r/Capitalism • u/[deleted] • 4d ago
Capitalism went from “who could make the best product” to “who could make the best product the cheapest way” to “who can make the cheapest product”. Where do we go from here.
[deleted]
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u/faddiuscapitalus 3d ago
Capitalism didn't do anything of the sort.
Capitalism is just your right as an individual to own productive assets.
If you don't like a product don't buy it, buy a different one. Send a different signal to the market.
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u/redeggplant01 3d ago
Democratic socialism with its State-sponsored over-regulation, over-taxation, heavy subsidies and prohibitions moved us rom “who could make the best product” to “who could make the best product the cheapest way” to “who can make the cheapest product”. Where do we go from here.
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u/blind_mowing 4d ago
It's not the capitalists fault that the consumers moved from buying heirloom products to buying cheap bullshit that can be easily replaced.
The capitalists are not at fault for using socialist countries to lower their production costs.
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u/Melioidozer 4d ago
Ideally the consumer base drives the demand back to the best product the cheapest way. I’ll believe that when I see it though.
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u/iliketreesndcats 4d ago
It's because there's just oligarchy now. It's not about making the best product the cheapest way, it's about using vast sums of capital to control legislation and tip the scales in your own favour in this facade of democracy.
This is a result of capital's tendency to accumulate, and the fact that we've had capitalism for enough time now that capital has accumulated into even worse levels of inequality than before the revolutions against the monarchs.
The difference now is just technological. Weapons of war exist that almost wipe the possibility of armed revolution off the table.
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u/MightyMoosePoop 2d ago
olligarchy now.
Now?
You can’t be serious and have the basics of history saying “now”.
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u/iliketreesndcats 2d ago
I mean yeah but liberal capitalism was supposed to be the end of history, no? Pharaohs and mediaeval oligarchy is hopefully not what we are comparing ourselves to when it comes to how power and resources should be distributed.. I mean, congratulations guys! Give yourselves a pat on the back because at least we aren't sacrificing children in alpine mountain caves so that the sun god maybe blesses our crops!
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u/MightyMoosePoop 2d ago
I don’t get how your comment is anyway reasonable to the point about history. There have always been people with more power. Hell, de facto oligarchs are listed as a human universal. by the anthropologist Brown’s semi-meta research.
Then liberalism although an ideal may be no oligarchs. It doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any. In the case of the USA and its history even with the radical revolution that was undertaken and led by what many consider the aristocracy class among the colonists. Hell, the framing of the USA’s constitution has a spectrum of historians of how the majority of those Federalists “hoodwinked” that cause. Ranging from the famous historian Gordon Wood’s historical perspective that sure they had self-interests but their overall perspective was patriotic and liberalism. To a minority of historians believing these very wealthy framers were absolute oligarchs and established an elite rule system in the disguise of democracy.
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u/paleone9 2d ago
Tear down barriers to entry and you will see more variety in production . Quality can compete with quantity.
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u/MightyMoosePoop 2d ago
Hey OP,
A factor that may be playing a role in your above description and with recent inflation is known in economics as inferior goods vs normal goods.
Inferior goods are goods that demand decreases as a person or the population's whole income rises.
Normal goods are goods where demand increases as “” income rises.
The opposite is true as income decreases demand increases for inferior goods and the demand decreases in general for normal goods.
Given the rise in inflation these past few years it is very reasonable to assume people's purchasing power has decreased. That is the power of their income vs what they can purchase goods and services has decreased. In simpler terms, I’m saying people have felt their income has decreased due to inflation.
Conclusion: we could hypothesize people have increased their choices of inferior goods and decreased their choices of normal goods these past few years.
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u/Czeslaw_Meyer 1d ago
That's what we mean by growth. The same product getting cheaper over time.
You will proceed wherever the tyranny of the majority, also called democracy, leds you.
Every transaction is a vote.
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u/PKMN_CatchEmAll 4d ago
It's all up to the consumers. If they want cheap products, they'll buy cheap products. If they want higher quality products at a higher price, they'll buy them. The market will adjust to what consumers are buying.
Don't want the 'cheapest products' - then convince consumers to stop buying the cheapest products.
But last time I checked, iPhones sell tremendous amonts of units, high-end fashion clothes are being purchased even by middle-class consumers. I don't everyone buying $100 android phones and budget clothes. Care to tell me the city in the US where those are majority?