AllanfromWales1 t1_j2ac0y6 wrote on December 30, 2022 at 8:06 PM

Reply to comment by fitzroy95 in We have all the resources we need to solve the world's greatest problems, so long as we can rise above our tribal instincts. by IAI_Admin

As I said elsewhere, capitalism requires a market. Making more and more people poor removes a significant proportion of that market. Bill Gates can't get rich unless people are buying computer software. Bezos can't get rich if people can't afford to use Amazon. Lower down the chain, Ronald McDonald needs people to buy burgers. And so on. It's far from obvious that the guys at the top don't care about us - they rely on us. Obviously there's a limit to how far they're willing to go, but it's not as black and white as you seem to suggest.

SabotageGoodActually t1_j2al1x7 wrote on December 30, 2022 at 9:05 PM

This is what is commonly know as contradiction of capitalism (one of many). It’s actually one of the reasons why there are frequent “crises” in the market. These crises were explained in detail by anti capitalists over a century ago, and it was shown that they are actually very predictable. Capitalists don’t care.

Padhome t1_j2d2dqv wrote on December 31, 2022 at 9:54 AM

It invariably promotes short-term goals over long-term viability. Basically, "I got mine so who cares?"

VitriolicViolet t1_j2fnk98 wrote on December 31, 2022 at 10:43 PM

and? short term thinking plagues humanity, from election cycles to 70% people eating enough to be overweight to drug dealers killing their customers by cutting products (hell major corporation do it ffs, just slower)

these people are just humans in the end, they want more money tomorrow and so do their investors (not to mention half will be dead by the time it gets bad anyway).

they are not uniquely smart or skilled, every society in human history has had a class like this and every single time they have chosen short term profit (be that financial or power/control based) to the point of destroying the society they are in.

what is happening now is what happened to every major society in history, those with power have enough to run us into the ground trying to get more and so they will.