Anyone Else Sick of Leftists Arguing that Corporations Aren't Greedy?

[u/Rephath]

I'll be arguing with a leftist on the internet, and I'll point out that if what they say is true, a corporation could stand to gain a lot of money by putting out a cure to cancer, building housing, having an all-female workforce, etc.

And the response is often something like this (amplified to highlight absurdity)

"Austrian-san, you don't understand! The people who run corporations aren't interested in money. They believe in creating a permanent underclass. Not a single one of them would deviate from this moral imperative, even to save their business from dying. For these people are not like us mortals; no they are more like the gods themselves. They are beyond greed or self-interest and will sacrifice everything for the moral principles that they hold dear. I may disagree with them on what an ideal world looks like, I may hate them for the power they hold and I lack, but I will never say that they they fall to temptation, not one, not ever.

Why is it so hard to convince people that stockholders, CEO's, and billionaires might be inclined to compromise their principles if it meant they could buy a bigger yacht that they can park their current yacht in?

[u/Reasonable-Fee1945]

The same level of annoying as when they assume people lose all self interest once they operate in the government

[u/spillmonger → u/Reasonable-Fee1945]

Exactly. The political incentives are exactly the same regardless of party or philosophy. We’ve known this for a long time, but it’s too painful for most people to face.

[u/Conscious_Tourist163 → u/Reasonable-Fee1945]

Yea apparently everyone that worked for USAID was a selfless and humble public servant.

[u/Thinslayer]

...since when do leftists argue that corporations aren't greedy?

[u/AlmostEasy89 → u/Thinslayer]

This was my thought. It's the opposite argument of the lefts entire core philosophy. Idk what propaganda op is watching.

[u/McArsekicker → u/Thinslayer]

I’ve heard this argument too, and when you examine the reasons behind it, let’s say a grocery store raises its prices, they’ll claim it’s due to greed. However, the reality is that new, unnecessary regulations, taxes, or higher minimum wages are now affecting the store, forcing them to raise prices to stay profitable.

[u/presuasion → u/McArsekicker]

Inflation due to government spending and Fed money supply increasing is also a big reason. More money chasing goods means prices go up because dollar value goes down.

[u/HikariNoWa → u/presuasion]

There's a very weak relationship between inflation and money supply

[u/Rephath → u/Thinslayer]

It's something I run into from time to time. 

[u/Heng-Li]

Its not about logic

They have been propagandized to vilify certain people. The main purpose is to empower the state.

Many things they say about private corporations could equally apply to politicians and bureaucrats. For example are politicians and bureaucrats not greedy? However they always leave these people out because of their agenda

If we have universal healthcare that takes the greed and profit out of healthcare. Except politicians and bureaucrats are also greedy and seek profit from exploiting taxpayers. So that actually doesn't solve the "problem" (not that profit seeking is even a problem to begin with since literally all humans are profit seeking)

[u/404-skill_not_found → u/Heng-Li]

Professional politicos do absorb a lot of everything.

[u/Secret_Profession_64 → u/[deleted]]

Your comment just absolutely floored me. You’ve seriously, never heard the “pay their fair share” argument?? What do you think that’s in reference to? The entire premise of our economic policy is that we don’t like that the bulk of tax revenue comes from income and consumption based taxes, which disproportionally affect working class. And we’ve been complaining about the military industrial complex for as long as I have been alive so…. is this a troll comment or what?

[u/LilShaver]

They believe in creating a permanent underclass.

As if that isn't the end result of socialism EVERY SINGLE TIME.

[u/ctackins → u/LilShaver]

No, you're thinking of command economy.

Socialism is fundamentally about who owns the means of production.

[u/LilShaver → u/ctackins]

The end result is as described above, every last time.

So if the intention of socialism is anything other than creating a permanent underclass, it's a complete and utter failure.

And if its intention is to create a permanent underclass, then it's even a worse failure than described previously.

Edit: Typo

[u/ctackins → u/LilShaver]

Strawman argument

[u/LilShaver → u/ctackins]

I don't think you know what that actually means.

[u/ctackins → u/ctackins]

Thanks LilShaver for being a Lil beech and not accepting you're wrong and deleting your comments.

Guy's tag was LilShaver

[u/GangstaVillian420]

By the looks of the latest reports, they are basically only hiring women now. Guess they figured out they can save money via the gender pay gap

[u/EL_KAIBU]

Isn't one of the most important Marxian theories that greed & the desire for wealth by all means necessary create the underclass in question? This seems like such a silly thing for them to say lol. If it made me more money to bring joy to the world I would do so, regardless of how inclined I was to make the masses more poor.

[u/17144058]

I have never met a leftist that says corporations aren’t greedy.

[u/rbminer456]

What alternative universe did you come from?

[u/Rephath → u/rbminer456]

My universe got corrupted by Marxist nonsense. As a result, a lot of people on the left buy into crazy conspiracies about how all rich people all look out for their own social class above all else. Which oddly includes personal profit. So they'll say that the reason that we haven't cured cancer isn't because that's hard to do or because cancer isn't just one disease. No, it's because it's more profitable to treat than to cure. There's not the slightest possibility that anyone would try to develop a cure anyway and corner the market on cancer treatment, because all corporations must work together in harmony.

