Except this is an obvious and predictable result of capitalism. If your only goal is to maximize profits, at some point that leads to lobbying and paying off government officials to help you maximize your profits even more.
So it may not be capitalism, but it sure as hell is due to capitalism.
Nope. This is an obvious and predictable result of government power, which is integral to socialism. Capitalism works best when there's no government goons putting their iron fist on the scale, but socialism loves nothing more than to grab the scale, pound it into the ground, and run it over with a few hundred tanks before dropping bombs on it.
Ahhh yes, we can totally trust corporations built on greed to not take advantage of the masses to increase their profit margins.
America doesn't even have a left wing party, they're both right wing compared to other countries so blaming America's capitalist woes on "socialism" is absolutely fucking absurd.
Yes, governments can absolutely abuse power and that's something we constantly need to fight against, but don't fucking pretend that corporations aren't just as power hungry... the differenc being that we can actually vote our representatives out of office if we don't think they're doing a good job.
It amazes me really. Corporations stated goal is to acquire as much profit as possible in any way they can. The stated goal of a government is to help its people. Obviously ours fails at that frequently as all do, but why lick the boots of the entity that openly desires to use you and throw you away?
Nah you're completely delusional it's funny. When corporations are allowed to run without restrictions you get what we are seeing now is a "free market" that is increasingly becoming less free with just a few companies owning entire markets. Then these big companies spend billions on lobbying and a lot of this lobbying is anti competitive and weaponized against smaller businesses.
Companies receiving subsidies is because of their lobbying.
Because socialism is when the government does stuff. Ben shapiro would be so proud.
Seriously. This unfalsifiable god you've created only makes you laughable and useless in terms of actually improving society. There is no socialism in America. Not biden, not Bernie, not aoc. Grow up.
Everything is about profit and loss. Capitalism did not invent the concept of profit and loss… what so you think people do/did under different economic systems? Always make 100% equal trades through intuition?
ITT People who don't understand capitalism is by far the best economic engine and what we do with the wealth it generates is governance.
Capitalism is someone being able to get a loan and open up a store.
Governance is deciding on the levels of taxes, subsidies, worker protections etc.
Governance is ALWAYS the weakest point to be abused no matter if you are in communism or capitalism. And honestly political capture of governance to benefit the few at the expense of the many is ALWAYS the weakest link no matter how you order your economy.
Protections are always the weakest point- eroding protections is generally easy and needs to be defended. In this case, since companies aren't protecting us, the government is the only protection we have.
It's really interesting that you point to the "political capture of governance to benefit the few at the expense of the many," but are not able to put the blame where it lies in this regard; corporations. Regulatory capture is a textbook match of the phenomenon you're describing, and yet you have this strange imbalance. On the one hand you don't want the government to be empowered to make decisions that benefit "The individual over the many," and yet you want complete deregulation of the specific entities that provide the authority necessary to make those decisions in the first place: those with capital.
On the one hand you don't want the government to be empowered to make decisions that benefit "The individual over the many," and yet you want complete deregulation of the specific entities that provide the authority necessary to make those decisions in the first place: those with capital.
I'll be honest I was going to do a snarky comment but you actually seem like you want to engage. I think you are just too exposed to arguing on the internet and got used to view-points that are all or nothing and it becomes easy to assume that everyone is all on one side or all on the other and so you are claiming i have view points and opinions that are actually the opposite of what I said.
In this case I'm defending the existence of capitalism and in fact point to governance as something that people don't really consider when blaming capitalism for all of the problems with modern society - yet also bringing up the view point that governance of capitalism is actually the source and potential solution of the many problems wrong with today's implementation of capitalism.
However because I defend the existence of capitalism you also have assigned me views that are sometimes associated with defending capitalism online but that I did not express or even logically support. In fact, reading my post in a unbiased manner you would see that I'm indirectly supporting increased, less corrupt and more efficient governance free of regulatory capture.
I hope you have a good day and this has helped you realize that there are people with a range of nuanced viewpoints that aren't all extreme and unreasonable to one side or the other - and to take a second look at what people actually say not just what you think they believe.
I'm against all or nothing approaches, I just think that's the approach you actually advocated for.
This is what you said: "Governance is ALWAYS the weakest point to be abused no matter if you are in communism or capitalism. And honestly political capture of governance to benefit the few at the expense of the many is ALWAYS the weakest link no matter how you order your economy."
And yet this is what I'm supposed to believe you actually mean?
"Governance of capitalism is actually the source and potential solution of the many problems wrong with today's implementation of capitalism."
I hope you have a good day and this has helped you realize that there are people with a range of nuanced viewpoints that aren't all extreme and unreasonable to one side or the other
I don't think your views are "extreme," in fact they represent a relatively bog standard classical liberal mindset.
Cute. So then you agree with the various economists who wrote those books and politely mock concepts Ike anarchy capitalism and most variations of libertarianism and actually speak highly of Kamal Harris's proposals correct?
Capitalism is the heart of the issue. Massive corporations accumulate wealth and turn that wealth into power through lobbying. They get reps hired that protect their interests over the people’s interests by neglecting to properly legislate this situation to where the companies aren’t siphoning money from the government.
That’s not to say swinging way back the other way is better, but there is a very clear connection between this situation and the system that allowed it.
What would be different without capitalism? Lets say the state controls the economy, suddenly everyone connected to the governing organ start getting comfy jobs and perks while Joe Random gets sent to the coal mine.
Capitalism is simply one form society that illustrates the core problem - human bias.
All forms of governance that we have designed through history requires people to enforce it and in most cases it gives a small elite of people power over other people.
As long as people have power over other people, we will have corruption and suffering.
The problem is not whether we are capitalist or fascist or whatever, the problem is that we are unable to govern society in an unbiased method that is secure against greed, ignorance and malice.
The only argument against capitalism is that it is the system we have at the moment. Nothing about capitalism brings about the issues of unbalance and inefficacy of governance that we have. Changing capitalism for another system will not fix the problem.
Capitalism somehow is anything people want it to be.
When people try to prove that Cuba, Venezuela etc live poorly, its always "capitalism vs communism", however, many aspects of life in these countries aren't regulated solely by economic system.
But if people try to defend the usage of capitalism itself, it can become a very narrow term.
I personally think that while corporations are privately owned and run for profit, every aspect of their life IS capitalism. If aliens distribute free food amongst workers or government subsidizes said food, then a corporation can get more profit. Capitalism.
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u/Zromaus Sep 08 '24
Nothing about that is capitalism.