EDIT: LOL, downvoted faster than the post could have been read, with zero rebuttals. Achievement unlocked: KICK HORNET’S NEST.

(America-centric post because that’s where I’ve spent my 54-years and know the most about.)

Capitalism ain’t the problem. Capitalism for the economy and democracy for the government is the best we humans have figured out. Problem being, money has been funneled to the top. The top took our vote via lack of education, media control, and union breaking, and their power has been snowballing for the last 20-40 years. Now we’re too ignorant and misled to vote in our own best interests, no unions to back us. We’re seeing the end game, the end game of any unregulated system.

Said many times, almost every evil of capitalism gets nullified when the government disallows and breaks monopolies and megacorps. Adam Smith, the father of capitalism, argued vehemently against monopolies. Couldn’t find a succinct quote because he explained the evils in depth. Sorry, no sound bite for this one.

Having grown up in the 70s and 80s, I am stunned by what is allowed. A handful of corporations own and control our health, food, entertainment, news, banking, everything. Education is the one thing that’s not wholly corporate, and the oligarchs have had that sector in their sights for decades.

And they’re not after education merely to skim more money. Education in history, math, critical thinking, current affairs, is how they can be beaten. FFS, we’re repeating the mistakes of exactly a century ago, people can’t figure when back-of-the-napkin math doesn’t make sense and can’t tell when they’re being conned. I see the latter items on lemmy, daily.

Stumping for socialism? Well, the Soviet Union failed mighty fucking hard. “But that wasn’t true socialism!” And capitalism isn’t what you are experiencing now. In neither case does the name fit the theory. North Korea’s official name is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Oh, and they’re “socialist”. Want to model their system?

“But socialism gives workers the power!” As the great socialist Upton Sinclair said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Coal miners aren’t organizing to stop fossil fuels, and neither are roustabouts. Were those the workers you imagined handing power? How about insurance company employees who would be out of a job with universal health care?

We can’t let workers vote for bread and circuses. Capitalists compete amongst themselves. That competition works for everyone, as long as unions are the brake pads on that train. We took the brakes off and blamed the train conductor wanting to go fast. Well, that’s his job in this poor metaphor, hope it comes across.

Blaming capitalism is as naive as saying, “Trump did this!” We can acheive nothing but backlash from ignorant supporters. Instead say, “The GOP did this!” (politically) and “The billionaires did this!” (economically). Words matter if you want to win hearts and minds.

  • lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    Now, I personally believe that this is the end result of capitalism due to regulatory capture, and that capitalism is inherently unstable without a resilient regulatory framework to keep the system working.

    This criticism isn’t of markets or economics systems, but of the broader political system that fails to regulate it. Regulatory capture in particular is a type of government failure, a situation where regulatory action results in Pareto inefficiency. In representative democracies, this is rational political decision-making. A regulation that concentrates benefits to a special interest & diffuses costs to the public

    • gains politicians influence & opportunities with the interest group at no expense to themselves
    • gains the interest group benefits to themselves that exceed lobbying expenses
    • costs each member of the public less than cost it takes to organize to oppose the regulation.

    Much of the criticism of “capitalism” seems to be misplaced criticism of defects in the regulatory/political system that incentivize government failures.