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Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

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Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#151

Post by jimbokun »

vannevar wrote: post #136

Why is cronyism bad? Because it distributes opportunity based on relationships rather than merit. Why is unregulated capitalism bad? Because it distributes opportunity based on capital rather than merit. But cronyism by definition operates at a human scale---a person can only have so many friends, after all---while the scale of capital is unlimited. in principle, one person can deprive millions of people of opportuni…

> But cronyism by definition operates at a human scale---a person can only have so many friends, after all

If your friends are Senators, Representatives, and the President, you can also deprive unlimited millions of people from opportunities.

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#152

Post by bfors »

mrkentutbabi wrote: post #66

Is wealth inequality necessarily bad? Genuine question here.

The way I see it, it's not about the wealth itself, but the disproportionate influence in politics that it can yield. The wider the divide gets, the less democratic the country gets. Hypothetically.

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#153

Post by jimbokun »

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

> My guess is that such a system won't be found in capitalism

It won't be found in communism or socialism, either.

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#154

Post by hrhrhrhrhr »

vannevar wrote: post #136

Why is cronyism bad? Because it distributes opportunity based on relationships rather than merit. Why is unregulated capitalism bad? Because it distributes opportunity based on capital rather than merit. But cronyism by definition operates at a human scale---a person can only have so many friends, after all---while the scale of capital is unlimited. in principle, one person can deprive millions of people of opportuni…

No post body was provided.

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#155

Post by golergka »

Miner49er wrote: post #139
mrkentutbabi wrote: post #66

Is wealth inequality necessarily bad? Genuine question here.

If left unchecked, it'll keep increasing until the people are forced to starve or "eat the rich".

No — that relies on the assumption that we're playing a zero sum game, which we're not.

There's nothing stopping wealth inequality from raising at the same time as living standards for the world's poorest do. In fact, it's exactly what's happening right now.

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#156

Post by nopenopenopeno »

pydry wrote: post #122
vlunkr wrote: post #81

For the political experts out there, what would happen if we stopped allowing lobbying? That seems to me like the most obvious source of corruption. Edit: ok, I should have worded better. What if we stopped allowing corporate lobbying through donations to elected officials? I understand there would be loopholes to close, but isn't this the obvious source of government corruption?

There have been a lot of attempts to curtail wealth driven lobbying. Capital somehow overcomes all of them. This inability of capital to help itself from corrupting lawmakers is apparently the fault of the state, not the fault of capitalism for reasons I can't quite fathom but might make sense if I had a lot more money. If somebody emerged from poverty in the third world though, and capital was tangentially involved…

>There have been a lot of attempts to curtail wealth driven lobbying. Capital somehow overcomes all of them.

Exactly. It’s called “capitalism” for a reason. Karl Marx understood exactly how it worked when he started using this term to refer to it. It’s also the basis for Marx’s “political economy” which understands the politics are inseparable from the economics.

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#157

Post by peteey »

MichaelGlass wrote: post #117

"Government casuses cronyism -- especially anti-cronyism laws". What should the role of government be? I guess the authors would say: Governments should be replaced with financial modeling. I'm not convinced. There's something fundamentally undemocratic (and perhaps, sadly, realistic) about this take. Will advocating for broad de-regulation and business rule actually reduce cronism? Will it / can it reduce negative e…

The past 40 has seen an increase in housing regulation. NIMBYs create restrictive zoning rules.

Developers can only build after attending dozens of meetings. City council must grant an exception to the NIMBY laws.

Only wealthy developers can afford the process. Various council and board member get kick backs for the exemptions.

Housing is an important example because its the most expensive thing most people purchase. Grift is enabled by individuals electing representatives who oppose construction, not capitalism.

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#158

Post by usrbinbash »

hnuser847 wrote: post #120
usrbinbash wrote: post #26

[flagged]

> Company A, having been dominant on the market for a long time, can simply tap into their savings and lower its prices, to the point where X is more attractive to consumers than X'. B, new to the market and wo. such substantial savings, cannot compete and goes bankrupt. If it was this simple, why have so many gigantic corporations gone out of business over the years? Sears was once the world's largest retailer and b…

https://www.indigo9digital.com/blog/failureofsears

http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/2014/07/what-ever-happ...

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#159

Post by stonemetal12 »

mrkentutbabi wrote: post #66

Is wealth inequality necessarily bad? Genuine question here.

Wealth inequality is to complex a topic for a good\bad flag. On the one hand it is good because it shows there is a real reward for delivering something people want or need. On the other hand it can be bad when people end up homeless and starving not because the resources don't exist but because they are being horded by the wealthy.

Re: Blame Cronyism, Not Capitalism

#160

Post by cheeseomlit »

hypersoar wrote: post #103
vlunkr wrote: post #81

For the political experts out there, what would happen if we stopped allowing lobbying? That seems to me like the most obvious source of corruption. Edit: ok, I should have worded better. What if we stopped allowing corporate lobbying through donations to elected officials? I understand there would be loopholes to close, but isn't this the obvious source of government corruption?

The broad concept of "lobbying" is really just people bringing their concerns to elected representatives. I don't really see how you would ban it entirely.

There seems to me a massive difference between corporate interests openly bribing lawmakers in a brazenly material fashion vs. a group of concerned citizens merely voicing their concerns, yet the two are always conflated. Money is not speech and corporations are not people, I don't see why people tolerate this.
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