Comment by drawkward
1 year ago
Spoken as if there was only one single binary option for investment!
The strategy implies that the marginal value of the lack of ethics/the personality type to do that is the thing thats worth investment. If thats true, then venture capitalism and perhaps capitalism itself is super fucked: a machine for developing and rewarding the worst impulses of humanity.
Investors cheer when Uber, Lyft, and UPS drivers are treated as contractors.
They frown when they try to advocate for more rights, better employment conditions, and better pay.
Such is the nature of modern capitalism.
The Costco's and James Sinegal's of the world are few and rare; I wish we'd see more companies and leadership teams that valued labor and were more ethical. But a survey of the most successful CEO's (Ellison, Zuckerberg, Musk, et al) and companies leads us to believe that such principles are often opposed to the machinations of capitalism.
> capitalism
It's business under the laws, regulations, customs, and choices of American business in 2024.
I say that because, while 'capitalism' is a significant element, many people (not you) justify or rationalize their behavior or the current 'system' by asserting it's a law of human nature or economics, not their choices that yield their behavior and the system, and both can change. It's like criminals who say 'hate the game, not the player'.
Inevitability is a lazy argument for lazy thinkers and irresponsible people (again, to emphasize, the parent didn't make it). It's the corruption of power - they can do what they want, and therefore nobody can compel them to think harder and get better results.
So I think it's essential to draw the distinction.
> (Ellison, Zuckerberg, Musk, et al)
Other than Ellison, even the others didn't act this way a decade ago. Silicon Valley was built by a different ethos - 'don't be evil'. Power corrupts.
Yes. That's exactly what capitalism is.
Poe's Law: can't tell if serious or sarcastic.
At any rate, emergent behaviors can arise from complex systems, and thats exactly what I am alleging of (venture) capitalism at this stage of its evolution. If you have differences of opinion, by all means share them.
The American economic system is and always has been designed explicitly to extract the maximum profit from any venture at any cost.
See: children mangled in factories, minimum wage laws, the oil industry, pretty much every OSHA regulation.
If capitalism were at all capable of recognizing any externalities at all, we wouldn't have to create a vast legal system to protect workers, they would be treated safely and fairly because that is an ethically valuable thing to do.
If capitalism were capable of considering morals, ethics, or even the law in general, we would live in a much better world. However, capitalists regularly dodge taxes while extracring wealth from any natural or human resources that exist. They then simply hoard that wealth. Remember we're living in the worst wealth inequality in this country's history. Global warming caused by the oil industry is wrecking the planet. Amazon warehouse workers get docked pay for using the bathroom and AI companies are pointing cameras at drivers to measure how often they blink.
I have no clue how you can look at the world around you and not see the rampant exploitation and value extraction. The US is in a very bad way because of it. Increased poverty, homelessness, starvation.
Hell, just look at our for-profit medical industry. People regularly go bankrupt due to ludicrous and exploitative price gouging. Tell me how ethical capitalism creates a system where hospitals are owned by private investment firms who squeeze the sick and dying for every cent they have and more.
Capitalism does not, and fundamentally cannot consider ethics. Only profit.
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