• very smart Idiot
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    -551 year ago

    But they kinda do. Imagine Samsung or Apple stopping innovation. Company goes bankrupt.

    • @Phowrath
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      441 year ago

      You think Tim Apple is coming up with their innovations? Lol

        • @ShakyPerception
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          41 year ago

          while I do completely agree with Apple depressing lack of any innovation recently, until modern foldable phones become commonplace, there is only so much you can do with a brick of glass.

        • Fisting for Freedom
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          21 year ago

          That’s kind of a dumb way to make the point. Innovation isn’t necessarily apparent in a photo with no context or information. A bronze sword and a steel sword still both look like swords, but there a huge technological difference between them.

            • Fisting for Freedom
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              11 year ago

              Your implied point was that there wasn’t any innovation, but there was, by your own admission above.

              Don’t shift the goalposts by latching onto an analogy I made. The fact is that the technology has progressed quite quickly over the timespan represented in those pictures, and that fact underscores what’s wrong with the post you were responding to - it wasn’t a handful of rich folk that did it, it was the work of hundreds of thousands of people around the world. You had a much better point to make than the one you did.

                • Fisting for Freedom
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                  11 year ago

                  Honestly, you seem like you’re having trouble being calm. I’m sorry if I played any part in making you feel that way, I didn’t mean to upset you or hurt your feelings. It’s ok if we don’t agree.

      • very smart Idiot
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        -251 year ago

        No, but it takes a person to control a company. A Person to direct the goals of a company. So I guess Tim Apple is somewhat involved if there is innovation or not.

        • @yesman
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          191 year ago

          That’s a good point. You must have a really smart boss to come up with ideas like that.

        • @Phowrath
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          121 year ago

          He’s very good with financials and supply chains, I’ll give him that.

        • prole
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          61 year ago

          No it doesn’t. Worker-owned co-ops exist. Didn’t you say you’re in Germany? You should know all about that.

          • very smart Idiot
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            -51 year ago

            I don’t know what you think of us Germans. But we are rational capitalists. And I do believe to know a lot about it.

              • very smart Idiot
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                01 year ago

                In the last link it literally says: “These comparatively low wages can make it very difficult to recruit managers from investor-owned firm”

                These concepts only work in relatively small companies. And first off all, this company might be ranked relatively high in Spain, but it still is just Spain.

                Further, to my understanding, the group could be actually described as multiple smaller companies housed under a big one. So that explains that party.

                • prole
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                  1 year ago

                  I’m just fascinated with how brains like yours work. Assuming any of this is in good faith, that is.

                  It’s like you just refuse to accept new information that may change how you view things. You’re so resistant to admitting (to yourself, it seems) that you might be wrong, that your brain has “mechanisms” for making sure you never even have to consider the possibility.

                  Every single point anyone makes, you are able to come up with some “counter” that, in your mind, confirms that you’ve always been right (it doesn’t), and everyone who’s arguing with you is just trying to trick you into admitting you were wrong, or that you learned something.

                  It can never just be, “hey I didn’t know that about my country, that’s interesting. Maybe I should reconsider…” Because, you know, Germany has been the most financially successful EU nation basically since he inception of the Union, so your counter that worker stake in companies doesn’t work is not based in reality. They’re fucking thriving. You (allegedly) live there, my guy. Learn about why your own country is so successful.

                  The lengths you will go to avoid learning something new or admitting you might have been wrong about something… Like it’s protecting itself from new information. It’s fascinating.

                  • very smart Idiot
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                    01 year ago

                    I’m just fascinated with how brains like yours work. Assuming any of this is in good faith, that is.

                    I am a connoisseur of discussion. A man who enjoys discourse. But indeed what I stated are my firm beliefs. And those beliefs have not yet failed me.

                    It’s like you just refuse to accept new information that may change how you view things.

                    It always depends on the information. Some information just has less weight to it.

