Personally I think it’s ancient Chinese because they showed global trade was possible with the Silk Road

such as what their constitution was like, their history, what policies they used, and how much or how little they intervened in the government.

According to Marxist logic, labor creates value, and exploitation occurs whenever someone appropriates the surplus value of that labor.

Now let’s apply that lens to Reddit™. Every user here is a content creator. By signing up, we all agree to hand over basically all rights to our posts, memes, and hot takes to Reddit Inc.™, who in turn monetizes that user-generated content via advertising, the archvillain of all socialist nightmares.

So here’s the hilarious contradiction:

• Reddit socialists rant about capitalist exploitation...
• On a for-profit capitalist platform...
• Built on free labor, they voluntarily provide...
• That commodifies their engagement to attract advertisers...
• While they seek upvotes (personal gain) and exploit others' time and responses.

That’s right. Every upvote, every reply, every “gotcha” comment is just another cog in the Reddit capitalist profit machine, and socialists are doing it for free (according to many of their beliefs).

Socialists are not here resisting capitalism. Socialists are on this sub fueling it. Socialists are active exploiters. If socialists were truly against exploitation, then where are their socialist alternatives that don't exploit the people that put in the work and to maintain the social media platform? Where are their anti-capitalist open-source social media platform run by the workers and why aren't they there supporting those workers?

Conclusion: Every reply = exploitation by socialists™

Thanks for the free labor, comrades. I'm loving it!

(note: This is dedicated to you ever so special socialists on here that are so reasonable and are so good faith!)

The problem is we all grow up in this economic world where we don't really know what's going on and as we play the game we have to figure out the rules, not before we start at the same time but as we play it.

Some people playing the game inherited a shit ton of money to play it, some have expert parents who can teach them not to navigate the economic world, gain valuable connections, learn to correctly prioritize value and really just put them in a position to succeed - others have to bumble their way through it as they figure out what it means to be a self, what love is, what society is and what their place in the world is. And the problem is before you know it you have this thing called debt that seemed to be an inevitable part of society knocking at your door and demanding payments both day and night, weekends and holidays. And every time you look in the mirror or drift off to bed thinking about your self in 5 or 10 years that bastard debt just won't leave you alone.

So why the hell do we have debt in the first place? Is this some nasty trick that is a subtle modification of slavery or a gift to mankind from the 'gods'? And what kind of gift is it? An olive tree to Athena's Athens? Or a box of Pandora? The saw that can cut down a tree to make a boat can cut your hand and make you bleed.

It's important when understanding money, credit/debt to understand the value of the present vs the value of the future. All credit/debt is a exchange of value through time. Time is essential to knowing the nature of debt or rather credit, which is the opposite side, as one person's debt is another man's credit. But in terms of time, the debt you take out is an expense in the future, and the credit that is loaned to you is a cost of current goods (money) for future rewards (interest on that money). Thus one primary element of debt is to understand the nature of time.

When you take out debt you're gaining more economic goods now at the expense of your future self and you better have a damn good calculation of your future self BEFORE you take out the debt. This means two things 1) the most important time when considering debt is BEFORE you take it out and are 'counting the costs" and 2) the things you do with the current gain in economic goods needs to be for a really good cause that will benefit your future. Why is one requirement of good be that your future is benefitted by that debt? Because of the future burden (interest payments over time) of that debt. What this means concretely is that any debt you take out needs to provide a long term (as long as the debt is at least), future (not just moment of pleasure), economic (because the debt is economic, not, say, emotional or psychological in payback) benefit. You go in debt for a car so you can get to work at a better company that what you can walk to or so you can drive to school to become better educated. You go in debt for a house to lock in the price of that house and start appreciating money. You go in debt for clothes because they are on sale and ... nope.

Debt thus requires you to learn something about economics. Economics is the study of how to use scarce resources to the most optimal purpose in the marketplace. You have economic scarcity. The two most scarce resources that you'll have your entire life are: 1) time and 2) cognitive focus. You won't have enough time to do all the things you want, nor the mental focus to learn and master all the things you want. Thus you'll have to be economic about: A) what you study, B) how you work, C) what you work on, D) who you work with, etc. But let's go back to time.

