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Is capitalism dead? Yanis Varoufakis thinks it is – and he knows who killed it
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Re: Is capitalism dead? Yanis Varoufakis thinks it is – and he knows who killed it
#52Re: Is capitalism dead? Yanis Varoufakis thinks it is – and he knows who killed it
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
capitalism is private ownership of property and the exchange of labor for wage to produce commodities with said capital. capitalism is not just "free market economy," where the natural opposite as you supoose being "centrally planned economies" this is essential to understand what varoufakis presents as a new relation to production: technofeudalism.
> capitalism is private ownership of property Not only is that not my personal definition of the term, but that isn't how it's defined in the linked article; nor is Yannis Varoufakis even remotely advocating eliminating the notion of private property ownership. > capitalism is not just "free market economy," where the natural opposite as you supoose being "centrally planned economies" That depends entirely on who you…
> nor is Yannis Varoufakis even remotely advocating eliminating the notion of private property ownership.
uh, yes, he does.
> I try to create a vision of a liberal, socialist society that is not based on private property but does use money as a vehicle for exchange and markets as coordinating devices. I preserve money and markets because the alternative would be to fall to some fearsome hierarchical control, which, for me, is a nightmare scenario.
https://greattransition.org/publication/another-europe-is-po...
whether you agree with Marx or not, his description of capitalism is at the very least, complete. and it's his definition I used.
Re: Is capitalism dead? Yanis Varoufakis thinks it is – and he knows who killed it
#54Just in case you want to read more, his book - Technofeudalism - published by PenguinHouse - is available for pre-order on Amazon as a paperback for $17.99 and $30.99 for the hardcover. It is also available as an E-book on the Kindle via Apple Books and also as an audiobook on Audible.
Unfortunately it doesn't seem like there will be any open e-book PDF versions available - perhaps as a testament about how the means of electronic distribution of information are too tightly held by the capitalists.
Sorry couldn't resist!
Re: Is capitalism dead? Yanis Varoufakis thinks it is – and he knows who killed it
#55Conversations about capitalism have become pointless... I'd rather eat mud. When people start arguing one way or the other about the goods or ills of capitalism, both sides inject definitional or theoretical aspects that include an entire mountain of pre-supposition, that I barely understand what anyone is talking about. It would take hours to unpick what the hell they mean by the term... which I thought generally sh…
The term capitalism was invented as a prejorative, and in its original meaning had nothing to do with free markets. Instead it referred to a system of oppression where industrialists partnered with the state to create an underclass of cheap labor. Various policies were used to impoverish peasants, force them off their traditional lands, and legally require them to get a job in a factory or face prison.
Something similar happening now is where only big tech companies are able to afford compliance with censorship, money laundering, and other state regulations. This allows big tech to abuse their relationships with their customers, who are a wide group of industrialists, consumers, and labor.
Criticism of capitalism is fundamentally criticism of the state.
Re: Is capitalism dead? Yanis Varoufakis thinks it is – and he knows who killed it
#56Technofeudalism is super catchy but is poorly differentiated from Capitalism proper.
It seems the geist is about the monopolistic abusesses of large tech companies, which reminds us back to the Gilded Age's trusts. Both then and now are products and manifestation of the same Capitalism.
Re: Is capitalism dead? Yanis Varoufakis thinks it is – and he knows who killed it
#57The Amazon case in this article seems to fall flat in the same way the Apple as Monopoly argument does. It works only if you ignore the fact of categorical choice (Android in the case of Apple). No seller is forced to sell on Amazon, as demonstrated by the thousands of Shopify and Etsy-hosted sellers out there. Yes, within the world of Amazon, Amazon sets the rules, but if the users leave, so will the sellers. Shopif…
If competition is what's supposed to protect us from rentier nobility, we ought to police anticompetitive practices with more vigor than a frozen snail.
> Apple as Monopoly argument
> competition is what's supposed to protect us from rentier nobility
Google and Apple won smartphones, and now they get to tax everyone forever. Innovation in that space is dead, as both companies leech off of their earlier success.
That's so fucked.
An enormous amount of innovation capital is going straight into Apple and Google's pockets for what amounts to a distribution racket.
For so many things, you have to do mobile. Web apps are truly second class citizens, and most people do computing on smartphones instead of laptops and desktops.
So you adopt the app distribution model: then you're faced with the App Store and and all its toxic warts. Paid ad placement against your trademark. Draconian rules. Forced tech upgrade cycles. Inability to deploy on your own company's cadence. Break the rules, and you're out. No runtimes, fat taxes, no customer relationship.
Tech didn't used to be this authoritarian. We had a twenty year period of nearly unfettered freedom.
Apple and Google can't be both the hardware and the software of phones. That's wholly unfair to every other class of business.
We need four or more options for phones. Not two. And they shouldn't be able to unilaterally act as gods to block your access to millions of Americans. These aren't gaming consoles.
Re: Is capitalism dead? Yanis Varoufakis thinks it is – and he knows who killed it
#58[flagged]
Re: Is capitalism dead? Yanis Varoufakis thinks it is – and he knows who killed it
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
If competition is what's supposed to protect us from rentier nobility, we ought to police anticompetitive practices with more vigor than a frozen snail.
> Apple as Monopoly argument > competition is what's supposed to protect us from rentier nobility Google and Apple won smartphones, and now they get to tax everyone forever. Innovation in that space is dead, as both companies leech off of their earlier success. That's so fucked. An enormous amount of innovation capital is going straight into Apple and Google's pockets for what amounts to a distribution racket. For so…
We need a little more institutional oversight for the benefit of everyone else. But it seems government is in the clutches of big tech and special interest groups with big money. So I wont hold my breath on that.
Re: Is capitalism dead? Yanis Varoufakis thinks it is – and he knows who killed it
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
> capitalism is private ownership of property Not only is that not my personal definition of the term, but that isn't how it's defined in the linked article; nor is Yannis Varoufakis even remotely advocating eliminating the notion of private property ownership. > capitalism is not just "free market economy," where the natural opposite as you supoose being "centrally planned economies" That depends entirely on who you…
> nor is Yannis Varoufakis even remotely advocating eliminating the notion of private property ownership. uh, yes, he does. > I try to create a vision of a liberal, socialist society that is not based on private property but does use money as a vehicle for exchange and markets as coordinating devices. I preserve money and markets because the alternative would be to fall to some fearsome hierarchical control, which, f…
> uh, yes, he does.
I clarify, I meant in the linked article; not an interview from years ago.