Capitalism is bullshit.
Is it possible to make a light bulb that never burns out? Was it possible 100 years ago? Of course it was, many have heard of the light bulb conspiracy and planned obsolescence, but most don’t realize how this is a fatal flaw in capitalism and needs a closer examination.
Planned obsolescence is designing something to break or be unusable after a set period of time (usually not more than a 2-3 years). With modern technology cars should last 30-40 years or more, but your lucky to get 10-12 years out of them. How can a system that intentionally sells users defective products be considered good and beneficial? This is a form of theft one much harder to see or understand.
The problems go much much deeper than this though. People love to say, but we don’t live in a capitalist society, we live in a CRONY capitalist society. This is just as naive as communist saying yeah but there has never really been a REAL communist society. The code of capitalism means a company must do what it can to maximize profits for the owners of the company, so if a company can make more money by buying off…. I mean lobbying…. politicians then the company is obligated to do so, it is also obligate to try and use the political system to hamper competition and keep a competitive advantage. There will never be any capitalist system that is not a crony capitalism.
When we peel the onion back a little further, capitalism means capital, which means money, which inevitably leads to banks (a minority of very wealthy people) controlling money. You can go back through history and this cycle repeats itself over and over, you always end up with a small group of people controlling the money supply and inevitably controlling the government and using its power to control the masses. Even kings and queens eventually fell under the control of those that controlled the money. Usury is big business, governments will always spend beyond their means and borrow at interest from the bankers/capitalist and give them power over them.
Before we start worshiping at the alter of capitalism we should take a step back and understand what we are really worshiping. Like government power the farther a product is made from the end user the less accountability there is. If you are in the USA and sell a product in the USA you have a much higher motivation to make it quality since the guy down the street will probably own one and no one wants have him come knocking on the door when it breaks. But, this is only part of the solution. There needs to be morals in corporation, and they need to be held to the same moral values as society as a whole. If you intentionally defraud your customers by selling them products designed to break then you need punished for this fraud, and not just a slap on the wrist fine, but the management needs convicted of crimes, the same crimes that an individual would be convicted of if they defraud someone out of their hard earned money. Yes, products would have to cost more, but they would be worth more after they are sold and would also be vastly cheaper in the long run, and when you want the latest with new technology the old one will still be useful to the next guy. This is a much more sustainable development as well, with much less wasted natural resources and energy.
What we are witnessing now is the natural evolution of capitalism and we should not be surprised by it. There is something to be said for buying as local as possible, and companies that engage in these immoral practices should be boycotted and changes should be demanded, but until they see their bottom line effected they will not change. If they all start losing massive amounts of money because people start demanding they act morally and honor the societies the do business in (and stop lobbying the government to give them unfair advantages) they will be forced to change.
Thanks for reading :)
Oz
Any kind of light bulbs have not been banned by capitalists, but governments.
socialism sounds nice in theory but never works
Every political sistem is bullshit :D
The republic is about as good as it gets, if we went back to the spirit of it with a few adjustments would be ideal, but still need an educated aware population that watches over companies and the government. Which is where the media comes in, and they sold their souls (and ours along with it) a long long time ago.
This seems like government problems not capitalism.
how is that?
if companies want to create defective products that fail faster, let them it is in their business model so they can make money, there's nothing wrong with that, If you dislike that they don't make perfect or good products go compete and get their customers to buy your better products. The government intervention seems like it's the more corrupt part and they get in to minimize their profits and tax them away so they don't make as much or non at all, if they got out the way companies can make better products without having so many rules or crap thrown on them.
I guess you don't understand the concept of fraud. It is fraudulent to sell defective products, and to intentionally sabotage them and not tell people buying your product, what is worse is they buy up companies that make actual good products and milk the brand name for millions or billions by substituting inferior products with the same name.
next you think that regulations are there by accident? big companies get them put into place so smaller companies can't start up because the compliance costs are so high. you have a naive vision of how the real world works... but don't worry most do, which is why I write my articles. I spell out clearly the inherent flaws in capitalism and they are not even debatable.
I 100% fraud but selling products that dont last forever or extremely long isnt fraud. these companies make billions and millions because people buy them. This is by their choice and not forced, so if these products were so bad then the millions wouldn't come.
to debate things makes the mind open up. thinking opposite or different is can open up new ideas
Fraud is fraud and dishonest practices are dishonest. If they put on the label, this product is designed to last for 2 years with average use, that would be different, but that is not the case. Fraud and corruption in businesses is the standard not the exception and that is cause there is no accountability, until corporations are treated like people not magic entities things wont change. too big too jail is a real thing.
Think of it like this a company is making something and it will cost 10 cents more to use a more quality part that would make the item last 5x longer, instead they use the part they know will be a weak point and it will break in 2-3 years with average use. That is fraud, and happens all the time.
if you see it at their view that extra 10 cents per unit would remove a few employees because it breaks their profit margins. they create a product that fits their models and helps their employees. if the also used the best materials to make that product, think about the R&D needed to make that product so now the price becomes to expensive for their target market to afford. pros and cons to business not fruad
can justify it all you want but I was obviously not talking about a 50 cent item, I am talking about an item where ten cents is a very small fraction of the total cost of production.
Capitalism is the practical conclusion to absolute property rights.
If no person can use another's property, without that owner's consent, you have the ethical framework which concludes, in practice, capitalism.
Now, to denounce capitalism, is to denounce the individual's right to his property (either in his body or external material) -- e.i. to advocate the theft of said property.
Can you provide a logically consistent argument in favor of theft? This must be an a priori argument, as the above argument (in favor of property) is a priori itself -- i.e. any empirical research, theory or evidence is irrelevant.
i think your definition of capitalism is insane. "the only system that acknowledges property rights"... that is laughable... no offense.
Well, it is.
Property is by definition exclusive to its owner. And the only market/political system which honors property (and its exclusiveness) is absolute capitalism. Only in such a system are all property infringing actions, such as, for instance, theft, taxation, conscription, IP, etc., illegal or prohibited.
You can't have a society which protects/respects private property absolutely, and not have capitalism.