3 ms·

> Capitalism (in the free markets sense) is great. The problem is that gobs of money are stolen from poor people like me by the government How much can the gov

> Capitalism (in the free markets sense) is great. The problem is that gobs of money are stolen from poor people like me by the government How much can the government be stealing from you if you have no money? The government is in a position to help you, by providing you with social services, with financial benefits, by providing police to protect you, not to mention debt forgiveness (you mentioned your family is in bankruptcy). None of these things come from free market capitalism; they come from socialist policies intended to help those at a disadvantage. And there should be more of that -- health care, education, etc. Of course, corruption and inefficiency in government exists and is a problem, but the ones stealing money from you are those at the top who are constantly seeking to pay less in taxes, do less to protect to the environment, lobby or contribute (aka bribe) to profit at the expense of public good, outsource or automate away their labor, etc. You mentioned the negative impact of common practices of bankers and Wall Street -- those kinds of things are natural consequence of free market activity.

dnautics 10y ago
The family isn't literally in bankruptcy, and you have your history wrong. Bankruptcy reform is largely a consequence of mid 19th century classical liberal intellectual thought which shifted the onus of counterparty risk to the lender. One of the biggest proponents was Bentham, who could hardly be considered a socialist. Benjamin Tucker (whom it appears libertarians and socialists fight over intellectual ownership) was also a major proponent, but it's worth mentioning he was vehemently opposed to state involvement in socialism. http://www.academia.edu/6681088/Washing_Away_the_Sins_of_Debt_The_Nineteenth-Century_Eradication_of_the_Debtors_Prison http://www.academia.edu/6681088/Washing_Away_the_Sins_of_Deb...
Clubber 10y ago
>How much can the government be stealing from you if you have no money? John Oliver did a good breakdown of how municipalities do pretty nasty things when you can't pay your tickets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjpmT5noto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjpmT5noto

dnautics 10y ago

The family isn't literally in bankruptcy, and you have your history wrong. Bankruptcy reform is largely a consequence of mid 19th century classical liberal intellectual thought which shifted the onus of counterparty risk to the lender. One of the biggest proponents was Bentham, who could hardly be considered a socialist. Benjamin Tucker (whom it appears libertarians and socialists fight over intellectual ownership) was also a major proponent, but it's worth mentioning he was vehemently opposed to state involvement in socialism. http://www.academia.edu/6681088/Washing_Away_the_Sins_of_Debt_The_Nineteenth-Century_Eradication_of_the_Debtors_Prison http://www.academia.edu/6681088/Washing_Away_the_Sins_of_Deb...

Clubber 10y ago

>How much can the government be stealing from you if you have no money? John Oliver did a good breakdown of how municipalities do pretty nasty things when you can't pay your tickets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjpmT5noto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjpmT5noto