Ok but after covid, prices skyrocketed compared to pre-covid levels and we got massive inflation. Wages didn't suddenly skyrocket at the same time, hiring rates didn't go through the roof, corporate profits did though. So why would prices suddenly returning to pre-covid levels require everyone to be fired and customers to disappear when the economy was working great before? Would it just be that companies would start mass layoffs to prevent a short term decline in quarter on quarter profits which would start a negative feedback loop?
Because of how corps react to lower prices. They would just lay everyone off. Deflation itself isn't the issue, it's how little protections actual working people have and how much incentive corps have to keep their stock price high. Being able to sell something for less means less profit for the corps which is a big problem for corp leadership. So the solution is to temporally increase profits by getting rid of staff.
Ahh ok so basically it all just comes down to corporate greed determining how much we should all suffer and be punished for even considering the idea that their stock price doesn't have to keep going up every 3 months and that they might be able to survive on 5% less profit this year compared to last year. Got it.
Keep in mind this is just the tip of the iceberg. Corporations actively lobby for these policies that ensure they get protections and bailouts while workers and citizens foot the bill and they largely get passed as a result of things like Citizen United, and that these lobbies also own and operate the media, which makes them the Kingmakers of your elected officials.
In history classes, we typically call this form of Oligopoly “Feudalism”, not Democracy.
The rich have gotten so rich they have essentially taken over the most important parts of government, and they’re using that power to funnel your tax money AND spending money directly to themselves.
If you sit around and complain, nothing happens. That's just nature, the strong ones get to live.
Nobody is stopping anyone from joining the corps or open a business. Unfortunately, those without talent or unlucky have to live at subsistence level. Communism doesn't work.
I mean sure, nobody is stopping anybody from opening a business or joining the corps, but we can’t all do that, if we all did society wouldn’t function. So isn’t the model in and of itself flawed? Sounds to me like Corps just need to give back to society more, whether that’s directly sending funds, or helping restructure things for the better for the “commoners” if you will.
I feel like people don't realize when a corp posts their profit, that number is after it's already paid all its employees, built new warehouses, etc.. They're kinda just removing that money from the economy and sitting on it.
"The strong ones get to live get to live" isn't an argument for capitalism; it’s social Darwinism.
"Anyone can start a business" doesn’t answer the criticism that concentrated wealth can buy political influence and shape the rules in its own favor. Jumping from "oligarchic capture is bad" to "communism doesn't work" is such a spectacular non sequitur that it practically proves the point about ideological conditioning.
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u/cheapdrinks 4h ago
Ok but after covid, prices skyrocketed compared to pre-covid levels and we got massive inflation. Wages didn't suddenly skyrocket at the same time, hiring rates didn't go through the roof, corporate profits did though. So why would prices suddenly returning to pre-covid levels require everyone to be fired and customers to disappear when the economy was working great before? Would it just be that companies would start mass layoffs to prevent a short term decline in quarter on quarter profits which would start a negative feedback loop?