I have a more broad definition of "profit". Specifically: increasing standard of living is a form of profit. A socialist system had better be caring about increasing standard of living, not just "meeting human needs."
That last sentence - "Socialists only want to make a profit so they have $ to get stuff off Capitalists they want" could be construed as meaning that Socialism cannot produce the things people want, so only Capitalism can provide it - and I'm certain that is not really something you intend to say.
By profit I mean the making of money, or the accumulation of abstract numbers that stand in for money or the accumulation of hordes or stockpiles of durable excess goods. Socialism does not seek this, it instead seeks to meet human needs; that the desire of people is for a better standard of living is a problem rather than a goal essentially; they want people to stop wanting a better standard of living rather than making their standard of living better as a goal. There are too ways they can achieve this, one is to increase supply and the other to reduce demand, but the problem has to be solved or folks will want Capitalism back.
It is not an abstract question of Socialism not being able to produce said items inherently. It is a matter of Capitalism in the present day controlling the goods that Socialism needs, hence forcing Socialism to produce something because it is of value to Capitalism in order to earn money to buy the things that it needs from Capitalism. This is a dangerous thing for Socialism to do, which is why it is generally considered highly preferable to have International Socialism rather than Socialism-In-One-Country. It is dangerous because one you are in the habit of earning money in order to trade on the market even for needs, profitability starts to creep back in as a consideration, corrupting the thinking of the Socialist leaders.
People would be incentivized to put excess water/power into a barrel/battery towards the end of the month so they could barter it for something else they want, rather than letting it expire.
Where there is a will, there's a way.
But you do not really care about that, you care that the consumption of those items per time-period does not exceed your supply. If people choose to barter their rations away, it does not really matter; what matters is when people can stockpile/horde ration tokens themselves and then 'cash-in' later creating shortages.
Thinking people will stop wanting to have more resources than others, or have a means of exerting power over others through denying or providing them resources, is a foolish pipe-dream.
It's hard-wired into the human psyche to want more. Nobody ever reaches a state of absolute satisfaction with their current level of resources, barring the fringe cases of the religiously enlightened monk. Capitalism offers the majority at least the illusion of a possibility to achieve their next level of desire through work, invention, or personal charisma. The reason the system is breaking down is thanks to the widening gap between the highest and the mean distribution of wealth. Eventually, it's expected that this will reset through social upheaval, warfare, or natural disaster.
It isn't, it is just a frame of thinking in which people are presently trapped. The monks you mention are also human beings, if they can do it then so why cannot everyone?
The reason they are trapped is rather interesting. It has to do with maintaining the unity of the human psyche, basically humans need to want something in order to hold their minds together because their minds are in pieces. The moment they actually have everything they want, they go crazy because without that desire to focus the mind-fragments, their mind comes apart.
That monk is an example where that hard coding can be overwritten. A utopic society requires pretty serious education changes or even brainwashing.
If it can be be overwritten in a few cases, it could be overwritten in all cases. There is also the possibility that the hard-coding is the other way around.
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Topic: Late-Stage Capitalism & Crisis Thread [ALL THE WAY TO HELL] (Read 16544 times)