                    You’re so resistant to admitting (to yourself, it seems) that you might be wrong, that your brain has “mechanisms” for making sure you never even have to consider the possibility.

                    Now I feel like I’ve been put on the spot. This might apply on some of my standpoints. But none so far in our discussion here.

                    Every single point anyone makes, you are able to come up with some “counter” that, in your mind, confirms that you’ve always been right (it doesn’t),

                    Oh, just because the Information I have given, does not convince you or support your standpoint, doesn’t make it invalid. I’d like to pull up the Infinite Monkey Theorem at this point. A few false informations can also lead to the correct outcome. But now I have lost the thread.

                    and everyone who’s arguing with you is just trying to trick you into admitting you were wrong, or that you learned something.

                    And are you not trying to prove me wrong? Is it not, that you claim my standpoints to be somewhat flawed, and yours must be the ultimate ratio?

                    It can never just be, “hey I didn’t know that about my country, that’s interesting. Maybe I should reconsider…”

                    I do reconsider when it’s to my benefit. But as said before, my standpoints have yet to fail me.

                    Because, you know, Germany has been the most financially successful EU nation basically since he inception of the Union, so your counter that worker stake in companies doesn’t work is not based in reality. They’re fucking thriving.

                    Average wealth per person in Germany is lower than in Italy or Greece. some german article to back up my claims Germany are not thriving. The German government is thriving.

                    You (allegedly) live there, my guy. Learn about why your own country is so successful.

                    Because it has the highest and second highest taxes in many sectors. And the government uses this money to influence other countries to their benefit. My people are not thriving. I wished for a concept similar to Switzerland. Still high taxes, but the money stays in the country without attempts to control European politics.

                    The lengths you will go to avoid learning something new or admitting you might have been wrong about something… Like it’s protecting itself from new information. It’s fascinating.

                    From my standpoint of course, this is the opposite standpoint.

      • very smart Idiot
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        -411 year ago

        Man I am kinda sorry, that I invade your worldview.

        But rich people don’t have all their money stored in a vault like Dagobert Duck. It’s all stocks.

        And boy, if one of the companies make losses, then their money goes downhill. It’s volatile.

        And due to immense concurrence in innovation in the tech sector, every investor has a huge interest in innovation.

        And with many investment, the start of a company is ensured.

        The current capitalism is the system that works best.

        Especially the US capitalism is one hell of a driver in innovation. I live in Germany and many companies wouldn’t be possible here. Even though we have capitalism, it’s much softer than its US counterpart.

        The downside of course is poverty for cheaper labour.

        And that’s brutal, but it’s the reality we live in.

        Though I wouldn’t want to live in the US without healthcare, on the counter side I wouldn’t want to start a company here in Europe.

            • @[email protected]
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              161 year ago

              My dude, your argument boils down to “this is the way we’ve always done it so this is the way it must be”.

              Have you considered the possibility that if innovation were to slow, and companies DIDN’T insist on quarter-after-quarter growth, the world might just continue to turn? That while the richest individuals may be slightly less rich, the vast majority of people would continue their lives with no negative consequences?

              • very smart Idiot
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                -121 year ago

                My dude, your argument boils down to “this is the way we’ve always done it so this is the way it must be”.

                But we haven’t done this always. As humans we have tried different attempts. Socialism, communism, monarchy, feudalism, democracy, capitalism, social capitalism, anarchism,…

                And here we are now. After all those experiments.

                Have you considered the possibility that if innovation were to slow, and companies DIDN’T insist on quarter-after-quarter growth, the world might just continue to turn?

                But we humans are not made to chill. We need to advance as fast as possible. My parents and their generation did so. We now have AI becoming increasingly popular. And sooner or later I will hopefully have children. So I have to do my part, that the lives my kin will be better than mine. Better medical tech, better education, better transport, better tech,… Of course the world would continue to turn.

                That while the richest individuals may be slightly less rich, the vast majority of people would continue their lives with no negative consequences?