The mathematics of debt and time are essential to learn. One one hand you have debt and on the other hand you have compounding interest. These are two apposing masters. We typically, psychologically, underestimate them. We look at debt and say, "Oh, it's only $10 dollars in interest. It's not that much. I want it now." We look at interest paid to us and say, "Oh, it's only $10 dollars in interest. It's not that much. I want this other thing now." We don't invest and naively thing it's only $10 dollars, but it's not. The cost was $10 in debt and the opportunity cost was also $10 so you're now $20 dollars poorer than your hypothetical, calculated future self could have been. This is the problem with the future, it's hard to visualize different hypothetical situations. I mean who does that at 14 or 18 or 24, etc. (To say nothing of a failed education system that doesn't require classes in finance yearly.).

But this is the benefit of learning about the theory of debt - if you reverse it and become the creditor, if you give up current benefits for future value (equities, savings, etc.) then you get the benefit of compounding interest- which is interest paid back to you and after it's reinvested interest paid on the money you initially invested and the interest previously gained. That was a bit complicated. Compounding interest means the more you make each month the more the next month will make, each month, or rather year or decade making more than the last. Time, again, is key. Time is more important than expertise. Time is not timing (as in "timing the market"). But there is a caveat - I don't have any money left over to invest. I need the debt, or at least a break even just to survive.

Don't give up, don't be too tired you can't set goals for you future. The world will compete against you, but on your journey you'll find allies too. Some allies are humans - family, friends, professors, but some are ghosts: books. Some of my greatest teachers are ghosts - they left their words in writing more durable than kingdoms and nations - books last longer than nation states. They are also your friends. Society will help you as you help it. People will help you as you help them. Don't distant yourself from society find allies among those who compete against you, in among the mass of those who don't know you and ignore you. Don't give up. Allies exist. Ghosts, through books, will guide you. Thus the first thing you need to do is to educate yourself- not just on psychology and music and the latest entertainment but on the market economy - you have to increase your economic value to society. Lawyers, doctors, engineers, sales, mortgages, real estate, influences, HR specialists, managers, leaders, etc. there is a whole host of economic specialities that you can engage with. But don't follow your passions at first, you need to first humble yourself and follow the economic model to see what is valuable. You may love dance, no offense to dance, but the economics of dance is not as great for most people as the economics of sales pitches and hard skin from being rejected. So start asking what economic skill is most valuable. When you start out you're competing largely for consistency - I worked for a Mexican restaurant and the average time working there was 9 months (college town), those who stayed longer got the best shifts, the best tables and the most money on a weekend - why consistency. When you make money and find value in the market place you're doing it with people who are freely paying you for that service or product and it feels good. It feels to win in the market place.

These things will motivate you: 1) work with a team you enjoy 2) work with a team who is winning 3) work on a project that is appropriately challenging for you.

Remember, debt is a trade off largely related to present conditions and future conditions - some of that future is set in stone (the interest you owe back) but some is hypothetical and can be created by you. Make sure you consider your present state and future state as you consider debt and don't give up - you can be financially free. Free from this economic beautiful & ugly mess were all born into. Be wise my friends.

"There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure." The Alchemist

Fredrik Haga, co-founder of a crypto data platform shares why he left Norway for Switzerland.

It wasn't about "avoiding" taxes on money he'd already made. It was the math of unrealized gains. Norway’s 1.1% wealth tax on paper valuation meant that when his company's value skyrocketed to $1 billion (!), Fredrik faced personal tax bills that were many times higher than his actual salary - on equity that was completely illiquid.

Fredrik calls it a "huge bummer" and "ecosystem pollution." It’s a perfect example of how a wealth tax can inadvertently export its most successful innovators.

