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Capitalism is a process whereby wealth percolates upwards over time, such that the end result is nearly all wealth is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands whil
by simonblack 4y ago
Capitalism is a process whereby wealth percolates upwards over time, such that the end result is nearly all wealth is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands while the bulk of the population becomes poorer and poorer.
Taken to its logical end, all the wealth would finally be concentrated in the arms of one person, and all the rest of the population would have nothing. Of course, it never reaches that point as some form of social upheaval (war, revolution, etc) will reset all the pieces. The process then starts all over again.
- RedCondor 4y agoThe problem with this kind-of-definition is that it doesn't explain what makes capitalism unique. Slavery and feudalism also percolate wealth upwards, and, relatively speaking, capitalism provides more goodies to more people. You risk landing on a situation where, like Nietzsche, you believe injustice to be ineradicable, and to just defend capitalism as the best of its ilk. If you insist on a simplistic and moralistic explanation, people will quickly turn on you when they realize something's amiss. As the essay explains, making a deeper study pays off.
- simonblack 4y agoit doesn't explain what makes capitalism unique. Pure capitalism is unique in that it's non-political as such. (Mind you, there will be always be some political activity, because you will never find pure Capitalism, just as you will never find pure Communism.) Slavery and feudalism I would class as specific 'political' forms of capitalism. Our modern capitalism is not pure. Wage slavery is slavery. Racial discrimination leading to lower incomes for specific ethnics is a form of modern-day feudalism, etc.
- RedCondor 4y agoI mean, I don't know what to say other than "this is wrong, as is clearly explained by the submitted link."