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Greyparrot

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Total posts: 28,020

Posted in:
The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
1% of people own more than 50% of all wealth whole nearly ten percent live in extreme poverty. Please explain how this is or could ever be fair. 

.001% of all the people on the planet play in the NFL. How is that fair?
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@949havoc
Milton Friedman had a famous speech about how there is no worker on the planet that knows how to make a pencil.

That there is no one worker on the planet that can be paid for the labor to make a pencil because there isn't anyone person on the planet that knows how to make all the composite components that comprise a pencil.

So nobody can make a pencil. That's why we have capitalism. So we can have pencils.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
Unless you have a reasonable counterpoint to BOTH the above statements then you have not done much for McDonald's case with your argument about their inability to compete with welfare. 

That's not my point at all.

My point is that they wouldn't be going out of business if people were forced to work for them.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@BigPimpDaddy
There's no way Mc Donald's can compete with the 40 million people on welfare for the measly 200,000 job openings.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@BigPimpDaddy
They are coerced into working for for the greedy rich.

Dude, McDonalds can't pay people enough to get them to come work for them right now. People just don't choose to wanna work.
There's no forcing going on at all.

That's why Biden's employment numbers are absolute shit right now.

Believe me, if Biden could get away with forcing people to work, he would do it.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@BigPimpDaddy
No one wants to work at McDonalds or work as a janitor; they HAVE to.

lol, no.

There's 40 million people on welfare and about 200,000 people that work for McDonalds. And most of the people that choose to work at McDonalds use it as a training job to get a better one.

It's a free choice.

Clearly, if people HAD to work at McDonalds there wouldn't be help wanted signs up for the past year with the millions of people being paid to sit at home.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
all corperations must exploit their workers.

It's mutual exploitation though. Workers exploit corporations so that they don't have to suffer the risks of bankruptcy when the product of their labor doesn't sell on the open market. That's why workers agree to take jobs in the first place instead of taking the risk of a personal small business loan.

A salaried worker gets a guaranteed income regardless of market conditions.

2 people can agree to trade and both people can benefit. that is what trade means.

The whole idea of free trade is for both parties to exploit each other so both parties can benefit. If there's no exploitation on either side, there can be no agreement possible.

Think about all the contestants that walk away from the investors in the show "Shark Tank." The only reason they walk away is because they were not able to exploit the companies of the panelists. None of the panels of investors were offering the contestants anything they could exploit.

If you watch the show, they explicitly use the words "taking on risk"
It's all on the table. No games. They give out a number and the contestant decides if the reduction of risk is worth the money he would have to pay in the future.
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Trump’s Enduring Popularity
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@cristo71
Excellent insight. Too bad I have yet to see the loyal Trump opposition express anything like it. Well, too bad for the loyal Trump opposition and the nation as a whole by extension…

And just to be clear, a lot of his ideas are really dumb and his moral compass is weird, but his policies were objectively good for the country, and I have no problem admitting that. 

Just like I have no problem admitting Bill Clinton governed the nation well despite his sexual conquests. The idea that a president needs to be some paragon of virtue is only a recent construct since Trump's policies really couldn't be argued due to the 3rd rail problem.

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Trump’s Enduring Popularity
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@cristo71
Trump grabs every 3rd rail issue in politics because he can. When he is the only voice, he has a monopoly on the solution. That is how he used his business sense to get into politics. He saw an opening and a way to corner the market in politics by monopolizing issues nobody else would previously dare address.

Even today, in a post Trump world, Washington DC sends very few representatives (traditional politicians) out to discuss the 3rd rail topics of immigration, China, Afghanistan, Israel, corporate crony monopolies in the media, education and prison systems, the  weaponizing of the FBI and IRS.

So it doesn't really matter what Trump is saying or how stupid it actually is. If he is the ONLY one in the arena, the voters have no other alternative in the marketplace of ideas simply because no other politician is willing to discuss 3rd rail problems in America; mostly due to lobbying pressures from powerful entrenched groups in Washington DC

We won't likely see anyone that free from DC lobbying pressure ever again in our lifetimes before the great crash.
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Garland declares parents terrorists and enemies of the state.
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@ILikePie5
Biden declares that the natural order of politics.
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Why do you still raise Trump as an issue?
Trump is the new Hitler. If you can't win an argument, invoke Trumpler.

Godwin's law evolved.
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Politics at Football games
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@ILikePie5
Let's go Brandon!
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And, now, a word from our President...
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@BigPimpDaddy
Lol, I'm not in the mood for ad-hom battles right now. Maybe later.
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And, now, a word from our President...
Independent voters rate Biden at 27.5%

It's like Democrats can't make the connection at all that Biden is the cause of the rising prices and inflation.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@BigPimpDaddy
No point in responding to greyparrot hes worse at making arguments than me.
when he does its copied from an article.

Do you have a problem with 2 people arguing in good faith? Do you think people have to resort to ad-homs to signal veracity?

cmon lebronsky

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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
I don't know about prophets.

I don't trust doomsayers and prophets either. I do trust the collective consumer though to consider all the hidden variables and unforeseen consequences.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
 only when so many people's lives were adversely impacted that the outcry was impossible to ignore.

Which is as it should be. The alternative is to allow prophets to make these decisions.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
or the function that fewer than one in ten patients prescribed opiates will become addicted. 
Consumers already spoke out on this.

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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
owing in part to the victim blaming of consumers. 

Do you blame consumers for not embracing the doomsday fiction? Do you wish to shame them?
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
Global warming cannot be combated by common consumers.