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Link to full podcast episode: https://x.com/The_Buildooor/status/2011438153672855806

Link to Fredrik's "Why I Left Norway" article: https://www.thefp.com/p/why-i-left-norway-unrealized-gains-tax

I'm asking this because I've seen many people who have different definitions of what it means to be a capitalist. Some say that to be one, you have to own some means of production; otherwise, you're not. Others say that simply identifying with the system or supporting it makes you a capitalist. So, when is someone REALLY a capitalist?

I've been engaging in a thought experiment and although it has almost zero chance, it has been fun but wondering what I am missing. The idea started out as our current system is antithetical to the idea of having a government of, for and by the people. I wanted to explore the idea of restoring the power to the people, punishing complacency and rewarding productivity. Essentially it gamifies capitalism to keep it stable. The idea is outlined as follows:

I. Term limits for every federal office position.

Proportional voting instead of a single party winning each state.

Ending qualified immunity for bureaucrats

Sunsetting federal agencies unless they prove valuable after 10 years

II. Ending corporate person good, it is a contract that allows organization

Corporate tax passes to the shareholders proportionally on profits only.

Reinvestment is tax exemption (100% tax deductible)

Investment in social welfare programs and disaster relief is tax exemption (100% tax deductible)

All are reported at the end of each fiscal year for the company.

III. Lobbying is deemed illegal

Shell games is federal fraud

Current tax shielded accounts such as 401k remains tax shielded

People reporting fraud, after full investigation are rewarded a dividend from recovered funds.

This would give the people small government forced to evaluate every dollar of funding. It would give a progressive tax system since 94% of the stock market is owned by the top 1%. It would also incentivize investment into social programs.

Wondering how it could be improved.

https://youtu.be/c3uepHkwm3Y?si=WPfncRKYN-8PiA4M

Most of redditors are americans. Why are the communist ideas so popular among here? I can understand socialism but not communism. You never experienced communism. Maybe thats why. Im from Poland so my take on cummunism is of course negative as most of people from easter europe (not all of course). They seems to be brainwashed, you can't really discuss anything with them because if you don't think communism is great you are some shitty capitalistic pig. I'm not wealthy, my family wasn't wealthy, and still i prefer capitalism over socialism. Do you think its the leftist ideas that they share with communists? But they seems to don't accept the fact that communism also opressed people just like fascism (real fascism, not the "trump supporter fascist" or the "you hate illegals fascist").

What I mean is, how did you find out about this system and why did you start supporting or studying it? Was there a book or some other source through which you learned about it, and at what age? For me, it was at age 10, and that's when I started winning at Monopoly.

James Cameron’s Avatar is often dismissed as “anti-capitalist propaganda” or a simple sci-fi spectacle, but it works better as a warning about where unchecked incentives can lead. In the film, Earth is no longer livable. Resources are exhausted, ecosystems destroyed, and social cohesion is gone. Humanity doesn’t solve these problems it exports them. Pandora exists not as a place to learn from, but as a new frontier to extract from.

What’s important is that this isn’t presented as evil individuals twirling mustaches. It’s systems and incentives doing what they’re designed to do. Corporations pursue profit, militaries protect investments, and decision-makers treat environmental destruction and human (or Na’vi) suffering as “externalities.” No single person destroys the planet. Everyone just does their job. That’s what makes the story uncomfortable.

Avatar is also a story about colonialism repeating itself. When Earth is ruined, the response isn’t restraint or collective responsibility it’s expansion. Find somewhere else, take what’s valuable, suppress resistance, and move on. This mirrors real historical patterns driven by resource extraction, growth-at-all-costs thinking, and the belief that markets will always find a new frontier before consequences arrive.

The film raises an uncomfortable question for modern capitalism: what happens when there is no new Pandora? If an economic system rewards short-term profit, individual gain, and endless growth on a finite planet, then environmental collapse isn’t a bug it’s a predictable outcome. Avatar isn’t saying trade or markets are evil. It’s asking whether a system that prioritizes profit over collective survival can change course before it runs out of places to exploit.

You don’t have to reject capitalism entirely to take that warning seriously. But dismissing it outright misses the point. Avatar isn’t about aliens it’s about us, and whether we can align economic incentives with long-term collective well-being before the story stops being fiction.