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Comment by nus07 | Hacker News Reader

90% of those scam calls originate from one city in India- Kolkata. It’s a state that has had communist rule for over 30 years and now a government which also runs on anti-corporate agenda. As a result there are no industries and all jobs have dried up in that state of West Bengal. This is the only industry left and the local government and police turn a blind eye since they get kickbacks and is the only source of income in the state.

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This is the sadder but true point that we have too many people and many are stuck doing nonsense and scam work to try to feed their family.

I find your misanthropy surprising since the parent provided a clear explanation of the problem.

Nonetheless, it is a shame that they engage in such behavior and that they live under abusive government structures that funnel them into such things.

I understand the parent point that this is driven by corruption. The point I was trying to convey is that corruption isn't a sufficient reason for there to be literally zero other work that could feed a family. I don't blame the people, they are just trying to get by. But I think the majority of people worldwide find that a major portion of their work life is spent on nonsense work. I think this will only get worse as software and automation continues to eat the world. Of course, this is just my personal opinion.

There is never a shortage of desperate people living under corrupt regimes. That's the wrong problem to focus on

The communist party was ousted from control of government in West Bengal in 2011[1]. Manufacturing growth is actually down since then[2]. And relevant to the current topic, Indian scam calls have only been an issue in the past decade. A decade of non-communist rule seems to either not improved things much or made things worse. The issue is more complicated than "communism bad".

[1]https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2011/5/13/defeat-rocks-in...

[2]https://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/macroeconomics/west-beng...

It's interesting that failed communist regimes often seem to be succeeded by kleptocracies. I wonder if any political scientists have studied this and can explain why.

You need an economist to explain it, not a political "scientist".

Communism does not produce globally competitive industries. So the only thing left to do is either to steal and pillage what is left or work in an industry that has local demand like food or energy. Those tend not to be very attractive jobs.

I'll cite Conquest's 3rd law: The behavior of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies.

That's not exactly explanatory, though. Any time a position is powerful or enriching well beyond the extent to which it serves others, the people optimizing to seek out and attain those positions are those who want the power and wealth, rather than those who care about the organization's mission. For those people, the original mission is, at best, a distraction, and at worst actively antithetical to their personal goals.

Communism and socialism concentrate power to a single government/state entity and when it fails there is no industrial competition so the most well connected/wealthy people that are able to take control of the industry are able to pretty much run unabated without any natural market forces you'd find in a system/industry that began in a more free enviroment.

Fascinating.

Nothing is true here. The government of West Bengal is BJP. There's tons of industries and jobs there. This is easily Googled.

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