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Monopoly was invented to demonstrate the evils of capitalism (2017)
231–240 of 374 posts
Re: Monopoly was invented to demonstrate the evils of capitalism (2017)
#232Earlier quoted context omitted.
as the article points out the game was in particular desgigned to show the economic effects of private land rent, hence the original title 'the landlord's game', and that is in fact a zero sum game as they aren't making any more of it. And in particular on tech websites like these people vastly overstate how non 'zero-sum' economic activity actually is mostly because tech has been in a bubble of highly anomalous grow…
And yet we are 30x richer per person in a 10x bigger population since the Industrial Revolution started. That is 300x more than a zero sum model would predict.
Indeed, the marxist argument is that the productivity gains of the industrial revolution would allow unprecedented human freedom, if not for their capture by the small class of people who own the means of production. The labor movement has played an enormous role in ensuring the working class gets a fairer share, via the 40-hour work week, collective bargaining, etc.
We may see another example of this if Andrew Yang and other folks bullish on automation are correct. The few people who own the AI systems that replace truck drivers will get fabulously wealthy, while the large mass of workers will get nothing.
In the past ~50 years in the US, labor has been on the back foot, and productivity gains have gone almost exclusively to the wealthy, rather than the working class.
Re: Monopoly was invented to demonstrate the evils of capitalism (2017)
#233Wow, I guess that was a revelation and something worth appreciating: the idea that if we just take a little bit of everyone's wealth and share it with the Commonwealth, then there can be a lot more wealth for all.
If sharing wealth leads to greater wealth, then why is it necessary to try to take wealth (by force)? Why don't people willingly give up their wealth so that they can make more?
If it is possible to make more wealth by giving up some, why not let people choose whether or not they will share? If you theory holds true, then people who share will get richer and the people who don't share will get poorer and the problem will solve itself.
Re: Monopoly was invented to demonstrate the evils of capitalism (2017)
#234Earlier quoted context omitted.
"We"? What is being counted here, the average income and wealth? Of course people are better off with food and iPhones, but in many major European cities people with middle class incomes share apartments that were literally single family worker apartments around 1900. In terms of living space, the quality of life for the middle class is worse than 100 years ago.
> In terms of living space, the quality of life for the middle class is worse than 100 years ago. most urbanites of today don't own a chicken, let alone a cow, in 800's standard they're worse off than serfs.
In 1900, the average life expectancy for an American man was 48.3
Today, the average life expectancy for Americans is 78.7
Re: Monopoly was invented to demonstrate the evils of capitalism (2017)
#235Earlier quoted context omitted.
And yet we are 30x richer per person in a 10x bigger population since the Industrial Revolution started. That is 300x more than a zero sum model would predict.
Indeed, the marxist argument is that the productivity gains of the industrial revolution would allow unprecedented human freedom, if not for their capture by the small class of people who own the means of production. The labor movement has played an enormous role in ensuring the working class gets a fairer share, via the 40-hour work week, collective bargaining, etc. We may see another example of this if Andrew Yang…
I'm not holding my breath on self-driving semi trucks anytime soon. They will be the last type of vehicle to be automated. It takes a lot of skill to drive an 18 wheeler from warehouse to distribution center to warehouse. They are extremely dangerous machines if not handled properly and can easily kill dozens of people if a miscalculation occurs.
In the meantime, you could make the same argument about farming equipment in the 19th and 20th centuries. Yeah 90% of the population used to be farmers, and yeah the equipment automated away most of that labor, but did the former farmers and laborers lose out or did they gain, by access to the same technology... either via personal automobiles or via cheaper, more reliable supply chains of abundant food.
Likewise, if and when transportation is automated, people will gain from their time saved in traffic. They will gain from cheaper costs of transportation overall which will reduce price of goods at retail. They will gain from the availability of 24/7 cheap, reliable, on-demand transportation.
And no, real wages are at all time highs in the United States, with the median household income hitting $63K in 2018.
Re: Monopoly was invented to demonstrate the evils of capitalism (2017)
#236Wow, I guess that was a revelation and something worth appreciating: the idea that if we just take a little bit of everyone's wealth and share it with the Commonwealth, then there can be a lot more wealth for all.
If sharing wealth leads to greater wealth, then why is it necessary to try to take wealth (by force)? Why don't people willingly give up their wealth so that they can make more? If it is possible to make more wealth by giving up some, why not let people choose whether or not they will share? If you theory holds true, then people who share will get richer and the people who don't share will get poorer and the problem…
Because "enlightened self interest" is an oxymoron?
By the way, "people who share will get richer and the people who don't share will get poorer" is a misstatement of the theory.
Re: Monopoly was invented to demonstrate the evils of capitalism (2017)
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
as the article points out the game was in particular desgigned to show the economic effects of private land rent, hence the original title 'the landlord's game', and that is in fact a zero sum game as they aren't making any more of it. And in particular on tech websites like these people vastly overstate how non 'zero-sum' economic activity actually is mostly because tech has been in a bubble of highly anomalous grow…
And yet we are 30x richer per person in a 10x bigger population since the Industrial Revolution started. That is 300x more than a zero sum model would predict.
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Re: Monopoly was invented to demonstrate the evils of capitalism (2017)
#238Wow, I guess that was a revelation and something worth appreciating: the idea that if we just take a little bit of everyone's wealth and share it with the Commonwealth, then there can be a lot more wealth for all.
If sharing wealth leads to greater wealth, then why is it necessary to try to take wealth (by force)? Why don't people willingly give up their wealth so that they can make more? If it is possible to make more wealth by giving up some, why not let people choose whether or not they will share? If you theory holds true, then people who share will get richer and the people who don't share will get poorer and the problem…
Parent's "wealth for all" does not mean "wealth for each."
Of course taxing the wealthiest to share with everyone results in the wealthiest having less than they would otherwise, which is why they tend not do do so voluntarily.
However, if it makes most people better off, and makes society as a whole better off, then maybe it's worth it for the government to force their most-successful citizens away from their selfish instincts to the betterment of the nation?
Re: Monopoly was invented to demonstrate the evils of capitalism (2017)
#239Earlier quoted context omitted.
What did happen to Germany? Are you thinking about the national socialism from the Nazi party? If you don't live in USA, why are you bringing their politics in the debate?
East and West Germany. If that doesn't expose the horror that socialism can bring to a population I don't know how else to explain it. If one were to make a list of all of the advances in humanity across a range of fields of study, one would be very hard pressed to match the accomplishments of capitalism-rooted systems with what came out of the entire human history of socialist-based systems. One list is a thousand k…
You didn't listen well in the history class, am I wrong ?
Re: Monopoly was invented to demonstrate the evils of capitalism (2017)
#240Earlier quoted context omitted.
And yet we are 30x richer per person in a 10x bigger population since the Industrial Revolution started. That is 300x more than a zero sum model would predict.
Indeed, the marxist argument is that the productivity gains of the industrial revolution would allow unprecedented human freedom, if not for their capture by the small class of people who own the means of production. The labor movement has played an enormous role in ensuring the working class gets a fairer share, via the 40-hour work week, collective bargaining, etc. We may see another example of this if Andrew Yang…
"In the past ~50 years in the US, labor has been on the back foot, and productivity gains have gone almost exclusively to the wealthy, rather than the working class. "
How so? The poorest working people in the US today are much much much better off than they were 50 years ago. It's not even close. A lot of people have recency bias, technology gains etc have given much more freedom to individuals, made work easier and less labor intensive, that is largely due to private industry. Globally, poverty has plunged.