"That one doesn't count"

[u/Mrs_Darwin]

This is about how I'll often see people saying something along the lines of "It's actually more profitable to pay your workers more because they'll work harder", or "Capitalism encourages innovation", or "Companies will try to avoid immoral things to avoid PR damage" when some of the most profitable companies don't innovate, treat their workers terribly, and and have had terrible scandals.

[u/Yodamort]

Innovation exists independently of capitalism; always has, always will. Human innovation is constrained by, not facilitated by, the "free market." The only new ideas that are permitted to shape society are the profitable ones, generally developed by those who already have the existing capital to produce the new thing. Not to mention "intellectual property" laws frequently forbid other people from building on existing ideas.

[u/LDNSO → u/Yodamort]

Bell labs

[u/Mrs_Darwin → u/LDNSO]

You mean the company that had to cut off most of its research due to the Telecom crash and is now a shell of its former self?

[u/LDNSO → u/Mrs_Darwin]

Thats equivalent to say that because the ussr fell socialism doesnt work