Comment by pbhjpbhj

> People vote for brands.

Right, so the government should be based on brands rather than people. USA trying to make a people centric system still ended up into a brand centric republican vs democrat, just that now those brands changes dramatically every 4 years just people still vote for the brand even after it changes.

Its much more stable when you have stable political party brands like in multi party system, then a person voting for the same brand for 40 years will vote for roughly the same politics instead of it changing all the time.

The fact that PG&E exists is a clear contradiction to your statement.

In most countries, water, electricity, waste management and public transport are government controlled through and through, even if the government might sell shares to the public markets or induce competitive bidding. Except in dysfunctional countries of course.

The irony of defending capitalism's record on human rights with that username...and I'm speaking as someone who likes capitalism.

> Every non capitalist would force you to work in random job they assign

Nope. Most non-capitalist systems have a competitive school environment. Students compete for education slots for the careers they want to work in. The only people who end up assigned work are those who have basically no aptitude for higher careers.

> force you to obey some rule or law they wrote for their own interest.

There is no society, capitalist or otherwise, that isn't governed by some set of arbitrary laws, usually for the interest of the state but not always. See, for example, the MJ ban in the US.

> you don't want to do the job? or dont want to follow the law and rules? fine! go to gulag and enjoy it there.

What happens if you don't want to work in a capitalist society or you don't follow the laws? We have a gulag in the US that people are being sent to. Utah just recently criminalized homelessness.

> alternatively, non capitalist eras had real famines and lead to millions starving and dead.

Non-capitalist eras? I don't think there has ever been a true non-capitalist era. Even under the feudal system, that was still capitalism just at it's extreme "might makes right" era. Serfs were forced to do their work because of contracts they signed with their lords for protection. They had to work the fields, in exchange for housing.

There's also plenty of famines caused directly by capitalism. The most infamous one being the Irish potato famine. Ireland is extremely fertile and at the peak of the famine they had bumper crops. The reason the famine happened is because poor irish citizens relied heavily on growing crops for personal sustenance in small gardens. Potatoes being one of the most calorie dense foods for a small patch of land. When blight hit the potatoes, there was not an alternative crop these citizens could get the calories from their small land plots.

Meanwhile, they'd be working giant grain fields and maintained cattle herds which were already sold to english markets.

This famine was entirely from capitalism. The land and the people grew plenty of food, but the capitalists cared a lot more about the wheat and cattle and not the people so the Irish starved.

> putting a price for product/service after risking lots of capital is the real enemy

Yup, in the Irish market that was literally the real problem. The price was higher than the Irish wages.

> why biggest famines mostly happened in non capitalist places is real historical detail with lots of facts.

I think you are mostly just unaware of famines. Not all, for certain, have been caused by capitalism. A decent chunk have been.

And in my experience, the capitalists are SUPER OBSESSED with tallying exact numbers of dead by Communist countries.

Of course in the USA, "Nobody dies due to capitalism!" It's always a 'personal decision'.

Medicines gatekept? Talk to a doctor (state-controlled monopoly)

Go to the doctor? Cant afford it? Go die! :)

Have a nasty disease that will kill you, but pills purge it? $80k please. And insurance wont pay. Hope you can afford it. Solvaldi says hi.

Cant afford housing? There's an underpass or park for that!

Oh you're homeless now? Well, we criminalized that.

OH, so you're in jail? Enjoy substandard living conditions, lack of effective medical, poor food, and slavery. And die in prison? Not a life sentence? Fuck you, you deserved to anyways!

Groceries gouging on food (like meat or eggs or whatever)? Thats a capitalism correction.

Industry polluting your area and causing life expectancy to drop and massive reproductive harm? SHoulda chose a better neighborhood.

Even with Solvaldi, a hepatitis cure costs $84k. But it costs $300 to synthesize at home. And over 6 million people have needlessly died because the cure was capitalistically priced above their legal means. But they will all be labeled as "poor life choices", and not the correct capitalist death. https://kolektiva.media/w/uvD1wWTRoh7HEto8zeSswr - Four Thieves Vinegar Collective video in synthesizing your own pharmaceuticals to bypass capitalist deaths.

The key to capitalism is the magic word "externality". If it's external to what you're doing, you can make others suffer and die and keep your hands clean. And all of this then get shoved on the individual for "Poor Life Choices". In reality, these too are capitalist deaths, but you will *NEVER* see them marked as such.