194
‘It’s stupid’: why western carmakers’ retreat from electric risks dooming them to irrelevance
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2026
194 points (95.3% liked)
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It's the short term profits that they're chasing. It's unbelievable
short them profits over being able to make profit at all in the future. capitalism doesnt work even on standards of capitalism
Well they know that they will bailed out. Privatisation of profits and socialisation of losses.
While I think we agree on it being shitty as hell, I don't think your statement is true. Capitalism is working just fine and as defined in theory.
Old companies that don't innovate are being replaced by newer, more innovative companies. It's working exactly as advertised. The part you and me don't like is that millions of people are going to be thrown into poverty by those lunatics at the helm of the companies for their own short term gain instead of the well-being of everyone. But that is not contradicting capitalism itself.
but isnt idea of capitalism to make money for the people with capital? Any benefit like innovation is just coincidental, not the reason. If the ones with capital could prosper more through eternal stagnation, they definitely would. They couldn't care less about other people than themselves.
So by driving these people into this, it demonstrates its own faultiness. Capitalism is as dysfunctional as communism, though for different reasons and it seems to have longer "shelflife".
No, capitalism is that the idea that brings the most money will succeed. And not investing in the future of your product for sure doesn't bring the most money after a certain time. The problem is that the current Epstein class values money now higher than money in ten years.
Capitalism isn't about caring about others and (at least in theory) not about giving those with most money even more money. That is just the reality and logic if you think about it more than 5 minutes. But again: in theory the self correcting hand of the market is exactly how it should work.
but if you are smart and sustainable and think for long term, you get way more money than with short term profits?
Yes, but they aren't smart and especially don't think long-term.
And while in 'true' unregulated capitalsm, this would be heavily discouraged and punished, in our system they will just call for the governments to protect them and bail them out, as they are 'too important to fail'.
Isnt monopoly the ultimate goal in unregulated capitalism? Then you could get the most money with least resources used to give anything back, as people wouldnt have any choice and you could also keep destroying any competition. Then you also dont have to innovate or do anything except keep wringing out the profits from people.
Yes, eventually.
But on the way there, being the company that oversleeps an occuring technological shift because you still make money with the old business model will end in you and your company simply disappearing, with no govt to protect you and bail you out.
Those folks in suits there like to attack the state for interfering with their business, but at the same time heavily depend on it for mending their short-sighted managerial mistakes.
Yes and when it ultimately fails the governments will bail them out, smart.
At a time when less people than ever can afford new cars and they'll have nothing to fill them with
You need the profits now to invest them ...