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Originally Posted by sopas ej
It's not a made-up definition. I guess I just have to rephrase it so that you'll swallow it easier. The focus of a free market is the exchange of goods and services, and wealth.
The focus of capitalism is wealth creation and the ownership of that wealth, and making profit. But it doesn't stop at just making a profit; a capitalist seeks more capital, and will try and do anything to keep increasing profit, even if those profit goals are unrealistic. I'll use a friend's situation as an example. Back in the 90s, he worked for a store called Sur La Table, which used to be a family-owned small chain of stores out of Seattle. He worked at the Pasadena, CA store, which at the time was the only store in all of southern California. The Pasadena store was highly profitable, and there were regular customers who would drive within a hundred-mile radius just to shop at the Pasadena store. Then the company was sold and it became more of a corporate entity. They started expanding and opening more stores across the country, and more stores in southern California. It started eating the profits at the Pasadena store, and the customers who used to go there from far away started shopping at stores closer to them... BUT, corporate kept telling the Pasadena store that they weren't meeting their profit goals, but DUH, the other stores took that profit away. The Pasadena store was still very profitable, but not profitable enough, according to corporate. So of course, like in other big companies, they use that as an excuse to start reducing employees' hours/cutting their benefits, and laying them off, and then hiring new people at a lower wage, to meet their profit goals. That's capitalism. Nothing benevolent about it.
Capitalists are basically profit-hoarders. They constantly seek more and more capital. And they're not patriotic, either; they will go offshore for labor and materials to make even more profit. Japanese auto companies are capitalists too; they did exactly what American companies do. When Toyota and Nissan opened up auto plants in the US, our media was like "They're providing jobs for Americans!" Well yeah, that's one way of looking at it, but in reality, they were using cheap American labor (in comparison with the price of labor in Japan) to build the cars that Americans buy, and selling them directly to Americans without the tariffs and import taxes. Isn't that obvious?
Again, nothing benevolent about capitalism and capitalists. Amazon is the perfect example. Jeff Bezos is basically the richest man on earth, but wealth isn't created in a vacuum. He basically exploits his workers; Amazon workers aren't treated well nor are they paid well. In capitalism, there are the wealth creators (the workers/people who do the actual work), and the wealth takers (people like Bezos).
And so what if Bezos is a "philanthropist." The giving of wealth is funded by the stealing of wealth. Again, wealth isn't created in a vacuum. We wouldn't need philanthropy and charity if wealth were evenly distributed among the people.
And yes, I do indeed do my taxes every year. I don't itemize, so nope, no deductions. I don't own property, I don't have children, I don't have "investments." So no, I don't game the system like many other people do. Well, when I file my California state taxes, as a renter, I do take the "renter's credit" to reduce my California state income tax.
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Well, I agree companies that treat their employees right will win in the end. My girlfriends little brother, who is in college, just started working at Starbucks. He is blown away about how much better he is treated(in every way) vs. when he worked retail. That's a *good* thing and honestly, makes me less sick to spend an outrageous amount(for me) on a cup of coffee there.
Going offshore. You're starting to sound like Trump(jk). Think about it this way... The Iphone. How many Americans would be employed making the Iphone? Lets be generous and say 20k. Now, how many people own an Iphone? Maybe 70-100 million people(maybe I am being too generous there too)? If making the phone overseas saves these people 100 dollars, than the impact of that move is huge and impacts more people. Also, almost half of Americans own stock, so those stockholders win too.
Rich people don't just put their money in a savings account. They laugh at those interest rates. They invest it, and that investments either create jobs, create new products, or creates wealth.
Do you buy from Amazon? Maybe you don't, but most people do. They do because it gives them products at a really cheap price quick. How many people work for Amazon? Very little in comparison to their shoppers. Of course I think Bezos should pay more to his employees. I love the idea of employees sharing in profit in the form of stocks every year. But at the end of the day, he created Amazon. Most of us benefit from that. Thats more than almost anyone on Earth can say. That's a big deal.
How did he steal it? By selling my girlfriend an airfryer? No, wealth will never be distributed evenly. And thank God. There are very unfair things about life, even in the West. However, we are not all equal. I will never have the ability to play basketball like James or become a world-renowned doctor. That's fine. My skills are at a point where I make a comfortable middle-class living. It doesn't bother me that Bezos makes what I make in a year in a day(or whatever). I still buy from his company, because it allows me to keep more of my cash(and not leave the house).
It's not "gaming the system" by taking deductions. Its common sense.