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> It's socialism, after all, for the Government to own an interest in a company. > Covered yesterday on YC.[1] > [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4498

> It's socialism, after all, for the Government to own an interest in a company. > Covered yesterday on YC.[1] > [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44989773 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44989773 The post from yesterday was news; this is commentary, as in, not a dupe. To your point, it's arguably closer to state capitalism, which may be a distinction without a difference if you paint it with the same brush as socialism, but it's one worth mentioning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_capitalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_capitalism The name of the (sub)site we're posting on is HN; YC is the host. :P

Animats 1y ago
The phrase "lemon socialism" used to be applied to the UK. The Government had managed to acquire the steel industry, the railroad industry, and the auto industry - all dying industries in the UK. They became British Steel, British Rail, and British Leyland. The end result wasn't good. They turned into jobs programs. Eventually those were privatized. Now, the railroads are being socialized again.
- aspenmayer 1y ago
  It's a pendulum effect, with nationalization on one end, and privatization on the other. If capitalism and money itself is the best organizing principle that works around the world, it does limit the opportunities for change and growth. Socialism doesn't have a counter to the market principle, so they can only incorporate it. The US has a branding problem; freedom ain't free, but nobody even votes, so we earned what we got.
crooked-v 1y ago
"capitalism with American characteristics"
- aspenmayer 1y ago
  > "capitalism with American characteristics" China is trying to beat US at its own game. US (or at least its current political leader) is trying to beat Russia at its own game. Russia is trying to remain relevant. Russia is the muscle, China is the finance. China needs Russia just like Google (Chrome) needs Firefox. Without Russia around, China would get all of the attention instead. Without Firefox existing, Google would have no counter to antitrust allegations in the web browser space. Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you. No, not like that! It's like that Spider-Man meme where everyone is Spider-Man pointing their fingers at each other. All the power structures are mirroring each other. It's all kayfabe, all the time. Everything is wrestling. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27/magazine/is-everything-wrestling.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27/magazine/is-everything-wr... | https://archive.is/muwUp https://archive.is/muwUp

Animats 1y ago

The phrase "lemon socialism" used to be applied to the UK. The Government had managed to acquire the steel industry, the railroad industry, and the auto industry - all dying industries in the UK. They became British Steel, British Rail, and British Leyland. The end result wasn't good. They turned into jobs programs. Eventually those were privatized. Now, the railroads are being socialized again.

aspenmayer 1y ago
It's a pendulum effect, with nationalization on one end, and privatization on the other. If capitalism and money itself is the best organizing principle that works around the world, it does limit the opportunities for change and growth. Socialism doesn't have a counter to the market principle, so they can only incorporate it. The US has a branding problem; freedom ain't free, but nobody even votes, so we earned what we got.

crooked-v 1y ago

"capitalism with American characteristics"

aspenmayer 1y ago
> "capitalism with American characteristics" China is trying to beat US at its own game. US (or at least its current political leader) is trying to beat Russia at its own game. Russia is trying to remain relevant. Russia is the muscle, China is the finance. China needs Russia just like Google (Chrome) needs Firefox. Without Russia around, China would get all of the attention instead. Without Firefox existing, Google would have no counter to antitrust allegations in the web browser space. Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you. No, not like that! It's like that Spider-Man meme where everyone is Spider-Man pointing their fingers at each other. All the power structures are mirroring each other. It's all kayfabe, all the time. Everything is wrestling. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27/magazine/is-everything-wrestling.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27/magazine/is-everything-wr... | https://archive.is/muwUp https://archive.is/muwUp