Don't blame me, I voted for the other guy. (Politics General)

@tehwatever  
The term is often used in America to describe eccentricities in capitalism. Here it’s used in a political context to make the argument: “capitalism is failing the people, let’s look at alternatives”, ignoring the unusual situation we are in.

@silbasa  
Come to think of it: Maybe capitalism don’t work in unusual situations and we should look for alternative?? How can you expect people to play the capitalism game when they don’t have the capital to play the game with?!
 
That’s like you inviting ya boys to play a multiplayer PS5 game on when nobody has it. You could either give everyone a PS5 (which is unlikely, considering lack of stock) or settle for a previous gen consoles.
 
Same with capitalism. Currently ppl ain’t got houses nor jobs because of the pandemic. No house no job means no capital, means nobody is playing capitalism. You COULD, give everyone money (which, in a lot of people’s opinion is promoting laziness, whatever that means) or you could settle for other welfare programs like shelters healthcare, job offers or heck, eliminate their debts at least.
 
We is in an unusual situation like you sez, which could mean the usual capitalist system isn’t suitable for it. Unless you somehow believe the current system is disaster proof and if ppl just suck it up and eat dirt for a while, it’ll work itself out.

@tehwatever  
Hence why governments offered aid and stimulus packages to keep the economy on life support during the lockdowns. That can’t last forever though, money eventually runs out if no one pays taxes. 😉

@silbasa  
The alternative would be the altruism and goodwill of the 1% and let them eat bread instead of cake for the remainder of the year and help these people out. The money is there. But they’re in private hands which is inaccessible. Ideally these one-percent-er is geneorous enough to be spending hundreds of millions to welfare without asking anything in return. It’s a crisis. Help out.

“Muh Capitalism again”
 
Lol, “late stage Capitalism” is a meme, shown by what was posted about the Dow and the unemployment claims. This isn’t late stage Capitalism, it’s financial markets flush with cash after years of FED policy mixed with a government shutdown.

@Thanotos Omega  

 
The Bible was written by Gamers
 
@Dustcan  
Ah I remember the start of the pandemic  
It really felt like the beginnings of new times  
Really Bad new times, but new times regardless

@silbasa  

 
Well then there’s the Catch 22 isn’t it? If the analogy is wrong then that means we need to get fixing. Unless there’s nothing wrong, in which case Capitalism is working as intended.

@Dustcan  
This is basically capitalism in a nutshell.
 

 
A bunch of rich folks doing anything to keep their large amount of money, even going as low as to restrict basic human rights.

@Penguin Dragneel  
Makes sense.

@Dustcan  
The term you use originates from a political ideology I am not a fan of at all. Said ideology has a vested interest in making capitalism/market economy look as bad as possible no matter how it performs. Obviously the reason we now have problems is the current pandemic, not capitalism.
 
@Penguin Dragneel  
@igotnopicks  
No. Just no. We have never been better off than we are today. I don’t know where you find all this nonsense…

@silbasa  

 
WTF are you talking about? Catch-22 is a novel, you ignoramus.
 

 
Well, clearly it doesn’t make any for you, but since it’s you…
 
Oh, and if minimum wage had followed productivity, it would be nearly four times higher already.

@silbasa  
You say that, and yet countless people are out of jobs, a bunch of hillbillies are trying to undermine democracy, and the government can’t do s##t about it due to the dumbass in-fighting.
 
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if this really was who you are.
 

@silbasa  
Dude I live in California the minunum wage in this state is like $15.00 because everything is too damn expensive.

@Penguin Dragneel  
No no, that’s GREED.
 
Capitalism is a system that encourages the community to pool resources together to produce goods and services, whose profits AND losses are then given to whoever was contributing to the production. It’s a neat way to incentivize people to give up some of their capital with the promise of a future profit. Also a neat way to get people who aren’t skilled but have money, to also contribute.
 
Capitalism with altruism and a much fairer wealth distribution and less broken welfare and healthcare system can exist.
 
@silbasa  
Here’s an analogy. The way I see it, the pandemic is rain, and the current capitalism is a house I’m putting on sale. Imagine it’s raining when I’m showing a potential buyer around the house.
 
