I mean...
Look at all the people that have the most money.
How did they get it?
- Jeff Bezos
- Elon Musk
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Bill Gates
- Obligatory famous rich person
How did they get their money?
They got it by leeching value from millions (or even billions) of people in order to line their own pockets. We call this capitalism. We call this "a heathy economy". Not for long. Things are going to change in a big way...
Getting back on track.
There are two ways to become a billionaire, and I'm not aware of any billionaires that only used a single tactic to become one.
1) Leech value from users.
Be it customers buying a product from Amazon, or Facebook (excuse me: META) selling a billion people's data, the customer has to give up more value than they get in return, by design. This is just standard capitalism. It is a system that works. Not a very good one, but better than the dozens of other systems that have never worked/scaled.
2) Leech value from employees.
Anyone that creates a business with thousands of employees can't become a billionaire if they profit-share fairly with all of their faithful servants. A billion dollars divided by a thousand is only a million dollars. No, that won't do. So a system was created to pay employees the least amount possible based on the supply and demand of the current labor force.
The interesting thing about leeching value from employees is that it isn't that much that gets leeched, and it doesn't have to be. Providing compensation to workers is still the number one expense for the vast majority of businesses (especially non-digital ones). Still, if one can leech $1 an hour from a million employees... that's a million dollars an hour that can flow into your own pocket, which can then be leveraged into making even more money somewhere else. Takes money to make money.
Time vampirism strong.
Another thing that is intrinsically implied by all of this is that workers waive their rights (aggressively so) to owning the means of production. We can work our entire lives for a company that builds a product without ever actually owning the product for ourselves. This loss of ownership is the core problem of modern capitalism, and it makes us reliant and dependent on the system for everything, from food to shelter to medical care and everything else in the world.
Automation makes this problem even worse.
It's not a good sign when it's predicted that many of the jobs out there will be outsourced to machines and the only jobs left will be the ones who upkeep the machines. However, it's also interesting that crypto appeared when it did, right in the middle of all of this. Crypto is the solution for the impending systemic collapse of society.
How so?
Again, the problem is ownership over the means of production. Crypto has already solved this, which is actually kind of surprising. You'd think we'd of had to work harder for such a huge gain.
Buy a coin with utility that does something, and we provably own the means of production that is produced from that network. Not only that, but the ownership itself is not delegated to a centralized clearing house or custodian. 'Not your keys, not your crypto' will be a theme that chimes over and over again across the decades. Those who choose to hand their crypto over to others will find it gets stolen one way or another. Time is the only limiting factor in this regard. The longer we delegate, the more we risk.
Speaking of delegation...
This is one of the many reasons why delegated proof of stake is awesome. We can delegate our power away, and if something goes wrong, we just take it back with the click of a button. The difference here is that we still own the keys while we are doing the delegation, and this is a world of difference.
Communism
Cryptocurrency is inherently communist. Why?
Isn't it obvious?
The most basic-bitch Google search confirms this a thousand times over. The problem is the allocation of resources and ownership of the means of production. These are problems that are intrinsically solved by decentralization at a core level. Of course, we can't actually call it 'communism' because that word triggers people and makes them thoughtless and belligerent. Check the comments below for confirmation. They probably stopped reading the second they saw the word 'communism' and didn't even see me calling them out in the next sentence. Happens every time.
However... communism is not inherently left wing: it only becomes that way when the people lording over it have to make all the decisions and allocate all the resources. This is why we need crypto to automate governance itself. Automate ownership, power, and resources. Once that happens we can all make money together and everyone gets rich (in theory)... unlike the mainstream abomination that is known as 'communism' today.
The problem with 'communism' as it is known today is that... it does actually exist. It is not a system that scales with centralized planning, and becomes infested with corruption at the highest levels immediately. Centralized communism can only scale up to a community of a few hundred people before it becomes complete totalitarianism. China need not apply. It's funny that people believe that China is 'communist' just because they use the word 'communist'. Why would you believe anything they say to begin with? Silly. Trust has vacated the building.
