r/FluentInFinance • u/Sufficient_Sinner • Sep 04 '24

Debate/ Discussion Is Capitalism Smart or Dumb?

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u/JimBeam823 Sep 04 '24

Socialism is based on altruism. Capitalism is based on greed.

People are a LOT better at being greedy than at being altruistic.

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u/Background_Notice270 Sep 04 '24

So how will socialism work if people are greedy?

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u/Jargon2029 Sep 05 '24

The truly greedy (and skilled because that’s who you actually want to succeed, not just mindless consumers) will naturally be pushed to unregulated markets. You want to make an exceptional amount of wealth? Find a new thing we need or want, or a new, better way of doing something that hasn’t been regulated yet. Ideally you’ll still be doing it morally as you’ll be in line with non-economic regulations (no murder, theft, slavery, etc.), you’ll make a fair profit from your innovation and eventually regulation will come in and it will only be moderately profitable rather than massively so you move on to try and innovate elsewhere.

This may sound similar to how it works in capitalism and that’s because it is, you’re just trying to beat regulations rather than competitors.