                I don’t understand why you always believe that if the rich were less rich, that anything would change. It would not.

                • Void_Reader
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                  141 year ago

                  Have you considered that this too might be an ‘experiment’?

                  Defenders of monarchy and the divine right of kings used to argue the exact same thing - that we tried democracy before and it failed in the Roman Republic and Ancient Greece - so clearly feudal monarchy is the best, right?

                  Yet here we are, experimenting again.

                  Why is this joke of a system the ideal? It doesn’t produce innovation - most of the stuff that led to the internet and modern computing came out of DARPA and various govt funded universities. All of our space advancements were from state-run NASA and the Soviet space programme. The wealthy CEO types only start ‘innovating’ after taxpayers fund most of the R&D. Same with medical advancements, material science, physics - almost every single positive innovation has come from state-run, taxpayer-funded, or non-profit institutions.

                  Maybe try reading a little bit more about all this innovation you seem so fond of:

                  https://academic.oup.com/ser/article/7/3/459/1693191

                  https://demos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/files/Entrepreneurial_State_-_web.pdf

                  https://yewtu.be/watch?v=oLLxpAZzy0s

                  • very smart Idiot
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                    -31 year ago

                    Have you considered that this too might be an ‘experiment’?

                    Yes. It very well might be. But todays world is so strongly interwoven. Tons of conflicts are constantly challenging the system. And it has yet to break. The final test will be the sudden termination of economic growth. This will be the point, where it will be shows how resilient capitalism rly is.

                    Defenders of monarchy and the divine right of kings used to argue the exact same thing - that we tried democracy before and it failed in the Roman Republic and Ancient Greece - so clearly feudal monarchy is the best, right?

                    Tell me which system to try next. But pls don’t suggest to repeat another one again.

                    Yet here we are, experimenting again.

                    And that’s a good thing.

                    Why is this joke of a system the ideal? It doesn’t produce innovation - most of the stuff that led to the internet and modern computing came out of DARPA and various govt funded universities.

                    That was maybe the start. But big companies managed to elevate the importance to another level. The complexity of everything was reinforced and elevated drastically, driven by private companies. Just take a look at AI at this point. AI is innovation, mainly driven by private companies.

                    All of our space advancements were from state-run NASA and the Soviet space programme.

                    Because most of it was useless. What kind of innovation did. space exploration bring to humans?

                    The wealthy CEO types only start ‘innovating’ after taxpayers fund most of the R&D.

                    As I already stated, this is not the case. Especially pharma, medical and IT is heavily driven by big corporations. Basic research on the other hand, there you are right. As it usually does not feature real world appliances, means that it’s mostly founded by tax payers and the government.

                    Same with medical advancements,

                    Especially medical innovation is heavily driven from the private sector. Pharmaceuticals as well. There is not much involvement of any government or tax payer.

                    material science, physics - almost every single positive innovation has come from state-run, taxpayer-funded, or non-profit institutions.

                    But as I said, mostly for the basic research. Without much interest in application.

                    Maybe try reading a little bit more about all this innovation you seem so fond of: https://academic.oup.com/ser/article/7/3/459/1693191 https://demos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/files/Entrepreneurial_State_-_web.pdf https://yewtu.be/watch?v=oLLxpAZzy0s

                    I have a good understanding of sciences. Especially in chemistry and physics. Thanks.

                • TSG_Asmodeus (he, him)
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                  91 year ago

                  And sooner or later I will hopefully have children.

                  And when the average summer day is 60c and crops fail every single year, and Nestle has taken half our drinking water, and the smoke in the air from wildfires is giving everyone asthma, and deadly storms happen year round, and the coasts erode, and wars break out for the remaining water/etc, what will you tell them? Will you tell them to look at the brilliant ‘innovator’ CEO’s who intentionally shut down electric cars? The CEO’s who found out climate change was happening sixty years ago and intentionally hid it to keep themselves rich, what do you tell your kids about that?

