103
submitted 2 years ago by Egon@hexbear.net to c/news@hexbear.net
all 22 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 62 points 2 years ago

You could simply stop the genocide. It would be a lot cheaper.

The idea that capitalists are supposed to be these shrewd machines that care about nothing but profit is really damaged by everything to do with Israel, because if I wanted to maximize profits I would stop doing an expensive genocide with extremely expensive side effects

[-] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 57 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

well that's the thing. the blockade isn't "supposed" to happen. the state is supposed to crush all resistance and barriers to capital formations. the state uses public resources, while the profits are extracted and privatized.

it is a fragile system because capital cuts all its internal costs (labor, material) to the bone, operating under the logic that the empire and it's victims will pay the true externalized costs leaving as much of the value as possible for them to extract.

I think the historical model of the Dutch West India Company / Westindische Compagnie (DIC/GWC) is the most instructive about how stupid capitalists are, in that all these merchant capitalists were getting loaded with their mercenaries and PMC bases, slavers, colonies, and brutal plantations making money hand over fist. just running wild. but sometimes there would be losses greater than the gains and the merchants would just decide not to pay their debts, the state would not step in to float it or back up its posessions, and the company would evaporate. a mistake the British and it's later franchise, America would not make.

[-] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 33 points 2 years ago

It honestly baffles me that the capitalists as a whole aren’t even good at capitalism or imperialism. They’re incredibly stupid, petulant babies who care more about doing evil and not having to share than they even care about actually making money.

[-] SacredExcrement@hexbear.net 17 points 2 years ago

They don't need to be good at it, they have all the money, they hold nearly all the cards, and are used to being coddled

95% of the time, they're able to just brute force any problem away

[-] NephewAlphaBravo@hexbear.net 13 points 2 years ago

capitalists don't want a lot of money, they want all of the money

[-] Ildsaye@hexbear.net 5 points 2 years ago

They want the inequality more than the wealth. There are things that secure, healthy, educated, organized workers won't do for any price. The leverage to coerce is the real wealth to them.

[-] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I mean yeah, originally bourgeoisie only taken over when aristocracy was so rotted they couldn't even find their own jaw without a map, and even then it was basically all done by proletarian hands who had literally force burgies to take the power.

[-] huf@hexbear.net 32 points 2 years ago

the UK had this problem with its east india company too, but that's why they eventually took over its lands and started managing it for themselves. if they were gonna have pay to put down the rebellions that periodically broke out cos the EIC was squeezing india dry, they might as well just take over.

[-] zed_proclaimer@hexbear.net 8 points 2 years ago

Some of the bourgeoise understand short term losses for long term gains. Any costs to them now will be recuperated by having Greater Israel control the entire levant and sea routes and oil fields. Israel is an investment to then that runs in the red upfront but in the long term will pay off

[-] sharedburdens@hexbear.net 58 points 2 years ago

They're going to find out why we don't have healthcare"

mission-accomplished-1mission-accomplished-2

[-] Utter_Karate@hexbear.net 30 points 2 years ago

They found out that it is because all the money was siphoned off to finance one guy having eight different plantation themed weddings in a year months ago. Same time they found out why your military wasn't really that effective (guy had to get divorced seven times and is not allowed to make a net loss).

[-] Egon@hexbear.net 30 points 2 years ago

Smh wouldn't happen to me, just go around it dummies around-the-cape

[-] TraschcanOfIdeology@hexbear.net 20 points 2 years ago

I thought Maersk profits were going up because it was charging so much more to go around Africa than through the channel

[-] egg1918@hexbear.net 39 points 2 years ago

Initially they probably were. But since things have calmed down a bit and it's clear that Ansarallah are only targeting ships supporting the genocide, other ships are getting through unharmed.

[-] Egon@hexbear.net 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Yeah but then they started operating with the assumption that they could charge those prices and some brain genius suggested taking the old route but charging the same (i assume).

The more probable answer is that labor costs a lot (if you wanna pay out big bonuses to the c-suite instead of staffing a ship with more than a skeleton crew), bunker fuel costs money and going around the Cape means they're spending more time between ports and using more money to do it. Them taking longer probably also risks contracts due to JIT supply that we run with these days.
To speak more to labour costs: Almost all innovation is shipping is driven by the question "how can we have fewer people doing the same task". You have to be pretty self reliant working on ships these days, because there's rarely a lot of people overseeing you, even if you're an FNG. Or so I'm told.

[-] QuillcrestFalconer@hexbear.net 27 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Finally a metric by which we can assess the impact of the Yemeni blockade

[-] MsSprouts@vegantheoryclub.org 25 points 2 years ago

Good Israel needs to become poor

[-] Dolores@hexbear.net 13 points 2 years ago

i swear there was some talk about shipping companies doing well because the cape-route allowed them to charge clients more? how can maersk fail to pass along the higher transport costs to its customers?

[-] Mardoniush@hexbear.net 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Houthi must go? around-the-cape

this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2024
103 points (99.0% liked)

news

24631 readers
749 users here now

Welcome to c/news! We aim to foster a book-club type environment for discussion and critical analysis of the news. Our policy objectives are:

We ask community members to appreciate the uncertainty inherent in critical analysis of current events, the need to constantly learn, and take part in the community with humility. None of us are the One True Leftist, not even you, the reader.

Newcomm and Newsmega Rules:

The Hexbear Code of Conduct and Terms of Service apply here.

  1. Link titles: Please use informative link titles. Overly editorialized titles, particularly if they link to opinion pieces, may get your post removed.

  2. Content warnings: Posts on the newscomm and top-level replies on the newsmega should use content warnings appropriately. Please be thoughtful about wording and triggers when describing awful things in post titles.

  3. Fake news: No fake news posts ever, including April 1st. Deliberate fake news posting is a bannable offense. If you mistakenly post fake news the mod team may ask you to delete/modify the post or we may delete it ourselves.

  4. Link sources: All posts must include a link to their source. Screenshots are fine IF you include the link in the post body. If you are citing a Twitter post as news, please include the Xcancel.com (or another Nitter instance) or at least strip out identifier information from the twitter link. There is also a Firefox extension that can redirect Twitter links to a Nitter instance, such as Libredirect or archive them as you would any other reactionary source.

  5. Archive sites: We highly encourage use of non-paywalled archive sites (i.e. archive.is, web.archive.org, ghostarchive.org) so that links are widely accessible to the community and so that reactionary sources don’t derive data/ad revenue from Hexbear users. If you see a link without an archive link, please archive it yourself and add it to the thread, ask the OP to fix it, or report to mods. Including text of articles in threads is welcome.

  6. Low effort material: Avoid memes/jokes/shitposts in newscomm posts and top-level replies to the newsmega. This kind of content is OK in post replies and in newsmega sub-threads. We encourage the community to balance their contribution of low effort material with effort posts, links to real news/analysis, and meaningful engagement with material posted in the community.

  7. American politics: Discussion and effort posts on the (potential) material impacts of American electoral politics is welcome, but the never-ending circus of American Politics© Brought to You by Mountain Dew™ is not welcome. This refers to polling, pundit reactions, electoral horse races, rumors of who might run, etc.

  8. Electoralism: Please try to avoid struggle sessions about the value of voting/taking part in the electoral system in the West. c/electoralism is right over there.

  9. AI Slop: Don't post AI generated content. Posts about AI race/chip wars/data centers are fine.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS