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The idea of late-stage capitalism is that if you create a system that prizes monetary gain over all else and allow companies to become sufficiently large and po
by idle_zealot 3y ago
The idea of late-stage capitalism is that if you create a system that prizes monetary gain over all else and allow companies to become sufficiently large and powerful then in the process of optimizing for maximum profit those companies are incentivised to capture the state and wield its power.
- keiferski 3y agoThat may be the case, but it’s not capitalism as defined by any classical theorist or economist. As in, the people that actually defined the term. What you’re describing is more like profit-maximizing corporatism. Classical capitalist theory explicitly puts competition as the solution to this.
- matthewdgreen 3y agoThis is like the difference between communist theory and communism as it was actually practiced in the late USSR. The former had many good intentions but no real mechanism to ensure that it wouldn’t rapidly devolve into the latter. With capitalism we even have enough economic theory to understand why businesses are incentivized to move away from the ideal competitive environment, and to undermine the political mechanisms (like anti-trust) that should keep them there.
- keiferski 3y agoAnd then the solution would be …increasing competition and anti trust legislation. No? I’m fairly certain that most people using the term late capitalism aren’t advocating for more competition, they’re advocating for more state control.
- idle_zealot 3y agoAnti-trust regulations are a form of state control though. Are they the only good sort of control?
- keiferski 3y agoCapitalism is not equivalent to anarchism. It’s perfectly reasonable to think that state control which incentivizes market competition is desirable, whereas state control that prevents such competition is bad.