This is capitalism's vast irrationality and inhumanity in action. Markets and The Economyβ’ matter more to capitalism than the concrete distribution of resources according to tangible human need.
Resources exist in abundance -- give them to people. Housing sits empty -- give it to people. The rules of the feast table should apply to our economic system -- no one gets seconds until everyone has gotten a plate.
We stand at a crossroads in these chaotic times: socialism or barbarism! The ruling class repeatedly chooses the latter. We need to organize and choose the former!
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
People have been reblogging this with some points that seem fair to call attention to -- milk expires quickly, farmers are locked into a situation where they have to throw stuff out, etc. But the larger point we were trying to illustrate in the original post was that this system compels people to do irrational things in the name of market laws. We have a surplus of goods around us and yet we arbitrarily build up social constructs (property laws and exchangability) to prevent people from comfortably living off of these goods. Goods are produced and given away only if profit can be extracted from the process. These aren't immutable laws of nature, though, and most of human history hasn't operated this way. Not to suggest that things were just peachy keen in slave empires or feudalism -- class stratification in general is a big part of this, not just the particular market laws of capitalism. But it's still important to realize that these irrational all-pervasive market forces are a comparatively recent invention and that these historical moments of crisis demonstrate how truly anti-human production-for-profit and class inequality truly are. We believe that the economy should be more broadly democratized and managed on a for-need/for-use basis by the people actually impacted by the outcomes; that would entail workplace/community democracy, as well as a new emphasis on direct distribution of goods (rather than having those goods wait around to be bought).
Goods sit unused -- give them to people. Make sure everyone has the means to live a comfortable life. These seemingly obvious goals are perpetually blocked by billionaires and profit-sharks, who'd rather see people sleeping on the streets in the middle of a pandemic than have their bottom lines suffer any hit. Things are fundamentally top-down; we believe it is a reasonable proposal to start moving things into a bottom-up direction. That requires choosing socialism at this crossroads of human history.
