I drink your milkshake! a metaphor for capitalism

[rickyb]

this guy bashes capitalism and promotes worker cooperatives more than anyone i know and for that he is my favorite teacher / activist.

a few years ago when i first started listening to him, he was only pulling 1000 views or so on his monthly economic updates on youtube. some of them are now above 100,000.

this is the first time ive ever seen him on fox.

 

[rickyb]

capitalism, with its propaganda which keeps the system going, seeks to keep us cynical, separated, and fighting amongst one another, and indifferent to one another.

in this system, people have to firstly think (which alot of us arent doing), and ask what does it mean to be moral, and then actually practice being a good person.

im rewatching the 3 movies i know with the crazies (taxi driver, dark knight, and fight club) and i think this quote is very true:

They need you right now, but when they don't, they'll cast you out, like a leper! You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these... these civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve.

 

[rickyb]

This is very important firstly because capitalism is an imperfect (not even ideal in my books) system, and secondly it was the american socialists, communists, and unions which forced FDR to pass the new deal during the great depression.

Democratic Socialists of America Celebrate Record Membership in Chicago. Now What?

The Democratic Socialists of America are meeting there this week as part of the group’s biannual convention. In the wake of a surge of new interest over the past year, the organization announced earlier this week that it now has 25,000 dues-paying members — a historic peak for the group that makes it the largest socialist organization in the country since World War II.

David Duhalde, DSA’s Deputy Director, was brought on by the organization in 2015. He told The Intercept that shortly before the November election, the organization had between 7,000 to 8,000 members. On November 9, they started seeing supporters of Vermont’s Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential run and others flooding into DSA.

...Polling done earlier this year by the American Culture & Faith Institute found that 37 percent of American adults now say they prefer socialism to capitalism. Among millennials, the divide is even sharper. A Harvard University survey taken last year found that 51 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 no longer say they support capitalism.

 

[rickyb]

one of the major problems of capitalism is that it centralizes power, and with that you get corruption. so if your boss doesnt like you, you might have a hard time getting what you want. luckily i think my boss does like me.

the socialist worker cooperative alternative to capitalism decentralizes power in many places where capitalism would centralize it.

 

[rickyb]

so im thinking the UPS shooting in cali was preventable if it wasnt for UPS being a capitalist corporation which makes alot of money at the expense of worker's happiness in addition to coworkers with abysmal social skills. those people didnt have to die, but hey if you want an omelet you gotta break a few eggs, so this is the cost of doing business this way.

imagine all the people who think about workplace violence, not necessarily commit it. its a reminder that our lives are not our own.

i joke with one of my bosses who has abysmal social skills that if he keeps talking to us like that, someones gonna shoot up the place and i dont want to take a bullet because hes a fruitcake

 

[1989]

capitalism crushes imagination through its self serving propaganda.

so many of us cant imagine a better economic system (you dont have to imagine, some of it is likely already here).

we cant imagine a better world. like for example all the cheap cars are terribly boring and even the $50,000 cars are still quite boring. this is market failure. why arent we able to buy cool vintage looking new cars that look like theyre from 60s for $10,000 and have the government or whoever make it happen since the system as it is wont?

that last paragraph is a relatively ridiculous thing to say, but its true. this is boring and it stinks.

All of your posts are propaganda. Never any facts or real numbers. Only generalizations and a lot of saying "this is a better system".
People need real numbers to make informed decisions. You can't even tell me what wage is acceptable for today's worker.
For example, I can monetize my health care by looking up what it costs me to replace it. I can look at P/E ratios to compare stock values, $50 a share can be much more expensive than $90 a share. I can also compare cap rates, then analyze other factors. You need to start posting comparable numbers to convince most people.

 

[It will be fine]

All of your posts are propaganda. Never any facts or real numbers. Only generalizations and a lot of saying "this is a better system".
People need real numbers to make informed decisions. You can't even tell me what wage is acceptable for today's worker.
For example, I can monetize my health care by looking up what it costs me to replace it. I can look at P/E ratios to compare stock values, $50 a share can be much more expensive than $90 a share. I can also compare cap rates, then analyze other factors. You need to start posting comparable numbers to convince most people.

He's doing a good job of convincing me that capitalism is the best system we've come up with so far.

 

[1989]

one of the major problems of capitalism is that it centralizes power, and with that you get corruption. so if your boss doesnt like you, you might have a hard time getting what you want. luckily i think my boss does like me.

the socialist worker cooperative alternative to capitalism decentralizes power in many places where capitalism would centralize it.

"We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams"

 

[DriveInDriveOut]

"We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams"

For the rowers keep on rowing

 

[TheJerk]

https://www.reddit.com/r/path%3D%252Fr%252FFanTheories%252Fcomments%252F1kwmh9%252F

fun read on willy wonka the slave owner. I mean capitalist.

