How capitalism works

All you gotta do is pedal hard enough to break the chain and ride straight up the wall.
You can make it if you just believe in yourself!
(although in reality that wall is 10 miles high)
- You can only make it to the top by stepping on other people's shoulders
  
  I'd prefer to just spawn at the top, and never have to contemplate that pedaling life.
- It not a massive gap like that, but it's tall enough and far enough away that 99.9% of people who try, fall.
- You can make it if you just believe in yourself!
  At some point one has to ask oneself not whether one can, but whether one should. Is it really worth it trying everything and giving your all for a company which will probably ditch you in the end, after all? I don't think so. Don't put in more effort than you expect to get as a result.

capitalism is great for capitalists, they live like gods
- Completely true of the public-facing capitalists, who effectively serve as PR for their class.
  
  they live like miserable gods preoccupied with escaping from reality
  It's because they realize something as they age: For all their wealth, they are still mortal, their physical bodies will decline, and their egotistical, narcissistic lifetime will ultimately amount to absolutely nothing as they rot in the ground and cease existing like everyone else.
  Mortality puts things into perspective for those people because they're driven by a philosophical imperative that's borderline pathological in nature:
  Donald Trump watched the video of himself almost getting headshot on repeat, 9 times a day. Some said it was PTSD, but that's assuming a lot.
  Elon Musk is quoted as saying in The Atlantic that he's "rigged for war".
  Well, what war? War against who? Against what?
  "Escaping from the matrix seems like "a war against reality itself".
  We can only be so lucky that none of those fucks will ever attain apotheosis or immortality no matter how hard they try.
  Maybe that's why they're so bent on destroying the planet -- if they can't have it, so can't you.
  
  There was a quote from one of them the other day talking about being unable to sleep well because he's constantly afraid of people coming after him for what he's got. If only there were a way to remove that target from your back...
- It's very hard to be a capitalist, you have to scam people and lie to get good deals
  
  The majority of capitalists pay people to do that, they've never worked.

I took the RISK of investing in making workers build the unicycle profit scooper
- 👏

now you have to use your own unicycle and smart phone app at the same time but you can't use the smart phone while on the unicycle.
and while you must smile you are not allowed to sing.

Hmm as long as I can paint my unicycle and have a big cool wheel

Brutal.

And the way to change it is to Vote Vote Vote! Vote for the Democrats! This time they are really gonna do it.
- If the leftish faction won every time, politics as a whole would shift left. So unironically, yes, vote.
  
  If lobbying and campaign donation stay legal, no matter which politicians you vote, the result will stay the same. The rich and corps can easily buy out any politicians they want
  
  Yes, and don’t forget to donate to be extra sure. Donate that little money you safe from your three sharing economy jobs (after you payed your rent to Blackstone) to the Democrats, so they can pay a consultant ghoul a six figure salary to think of a new way to market genocide denial.
  
  Not true, nor can the DNC be considered leftish. The DNC will always act in the interests of their donors and economic interests, hence their unceasing support for genocide despite genocide being unpopular.
  
  The leftish faction won every time, and that's why the democrats are merging with republicans now. 🤡
  
  How can it shift left when voting for fascists?

I agree with this image, and I'm quite curious to see what "rich" tastes like... But I feel like the mechanics of this picture took me a second or two longer than it should to understand.
Edit: like are they balancing their unicycles on the larger cylinder? They must have really good balance to manage that for more than a second. And if that is true, what happens if they fall forwards? I see the danger if them falling backwards, but does that mean they just can't fall forwards?
- it's illustrating how they have to work really hard in a very precarious conditions to keep the system running. Falling off is equivalent to losing your job/savings and ending up on the street.
- I think ultimately it is just that they are working to turn the cylinder that moves the cog that elevates the resources upward and then they're hoping they get some overspill.
  
