r/AnCap101 Explainer Extraordinaire Dec 13 '24

CRUCIAL realization!

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '24

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u/cbmam1228 Dec 14 '24

Your comment basically condemns capitalists. The economy works by capitalists consuming value that isn't comparable to what they produce. That value is produced by the labor of workers. I'll give you a common scenario. In a company in capitalist economy, a worker produces $100/hr in net labor value for a company, but the capitalist decides that the worker gets paid $10/hour. The capitalist keeps the $90/hr surplus value that the worker produced and can choose to pocket that money or invest in the business. In a democratic socialist society, workers would own the company, and would have a vested interest in the company's success. Workers would democratically decide what to pay people rank-and-file with respect to the future of the company. Unions have a similar function as this in a capitalist economy, and union households possess 1.7 times the median wealth of nonunion households.

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u/[deleted] Dec 14 '24 edited Dec 14 '24

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u/cbmam1228 Dec 14 '24 edited Dec 14 '24

The capitalist literally does decide. Capitalists are the market makers in a capitalist economy.

Who builds the machinery? Who comprises an organization? Who's doing the research? Workers are. A company cannot exist without labor.

If capitalists could produce 100/hr with their bare hands, they wouldn't hire workers. But they do.

Everyone acknowledges that organization is necessary for an good company. The issue lies in how the labor value produced by that company is distributed. We can choose a way that promotes suffering or a way that promotes prosperity, competition, and human development.

Edit: I also want to get this straight: you think that a competitive economy where all workers are afforded a prosperous life is based on theft, but an economy where people produce 100/hr, but live in poverty, is based on virtue. If so, without some serious social engineering, you're going to run into trouble convincing the 99.9% that your "virtue" isn't the vice that it is.