Re:Announcing The Zig Software Foundation
by zelphirkalt on Saturday July 11, 2020 @07:14PM
(#23807032)
As a German, I'd not put so much trust in German companies. Remember VW? Or Siemens and the coal mine in Australia? Or any other of the big automobile companies? Or Bayer and pesticides? There are plenty of examples.
However, I'd like to hear examples, which make you think German companies are any different in their greed than US ones.
Personally I think companies here are just as greedy and usually only do something non-profit oriented, if it is required by law or the publIc upset would mean bad business.
The Rhineland model means not only shareholders are recognized as stakeholders. This is implemented in things such as workers councils. Sure, it not perfect, and it wouldn't catch crimes such as the exhaust scandal, but it requires by law that a company not only looks after shareholders. It's a much better idea than the Anglosaxon model that has taken the world by storm, and I wish the world would look more to the Rhine countries. Germany/Switzerland/Netherlands are some of the best rated countries to live. We should have more of such policies and laws, not less.
Err, no. People want happiness, fulfilment, friendship, joy, meaning, safety, and a bunch of other things. Money can help obtain some (but not all) of those things, but it is instrumental in all cases.
> It seems to me that we can't change greediness, and we can't change the fact that companies run on profit.
Plenty of countries run system which are not optimised purely for profit. For example, Germany's corporations frequently act in the public good in ways that don't maximise their own profit. From my perspective, such countries seem to be doing much better than the US which is closer to being purely profit driven.
> It probably just means you get outcompeted by people who put profit first and can afford to pay their employees more competitive wages, invest higher amounts in Capex and R&D, and generally best you at running a firm.
This is a problem with our economic system, not a virtue, or even a necessary property.
> Capitalism the most successful economic system
Capitalism is only seen as successful because it has historically been competing with communism and feudalism. These are from the only possible economic systems. And given all its faults it seems far from likely that Capitalism is the best one.