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I think capitalism is great, it has a lot of benefits. But it can't just be left open-loop. You're right that the concentration cannot be avoided, but it can be

I think capitalism is great, it has a lot of benefits. But it can't just be left open-loop. You're right that the concentration cannot be avoided, but it can be mitigated so that it does not become catastrophic, which I would argue is the point we are nearing. Wealth and income disparities have not always been as acute as they are today.

simonh 5y ago
Right but it's not capitalism as such that does that. It's the regulatory, legal and political systems that do it. Those are what need to be reformed, not the basic freedoms of association and ownership that underly capitalism. Look at China, Capitalism transformed that country. I know, my wife is Chinese and I first went there in 2001. It's raised hundreds of millions of people out of poverty after half a century of grinding poverty and starvation. As for growing wealth inequality, that seems to be mainly a US phenomenon, the evidence for it having grown in Europe is pretty weak. I certainly don't see it as inevitable, it's an issue of direction and leadership.
- vannevar 5y ago
  >Right but it's not capitalism as such that does that. I assume by "that", you mean the concentration of wealth. But capitalism does concentrate wealth as a mathematical inevitability, because of the strong feedback loop between capital and income. The old saying, the rich get richer is literally true: having money makes it easier to make more money. It's intrinsic to the system. On an individual level, it's worldwide (ie, the disparity between individuals is increasing, though the disparity between nations is decreasing; see https://unu.edu/news/news/global-income-inequality-up-or-down.html https://unu.edu/news/news/global-income-inequality-up-or-dow...). That doesn't mean we should throw the whole thing out, but it does mean we can't just take our hands off the wheel and let it run laissez faire.

simonh 5y ago

Right but it's not capitalism as such that does that. It's the regulatory, legal and political systems that do it. Those are what need to be reformed, not the basic freedoms of association and ownership that underly capitalism. Look at China, Capitalism transformed that country. I know, my wife is Chinese and I first went there in 2001. It's raised hundreds of millions of people out of poverty after half a century of grinding poverty and starvation. As for growing wealth inequality, that seems to be mainly a US phenomenon, the evidence for it having grown in Europe is pretty weak. I certainly don't see it as inevitable, it's an issue of direction and leadership.

vannevar 5y ago
>Right but it's not capitalism as such that does that. I assume by "that", you mean the concentration of wealth. But capitalism does concentrate wealth as a mathematical inevitability, because of the strong feedback loop between capital and income. The old saying, the rich get richer is literally true: having money makes it easier to make more money. It's intrinsic to the system. On an individual level, it's worldwide (ie, the disparity between individuals is increasing, though the disparity between nations is decreasing; see https://unu.edu/news/news/global-income-inequality-up-or-down.html https://unu.edu/news/news/global-income-inequality-up-or-dow...). That doesn't mean we should throw the whole thing out, but it does mean we can't just take our hands off the wheel and let it run laissez faire.