Truth is now the most valuable commodity.
And crypto is tapping into that market and farming truth itself with digital ledgers that are backed up a thousand times over all across the globe. Is there a lot more work to be done? Sure. There's always a lot more work to be done. Ants never stop working. The colony must expand.
Capture of value
A big argument to be made in favor of capitalism and all these billionaires running around being billionaires is that they created a lot of value. The problem is that once the value was created they had to capture it to make money and scale up operations. Another way of saying 'capture' value is 'leeching' value (as described at the beginning of the post). Again, crypto fixes this.
Crypto creates a completely new system where value doesn't have to be captured: only created. If I build an app that doubles the value of Hive, then I just doubled the value of Hive, not only for me, but for everyone on Hive. So not only did I just double my money without capturing any value, but I also increased my reputation on the network by orders of magnitude. That reputation can then be leveraged to get even more stuff done (and get proposals funded) that increases the value of Hive even more. These are systems that can snowball in an instant given the right catalysts.
Once the proper templates come into play and sustainable business models are created that no longer need to capture value to scale up, the entire game changes. Add onto this provable ownership of every user that owns tokens, and we can really get the ball rolling.
Conclusion
The only way to become a billionaire within the legacy economy is basically, for lack of a better term: micro-slavery. Our value and our rights get chipped away just a tiny bit within this system. It's easy not to notice at first, but it becomes grossly apparent as time goes on.
Crypto fixes this, in theory. Whether that theory will become a reality is yet to be seen, but I believe we'll get there. No one said it was going to be pretty. Fake it till ya makes it.
Communism's okay when people can opt out. It's when the communists wave their arm over a continent, claim its communist now, and shoot anyone who tries to leave; then its a problem.
Take Geography out of the equation, and do whatever makes you happy.
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The problem of automation is not a problem.
The solution to automation is
When we own the tools that make the stuff we consume, we do not need to buy products and pay sales tax with money we earn as wages at a job and pay taxes on, and no oligarchs take a cut from our purchase price creating a parasitic loss. Neither profits nor taxes suck our production out of our pocket, and we keep more of what we make.
I own my truck and tools, and don't have a job. I do jobs for my good neighbors and they pay my bills. It's a good trade and doesn't suffer parasitic losses to anyone but we ourselves, while benefiting the community at large by increasing property values and beautifying the neighborhood. Everyone that matters wins.
Thanks!
Yeah I guess I forgot to mention that part. Good catch.
Communities owning automation is a nightmare scenario for corporations that financially depend on our dependence. Makes you wonder what their response will be to such a doomsday scenario. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
The bigger and real question is how to start from nothing, without family and connections.
You can't.
Look at the family background of those people and you will see why. It takes generations of setup as the backbone.
And the existing billionaires may make sure you don't make it to the "club". Be ready for a brutal uphill battle.
Make something. Musk came from nothing. He's not even a natural American. If he can do it, then it's not about rich vs poor, it's about the doers vs the dreamers. Same for Beezos, and Zuckerberg,
You have better odds winning a lottery.
I agree with you somewhat. but no matter where you are from or what you have you can make the next water hose spigot that will never drip, we have planned obsolescence in alot of out technology since the light bulb cartel had that big brain meeting to make things not last too long so they would be bought again, making more profits. but there are things out that that's above my scope to see that can fix the world. we need that drip proof hose!
One of the things about delegation, especially regarding hive, is that the upper class can help protect their investment by creating and delegating to an emerging middle class. The removal of that delegation is just as important. So I really think hive millionaires have the opportunity get "richer" while contributing to the "public" good.
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The crypto solution is worth exploring for so many reasons. I think at the forefront is a desire to see a system where everyone actually gets something in play
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Wow, thank you for stating this. I have become quite bitter towards the current system, to the point where I want nothing to do with it. Unfortunately, though, that is a lot easier said than done. I don't know what the 'right' solution is to the situation we are facing, but I am pretty sure things cannot continue in that direction. If they do, the 'value capture that is happening at the cost of a livable planet, well, who needs breathable air and safe drinking water anyway?
