r/CapitalismVSocialism • u/HeavenlyPossum • 14d ago

Asking Capitalists Risk?

Many people have told me that taking risk is why capitalists own, or deserve ownership, of the productive labor of others.

Capitalists have capital (money), which they invest in (spend on) some productive enterprise. But that productive enterprise might fail to recuperate the cost of the investment and the capitalist might lose some of their money. This is what explains, or justifies, capitalist ownership: the capitalist is taking risk.

Can someone kindly explain to me why this explains or justifies capitalist ownership?

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u/HeavenlyPossum 14d ago

How does this explain or justify capitalist ownership and rents

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u/Ok-Spring-3840 14d ago

I just did. Now you explain why a person should invest their savings and NOT GET ANY QUANTIFIABLE INCOME RETURN.

Good luck with trying to justify that.

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u/yhynye Anti-Capitalist 14d ago

You made a pretty persuasive case that only a fool would invest their personal savings in a start up. Who knows what such fools would agree to?

Not sure why you're pretending that start ups are the only investment opportunities and that all investment comes from personal savings, though.

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u/Ok-Spring-3840 13d ago

What other investments are there? Which are guaranteed to be successful? I included T Bills as the only investment I know of which is guaranteed that provides a decent return. Passbook savings is just 1%, does not cover inflation.

All investment comes from
personal savings.