• Doom@ttrpg.network
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    21 days ago

    America.

    Radical liberal George Washington and his gang of discovery daddies overthrow the just and fair and healthy rule of the king

    Now you know none of that is true, but that’s how you sound defending capitalism. All the death and destruction capitalism caused but they try to sell you on socialism being much worse. Which it is not, Capitalism has absolutely caused far more harm.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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      21 days ago

      All the death and destruction capitalism caused but they try to sell you on socialism being much worse.

      Then you’re obviously ignoring the death and destruction socialism has caused. Socialism has only been a thing for 100 years or so, and yet it has caused nearly 100M deaths (source: a libertarian publication referencing an infographic based on WHO data):

      Curiously, all of the world’s worst famines during the 20th century were in communist countries: China (twice!), the Soviet Union, and North Korea.

      • Doom@ttrpg.network
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        21 days ago

        Lmfao

        Capitalism has killed no one then?

        The Atlantic slave trade, the human trafficking of today, the resource wars, the embargo and economic punishment of those who don’t submit to capitalism, the imperialistic wars, violence from police states to uphold capitalism, drug overdoses, those dying of homelessness/lack of healthcare/food.

        Plus if we track the metric used that anyone who died under socialism died from socialism as you do, then let’s see 3 million people die a year in America multiply that by 100.

        300,000,000 million deaths from capitalism in ONE single capitalist country over the last 100 years. (America). That’s not factoring in the other nations or the actions they’ve caused outside of their country that also applies to this total.

        60 million people die globally a year. We live in a capitalist global economy so it’s safe to claim most of that total but let’s play it safe. Only 40 million die under capitalism a year. Multiply that by 100 and

        4 BILLION PEOPLE HAVE DIED FROM CAPITALISM OVER THE LAST 100 YEARS

        Wow sounds like socialism is the better option.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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          20 days ago

          The Atlantic slave trade

          About 2M.

          human trafficking of today

          Socialist countries are near the top of the charts here, like N. Korea and Cambodia. The problem isn’t due to any economic system, but the failure of law enforcement.

          resource wars… violence from police states to uphold capitalism…

          Not sure what you mean by this, specifically, and I’d prefer to not wade too far into vagaries.

          embargo and economic punishment of those who don’t submit to capitalism

          If you look at the actual reasons here, it’s usually due to human rights violations, authoritarianism, or something along those lines (affiliation w/ the USSR, the US’s main enemy, used to be sufficient). Russia has recently received massive economic punishment and they are absolutely capitalist, and they got those sanctions due to the aforementioned reasons.

          imperialistic wars

          You’ll need to be a bit more specific to arrive at a number, but generally speaking, the death toll wasn’t that high, and all combined is likely way less than the Great Chinese Famine, which was entirely man-made.

          drug overdoses

          What’s interesting is that most of those deaths are from fentanyl, and China is the main manufacturer of the ingredients to make fentanyl. So production starts in China, gets distributed abroad, and then ends up in the US, probably because it’s relatively easy to get drugs into the US due to the cartels’ established networks.

          This isn’t a failure of capitalism, unless you’re blaming Americans for having enough money to buy drugs. Fentanyl production in the US is practically non-existent, so it’s not like it’s a failure of policy either.

          Here’s the source I used for this.

          those dying of homelessness/lack of healthcare/food.

          China and the US have about the same homelessness rate, and the US has a lower rate than many other developed countries, like France and Germany (and quite notably New Zealand). That said, reporting varies by country, so these figures probably can’t be fully trusted.

          These are generally more symptoms of the state of the economy and has little to do with the actual economic system in place, and most of the top countries here are quite poor generally and most of the countries with the least homelessness are generally wealthy, and their are outliers everywhere.

          if we track the metric used that anyone who died under socialism died from socialism as you do

          But I don’t, those figures are deaths directly attributable to socialism, such as famines caused by poor central planning. Deaths due to natural causes and things not directly related to the regime in charge aren’t included.

          • Doom@ttrpg.network
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            20 days ago

            Insanity.

            My dude absolutely no. The entire premise was to point out this “100m died due to socialism” is a joke and people repeating it come off as completely foolish. The entire idea of attributing an economic system to death is ridiculous. Flipping that back onto any system you’ll only see insane death tolls that are goofily interpreted to press a point not tell the truth.

            Second this over run point of socialism = famine and capitalism doesn’t is fuckin SILLY.

            9 Million people a year from malnourishment now

            Over a century that’s 900 million people. Ridiculous numbers goofy.

            The point is people want to fucking feed people. We both you and I wanna help people. Under this system now that rules globally we aren’t doing it at least I and others like me do not. The points you’re making is capitalist crap propaganda, unhelpful goalless and mostly soulless. Cherry picking death tolls by countries is an asinine way to judge government structure. How many died from the Military-Industrial complex or resource/land wars?

            Socialists in western democracies are looking to create food banks, free housing, and accessible healthcare. Help those literally dying from this. Why do you argue so hard against those people lol

            • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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              20 days ago

              The entire idea of attributing an economic system to death is ridiculous.

              They’re not, they’re attributing a political system to death, because that political system enabled and perhaps rewarded those in power to do it.

              Here’s a Wikipedia article about it, which has plenty of sources and some criticism. There’s no consensus on exact figures (which range from 10-20M all the way to 148M), but there does seem to be consensus that the number is high (definitely millions).

              If you have a scholarly alternative to those mentioned in the article, I’d be interested in reviewing it, especially if it makes a strong case for Stalin and Mao not being responsible for tens of millions of deaths by starvation. But just know, once someone puts themselves in charge of coordination of production and distribution of food, I will hold them accountable when that goes wrong.

