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Because the environment is so much less polluted and working conditions are so much better in non capitalist countries?

kqr 4y ago
I don't know if there's been a good example of an actually non-capitalist country yet. I'm not a historian, but all examples I can think of have a small class of people owning the means of production. They aren't always the bourgeoisie but sometimes a political elite or dictator's following. What I can say is that on a more local scale, the non-capitalist systems I've had experience with have been much more pleasant than the ones where a small set of people held most of the power over production.
- fallingknife 4y ago
  So if there are no examples of non-capitalism to compare too this makes the claim of 'x is caused by capitalism' all the more ridiculous.
  - kqr 4y ago
    There are two ways to make causal claims: by empirics and by theory. That is a theoretical claim, not an empirical one. Ideally we should have both.
lm28469 4y ago
They're virtually all playing the capitalist game, slapping "communist" in your country/government name isn't enough
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
robocat 4y ago
Can you name a mostly capitalist country? Most countries have a significantly socialist element, greater than 30% of the economy. For example, the government sector makes up a third of New Zealand GDP. https://www.statista.com/statistics/436523/ratio-of-government-expenditure-to-gross-domestic-product-gdp-in-new-zealand/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/436523/ratio-of-governme... Also if you look at how you “spend” your own time you might find that a lot of it is not on purely capitalist hours, but instead time is spent on hobbies, sports, children, friends, family and other pursuits that would be regarded as non-capitalist. Edit: I would be regarded as a capitalist within New Zealand (I am a successful founder, I don’t much believe in agricultural/industry subsidies), but I would be regarded as on-the-left in the US (I’m generally supportive of government health systems and social equality).

kqr 4y ago

I don't know if there's been a good example of an actually non-capitalist country yet. I'm not a historian, but all examples I can think of have a small class of people owning the means of production. They aren't always the bourgeoisie but sometimes a political elite or dictator's following. What I can say is that on a more local scale, the non-capitalist systems I've had experience with have been much more pleasant than the ones where a small set of people held most of the power over production.

fallingknife 4y ago
So if there are no examples of non-capitalism to compare too this makes the claim of 'x is caused by capitalism' all the more ridiculous.
- kqr 4y ago
  There are two ways to make causal claims: by empirics and by theory. That is a theoretical claim, not an empirical one. Ideally we should have both.

lm28469 4y ago

They're virtually all playing the capitalist game, slapping "communist" in your country/government name isn't enough

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

robocat 4y ago

Can you name a mostly capitalist country? Most countries have a significantly socialist element, greater than 30% of the economy. For example, the government sector makes up a third of New Zealand GDP. https://www.statista.com/statistics/436523/ratio-of-government-expenditure-to-gross-domestic-product-gdp-in-new-zealand/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/436523/ratio-of-governme... Also if you look at how you “spend” your own time you might find that a lot of it is not on purely capitalist hours, but instead time is spent on hobbies, sports, children, friends, family and other pursuits that would be regarded as non-capitalist. Edit: I would be regarded as a capitalist within New Zealand (I am a successful founder, I don’t much believe in agricultural/industry subsidies), but I would be regarded as on-the-left in the US (I’m generally supportive of government health systems and social equality).