Mastodawn

Olivetree Jan 14, 2024

@arroz I have that feeling with some fridges, my S10 and anything that's has a metallic shell (and is not grounded?). But why does it only happen when *moving* the fingers?

Olivetree Jan 11, 2023

@waweic Why would people work if they don't need to? After buying a house, I certainly wouldn't. And I need a house to live, so even that should be free according to OP. I would at most study or build something for myself, shun away from society.

They shouldn't and I agree with you. But UBI won't change that, while decentralization might favor the scales. How do you measure contribution to society? Is a doctor better than a teacher or a garbage collector?

Olivetree Jan 11, 2023

@waweic @picardsteacup You can if you 100% tax a company's profits if it exceeds X times the lowest salary, or if after Y amount of revenue it requires Z shareholders.
If it's a monopoly break it into multiple companies.
If it's selling basic resource and there's less than X competing companies, government regulates prices.
Forbid mergers.
Big companies can't micromanage, they have terrible inefficiencies, but bureaucracy imposes high costs to small companies. Shared medium sized companies ftw

Olivetree Jan 11, 2023

@waweic There isn't. But in capitalism you are free to create your own means of production and break the loop. It allows me more freedom than what I understood of your system (or socialism/communism). It incentivizes people to work, it doesn't force them to do it forever. If taxes were lower and banks/governments had less reach you wouldn't need so much safety for mishaps.
Note: I do believe in subsidies for permanently disabled people. Everyone else needs to learn how to save money.

Olivetree Jan 11, 2023

@waweic @picardsteacup Capitalism doesn't imply taxes and property taxes shouldn't even exist for your first land/home in the first place. I may not be able to live off-grid now, but it's not because of capitalism, it's the social system.

It's more general: state is power concentration, it (and your system) still allows for lots of corruption. You can still have a society based on private property and capital if you are able limit the power concentration. A sort of "too big to succeed".

Olivetree Jan 11, 2023

@waweic @picardsteacup We are now quite deviated from the original sentence, but we can still go down that path.
To me your ideal is just trading liberty for some idea of fairness.
Why is *your* fairness more important than someone else's fairness or liberty?
Maximum liberty is allowing someone to do anything they wish as long as it doesn't negatively impact others. It's very close to objective. Fairness is not by any means objective, it will never reach consensus.

Olivetree Jan 11, 2023

@waweic
How do you decide who has to work? If I get a headache can I not work? Yesterday I had a nasty fight with my spouse and am emotionally devastated. Can I skip work? (I'm a common worker and at my current job I can, so this problem isn't there in capitalism per se)
What you described is a pool of forced labor for some, so that everyone has food and shelter. It might be free $-wise, but we will now all be prisoners of a new system. To me, that's not better.
@picardsteacup

Olivetree Jan 11, 2023

@waweic
But this is not what he said. He said it should be free and easy to get. If you have to work for it, it's not free, nor any different from capitalism, which simply adds a layer of indirection. And even assuming that was what he said, how do you decide how much grain one individual gets? Is it the same for everyone? That would result in surplus and shortage, its unfair (we don't all eat the same). And what about housing, transportation, medical care?
@picardsteacup

Show thread

Olivetree Dec 28, 2022

@picardsteacup
Are you surprised that it's radical or are you just making a statement? Have you ever thought about what that actually assumes and implies? Do you have any data that supports that that is even possible?
(Consider that you are talking to a civilized human being that is actually interested in debating this as opposed to just imposing his view)

Show thread

Olivetree Dec 22, 2022

@lawprofblawg
@kangaroo5383
Your comparison is unfair, the numbers for Pintos' fires are from common (known mechanical) cause only. Those Teslas' fire causes are not, they are total for everything, including being/having been in a hurricane. That's 16 fires/year (actually more because that number excludes fires not reported in news, but that's the number you use for your demand) for Tesla. How many for the Pintos? There are >100k car fires/year in the USA, surely 16 is the least of your worries.