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America Has Replaced Capitalism with Cronyism

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Re: America Has Replaced Capitalism with Cronyism

#31

Post by wongarsu »

b1c1jones wrote: post #19
vitessa wrote: post #7

This was capitalism, a beacon of hope for people who are smart, hardworking, and comfortable with risk, promising a greater share of the spoils to them than to those who are not. Wrong. That’s not what capitalism is or means. Capitalism is an economic system in which private investors run the economy in search of personal profit, while those who lack capital rely on wage labor to survive. You can debate whether this…

How do you prevent capitalism and dollars being free speech from turning into oligarchy? Asking for a friend. Actually, a few billion friends, come to think of it.

It seems incredibly hard to get right. On the other hand many countries seem to get it less wrong than the US, so maybe that's a good starting point.

One thing that immediately comes to mind is that first-past-the-post voting systems seem to produce pretty bad results, basically always devolving into a two party system which enables easy us-vs-them rhetoric. And while people love to debate which alternative system is the absolute best, there are many in use around the world that produce better results.

Re: America Has Replaced Capitalism with Cronyism

#32

Post by emodendroket »

b1c1jones wrote: post #16

Just call them oligarchs and have done with the whole argument. Wait, what happened to the robber barons? I guess they didn't have PACs.

The term "robber baron" sounds so impossibly dated it's hard to take it seriously, and "oligarch" seems to be the favored term for when people have corrupt business relations in enemy states, so perhaps using "oligarch" is more illuminating for a modern audience.

Re: America Has Replaced Capitalism with Cronyism

#34

Post by malermeister »

Havoc wrote: post #13

It’s really more this current iteration of capitalism. It’s not so much the cronyism itself but just how large of a chunk of the pie they took this time. See salary vs house price trends. The remainder is so small that basic structures of society are starting to collapse (can’t afford education, house, kids, healthcare etc) Had it not been turned up to 11 this could keep going.

Capitalism is all about maximizing profits. Turning it up to 11 and watching everything burn is the natural consequence.

Re: America Has Replaced Capitalism with Cronyism

#35

Post by readthenotes1 »

emodendroket wrote: post #32
b1c1jones wrote: post #16

Just call them oligarchs and have done with the whole argument. Wait, what happened to the robber barons? I guess they didn't have PACs.

The term "robber baron" sounds so impossibly dated it's hard to take it seriously, and "oligarch" seems to be the favored term for when people have corrupt business relations in enemy states, so perhaps using "oligarch" is more illuminating for a modern audience.

It can be argued that the United States government is at war with its citizens...

Re: America Has Replaced Capitalism with Cronyism

#36

Post by readthenotes1 »

emodendroket wrote: post #4

An honest look at modern history makes it hard, in my view, to identify this halcyon era of capitalism where "cronyism" did not run rampant.

a good point. It was certainly throw off the modern day swimming pool socialist who claimed that capitalism is bad!

Re: America Has Replaced Capitalism with Cronyism

#37

Post by emodendroket »

readthenotes1 wrote: post #36
emodendroket wrote: post #4

An honest look at modern history makes it hard, in my view, to identify this halcyon era of capitalism where "cronyism" did not run rampant.

a good point. It was certainly throw off the modern day swimming pool socialist who claimed that capitalism is bad!

I assume you typed this on a phone and got an undesired word somewhere because I have no idea what it means.

Re: America Has Replaced Capitalism with Cronyism

#38

Post by throwawaylinux »

malermeister wrote: post #28
throwawaylinux wrote: post #24

However, no more. Modern-day capitalism in America is to flatten the risk curve for people who already have money by borrowing from future generations with debt-fueled bailouts for companies. We have consciously decided to reduce the downside for the wealthy, thereby limiting the upside for future generations. That's modern-day America (and western countries in general), but massive government taxation and borrowing,…

We just had all of the VCs show their ass (including the ones running this very site) by begging Big Government to please step in and bail them out. It's capitalism, not the government.

Again, the system of massive government regulation and taxation, borrowing, and spending programmes is not "capitalism". I don't know what "VCs show their ass", or people asking the government to help them has anything to do with it.

Government propping up special interests is pretty anti capitalistic, whether it's a corporation, an unemployed person, or a college student trying to default on their loans.

Re: America Has Replaced Capitalism with Cronyism

#40

Post by polygamous_bat »

malermeister wrote: post #28
throwawaylinux wrote: post #24

However, no more. Modern-day capitalism in America is to flatten the risk curve for people who already have money by borrowing from future generations with debt-fueled bailouts for companies. We have consciously decided to reduce the downside for the wealthy, thereby limiting the upside for future generations. That's modern-day America (and western countries in general), but massive government taxation and borrowing,…

We just had all of the VCs show their ass (including the ones running this very site) by begging Big Government to please step in and bail them out. It's capitalism, not the government.

As someone once said, there are no atheists in a foxhole, and no libertarians in a bank run.

I've seen this tired argument so many times in last year: you make millions pumping crypto, you're just a genius capitalist and not a regulatory arbitrageur. If you lose money falling for another person's pump and dump, it's the government's fault for not saving you or making you whole. For these people, government only exists to enrich them/save them from the downside, just what this article talks about.

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