Capitilism is rigged. Using working in retail as an example

[RobertoCarlos]

I am fortunate enough to live in a country with freedoms and the ability to choose your lifestyle and career. And education too if you can afford it.

However I also live in a country with incredibly high suicide rates/depression/violence/crime

Why is that? in a land of opportunity do we still see the same rates of poverty and general social status where only a few excel and most wallow in their own pits of poverty.

I dont claim to be a expert politically or a business analyst but I have a lot of experience working in retail which is the basic model of modern capitalism.

Why is it the worker bee's, the people at the bottom do all the work, and the few at the top thats jobs consist of mostly sitting in on meetings and listening to phone calls and they never spend a 12 hour shift working on their feet on concrete tiles take over 95% of the profits and you get such large inconsistency from the top to the bottom even though you are all working towards the same goal, a successful company.

Or let alone cleaners of malls who literally shovel shift and earn less in a year than a CEO makes in a month.

It just all seems so rigged to me and it makes me depressed at the state of the world.

[Raptor With a Saber]

Nothing of what you said has anything to do with Capitalism. Thats basic businesses around the world. Boss always gets more because the boss needs to rebuy items to sell and expand and pay employees.

[RobertoCarlos]

capitalism/corporatism its all the same ism's to put profit before people

[Raptor With a Saber]

capitalism/corporatism its all the same ism's to put profit before people

Pay people equal % of all profits, buy less, sell less, pay less, fire employees, go outta business. Sounds good. Later dude i remember you and your highly anti western anything. Take care.

[yetgdhfgh]

Lrn2 git gud in the stock market and never have to work again!!

Seriously when you know how the game is played you will wonder why you ever actually had to work some shitty low paying job in the first place!

[RobertoCarlos]

Pay people equal % of all profits, buy less, sell less, pay less, fire employees, go outta business. Sounds good. Later dude i remember you and your highly anti western anything. Take care.

dont worry AI will replace most workers in the next few decades and you can enjoy the dystopia you dream for. Hopefully raptors return!

People with rights are more expensive than code, simple fact.

Capitalism favors profit vs expense

[NihilSustinet]

Nothing of what you said has anything to do with Capitalism. Thats basic businesses around the world. Boss always gets more because the boss needs to rebuy items to sell and expand and pay employees.

that is capitalism. i know thats the only thing youve been taught, but there are other ways of doing things.

[LilSaihah]

Well, the CEOs don't take 95% of the profit, they take 0%- or whatever their dividends are as a shareholder. CEOs are a business expense.

Why are they so expensive? They're on call 24/7, they work obscene numbers of hours in a week, they're incredibly intelligent and have broad skillsets, they have natural attributes that incline them towards that work (some insane shit, like Donald Trump sleeping 3-4 hours a day I think I read somewhere), and the work ethic to back it up. The combination of attributes is pretty rare, and that kind of rarity makes them valuable.

Being able to stand on your feet for 12 hours is a very admirable attribute. Maybe it'll help you on your quest to become more valuable. Work on yourself; expand your skillset, improve your communication skills.

PS shovelling shit is a really easy job, just gotta have proper PPE and not have weak little noodle arms.

[RobertoCarlos]

Well, the CEOs don't take 95% of the profit, they take 0%- or whatever their dividends are as a shareholder. CEOs are a business expense.

Why are they so expensive? They're on call 24/7, they work obscene numbers of hours in a week, they're incredibly intelligent and have broad skillsets, they have natural attributes that incline them towards that work (some insane shit, like Donald Trump sleeping 3-4 hours a day I think I read somewhere), and the work ethic to back it up. The combination of attributes is pretty rare, and that kind of rarity makes them valuable.

Being able to stand on your feet for 12 hours is a very admirable attribute. Maybe it'll help you on your quest to become more valuable. Work on yourself; expand your skillset, improve your communication skills.

PS shovelling shit is a really easy job, just gotta have proper PPE and not have weak little noodle arms.

Im not saying people with more responsibilities shouldnt be paid more. But the scales of the people at the top is too dramatic.

Its not like most managers/bosses do that much more beyond having their cell phone turned on after work hours. And any manager worth their salt has the business working smoothly enough you dont need to demand so much extra of your staff

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Fast food outlets like mcdonalds/ petrol stations/ supermarkets are already going towards self serve.

Pretty obvious where this is all heading.

[LilSaihah]

Im not saying people with more responsibilities shouldnt be paid more. But the scales of the people at the top is too dramatic.

That's hardly your decision, is it? That's for the CEO and the shareholders to negotiate. If the shareholders think the CEO is asking a fair price, then the problem's settled; that's how much they should be paid.

Its not like most managers/bosses do that much more beyond having their cell phone turned on after work hours. And any manager worth their salt has the business working smoothly enough you dont need to demand so much extra of your staff

If you think that so little is required to enter management or higher than management, it somewhat begs the question; why don't you become the CEO of a company?

I don't even mean "dude become Jeff Bezos in the next year or gtfo". Start your own business and see if you can make it work. If you can, you'll be earning a lot more than a retail shlub.

