On 6/19/2023 at 4:27 PM, randomsummer said:

And corporate taxes should depend on what the company produces. Companies that produce physical goods (manufacturing) should be taxed lower, then service industries a little higher, then companies like banks and hedge funds that just make money with money and don't produce anything should be taxed to the maximum extent.

I'd say it's more nuanced than that - because service industries can create lots of value, and not all physical goods are valuable. In the financial sector you'd want to differentiate between banks that provide actual banking services (i.e. chequing and savings accounts) and then the hedge funds and other parasites should be taxed out of existence.

in billionaire news

When I was in high school in the late 90s in Alabama, Black people were cooking food for a Klan rally in a small town near the city I’m from. One of the local news stations interviewed the cooks and they talked about how the Klan paid them for their services… - mr christopher

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-21/philip-morris-is-pushing-into-healthcare-by-buying-vectura

Lol

  On 7/14/2023 at 8:19 AM, iococoi said:

Expand  

tbf, this meme will only be true until 2040

(assuming 0% taxes, as you might, if you were a bezos)

  Quote

Shopify Employee Breaks NDA To Reveal Firm Quietly Replacing Laid Off Workers With AI

https://thedeepdive.ca/shopify-employee-breaks-nda-to-reveal-firm-quietly-replacing-laid-off-workers-with-ai/

  Quote

What Happens to All the Stuff We Return?

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/21/the-hidden-cost-of-free-returns

  On 8/20/2023 at 7:05 PM, iococoi said:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/21/the-hidden-cost-of-free-returns

That is a wild article. The kind of consumer habits described in there are so fucking foreign to me. 

Yeah this new capitalism... is not good

  On 9/2/2023 at 6:19 AM, chenGOD said:

That is a wild article. The kind of consumer habits described in there are so fucking foreign to me. 

Can't agree more with the always buy the dumbest item you can find. I'm deathly allergic to any white good that has anything more than a handful of clunky analog dials on the front. If I can't fix it myself, the fella down the street definitely can. Fuck planned obsolescence and the obscene waste it entails

The only exception seems to be printers, which have always been massive cunts 

  On 9/7/2023 at 5:33 AM, ignatius said:

Expand  

Just don't buy Nestle chocolate - back in Canada we have a very good (much better than Nestle crap) chocolate company who do all the right things. Is it a touch more expensive, yes, but it's a) fucking delicious and b) also fucking delicious. Find similar in your neighborhood and support them!

https://hummingbirdchocolate.com/

  On 9/7/2023 at 5:55 AM, chenGOD said:

Just don't buy Nestle chocolate - back in Canada we have a very good (much better than Nestle crap) chocolate company who do all the right things. Is it a touch more expensive, yes, but it's a) fucking delicious and b) also fucking delicious. Find similar in your neighborhood and support them!

 

https://hummingbirdchocolate.com/

Expand  

yeah.. there's options here too and i don't buy nestle anything because they're dicks about everything.. water mostly but not limited to water. 

  On 6/19/2023 at 2:24 PM, chenGOD said:

The definition of income needs to include capital gains, taxes on property acquired through loans where the collateral comes from above the billy, etc. etc. Luxury goods such as super yachts should have substantial taxes on them, vacant property taxes. Corporations with assets/gross revenue above a certain amount need to be taxed more heavily as well.

Rent needs to be capped with strictly enforced regulations on maintenance and upkeep requirements. And there needs to be a limit on how much a house's value can appreciate in a year (something like 1% would be appropriate) - and I say this as a homeowner. Houses aren't investments - but we do have to respect that rental stock is necessary (some people move to places for a year or two due to work, life circumstances, etc.) and sometimes people will wish to sell their houses and purchase elsewhere for whatever number of reasons.

 

Expand  

y use so many words when u can just say "abolish landlords" "abolish private property" and all this stuff is solved? why the half measures

im serious tho i just dont get it

for real all these pages and not one alternative to capitalism presented except "nicer capitalism hopefully"

  On 9/7/2023 at 7:09 AM, zlemflolia said:

y use so many words when u can just say "abolish landlords" "abolish private property" and all this stuff is solved? why the half measures

im serious tho i just dont get it

for real all these pages and not one alternative to capitalism presented except "nicer capitalism hopefully"

Because rental properties are necessary (not everyone will be living in one location permanently) and private property (like a house/apartment/condo) that can't be taken away from you without due process is also a necessity and guaranteed in virtually every founding principles document worth having.

