• worlds_okayest_mech_pilot [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Me when multiple people in my life seem to think that Capitalism is the evolution of the barter system and was invented 4000 years ago. It must be so nice going through decades and decades of life blissfully knowing and learning nothing maybe-later-kiddo

    • WayeeCool [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      They literally describe commerce, something that has existed all of recorded human history. They think that commerce and capitalism are synonymous. This is proof of how effective capitalist propaganda has been.

      People don’t even associate capitalism with capital markets where ownership of productive capacity is commodified then bought and sold between owners totally alienated from production. It’s why they rant about how the problem is blackrock, vanguard, or wall street banks and fail to realize they are pointing at foundational institutions of capitalism that are working exactly as intended. Instead capitalism is apparently the very concept of markets and any market activity, basic commerce and trade that has existed in all economic systems not just capitalism.

      Same people tend to think capitalism invented currency and if currency is involved, it’s capitalism happening… even though just like commerce, currency has existed all across human history where there is a sovereign, a city, or a state that can back its legitimacy as a store of value used in economic activity. Electronic transfers, paper notes, metal coins, colored beads… all the same.