Not talking about obvious things like crime.

I mean things that people just accept as part of life.

Things everyone does, but when you really think about it, it actually makes no sense.

  • LumpyPancakes@piefed.social
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    2 months ago

    Hmmm.

    I’m a self employed IT consultant.

    On the plus side, I pay nobody except insurance, fuel, tax etc

    On the minus side my earning potential is limited to the hourly rate I earn fixing stuff.

    Am I still a capitalist in this case?

    • Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      No, you’re just an expert. They’ve always existed – a master blacksmith would make a decent living before capitalism, much better than the common serf. Nobody’s against highly talented hardworking people making more money than average, I think we all agree they deserve it.

      The capitalist would be someone like you bribing the state government to create a new regulation that your profession requires a special license and your company is the only one in the state with the license and you hire in all your competitors at a wage 20% what you bill them out at. Then on your deathbed you donate a couple million for the local hospital and you go down in history as an American Hero.

    • kureta@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      If I have a lot of rich friends who need IT support and I get exclusive deals with them, making it impossible for experts like you to get freelance deals, and practically force you to work for me for a wage, that’s capitalism. I don’t know anything about IT. I get all the contracts thanks to my connections. You do the job and get a fraction of what you would have gotten if you were able to freelance.

      I worked as a conference interpreter and it works exactly like that. We cannot directly contact the clients. There are a few interpreter offices. Clients call them, they call us. They get half the payment for playing telephone.