this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2025
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creation of a surplus of devices, through exploitation, for the purposes of profit is capitalism.
just buying stuff is just markets. barters and lemonade stands are not capitalist.
Where can I find this arbitrary definition of capitalism? Because barters and lemonade in a free market stands still sounds like capitalism to me, just on a smaller scale. Just because it seems more sympathetic doesn't mean it's not the same thing.
Im not saying that what you describe in your first paragraph isn't bad, but words have meaning. If you intend to spread your thoughts on them, you'd do well to go beyond "capitalism bad mkay" because it makes people take your thoughts less seriously. So you end up preaching to the choir who's already on your side and we've learned from reddit, Twitter and Fox that echo chambers are bad.
from wikipedia, for instance, with my highlights:
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by a number of basic constituent elements: private property, profit motive, capital accumulation, competitive markets, commodification, wage labor, and an emphasis on innovation and economic growth.
All of which can still be present for your hypothetical lemonade stand.
yeah. cause a 8yo hires people and exploits them for profit while also buying up neighbors stands and closing them so they remain a monopoly. lol.
Careful with that rhetorical question or they'll bring out a bunch of nutjobs books and ask you to read through untested and unrealistic theory from the past hundred years and then call you unintellectual for choosing the dictionary and textbook definitions over their pseudoscience.
Humans did invent lemons to enjoy them, though. It was a very large and organized undertaking which led to commercial success for Egypt.
and during a time … before capitalism. ;)
TBH Egypt was everything Communists claim about Capitalism. Idk why you would think otherwise.
But not before capital. It was state controlled common economy. Common economy are basically proto communism.
And capitalism and communism both rely on capital. Just the controlling sector changes for the purposes of differentiating a common economy vs a modern capitalistic or communistic economy.