                  What innovation is worth your children dying early?

                  • very smart Idiot
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                    -61 year ago

                    I don’t believe that those scenarios are that plausible.

                    Here is south Germany, the climate change has led to mediterran plants growing here. The plant life for the climate already exist. And they are spreading (olives don’t make it through the winter yet).

                    Change is happening, but adapting to it is possible. And solutions for adaptation do not have to be invented, because they already exist.

                • wanderingmagus
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                  81 year ago

                  You know, as a member of the SSBN force, occasionally during thermonuclear launch exercises I take a moment to regret the death of humanity and the biosphere. People like you, on the other hand, are what steels my resolve to flip the switch with gusto. I hope you know that I’ll be thinking of you, should I receive the order to commence procedures to launch.

                  • very smart Idiot
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                    -21 year ago

                    You sound like a fragile personality. You might be in the wrong occupation.

                    Or you might be talking bullshit. Because I doubt that you would have internet on a submarine.

            • Decoy321
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              1 year ago

              Do you not understand the system at live in is actively dooming us all? Why are you so vehemently defending it? Especially when you can acknowledge that other systems can exist?

              Why would you think that companies going bankrupt is somehow worse than people being increasingly unable to live.

              • very smart Idiot
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                -41 year ago

                Do you not understand the system at live in is actively dooming us all?

                I don’t think that it is dooming us. I cannot imagine a system that would lead to more freedom, better education or innovation.

                Why are you so vehemently defending it? Especially when you can acknowledge that other systems can exist?

                Even though I acknowledge that other systems have been tried in the past, I also believe that all of them, except capitalism with a few social tweaks, have failed.

                Why would you think that companies going bankrupt is somehow worse than people being increasingly unable to live.

                Because tons of lives are also depending on the company to keep on running. Making some people’s lives worse will probably not fix the problems of others. Instead the people that are in need of betterment must get a tailored solution. Tailored towards them without the need to completely overhaul a working system.

                • @80085
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                  51 year ago

                  I cannot imagine a system that would lead to more freedom, better education or innovation.

                  LOL.

                  Even though I acknowledge that other systems have been tried in the past, I also believe that all of them, except capitalism with a few social tweaks, have failed.

                  Capitalism fails every ~8 years requiring the use of vast amounts of public funds to keep afloat. I’d also say if fails daily if you look at all the needless suffering occuring in the world today, especially in the most “free market” countries and the countries these exploit. We have “socialism for the rich, capitalism for everyone else,” as Jon Stewart would say.

                  • very smart Idiot
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                    01 year ago

                    I personally know people that endured the UDSSR. And those stories are not pleasant.

                    And seeing the anti capitalistic movement being accepting of radical ideas and the idea of using violence and the belief that the vote of the masses (who are in favour of Capitalism) is unimportant, just makes me believe that anti capitalistic movements all strive for what we saw in the UDSSR and today in China.

                    I only accept political ideas that have been viable for years in other countries without the occurrence of dictatorship. If you are a US citizen, then the wishful view to Western Europe is the only one I’d accept as reasonable.

                    And as a Western European myself, I can say that even though we currently face massive problems with immigration, life here is still more enjoyable than in the rest do the world.

                • @[email protected]
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                  51 year ago

                  Hey guy uhhh

                  Check the planet. It is literally burning right now and we are all going to either die, or have our lives massively changed by this climate catastrophe.

                  • very smart Idiot
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                    -31 year ago

                    Technically most of the planet is Oxygen in the highest reductive state. Bound in ores of oxidases metals.

                    Second highest occurrence is silicon, also in an oxidated state as Silicon oxides. Then comes Iron and Magnesium.

                    None of them will burn.

                    What you are talking about burning is not the planet, but the biosphere. And 99.9% of the biosphere contains far too much water to actually burn.

