Look at what coalition_unwilling says:
There's no scientific proof that private ownership of the means of production produces better outcomes for the average person than public ownership of same. Again, see pre-Columbian Native Americans.
It is gently pointed out to him that these were slave cultures who practiced human sacrifice, and were overrun. Not exactly high society. He then counterattacks by calling them racists. (Cliff Notes version).
They come out of the woodwork then. Starry Messenger's avatar is a hammer & sickle, COMMUNIST written underneath. Here's White Wolf:
white_wolf (4,472 posts)
66. You know sometimes I wonder just how worse feudalism really was than capitalism?
I'm not saying we should go back to it, of course. But I am starting to wonder if our current form of capitalism, which I think is simply a natural stage in the evolution of the system, is really that much less exploitative than feudalism? At least in feudalism the serfs had certain guarantees of protection.
"Protection." Right.
Someone named Mairead wants to:
3) Shift to economic democracy: disallow all forms of business except individual/immediate-family proprietorship, and cooperative corporation.
Get off the ****ing internet then, idiot. You need to slop the pigs if you want bacon for breakfast tomorrow.
He goes on:
All the jobs dedicated to making the few richer would go away, freeing up an immense amount of time for more enjoyable work.
The cultural standards would go through the roof because of all the extra time available. People rarely notice it, but the wealthy elites almost never contribute to cultural richness. It's working people who play fiddle for dancing, repair the loved-to-pieces library books, paint the pictures, act in the plays and films, and sew the beautiful clothing. One of the things the anthros found is that most people in those original-flavor societies spend most of their time in cultural activities --music, dancing, conversation, and artistic craftwork. Time that we are forced to spend keeping the wealthy elites in idle luxury.
That's too much even for Skinner:
Skinner (55,747 posts)
77. That sounds nice. But how would anything get made that is technologically advanced?
And by technologically advanced, I mean 19th-century-or-later technology. Anything requiring mass production or large-scale human cooperation.
I don't see how your society creates the computer you are posting on. Or the railroad that your great-great-great grandparents rode on (if they were among the lucky few who could afford such things). Or even the films that your working people would theoretically be acting in.
They go around and around. He's very stubborn. He wants all things to be made by hand in your garage. By you, not him.
