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It's one of the larger issues that could reasonably be amended. The more fundamental issues regarding capitalist corruption, ineffective government, and unsusta

It's one of the larger issues that could reasonably be amended. The more fundamental issues regarding capitalist corruption, ineffective government, and unsustainable growth, while much bigger, are an effectively unsolvable side effect of our society's affliction, and furthermore apply to the entire planet.

blueflow 5y ago
> furthermore apply to the entire planet This attitude is why the world doesn't like the US. You are not the center of the world, many countries fare much better than you do.
- Niglodonicus 5y ago
  Show me a country where democracy properly, comprehensively works to constrain the cancerous appetite of capitalists. Yes, some European countries, or Japan, or some other outliers do it much better, but not well enough for their capitalism to be fundamentally different from that of the US. Furthermore, on a global scale, the trends of increased energy demand, increased population growth, increased carbon emissions, increased ecosystem degradation, to name just a few of the main actors, are overwhelmingly positive, and hence these are global issues that affect the sustainability of the entire global society. It doesn't matter if Luxembourg or Sweden develops a socdem utilitarian net-zero utopia, they are just a blip on the radar. All of the third-world countries that the first world exploited over the past centuries in order to fuel their own growth & industrialism, are now all fervently contributing to the above trends, to the extent that all of the first world's recent attempts to dial back their consumption, emissions & so on are laughably futile. The only possible way to change these trajectories would be for the majority of capitalists across the world to all drastically alter their priorities and how they operate, but this is absolutely not plausible, given that no corporation has ever not sought to increase its profit and growth every quarter; if they somehow hypothetically did, the system would come tumbling down and simply cause collapse even sooner.
  - blueflow 5y ago
    Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway are actually doing pretty great. They all have a good standard of living, healthcare, not much crime, and the state helps you with social services if you mess up. This is quite different from the late-stage capitalism that is currently going on in the US...

blueflow 5y ago

> furthermore apply to the entire planet This attitude is why the world doesn't like the US. You are not the center of the world, many countries fare much better than you do.

Niglodonicus 5y ago
Show me a country where democracy properly, comprehensively works to constrain the cancerous appetite of capitalists. Yes, some European countries, or Japan, or some other outliers do it much better, but not well enough for their capitalism to be fundamentally different from that of the US. Furthermore, on a global scale, the trends of increased energy demand, increased population growth, increased carbon emissions, increased ecosystem degradation, to name just a few of the main actors, are overwhelmingly positive, and hence these are global issues that affect the sustainability of the entire global society. It doesn't matter if Luxembourg or Sweden develops a socdem utilitarian net-zero utopia, they are just a blip on the radar. All of the third-world countries that the first world exploited over the past centuries in order to fuel their own growth & industrialism, are now all fervently contributing to the above trends, to the extent that all of the first world's recent attempts to dial back their consumption, emissions & so on are laughably futile. The only possible way to change these trajectories would be for the majority of capitalists across the world to all drastically alter their priorities and how they operate, but this is absolutely not plausible, given that no corporation has ever not sought to increase its profit and growth every quarter; if they somehow hypothetically did, the system would come tumbling down and simply cause collapse even sooner.
- blueflow 5y ago
  Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway are actually doing pretty great. They all have a good standard of living, healthcare, not much crime, and the state helps you with social services if you mess up. This is quite different from the late-stage capitalism that is currently going on in the US...