[hi-im-mi-ih]

Being poor is not a sacrifice. Being poor is a condition in the terms of your life. A sacrifice is being frugal, being diligent, and working hard at self-improvement - Do all poor people do that consistently, as a quality of being poor?

Of course not; being poor is a condition, it is not a sacrifice. It holds no merit as a condition. You cannot use your lack of capital as a bargaining chip at the table. It is not a sign of your deserving more money. If you work hard and do something good for me, that I am willing to pay for, then you deserve money.

Capitalism is altruistic. It functions when people do good, valuable things for each other and establish trust that payment will be provided for that value. It has nothing to do with your status as poor.

[fluxic]

>Capitalism is altruistic. It functions when people do good, valuable things for each other and establish trust that payment will be provided for that value. It has nothing to do with your status as poor.

Like selling addictive opioids, scam affiliate marketing subscriptions, atmosphere-ruining fossil fuels, attention-destroying social media sites (often targeted at children!), society-destroying social media bots, arcane financial products whose only purpose is to shield immense wealth from taxes or regulation, etc. etc.

Yeah, capitalism sure is great, ain't it.

[hi-im-mi-ih]

You're absolutely insane if you think we should abandon capitalism. It is about the only social system that does not result in the state killing hundreds of millions of it's own. The ideologies that you profess here are incredibly dangerous.

[fluxic]

I didn't say we should abandon capitalism, I just think characterizing it as altruistic is extremely naïve. Capitalism might naturally tend towards the greater good better than other social systems, but it has no built-in guideposts that prevent destructive behaviour (see above).

Moreover, with the amount of ecological damage (mass, irreversible extinctions, global warming), indigenous genocide, slavery, etc. I'm not sure if being anti-capitalist is as "insane" as you put it. Global capitalism has given us advances in medicine, culture, reduced warfare, material wealth—but these advances haven't come without significant costs. Depending on what you value, capitalism could end up being a net-negative system.

[justonepost]

Yes, tragedy of the commons is a perfect example of how capitalism can fail.

[drukenemo]

Well, let's stop the internet too then. It has all of these things in it! It can't be any good then.

[fluxic]

I know plenty of people getting very, very rich doing very, very (legal) unethical things. Many of them are users of this site.