‘Anti Capitalist’: 30 Times People Realized That Modern Capitalism Is Starting To Look Ridiculous
Income and wealth inequality continues to deepen, prices are soaring, inflation looms its shadowy fangs, and the aftershocks from the so-called Great Resignation are still echoing across the economy. It’s no wonder that a lot of people are scared for their future, are dissatisfied and critical of the way the economy is structured. Some believe that capitalism has become too radical and devolved into corporatism and unchecked soulless consumerism. For them, capitalism has become Public Enemy Number One.
One Instagram page that captures this sentiment is the ‘Anti Capitalist’ project that has amassed just over 173k followers. The founder of the page, who wittily describes themselves as having “no basic understanding of economics or politics,” explains that they’re fighting capitalism, racism, and fascism with the content that they post.
Scroll down for the most on-point anti-capitalist memes and don’t forget to upvote the ones that resonated the most with you, dear Pandas. Got any interesting insights about current financial happenings and economic developments? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
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I liked this so much that I went to the source to upvote it there too.
Financial expert Rick Orford explained to Bored Panda a while back that extreme capitalism and excessive greed are the consequences of a large enough part of the population that’s willing to take risks. The core problem, therefore, is greed. Or rather, too much of it.
“Greed is widely accepted to be the reason for the two largest financial crises in the last century; namely 1929 and 2008. It also creates the income inequality that’s largely seen in the United States. Indeed, while everyone, in theory, has an equal opportunity to flourish, the scales seem to tip to those with the most money," he said.
THIS!!! As an American, I am saddened by the fact that we have an extremely high rate of homelessness. We evict and destroy tent site where the homeless live and do nothing to replace or help them. There are many many empty homes and old factories that could be used to house them and improve their lives yet they still set empty. Its disgusting. I do what I can to help in my community but we need to be helping at a national level. These people are humans and citizens of our country yet are cast aside and left to die in the elements. It just sad on so many levels.
My friend once told me, "You can't budget your way out of your income bracket." It was some of the best advice I'd ever gotten.
“[Capitalism] allows folks like you and me to succeed by creating or investing in businesses. Indeed, one looking to borrow money from the banks today won’t have to pay much for the loan. As such, it encourages growth. However, extreme capitalism creates a scenario where greed overtakes reason, and it risks the financial system," financial expert Rick told Bored Panda.
According to the expert, social democracy, also known as socialism, lies at the other end of the scale from capitalism. Social democracies tax their citizens more than capitalistic countries, however, in return, the people have easy and free (or very cheap) access to vital services.
I can already hear a comment of a healthcareless, ideologically blinded billionaire supporter: “Oooooh, a socialist!”
"Citizens are given services such as free and (easily) accessible healthcare, child care, social welfare, etc. Conversely, highly capitalistic societies charge for these services, making it incredibly challenging for the poor," he said.
Rick pointed out that capitalism gives anyone the tools to flourish and grow. What’s more, nobody should be under the illusion that the wealthy are always making a profit. Businesspeople take large risks and can suffer very heavy financial losses if things don’t pan out the way they expect them to. Problems arise, however, when major companies and social media conglomerates start influencing how people think.
people today still believe in the 'being poor is an attitude' misconception it's hilariously unfortunate
“Today, the news is largely distributed by some of the largest American corporations: Google, Facebook, and Twitter. Think Brexit or the 2016 American Presidential election,” the expert warned.
Though, theoretically, capitalism helps ordinary people sell their products and open up their own businesses, the reality is tougher: they have to compete with established industry giants.
I was talking with a family member about war reparations the other day, and ended up googling if the US had ever paid reparations for any of the wars they've been in. Turns out, the only reparations the US has ever paid, was to surviving members of the Japanese internment camps (in the 80s, I think), and to some people who were sterilised against their will in Florida. The US is extremely bad at taking responsibility for it's past bad acts
“Those [products] with the best quality, price, customer service, or combination (of at least two) often do well. Increasingly, however, those who are willing to spend more at the beginning are seeing both extreme gains and losses. Famously, Amazon and Tesla, for example, have spent hundreds of millions of investors’ dollars before ever making a cent," he said.
Certain parts of social media are very anti-capitalist and Instagram is no different. Very recently, Bored Panda wrote about the ‘Humans of Capitalism’ project that makes memes about economic dystopia.
Angel, the founder of that particular IG project, told Bored Panda that they’re not optimistic about the future. They believe that people are constantly bombarded by information, non-stop, to get them to consume more and more products, which helps capitalism survive as a system.
In the UK our entire lifeboat/rescue from water system is run and peopled by volunteers and they are world class.
"We often see many small businesses collapsing because they are not able to fight with the current trend or to combat with the giant competitors. So they have two options, close the business or sell it," they said.
They believe that the future is likely to bring more automation, with machines producing, delivering, and taking care of the food supply, clothing, and the healthcare system. However, this would mean that some people would lose their jobs while the question of who owns the distribution system would be on many an individual’s minds.
bodyslam cop. eat the corrupt. kill the rich. take their leftovers. seize control of the government. do it.
I may be naïve, but isn't it a good thing that a company has opened a warehouse in a poor area that would offer jobs to those in much need?
"The idea of getting free food, water, health, clothing, is nice and, in reality, if we take a closer look at the current system we can see that more people are let off and replaced by machines. For example, we can see that McDonald's workers are fired and they have been replaced with machines that work on touch or by sound and they take orders, forward orders to the employees, etc,” they mused.
"I believe that 50 years from now machines will provide food, clothing, healthcare services, and much more, by themselves, with little to no employees monitoring them. But there is an issue with that. You will leave millions of people jobless and cause huge riots as the famous quote from Jean-Jacques Rousseau goes: 'When the people shall have no more to eat, they will eat the rich.'"
