Indeed, the dark side of capitalism, and IMO it's gotten out of control.

I think it's time to fix the problem, but I have no idea how. Communism is obviously not the answer, it has even worse downsides.

The problem is this: When the stockholders invest in a company, they expect their stock value to grow. If the stock doesn't increase in value ever quarter, the stockholders will jump ship and bail out.

In order for the stock to appreciate every quarter, the corporation has to make more and more and more profits every quarter. Therein lies the problem.

How do you make more profit?

Increase your market share, which is easier in the early days, but by the time the market is mature it gets more and more difficult until it's impossible.

Increase the population, thus the market, which is something they do. I remember during the zero population growth era, all of a sudden every TV show, comedy, drama, or whatever had a woman saying “My biological clock is ticking”, meaning, I better have children before I hit menopause.

Shorten the product life cycle. Here is where fashion comes in. Jeans that don't last long because we distressed them, you can't be caught dead wearing a style that is soooo last year, here are the new colors everyone is wearing, and so on.

Of course with appliances you can intentionally make them so they don't last long. Or you can add so many features that will eventually break, that you can make money with repair parts. I drove into the service department of new auto dealership to for a recall, and proudly displayed was a sign proclaiming they sold more parts this year.

Same dealership, I told them that the rider's front door wouldn't lock with the key while I was in there. They gave me an estimate of a few hundred dollars to replace the mechanism. I told them I'd come back. I took it to a locksmith, and he replaced a $3.50 part that looked like a bent paper clip. It took 10 minutes, and he didn't even charge a service fee. I've used that locksmith since, whenever I need that kind of service.

With capitalism, it's all about profit, not the customer.

In a small business, all you need to make is enough money to pay the owner and employees. There is no need for perpetual growth. Growth is good, but as long as the profits keep up with inflation, there is no problem.

With a corporation, if the profits only keep up with inflation, the stockholders will sell, and the corporation will go belly-up.

Perpetual growth in a closed system is a recipe for disaster.


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