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| ▲ | kubb 10 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| But with how compounding works, isn't this outcome inevitable in capitalism? If the strong government prevents it then the first step for the rich is to weaken or co-opt the government, and exactly this has been happening. |
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| ▲ | coldtea 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| >That capitalism logically implies that the rich become richer? I don't think this is necessarily the case, It doesn't need to imply anything. It's an ideology, those promoting it will say whatever BS attracts people to it. In practice, what is happening in capitalist countries since 1970s (when they abandoned all pretense) is that the rich get way richer and everybody else is fucked. |
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| ▲ | glitchc 9 hours ago | parent [-] | | Versus what exactly? Communism? Where the rich got richer faster and people got fucked faster? | | |
| ▲ | pixl97 7 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | At the end of the day Capitalism and Communism have nothing to do with authoritarianism and liberalism/democracy. An authoritarian capitalist country is a perfectly valid type of government as there has never existed a 'pure' capitalistic governed country. | |
| ▲ | coldtea 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | They taught you the only two altenatives are 1917 style communism or 2026 style capitalism? Talk about a crap educational system. |
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| ▲ | pbhjpbhj 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| We have a lot of people, capitalism values them as approaching zero, anything that alters that valuation (without reducing population) is contrary to capitalism. Capitalism means the rich must get richer, they own the resources and means of production, they take the reward. It comes to a point where they need an underclass to insulate them from the masses; look how cheaply Trump bought his paramilitary though, he only had to spend the money taken from those he's suppressing, didn't even have to reduce his own wealth one bit; the military and his new brown shirts will ensure the rich stay rich and that eventually there is massive starvation (possibly water/fuel poverty first). Or USA recovers the constitution, recognises climate change and start to do something about it. It seems like the whole of humanities future hinges on a handful of billionaires megalomania and that riding on the coattails of Trump's need to not face justice for his crimes. |
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| ▲ | jwarden 9 hours ago | parent [-] | | Capitalism just means private citizens can own the means of
production (e.g. start a business, buy stock) and earn a return on investment. It doesn’t mean only the rich must get richer. It means anyone who saves and invests their money instead of spending it gets richer. However capitalism is perfectly compatible with a progressives taxation system such that the rich get richer at a lesser rate than the poor get richer. | | |
| ▲ | pbhjpbhj 5 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | >anyone who saves and invests their money instead of spending it gets richer. You realise that a large swathe of society earn less than their costs? Everyone will get richer perpetually, there will never be any impact on climate, we'll never suffer water shortages, we'll all ride unicorns and eat rainbows... | |
| ▲ | pixl97 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | The important thing to note here is people have been propagandized into thinking that capitalist = democratic. In fact the US would gladly punish you with 'un-American activities' investigation if you said anything to the contrary. The thing is a capitalistic country will gladly turn itself into an authoritarian one if both wealth becomes concentrated and wealth buys votes. With the massive rise in authoritarian activities all over the world, especially in the US our democratic system is at very high risk of collapsing. |
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| ▲ | beardyw 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Isn't that what Americans call socialism? |