So you don't believe in the power of a plurality. You believe in the authority of an oligarchy of elites. That's saddening to hear.

Lead paint and pipes, pfoa chemicals, tobacco products, prescription opioids the list goes on and on and on.

All which were addressed by a plurality of consumers ultimately, not a centrally planned beaurocracy as you seem to advocate for.

Class action lawsuits are the tool of the common consumer. There's simply zero interest in bringing petroleum to court right now because people clearly want cheap energy and clearly don't believe in the doomsday fiction stories.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
I agree which is why I am opposed to totalitarianism in all its forms including being opposed to the dictator that is profitability. 

Then you should accept the will of the consumer that wants to purchase petroleum. No matter how lowly or how stupid you think that consumer is.

Stop over-riding the decisions of the consumers. Stop asking investors to ignore the will of consumers because they might make a profit by supplying consumers with the products that they desire.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin

This is the data proving most consumers don't think global warming is an existential crisis.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
Because the average consumer believes global warming isn't an existential crisis. That's not the fault of the investor.

History is rife with examples of various totalitarian centrally planned economies where the will of the lowly consumer is over-ruled, to great detriment, suffering and disaster, usually resulting in massive loss of human life and untold suffering.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
I am under no obligation to squint and turn my head sideways while pretending capitalism makes a pretty picture. I am able to look it directly in its ugly face.

I'm asking you to acknowledge the reality that profit drives people to reduce rape rates by producing rape whistles, because that's what people will willingly buy.

When the people stop buying whistles, the capital can be liquidated and repurposed. That's how it actually works in the real world.

It most certainly doesn't work like you suggest that investors won't make any whistles now because at some undetermined point in the future there will be no demand for them.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
Unless it caused one to give women bad advice

Which is why we have a Tort lawyer for every 100 people in America. It's a thriving business.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
Going into your 2nd argument further down, you claim there's no profit motive if the proliferation of rape whistles somehow reduces the rape rate to an insignificant amount. That completely ignores the vast amount of profit made from getting from point A to point B which no investor would choose to pass up willingly, under any scenario you can imagine. Capitalism fundamentally works in favor of society when you look at it this way.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
then it is hard to genuinely want rape rates to go down. 

Then if you cant make the case that the whistle maker has any influence on raising the rate of rape, then capitalism has no fundamental negative effect either. What he desires is irrelevant to the actual world effects. Therefore your OP is meaningless.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
It would still be a human rights violation to retain 300 million dollars afterwards unless there were no more hungry people. 

But the person needs to own the capital to provide 300 million dollars worth of food to people. How is that a human rights violation?

You say on one hand that it's a good thing that a person is providing 300 million dollars worth of meals, but isn't allowed to own the machinery to produce it for people? How is this violating anyone?

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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
Not sure this is pertinent to the topic. 

Read your OP.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
Is it a human rights violation to provide 300 million dollars worth of food to people?
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
Your realize hundreds of thousands of businesses go bankrupt annually regardless of them wanting to break windows to create demand.

Buggy whip manufacturers for instance. There are only so many windows you can break before tort law catches up with you.

Most recently the lawsuit against big Pharma for oxycontin.
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The fundamental problem with capitalism (as described by Bo Burnham
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@secularmerlin
How exactly would a die presser go about creating rapists?
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Yang creates a new party
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@3RU7AL
so? Ownership means control. You can't do what you want with your property in China.
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Yang creates a new party
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@949havoc
Yes, actually, in most regards, the separation of ownership of property is said to be distinction between socialists and communists
The distinction is thus:

1) Socialism: A "rich person" isn't to be trusted to own a portion of private property.
2) Marxism: All people are not to be trusted to own private property.
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Yang creates a new party
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@949havoc
Just like Joe Biden doesn't trust anyone to take care of their own body regardless of their individual risk factors.
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Yang creates a new party
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@bmdrocks21
Haha!
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Yang creates a new party
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@ebuc
out to wreak havoc and chaos on humanity

Your right about the 1st part but wrong about the 2nd part. Toot! toot!
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Yang creates a new party
You want me to get on your train? 

Ill take that as a yes. Welcome aboard.
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Yang creates a new party
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@BigPimpDaddy
Get on this train Doc.
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Yang creates a new party
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@ebuc
So it's a yes for the Yang express?
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Yang creates a new party
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@ebuc
get on this train
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Yang creates a new party
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@n8nrgmi
Why aren't you on the Yang Gang?
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SENATE REPORT: TRUMP's SCHEME to PRESSURE DoJ and OVERTURN the 2020 ELECTION
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@ILikePie5
Why don’t you impeach him again :)

I admire your brevity.
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And, now, a word from our President...
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@FLRW
What kind of airplane do you have?  I only have a Rockwell Commander 114.

Do you take your Harvard buddy Bush W on rides? Must be fun.

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And, now, a word from our President...
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@FLRW
As a 38 percenter, are you OK with the current taxation on the poor through inflation?

Are you pleasantly pleased Biden has no plan or desire to address inflation?
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And, now, a word from our President...
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@ebuc
7} are you ok with strong man Putin having better ratings than Biden or Trumpet?

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And, now, a word from our President...
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@949havoc
"The cure has to be worse than the disease in order to beat the disease"

-Joe Biden


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And, now, a word from our President...
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@949havoc
Yeah, DC is about to break the ancient golden rule of politics. A hungry population can't be controlled.
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And, now, a word from our President...
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@FLRW
As a 38 percenter, are you ok with the rising prices?
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And, now, a word from our President...
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@FLRW
Thank god we have a smart man in DC to raise those grocery prices.
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