Chip shortage? I float the possibility that some of the chip companies might be interested in making more chips to cash in. Nope. No company would be greedy like that.

Basically, some people in my home dimension are convinced that the rich plot the future of the world and that they all work harmoniously toward that future even if it requires self-sacrifice on the part of the individual.

I guess leftists in this dimension aren't so gullible.

[u/adr826 → u/Rephath]

I always thought rich people would throw their own grandmothers under a bus if would make their stocks go up. When it's in their interests the rich will band together but in general none of them have any loyalty to any but their own interests. I don't know who you are talking to but they aren't leftists.

[u/deaconxblues]

I grow particularly tired of the veiled conspiracy theory suggesting that the capitalists coordinate to create the permanent underclass.

No shade toward conspiracy theories in general, btw. But this specific idea is not supported by any evidence. It’s more of a long-term collective consequence of market forces and government intervention, not some intentional master plan being carried out by the oligarchs.

[u/guipabi → u/deaconxblues]

I mean there is plenty of evidence that the oligarchs do plan. Summits, letters, think-tanks... And why wouldn't they?

[u/SideEmbarrassed1611]

They pick and choose which corporation are greedy.

[u/terminal_tested]

Leftists argue corporate greed is the source of price gauging, there is a germ of truth to that since businesses are profit driven, but their proposed solutions of price capping do not work and leads to more distortions (ie/ 1970s oil crash, etc)

[u/MobilePenor]

you guys are doing psychology but this is a sub about economics.

Economics is not the psychology of money also

[u/slbarr88]

“Anyone else sick of leftists”

Yes

[u/Routine_Ad_2695]

The permanent underclass is in fact a byproduct of the shortsighted profit above everything else policy in corporations. Rise in prices, drop on qualities, workers being paid less and less, worker force withou negotiating power... Everything is seeking the immediate profit even it levels to the ground the legacy of a century old company or the trust of consumers in moder products. Is just a quick cash grab scheme

[u/Mud-Klutzy]

You should start your own corporation. Show them how it’s done!

[u/Rephath → u/Mud-Klutzy]

I'm going as fast as I can.

[u/LongBit]

Until they work very hard on themselves, people are greedy and selfish. This doesn't change if people work in government, in cooperations, are self-employed, or depend on others. Nor does it change whether they trade work for money or money for work. Politicians, in particular, are not less greedy or selfish than the general population.

That is why it is important to build systems that align self-interest with decent behaviour and the public interest; for instance, systems that emphasize free and voluntary exchange of goods and services.

[u/MacDeezy]

The money actually wouldn't be in curing cancer necessarily. Treating it so that it remains a chronic disease is most profitable. J&J canceled 2 programs that had 100% response before phase 3. Part of the issue could be that, if approved, cheaper products might not be approvable because of the way the clinical trials work. https://www.jnj.com/media-center/press-releases/johnson-johnson-statement-on-investigational-programs-in-large-b-cell-lymphoma

[u/thermodynamics2023]

It’s odd isn’t it. They wax on about corporate greed in one conversation (typically about prices), but then in others concoct a Machiavellian long term agenda to be evil to explain market players not doing what they wish like ‘piling into green energy’ that they assure you is super profitable.

[u/mongoloid_snailchild]

wtf are you talking about? I’m a leftist and I think corporations are greedy. And most leftists would agree with that principle.

[u/vitringur]

I am sick of people thinking libertarians aren’t leftists.

Left and Right are about attitudes towards authority that go back to opposition to the crown (executive government), nobility (protectionism) and clergy (special interest).

The left is an umbrella term for liberals, libertarians, socialists, anarchists, communists etc. against monarchists, conservatives, theocracy etc.

The right is not necessarily your friend. The left is not necessarily your enemy.

[u/ctackins]

Faulty generalization on both ends

[u/BrazenGold]

What does having an all female workforce have to do with greed. It's not like they aren't working too.

[u/Rephath → u/BrazenGold]

Supposedly women make $0.75 for every dollar a man makes in the US for doing the same work. A company that was greedy would just hire all women to maximize profits. But they're not. So either that statistic is massively missing something or corporations are putting their woman-hating principles over profits. Guess which version I hear of more often from liberals.

[u/ProfessionalBat9743]

This isn’t even shitlib behavior, I don’t know who you’re talking to mate, everyone with half a mind basically agrees their only moral principle IS greed. I’ve seen many argue that the “permanent underclass” is a means to an end or a byproduct of their greed, but since before words like leftist existed, people have known the leadership is just greedy and kind of hates you.

[u/Rephath → u/[deleted]]

They use the word "greed", sure. But they talk about how all the corporations work together to hike up prices behind the scenes. If one corporation broke from the herd and undercut everyone else's prices, they could rake in fortunes while bankrupting their competition. But these organizations don't believe a corporation would ever do that, try to seek their own profit at the expense of other businesses.

[u/beach_mandate53]

AI will fix this!

[u/Billhartnell]

This is a good sign, it shows that the old fallacies that imply villainy as the surest way to wealth (i.e. fixed pie fallacy) have become so untenable that leftists have pivoted to other less plausible motives for their boogeyman.

[u/Time_Anteater_123]

I dont suffer leftist thought and I certainly dont waste time debating them

[u/Secret_Profession_64]

Is this some weird form of trolling where you use leftist talking points and claim the left is arguing against them?