Kevin O Leary starts talking --
this post was submitted on 22 May 2026
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You, yes you, [username]: read Capital chapter 24, the section on bourgeois Abstinence Theory.
the capitalist gets rich, not like the miser, in proportion to his personal labour and restricted consumption, but at the same rate as he squeezes out the labour-power of others, and enforces on the labourer abstinence from all life’s enjoyments.
…
[According to vulgar economists] All the conditions for carrying on the labour process are suddenly converted into so many acts of abstinence on the part of the capitalist. If the corn is not all eaten, but part of it also sown — abstinence of the capitalist. If the wine gets time to mature — abstinence of the capitalist. The capitalist robs his own self, whenever he “lends (!) the instruments of production to the labourer,” that is, whenever by incorporating labour-power with them, he uses them to extract surplus-value out of that labour-power, instead of eating them up, steam-engines, cotton, railways, manure, horses, and all; or as the vulgar economist childishly puts it, instead of dissipating “their value” in luxuries and other articles of consumption. How the capitalists as a class are to perform that feat, is a secret that vulgar economy has hitherto obstinately refused to divulge. Enough, that the world still jogs on, solely through the self-chastisement of this modern penitent of Vishnu, the capitalist. Not only accumulation, but the simple “conservation of a capital requires a constant effort to resist the temptation of consuming it.” The simple dictates of humanity therefore plainly enjoin the release of the capitalist from this martyrdom and temptation, in the same way that the Georgian slave-owner was lately delivered, by the abolition of slavery, from the painful dilemma, whether to squander the surplus-product, lashed out of his *[slur]*s, entirely in champagne, or whether to reconvert a part of it into more *[slur]*s and more land.
Footnote 28
It has never occurred to the vulgar economist to make the simple reflexion, that every human action may be viewed, as “abstinence” from its opposite. Eating is abstinence from fasting, walking, abstinence from standing still, working, abstinence from idling, idling, abstinence from working, &c.
Capital ch 25
[P]rimitive accumulation plays in Political Economy about the same part as original sin in theology. Adam bit the apple, and thereupon sin fell on the human race. Its origin is supposed to be explained when it is told as an anecdote of the past. In times long gone by there were two sorts of people; one, the diligent, intelligent, and, above all, frugal elite; the other, lazy rascals, spending their substance, and more, in riotous living. The legend of theological original sin tells us certainly how man came to be condemned to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow; but the history of economic original sin reveals to us that there are people to whom this is by no means essential. Never mind! Thus it came to pass that the former sort accumulated wealth, and the latter sort had at last nothing to sell except their own skins. And from this original sin dates the poverty of the great majority that, despite all its labour, has up to now nothing to sell but itself, and the wealth of the few that increases constantly although they have long ceased to work. Such insipid childishness is every day preached to us in the defence of property.
The fact that this extremely key concept in economics has it's main articulation in a comedy fantasy novel is very indicative of how ideologically captured economics as a field is
Except you can't get quality anything anymore you gotta do a research paper to try and find anything that last longer then a few years. Now its the rich have the ability to replaces things faster.
I'm friends with a fashion designer. I buy his stuff, it's expensive but it's well made, he's queer and it lasts for years, but also the rare times it breaks down I can get him to fix it for free or send me replacement material or buttons etc.
I've basically had to reinvented a medieval relationship with a tailor, shits gotten so bad you can't trust anything cheap or expensive.
God I wish I knew someone like that. I probably could of made a connection if I had gotten to go to the punk flea market but I was like a week out of surgery. :(
I have literally lost days to researching basic clothing staples such as socks, underwear, and t-shirts in recent months. I have extreme anxiety about it. I just want someone to take the burden from me and deliver some clothing to my home at this point, because I can't take any more of this.
Just buy the costco brand. Untill this life hack fails me I am living a good life
Costco discontinued my socks 
but I did ultimately do this for t-shirts recently.
One Chanel jacket every year? The 'wise' advice would be to buy just one or maybe two and never buy another again.
Now you have a closet full of Chanel jackets you won't wear, dingdong.
I was gonna say, I but cheap shitty jackets and I don't fucking buy one every year.
It's inheritance for your failsons, faildaughters, failthems, and nepobabies
As if the success of this whole capitalist shit show isn't predicated on millions of people buying tons of crap all the time. These people really get so out of touch they don't understand that this bloated consumer economy is what allowed them to become rich in the first place. Like this dude is on Shark Tank which mostly just produces cheap crap that you shouldn't buy! He should be begging us all to go out and waste our money on cheap crap
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"one Chanel jacket a year" is a helluva phrase lmao. financially responsible smol bean rich mommy only bought A SINGLE jacket every year, that's why you should let me use the entire water supply of utah, i was raised right.