Nicer capitalism is an interesting way to spell market socialism, nothing hopeful about it, we can work towards it and many places are. Sorry it sucks for you so bad in wherever you live. I'm sure with enough time and effort you can work towards fully automated luxury communism with a collective of like-minded thinkers.

  On 9/7/2023 at 9:06 AM, chenGOD said:

Because rental properties are necessary (not everyone will be living in one location permanently) and private property (like a house/apartment/condo) that can't be taken away from you without due process is also a necessity and guaranteed in virtually every founding principles document worth having.

Nicer capitalism is an interesting way to spell market socialism, nothing hopeful about it, we can work towards it and many places are. Sorry it sucks for you so bad in wherever you live. I'm sure with enough time and effort you can work towards fully automated luxury communism with a collective of like-minded thinkers.

Expand  

ur already falsely equating a bunch of stuff.

"not living in one location permanently" = "rental properties required"

how about, freedom of movement and free access to housing?  if someone moves that housing just becomes available.  how does renting (paying rent and having landlords) become necessary?

u already know fixed house/apartment/condo with longterm freedom of ownership and modification is personal property not private property and has no reason to be abolished.  how does that imply landlords?

now ur saying u want market socialism?  how is "nicer capitalism" = "market socialism" lol, i think youre confusing social democracy + welfare net with market socialism, because thats about as nice as capitalism can possibly get.  and yet it does not solve more complex issues like unequal exchange with the third world, and the ecological crisis inherent to profit motive

  On 9/7/2023 at 9:35 AM, zlemflolia said:

ur already falsely equating a bunch of stuff.

"not living in one location permanently" = "rental properties required"

1)how about, freedom of movement and free access to housing?  if someone moves that housing just becomes available.  how does renting (paying rent and having landlords) become necessary?

2)u already know fixed house/apartment/condo with longterm freedom of ownership and modification is personal property not private property and has no reason to be abolished.  how does that imply landlords?

3)now ur saying u want market socialism?  how is "nicer capitalism" = "market socialism" lol, i think youre confusing social democracy + welfare net with market socialism

Expand  

1) Because paying for goods and services is a basic tenet of a market based economy.

2) Personal property and private property are of equal importance in market based economy. Communism is not a market based economy (govt sets prices and production quotas).

3) Market socialism is not nicer capitalism, you're the one who said all I have offered is nicer capitalism (thank you for putting words in my mouth). Market socialism is not communism either. Private property will continue to exist under market socialism as markets/supply and demand will continue to provide signals for the allocation of goods/capital/means of production.

  On 9/7/2023 at 9:47 AM, chenGOD said:

1) Because paying for goods and services is a basic tenet of a market based economy.

2) Personal property and private property are of equal importance in market based economy. Communism is not a market based economy (govt sets prices and production quotas).

3) Market socialism is not nicer capitalism, you're the one who said all I have offered is nicer capitalism (thank you for putting words in my mouth). Market socialism is not communism either. Private property will continue to exist under market socialism as markets/supply and demand will continue to provide signals for the allocation of goods/capital/means of production.

Expand  

why would personal property not be more important than private property.  isnt the goal of this private propertys existence under market socialism merely to be a vehicle for the accumulation of personal property? why doesnt it has concepts of communal property which paired with expanded personal property can eliminate the need for private property? not even seeing the point of private property.  why do you need it rather than just worker coops

communism is not govt set prices and production quotas its literally the abolition of money, something only conceivable under mature socialism anyway

  On 9/7/2023 at 10:16 AM, zlemflolia said:

communism is not govt set prices and production quotas its literally the abolition of money, something only conceivable under mature socialism anyway

Points 5,6, and 7 of Marx and Engels 10 point general plan in the Communist Manifesto (Chapter II) describe centralization of those functions quite explicitly:

5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.

6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan

Point 2 acknowledges the function of income (money) by calling for a tax:

2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.

So, yes, communism is in fact the controlling of production quotas and prices. 

Like I said earlier - I'm sure you can find a collective of like-minded individuals to work towards fully automated luxury communism where money is no longer necessary. Until we have that, let's go with market socialism which acknowledges that private property will exist (owned by collectives) and markets/supply and demand will guide the allocation of capital.