Yeah these rich people think they can hide in a bunker until it blows over.
Silly billionaires.
It will be interesting to see if crypto creates any billionaires. But to be honest I have no interest in being a billionaire. All I want to do is make enough money to live comfortably and to be able to help other people. That may sound boring but it would be enough for me.
It already has. Satoshi Nakamoto.
I didn't know that.
Satoshi is the pseudonym of the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, who, for all we know could be fuckin dead given that none of the funds commonly assumed to be in their wallet(s) have had any movement.
So maybe it's possibly created a ton of wealth for one person or a group of individuals, who have subsequently not used it.
I suppose we also don't know how much non crypto money this person/group of people put into it in the first place. I don't think crypto is a lot different from ordinary capitalism. It will always be those who have the most who make the most. That's just how the world works.
Good point. I wonder if he's a person or a group of people.
I think that's all part of it.
It's not really about the money but about the community.
The money is secondary.
Dangote is the richest man in Africa and be made his money by being a monopolist who's backed the the government. It's hard to truly become a billionaire without enslaving people.
These people take what is already created, then create the illusion that they're creating, whilst they're just capturing.
Elon Musk is now going to take over the world’s telecommunications with his starlink project, now ready for 5g mobile phones.
Pinky - "what are we going to do tonight Brain?"
Brain - "we are going to become elon musk!" -2033 pinky and the Brain probably.
How to make a lot of money?
2.88 Trillion results on google
I think it's safe to say the odds are against anyone with the hopes to do so.
Damn, this cracked me up big time cos I can relate 😂😂😂
at least half of them left out the last 2 words. on runescape lol
Not me... I live in an ex-communist country, I'm accustomed to this shit. I should probably one day have a post detailing a bit of the story of my country and communism.
Something many are overlooking regarding Hive. I'm curious how the SPK network and Raganrok will play its role in that regard.
Not sure where you got those stuff about leeching, but it took me back in the communist days of my youth. We were taught how bad capitalism was and how capitalists were exploiting the proletarian and so on... And there was this underground saying - in capitalism man is a wolf to another man, while in communism it's vice versa. Anyway, communism is a terrible delusion and it's scary if crypto is heading that way
There's pretty much nothing funnier than watching some conservo boomer guy pop a vein and foam at the mouth, while blaming the communists because the guy on tv said the people he didn't agree with are communists.
As if the money and resources would ever be shared equally... 🤑
Not that its a political thing of course!
There are friends and foes on both sodes-just like star wars!
Just a thing I've s noticed people do in real life... The same thing pretty much happens on the opposite side of the spectrum...as many memes pointy out
In addition to what you have listed Bezos and Musk and others in 21st century is able to make billions also through borrowing. Negative profits for years. Just insane.
Oh, he's back!
The wealth difference between these guys and the average human is too much. If only they can delegate a part of their wealth, things might change.
Interesting how you applied crypto into political governance and wealth creation. Maybe, we could do better if we can develop a whole new ideology of communism from the perspective of the ideals on which true decentralized crypto systems/network run and maybe, give it a new name to avoid die hard capitalists or pro communists raising there head.
In the crypto space, anyone can coin an ideal terminology to call his/her ideas as long as there's an explanation for it, in no time, everyone is embracing it and incorporating it to their daily vocabulary 😁
But more than nomenclature, practice of true communism as you've envisioned here is highly desired, but we just hope!
Might as well just call it "number go up" because that's all people care about :D
Play into the greed and make it work for us.
The word crypto-anarchism already exsits and it is as good as any other if you ask me, at least until it wont get hammered into pieces by the current actors of power in fear of the rival. But I think it is already too late for them, as "none of them can stopa da time"... :)
Anarchism as a term is attractive as there is both left and right winged associations attached, and it relates to tribalism too, something that reminds us to a way of livng, a social system worked for ten or hundred thousands of years for humans of earth, and that is really something compared to the few thousand years of kamikazee civilization got...
