Capitalism is simply a system where the ownership of capital is primarily by an investor class using limited liability corporations in a market system.
Given insufficient restraints, the investor class will act in their own interests - that is to say, calcifying their control over capital through the use of clientism and legal force, just as pre-capitalist aristocracies did, up to and including detachment from the market. Capitalist elites do not care about capitalism. Capitalism is the ladder (however unfair and cruel that ladder is, mind you) that they pull up behind them once they achieve success.
Elites always want to become an aristocracy, and given enough time and power, they will become an aristocracy in a society that refuses to confront them, and dismantle capitalism - again, itself not exactly a humane system - to implement an even more oppressive apparatus in its place.
Unfortunately, dismantling capitalism is easier than dismantling an aristocracy. If they succeed, the task of left-wing anticapitalists becomes harder rather than easier.
Thank you for an accurate explanation of capitalism. If you’ll allow me to extend that explanation, capitalism is where the ownership class – who controls the capital and provides little, if any, other value – “skims” (in quotes, because we’re often not talking about just a negligent fraction) from returns that should go to the labor class for the value they add.
No, it’s exactly how capitalism works and the narratives like technofeudalism claiming that we live in some post-capitalist neo-feudalism is nonsense.
There’s a concept of fictitious capital, which is different from other types of capital in that it doesn’t exist yet - it’s a claim to income generated in future production. It’s nothing new, Marx for example wrote about this in Capital (written in second half of 1800, almost 200 years ago).
Besides, a lot of tech companies do report losses because they put most of their profits in R&D, both to avoid taxes and probably develop new products along the way. It isn’t an unfounded investment.
I didn’t think what we have now is even capitalism anymore.
Tesla sales drop on every country except UK, a quarterly report shows losses, stock price? Goes up.
That’s not how capitalism works.
Capitalism is simply a system where the ownership of capital is primarily by an investor class using limited liability corporations in a market system.
Given insufficient restraints, the investor class will act in their own interests - that is to say, calcifying their control over capital through the use of clientism and legal force, just as pre-capitalist aristocracies did, up to and including detachment from the market. Capitalist elites do not care about capitalism. Capitalism is the ladder (however unfair and cruel that ladder is, mind you) that they pull up behind them once they achieve success.
Elites always want to become an aristocracy, and given enough time and power, they will become an aristocracy in a society that refuses to confront them, and dismantle capitalism - again, itself not exactly a humane system - to implement an even more oppressive apparatus in its place.
Unfortunately, dismantling capitalism is easier than dismantling an aristocracy. If they succeed, the task of left-wing anticapitalists becomes harder rather than easier.
Thank you for an accurate explanation of capitalism. If you’ll allow me to extend that explanation, capitalism is where the ownership class – who controls the capital and provides little, if any, other value – “skims” (in quotes, because we’re often not talking about just a negligent fraction) from returns that should go to the labor class for the value they add.
No, it’s exactly how capitalism works and the narratives like technofeudalism claiming that we live in some post-capitalist neo-feudalism is nonsense.
There’s a concept of fictitious capital, which is different from other types of capital in that it doesn’t exist yet - it’s a claim to income generated in future production. It’s nothing new, Marx for example wrote about this in Capital (written in second half of 1800, almost 200 years ago).
Besides, a lot of tech companies do report losses because they put most of their profits in R&D, both to avoid taxes and probably develop new products along the way. It isn’t an unfounded investment.