Posted: Apr 13, 2020 4:06 am
OlivierK wrote:gobshite wrote:Why do you think pricing in costs isn't in the remit of capitalism?
Because it's the job of corporations to maximise profit, within the laws of the societies they operate in. In most jurisdictions, directors of companies are legally bound to act in the best financial interests of shareholders.
I'd modify that slightly by saying that profit and financial interests are to be maximised in the short term. Which necessitates ignoring long-term costs and/or externalities. Are the expected costs of global warming in the financial interests of most shareholders?
You're equivocating here by swapping in the word "costs" for "externalities", and it's important. Internal costs such as materials and labour are concerns of companies almost by definition. Externalities are, on the other hand, not (hence "external"), unless the regulatory environment makes them so. Creating the regulatory environment is a job of government.
This is probably a fair point, except it leaves us with the notion that capitalism is good at generating wealth, except when it isn't and then it's the government's fault. I'm having trouble swallowing that. Not least because capitalism isn't a monolithic entity, it's composed of the government and the people that make up its markets.
In any case, I'm going to retreat to my rephrasing of your initial point: capitalism is good at stealing wealth from the developing world and future generations. When viewed this way, it's fairly questionable whether capitalism is actually generating much wealth at all. It's expropriating it.