                    So no. The planet does not burn. Only tiniest parts of its biosphere sometimes catch fire. And the smoke actually blocks sunlight and acts as a natural measurement against climate change.

              • very smart Idiot
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                -61 year ago

                I might lighten you up a bit.

                The methods to combat climate change are already there. We already have the means for weather engineering.

                The future is inevitable. And so is every step towards it.

                • @3N1GMA
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                  91 year ago

                  Lol people like you that believe humanity will always overcome make me laugh. Talk to any environmental scientist and they will tell you we’re fucked. There’s no secret technology coming to save us.

                  • very smart Idiot
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                    -31 year ago

                    Yea… I know what some environmental scientists are claiming.

                    But the earth has seen higher levels of carbon already. It has seen higher temperatures and lower temperatures. And we humans inhabit many climate zones already.

                    And yes, technology can save us. We have the means to control weather with highly reflective particles. Scientists are currently attempting to make fusion work (even though they are probably using a far too small magnetic field. They should have built it 10x larger in France).

                    And furthermore environmental scientists do not claim that we are fucked. They only claim that change is coming and that this change comes with a bunch of problems.

                • Void_Reader
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                  61 year ago

                  The ‘future’ is not inevitable. There have been countless collapses in history. Our technology doesn’t make us immune. The people of the major Bronze Age powers probably thought the same.

                  Also we do not have the means for weather engineering. If you’re talking about SRM, we have no idea what its consequences will be or how to do it effectively. It’s all theoretical. No aircraft we currently have can do this stuff. Sure, we could design it and build one, but then you need global governance to actually implement it properly. Not to mention the risk of ‘termination shock’ and countless others.

                  Have a look at the scientific literature: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Stratospheric-aerosol-injection-tactics-and-costs-Smith-Wagner/e4e5a78335eda8c16557b32af915798b06091362#cited-papers

                  Would you seriously risk the future of life on Earth on something this experimental?

                  I fear this arrogance will kill a lot of people and cause a lot of suffering.

            • TwoGems
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              1 year ago

              Ribbit

              • very smart Idiot
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                -11 year ago

                I have no motive other than my own profit. And I do not profit from a conversation here, other than to quench my thirst for discussion.

                So please refrain from accusing me of propaganda.

        • Void_Reader
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          171 year ago

          btw they do store a lot of their money in vaults where it doesnt benefit the economy at all.

          This is in the form of expensive art that stays in containers in tax-free zones, and offshore accounts in tax havens.

          Please educate yourself.

          https://archive-yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/how-wealthy-sell-treasures-tax-free

          https://www.icij.org/inside-icij/2017/09/7-charts-show-how-rich-hide-their-cash

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers

          https://academic.oup.com/ser/article/20/2/539/6500315

          • very smart Idiot
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            -91 year ago

            But most of it is still invested in stocks. So those few links have relatively little impact.

            • Void_Reader
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              71 year ago

              Did you read any of those links? 10% of world GDP. That’s not relatively little. That’s insane.

              And stocks doesn’t automatically mean good. How much of that is speculative bubbles and hype-driven overvalued stocks?

              • very smart Idiot
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                -51 year ago

                Did you read any of those links? 10% of world GDP. That’s not relatively little. That’s insane.

                I have only overflown the Oxford paper. Caught my attention with the affect of increasing taxing the rich. Interesting take, but purely theoretical with no reasonable adaption possibility. The rich would just leave the country and some other country would profit from their taxes.

                And stocks doesn’t automatically mean good. How much of that is speculative bubbles and hype-driven overvalued stocks?

                If you believe to know which ones are overvalued, then you should try to go buy short positions in them. Maybe you become rich then?

                Jokes aside. The stock market is relatively precise, it also projects potential into the future. Due to that many stocks to combat climate change have risen in popularity and a lot of money has been brought to said companies by purely capitalistic driven motives.

                • Void_Reader
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                  61 year ago

                  The rich would just leave the country and some other country would profit from their taxes.

