Adam Smith was much more critical of capitalism than he is given credit for. For example, Adam Smith was critical of rent seeking and landlords. It would be somewhat accurate to replace Orangutan with Adam Smith in this meme.
Yes Capitalism is supposed to be pro-worker/anti-rich
Supposed by whom? The rent-seeking behavior that Smith criticized was largely brought about by enclosure; the process of enclosure was foundational to capitalism.
Hence my comment about people still paying to live before adoption of capitalism
This is ahistorical, before enclosure the peasantry had substantial rights to live freely on the common land.
I suppose it does depend on what is meant by ‘pay to live on this earth’. If you just mean that people have to work to take care of themselves then, sure. But that’s not really what this meme is referring to. If it was then the orangutan would be ‘paying to live on this earth’ as well.
Capitalism is based on voluntary exchange. It is defined by the so-called “free market”, which is word for “a situation in which nobody cooperates economically without their own consent”.
And that’s the problem, because everyone is coerced to do that if they want to survive. And those, who own the means of production, the capital, the companies, are those who have the power to exploit those who don’t. And they do.
SailorMoss@sh.itjust.works 2 years ago
Adam Smith was much more critical of capitalism than he is given credit for. For example, Adam Smith was critical of rent seeking and landlords. It would be somewhat accurate to replace Orangutan with Adam Smith in this meme.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 2 years ago
Yes Capitalism is supposed to be pro-worker/anti-rich
Hence my comment about people still paying to live before adoption of capitalism
SailorMoss@sh.itjust.works 2 years ago
Supposed by whom? The rent-seeking behavior that Smith criticized was largely brought about by enclosure; the process of enclosure was foundational to capitalism.
This is ahistorical, before enclosure the peasantry had substantial rights to live freely on the common land.
I suppose it does depend on what is meant by ‘pay to live on this earth’. If you just mean that people have to work to take care of themselves then, sure. But that’s not really what this meme is referring to. If it was then the orangutan would be ‘paying to live on this earth’ as well.
ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 2 years ago
Adam Smith is the inventor of capitalism specifically his criticisms that you cite are about the systems we had prior
Are you just wrong for the sake of it?
He wasn’t criticizing a system that was built based on his writings
intensely_human@lemm.ee 2 years ago
Capitalism is pro-worker.
Capitalism is based on voluntary exchange. It is defined by the so-called “free market”, which is word for “a situation in which nobody cooperates economically without their own consent”.
Zacryon@feddit.de 2 years ago
And that’s the problem, because everyone is coerced to do that if they want to survive. And those, who own the means of production, the capital, the companies, are those who have the power to exploit those who don’t. And they do.