I see a lot of things wrong with the practice of scalping but since we're all under capitalism I don't really see the point in just demonizing this one aspect while ignoring the rest lol.
I'd have scalped too if I had the initial cash in hand. Whoever buys it obviously has enough surplus to just waste on whatever. You're just ripping off the bourgeois.
It's not like I could go and do something ethical to make similar amounts of money. It doesn't exist.
The practice of scalping is pretty shitty though. My mind goes to the diapers, hand sanitizer, alcohol, etc. right when the pandemic started (5 or 6 years ago or something). It's right there with price gouging like with bottled water during a hurricane.
I'm more frustrated with the people who had 100 chances to notice how shitty it is, but this is the first time they noticed.
It doesn't bother me as much with shit like game consoles because everyone will be able to get one eventually. Scalping concert and sports tickets sucks a lot though because they're one-time events and scalping makes it so only the bourgeois can afford to attend or get decent seats without going broke.
Sorry, where in this does capital come into play. Say I work my job, my surplus value is extracted by the company and I get my wage. Are you saying that whatever I buy with my wages is now capital? This makes no sense. Buying commodities with money is not ownership of the means of production.
So them say I take this item that I bought with my wages, and then resell it to another wage labourer who already has had their surplus value stolen by their employer. And say I even make money from it. This is called trade.
You're right I don't to ascribe trading in the market the same terminology that capitalists purchasing factories and underpaying wage-labourers, because it's not the same and it's not what those words mean.
Nowhere did I bring morality into this, so I'm not sure where you think I think that reselling shit to rip people off is moral, I'm just saying you're not using words right.
Buying stake in a company and purchasing a commodity are different things. If I buy stock with my wages, I might consider that stock capital because it will provide me income based on the labour of employees of that company and not my labor. And there is an argument that arbitrage of stock is capital accumulation.
But if I buy a commodity and resell it, nowhere am I siphoning someone else's labour to make that profit. Nobody is working for me to increase the value of the item I possess. My repricing and reselling might even be considered my own labour. I paid market value for a commodity and am reselling at a higher price. It may be unethical, but the gain in money from the arbitrage of goods is outside of the cycle of capital accumulation. Whose labour am I stealing value from?
Edit: I might be changing my mind about my definition of capital
I see a lot of things wrong with the practice of scalping but since we're all under capitalism I don't really see the point in just demonizing this one aspect while ignoring the rest lol.
I'd have scalped too if I had the initial cash in hand. Whoever buys it obviously has enough surplus to just waste on whatever. You're just ripping off the bourgeois.
It's not like I could go and do something ethical to make similar amounts of money. It doesn't exist.
The practice of scalping is pretty shitty though. My mind goes to the diapers, hand sanitizer, alcohol, etc. right when the pandemic started (5 or 6 years ago or something). It's right there with price gouging like with bottled water during a hurricane.
I'm more frustrated with the people who had 100 chances to notice how shitty it is, but this is the first time they noticed.
Fair enough. Those scalping human necessities are definitely a different level of scum.
It doesn't bother me as much with shit like game consoles because everyone will be able to get one eventually. Scalping concert and sports tickets sucks a lot though because they're one-time events and scalping makes it so only the bourgeois can afford to attend or get decent seats without going broke.
Concert ticket scalping is so normalized that we have publicly traded businesses based around it lol
It's garbage, I have zero idea how people don't immediately realize that this is a natural consequence of capitalism
Cash isn't capital, reselling isn't bourgeois, and extra money isn't surplus value.
Higher prices are just the free market punishing the poor - there's nothing here that has anything to do with capital.
The free market tends to be supported mostly by capitalists but you're correct and my bad.
I shouldn't be muddying terms
You are essentially correct though that the process is the same as any other resale or pricing scheme.
deleted by creator
Not sure who's defending consumption here. What is it you think I'm saying?
Literally higher prices are the free market punishing the poor. Whether it's game consoles, or food, or housing.
deleted by creator
Sorry, where in this does capital come into play. Say I work my job, my surplus value is extracted by the company and I get my wage. Are you saying that whatever I buy with my wages is now capital? This makes no sense. Buying commodities with money is not ownership of the means of production.
So them say I take this item that I bought with my wages, and then resell it to another wage labourer who already has had their surplus value stolen by their employer. And say I even make money from it. This is called trade.
You're right I don't to ascribe trading in the market the same terminology that capitalists purchasing factories and underpaying wage-labourers, because it's not the same and it's not what those words mean.
Nowhere did I bring morality into this, so I'm not sure where you think I think that reselling shit to rip people off is moral, I'm just saying you're not using words right.
deleted by creator
Buying stake in a company and purchasing a commodity are different things. If I buy stock with my wages, I might consider that stock capital because it will provide me income based on the labour of employees of that company and not my labor. And there is an argument that arbitrage of stock is capital accumulation.
But if I buy a commodity and resell it, nowhere am I siphoning someone else's labour to make that profit. Nobody is working for me to increase the value of the item I possess. My repricing and reselling might even be considered my own labour. I paid market value for a commodity and am reselling at a higher price. It may be unethical, but the gain in money from the arbitrage of goods is outside of the cycle of capital accumulation. Whose labour am I stealing value from?
Edit: I might be changing my mind about my definition of capital
Yes, I am. I see where my view of capital was wrong . Money isn't capital, but money used to buy commodity for profiting is capital.
deleted by creator
I'm poor lol, so don't worry I don't have the necessary funds to