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I actually think that we no longer live in a capitalistic system. A lot of firms continue to behave in ways that capitalism should punish, but doesn’t. My curre

I actually think that we no longer live in a capitalistic system. A lot of firms continue to behave in ways that capitalism should punish, but doesn’t. My current running theory is that our economy is more based around rent extraction, largely from land and companies that wield effective monopolies or oligopolies, rather than competition. This explains why we keep seeing things that make no sense from a capitalist point of view.

pavlov 8y ago
Sounds like you're discovering Marx independently?
- village-idiot 8y ago
  Probably. I’ve only read parts of Capital, it’s too dense for me to make good headway on. I’m also heavily informed by the Anarchist Sociologist David Graeber’s book of “Bullshit Jobs, a Theory”. He points out that a significant percentage of jobs—he estimated 40%—don’t even serve an economic purpose, let alone a moral or social one. This is something that capitalism in theory should not allow, which is why I think we’re trending to somewhere else.
  - olivermarks 8y ago
    Recommend reading Bakunin if you are interested in 'anarchist socialism' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bakunin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bakunin Marx was a pied piper to nowhere IMO and in league with the oligarchs and bankers of his era
- Agathos 8y ago
  Sounds more like Luigi Zingales, who is about as far from Marx as you can get.
apineda 8y ago
Debt based capitalism. Print money and everything flips upside down.
maxxxxx 8y ago
You are confusing capitalism with competitive markets. Capitalists want to make money off their capital, they don't care it's through competition or rent extraction. Having a monopoly is much less work than competing so that's probably the preferred way to make money. Capitalists also historically didn't care about democracy, dictatorship or corruption as long there was money to be made.
abdullahkhalids 8y ago
This is one macro-narrative on the current economic system: Neoliberalism as Creative Destruction [1]. > In this article, the author contends that neoliberalism is above all a project to restore class dominance to sectors that saw their fortunes threatened by the ascent of social democratic endeavors in the aftermath of the Second World War. Although neoliberalism has had limited effectiveness as an engine for economic growth, it has succeeded in channeling wealth from subordinate classes to dominant ones and from poorer to richer countries. This process has entailed the dismantling of institutions and narratives that promoted more egalitarian distributive measures in the preceding era. [1] http://cult320sp15.onmason.com/files/2015/01/Harvey.NeoliberalismAsCreativeDestruction.pdf http://cult320sp15.onmason.com/files/2015/01/Harvey.Neoliber...

pavlov 8y ago

Sounds like you're discovering Marx independently?

village-idiot 8y ago
Probably. I’ve only read parts of Capital, it’s too dense for me to make good headway on. I’m also heavily informed by the Anarchist Sociologist David Graeber’s book of “Bullshit Jobs, a Theory”. He points out that a significant percentage of jobs—he estimated 40%—don’t even serve an economic purpose, let alone a moral or social one. This is something that capitalism in theory should not allow, which is why I think we’re trending to somewhere else.
- olivermarks 8y ago
  Recommend reading Bakunin if you are interested in 'anarchist socialism' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bakunin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bakunin Marx was a pied piper to nowhere IMO and in league with the oligarchs and bankers of his era
Agathos 8y ago
Sounds more like Luigi Zingales, who is about as far from Marx as you can get.

apineda 8y ago

Debt based capitalism. Print money and everything flips upside down.

maxxxxx 8y ago

You are confusing capitalism with competitive markets. Capitalists want to make money off their capital, they don't care it's through competition or rent extraction. Having a monopoly is much less work than competing so that's probably the preferred way to make money. Capitalists also historically didn't care about democracy, dictatorship or corruption as long there was money to be made.

abdullahkhalids 8y ago

This is one macro-narrative on the current economic system: Neoliberalism as Creative Destruction [1]. > In this article, the author contends that neoliberalism is above all a project to restore class dominance to sectors that saw their fortunes threatened by the ascent of social democratic endeavors in the aftermath of the Second World War. Although neoliberalism has had limited effectiveness as an engine for economic growth, it has succeeded in channeling wealth from subordinate classes to dominant ones and from poorer to richer countries. This process has entailed the dismantling of institutions and narratives that promoted more egalitarian distributive measures in the preceding era. [1] http://cult320sp15.onmason.com/files/2015/01/Harvey.NeoliberalismAsCreativeDestruction.pdf http://cult320sp15.onmason.com/files/2015/01/Harvey.Neoliber...