Initially, I was going to leave this as a comment. Then I thought, "Why share my profits with someone who believes in communism?" Here are my live thoughts as I'm reading through. I'm responding as I go and I hoped we would agree by the end, but we certainly do not.

Here is the Steemit post I am responding to: https://steemit.com/politics/@anarchyhasnogods/poverty-control-and-capitalism

we start with poverty as a state of being extremely poor

You should say that we start with our natural position in life being in poverty. We all start this way and without the help of others, and motivation of our own, we stay this way.

The simple answer is that those in poverty do not have enough money to afford it, so feeding them is not profitable. But that is not deep enough.

I'll have to keep reading, because it's certainly not deep enough, yet. To say "feeding them" seems to put the requirement of feeding the poor onto those who produce instead of putting the requirement on those who need the food. Those who need the food can provide their own. Nobody is stopping them. If everyone owns their own body is everyone not responsible for their own body?

Of course, this is only half of the libertarian position. The other half is about how free markets will provide charitable means for those who can't afford food or other necessities. I'm still reading, so hopefully, you cover this.

Africa is a prime example of the first question. Every year around 40 billion more dollars leaves Africa than enters it.

A deficit is only 1/2 of the equation. If I have a million dollars and spend it all on SBD and SP on Steemit, I could show a deficit of a million dollars. But what did I receive in exchange? Certainly, the people in Africa are receiving something for that 40 billion. Besides, almost every country is losing money. If a 40 billion deficit makes Africa poor, then the United States must be exceptionally poor. In 2016 the USA had a deficit of 474 billion. I'm not saying Africa isn't poor, but looking at the deficit is only a part of the problem.

To put this in perspective, “solving” world hunger would cost an estimated 30 billion a year

It doesn't put anything into perspective at all. If Africa didn't send out 40 billion last year they also wouldn't have 40 billion worth of products and services which were purchased with that 40 billion. Take away the 40 billion and put it towards solving world hunger, and you will actually make things much, much worse. Why? Because they will be without the 40 billion worth of supplies to produce and create and support themselves.

This is due to one major factor: Profit. This takes two forms, loans, and regular business profit.

Let's assume that an African business takes a loan from someone outside of Africa and that the interest is fairly high, by our standards, at 15%. You want to remove the profit factor and deficit? That leaves the African business with no loan and no money to produce anything. Now, instead of creating 100% of their products or service, they create much, much less. Sometimes even 0%. How is this better?

This is needed to sustain capitalism.

Yes. Profit is needed to sustain capitalism. Truer words were never written on Steemit. I'm still reading and hoping, but my hope in this communist writing is diminishing faster than a Venezuelan store's bread supply.

The control of resources is the most important element in defining the function and form of an economy.

The primary resource of any economy is the person. Free the person to build, create, and produce and they will free themselves! Governments restrict the freedom of the individual and prohibit them from producing. Licenses, permits, taxes and waiting for government permission is the largest factor in holding back countries like Africa.

In the beginning of capitalism was a force for progress. Any company that was too slow on the uptake of new technology was pushed out the market. As these markets expanded and capital became more concentrated, the economy ran into a problem. There were no new markets on every front to expand in, no new land and resources to divide up among the rich. That has lead into the stagnation we see today, it is a problem intrinsic to capitalism. It must always expand, and when it doesn’t it stagnates.

Capitalism is still a force for progress, but you have to have blinders on to believe that the United States, or other economically strong countries, have real capitalism. We have cronyism. We have protectionism. We have a multitude of laws and taxes holding us back. If it were not for communism creeping in, the United States will still be expanding at a much faster rate than it is.

At this point, I am just exhausted with trying to understand why anyone would believe in any form of communism. Again, take a look at Venezuela. And before you even go there, don't you dare say it wasn't real communism while trying to say America is real capitalism.

Anarchy is great. Communism isn't. And you can't intellectually meld the two in any way, shape, or form without being dishonest with yourself.

Communism in action

Image source

My name is Rich and I'm a Libertarian.

You can find me on the Libertarian Chat Channel and now on the Discord Unmentionables server. I'm working on a production called the LIS, or Libertarian Interview Series. It's going to be a series of written format interviews with the top Libertarians and Anarchists on Steemit. If you would like to be a part of it, either to be interviewed or offer help, just message me here.