Comment by nekusar
8 hours ago
Properly planning the economy, ala the Chinese tier system, is a good thing.
They have 3 tiers. Its called 新基建 - *Xīn Jījiàn
Top tier is for essentials like food, electricity, internet/comms, water, sewer. Heavily controlled, usually state owned companies.
Middle tier is stuff that's integrated into essential tier.
Lower tier is forefront of tech, and not at all critical for life.
And a reminder that even fucks like Nestle said that water is not a human right. But every capitalist would do their damndest to put a sale price on anything they could. They'd charge breathing if possible.
This is not that dissimilar to the US. The government either controls directly or is very heavily involved in all those things you listed in the top tier.
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.
Every non capitalist would force you to work in random job they assign or force you to obey some rule or law they wrote for their own interest. 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.
alternatively, non capitalist eras had real famines and lead to millions starving and dead. but sure putting a price for product/service after risking lots of capital is the real enemy, lmao. why biggest famines mostly happened in non capitalist places is real historical detail with lots of facts.
The irony of defending capitalism's record on human rights with that username...and I'm speaking as someone who likes capitalism.
So you are from Europe, then? :-D
> 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.
> 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.
Unfortunately thats only a portion of the story. They had LOTS of crops and meat. The Irish were not *permitted* to eat any of it on threat of death by the English.
Ireland was an occupied country since Elizabeth met with Pirate Queen Grace O'Malley in 1593 up to 1921, where half the country won their freedom. Northern Ireland still is a territory of England.
Prior to that, during The Famine, the Irish were forced to ship all "good" food to England. That left them to eat predominantly potatoes. We all know about the monoculture, and the potato blight.
As a corollary, Irish are to Potatoes, as Black Americans are to chicken and watermelon. Its a massive racial insult, and similar in magnitude.
But no, it was the predominant capitalist country of that age that systematically drained all wealth from Ireland. As is the story of capitalism everywhere.
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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.
Usually the elite in communist countries went to capitalist countries for health care. Their kids were sent to capitalist countries for schooling. Everyone else was stuck with plenty of rights on paper but very hard to get needed. And communist countries usually build walls to prevent people leaving, why is that if their are so great?
Inside non capitalist places, those solutions dont even get to EXIST. Nobody even cares about nasty disease solution and funding. They don't get invented or they are not allowed for your use, by design. This is a very narrow view and what a word salad.
Now tell me name of the great "Communist countries" that exist today and they are big and have lots of great things to pursue humankind and human lifespan.
I will wait for the name of those counties :)
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