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> People are ragging on capitalism because they're looking over the pond to countries that see capitalism as a tool to serve democratic interests rather than a
by problems 9y ago
> People are ragging on capitalism because they're looking over the pond to countries that see capitalism as a tool to serve democratic interests rather than a moral worldview, and they kind of like that idea. Interestingly, those countries aren't really less capitalistic (the Heritage Foundation puts the U.S. in the same bucket on their Economic Freedom index as Sweden and Germany), but their culture is less centered around glorifying the capitalist.
I think you've made a great point here - but I've seen people explicitly saying they want communism. Look at how often /r/LateStageCapitalism, an explicitly communist subreddit is on the frontpage of reddit.
If people were just pushing for a few more socialized services, I think they've got a good argument to make there. There are good tweaks that can be made. But if they're pushing for a complete change to the system I think they're off their rockers.
- tylerhou 9y agoSmall correction: the subreddit is /r/LateStageCapitalism.
- problems 9y agoYeah, fixed it. Thanks.
- pjc50 9y agoQuite a lot of those people are "into" actual communism out of a mixture of ignorance and edginess. Revolutions sound great when you're naive. And it's not actually a great number of people as a proportion of the electorate! The key is what happens to suggestions for "good tweaks". Do they get considered reasonably and implemented fairly? Or are people denounced for even seeking tweaks? Flexible mixed-economy capitalism seems to be pretty stable. Capitalism that's blind to inequality produces an increasing long tail of disaffected victims with nothing to lose. Hence the rise of kick-over-the-table politics, epitomised by Trump.
- mcguffin777 9y agoYeah and a lot of capitalism defenders basically do the same They ignore that really our system isn't capitalist at all They seem to think it's trivial to waltz out and get that VC check and off you go Revolutions sound great because people want to create for themselves but are offered "if you want to eat, please the master"
- rayiner 9y agoI think it's an understatement to categorize the changes as "tweaks." In the U.S., the prevailing view seems to be that social services are a concession capitalists make because they're forced to. We glorify and fetishize capitalists and achievers and optimize the system to benefit them. Even our left does that (e.g. HN). You can have free markets without that mentality, and that might be a good thing because I think people are chafing at that. At the end of the day, the actual change in the mix of social services might just be tweaks, but you're also talking about a very significant change in worldview.