I mean you’re straight up buying shares in plantations so yes.
Fuck it, imma say it. Some questions are hella stupid
Needed to be said. I honestly thought I was in Onion territory at first…
Yes. Doing so makes you a hypocrite. Don’t worry through, there’s no shortage of hypocrisy in America. It’s practically a requirement to be at least unwittingly hypocritical. Just by drinking Coke or tipping a waiter you’re contributing to a broken system designed to exploit people for maximum profit.
But here’s the rub. You can’t, in any practical sense, escape that crap, however, you can choose to not deliberately contribute to stuff outside your immediate wheelhouse. It’s one thing to buy a chocolate bar out of a vending machine, but investing in Nestle? That’s a choice, and one you could have easily skipped. You could skip the candy too, but it’s very, very hard (and impractical) to refuse every corporate product ever. Everything, from the materials in your electronics to your mortgage company, to most food from lettuce to frozen chicken, exploits people. But you don’t have to voluntarily make the problem worse.
And on the sliding scale of morality, investing in slavery - in this case the prison industrial complex is just greed and indifference to the cost in human suffering. Seriously research it, slavery in all but name has been part of the plan since the Reconstruction era after the Civil War. We never had a justice system; we have a punishment system that hungers for the labor of the downtrodden, especially of minorities.
So if you want to at least try and be a better person, and investing is something you want to do, look into the companies you’re investing in. See what their executives are paid compared to their workers here and abroad. There are companies that you can ethically justify investing in - small companies, co-ops, credit unions, pro-union companies, companies actually trying to solve problems or make the world better, like solar manufacturing, etc.
If you want to invest in human suffering, then you’re going to have to make peace with being a bad person and being judged for it. I’d advise at least trying not to. It’s a hopeless battle, but fighting honorably is its own justification.
There are not enough hundred dollar bills in the world to wipe off the stench of being branded a doody-head by the fediverse.
Thank you for your well thought out response to what might otherwise be dismissed as a trolling attempt.
Yes. Regardless of the second part. Don’t invest in private prisons, even if it’s sums that would seem inconsequential to the industry as a whole.
Edit:If it’s invest in, in the sense of, buy the stock of, I’d still say yes. It still contributes to the success of the industry, even if just miniscully so.
There are other investments that are less… morally questionable…
Like, even investing in real estate is still less morally wrong than literal prison labor.
I’m a bit confused as to why you would have to ask this if you truly are “as left as they come” but… yes of course??
Do you remember the part in Schindler’s list where his factory’s weapons and ammo were all out of spec and couldn’t be used?
In theory if you could use any profits to make counter-investments or buy enough stock to be able to influence them to move in a different direction then your strategy might be viable, but unless you literally just buy 1 share to be able to harass them at stockholder meetings then in all likelihood your money is doing more harm than good.
Best to just straight up invest in organizations that are effective in stopping these things and influencing policy against them.
“listen. I don’t WANT Hitler to commit mass genocide. But I am going to fund the company of the gas chambers he plans to use. Because I benefit from it”.
It’s not a one to one comparison but um. Yeah.
Buying stock is not funding the company though unless the company is issuing new stock. The company already took the cash during the IPO. The only thing buying shares does is affect the price. So it will make some evil shit stain who is the founder of the company wealthier.
It’s a bit more nuanced. Buying the stock increases the stock price which makes issuing stock a better deal for the company in case they want to expand operations. It also makes stock buybacks less likely.
So if they issue stock OP is indirectly funding the company. If OP prevented a buyback and the money went into investments such as a new prison OP has an different effect. Otherwise there’s no effect.
I was coming to say that also.
The stock market is nothing more than gambling on the public (rich people) sentiment about how well that company is going to do. It’s similar to how there is gambling on who will win the presidency, and does not affect the outcomes.
Buying stock is not investment, the money that the company recieves comes from issuing the stock. Your money does not fund the evil things that the company does, unless you are paying for goods/services from that company. But, I have seen that stock price influences the decisions of leadership inside the company. Your individual action will not influence the stock price.
What does it mean “as left as they come”? When you’re interested in profiting from current slave labour and future concentration camps.
Bad isn’t even a category here, you’re a wannabe fascist profiteer
Lol your hands are stained dirty dark red buddy, how many of your tax dollars were used to kill and maim innocent lives?
tell me, how can anyone decide where their taxes go?
Voting.
It’s not direct, and it’s not simple, but it’s about as good as it gets in any kind of representative democracy.
Doesn’t matter, morally you should refuse and pay the consequences. Oh but your just following orders right Soldat ?
Dude you CAN decide where your investment dollars go.
Dude you could definitely decide not to pay taxes.
In what dreamworld are you living in?
The dream is you sheep could wake up and choose a different path. But alas your American destiny is the shearing.
… The consequence of being put in a for-profit slavery prison?
The same government who allows this for-profit slave prison?
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You don’t know where they live, or what their taxes fund or funded.
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Assuming they are American (which is what I’m assuming you’re assuming), the other option is prison.
- AsSuMIng GoVeNmEnT has done bad things. Sure buddy let me borrow your rose colored bullshit glasses.
- I aSsUmIng you can read and are American not a great one either just a little scared white shirt corporate job slug. I don’t remember any of the great American Boston boys going to jail for dumping tea into a harbor.
Do you have brain worms?
Yeah they are replying to my comments 😂
Oh fuck, I haven’t heard a retort like that since the 11th grade. I wonder why
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yes, but I’m not investing in it. Get the difference?
Yes your tiny brain can’t see how murdering innocent human lives is vastly more evil than making someone who killed their wife for the insurance money- create a wallet.
you‘re conveniently omitting the concentration camps he wants to profit off
Your conveniently omitting the government who allows these concentration camps for him to profit off of, among the other “corporate Interest special actions”
You don’t understand how paying mandatory taxes you don’t dictate and investing voluntarily is different?
“mandatory taxes” you coward. Tell your God how innocent you are because they forced you.
so you got a pretty big mouth, how about telling us how you avoid all those taxes?
I never said I avoided taxes, for all you know I’m just an asshole heavily invested in the sweet private prison system dividends my gracious and wonderful government has provided for me Average Joe American.
You’re just the most adorable little troll! Oh my goodness
I’m a troll because I point out you are guilty and point out how scared of changing anything you truly are?
how are you posting from prison?
Because the prison is mostly in your mind my friend.
I think you’d be awfully surprised calling yourself “as left as they come” on here. There are some people who are so far out in left field that they come back around on the right again. Lemmy is full of anarcho-communists and people who believe that ownership of property is akin to murder.
There are some people who are so far out in left field that they come back around on the right again.
Hi there! Did you know that horseshoe theory is complete and utter bullshit? A quick perusal of even Wikipedia will quickly inform the uninformed.
You should read your own suggestion there bub. It merely says there are proponents and critics of the theory and that actual research on the metaphor is sparse. Sorry to get your panties in a twist.
I’ve seen the “tolerant left” suggest calling ICE on latinos who supported Donald Trump in order to get them or their family members deported as some sort of revenge. If that’s not a fine example of horseshoe theory, I don’t know what is.
Another example would be TERFs
“As left as they come”.
Doubt.
Don’t do it, friend.
The better investment generally is to invest in index funds anyways, which makes your hands at least a little bit cleaner.
Nope. Name a company or even an investment that isn’t evil. Would you want to invest in it? If you tried to avoid all of them it would be a very difficult life.
Short freedom
