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This was capitalism, a beacon of hope for people who are smart, hardworking, and comfortable with risk, promising a greater share of the spoils to them than to

This was capitalism, a beacon of hope for people who are smart, hardworking, and comfortable with risk, promising a greater share of the spoils to them than to those who are not. Wrong. That’s not what capitalism is or means. Capitalism is an economic system in which private investors run the economy in search of personal profit, while those who lack capital rely on wage labor to survive. You can debate whether this is a good or moral system, but it’s important to get terminology right.

dr_dshiv 4y ago
Right, and most people mean “market-based economy”
b1c1jones 4y ago
How do you prevent capitalism and dollars being free speech from turning into oligarchy? Asking for a friend. Actually, a few billion friends, come to think of it.
- wongarsu 4y ago
  It seems incredibly hard to get right. On the other hand many countries seem to get it less wrong than the US, so maybe that's a good starting point. One thing that immediately comes to mind is that first-past-the-post voting systems seem to produce pretty bad results, basically always devolving into a two party system which enables easy us-vs-them rhetoric. And while people love to debate which alternative system is the absolute best, there are many in use around the world that produce better results.
- vitessa 4y ago
  You can’t. You have three options: 1. A violent revolution against capitalism that destroys it. 2. You slowly contain capitalism and wind it down, making the elite increasingly irrelevant, as it appeared the US and Europe might have been on track to do from 1933-73, until you’ve basically achieved socialism without necessarily calling it that. 3. Capitalism continues to corrode the restraints put in place to contain it until you have an oligarchic nightmare like the US. 3 is completely unacceptable; 1 is a bit better but still involves people getting killed. 2 is probably best if you can pull it off, but the problem is that it requires society to do the right thing for decades whereas an overthrow of capitalism can be done in weeks.
  - RedCondor 4y ago
    The only reason 2. happened anywhere on Earth for any period of time is because 1. happened in another. In other words, 1. is responsible for both 1. and 2. https://redsails.org/concessions/ https://redsails.org/concessions/
- kelseyfrog 4y ago
  Dual currencies. Denominate capital in USDC and keep USD for everything else. Make conversion from USDC to USD transparent/illegal/a-point-of-friction/technically-impossible/socially-impossible/whatever-else.
- drewcoo 4y ago
  Elect a 3rd party that is willing to curtail the SCOTUS's power?
indymike 4y ago
Actually, capitalism is simply an economic system where private citizens can own the means of production. In other words, people can own businesses, and shares in businesses That's it. Nothing else.
- throwawaymaths 4y ago
  Contemporary capitalism also features limited liability, and fractional reserve banking, two policies that are not necessarily part of a generalized capitalism, but would be hard to decouple in any analysis of what is currently going on in capitalism.

dr_dshiv 4y ago

Right, and most people mean “market-based economy”

b1c1jones 4y ago

How do you prevent capitalism and dollars being free speech from turning into oligarchy? Asking for a friend. Actually, a few billion friends, come to think of it.

wongarsu 4y ago
It seems incredibly hard to get right. On the other hand many countries seem to get it less wrong than the US, so maybe that's a good starting point. One thing that immediately comes to mind is that first-past-the-post voting systems seem to produce pretty bad results, basically always devolving into a two party system which enables easy us-vs-them rhetoric. And while people love to debate which alternative system is the absolute best, there are many in use around the world that produce better results.
vitessa 4y ago
You can’t. You have three options: 1. A violent revolution against capitalism that destroys it. 2. You slowly contain capitalism and wind it down, making the elite increasingly irrelevant, as it appeared the US and Europe might have been on track to do from 1933-73, until you’ve basically achieved socialism without necessarily calling it that. 3. Capitalism continues to corrode the restraints put in place to contain it until you have an oligarchic nightmare like the US. 3 is completely unacceptable; 1 is a bit better but still involves people getting killed. 2 is probably best if you can pull it off, but the problem is that it requires society to do the right thing for decades whereas an overthrow of capitalism can be done in weeks.
- RedCondor 4y ago
  The only reason 2. happened anywhere on Earth for any period of time is because 1. happened in another. In other words, 1. is responsible for both 1. and 2. https://redsails.org/concessions/ https://redsails.org/concessions/
kelseyfrog 4y ago
Dual currencies. Denominate capital in USDC and keep USD for everything else. Make conversion from USDC to USD transparent/illegal/a-point-of-friction/technically-impossible/socially-impossible/whatever-else.
drewcoo 4y ago
Elect a 3rd party that is willing to curtail the SCOTUS's power?

indymike 4y ago

Actually, capitalism is simply an economic system where private citizens can own the means of production. In other words, people can own businesses, and shares in businesses That's it. Nothing else.

throwawaymaths 4y ago
Contemporary capitalism also features limited liability, and fractional reserve banking, two policies that are not necessarily part of a generalized capitalism, but would be hard to decouple in any analysis of what is currently going on in capitalism.