• Jojo, Lady of the West
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    1 month ago

    The day I lost all respect for my father was when he told me in all seriousness that the fundamental purpose of capitalism was to make people happy.

    • Zink@programming.dev
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      1 month ago

      At first I wanted to reply about how one can HOPE that capitalism’s never ending extraction of value from labor might build a better future and enable more happiness.

      But there’s a deeper assumption in that statement, and in my limited personal experience it affects conservatives the most. That is thinking that happiness is caused by external factors: money, toys, status, power, etc.

      • Jojo, Lady of the West
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        1 month ago

        His thinking was that you can never sell anything unless you have something they want, so the fundamental idea of capitalism was that it tries to give people what they want.