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79 sats \ 3 replies \ @anniedustan OP 7 May \ parent \ on: My Thoughts On Scarcity - Keeping Ownership Of My Life culture
I'm going to attempt to take off my pedantic economist hat, because I think the essence of what you're getting at is correct.
I am not an economist so I appreciate you taking that hat off to reply to me!
Prosperity comes from producing more than you consume. By encouraging the general public consume more than they produce, that prosperity transfers upward to the elites.
I agree with you, we don't need to fight although I don't think that the 'elite' would agree as they would feel as though they were 'losing'.
Prosperity transfers upwards to the elites within a capitalist society, however what would happen if it was distributed equally or at least fairly? Then comes the question of - who decides what is fair? It is a minefield of which some would say not possible to solve but I don't believe that (although I don't profess to have the answers - yet!)
If people would be a little bit more introspective about what actually makes them happier, they could reduce their excess consumption, which would give them more of a cushion financially and reduce their sense of scarcity.
This! However, we have been taught that the more we have, the happier we will be and the only way that we can have 'more' is to earn more, and the culture that we live in (although I am seeing a shift) earning more, means working more which means disconnecting from their loved ones for most of the week.
How do we shift this mentality? Saying that... do we need to? Or, is it already happening? Are the gen z's and the alpha's going to manage to shake everything up and transform our way of being, or, will they be brought to their knees?
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66 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 7 May
Prosperity transfers upwards to the elites within a human society. It is not about capitalism. A large share of those transfers are due to state protections, which are antithetical to capitalism.
The only concept of fairness that is consistent with a free society, is that people get what is voluntarily given to them by others or what they produce themselves. The margin to work on, then, is persuading people to freely help those who need it.
I'm not sure what to make of the Zoomers, yet. Their trends are all over the map. I'm hopeful that they will at least be the generation that learns some important lessons and passes those on.
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @anniedustan OP 8 May
If I told you that you managed to get me to shut my laptop and say... "No more" yesterday! My brain was that fuzzy from using it that by the time you commented I didn't have any working cells left to compose an answer!
And now as I am looking at your reply... I got buuuuuurned! I know when to admit a mistake and putting capitalism into the same category as "state protections" was, well, a bit silly on my part 😂
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33 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 8 May
It's an understandable error. This system is a perverted form of capitalism and it is incredibly efficient at making that upward wealth transfer.
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