 

[TheJerk]

The Sins of the Capitalist

Many of Wonka's inventions could also be considered to illustrate the sins of the capitalist:

• Exploding candy for your enemies - the military-industrial complex
• The Golden Goose - controlling the money markets/supply
• The Eggdicator - The educational meritocracy, gate-keepers for the ruling class.
• The Wonkamobile - reckless polution, fossil fuels.
• The Everlasting Gobstopper - He instructs the children to never share their EGs with "another living soul as long as you all shall live". Why? Because he never intends to release them: it ruin him and "Slugworth" alike. Scarcity is essential for capitalism, to the point where they will artificially create scarcity in order to increase demand.

In the end, Charlie wins the factory because he returned the Everlasting Gobstopper. But Charlie broke as many rules as all the other children (he drank in the fizzy-lifting room). None of the others even had a chance to sell to Slugworth, and Varuca is the only one who definitely would have.. From this, we learn a depressing lesson: success comes not to those who follow the rules, but those who break the rules and get away with it.

Wonka then reveals that Slugworth, who was Wonka's entire excuse for shutting the gates of his factory, was completely made up! The implications of this cannot be understated. His factory represents class mobility and wealth. Getting through those gates is how you move into the ruling class. Wonka excused the limited access to his factory as an economic neccessity (protection from Slugworth). In reality, no threat existed. The gates were closed merely becaues Wonka wished them to be. By constructing false narratives, Wonka can maintain inequality and continue to exploit the Oompa Loompas, all while remaining unquestioned.

Wonka asks Charlie's forgiveness, and being fully indoctrinated, Charlie forgives him. Charlie is a capitalist now: he'll need the myths as much as Wonka did.

Finally, they enter the Wonkavator, and literally break through the glass ceiling (I mean come ON!). Wonka tells him:

I can't go on forever, and I don't really want to try. So, who can I trust to run the factory when I leave and take care of the Oompa Loompas for me? Not a grownup. A grownup would want to do everything his own way, not mine. That's why I decided a long time ago I had to find a child.

This sounds so much creepier when you view it from the standpoint of indoctrination.

The last line of the film is, therefore, is bitterly ironic. In reality, Charlie will not be happy. This young, sweet boy has been forced into a situation where he must choose between abject poverty or perpetuating the exploitative system that produced his abject poverty. Will he release the Everlasting Gobstoppers? Will he free the Oompa Loompas? Will he use his vast wealth to help people who live in squalor, as he did? He will, as a pre-teen, have to grapple with these questions. Charlie will not live happily ever after. The capitalist myth is a lie. Wonka has given him nothing but misery.

 

[TheJerk]

And yes I was one of the lucky golden ticker holders. Sorry wonkas one of my favorite films growing up.

 

[rickyb]

All of your posts are propaganda. Never any facts or real numbers. Only generalizations and a lot of saying "this is a better system".
People need real numbers to make informed decisions. You can't even tell me what wage is acceptable for today's worker.
For example, I can monetize my health care by looking up what it costs me to replace it. I can look at P/E ratios to compare stock values, $50 a share can be much more expensive than $90 a share. I can also compare cap rates, then analyze other factors. You need to start posting comparable numbers to convince most people.

i dont care. some of my posts have numbers, some of them dont. some of them are things i thought of. the fact that you probably care about certain numbers too much is a reflection of the propaganda we are surrounded by, like unemployment and stock numbers.

for example, i gauge whether i had a good day at work based on how much french and biology ive listened to, whether i made a few political statements for the day, if i made some people laugh and made peoples lives better. i know i was a good citizen for the year if i donated alot of money to political organizations.

if you really cared, you would have checked out alperovitz or richard wolff, and at least post critiques of stuff they do.

 

[rickyb]

He's doing a good job of convincing me that capitalism is the best system we've come up with so far.

theres alot of guys who say it isnt, and if you think about it, it has alot in common with state socialism which is why both system arent ideal for workers.

 

[rickyb]

 

[1989]

That's a lot of capital gains. Much needed revenue.

 

[rickyb]

That's a lot of capital gains. Much needed revenue.

the very top pays less taxes. for more see david cay johnston

 

[rickyb]

quite often true. this guy at my work and i were talking about how slow i work relative to how fast he works, and he tried justifying his actions by saying hes gonna go somewhere in life and somehow this all relates:

Democracy At Work‏ @democracyatwrk 13m13 minutes ago

if you work hard...

 

[It will be fine]

quite often true. this guy at my work and i were talking about how slow i work relative to how fast he works, and he tried justifying his actions by saying hes gonna go somewhere in life and somehow this all relates:

Democracy At Work‏ @democracyatwrk 13m13 minutes ago

if you work hard...

I know when I promote someone I always look for my slowest, least productive workers.

 

[rickyb]

I know when I promote someone I always look for my slowest, least productive workers.

thats obviously true but sometimes you wont get promoted no matter how hard you work.