• Sentient Loom@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    They support liberalism

    No they don’t. They only support making money and cornering markets for themselves. They’ll take corporate socialism and using the law to crush opinions. The idea that they “support” anything ideological is utterly wrong.

    Anticipating somebody’s response:

    Exactly. You just described liberalism.

    No I didn’t. Corporations have no ideology. It’s pure warfare and there are no rules or values beyond making money for themselves, not on any larger societal scale. They’re just algorithms for increasing profit.

    to distract from them trampling over workers rights.

    100% yes

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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      “Corporate socialism” does not exist. Corporations push liberalism as a part of cultural hegemony, as does the state. Capital does not care about anything but profit, but cultural hegemony is the means to protect property relations.

      • Sentient Loom@sh.itjust.works
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        Corporate socialism is when the government gives them our tax dollars to totalize top-down control. That’s not liberalism, that’s just power. They’ll trample “liberalism” to make a dollar.

        • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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          1 day ago

          That’s not what socialism is to begin with, that’s just the state within capitalism affirming corporate power, which is a part of liberalism. “Liberalism” has always generally been that which affirms capitalism, ideologically, it isn’t a moral code.

          Using taxes for things isn’t socialism, socialism is a mode of production where public ownership is the principle aspect of the economy.

          • Sentient Loom@sh.itjust.works
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            1 day ago

            That’s not what socialism is to begin with

            But that’s what corporate socialism is

            “Liberalism” has always generally been that which affirms capitalism

            That’s one function of it (in context) but that’s not the definition. That’s not “what it is.” Also, these corporations would trample capitalism itself to gain more power.

            socialism is a mode of production where public ownership is the principle aspect of the economy.

            I’m not talking about socialism, I’m talking about corporate socialism, which is not a form of socialism. It’s a term which demonstrates how anti-liberal and anti-meritocratic and even anti-capitalist the top-down government-corporate control network is.

            • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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              1 day ago

              “Corporate socialism” does not exist. It isn’t socialist in any way. What it is is thoroughly capitalist, and is an example of the state under capitalism affirming corporate interests. A closer descriptor would be “state capitalism.”

              Corporations cannot “trample capitalism itself for more power.” The only power corporations hold within capitalism comes from their ability to reproduce on an expanded scale in capital circulation. If corporations trampled on capitalism, they would erase themselves.

              What you describe as “anti-liberal,” “anti-meritocratic,” and “anti-capitalist” is the peak of liberalism and capitalism itself. The late stage capitalism has not transcended capitalism, and is not denoted as “corporate socialism.” That’s just word salad.

              • Sentient Loom@sh.itjust.works
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                It isn’t socialist in any way

                Doesn’t matter. All my descriptions match reality. And these are the terms we use to refer to these aspects of reality. Corporate socialism is very real, even if it isn’t socialism. Get used to it because it’s a fixture of our society.

                If corporations trampled on capitalism, they would erase themselves.

                Nobody in any board room will ever care about that large-scale erasure. They will each act in support of their career and their shareholders’ profits. Destroying the environment may ultimately erase all corporations. They don’t care. They cannot care. They are an algorithm for increasing profits. Larger ideological values are irrelevant. So-called capitalism (to the extent that it even exists) is a product of all this high-concept greedy animal behavior, not the cause.

                • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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                  The process you define as “corporate socialism” is just regular capitalism. There’s no utility in defining it the way you do, that’s like calling Tennis “Paddle Soccer” or something even more outlandish. It doesn’t meaningfully describe anything.

                  As for corporations trampling the environment, risking themselves, etc, yes, that’s correct. It isn’t human greed, though, it’s because capitalism as a system selects for higher profits, those best capable of fulfilling their duty to best reproduce on an expanded scale, best chase higher absolute profits as the rate of profit falls. The ideological aspect only applies in affirming cultural hegemony, ie in protecting their right to continue this process of plunder.

                  In that way, it is thoroughly liberal, as in liberalism is the justification, and is thoroughly capitalist, in that this is the self-defeating stage of capitalism itself. None of this has transcended capitalism, though, it isn’t morphing into anything new, until a qualitative leap in property relations happens and public ownership in the hands of the working class becomed the principle aspect of the economy.

                  The contradictions within capitalism induce its demise, but these contradictions are characteristic of capitalism, and are not beyond or outside it.

                  • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml
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                    I like the idea of just renaming things to criticize something else entirely.

                    Air conditioning? You mean weather lich witchcraft, we’re not doing necromancy in my christian home

                  • Sentient Loom@sh.itjust.works
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                    There’s no utility in defining it the way

                    I ready described such utility in how it opposes our shallow images of “cApiTaLisM” (and meritocracy etc). Capitalism as instantiated doesn’t match our descriptions of it. Human greed is the constant engine. Liberalism emerged from that emergent environment, and in some ways helps maintain aspects of those systems. But corporations will never actually support any ideology, whether that ideology supports or opposes “capitalism.” Corporations (or rather the humans whose greed is their engine) will, at best, stab us in the eyes and ears with ANY fractured ideological images that gets them some near-term increase in power or profits.

    • Sleepless One@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      The “socialism for the rich” talking point and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.