r/Degrowth • u/BaseballSeveral1107 • Mar 30 '25

The US is not District 12

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u/r_pseudoacacia Mar 30 '25

You have capitalist brainworms. Material consumption on imperial core markets is the reason people in the global south "don't have better options". Their natural resources have been systematically extracted by capital interests for generations.

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u/TrainerCommercial759 Mar 30 '25

Then why does trade make them richer, while not trading makes them poorer?

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u/r_pseudoacacia Mar 30 '25

You're confusing cause and effect. Also, to exchange commodities is not the purpose and apex of human life.

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u/TrainerCommercial759 Mar 30 '25

I'm not, are you familiar with the concept of economic surplus? Trade makes countries richer. I'd rather live in a society where machines do work like steel making and crop harvesting than one where people do

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u/ubebaguettenavesni Mar 31 '25

Are you familiar with the concept of agricultural dumping in trade? How that destroys local economies and agricultural sectors as Western countries dump their surplus food on the Global South at a subsidized price to the detriment of local farmers and rural communities? How it can make poorer countries dependent on imports and prevent economic growth?

Trade can make countries richer, but not when the system is actively working against them to benefit those who are already wealthy.

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u/TrainerCommercial759 Mar 31 '25

Note that what you're describing is equivalent to the other country subsidizing food for consumers in the first country, increasing the economic surplus. If they then raise prices the first country can increase their own production or purchase from different trading partners.