CAPITALISTISM STUPID, OR STUPID AND PSYCHOTIC?

Discussion in 'The Political/Current Events Coffee House' started by ComradeLer, Jan 29, 2012.

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CAPITALISM STUPID OR STUPID AND PSYCHOTIC?

STUPID 6 vote(s) 26.1%
STUPIO AND PSYCHOTIC 17 vote(s) 73.9%
  1. Karakoran Well-Known Member

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    And what of the Philosopher? The Artist? The Historian?
    At the very least, student loans curb the opportunities people can have at college. You yourself said they must have a high paying field to be able to do so.
    We're not discussing the petty bourgeoisie, either.
    No, he stole the majority of his money from his workers, and then his daughter sucked it up like the leach she is.
    I meant like prior savings, help from family members, etc. Anything. Not necessarily welfare.
    I'm sure a single room apartment could be under 900 dollars, but not one for ~3 people. Unless your saying that a family of four or five should cram into a single bed. Then, good luck.
  2. Lenin Cat Well-Known Member

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    My anarcho-syndicalism brings all the workers to the yard and there like this socio-economic is better then yours, I could teach you but I need to expropriate.
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  3. Viking Socrates I am Mad Scientist

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    And then a capitalist bought the yard and put everyone into wage slavery the end.
  4. slydessertfox Total War Branch Head

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    My mom has $14 in her savings account...
  5. Karakoran Well-Known Member

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    Erm, ok.
  6. slydessertfox Total War Branch Head

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    The historian can become a professor or a teacher. If you honestly expect to get anywhere in the way of the arts, you would be an idiot to go to college for just that to begin with.



    Explain how he "stole" it.


    It had 2 bedrooms as a matter of fact.
  7. pedro3131 Running the Show While the Big Guy's Gone

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    So people who provide little to no value to society should be paid at the same way that people who put criminals behind bars, or save peoples lives?

    You've been listening too much to Lenin Cat if you honestly think that a guy who built a hotel empire out of thin air stole most of his money from his workers. Without him there wouldn't be a hotel in the first place, so the idea that he's stole money from workers who wouldn't have a job if not for him is just silly

    Pro tip, rent actually goes up the less people are trying to live there. ie, single beds cost more then doubles which cost more then triples etc. That's not even including you splitting costs, that's just the rates they give you. In case you were wondering I have a 2 bedroom apartment in the downtown area where I pay $400/month. Single room rates are around 6-900 for a modest apartment, 12-1800 for a nice apartment.
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  8. Lenin Cat Well-Known Member

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    Of course they wouldn't be wage slaves without the wage slaver. The hotel wouldnt be built because the capitalist class holds a near monopoly on capital. Its insanely hard for workers to start cooperatives because of capital costs. Under the dynamics of any direct socialist economy, these arguments would be null and void, workers would make hotels and they would all have a equal share, get equal pay, or operate under a gift economy. Its exactly the same as the chattel slave owners of the 1700's USA saying if they didn't force those black slaves to work they would not have such a high quality of life compared to Africa.
  9. pedro3131 Running the Show While the Big Guy's Gone

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    It's not the same at all. The fact that wage slavery theory is presented as "like slavery" shows that it is not the same. Being sucked into a cycle of labor in order to sustain oneself is completely different from being physically coerced into labor. I'm sure the notion that their lives are no different then the average middle class american would be very confronting to the child sex slave in southeast asia, but there's a stark contrast in the realities.
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  10. Lenin Cat Well-Known Member

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    The first part of my paragraph is still correct.
  11. Yarpen Well-Known Member

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    I disagree. I think an artist or a philosopher provides equal value to society that any other proffesional. Of course, it may not be an immediate or a tangible value (I really don't know how to explain this in English lol).
  12. slydessertfox Total War Branch Head

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    Please explain how an artist provides the same amount of value to society as say a highschool math teacher.
  13. LeonTrotsky Well-Known Member

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    I think I know what you're trying to say. The artist has value, but no immediate value. One could argue that their value is greater, but only in the extreme long term
  14. Yarpen Well-Known Member

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    A cultural value. But meh, culture is extremely overrated, useless thing. It's hard to explain per se, I find harder to explain in another language.
  15. Karakoran Well-Known Member

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    Do it in Espanolo and use Google Translate!

    Yes, Capitalism let's people choose where to work, if there's any jobs for them to choose from. Capitalism let's people choose not to use their system, if they want to pick berries in a shack on some God forsaken commune in the desert. Capitalism doesn't force people to take any form of debt, if they don't want to get any proper education, permanent housing, or much mobility.

    It's different than child sex slavery, but it's not exactly freedom and sunshine.

