[monkeynotes]

It is unsurprising, given the spirit of capitalism, that companies behave in a cut-throat manner - it's a race to the bottom. Whoever doesn't 'go there' will be surpassed by whatever narcissistic corp is willing to go there. This is simply the way everything is wired up to work.

Corporations, and the people that run them, will test the limits of acceptability all the time just to get the edge on the competition - it's how they survive.

[merpnderp]

Unsurprising given not the nature of Capitalism, but of humankind. Capitalism was conceptualized as the most effective method of containing these impulses. But don’t assume this “race to the bottom” doesn’t exist outside of capitalism, especially considering the rich history showing the opposite. Is there a socialist government where the powerful aren’t rich in a much more inequitable distribution of wealth (for what little they create)?

[entropea]

Cuba?

>Capitalism was conceptualized as the most effective method of containing these impulses.

This is terribly incorrect. It only increases these impulses, competition is at its heart. Everything becomes gamified, a competition, a race to the top while simultaneously pushing everyone else to the bottom.

I'm really interested to watch some of the markets pop up in Cuba because I think there needs to be a healthy balance between Capitalism and Socialism for innovation, and care for the workers who produce literally everything.

[merpnderp]

Ironic that you picked Cuba when just a few weeks ago Castro’s grandson made the news for displaying his inordinate amount of wealth. In a country so our hospitals outside of the capital are indistinguishable from abandoned buildings, how does someone like that become filthy rich? It’s not like socialist countries don’t have greed and theft of national wealth, it’s just the people doing it are literally the government and hide it better - also note their greed and theft goes mostly unchecked.

[monkeynotes]

I don't see what other social structures have to do with my point. You can't just say 'hey other stuff is shit too' as an argument against me saying 'this thing here is broken sometimes'.

My point was we should look deeply at the society we are invested in and understand that the things we endorse and benefit from daily have intrinsic side-effects.

Nothing is perfect, of course object to what you don't like, but be grown up enough to understand your part in it and humble enough to understand no system is perfect.

[miles]

Very succinctly put. Reminded me of this brief clip:

Milton Friedman - Your Greed or Their Greed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWsx1X8PV_A

> Is there a socialist government where the powerful aren’t rich in a much more inequitable distribution of wealth

Perhaps:

In Norway, Start-ups Say Ja to Socialism http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/in-norway-start-ups-say...