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There’s nothing like a philosopher to set the record straight for everyone. Corey Mohler, the mastermind behind ‘Existential Comics,’ voices his razor-sharp thoughts about the world not just in webcomic form but also in spot-on tweets. And today, we’re featuring some of his best insights about capitalism, economics, greed, and just how unjust the entire system can seem living in the 21st century.

As you’re scrolling down, remember to upvote the tweets that you found to be particularly enlightening, dear Pandas. Meanwhile, tell us what you think of Corey’s ideas in the comments. And if you’ve got any insights about inequality, finances, and the job market, we’d love to hear what you have to say, too. Got your thinking caps? Good!

Bored Panda reached out for a chat about capitalism with financial expert Sam Dogen, the author of 'Buy This, Not That' and the founder of 'Financial Samurai.' We spoke about the pros and cons of capitalism, nepotism, and why some executives earn embarrassingly huge sums of money compared to their employees. Read on for the full exclusive interview.

More info: Twitter | Patreon | ExistentialComics.com

"The people who tend to say capitalism is flawed are the poor or the extremely rich. It's an interesting dynamic. There is no perfect system. However, capitalism is the best system we've got that advances technology, increases productivity and efficiency, and gives people a chance to improve their financial situation. Capitalism provides people the most hope to get ahead based on hard work. Therefore, I believe capitalism will remain the system going forward," financial expert Sam shared his thoughts with Bored Panda. However, that's not to say that capitalism isn't without its flaws.

"The biggest flaw to capitalism is nepotism and family dynasties. This happens when the extraordinarily wealthy hoard their wealth and provide favors to their friends and children. This helps ensure the rich get richer and the powerful to stay powerful. Nepotism doesn't mean the rest of us can't get ahead as well. It just means that certain people will have a much easier time getting ahead than others," he said.

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Scagsy
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Firstly I have only read about half of this post but I feel that I have the general theme. And whilst I agree that capitalism is based on exploiting the workforce and that 'trickle-down' economics doesn't work, what is the solution? We can complain about it all we want - and we do - but in the end, all we are left with, is a bunch of exploited people agreeing with each other that we are being exploited. Whichever system we use, some people will always be 'more equal than others' because that is unfortunately, human nature. I hope a panda - maybe you, dear reader - can offer a solution to what has quietly become one of the biggest threats to our standard of living ever faced.

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"To hoard billions of dollars while there are so many people suffering in your very city doesn't sit right with most people. However, evolution has made humans naturally greedy to increase our chances for survival. Even elite private universities in the United States continue to provide huge advantages for wealthy legacy families. At the end of the day, we tend to take care of people who are most like ourselves," Sam pointed out that, unfortunately, real-life isn't perfectly fair or just.

Bored Panda wanted to understand why some executives earn huge sums of money while their employees might be left living from paycheck to paycheck. Author and financial expert Sam explained it all to us.

"Compensation is tied towards how much economic value you can produce or at least, appear to produce. Hence, if you want to make millions a year and be a top 0.01% income earner, then you've got to generate a lot of profits and shareholder value," he told us.

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Hedgeh og
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The part that blows my mind the most is how many of the people they oppress will staunchly defend the very system that oppresses them. Complete buy-in to the notion of some people deserving things and others don't; if you don't have X or Y it's because you "didn't work hard enough" rather than the system being somewhat stacked against most of us and REALLY stacked against some of us. We don't have to accept that system. We CAN make a better world.

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Ernesto
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Capitalism's biggest flaw: assuming participants in a "free" market will always act in their own long-term best interest...

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"But let's be frank about CEO compensation for some publicly-traded companies. Their compensation packages in the hundreds of millions is a joke. There are plenty of people who can conduct meetings and tell people what to do for way less compensation."

He continued: "The biggest reason these CEOs get paid so much is because they work for companies with tremendous market capitalizations, e.g. Apple, Google, etc. If you're the founder of the company, getting paid a lot is one thing. But if you're just an operator, some of the CEO compensation today is egregious and embarrassing."

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James016
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It’s easier to think that rather than admit that the “skilled” job you are in is underpaying you.

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Hannah Edwards
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Maybe this is where capitalism will fail. To succeed it needs people with a disposable income to purchase it’s commodities. If the workers have no income, capitalism fails.

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Corey has been making ‘Existential Comics’ about philosophy and “the inevitable anguish of living a brief life in an absurd world” since December of 2013.

The software engineer from Portland in Oregon took an amateur interest in philosophy and decided to make it a more popular, approachable subject through the skillful use of comedy. The comic is educational, fun, and it’s something that we’ve been sneakily reading for years and years.

If you’d like to see some of Corey’s latest webcomics, you should definitely check out his website or social media. Or you could take a peek at the ones Bored Panda featured in a recent article right over here.

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Scagsy
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I always took that to mean that he was the dodgy uncle who appeared every holiday to get shitfaced on our booze and see how far he could piss up the christmas tree.

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NsG
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The US decided they wanted out from under the English model, but took the capitalist idea and ran with it. England has the NHS, worker protections and plenty of other "socialist" ideas that the US associate with evil. We moved on. It's been 300+ years, time you did too.

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XSpooky_Mint
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

True, but I feel like that's more of a theme with certain characters (Like Tony Stark and for example) while other characters (Like T'Challa) realized that there were problems with society that needed to be changed. And of course there are villains that had some damn good points (Like Killmonger and Hela) while other villains are just psychos (Like Thanos and Harrow) So I think it kinda just depends on the movie.