              The capitalist system works around these issues by encouraging and rewarding over supply, since a famine in one area is an arbitrage opportunity in another. Communism, on the other hand, punishes over supply since that means workers aren’t efficiently allocated. It also rewards hoarding because that means you’re getting more than your fair share and is the closest thing to “profit” (and you can barter excess for other goods you want).

              9 Million people a year from malnourishment now

              And in most cases, the cause of that is corruption and authoritarianism. Western countries try to send aid to help solve hunger and malnourishment, but dictators take that aid so it doesn’t reach the people, because hungry people don’t have time to rise up.

              Most of the countries with the worst malnutrition are in Africa, and largely in areas known for poor rule of law and high corruption. That said, aside from the early 2020s so far, hunger has been on a consistent downward trend. I couldn’t find the source I saw earlier, but this one shows a general downward trend since 2000, and the other report I saw before showed a downward trend since 1900.

              Under this system now that rules globally

              There isn’t a system that rules globally. Malnutrition tends to be much less in areas with freer markets and less repressive governments. The real enemy here is autocracy, the economic system isn’t the interesting factor when it comes to things like access to basic necessities.

              Why do you argue so hard against those people lol

              I’m only arguing against authoritarianism, and that is what pure socialism tends to devolve into. I have no problem with food banks and other charitable endeavors, in fact I actively support that type of thing. But I draw the line at “just trust me bro” when it comes to putting control of an entire economic system into the hands of a political party. I just don’t trust human nature that much.

              • Doom@ttrpg.network
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                20 days ago

                Roll my fuckin eyes

                I’m only arguing against authoritarianism, and that is what pure socialism tends to devolve into.

                Wonder how Gaza is doing.

                The bros you are trusting are leading the corporations and the capitalist enabling governments they rule.

                But just know, once someone puts themselves in charge of coordination of production and distribution of food, I will hold them accountable when that goes wrong

                https://www.mercycorps.org/blog/facts-global-hunger

                Food is thrown away under capitalism, locked in garbage bins. Most people who grow the food are the ones starving. 9 Million a year die of malnourishment. That’s almost a billion people under capitalism in a century

                You’re a goon

                • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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                  19 days ago

                  Most people who grow the food are the ones starving.

                  That’s not capitalism, that’s either feudalism or slavery.

                  Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia make up 2 percent of the world’s population, yet these three countries are home to 70 percent of the world’s most extreme food insecure.

                  What’s special about those countries? They have a lot of corruption, poor economic policies in government, and barriers to foreign investment

                  Source and details for Ethiopia

                  (US State Department on Ethiopia:

                  Investors report that doing business in Ethiopia remains a challenge. An acute foreign exchange shortage (the Ethiopian birr is not a freely convertible currency and is overvalued, with the official exchange rate at 56.7 birr/USD while the parallel market rate is around 116 birr/USD) impedes companies’ ability to repatriate profits and obtain investment inputs. Unclear property rights, particularly land rights, mean local communities and governments frequently seize land or capital from foreign companies with little to no legal recourse. Companies often face long lead-times importing goods and dispatching exports due to foreign currency shortages, logistical bottlenecks, corruption, high land-transportation costs, and bureaucratic delays. The lack of a capital market hinders private sector growth. Export performance remains weak as the country struggles to develop exports beyond primary commodities (coffee, gold, and oil seeds), further hindered by the overvalued Ethiopian birr. Ethiopia is not a signatory of major intellectual property rights treaties such as the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Madrid System for the International Registration of Marks.

                  Source and details about Kenya

                  Article about Kenya.

                  Longstanding corruption within Kenya’s government such as bribery, fraud, and tribal favoritism is one of the leading causes of continuing poverty in Kenya, as problems such as these hinder attempts at reform and positive change. While reforms in the 2000s started to address these issues, it remains difficult for the average citizen of Kenya to pull him or herself out of poverty.

                  Why is Kenya poor? Another reason that Kenya is and remains poor is that about 75% of the population relies on agriculture to make a living. Yet Kenya’s erratic weather and arid climate make it a very unstable living to rely on. Jobs outside the agriculture industry are rare, and the education required for such jobs is even rarer, especially for poor families. The lack of economic diversity, opportunity, and education along with rapid population growth are crippling for the average citizen.

                  And for Somalia, it’s mostly civil war (ironically sparked by military dictatorship founded on Marxist principles) and now Islamist insurgency (against an Islamist government backed by Ethiopia).

                  That said, Western countries provide aid where possible (US aid to Kenya, US aid to Ethiopia). Also, here’s aid by countries, funny how it’s the capitalist countries that give the most favorable terms… There’s also a number of charities that add to that aid.

                  But the problems in these countries have less to do with food distribution and more to do with corruption and poor economic development. They rely on agriculture in an area with poor land for agriculture, as well as poor investment into agriculture (as in modern farming technology). The governments in these areas are failing their people, so what they need is more capitalism (foreign investment to create jobs) and better political policy. Kenya is moving in the right direction while Ethiopia is floundering (though they are taking loans from China, so hopefully that ends up helping, but I have my doubts).

                  If these areas had stable governments based on capitalism, there would be more foreign and domestic investment, meaning more jobs, corporate tax revenue, and other local investment.

                  • Doom@ttrpg.network
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                    19 days ago

                    If these areas had stable governments based on capitalism, there would be more foreign and domestic investment, meaning more jobs, corporate tax revenue, and other local investment.

                    So clueless. Back to step one with this kid. Capitalism doesn’t let anything else live it subverts and uses violence to control. Tale as old as time. The famines in India because of the British, the famines in Ireland because of the British all in the name of capital and money making. Disgusting.

                    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic