Does capitalism promote wasted human energy?

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Robert_Sock

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I’m talking about everybody competing against one another, instead of cooperation where all one’s effort goes to the common good. Forming a new business, for example, is a big risk, with a great potential of all one’s energy going to waste. It seems better for a group of people to understand what is needed in society, and combining people’s effort to achieve that goal.

Material is also wasted in our capitalistic, throw-away society. This too results in wasted human energy. It’s ‘planned obsolescence,’ where goods that could last a lifetime, break or wear out far before their time is due.

Capitalism is effective in getting people to produce, and it has played an important role in world growth over the past 200 years or so, but perhaps the time has come to look for a new, cooperative economy. Call me a Catholic lunatic, but I envision a truly spiritual economy where people gladly work for spiritual rewards that come from God Himself. One world under God!

LOVE! ❤️
 
Robert_Sock said:
I’m talking about everybody competing against one another, instead of cooperation where all one’s effort goes to the common good. Forming a new business, for example, is a big risk, with a great potential of all one’s energy going to waste. It seems better for a group of people to understand what is needed in society, and combining people’s effort to achieve that goal.

Material is also wasted in our capitalistic, throw-away society. This too results in wasted human energy. It’s ‘planned obsolescence,’ where goods that could last a lifetime, break or wear out far before their time is due.

Capitalism is effective in getting people to produce, and it has played an important role in world growth over the past 200 years or so, but perhaps the time has come to look for a new, cooperative economy. Call me a Catholic lunatic, but I envision a truly spiritual economy where people gladly work for spiritual rewards that come from God Himself. One world under God!

LOVE! ❤️
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I work in an environment that is not very capitalistic and preaches the virtues of cooperation. The problem is, we don’t cooperate very well because we have little incentive to cooperative. Whether I work nicely with my co-worker, or shirk, I get paid the same. In fact, if I develop a reputation for shirking I will be asked less to help others. So we get a lot of shirking. So capitalism actually promotes a lot of cooperation.

As to whether capitalism has waste, that is certainly true. But the real question is, does capitalism waste more than any other economic system? If you want to compare measurements of waste it would be interesting, but I have not seen the data.
 
Robert_Sock said:
I’m talking about everybody competing against one another, instead of cooperation where all one’s effort goes to the common good. Forming a new business, for example, is a big risk, with a great potential of all one’s energy going to waste. It seems better for a group of people to understand what is needed in society, and combining people’s effort to achieve that goal.
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So are you telling me that a person who is working hard to establish a chain of hair salons should just give up because of the “great potential of all one’s energy going to waste?” Don’t you think that those who do take risks and work hard to make those risk pay off have already decided “what is needed in society” and do their best to achieve that goal? Honestly, the more you espouse your socialist nonsense, the more you sound like a deadbeat. Why are you so jealous of other people’s success? Is it because you have acknowledged that you don’t have much? Or is it that you just don’t want to work hard for it? If it wasn’t for the innovators and risk takers, this country and the world would be far, far worse than it is today. You should know that capitalism has raised millions of the poor in the world out of impoverishment over the past 20 years. Do you think socialism can do that?
 
Timothysis said:
So are you telling me that a person who is working hard to establish a chain of hair salons should just give up because of the “great potential of all one’s energy going to waste?” Don’t you think that those who do take risks and work hard to make those risk pay off have already decided “what is needed in society” and do their best to achieve that goal? Honestly, the more you espouse your socialist nonsense, the more you sound like a deadbeat. Why are you so jealous of other people’s success? Is it because you have acknowledged that you don’t have much? Or is it that you just don’t want to work hard for it? If it wasn’t for the innovators and risk takers, this country and the world would be far, far worse than it is today. You should know that capitalism has raised millions of the poor in the world out of impoverishment over the past 20 years. Do you think socialism can do that?
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Where did I mention ‘socialism’ in this thread? You never addressed my question, but instead seem to be stuck in ‘attack mode.’

LOVE! ❤️
 
Robert_Sock said:
Where did I mention ‘socialism’ in this thread? You never addressed my question, but instead seem to be stuck in ‘attack mode.’
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Some form of socialism is always at the bottom of your posts.

Does capitalism promote wasted human energy? No. It doesn’t. And frankly, it is a dumb question. Why don’t you ask if every other economic system promotes wasted energy? Because you are always harping on capitalism.

BTW, your “spiritual economy” may work great for making you feel good about yourself, but it won’t go far in providing the daily bread for people and their families.
 
Timothysis said:
Some form of socialism is always at the bottom of your posts.

