this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2023
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[–] dingus@lemmy.ml 217 points 1 year ago (44 children)

Socialists don't hate markets, they hate workers not having any power or democratic choice in how they interact in the market.

Workers owning the means of production just means the workers are doing the same work but they are in ownership of the factory and the profits. They will still sell the products they produce in a marketplace.

[–] hglman@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I, a socialist, hate markets. They are simplistic and functional artifacts of the available way to pass information.

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[–] masquenox@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago

They will still sell the products they produce in a marketplace.

There is no rule that states they have to sell squat in a marketplace. They could, but they also couldn't. That's the whole point of the workers owning the means of production - the workers involved makes those deicisions, not a capitalist or bureaucratic parasite class.

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[–] imgonnatrythis@lemm.ee 95 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Wtf is an uncorrupt government?

[–] dingus@lemmy.ml 42 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

All types of governance and economic systems are susceptible to despotism.

It takes a constantly educated and involved population to fight it.

[–] NightAuthor 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Never older than like 12 hours

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[–] dannoffs@lemmy.sdf.org 16 points 1 year ago

Exactly. We could also eliminate carbon emissions by moving everything via unicorns and fairy dust.

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[–] Dubious_Fart@lemmy.ml 71 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think you will find any place thats well moderated and cracks down on bigotry and hatespeech will skew left.

Weird how that is, huh?

[–] pythonoob@programming.dev 13 points 1 year ago

Well spoken, dubious fart.

[–] bitsplease@lemmy.ml 57 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Most would agree with your point - right up until you suggest that having an "uncorrupt government" is remotely possible.

Pretty much the same level of unrealistic idealism as folks who think it's remotely possible to transition a state to communism without it turning into authoritarianism.

There, now I've pissed off everyone lol

Edit: Except, I guess for the hardcore capitalists, but I assume those guys are all too dumb to read, so no point, really 🤷

[–] BearGun@ttrpg.network 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Luckily an entirely uncorrupt government is not necessary, since that is indeed quite unlikely to ever happen. It is enough to have low corruption, which is much more achievable.

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[–] Neato@kbin.social 50 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Why do you want a middle class? So you have a class to aspire to and a class to denigrate? Why do you want classes?!

[–] hernanca 25 points 1 year ago

Profoundly internalized hierarchy all over this thread.

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[–] Pectin8747@lemmy.ml 39 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

My experience has been the opposite. I've found that the majority of users tend to lean towards neoliberal and center-right ideologies. I guess most of them are probably American, so their warped worldview has them considering these ideologies as 'left-wing' instead 🙃

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[–] Wirlocke@lemmy.blahaj.zone 38 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Honestly, I think capitalism wouldn't be so bad if it was limited to what it's good at. Fashion, tech, entertainment, snacks, ect.

But essential food, housing, water, healthcare, even electricity and internet access, the idea that these things that will always have infinite demand is haphazardly controlled through profit motive is disgusting.

Infrastructures should be government controlled and free. Essential resources should have some sort of universal basic "food stamps" system. Then actual money just becomes the luxury "fun bucks" that you don't lose out on if you don't have a lot. For example pet owners would be given a credits for pet food and free vet care, but a silly pet costume would use money.

Disclaimer: This is just a personal idea I've been mulling over, I'm sure there's a million holes in it.

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[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Markets don't "create wealth". People's work creates wealth. Banks don't create wealth, they create debt and allow more money to go into circulation than actually exists.

Regulation isn't only desired, it's crucial for any market economy to work, lest they devolve into corrupt, abusive monopolies and oligopolies. Granted, bad regulation can be equally abusive and real cases are plentiful.

Just as important as regulation is taxing who has more money, because generating wealth won't automagically distribute it in any ideal manner. The worst problem nowadays is just how easy it is for rich assholes to legally evade taxes no matter which country they're from.

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[–] Bread_And_Buried@lemmy.sdf.org 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"uncorrupt government"

😂😂😂

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[–] 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 32 points 1 year ago

Boot-flavored capitalist Kool-Aid must be so refreshing during such a torrid summer

[–] atyaz@reddthat.com 31 points 1 year ago

I agree! Let me know when you find an uncorrupt government or uncorrupt corporation.

[–] Decompose@programming.dev 27 points 1 year ago (11 children)

"Uncorrupt government"

This is as delusional as anyone can get.

