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No, but capitalism is the sole source of international trade. So those resources only come when they engage in voluntary exchange. International trade is the mo

No, but capitalism is the sole source of international trade. So those resources only come when they engage in voluntary exchange. International trade is the most libertarian of all markets, because there is no centralized oversight, so all parties basically bring their own gun. I don't agree with GPs framing though, as I think scale is important when comparing economic systems. You wouldn't want capitalism in your house, but it's the best thing at scale.

orthecreedence 4y ago
> You wouldn't want capitalism in your house, but it's the best thing at scale. Interestingly, I think it's the best thing at low to mid-scale. Once it reaches our current scale, the externalities of profit-driven production cross various thresholds that plunge us into existential crises. At-scale, we need some form of production that much more closely measures potential for externalities and allows assigning direct costs to these. Prices are incapable of doing this directly, and the promise of the liberal state to reign in externalities is more and more clearly an empty promise.
- BobbyJo 4y ago
  Externalities and profit pursuit are exactly why it functions at large scale. Those things exist in every economic system, capitalism streamlines how you direct them. > At-scale, we need some form of production that much more closely measures potential for externalities and allows assigning direct costs to these. Prices are incapable of doing this directly, and the promise of the liberal state to reign in externalities is more and more clearly an empty promise. That's the role of money and taxes. You price the externalities. The reality is, every capitalist country is perfectly capable of reigning in externalities, the just don't, because we're playing a huge game where we try to maximize our living standards without killing ourselves. If we priced CO2, living wages, and plastic cleanup into our lives, it would be a huge set back to our daily lives.
legitster 4y ago
> You wouldn't want capitalism in your house, but it's the best thing at scale. Although, growing up my dad literally did a weekly auction for chores. Actually worked pretty well too, lol.
- BobbyJo 4y ago
  That's adorable. I like your dad.
cassianoleal 4y ago
> No, but capitalism is the sole source of international trade. It's not though. As an example, North Korea's exports [0] in 2021 were around US$150M, down more than US$30Mi from the previous year. Their imports [1] were larger, at ~US$276Mi, about half the previous year's. Cuba's exports [2] are much larger, just short of US$1Bi for 2021, and nearly US$8.5Bi imports. [3] It's feasible to imagine that non-capitalist international trade would be of much higher volumes if it weren't for the embargos these countries suffer. [0] https://tradingeconomics.com/north-korea/exports https://tradingeconomics.com/north-korea/exports [1] https://tradingeconomics.com/north-korea/imports https://tradingeconomics.com/north-korea/imports [2] https://tradingeconomics.com/cuba/exports https://tradingeconomics.com/cuba/exports [3] https://tradingeconomics.com/cuba/imports https://tradingeconomics.com/cuba/imports

orthecreedence 4y ago

> You wouldn't want capitalism in your house, but it's the best thing at scale. Interestingly, I think it's the best thing at low to mid-scale. Once it reaches our current scale, the externalities of profit-driven production cross various thresholds that plunge us into existential crises. At-scale, we need some form of production that much more closely measures potential for externalities and allows assigning direct costs to these. Prices are incapable of doing this directly, and the promise of the liberal state to reign in externalities is more and more clearly an empty promise.

BobbyJo 4y ago
Externalities and profit pursuit are exactly why it functions at large scale. Those things exist in every economic system, capitalism streamlines how you direct them. > At-scale, we need some form of production that much more closely measures potential for externalities and allows assigning direct costs to these. Prices are incapable of doing this directly, and the promise of the liberal state to reign in externalities is more and more clearly an empty promise. That's the role of money and taxes. You price the externalities. The reality is, every capitalist country is perfectly capable of reigning in externalities, the just don't, because we're playing a huge game where we try to maximize our living standards without killing ourselves. If we priced CO2, living wages, and plastic cleanup into our lives, it would be a huge set back to our daily lives.

legitster 4y ago

> You wouldn't want capitalism in your house, but it's the best thing at scale. Although, growing up my dad literally did a weekly auction for chores. Actually worked pretty well too, lol.

BobbyJo 4y ago
That's adorable. I like your dad.

cassianoleal 4y ago

> No, but capitalism is the sole source of international trade. It's not though. As an example, North Korea's exports [0] in 2021 were around US$150M, down more than US$30Mi from the previous year. Their imports [1] were larger, at ~US$276Mi, about half the previous year's. Cuba's exports [2] are much larger, just short of US$1Bi for 2021, and nearly US$8.5Bi imports. [3] It's feasible to imagine that non-capitalist international trade would be of much higher volumes if it weren't for the embargos these countries suffer. [0] https://tradingeconomics.com/north-korea/exports https://tradingeconomics.com/north-korea/exports [1] https://tradingeconomics.com/north-korea/imports https://tradingeconomics.com/north-korea/imports [2] https://tradingeconomics.com/cuba/exports https://tradingeconomics.com/cuba/exports [3] https://tradingeconomics.com/cuba/imports https://tradingeconomics.com/cuba/imports