    I never said that in the slightest. I said if people want to become an artist or a philosopher and have a nature ability to do so they should not be held back by capital.
    I'm by no means Anarchistic in the slightest. Lenin Cat would say I need to listen to him more.
    If not for him, someone else would've done it. He merely stumbled upon the opportunity first. It is ridiculous to think that without him thousands of people would simply be unemployed.
    Well that's counter-intuitive. Also it's more $600-$800 a month for a two room apartment.
    http://www.apartments.com/search/?query=Tucson, AZ&bedchkvalue=2&stype=CityStateOrZip
    Anyway, that's still a huge section of your income for a poor family.
    The Average Household Income in America is $45,000. Keep in mind, this includes things like doctors and professors, although not the super rich. It's even lower for most truly poor families.
    $45,000 divided by 30 months = $~3,500 a month.
    Now, assuming this is a Nuclear Family (1 working father, 1 mother, two children):
    3 room apartment where you wont get shot -> $750 a month
    food per person -> let's call it $40 a week, because they're packing light -> $40 x 4(weeks in a months) x 4(people in family) -> $640 a month
    The average cost for auto insurance -> $120
    Already we're at about $1,500, over half the income.
    Not to mention, furnishing, clothing, any sort of love interest, telephone, debts payments(everything from student loans to car loans), deposits (which you may or may not get back), internet, television and all other sorts of entertainment, say, video games and cable...

    Not to mention unexpected costs like auto repairs and medical payments, or even insurances like fire insurance or health insurance. Fuck if they have anything saved for College.
  16. pedro3131 Running the Show While the Big Guy's Gone

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    About barriers to entry and start up costs? Its true but only to an extent. Shall we gander into the life of Hilton to see what wealth and privilege he was born into in order to afford his empire? Oh wait, we was born a midst 6 other siblings to the son of an immigrant. He worked hard and through hard work and shrewd investments was able to form the largest hotel chain in the world. What did he do upon his death? Did he leave his vast fortune to his unworthy family? No, he donated it all to charity. Of course his son contested the will and received about half of the fortune, but then he announced that upon his death, he would be donating 97% of his fortune to charity.

    If you look at most of the great robber barons they built themselves up out of nothing, and rose to their great heights out of their own merit. Also, other then Steve Jobbs, almost all of them wind up giving away most of their fortune when they pass
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  17. Karakoran Well-Known Member

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    No, he can't because there's incredibly few jobs of that nature.

    Oh ok, so cultural value is worthless? If it doesn't turn a quick buck, it's not worth doing? I'm sure that's exactly what our Founding Fathers had in mind.

    He never toiled to earn his millions. He never lifted the bags up the stairs, never unclogged the toilets, never meticulously logged check ins and outs of every customer.

    His workers did it all. Sure, he may have put in more effort than the lone accountant, but his workers combined deserved the majority share.
  18. Yarpen Well-Known Member

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    About the Hilton stuff, let's also said that when the "empire" began it were another times.
  19. pedro3131 Running the Show While the Big Guy's Gone

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    If you guys want to believe in wage slavery, go ahead. I think it's completely backward logic, but if that's how you want to view the world then by all means. Just don't go denigrating the hardships endured by real salves by calling them the same thing

    You know what they say about assumptions... My fault for only reading the last page. Still though, if someone wants to do something that has no value to anyone but themselves, they should be free to do so, but why should society have to pay for it? If I want to dedicate my life to studying why a blade of grass in my yard is leaning slightly to the left, why on earth should society be forced to let me indulge this?

    He took a failing hotel and made it so successful that he was able to buy up another hotel, and so on so on. Without his influence these hotels would have failed, and the hotels he independently built would never have been built.

    I'm glad you've done a little bit of research, but as someone who's living off of 800-1000 dollars a month while attending school full time I can say that most of the data is wrong. I pay 400 in rent, 100 in utilities (including internet / cable), 200 in groceries (this would obviously be higher for a family situation), 100 for my cell phone, maybe 50-100 on luxuries (including going out, grabbing a monster or a Gatorade over the course of the day) and the rest I use to pay off my massive credit debt. The logic behind renters charging more for single occupancy rooms is it uses the same amount of space for less people. Even in less direct situations (where a single occupancy room is smaller then the double) you could still configure the building space in a way to allow more tenants and thus more $. I was similarily shocked when I first started looking for apartments, but just look at the floor plans/prices here: http://vistadelsol.com/floorplans

    btw this is the most popular apartment for ASU students living off campus, meaning it's on the higher end of prices because of it's popularity, location, and amenities



    For the record, the guy who founded the Ritz started as the 19th century equivalent of a bus boy in the hotel restaurant...
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  20. Yarpen Well-Known Member

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    Was that a reference to philosophy?

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