Ok, so because I own a small local business that I myself work full time operating, and I voluntarily pay double the minimum wage to people who are happy to come and help me out for extra cash, that means I “own the means of production”? That is so much mental gymnastics lol.
Discussion
I’ve owned a few businesses in my life, traditional like you speak of and “employee owned”.
No, I would never say it’s immoral or unethical if you are only getting paid for what you produce OR others that produce for the business get paid accordingly as well.
It’s important not to jump ahead or put words into someone’s mouth.
I guess I’m just trying to figure out how that’s not capitalism.
We can start by exploring what you think the tenets of capitalism are?
Well to me it is privately owned businesses producing goods or services for a free market. I don’t consider what we have in America or the west in general to be capitalism, but rather crony corporatism, corporate socialism, or some form of soft fascism.
Do you have a time period or place where “true” capitalism has taken place?
No, it’s just a spectrum. I think the times and places with the freest markets have generated the most wealth for the most people. Any other system besides a completely free market is coercive by definition. What gives any government the legitimacy to decide which goods or services should be legal? As a person who’s entire life has occurred during the drug prohibition era started by Nixon, the idea that the state should be able to regulate any market has been delegitimized to me from a very young age.
See, that’s where you lose me. Capitalism is like this religion that can come and go as it pleases. Never really here, never really there and avoids all accountability.
I am not for use of force, and I don’t want to see any State intervention. This is why I am trying to convince these “capitalists” to be the change. Stop chasing profits and hoarding wealth.
What exactly is it you are proposing instead then? People freely choosing to do business with each other is the most peaceful and prosperity-producing arrangement possible as far as I can tell.
I think you are right, as long as we are not exploiting each other and resources for profit. I also think a mix of things would be nice to try. Like taking profits out of life essentials. Bitcoin will help facilitate this change but it is also a change in ideology.