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Mohammad Ammar
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes. The " best we have " has destroyed entire ecosystems and is gonna wipe us all if this planet. I swear humans are actually really dumb animals.

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Alma Muminovic
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Does anyone ever think that leaving America is the quickest way to solve all these problems? Because I sure do now.

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Way back in 2014, Corey told ‘Critical Theory’ that he first learned to draw by practicing drawing his ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ character in high school.

“Some time in college I pretty much left it behind, and I never used any kind of comic style to begin with (the first comic is roughly how my high school art looked). So it was a lot of learning and rough patches at first as I learned how to draw in a comic style, as well as drawing digitally for the first time,” he shared some insights into his interest in art.

“Essentially I wanted to write or do something, and I took a look around the internet and realized that if you want to be popular online you have to draw some [bad] cartoons next to what you write. I figured I had enough drawing skill to pull it off, so I might as well start a webcomic,” he explained how he first got started with ‘Existential Comics.’

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“I got my tablet and started practicing and writing, but it took me about a year and a half before I published my first comic. The first serious comics took a long time to produce, but I’ve gotten much more efficient now, and the art generally looks much nicer now. It was originally intended to be mostly serious comics with a few jokes thrown in, but it turns out jokes are much easier and more fun to make, so it ended up being the reverse.”

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Peri
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The point of this tweet *isn’t* that everyone who makes a lot of money doesn’t work hard to earn that. That’s obviously not always true. The point is that we live in a country where meritocracy is held as gospel (re: the American Dream! Work hard enough and you’ll make it! And if you’re not making it then you’re not working hard enough!). We do not live in a meritocratic society — if we did, all of the people who do back-breaking, thankless labor everyday for minimum wage would be the real capital owners.

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Fitz_N_Fartz
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just been made redundant from a job I loved, they ground me down so much I am more than happy to grab the last pay cheque and run.....

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Anna Lessens
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They won't admit it.......kinda like how America won't admit who REALLY built their country

Earlier, Bored Panda spoke about the benefits and drawbacks of capitalism with a couple of financial experts. According to finance writer and financial independence expert Rick Orford, the main issues arise when capitalism is taken to the extreme. Both extreme greed and extreme capitalism thrive when a large enough part of the population is willing to take risks.

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"Remember though, 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," Rick explained to us during a previous interview.

"[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," he suggested that capitalism isn’t ‘bad’ in and of itself.

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Karen Grace
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We're all lowly hourly unskilled laborers until a pandemic hits, then we suddenly become "essential" (but disposable) workers.

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Karen Grace
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's because we have surpassed Capitalism and become a Corporatocracy that is in danger of becoming a theocratic autocracy/dictatorship.

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Rick pointed out that on the other end of the scale from capitalism you have social democracy, aka modern socialism. At its core, the system differs from capitalism by taxing citizens more.

"However, in return, 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," Rick told Bored Panda.

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Scagsy
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered by car bomb after she released her investigation into the Panama Papers. So that happened. We should try to remember her name.

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Ihor Pona
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"America is not a country, it's just a business" - Killing them Softly (movie made just after the 2008 collapse)

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A banking and investment expert who wanted to remain anonymous because of the sensitive nature of his job explained to Bored Panda that capitalism disproportionately rewards individual incentive while punishing a lack of it.

"As someone acquires more capital, it—on average—becomes exponentially easier to acquire even more of it, which adds to extreme wealth inequality," he shared with us.

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Scagsy
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Lobbying and party donations should be totally scrapped. Each candidate should be awarded £x for their campaign paid for by the government. Whichever candidate is the most popular with the electorate should win. Isn't that what a fair and transparent election looks like? They will never do it though, because the political parties are hungry for cash and the corporations are hungry for political influence. It's all a big con.

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Karen Grace
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mainly when it's a Democrat in office. With Republicans it's always someone else's fault and therefore not their responsibility to try to fix. Well, at least nowadays. I don't remember it being this bad in the 60's and 70's.

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Alicia GriffonLady
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ohhhh that "you're lazy and want free stuff" argument pisses me off. I will litteraly spend an hour explaining how i worked my ass off and got ripped off and some idiot will spout that off at me. Do they have a stroke and just blank out the description of what i did to earn the thing I didn't get? It it just their automatic response as opposed to thinking? Are they just all trolls enjoying how much more pissed off i get when they dismiss my efforts?

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"It really bothers me when trillions in pension funds are wiped out only for a couple of bankers to get slapped on the wrist. Making sure that the costs of financial crises are borne by financial institutions that manufactured them (even if unintentionally), as opposed to transferring the burden to other members of society, would increase accountability,” he said.

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bexxms
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I get the sentiment, but who pays the construction workers? And where does the money for those paychecks come from? This one is not all black and white. Of course scooping up real estate (especially after the housing crisis), evicting, renovating and renting out at an insane markup is despicable. But if someone invests his money to get an appartment to rent out for passive income/retirement safety, he's not necessarily a bad landlord.

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Katherine Boag
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And corporations dont want you to own anything, only rent it. Music, books, movies, your house, your appliances, your phone...

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Emmett O'Brian
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've explored my creative potential despite poverty. I've written over ten books. I'm an illustrator. I'm a blacksmith. I'm a woodcarver and a carpenter. Nobody cares.

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Note: this post originally had 70 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

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The expert firmly believes that free markets have led to high standards of living that are “unparalleled in human history” and believes that the system works. However, instead of pure capitalism, he advocated for capitalism with “effective social programs.”

Meanwhile, he urged critics of capitalism to consider whether there are viable, practical alternatives. "Ask yourself—do you really want to help the poor, or do you simply hate people richer than you?"