<story><title>“Logistics”, an 857-hour movie, tracks a pedometer from shop back to factory</title><url>https://readpassage.com/i-watched-an-857-hour-movie-to-encounter-capitalisms-extremes/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ed</author><text>&amp;gt; Unfortunately&lt;p&gt;What’s the argument against capitalism&amp;#x2F;international trade in this context? Trade increases the cost of war, which is a good thing, right?</text></item><item><author>capableweb</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s a great perspective to have on what it takes to make even the simplest things, like a pencil. Unfortunately, (but not unsurprising), Friedman makes the grand claim that capitalism crates harmony in the world at the end of the video, but besides that, it was a interesting and quick watch. Thanks for sharing it.</text></item><item><author>7373737373</author><text>I, Pencil: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=67tHtpac5ws&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=67tHtpac5ws&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>forgotmypw17</author><text>The crazy part is that this journey is only the tip of the iceberg for this pedometer. It is made of many components, all of which follow similar journeys to the pedometer factory from their respective factories. And the components are made of raw materials, which are also shipped around in a similar manner after being mined. And the mining itself displaces those who live in that space.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>TaylorAlexander</author><text>It depends on what someone means by “capitalism”. Some people use a definition which is more specific than just “trade”. So for example we tend to see firms owned by individuals who are materially separate from most of the workers, and some people see this phenomenon as part of what we ultimately call “capitalism”. Control of firms by a small number of people can lead to choices which are good for the leadership but bad for most of the workers. If you have a larger economy made up of firms with this structure, then you can see a great number of choices made that benefit a small number of people to the detriment of a large number of people. Essentially, this arrangement has a tendency to enrich a minority, concentrating capital in a way that perpetuates this cycle. Eventually you end up with a whole lot of people living in desperation barely able to survive while a small number of people are unfathomably wealthy.&lt;p&gt;One might ask if such an arrangement is good for society if most people are left struggling to survive.&lt;p&gt;However this is all based on a rhetorical question: does “capitalism” the word include this arrangement of firms? Is unrestricted free trade likely to lead to this arrangement of firms? Would a different structure of firms, like cooperative ownership, alleviate some of those problems? You could still have “trade” in an economy of cooperatives. But would that still be “capitalism” or would this be considered something else?&lt;p&gt;People are divided on whether it should be called something else. But a lot of people who think we should “move beyond capitalism” do not want to eliminate free trade, just the societal norm where most firms are controlled by a small number of people.</text></comment>
<story><title>“Logistics”, an 857-hour movie, tracks a pedometer from shop back to factory</title><url>https://readpassage.com/i-watched-an-857-hour-movie-to-encounter-capitalisms-extremes/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ed</author><text>&amp;gt; Unfortunately&lt;p&gt;What’s the argument against capitalism&amp;#x2F;international trade in this context? Trade increases the cost of war, which is a good thing, right?</text></item><item><author>capableweb</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s a great perspective to have on what it takes to make even the simplest things, like a pencil. Unfortunately, (but not unsurprising), Friedman makes the grand claim that capitalism crates harmony in the world at the end of the video, but besides that, it was a interesting and quick watch. Thanks for sharing it.</text></item><item><author>7373737373</author><text>I, Pencil: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=67tHtpac5ws&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=67tHtpac5ws&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>forgotmypw17</author><text>The crazy part is that this journey is only the tip of the iceberg for this pedometer. It is made of many components, all of which follow similar journeys to the pedometer factory from their respective factories. And the components are made of raw materials, which are also shipped around in a similar manner after being mined. And the mining itself displaces those who live in that space.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ClumsyPilot</author><text>Pollution - shipping basic goods around the globe 3 times to make the simples itema creates a lot of unnessesary pollition.&lt;p&gt;Fragility - one byte from a bat, one lockdown in China and United Kingdom runs out of toilet paper.</text></comment>