As a tangent to this excellent thread about the corporate raiding of newspapers, I think a lot of people naturally wonder: "Why do capitalists think this way? Why take something that's clearly sustainable in the long term and just gut it completely for short-term profit? Are they stupid as well as evil?"
In a few cases (see Twitter) they are indeed simply very stupid, but that's not the main reason they tear down profitable businesses for parts. In fact, it's an incentive that's inherent to capitalism itself. Capitalism is definitionally an economic system where money can purchase the ability to make more money (that is to say, "capital"), and large amounts of money can purchase ever more profit-generating capacity. So if Mr. Moneybags spends $50 million to buy a newspaper and squeezes $100 million out of it within two years, he can immediately use that money to buy something more profitable than the newspaper ever was (maybe more companies to liquidate!).
At that point, it doesn't matter that he destroyed the newspaper's long-term profitability. Mr. Moneybags will always be able to find something to invest in that'll turn a consistent profit if he wants to switch his focus from business to politics. This is not only why corporate raids are rational, it's why companies in general tend towards short-term thinking and growth at any cost.
Now, if you read this and find yourself thinking, "Well that makes sense, but it can't possibly be sustainable, right? There's no way you can always find a more profitable place to invest your money" I will direct you to the fine writings of my good friends Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin for further research.
I gave up years ago on pretending that This Shit doesn't work, for the values of work that These People want. it works. they get rich. the problem is simply that they suck ass for doing it, and generally on a long enough timeline we find out that they suck ass as people.
like many political / sociological positions, the problem with convincing the opposition that they're wrong is that we often want to argue over facts or practicality, when our real complaint is that they just suck, what they're doing sucks, and you want them to not want to do it because it sucks.
the true leftism isn't complicated, it's just looking at shit and going "that sucks. you shouldn't want to do that even if it benefits you." landlord behavior sucks. we don't need to discuss housing availability or economics, just look at a guy who's refusing to lift a finger about someone freezing to death and go "that sucks" and you have a solid political opinion
