Capitalism is stupid.
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Flatted Fifthreplied to Bread and Circuses last edited by
@breadandcircuses that they can still make money on this just proves that capitalism is a deeply flawed economic system. it's hyper-inefficient.
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@arrrg @breadandcircuses the alternative is to use subpar local pears and build an entirely new factory, just to make it so the process is three days shorter and five times more expensive.
I think capitalism has got it's benefits when it comes to maximising profits my friend...
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@OmegaMastadon @breadandcircuses i agree that capitalism is very good at extracting wealth. if that's the gauge for what's a good and functioning economic system - capitalism for the win.
and it's true, without capitalism, people might have to eat more local food rather than shipping pears in plastic cups all over the globe.
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@arrrg @breadandcircuses haha. Very funny. Let's not ignore that this is fermented pears, which wouldn't be present at all in America if it wasn't for the so-called capitalist system.
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@OmegaMastadon @breadandcircuses i don't know shit about pears. why would it matter if people have fermented pears or not? i don't get your point.
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@arrrg @breadandcircuses because the product is fermented. Fermented pears have small demand. Packing & producing is mainly done in southeast Asia, leading to the situation where it's grown it Argentina, packed in Thailand and sold in USA.
this isn't just about pears
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@OmegaMastadon first, the pears in that image are not fermented.
Second, what difference does it make?
Third, obviously it's bigger than pears, the OP was making a point about capitalism not pears. Are you new here? Are you OK?
@arrrg @breadandcircuses -
@SallyStrange @arrrg @breadandcircuses yes I'm new to mastadon and yes I know it's about capitalism. The issue is that it's a stupid argument, you can't have a factory for everything and a farm for everything, which global trade fixes, even if it leads to situations like this they usually are higher quality and cheaper as a result
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@OmegaMastadon the argument is fine. What you're presenting in response is a fallacy, specifically the false dichotomy fallacy. There are options in between what the OP pointed out and "factories everywhere."
Plus, it has not escaped our notice that you accept "maximizing profits" (for a tiny minority of the population) as a worthwhile goal for society in general to pursue.
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the alternative is to use subpar local pears and build an entirely new factory, just to make it so the process is three days shorter and five times more expensive.
Your only metrics for efficiency are time and money. The reason capitalism is destructive is precisely because money and time are its sole measures for success. You have externalized a whole host of factors from your analysis in order to lionize an abstracted notion of "efficiency," one whose existence is purely in service to increasing profits to the owners of capital.
Growing the pears: are the pears grown in Argentina better than the ones grown in Pennsylvania? Unknown, but if capitalism dictates what happens here, then the soil in Argentina will rapidly become depleted, leaving it unsuitable for growing much of anything. Every capitalistic agricultural enterprise lasts a few decades, then moves on, leaving barren fields in its wake. Soil repair and replenishment is needed worldwide, yet it can never be on capitalism's menu because it takes decades to restore topsoil.
The factories: again, only from the perspective of maximizing profits for a core group of owners is it "efficient" to have one massive factory in Thailand as opposed to several smaller one in Argentina and Pennsylvania. Concentrating pollution in faraway places where the locals can't afford to challenge the polluters is another way capitalism disguises negative externalities as "profits."
The transport: The pollution from transporting pears thousands of miles, multiple times, before selling them, is going to destroy everyone's ability to grow pears eventually. Or are you a climate change denier? That usually goes hand in hand with being an apologist for capitalism.
Finally, there's the fact that although it can be nice to have pears year round, it's not strictly necessary, and by sinking so much energy into providing pears (packaged in even more polluting plastic) to people during their local winter season, we're neglecting opportunities to meet our need for fruit in our diet some other way, whether by using a more locally adapted fruit species or a shorter supply chain for canned/preserved pears.