Textbooks are pretty nice to learn things on your own or as a supplement to classes. If you can find free ones online or at a library, definitely worth it. Full price, not so much.
Edit: I know this post is about economics textbooks though, so I can't speak on those. However, I do think textbooks in general are a great resource that tends to get underappreciated.
Textbooks compile information about a subject into one cohesive whole for study. They're super useful, even though they are too expensive typically. Library Genesis is great for obtaining textbooks you can't afford to purchase.
This is exactly the kind of economy I would expect out of billionaires who are trying to destroy the middle class and bring back Company Towns. This is what 19th century robber-baron capitalism looks like, not the kind you were taught by Elmer Fudd.
More people should read Marx. Even if you don't take everything he says, much of what he writes can be directly applied to today and can help people make sense of their current situations.
Id love to see people apply dialectical materialism to their life and society and still think "yeah but there are still good things about capitalists siphoning value out of worker's labor!"
Warren Buffett is like Bill Gates. He's an evil billionaire (all billionaires are evil) who keeps pretending to be a good guy so people won't despise him.
Nobody earns a billion dollars, we've decided as a society that even global leaders, scientists and life saving doctors who do the most important work don't earn that much. It's impossible for a human to be valuable enough to earn a billion dollars. Therefore every billionaire is where he is, because he stole the wealth of the people below him who did the actual work. Every billionaire is a wage thief.
Bill Gates has also literally saved more lives and helped more impoverished people than you and the the closest 500 people you know. Yes, no one, no matter what they invent, create, or build, should be worth over a billion dollars, but unlike Amazon employees or wal mart, no one working at Microsoft ever needed food stamps and he stopped amassing wealth a long time ago, and even convinced some of his retarded wealthy friends to do the same.
, we’ve decided as a society that even global leaders, scientists and life saving doctors who do the most important work don’t earn that much.
The US doesn't even pay the President $1 million a year salary. Arguably the most powerful person in the world isn't even considered a millionaire status job. And yet we allow shitfuckers like Elon to scam their way into hundreds of billions. It really says that the majority of Americans are A-OK with scams and cutthroat tactics representing them.
We're at the point where the Pentagon needs to check with Elon Musk before making decisions because he personally controls 50% of the satellites in orbit and if he feels offended he can prevent the US, and anyone else, from using them. He can single handedly turn the tides of war. He's undoubtedly more powerful than the US president. He's unelected and has zero accountability. Why are we all ok with this??
Because these oilrailroad tech barons have been good for the economy and therefore the growth of the United States, and no one wanted to stop one while there was still more money to be made and now it's late and gonna be an uphill battle to undo.
It's posts like this that really make me embarrassed to be here on Lemmy. So many people here like to shake their fists at the sky and complain about how the world works.
Yes, capitalism leads to major inequality. Other options are out there but also lead to major inequality.
Best you can do for you and your family is to try to live well within the system, and vote for the changes you feel will best serve everyone.
Ranting about billionaires not being good people in any case just makes your audience stop listening.
Sounds like it would do you some good to take the advice of the post and read some Marx. It might help you contextualize the analysis that leads people to come to leftist conclusions.
Additionally, voting alone will not bring about positive change. You can't directly vote on changes in America, just candidates working within the Capitalist system. True change comes from grassroots action, like unionizing and building up parallel structures.
William Jennings Bryan, who was a three-time Democratic presidential nominee and served as Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson, said "No man can earn a million dollars honestly". He campaigned under the idea that all of the wealthy are corrupt, and the United States needed reform. It's a sad state of affairs that the majority of our citizens won't vote for politicians that represent the interests of the working class. Almost all of our politicians support and assist the wealthy, and refuse to acknowledge the issues facing the working class, yet people keep putting them in office.
Warren Buffet haven't "earned a billion dollars". Net worth means the value of all your assets and in his case it's mostly stocks. Look at the evolution of his net worth and see how it accelerates as he gets older. That's compounding interests doing what they do.
Defend him however you wish, he and his descendants will never have a need for anything in their lives, and that is because they robbed so many on their way up
This'll get you upvotes from the people that agree with you but it's almost like you're not even trying to change my mind. You're intentionally being vague and that doesn't contribute anything to the discussion.