Not that the terminology is the most important here, but these are my reasons nonetheless.
Or just steal
Show me a billionaire that "just stole".
Not how it works.
Good observations. I would just like to point out that you or I may also participate in the things that make Musk, Bezos and Gates wealthy. We too can take ownership, or
on other words, equity in Tesla, Amazon or Microsoft.
Perhaps Hive will have more of a Bell curve over rewards or ownership ultimately. I would say it is too soon to tell. Hopefully it will be better than the wealthiest 1% in the US owning more than a third of the nations wealth.
Socialism, Capitalism, Communism none appear to have worked perhaps a mix of all three or something totally new like blockchain may solve this crazy world we live in, well here is to hoping!
Beyond faking it !LOLZ
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He just needed a little space.
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This is all just slavery with extra steps
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We believe anything well said to us without having the urge to check-in.
I also agree with the leech on the employee aspect. No one can make it in any kind of business if the money is shared fairly, not even charities do this happens.
Well, I agree with you on so many levels.
But in all, there is something worthy to note they are all meeting a need.
They are solving major life issues.
The funniest part about these top people is that even if they delegate half of their to someone they will still billionaires, the gap is just so crazy and to be able to do this you must enslave so many people
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< leech $1 an hour from a million employees... that's a million dollars an hour that can flow into your own pocket, which can then be leveraged into making even more money somewhere else. Takes money to make money.
I guess the rich and the corporate they run have so many techniques to do this It feels this part of it automated and the mechanism keeps getting better all the time for them.
They just have to hang the carrot far enough so it keeps the workers going and competing in a never ending rat race.
reading the title i was going to say, be a ruthless capitalist, glad you said it already. i was once told that to be a very successful CEO or billionaire i have to remove human compassion in business, and treat business like its business.
clown it till you make it :P
Buy Bitcoin in bear markets, sit on it until the bull market is in full swing, then sell half...rinse and repeat each cycle.
Everybody want to be Elon musk but not everyone want to do what Elon musk do
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So crypto can do the seemingly impossible and finally make Communism work at a large-scale?
Interesting times.
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A thought provoking post I must say . I mean how does one make a lot of money ? can’t we all just get along? Isn’t crypto all about solidarity?
I agree that communism doesn't scale. Communism works great at the family level. Parents earn income and take care of the young by ensuring that their needs are met. But, you still have a couple of authority figures making decisions.
As you scale up, these allocation decisions become more complex. These allocations will have frequent instances where they are mistaken. But, this is to be expected. A 1% error rate seems small, unless it's at the scale of millions or billions. When we are talking about millions of people and hundreds of thousands of products, the number of combinations is mind-boggling. You can't central plan your way out of a paper bag at that scale. You're going to mess a lot of people up every time you make a mistake.
I think this is where capitalism, with its flaws, works to allocate things somewhat effectively.
We would need a sliding scale of capitalism at the global level and more communism towards the individual level.
On HIVE, I think we still rely on micro slavery. We are depending on others to post so that we can curate. And, we rely on curators to earn from our posts. We are, effectively, selling content that others consume.
I think that the main difference is that we have the opportunity to earn equity on the blockchain. It seems that equity is what creates billionaires, which takes the shape of stock ownership. Early hodlers in BTC and ETH, for example, are sitting pretty even at today's prices.
In traditional markets, we get paid in cash and are left to figure out how to buy equity. The wealthy, sell equity. As you buy more and more stocks, driving up the price, they issue themselves more equity.
On HIVE, we earn equity and cash (HBD). And, as we post, we create more of both. As our accounts grow, it gets easier to earn.
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There's this common statement I vibe with "The Strong shall choke the weak", regardless of how funny it is, it is actually a true statement as the rich trap the poor to a position and makes profit off it, same is applied in crypto trading as well, where you see the whales moves a market, and when they see fit, they sold the assets back and leave the weak hands at loss.