  I do get that ultimately that is what the picture is coveying, and I agree with the message, but if the physics of it make me pause, it detracts from the message.
- I feel like it just paints an absurd situation. They're in a precarious situation and can lose their balance and fall forward or backward. I don't think there's anything weird with the physics if you accept it's supposed to be an absurd situation.
- Human tastes like pork, so that's what they taste like.
- but does that mean they just can’t fall forwards?
  To fall forwards, you would have to clip through the wall.

@yogthos In reality there's a lot more people falling off the unicycle...
- totally

Memes should be entertaining and/or funny. This one is neither :(
- Memes are just general concepts that spread within the culture. It's a way to transmit an idea. Meanwhile, what's funny or entertaining is in the eye of the beholder. Seems like your sense of humor differs from the rest of the community.
  
  Its funny to me
- You should look up the definition of the word "meme".
- Jokes, you're talking about jokes
  
  Not real life, the game we play, but jokes
- Then take it as a lesson instead. No one said this is a meme.
  
  But this is c/memes

that lady sux at pedaling!!
- How dare she stop peddling after giving birth >:c
  
  keep pedalling!!!!

That looks more like feudalism.
For Capitalism there should be multiple different money scoops, some better designed than others. There should also be a greased-up rope that leads from the unicycle-bar to the top, showing that it's theoretically possible to rise to a different class, it's just practically impossible.
- Capitalism is a dynamic system that evolves over time. The general mechanics of the system lead to increased capital concentration over time, so late stage capitalism starts to look largely indistinguishable from feudalism.
  
  It's so lazy to describe capitalism backsliding towards feudalism as "late stage capitalism". If capitalism actually had "stages", you'd have to progress forward to reach later stages. Backsliding towards the feudalism that birthed capitalism isn't some kind of "late stage", it's capitalism failing and feudalism reasserting itself.

Credits here https://newsie.social/@royaards/113045674985694312

Communism works the same way, except the party leaders are the ones on top
- it demonstrably doesn't, but brainwashed smooth brains will never stop regurgitating this in face of all evidence
  
  The problem I understand is that it always end ups in corruption, how do you avoid the corruption of your government
- Quick, explain this graph:
  
  whats the y axis?
  
  The graph highlights that during Soviet times at least 20% of wealth is in top10% hands, the party leaders and their cronies. If it was truly communism then the top10% would own 10% of the wealth. The party leaders and their cronies owned a disproportionate amount of wealth. Everyone was equal, but some were more equal among others.
  It also highlights how the erosion of social services and a lack of a federal government opposing corporate interests is to the detriment of its people.
  Authoritarianism is not the way, and neither is crony capitalism in a farcical democracy.
- "Communism works the same way, except the party leaders are the ones on top," you think to yourself as the crimson Poverty Line flashes upwards across your field of view. "Capitalism is the only system that works." The wind is rushing hard in your ears now; the bottom of the Money Pit is coming up fast. "Besides, they worked hard to swim in the Money Pool, they deser--." Splat.
  
  DuckTales theme plays
- Yes because workers owning their own workplace and directing activity democratically with no owner class siphoning profits has to work the exact same because......
  Oh wait, it doesn't and you're just a fucking moron
  
  Buh b but muh totalitarian Soviet Onion! Muh authoritarian Borf Goria! Muh jorjorwell 8491 Chy Na!
- Make way everyone! The big communism understander has entered the thread
- It's not an either/or situation, there are more alternatives available.
- Politicians were paid around the middle of the income scale in the Soviet Union.
  Unless you're talking about like the occasional free beer or taxi ride for competently administering your job, which I gotta tell you, however much you think Communist party members did it... Like, have you had a job and talked to your boss and their inter-business negotiations? Holy shit
  
  If I'm a government official in near complete control of billions in resources, it doesn't matter what I take home in salary, I'm essentially have the power of a billionaire, so long as I keep my bosses happy
- Don't you know that Stalin owned the whole Soviet Union?!?
- party leaders deserve to top me
- You took highlighting the problems of capitalism as pro-communism? One-way track mind?
  
  To be fair, this is the Meme community hosted on Lemmy.ml, and OP is a prolific Communist poster.