Fast food outlets like mcdonalds/ petrol stations/ supermarkets are already going towards self serve.

Pretty obvious where this is all heading.

Getting ahead of automation's really straightforward; start investing.

[Darknessvamp]

PS shovelling shit is a really easy job, just gotta have proper PPE and not have weak little noodle arms.

Also isn't the fertilizer industry actually one of the most profitable ones? I mean I know it sounds like a lot of shit but people are making a mint off of it.

[Zaktar]

Any system is rigged, capitalism is a system which more people can cheat at. If a system doesn't start out rigged it will be quickly; the point of accumulating power is to use it to protect your interests. Personally I believe societies which offer the most opportunity to the widest group of people leverage more from their citizens than competitors which offer less, but it's still a balancing act. Try to create a system which doesn't account for existing power and the need of those with it to wield it, and your new system will get warped beyond recognition that much faster. Better to force it down predicted channels than rush up against your safeguards and batter them down like an ill-conceived dam. All we can ever do is pry a little power back and try to slow the concentration effect down. Maybe next iteration we'll do better at it, one can hope!

[RobertoCarlos]

If you think that so little is required to enter management or higher than management, it somewhat begs the question; why don't you become the CEO of a company?

I don't even mean "dude become Jeff Bezos in the next year or gtfo". Start your own business and see if you can make it work. If you can, you'll be earning a lot more than a retail shlub.

Your comment is fair but its also not that simple. If I wanted to enter the domain of making an internet service provider for example. Do I have any hope of acquiring those rights from the big boys who already have monopolized that industry through government grants and infrastructure domination.

Gotta be friends with the big boys to make little ole grandma sally sell their last bit of land so you can erect a giant totem pole of coverage and potential radiation death of nearby occupants

[Ragedaug]

Everything is rigged. The most ambitious and greedy will always rig the game in their favor. Those with power and money will always find ways to accumulate more power and money. Why do you suppose the median annual income in Cuba is around $600-$700, while their leader is a billionaire?

As far as the solution, I like how Milton Friedman phrased it:
"I do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Unless it is politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing, the right people will not do the right thing either, or if they try, they will shortly be out of office."

Capitalism is one of the few economic / political system that allows those at the bottom to benefit from the greed and ambition of those at the top.

[LilSaihah]

Also isn't the fertilizer industry actually one of the most profitable ones? I mean I know it sounds like a lot of shit but people are making a mint off of it.

I wouldn't be surprised. It's agriculture and you can usually make decent money doing any form of agriculture. I'd figure it'd depend somewhat on your area and how much illegal labor is in the mix though.

Your comment is fair but its also not that simple. If I wanted to enter the domain of making an internet service provider for example. Do I have any hope of acquiring those rights from the big boys who already have monopolized that industry through government grants and infrastructure domination.

Depends on your area, but if you want to deliver internet services, I don't see what'd stop you.

Gotta be friends with the big boys to make little ole grandma sally sell their last bit of land so you can erect a giant totem pole of coverage and potential radiation death of nearby occupants

If you're worried about capitalism I don't see what alternative you have, the second most competitive option is 'grandma sally goes to the gulag for refusing to allow her property to be used by the people', followed by 'grandma sally doesn't have the right to own property because she's a woman'.

Please don't use DT as an example of success.

Fair enough, but this is the sort of shit you're dealing with when you're trying to pick at why CEOs are valuable.

[apples]

dont worry AI will replace most workers in the next few decades and you can enjoy the dystopia you dream for. Hopefully raptors return!

People with rights are more expensive than code, simple fact.

Capitalism favors profit vs expense

just look at how quickly the world went to shit when they replaced bowling ball thrower back guys with machines.

HALT ALL PROGRESS, WORKERS RIGHTS > ALL!

[Ragedaug]

just look at how quickly the world went to shit when they replaced bowling ball thrower back guys with machines.

HALT ALL PROGRESS, WORKERS RIGHTS > ALL!

Being a Luddite will never go out of style. We have centuries now of evidence proving the Luddites wrong every single time, but they will continue to persist the sky is falling.

[PC2]

Skill scarcity... Almost anybody can be a retail worker. Only a smaller fraction can lead and manage a business.

[RobertoCarlos]

just look at how quickly the world went to shit when they replaced bowling ball thrower back guys with machines.

HALT ALL PROGRESS, WORKERS RIGHTS > ALL!

I'm not a Luddite but I dont think its ridiculous to suggest workers will soon be more expensive than coding and maintenance on machinery and we need to protect that area a little better

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Skill scarcity... Almost anybody can be a retail worker. Only a smaller fraction can lead and manage a business.

you can train a chimp to work in retail. This isnt professional sports or space travel we're talking about

Society gives waaay to much stigma to managers/ceo's because we love the idea of alpha leaders and people ruling us.

[PC2]

you can train a chimp to work in retail. This isnt professional sports or space travel we're talking about

Exactly.

Society gives waaay to much stigma to managers/ceo's because we love the idea of alpha leaders and people ruling us.

I guess. You can have a boss or you could choose a career path that leads to self-employment. Those are the two main options.