Of course it is! That's like asking, is monarchy a threat to democracy? Capitalist corporations are basically just little kingdoms.
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Is capitalism a threat to democracy?
31–40 of 230 posts
Re: Is capitalism a threat to democracy?
#32Unregulated capitalism, perhaps. However, I don't think the US has capitalism (well-regulated or otherwise) today. Today we have a system where gains are privatized, losses are socialized, and market-participants can coerce their elected officials to tilt the market in their favor. This is not capitalism.
Why do you say that's not capitalism? I'm no expert but a lot of the socialists I've talked to see capitalism as privatization of gains. Socialized losses are just the other side of that equation. Coercion of elected officials is corruption and it happens in both capitalism and socialism.
Edit: Downvotes but no answer to the question?
Re: Is capitalism a threat to democracy?
#33Simple answer: No. More nuanced answer: not exactly. Not Capitalism per-se anyway. But clearly you can see an unhealthy degree of commingling of big government and big business, in a way that is damaging to society at large. But to my mind: a. that's corruption, not capitalism b. that's an argument against big government, not an argument against capitalism
This is a bit similar to claiming that communism is great, because all the times when it was tried and there were problems weren't real communism.
If capitalism tends to inevitably lead to corruption of government and the undermining of democracy etc in the long run, then that's an interesting critique, which can't just be swatted away with "yes but the result isn't capitalism".
Re: Is capitalism a threat to democracy?
#34Simple answer: No. More nuanced answer: not exactly. Not Capitalism per-se anyway. But clearly you can see an unhealthy degree of commingling of big government and big business, in a way that is damaging to society at large. But to my mind: a. that's corruption, not capitalism b. that's an argument against big government, not an argument against capitalism
In the absence of big government, big corporate will become defacto government even more easily.
I don’t think that’s necessarily true. Government is unique because of its “social license” to govern, meaning that the vast majority of people recognize its authority to do things other people or groups cannot do (like make laws, imprison people, or collect taxes). Corporations don’t have that social license, which is why they need to cozy up with government to take advantage of that unique authority.
Re: Is capitalism a threat to democracy?
#35Simple answer: No. More nuanced answer: not exactly. Not Capitalism per-se anyway. But clearly you can see an unhealthy degree of commingling of big government and big business, in a way that is damaging to society at large. But to my mind: a. that's corruption, not capitalism b. that's an argument against big government, not an argument against capitalism
Sounds like a "No True Capitalism" defense to me.
Capitalism, like all other systems, can't exist in a vacuum. You must consider the human factor and the likelihoods it will produce.
Re: Is capitalism a threat to democracy?
#36A good book that demonstrates how hyper-capitalism is inconsistent with Democratic rule is The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein.
Re: Is capitalism a threat to democracy?
#37No, but greed is.
That's like saying the massive amount of written content is the biggest threat to search engines.
No, search engines are the solution to massive amounts of content.
Greed isn't the biggest threat to democracy. Democracy (or any other form of government) is the solution to whatever set of behaviors are undesirable in the ungoverned.
Re: Is capitalism a threat to democracy?
#38Simple answer: No. More nuanced answer: not exactly. Not Capitalism per-se anyway. But clearly you can see an unhealthy degree of commingling of big government and big business, in a way that is damaging to society at large. But to my mind: a. that's corruption, not capitalism b. that's an argument against big government, not an argument against capitalism
Corruption is just the free market between those who have power but (relatively) no wealth, and those who have wealth but (relatively) no power. It's treating power and influence as just another asset that can be purchased (with wealth).
Re: Is capitalism a threat to democracy?
#39According to many economists, yes.
Capitalism does not appear to have a stable mode with a low Gini coefficient. Power that derives from wealth becomes concentrated, which is clearly anti-democratic.
Democracy is only viable as a decision-making process in societies where everyone is more or less equal. When people gain power at the expense of others, the result is that the system may remain nominally democratic, but becomes more and more of a plutocracy.
In Marx's view, the abuse of the 99% by the 1% would inevitably lead to revolution, violent or otherwise. He then tried to come up with a method of economic organization that could be fair and stable after that revolution. It's not clear that this method has ever worked on a scale larger than a kibbutz or cooperative, but it's also clear that most families are run as communes, though this is rarely discussed.
Somewhere in the trek from startup partnership to corporation there is a shift from commune-like organization to dictatorial/plutocratic organization. I don't know if anyone has done an organized study.
Re: Is capitalism a threat to democracy?
#40Simple answer: No. More nuanced answer: not exactly. Not Capitalism per-se anyway. But clearly you can see an unhealthy degree of commingling of big government and big business, in a way that is damaging to society at large. But to my mind: a. that's corruption, not capitalism b. that's an argument against big government, not an argument against capitalism
In the absence of big government, big corporate will become defacto government even more easily.
Not necessarily. Big corporations actually depend on the State for their very existence, and leverage corruption, regulatory capture, etc., to grow larger and more powerful than they would naturally.