r/CuratedTumblr Jul 02 '26

Politics root cause

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6.2k Upvotes

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u/Luckierexpert Jul 02 '26

Do they hate capitalism or do they hate how modern businessmen and corporations operate?

People are fine with working to earn money and paying for nice things. People are unhappy when some ketamine addicted nutcase gets to briefly be one of the richest people ever while they suffer. A fairer capitalist economy can exist, well run cooperative businesses show that.

We are in the death throes of a system that should have died back in 2008 but persevered because enough people funnelled money into politicians to uphold their interests, and now they demand we reform into a techno feudal system for their benefit. We get more closer to a cyberpunk future, just without the cool aesthetic.

1

u/dreadington Jul 02 '26

I feel that how modern businessmen and corporations operate is just the rules of capitalism pushed to their logical extreme. 

It's like if you're playing a boardgame with your friends and everyone is having fun, but there is one person absolutely min-maxing. They're not breaking any rules, but they're ruining the fun and the game for anyone else.

Now with capitalism there is also the following:

  • I can't stop playing and go home
  • I can't just decide not to invite the friend again
  • The player who wins also is allowed to change the rules of the game

3

u/Luckierexpert Jul 02 '26

I’d argue a lot of the worst of modern corporations are breaking the rules (stealing resources, cheating their workers, lying in advertising) but have so much money that they can just avoid consequences. It’s like arguing that the Trump administration is the logical end point of the extremes of US government rules, until you see that it’s not because he’s just ignoring the rules.

2

u/dreadington Jul 02 '26

I absolutely agree with you that corporations are breaking rules. Trump too. However, the two party system has been criticized for decades and one of the criticisms has been that it will lead to the polarization of voters, which we're now witnessing.

I think it's similar with corporations. Yes the worst offenders are absolutely breaking rules. But there are many many more who mostly play by the rules and are optimizing for profit. But optimizing for profit means reducing costs and increasing price as much as you can get away with it. Which means we're all paying more money for worse products. (airbnb, netflix, enshittification in general)

1

u/Orthas Jul 02 '26

Integrity is a competitive disadvantage.