This is the sort of stilted, blindered view of the earth that is only possible if you live in the USA and are a closeted Trump supporter.

"What is and isn't property...".

Going from literally all other political systems to communism necessarily requires confiscating everything from individuals.

You may quibble about the list, but there's nothing stopping the communist party from deciding that the very underwear you are (hopefully) currently wearing to be property of the community, and take it from you to redistribute to someone else.

Things that were individual property merely become communal property. They still remain property.

I wonder about the point of claiming "... the current system is more obviously confiscation (sic)...". Compared to communism, it is simply not. Are there some sort of mental acrobatics involved here for some non-obvious purpose?

I’m not wearing any underwear right now.

Missed with both barrels.

Yeah. Trump supporters are Kim Jong Un’s best American demographic.

Depends on your point of view. If there's a field that everyone uses to graze their animals and you fence it off and then start charging rent you've confiscated property from dozens of people. If there's a mineral patch deep in the earth that you had nothing to do with it's creation, if you come along dig it up and sell it you've confiscated it from the whole rest of the world. If you run a social media site and become a billionaire it's probably because you've confiscated the value generated by network effects that you had nothing to do with. You only get that money because the current economic structure backs up your confiscation with violence.

Lulz...

Ok, the world gets to own the minerals that are yet unmined.

The world still has to finance mining them somehow.

How?

So far, the most efficient way to do this that the history of the world has come up with is to allow someone to own the rights to the minerals they mine and sell.

Efficient defined as most profitable for the confiscator. The world has the best claim to those minerals.

Also you've switched from 'the staus quo don't have as much confiscation' to 'sure it does but that confiscation is a good thing'.

Lap,

There's also nothing to stop the democratic and republican parties from stealing your underwear. And what does efficiency have to do with anything? You had been talking about principles like natural rights or something. What if government came up with the most efficient way to manage underwear in the history of the world? Would that mean government would then own the underwear?

No. I reject the notion that the world has collective ownership. I merely point out that even if a global communist system could exist, they'd still have to account for the expenses involved in utilizing natural resources.

Except that the current Democrat and Republican parties agree with me that I own my underwear, and the government cannot deprive me of it without compensation.

Yeah but that's just like your opinion man. Your opinion happens to be backed up via a million guns pointed at the people who's property you "own" but it's still just an opinion.

Of course. But if there's profit in extracting them (after expenses) why should that profit go to one dude who has no objective claim to those resources (didn't have anything to do with their creation) rather than to all of us?

For now ... The government randomly decided it can confiscate certain plants and chemicals from you, it could be underwear tomorrow just as easily as in a collective property system.

I mean....this tragic notion that if it hasn’t happened to you yet it either won’t or doesn’t even exist is painful to watch.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.was...8cc_story.html

But then, I’m just a dumb lib who wasn’t even worried about Obama’s gun grab.

Guns held by people who just like have the like same opinion, man.

So Communists should like win some arguments and like change some minds like and like win some elections man and like change the laws.

If everything belongs to everyone, how exactly is there profit?


Everything eventually comes down to, "I just want to get high".

So far as I know, all communist systems to date have severely punished drug users. I suppose, in the future it's possible that a communist system could exist where drugs are allowed.

One wonders how the work will get done when the workers are home sitting on the couch collecting their UBI and getting stoned.

Civil asset forfeiture is terrible. But it's nothing compared to communism.

So like, yeah, whatabout... and all.

So if they did that then any confiscation thereafter would be valid iyo?

Value of a thing - full cost of making/exploiting a thing (taking all externalities into account) = profit


I kind of butted into your convo so let me clear up ain't down with the communism. I just think it's a bit rich talking about confiscation when the entire capitalist system a currently experienced is based on theft. Every time a "natural resource" is taken without compensation to the rest of it's owners a theft occurs. Can you really blame the poor for wanting to try and steal some of that value back? Even if their methods end up somewhat problematic.

I think everyone should be tied to the tree of woe for awhile to contemplate both "Property is Theft" and "Taxation is Theft".

Bruh....I didn’t say it was like communism. See you said:

Then I responded to what you said:

If you had said “the dems and Republicans already take **** and could take even my underwear and I couldn’t do a thing about it but it’s nothing compared to communism” I would not have bothered responding. But you said something else that is just not true.

No.

Everything belongs to the community. Why don't I just get my share, which belongs to me being part of the community, without having to pay for it?

Where is the profit?

If the system requires global communism, who do you trade with?

So not really great advice then.

The profit is the value created when a person turns a piece of wood into a chair. He has to pay us all a fair price for the wood he's stolen but after that it's all gravy.

Everyone.

"Property is Theft" and "Taxation is Theft" are both wrong.

Nonsense. I don't care to waste any time refuting this. You are entitled to your opinion.