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Why Republicans are fighting the basic-income programs many cities and states are adopting: 'Is money a birthright now?'
(www.businessinsider.com)
this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2024
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politics
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It kinda does. Do you think people enjoy working for near poverty wages? They don't. But they can't afford to say no to poor pay because it's still better than no pay. If people weren't worried about becoming homeless they'd demand for higher pays. In that sense capitalism does depend on the threat of homelessness to drive down the wage to make more profits.
How to say you don't know anything about socialism without saying you don't know anything about socialism. I'm going to give you an example of it working on a smaller scale because US kept sabotaging most national attempts to have socialism. Worker cooperatives are socialist and I recommend looking up the history of Mondragon, a successfully ran cooperative for over half a century now.
People like having more money than is strictly necessary, especially if it's more money than whoever's standing next to them. Capitalism's not gonna burn down and fall over if everyone gets a two-bedroom apartment and free McDonald's for life.
Not to endorse anything else that dingus libertarian is talking about.
You guys are really bad at understanding basic economy theory.
It works on supply and demand and assumes that everyone works rationally and with full knowledge.
The invisible hand of the market finding the optimal solution is basically the 0th law of capitalism.
Now economic policy, you'll be amazed to understand is about fixing inefficiencies that do not allow for optimal conditions. Tonnes of people go learn about what are the issues with capitalism and how to make it better, that's what economic testing is about. That's why it's better than socialism because it's competitive and strives for change.
If people are forced to work for poverty wages then they are losing their true value and capitalism would be about trying to fix that value. If everyone had UBI that would equate the negotiating position of workers and they wouldn't have to take poverty wages. That's why UBI is the capitalist solution to that problem in capitalism. It allows to market to work the way economists want it to work.
Everything you wrote is great in theory. But in reality...
Optimal solution for whom? It's not an optimal solution for me to work 16 hours a day, but it would be an optimal way solution for businesses who want to maximize the work they get out of their workers. It's not capitalism that got us 8h a day 5 days a week, it was the response to the "optimal" solution that capitalism came up with, which was to work people 16 hours a day, 6 days a week. In a broad sense our current working hours is not caused by capitalism but socialism.
The current RTO wave is another example how capitalism does not find the optimal solution. Research has shown that working from home is just as productive if not more productive than working from office (in addition to being more beneficial for the worker) and yet capital owners are demanding people return to office.
Why do you think socialism is not competitive or striving towards change?
The wages are not following the inflation and wealth gap keeps growing. The so called "middle class" is eroding into "lower class" as the wealth gap keeps making people poorer. This has been happening for decades. Where's the fix?
Where's the fix to climate change that oil conglomerates knew about since the 70s? Oh right, the "fix" was to run a disinformation campaign until the evidence becomes irrefutable and they're forced of oil, because it was the "optimal solution" for making a profit.
What you're talking about is the idyllic version of Capitalism where everything is great and capital solves everything, because that's what's taught to you. What is not taught is that it's not how capitalism actually works.
So it works based on simplifying assumptions that never hold up for real.
and advanced economic theory says that basic economic theory is crap, what you consider "basic economic theory" is woefully outdated and has never been backed by any evidence.
as for the supply and demand crap, it really just boils down to the prisoner's dilemma,
1: A lowers prices & B lowers prices = lower profits for both
2: A lowers prices & B does not lower prices = A has medium profits, B goes broke
3: A does not lower prices & B lower prices = A goes broke, B has medium profits
4: A does not lower prices & B does not lower prices = both have high profits
and remember, the people running A and B have taken some basic courses in math and logic
Where that falls to shit is the assumption that "everyone works". Only 132 million people have full time jobs in the United States for example. That's just 40% of the population.
In reality is basic economic theory is only useful if you're explaining economics to a child. And you should only start there - you should try to make sure they have a far more comprehensive understanding of economics before they are old enough to vote.
Ah, so the economists you paid someone to tell you to read are better than the ones they read on their own.
Hey, what's your contribution to the field?
I'm interested in reading a book of yours.
In short yes. There have been a 1000 years of development into the formal education system. That has lead to the industrial revolution and other other countless things.
Youtube videos are great but it's not quite the same.
Fuck all. But it doesn't mean my knowledge of the field isn't in the top 1% of the world.
Bro, you're out here saying Marx was a 1000 year old pre-industrial economist... Might want to reconsider your placement in the rankings.
Pretty sure I didn't say that.
Oh, wow, your point was even worse then. At least there's some validity to calling Marxist models outdated, but trying to pull an appeal to authority from the University of Bologna is a pretty big stretch.
Idk man, maybe if you decide to continue your education so you can contribute to your field put a little more thought into the biases in your studies and reflect on the Socratic definition of wisdom?
And that means it actually happens. Yeah? Like, we could check? We could see if that is in fact what occurs, given the circumstances you assume? That's a real thing that exists in this world? That's what really results from that premise? With the same certainty as a law of physics? That's definitely what happens, as routinely as apples falling off trees? It just works, always, everywhere, reliably and predictably? Never goes completely tits-up? Are you sure that's what happens? Are you sure? Is that wh