This definition is not really in practice anywhere then. There is nothing
really that says one firm must make more profits than its competitors.
The only real requirement for a firm to remain in business is for revenue
to equal costs. This is the minimal criteria for staying in business.
As for products that break down, the idea of making an everlasting product
is probably like trying to build a perpetual motion machine.
Steve
--- [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Thanks for everyone's responses to my question of whether capitalism and
> a
> sustainable society are mutually exclusive. Since there seemed to be
> some
> questioning of our terms here, I thought we might take one at a time and
> see
> what happens. I'll go first, and offer a definition of capitalist that
> might
> begin to provide some kind of a framework for our discussion.
>
> Capitalism is a system of production and distribution which emerged in
> the
> 16th and 17th centuries in western europe and today has spread to most
> parts
> of the world. Under capitalism, profit is made by buying equipment,
> materials, and labor necessary to produce commodities -- goods and
> services
> -- and then selling the commodities for more than the cost of producing
> them.
> Each capitalist must make more profit than the competitors, simply to
> stay in
> business. Any capitalist who does not make enough profit to keep up with
> new
> products, new technology, new techniques, new research, etc., will
> eventually
> be put out of business by those who do keep up. This means that capital
> has
> an inherent necessity to expand, which requires constantly making
> products
> that will break down and wear out, constantly making new products and
> different products to attract buyers, constantly expanding market
> shares, and
> constantly using up so-called natural resources to do all of these
> things.
>
> Pretty grim picture for the environment, it seems to me. Does anybody
> have
> any revisions, deletions, additions, completely new definition?
>
> Nancy
=====
"In a nutshell, he [Steve] is 100% unadulterated evil. I do not believe in a 'Satan', but this man is as close to 'the real McCoy' as they come."
--Jamey Lee West
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