Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

journals.aom.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 261 posts

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#31

Post by MSFT_Edging »

lanevorockz wrote: post #22

Cronyism is indeed the disease and there is a solution on automation and transparency. Big Government is not the solutions and it will only make all the problems worse. I really don't understand why so many smart people think that solution for the whole world is to sit down and vote money into existence. I will never work because it just can't work, everyone is different and has different priorities. A better world c…

How exactly would automation assist in making an economic system more democratic and beneficial to the general population? Greater automation would simply push people further away from any wealth generated, creating more powerful cronies, and continuing the trend of low paid, low quality, serf like jobs in the service industry.

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#32

Post by lanevorockz »

ericls wrote: post #17

Capitalism describes Capitalism doesn't prescribe We should praise Capitalism for describing humanity better than other *ism

Capitalism is the ultimate democracy, everyone votes with their labour and their purchases. The more regulation, the less power the individual has. Of course, some regulation is necessary to avoid abuses.

Discussions should be on the level of what rules allow society to reach a better result, not just try to artificially fix problems because it leads to even bigger problems.

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#33

Post by seventytwo »

episode0x01 wrote: post #9

Not a shocker that corruption ruins things. I guess then the question is how you can design a broadly distributed system that removes the incentives for corruption and minimizes its impact. My guess is that such a system won't be found in capitalism

Corruption can’t be decoupled from any human organizational system, though. The system needs to be designed in a way to take corruption into account and minimize it.

In unregulated capitalism, corruption provides a huge competitive advantage, so controls must be put in place to counteract that. Typically that’s done with government intervention.

The idea that we can “blame cronyism, not capitalism”, is a red herring. Cronyism and corruption is something capitalism, as a system, must be able to deal with, or else capitalism is a poor system.

It’s like saying “don’t blame the engine, blame friction forces” for why an engine has poor qualities. Friction is a given and will always exist, it’s the poor engineering design of the engine that’s the problem. The design didn’t mitigate the friction appropriately.

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#34

Post by lanevorockz »

MSFT_Edging wrote: post #31
lanevorockz wrote: post #22

Cronyism is indeed the disease and there is a solution on automation and transparency. Big Government is not the solutions and it will only make all the problems worse. I really don't understand why so many smart people think that solution for the whole world is to sit down and vote money into existence. I will never work because it just can't work, everyone is different and has different priorities. A better world c…

How exactly would automation assist in making an economic system more democratic and beneficial to the general population? Greater automation would simply push people further away from any wealth generated, creating more powerful cronies, and continuing the trend of low paid, low quality, serf like jobs in the service industry.

That is a problem that needs cracking but you are starting to see the solution emerging on the crypto and DeFi work.

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#36

Post by olalonde »

mcv wrote: post #13
episode0x01 wrote: post #9

Not a shocker that corruption ruins things. I guess then the question is how you can design a broadly distributed system that removes the incentives for corruption and minimizes its impact. My guess is that such a system won't be found in capitalism

Capitalism quite clearly requires strong regulation. At least, any sort of positive capitalism that doesn't immediately succumb to monopolies, cartels and corruption. The problem is that the loudest voices arguing for capitalism, also tend to argue against regulation, accountability, and that sort of thing.

Regulations is what largely enables cronyism.

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#37

Post by syki »

lanevorockz wrote: post #22

Cronyism is indeed the disease and there is a solution on automation and transparency. Big Government is not the solutions and it will only make all the problems worse. I really don't understand why so many smart people think that solution for the whole world is to sit down and vote money into existence. I will never work because it just can't work, everyone is different and has different priorities. A better world c…

Have you considered the possibility that those “so many smart people” understand these things better than you? Have you considered the possibility that the craft beer industry can’t work or isn’t feasible to occur in other sectors?

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#38

Post by blululu »

thewarrior wrote: post #20
mcv wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capitalism quite clearly requires strong regulation. At least, any sort of positive capitalism that doesn't immediately succumb to monopolies, cartels and corruption. The problem is that the loudest voices arguing for capitalism, also tend to argue against regulation, accountability, and that sort of thing.

Who regulates the regulator ? If it is the government then it goes back to the people being aware of their interests and not allowing themselves to be manipulated. Which is never going to be the case.

The answer to this question has always been ideology. Establishing a deep an sincere belief in the purpose of an undertaking on the part of its functionaries is the most durable way to run a community of any sort. Successful anarchist programs require some degree of ideological commitment to a greater cause. Switzerland is probably the most decentralized society on earth and you will notice the incredibly tight sense of right/wrong throughout Swiss society.

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#40

Post by manuelabeledo »

lanevorockz wrote: post #32
ericls wrote: post #17

Capitalism describes Capitalism doesn't prescribe We should praise Capitalism for describing humanity better than other *ism

Capitalism is the ultimate democracy, everyone votes with their labour and their purchases. The more regulation, the less power the individual has. Of course, some regulation is necessary to avoid abuses. Discussions should be on the level of what rules allow society to reach a better result, not just try to artificially fix problems because it leads to even bigger problems.

> Capitalism is the ultimate democracy, everyone votes with their labour and their purchases.

So only those who can perform jobs and buy things are able to vote? That sounds dystopian to me.

Post reply on HN