, and after probably two days you’d end up with “cronyism” (read: capitalism as it has always existed) all over again.

Even the scant universal basic income proposals in the mainstream discourse are ultimately about prolonging capital accumulation. Experts who advocate UBIs (without any further transformation of social/class relations) are essentially arguing their point from the perspective of, “If we redistribute scraps down to the masses, it will prevent crisis and civil unrest and the job creators can continue doing what they do.” Literally, capital accumulation is the engine through which our entire political economy functions – the factor most linked to power and policy, the deciding factor of all issues at the end of the day. I don’t see how you could possibly disconnect the top-down nature of the economy from the supposedly bottom-up nature of the political system, but to repeat myself: the former will always determine the latter, and there’s no escaping it. Bottom-up political economy is the only solution.

And I’m not saying in this post that you shouldn’t support worker concessions and UBIs when they come up — or that class struggle shouldn’t fight for them. They will make a lot of people’s lives easier and more fulfilling. But it won’t solve the core problems of capitalism and that capital-accumulation engine I mentioned above. I mostly wanted to emphasize that every issue inevitably needs to be framed through that lens under capitalism, and how that impacts the political system, and how oblivious right-wing libertarians are in their analysis of capitalism and “corporatism”.

Its always been like this. Give just enough concessions to the social reformers and workers that it staves off a revolt. Im tired of people hailing certain “liberal” presidents for this.

They only loosen one chain because they’ve come up with newer better ones.

i’m very tired, you guys realize poor people are allowed to spend money on items that aren’t just needed for survival, right? you guys know poor people can save 10 dollars every paycheck or something so they can buy a video game or a tattoo or go to a fancy restaurant, right? you realize poor people don’t have to act like 16th century peasants in order to be considered poor and need money? like you do know poor people are allowed to fucking enjoy things, don’t you?

the queen could literally intervene and stop british children from being so malnourished that there has been a widespread return of rickets in the country but she won’t. kate and baldy could do something about this instead of going to various ex-colonies of britain and lecturing locals about the dangers of having too many children whilst they are expecting their third inbred freeloader but they won’t. megan markle and ginger are going on a £120,000 honeymoon. whilst children forced into poverty by the tories fill their pockets with food at school just to get through the weekend. the lifestyle and entitlement of the royal family remains absolutely and completely morally indefensible.

Also no taxes, no special labels. So if you want to label your product “made in America”, but don’t pay your taxes, too bad. Want to use government certifications? You better pay those taxes. FDA approval? Better be paying those taxes. Run out of money? Too bad you didn’t pay your taxes, cause you can’t file for bankruptcy.

Holy shit, this is getting better each time.

This is why the whole ‘taxation is theft’ idea doesn’t work. At their core, businesses exist to make money. Money that is created and given value by the government. If your business doesn’t want to pay taxes to ensure the continued operation of the government, then what right does it have to use its currency? Your money has no value outside of the value assigned to it by the government, so you can’t lay claim to any value you supposedly have before paying your dues to the organization that gives your paper slips meaning.

So he gave millions and you gave $40 and feel like you’re doing more?