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Hey tech billionaires, if you want to talk about radical change, let’s abolish venture capitalism (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Do you support sustainability, social responsibility, tech ethics, or trust and safety? Congratulations, you’re an enemy of progress. That’s according to the venture capitalist Marc Andreessen.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

That is only true if you use capitalist metrics to measure poverty

(1) It is unlikely that 90% of the human population lived in extreme poverty prior to the 19th century. Historically, unskilled urban labourers in all regions tended to have wages high enough to support a family of four above the poverty line by working 250 days or 12 months a year, except during periods of severe social dislocation, such as famines, wars, and institutionalized dispossession – particularly under colonialism. (2) The rise of capitalism caused a dramatic deterioration of human welfare. In all regions studied here, incorporation into the capitalist world-system was associated with a decline in wages to below subsistence, a deterioration in human stature, and an upturn in premature mortality. In parts of South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America, key welfare metrics have still not recovered. (3) Where progress has occurred, significant improvements in human welfare began several centuries after the rise of capitalism.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The way capitalists use capitalist metrics to prove capitalism is good is really annoying. "Look at our per-capita GDP!"

"Yeah but you have one billionaire and everyone else goes bankrupt if they get sick."

"Yeah, but our per-capita GDP is high so we don't need to do anything."

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Paul Krugman is an innovator in this field. The other day he had that one about how inflation is under control if you remove, food, energy, used cars, and everything else normal people use. That's basically all my stuff!

Also, obligatory GDP joke that's been bouncing around the internet for a while now:

As they're walking, they come across a pile of dog shit. One economist says to the other, "If you eat that dog shit, I'll give you $50". The second economist thinks for a minute, then reaches down, picks up the shit, and eats it. The first economist gives him a $50 bill and they keep going on their walk. A few minutes later, they come across another pile of dog shit. This time, the second economist says to the first, "Hey, if you eat that, I'll give you $50." So, of course, the first economist picks up the shit, eats it, and gets $50. Walking a little while farther, the first economist looks at the second and says, "You know, I gave you $50 to eat dog shit, then you gave me back the same $50 to eat dog shit. I can't help but feel like we both just ate dog shit for nothing." "That's not true", responded the second economist. "We increased the GDP by $100!"