I think what you’re saying is either inaccurate or excessively vague. Many ultra rich people got money by inheriting it, through the stock market, and to a much lesser degree, through government spending programs.
The way you framed the issue is a classic one, and it’s essentially blaming us, the consumers, for creating the problem that we are facing. First of all, that would simply be inaccurate because there are many causes, and second of all, it doesn’t really matter who you blame. The question is how we can fix the broken situation.
Not really. They said consumption AND labor. Stocks are capital, and their profits come from underpaying workers for the value they produce through labor. Inherited wealth is also acquired through and stored in capital.
In addition, the government is an essential part of capitalism, as it protects owned property more economically than the private armies of feudalism. Government spending programs that give the rich money are paid for by political donations, but the actual profitability is hard to quantify.
I love how you protest blaming consumers and then in the next sentence say “it doesn’t matter who you blame”. The answer to “how we can fix the broken situation” starts with identifying the problem (AKA laying blame).
In reality, there is no shortage of people to blame. You can blame the corporations, the stock market, politicians, nepotism, capitalism AND consumers, and none of that would be wrong. The only wrong thing to do is to remove blame from any of them.
blame, responsibility, and the ability to do something are three interrelated but distinct concepts. the ability to force bad actors to change by refusing to reward them for bad actions does not put the blame on us for failure to do so. If you forget to lock your front door and someone robs you, there was something you could have done to prevent the robbery but only the thief carries the blame.
I think what you’re saying is either inaccurate or excessively vague. Many ultra rich people got money by inheriting it, through the stock market, and to a much lesser degree, through government spending programs.
The way you framed the issue is a classic one, and it’s essentially blaming us, the consumers, for creating the problem that we are facing. First of all, that would simply be inaccurate because there are many causes, and second of all, it doesn’t really matter who you blame. The question is how we can fix the broken situation.
Not really. They said consumption AND labor. Stocks are capital, and their profits come from underpaying workers for the value they produce through labor. Inherited wealth is also acquired through and stored in capital.
In addition, the government is an essential part of capitalism, as it protects owned property more economically than the private armies of feudalism. Government spending programs that give the rich money are paid for by political donations, but the actual profitability is hard to quantify.
I love how you protest blaming consumers and then in the next sentence say “it doesn’t matter who you blame”. The answer to “how we can fix the broken situation” starts with identifying the problem (AKA laying blame).
In reality, there is no shortage of people to blame. You can blame the corporations, the stock market, politicians, nepotism, capitalism AND consumers, and none of that would be wrong. The only wrong thing to do is to remove blame from any of them.
blame, responsibility, and the ability to do something are three interrelated but distinct concepts. the ability to force bad actors to change by refusing to reward them for bad actions does not put the blame on us for failure to do so. If you forget to lock your front door and someone robs you, there was something you could have done to prevent the robbery but only the thief carries the blame.