re: The Structure of Capitalism...

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Literally millions of people in this country are stuggling to eat.

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Struggling to eat what they want.

"Food security" is a useless metric, it measures your ability to purchase the foods you want to eat.

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1. That's what the video I posted is about. Capitalism does not allow people to keep the fruits of their labor. It allows the owner (boss) to pay you less than what you produced and keep the profits. It sells works on the idea that one day if you work harder enough, you can be the owner.

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Incorrect. You are allowed to value and price your labor at a rate you see fit. If you think you deserve $100/hour to be a barista, you will be market-corrected. Alternatively, if you're an amazing thoracic surgeon at a hospital that pays you $100/hour, you can be the market correction and command a higher pay elsewhere.

The thing to remember is that your labor is always alienable, but that applies to both you and the employer.

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2. Nearly all important innovation of the last century was from research funded by the state. Microchips, computers generally, telecommunications satellites, etc.

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I'll ask you to cite your sources here. I don't think you're being factual.

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3. Capitalism encourages companies to make the most they can by charging as much as possible, even if it's cheap to make. Insulin is a great example. It's almost 10x as expensive here as in other countries, why? Because we don't regulate prices on life saving medications and people are forced to choose between paying ridiculous amounts or risk their health.

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Incorrect. Capitalism encourages a fair exchange of things for money - e.g. labor, goods, services, etc. It is, by function, not about charging the most. If that were true, the only car choice we'd have would be Rolls Royces and no one would have ever designed a cheaper vehicle.

As far as insulin, its production is limited to only three companies. I probably don't need to explain to you what happens when supply is artificially controlled.

Even you would agree that if there were no cap on insulin production, the free market would have enormous downward pressure on cost/price. Again, that's why there are BMWs and Kias.

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4. Capitalism rations goods based on wealth. Rich people have more access and poor people are quite limited.

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Incorrect, again. Capitalism spurs competition. If only 1% of the world population can afford a Rolls Royce, it would be asinine for someone not to create an alternative based on the demand for a cheaper vehicle.

Of course, this works both ways. Some people elect to "buy up" because they want the premium product, good or service and don't mind engaging in a free transaction.

In a sense, Capitalism is the most virtuous of any economic system. Person X wants cog Y at Z price. They can buy it or pass on it.

Not so in socialism, where the government is the sole arbiter of what gets bought and sold. Oh, you want to cook some T-bones tonight for the big game? Sorry Charlie, the statist grocery stores have decided that you cannot have any T-bones. Okay, well can't you go to a privately-owned, free market grocer? Nope, because they are not allowed to exist. Here, enjoy your bread, comrade.

Let me know if you can cite those sources or if you need more help understanding why and where you're wrong.

I can't believe you guys are still humoring this dumbass.

I am currently on a Teams call

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Not disagreeing with your post, but technically speaking we have never seen a modern society actually become truly communist. When the Socialist transition is happening, wealth and power is controlled by such a small few and they just don’t ever let go. I don’t think a true communist society is even possible due to human nature. No money, no state, no classes, true equality.

Cuba is probably the closest to true communism (though peoples power is through the state…), and that is arguably the best/worst example for communism not working out there. ? Every commie argues another commies points, it will never work

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No worries my man. I do agree that we have never seen one. Closest on a national scale, to me, may be old Yugoslavia (socialism, not communism), but we may disagree on that and to me, that is cool.

I think we both agree on the main point though. Central authority never does reliquish the "capital" once it gets it. Therefore the nation is stuck in state capitalism until it crumbles.

The need for this strong central authority is the exact reason these ideals fail. As if human nature will ever change. That is why my wife, a Bosnian, laughs at Americans who think they love socialism/communism. Inequality is far greater with a much smaller pool of "haves". To her disbelief the left is running fast towards state capitalism in the country and it scares her.

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No worries my man. I do agree that we have never seen one. Closest on a national scale, to me, may be old Yugoslavia (socialism, not communism), but we may disagree on that and to me, that is cool.

I think we both agree on the main point though. Central authority never does reliquish the "capital" once it gets it. Therefore the nation is stuck in state capitalism until it crumbles.

The need for this strong central authority is the exact reason these ideals fail. As if human nature will ever change. That is why my wife, a Bosnian, laughs at Americans who think they love socialism/communism. Inequality is far greater with a much smaller pool of "haves". To her disbelief the left is running fast towards state capitalism in the country and it scares her.

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Absolutely agree with you, especially on the bold points.

And to your wifes thoughts, it sure feels that way. Even worse when people on both sides feel like they can't trust the govt. Why give the rulers, who you distrust, more power and authority?

I think that is one of the huge benefits regarding the idea of states rights. I was recently in Portland, Oregon and it was very different from where I live. Some things I enjoyed, others I didn't. Let them try and run their utopias on a smaller scale without fricking it up for the rest of us.