A wise man said it all once: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

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[–] Noughmad@programming.dev 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

Market != Capitalism. You can have a free market without capitalism, and capitalism without a free market.

The hexbears will attack me for saying that a regulated free market is good and a planned economy is bad. The others will attack me for saying that capitalism is bad and that we should have market socialism instead. But if we can't have that, a capitalist free market has proven much less bad than any planned economy, as long as it's regulated enough that it stays free.

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[–] neptune@dmv.social 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Pity, you have to defend your ideas in a free market of thought.

[–] Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Market ain’t correctly regulated. Monopolistic practices are being used to suppress non conforming thoughts. :P

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[–] Barometer3689@feddit.nl 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I thought left also meant protection against unregulated markets? Without regulations it is just going to be capitalismplusplus.

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[–] Colour_me_triggered@lemm.ee 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The problem is that a middle class, can only be a middle class if it's in between an upper class and a lower class. It's in the name: MIDDLE class.

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[–] TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 26 points 1 year ago

The statement in the image is just loaded with terminology that comes with a lot of baggae. It's no surprise people tear into it. Can't speak to whether that makes them leftist or just poly sci students.

"Uncorrupt" misunderstands the nature of corruption. How do you envision resolving the interests of the forces that give validity to said government while still keeping a capitalist structure?

"Generate wealth" presupposes a specific kind of wealth created by the government and given validity by the capitalist structure. You win at the rules of the game you made up. "Middle class" has a similar problem. "Prosperity" to a nation starving under the global capitalist regime might look quite different. Why use one benchmark over the other? Because of the game you want to choose.

[–] Empricorn@feddit.nl 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's weird. It's almost like educated people skew left. So very weird...

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[–] tracyspcy@lemmy.ml 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

There is not such thing as middle class, pure sophistic. There are ~~only~~ 2 classes, proletariat and bourgeoisie.

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[–] halfempty@kbin.social 22 points 1 year ago (4 children)

In today's skewed political spectrum, "Left" is what would be considered moderate in a reasonable perspective.

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[–] TylerDurdenJunior@lemmy.ml 22 points 1 year ago

All great social media does. The secret is that reality favors the progressive left

[–] TheGreatFox@lemm.ee 19 points 1 year ago

uncorrupt government

I think you meant "free real estate for the CIA and their a puppet dictators".

It's what happens every time another country doesn't want to sell their natural resources for pennies.

[–] smallerdemon@lemmy.ml 19 points 1 year ago

Wow, yeah, private markets solve all problems. Brilliant. Also, what's Santa bringing you this year? I hope you got great eggs from the Easter bunny! Do you occasionally knock out a tooth to leave for the fairy?

[–] trafficnab@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

I hadn't experienced hexbear (literally) shitting up the place yet, has a way to block entire instances been implemented or do I gotta find a new one that isn't federated with them?

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[–] youpie@lemmy.emphisia.nl 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I believe you are probably right. the problem is that capitalists only focus is profit. so if their profit is limited by this hypothetical non-corrupt government they will try their absolute best to make sure they get their way in the government, and since they have a lot of money they also have the power to do that.

also the ideology of endless growth for the sake of growth (how capitalism works) is literally impossible on a planet with limited recourses

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[–] blazera@kbin.social 16 points 1 year ago

If money can make money that feedback loop will always break the system

[–] Yoghurt@lemm.ee 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But 'we'd be better off in a world free of corruption' isn't a right-leaning position.

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[–] mino@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 year ago

That's why I am here tbh

[–] dodgy_bagel@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm actually very centrist; I don't want to eat the rich.

After all, I'm a vegan and think that anyone involved in the meat industry should be put in jail.

So, dead center. That's me.

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[–] words_number@programming.dev 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The problem is how do we get there? In a market there will always be actors powerful enough to corrupt the governmenta and influence regulation in an undemocratic way.

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[–] HerbalGamer@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago

middle class is an illusion

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm confused by something. Isn't this meme pretty far left compared to reality?

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[–] interolivary 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

And a very specific type of left, too. I'm a democratic socialist who doesn't believe in centrally planned economies and thinks market mechanisms can be useful in many cases (but can also be extremely harmful if done wrong or utilized wrong, eg healthcare is a terrible place for market mechanisms and profit motives), but I might as well be a reich-winger based on how many subs seem to look at democratic socialism (let alone market socialism)

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