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The problem is that capitalism has shown every ounce as much capacity to funnel wealth from the impoverished to the elite as a command economy, while enjoying a

The problem is that capitalism has shown every ounce as much capacity to funnel wealth from the impoverished to the elite as a command economy, while enjoying a better public image due to the greater difficulty of pinning any level of culpability on systemic flaws. We need a system that actually prevents exploitation of the many for the benefit of the few, regardless of what such an economy actually looks like.

dhfhduk 10y ago
Capitalism IMHO isn't the problem, the problem is misregulation--either too much regulation, not enough, or regulation in the wrong places. Capitalism works great as long as certain assumptions are met--things like adequate competition, rational, informed decision making, and so forth. Regulation exists more or less because those assumptions are unrealistic. If you have regulations that target those things appropriately, things are fine; otherwise, all hell breaks loose. The US is currently screwed because of meaningless discussions over whether or not regulation is good or bad in general, rather than how those regulations should take place and what they should be. In some cases, more regulation might be good (net neutrality); in other cases maybe less regulation would be better (health provider licensing). In some cases the need for regulation depends on other things, like competition (net neutrality would be unnecessary if every market had 10 ISPs to choose from). It seems like the US is perseverating over some political debate from the 1970s that is no longer relevant. We're being held hostage by a subgroup of baby boomers who are stuck in the prime of their young adulthood and don't realise the rest of civilization has moved on to new problems. In the end, problems with that seem to me to be related to how the political system is set up, rather than capitalism per se. Things like the electoral college, winner-takes-all voting systems, laws about campaign financing, and so forth and so on. I've grown so concerned about the state of society that I'm starting to think something like socialism might be the the best of a bunch of bad solutions, but I'd prefer something that targets the problems at the source, as far as I see them.

dhfhduk 10y ago

Capitalism IMHO isn't the problem, the problem is misregulation--either too much regulation, not enough, or regulation in the wrong places. Capitalism works great as long as certain assumptions are met--things like adequate competition, rational, informed decision making, and so forth. Regulation exists more or less because those assumptions are unrealistic. If you have regulations that target those things appropriately, things are fine; otherwise, all hell breaks loose. The US is currently screwed because of meaningless discussions over whether or not regulation is good or bad in general, rather than how those regulations should take place and what they should be. In some cases, more regulation might be good (net neutrality); in other cases maybe less regulation would be better (health provider licensing). In some cases the need for regulation depends on other things, like competition (net neutrality would be unnecessary if every market had 10 ISPs to choose from). It seems like the US is perseverating over some political debate from the 1970s that is no longer relevant. We're being held hostage by a subgroup of baby boomers who are stuck in the prime of their young adulthood and don't realise the rest of civilization has moved on to new problems. In the end, problems with that seem to me to be related to how the political system is set up, rather than capitalism per se. Things like the electoral college, winner-takes-all voting systems, laws about campaign financing, and so forth and so on. I've grown so concerned about the state of society that I'm starting to think something like socialism might be the the best of a bunch of bad solutions, but I'd prefer something that targets the problems at the source, as far as I see them.