You don't have to accept the arguments of capitalism's defenders to take those arguments seriously. When Adam Smith railed against rentiers and elevated profit to a means of converting the intrinsic selfishness of the wealthy into an engine of production, he had a point:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/28/cloudalists/#cloud-capital
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https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/18/market-discipline/#too-big-to-care
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https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/28/cloudalists/#cloud-capital
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/18/market-discipline/#too-big-to-care
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/2
https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/19/make-them-afraid/#fear-is-their-mind-killer
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/3
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/4
https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan
It could focus on shifting value from its suppliers, its customers and its users to its shareholders:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/15/they-trust-me-dumb-fucks/#ai-search
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/5
https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/20/we-should-not-endure-a-king/
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/6
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/7
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/8
But beyond that racially tinged caricature, there's a more rigorous version of the argument: government officials are unlikely to face consequences for failure.
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/9
Elected officials can in theory be fired in the next election, but if they keep their cheating or incompetence below a certain threshold, most of us won't punish them at the polls.
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/10
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/gold-bars-featured-bob-menendez-bribery-case-linked-2013-robbery-recor-rcna128006
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Gold bars featured in Bob Menendez bribery case linked to 2013 robbery, records show
Jonathan Dienst (NBC News)Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/11
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REDMAP
Inter-party elections - primaries and other nomination processes - have fundamental weaknesses that mean they're no substitute for well-run, democratic elections:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/30/weak-institutions/
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/12
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/13
This is where monopoly comes in. *Even if* you accept the consumer welfare theory that says that monopolies are most often the result of excellence, we should *still break up monopolies*.
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/14
In other words, the monopolist is like a politician who wins power - whether through greatness or by deceit - and then gerrymanders their district so that they can do *anything* and gain re-election.
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/15
Capitalism's theory proceeds from the idea that we are driven by our self-interest, and that competition turns self-interest into communal sentiment. Take away the competition, and all that's left is the self-interest.
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/16
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/17
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Cory Doctorow
•Ostrzeżenie o treści: Long thread/eof
https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Cause-Cory-Doctorow-ebook/dp/B0BQGGP2XT/
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