Does capitalism promote wasted human energy? No. It doesn’t. And frankly, it is a dumb question. Why don’t you ask if every other economic system promotes wasted energy? Because you are always harping on capitalism.
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Actually, as I have stated very clearly in other posts, I do not mind capitalism at all provided those blessed with financial success are of high moral character. And as I pointed out here in this thread, capitalism certainly has its place in history. But capitalism, I predict, will not survive.

LOVE! ❤️
 
Timothysis said:
Some form of socialism is always at the bottom of your posts.

Does capitalism promote wasted human energy? No. It doesn’t. And frankly, it is a dumb question. Why don’t you ask if every other economic system promotes wasted energy? Because you are always harping on capitalism.

BTW, your “spiritual economy” may work great for making you feel good about yourself, but it won’t go far in providing the daily bread for people and their families.
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Actually, to the contrary, I think it is a very reasonable question and I say that as a very free market person. For example, if you take Bayer aspirin and its generic equivalent, there is no functional difference between the two yet the Bayer sells for a much higher price. That would seem to be waste in our society. Now Bayer has an incentive to make people think there is a difference because they profit by doing so. I would argue however that such examples of waste in the aggregate are much smaller than the waste that occurs under other economic systems.
 
stinkcat_14 said:
For example, if you take Bayer aspirin and its generic equivalent, there is no functional difference between the two yet the Bayer sells for a much higher price. That would seem to be waste in our society.
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People will pay more for Bayer because of their reputable reputation. That isn’t waste; it is a personal preference. The same applies when a person buys a Cadillac when they could have gotten a Kia for thousands less. People are free to do what they wish with their money, even if they aren’t of “high moral character.”
 
stinkcat_14 said:
Is a society where those with financial success are of low moral character in any way desirable?
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What kind of society mandates that only people of high moral character are allowed to be successful? Should the legitimate authority be able to seize your bank account if you are discovered be of low moral character?
 
Timothysis said:
People will pay more for Bayer because of their reputable reputation. That isn’t waste; it is a personal preference.
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If there truly is no difference, and Bayer has convinced people that there is, then I would call it a waste. Bayer certainly has no incentive to tell people that the generic equivalent is exactly the same.
The same applies when a person buys a Cadillac when they could have gotten a Kia for thousands less.
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Cars are heterogeneous, so you cannot compare to a drug where two companies make exactly the same thing.
People are free to do what they wish with their money, even if they aren’t of “high moral character.”
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I agree that people are free to do what they want with their money, even if it is foolish.
 
Timothysis said:
What kind of society mandates that only people of high moral character are allowed to be successful? Should the legitimate authority be able to seize your bank account if you are discovered be of low moral character?
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So you are fine with drug dealers being successful? Was it wrong that Bernie Madeoff had his bank account seized when he was discovered to be of low moral character? Certainly a desirable aspect of society would be one where virtue is reward and vice is not rewarded. Unfortunately in our society vice is often not punished sufficiently.
 
stinkcat_14 said:
So you are fine with drug dealers being successful? Was it wrong that Bernie Madeoff had his bank account seized when he was discovered to be of low moral character? Certainly a desirable aspect of society would be one where virtue is reward and vice is not rewarded. Unfortunately in our society vice is often not punished sufficiently.
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So are you fine with Catholics who don’t go to Mass and live with their boyfriend/girlfriend? Should the government seize their assists to not reward their vice?

Absurd.
 
stinkcat_14 said:
If there truly is no difference, and Bayer has convinced people that there is, then I would call it a waste.
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I call it exercising my prerogative which is, after all, none of your, societies’ or the governments business.
 
Timothysis said:
So are you fine with Catholics who don’t go to Mass and live with their boyfriend/girlfriend? Should the government seize their assists to not reward their vice?

Absurd.
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I never said anything about the government seizing anything. But, would you patronize a business where the owner is living in sin? It certainly would be sufficient excuse to patronize someone else.
 
Timothysis said:
I call it exercising my prerogative which is, after all, none of your, societies’ or the governments business.
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You are free to be wasteful, but you cannot call it anything but waste. Nor did I say anything about the government here.
 
stinkcat_14 said:
I never said anything about the government seizing anything. But, would you patronize a business where the owner is living in sin? It certainly would be sufficient excuse to patronize someone else.
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I don’t care if a business owner is living in sin. Why should you?
 
stinkcat_14 said:
You are free to be wasteful, but you cannot call it anything but waste. Nor did I say anything about the government here.
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Play semantics all you want.

Oh, and substitute “legitimate authority” for government if you must.
 
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