So you're saying the death of one capitalist can provide quality clothing for the many?
I think saying stuff like this is one of his kinks, he loves RPing Marie Antoinette
Wtf is he talking about? I don't think the average person is hoarding jackets. Chanel jackets aren't especially well suited to protect you against the elements or made to last long either. They are a status symbol.
Most people I know hoard approximately one hoodie per half decade, much less a chanel jacket a year!
Yeah rich coming from the guy that has a million dollar sports card necklace.
ACAB includes Vimes
I think Pratchett would agree with you. We don't get too many outside perspectives on Vimes since he's the POV character for most of the books he's in, but the few we get kinda imply that all his reforms are kinda just a lateral move as far as the citizens are concerned. The old guard simply shake you down for money. The "sammies" are looking for a Crime in need of Solving, and at best that's gonna waylay your day. At worst...
Plus there's the whole book where the unstated joke is that a "good cop" is paradox that cannot occur naturally.
Yeah, everyone who isn't Vimes or someone in his direct circle think he's an absolute monster, and his reforms are mostly just professionalizing and standardizing the police, making them less overtly racist, making them less comically corrupt (although still tolerating corruption), etc. He's one of the pawns in Vetinarii's modernization plans, just like the conman he enlists to modernize the post office and banking system.
Yeah, Prachett doesn't have any particularly special love for Vimes, which comes off in his memoirs. However, he was extremely good at tapping into the "Good Cop" psyche, and the reason Guards! Guards! is one of his best books, is because it is the first one in the Discworld series that really buckled down on fleashing out Ankt-Morpork as a real breathing city, not just a fantasy foil for Rincewinds stories to begin, and Vimes is absolutely the best narrator to tell that story.
I keep seeing Kevin O'Leary pop up on socials or news site and I have to say... This man is not hated enough. He should be right up there with Bezos, Musk, and Trump as the most visibly repulsive billionaires. I mean all of the rich are, but he really goes out of his way to be the biggest dick to the working class possible. I guess Americans really are just hopped up on bootstraps mentality to have watched him on Shark Tank for so long along with all the bullshit he spews about how the poor now spend to much money on things like, gasp, food.
He's a huge dick on Shark Tank too but I think people believe he's playing a character on it as a foil to more kindly seeming hosts. But that's just him. It was pretty gross to hire him for Marty Supreme to play... himself as capitalist bad guy.
The safdies only have two moves, stunt casting and writing dickheads. This satisfies both.
Weirdest TAFS guest.
Don't forget his data center.
just wondering since there's so many vegans on hexbear but is there a vegan leather alternative that has the durability of leather? tbh it's the price that's put me off from buying a $300-400 real leather jacket because i'm not vegan but like I'd buy a good fake one if I could for around the same price? it's just all the fake ones I've gotten just start falling apart like an old man after 3 years
i like the look of leather if you're wondering why I want a fake/real leather anything
Cotton duck or waxed canvas are good alternatives. Heavy weight denim too. Corduroy is also tougher than people realize.
PU "leather" is good for a lot of things, depends a lot on quality though. There are various shoe companies that use it.
There are several more natural leathery materials for clothing but they're a bit more niche so they're expensive. Like cactus leather. I've never bought it because of the price.
I usually just try to use non-leather things. Waxed cordura or cotton performs well, looks cool, and is usually something I prefer anyways for its proprieties (with at least 20% cotton it breathes a bit when dry and seals when wet).
This can be controversial but one option is a vintage leather jacket. Like if it's already been made it's recycling.
I think recycling leather is better than letting it rot. I would assume second hand leather doesn't contribute to demand for new leather, but idk.
I'd say there'd be an increase in overall leather consumption by having a strong second-hand market. Really not trying to dissuade people, you do you, but wanted to call out that things that hold onto their value in resale tend to be more desirable and could increase new sales.
This is just my made up take, i know nothing about leather, markets, or vegans.
Yes, and it contributes to the aesthetic of leather in general when even vegans use it
I mean if youre too cool and stylish it might make others want a leather jacket like you 🤷 So thatd be a problem for everyone here
that's pretty spurious. i've seen cool people wearing leather jackets and i've never bought one
No i mean like REALLY cool tho
A jacket that lasts only a year is shittier than most Walmart jackets, jesus