                  This is an oft-repeated talking point but usually contradicted by data. Sounds smart but isn’t smart.

                  https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/nov/20/if-you-tax-the-rich-they-wont-leave-us-data-contradicts-millionaires-threats

                  https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2017/11/20/if-you-tax-the-rich-they-dont-move-they-just-pay/

                  Rich people are people and most people don’t just up and leave behind places they’ve built their lives in unless under extreme pressure. A few billionaires might relocate to the Bahamas but they’re not going to be able to take their mansions and penthouses with them - and they lose out on the markets, infrastructure, and other benefits of their home countries. That’s a major incentive to just pay the taxes.

                  If you believe to know which ones are overvalued, then you should try to go buy short positions in them. Maybe you become rich then?

                  Who says I haven’t done that already?

                  The stock market is relatively precise, it also projects potential into the future.

                  The stock market is not precise. I have data and papers discussing this - but there’s no need for them. I’ll instead leave you with a simple question: if the stock market is so precise, why is there a major crash every decade?

                  Due to that many stocks to combat climate change have risen in popularity and a lot of money has been brought to said companies by purely capitalistic driven motives.

                  Sure, purely capitalistic motives, which is why a lot of these are impractical venture capital BS and outright scams. It is currently more profitable to greenwash than it is to actually solve the problem.

                  You don’t have to take my word for it: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/26/chamath-palihapitiya-esg-investing-is-a-complete-fraud.html

                  • very smart Idiot
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                    01 year ago

                    The rich would just leave the country and some other country would profit from their taxes.

                    This is an oft-repeated talking point but usually contradicted by data. Sounds smart but isn’t smart.

                    Yes and No. it leads depends on the country and where it is still tolerable and where it is not. In Germany and France we already see people leave. link to a german article. you will need a translator.

                    Rich people are people and most people don’t just up and leave behind places they’ve built their lives in unless under extreme pressure. A few billionaires might relocate to the Bahamas but they’re not going to be able to take their mansions and penthouses with them - and they lose out on the markets, infrastructure, and other benefits of their home countries. That’s a major incentive to just pay the taxes.

                    As I said, it depends on the country and the relative situation to other countries.

                    If you believe to know which ones are overvalued, then you should try to go buy short positions in them. Maybe you become rich then?

                    Who says I haven’t done that already?

                    I do. Because you are still here. Arguing on the internet, a cesspool of morons, you and I included.

                    The stock market is relatively precise, it also projects potential into the future.

                    The stock market is not precise. I have data and papers discussing this - but there’s no need for them. I’ll instead leave you with a simple question: if the stock market is so precise, why is there a major crash every decade?

                    Because events, such as Corona and the ausraube war temporarily lower the estimated gains. Losses are expected. So the value weds to be corrected according to those losses.

                    Due to that many stocks to combat climate change have risen in popularity and a lot of money has been brought to said companies by purely capitalistic driven motives.

                    Sure, purely capitalistic motives, which is why a lot of these are impractical venture capital BS and outright scams. It is currently more profitable to greenwash than it is to actually solve the problem.

                    Companies such as Linde plc are no scam. They existed far longer than the climate drama. Their value just increased because demand in their products increased as well. Greenwashing is only done in media. Company winnings and numbers don’t lie. (Except if they do. Fuck wirecard)

                    You don’t have to take my word for it: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/26/chamath-palihapitiya-esg-investing-is-a-complete-fraud.html

                    I will look later into that article.

        • prole
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          81 year ago

          Wealth hoarding is a massive problem irl

          • very smart Idiot
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            -91 year ago

            No it’s not. It has already been studied, that with an inflation rate of roughly 2 percent, that people are more willing to spend.

            And currently we exceed this by far. And people do spend their money in an attempt to get the most out of it.

            So wealth hoarding is currently no problem. And in a well managed economical state, it as well becomes no problem.