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174 points jbegley | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.244s | source
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0x262d ◴[] No.22771183[source]
Huge indictment of capitalism that we have an unbelievably high level of productive capacity and can't do any of these things: make hospital equipment including ventilators; produce enough masks; keep hospitals open (there has been a steady trend of closures brought on by financialization (profiteering) and mergers); train adequate numbers of hospital staff; and the most ridiculous so far is every business is desperately trying to stay open even for non-essential things, like Amazon.

Profiteering is undercutting every possible thing. The profit motive over a democratically planned economy is horrible most of the time but really becomes a mess in a crisis.

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minikites ◴[] No.22771358[source]
But sometimes we get cheap flat screen TVs, so it's impossible to say whether capitalism is bad or not.

(with thanks to dril: https://twitter.com/dril/status/464802196060917762)

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1. kazinator ◴[] No.22771403[source]
If your life depended on getting a flat screen TV, capitalism would ensure that it costs you $25K if you're uninsured, or a $500 deductible if you're insured, whereby your insurer pays another $8K due to either being big enough to negotiate, or else being owned by the same company.