Potential buyer: It’s LEAKING!  
Me: It’s the rain. The house works perfectly otherwise.

@Ereiam  
Not talking about “catch 22” but “late stage capitalism”…
 
I cannot say how much the US minimum wage can be raised before costs rise elsewhere. Economics is a tricky subject. It can probably be raised some but must be done with great care.
 
@Penguin Dragneel  

@Penguin Dragneel  
Actually, silbasa is a combination of TheQuartering and this guy…  

@NitroFury  
Heh Jay from RLM. They’re cool.

@tehwatever  
Capitalism always incentivizes profit over everything else  
Want proof, look no further then my country
 
Recently, there has been a giant debate over lorries transporting construction workers(who are 99% of the time migrant workers) to their work sites because as it turns out, it kills people because lorries aren’t designed to transport people
 
When word got to our Government, they said that while yes, construction workers being transported around in lorries is incredibly dangerous and should not be done, the Government wasn’t going to do anything about it because it would cause, in the words of Minister Amy Khor, “Regulatory changes at this time will cause even more acute pain to the industry”.  
This is doublespeak for “rip to you but construction companies profits over your lives”  
As a result, no change has been done to this practice in spite of the fact that it has already killed several people this year

@Penguin Dragneel  
Yes, we are coming out of a recession resulting from a government policy in response to a pandemic. Even under those circumstances you are better off now then you would be 20 years ago.

@Commune  
I disagree. What you’re describing is a profit-centric system. But I’m totally with you in disliking the putting of profit over the health and wellbeing of its workers. An altruistic, people-centric capitalist government would have pushed for regulatory changes DESPITE the initial pain to the industry.
 
Like I’ve been saying over and over. The problem is greed and lust for more gains at the expense of others. But that’s a human issue.

@tehwatever  
What do you think capitalism is? From the beginning it has always been profit centric  
By mere virtue of competition it incentivizes profit seeking over anything else  
You make $100 more than that other guy and you are worth more than him and can crush him out of competition in time.
 
Capitalism makes those who seek profits richer than those who seek “morality”, it isn’t “an human issue” as you think it  
I mean it is, but only in the sense that capitalism is a human system

@tehwatever  
Capitalism would be fine if it wasn’t pushed heavily by greedy rich men who overwork their employees and hoard the earnings all for themselves.
 
So in other words, people like Bobby Kotick.
 
@Background Pony #27FA  
I’d be inclined to agree with you if this current year was 2014. But it isn’t.
 
@NitroFury  
Unless the product is even remotely left-leaning, in which case he’d be the exact opposite.

@Commune  
This is why capitalism needs an external actor to enforce “morality”. Otherwise you end up re-enacting any number of cyberpunk novels. If Coke gets a better ROI from blowing up a Pepsi plant with a truck bomb than making a new flavor, their fiduciary duty is to start buying ammonium nitrate–unless there’s a government to tell them no.

It’s almost as if Capitalism’s revolutionary nature has long since passed and historical progress can only be made with its replacement.
 
Welcome to the global Carolingian State.

@Commune  
Well, the drive does not HAVE to be about profit in Capitalism. The core drive here for people in any system is self interest. It doesn’t matter if it is socialism, communism, fascism, or capitalism because at the end of the day people are worried about their own self interest. Most people read that as greed, and in economics the assumption is a business’ goal is to maximize profit. The assumption is a good one for analysis but in the real world it gets messy.
 
Comments like
 
@Background Human
 
are cynical, but don’t necessarily hold up since the morality of the people would oppose this, the consumers would oppose this, and the same applies to owners of the company. The government doesn’t have to enforce the morality. (Arguing fiduciary is pointless since you’d be arguing what is essentially a legal mandate on a legal entity, both of those already require a government).
 
So basically you could have a Capitalist system where the companies in question also take into account morality, companies do that now. It depends on the consumer though, it is the consumer’s job to signal what they want.
 
 
@Penguin Dragneel  
Besides the pandemic, how are you worse off now?