Looks more like an armchair homeless advocate. As one who has worked in the homeless field, it is more complicated than people want to accept. However, things can change to make it better, less complicated, and quicker to respond to peoples needs.
Simple concept: "We all do better when we all do better" but few seem to grasp it.
Superb commentary on capitalism. When we think and act as a collective taking into account the basic health, financial and shelter needs of all of us, we have a society worth being part of. Capitalism isn't based on fairness. Let's give everyone and ourselves a fair go.
I would say it's focused on the USA, some of the stuff doesn't happen in europe. We have law protected unions, universal healthcare, support for people out of work and we question where the tax money goes. (The current EU president isn't very popular here in Germany - for spending more money on advisors than getting our army essential equipment during her time as secretary of defense with it)
Here's an anti capitalist tip for amazon customers. When they ask you if you want to donate to charity through that smile gimmick just say no. They use that money as a tax write off for charitible donations so they dont have to pay tax on the same amount of profit. You are paying the donation but they are claiming the tax credit from it. If you want to donate, do it direct to the charity and dont let these companies use your charity as a tax write off
Living under capitalism is not perfect. But I have lived under communism, and that was truly horrible. The perfect and flawless system would be one where human beings cannot influence. It does not exist. If you manage to tear down our current system, you might find that you get to spend less time surfing the internet and more time picking turnips and hoping the bread line is not too long today, or that the nosy lady in your apartment block does not denounce you to the police for playing unsocialist music.
As an anarchist I agree with the criticism against capitalism here. What concerns me however, is the jump-the-gun attitude and optimism of violent revolution as a means of solution. "Kill the rich", "not spared in the revolution" etc. only remind me of Leninist sentiments that quickly became about shifting power instead of fighting it. Old Tsar officers became Red officers. I do not consider communism like that of Soviet a viable alternative to capitalism. It is trading being steamrolled for being shot. It is understandable to be furious about capitalism and wanting to do something about it, but revenge served cold will only lead to suffering and solves nothing. Let's think about it. Let's come up with a plethora of alternatives and solutions. Let's find tools for change nobody expected to exist. Let us never reduce ourselves to means to an end. We are not work horses that need to kick, we need to run free.
Load More Replies...Let's compare college prices before 1965 and after 1965 when the government stared guaranteeing student loans removing incentive for colleges to keep tuition affordable.
Well this was sad and very depressing. Its eye opening to the fact that while some think they are living the American dream , other countries are actually taking care of its citizens. The US, seems to set everyone up for failure except for a choice few.
Boo westerners bad West is evil we should all be 1990s eastern Europe. Every single post on BP.
Well most of them are US specific, and the US healthcare problems are not caused by capitalism itself, the absolutely out of this planet prices of anything healthcare is anti capitalist.
People who think there is a system better than capitalism are complete morons. Humanity has never had it easier.
They fixed it, this post used to be filled with garbage memes, I'm glad they fixed it
Simple concept: "We all do better when we all do better" but few seem to grasp it.
Superb commentary on capitalism. When we think and act as a collective taking into account the basic health, financial and shelter needs of all of us, we have a society worth being part of. Capitalism isn't based on fairness. Let's give everyone and ourselves a fair go.
I would say it's focused on the USA, some of the stuff doesn't happen in europe. We have law protected unions, universal healthcare, support for people out of work and we question where the tax money goes. (The current EU president isn't very popular here in Germany - for spending more money on advisors than getting our army essential equipment during her time as secretary of defense with it)
Here's an anti capitalist tip for amazon customers. When they ask you if you want to donate to charity through that smile gimmick just say no. They use that money as a tax write off for charitible donations so they dont have to pay tax on the same amount of profit. You are paying the donation but they are claiming the tax credit from it. If you want to donate, do it direct to the charity and dont let these companies use your charity as a tax write off
Living under capitalism is not perfect. But I have lived under communism, and that was truly horrible. The perfect and flawless system would be one where human beings cannot influence. It does not exist. If you manage to tear down our current system, you might find that you get to spend less time surfing the internet and more time picking turnips and hoping the bread line is not too long today, or that the nosy lady in your apartment block does not denounce you to the police for playing unsocialist music.
As an anarchist I agree with the criticism against capitalism here. What concerns me however, is the jump-the-gun attitude and optimism of violent revolution as a means of solution. "Kill the rich", "not spared in the revolution" etc. only remind me of Leninist sentiments that quickly became about shifting power instead of fighting it. Old Tsar officers became Red officers. I do not consider communism like that of Soviet a viable alternative to capitalism. It is trading being steamrolled for being shot. It is understandable to be furious about capitalism and wanting to do something about it, but revenge served cold will only lead to suffering and solves nothing. Let's think about it. Let's come up with a plethora of alternatives and solutions. Let's find tools for change nobody expected to exist. Let us never reduce ourselves to means to an end. We are not work horses that need to kick, we need to run free.
Load More Replies...Let's compare college prices before 1965 and after 1965 when the government stared guaranteeing student loans removing incentive for colleges to keep tuition affordable.
Well this was sad and very depressing. Its eye opening to the fact that while some think they are living the American dream , other countries are actually taking care of its citizens. The US, seems to set everyone up for failure except for a choice few.
Boo westerners bad West is evil we should all be 1990s eastern Europe. Every single post on BP.
Well most of them are US specific, and the US healthcare problems are not caused by capitalism itself, the absolutely out of this planet prices of anything healthcare is anti capitalist.
People who think there is a system better than capitalism are complete morons. Humanity has never had it easier.
They fixed it, this post used to be filled with garbage memes, I'm glad they fixed it