• Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    My man, capital was expended developing the technology underpinning those devices. It was expended building the tools and sourcing the materials that went onto the device that the workers built. Capital was expended paying the workers for the time they took making the devices and bringing the device to market to sell.

    Labor and capital are needed to function. Both can be true at the same time.

    • Custoslibera@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Then the capitalist should only be entitled to recuperate their initial investment + whatever personal effort they put in.

      How can it be the capitalist captures profit many years after those first two occurred?

      • trailing9@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        How would you manage risk?

        The capitalists invest their profits in new ventures. Good capitalists choose often what is needed, bad capitalists constantly lose money and stop being capitalists.

        You want to reward good decisions. So those with profitable investments should get all returns so that they can make more good investments.

        So don’t set a limit but tax their income proportionally.

    • freebee@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Public capital. The smartphone is the culmination point of billions and billions of government “aimless” r&d for half a century.