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A majority of millennials now reject capitalism, poll shows

washingtonpost.com

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Re: A majority of millennials now reject capitalism, poll shows

#31

Post by dv_dt »

brucephillips wrote: post #26
dv_dt wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People get way too hung up on what I'd consider the theoretical government + economic label a place runs under, and overlook the power structures and how the powerful operate with respect to the needs of people. Along those lines, maybe we have something labelled democracy in America, but the power structures responsiveness and effectiveness (esp with the current tax vote), is getting closer to a communist dictatorsh…

How so? Didn't the people elect congress?

Major Study Finds The US Is An Oligarchy

http://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us...

> Researchers concluded that U.S. government policies rarely align with the preferences of the majority of Americans, but do favour special interests and lobbying organizations: "When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the US political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favour policy change, they generally do not get it."

Re: A majority of millennials now reject capitalism, poll shows

#32

Post by brucephillips »

dv_dt wrote: post #31
brucephillips wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so? Didn't the people elect congress?

Major Study Finds The US Is An Oligarchy http://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us... > Researchers concluded that U.S. government policies rarely align with the preferences of the majority of Americans, but do favour special interests and lobbying organizations: "When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of th…

Sure, so we can say that people vote against their interests. We can't say that the U.S. is a dictatorship. Let's be precise with our terms, rather than contributing to political polarization and blustering.

Re: A majority of millennials now reject capitalism, poll shows

#33

Post by DoreenMichele »

brucephillips wrote: post #19
DoreenMichele wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Harvard University survey, which polled young adults between ages 18 and 29, found that 51 percent of respondents do not support capitalism. Just 42 percent said they support it. The results of the survey are difficult to interpret, pollsters noted. Capitalism can mean different things to different people, and the newest generation of voters is frustrated with the status quo, broadly speaking. If you do a survey…

By any definition of capitalism , the iphone wouldn't have happened without it, so you can't claim that ambiguity in the question would prevent hypocrisy.

"The word 'capitalism' doesn't mean what it used to," said Zach Lustbader, a senior at Harvard involved in conducting the poll, which was published Monday. For those who grew up during the Cold War, capitalism meant freedom from the Soviet Union and other totalitarian regimes. For those who grew up more recently, capitalism has meant a financial crisis from which the global economy still hasn't completely recovered.

"They're not rejecting the concept," Della Volpe said. "The way in which capitalism is practiced today, in the minds of young people — that's what they're rejecting."

Re: A majority of millennials now reject capitalism, poll shows

#34

Post by dv_dt »

brucephillips wrote: post #32
dv_dt wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Major Study Finds The US Is An Oligarchy http://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us... > Researchers concluded that U.S. government policies rarely align with the preferences of the majority of Americans, but do favour special interests and lobbying organizations: "When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of th…

Sure, so we can say that people vote against their interests. We can't say that the U.S. is a dictatorship. Let's be precise with our terms, rather than contributing to political polarization and blustering.

Systematically studying a range of issues supported by voters and comparing them against actual congressional votes is not blustering. It's rather methodical and data driven.

Re: A majority of millennials now reject capitalism, poll shows

#35

Post by brucephillips »

dv_dt wrote: post #34
brucephillips wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, so we can say that people vote against their interests. We can't say that the U.S. is a dictatorship. Let's be precise with our terms, rather than contributing to political polarization and blustering.

Systematically studying a range of issues supported by voters and comparing them against actual congressional votes is not blustering. It's rather methodical and data driven.

The study isn't blustering. Claiming that America "is getting closer to a communist dictatorship" is.

Re: A majority of millennials now reject capitalism, poll shows

#36

Post by dv_dt »

brucephillips wrote: post #35
dv_dt wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Systematically studying a range of issues supported by voters and comparing them against actual congressional votes is not blustering. It's rather methodical and data driven.

The study isn't blustering. Claiming that America "is getting closer to a communist dictatorship" is.

Communist dictatorships don't have the characteristic power structure of a close circle of oligarchs that overall decide policy?

Re: A majority of millennials now reject capitalism, poll shows

#37

Post by ellius »

gsam wrote: post #3

It's no surprise people reject concepts they don't adequately understand. I don't know who exactly you could blame here. But if they all understood what it meant, I don't believe nearly as many would be rejecting it.

I think this is half correct. Part of the reason they “don’t understand” it is because leaders in business and politics misuse the term to mean “back the fuck off and we’ll make things better.” It’s sort of a catchall diversionary term for deregulatory policies and Ameican exceptionalism, and I think millenials have a pretty valid reason to be critical of those things after getting the short end of the economic stick and entering one of the worst job markets since the 1930s.

Re: A majority of millennials now reject capitalism, poll shows

#38

Post by brucephillips »

dv_dt wrote: post #36
brucephillips wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The study isn't blustering. Claiming that America "is getting closer to a communist dictatorship" is.

Communist dictatorships don't have the characteristic power structure of a close circle of oligarchs that overall decide policy?

...who aren't chosen by the people. That's the defining characteristic.

Re: A majority of millennials now reject capitalism, poll shows

#40

Post by krapp »

Analemma_ wrote: post #13

This sure disappeared from the front page in a hurry. Here’s your scheduled reminder that, no matter what benevolence they claim, a news site run by a venture _capitalist_ fund may not have your best interests at heart vis-à-vis discussions about capitalism.

I don't think it's likely that Y Combinator is so scared of anti-capitalist discussion on their web forum that they would actually tank the thread to censor it.
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