

Why I Have Lost My Faith in Capitalism - soleimc
http://colinvanderbilt.tumblr.com/post/15463561340/why-i-have-lost-my-faith-in-capitalism

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soleimc
I guess the point I didn't make in this blog post, but that I usually do make
when I'm discussing this topic in real life, is that the system we have right
now, call it corporatism or whatever, will always develop out of capitalism.
Because the people do not have the capacity to make checks on the government
or business, given enough time, capitalism will start to crumble and create a
system that is littered with problems that are practically impossible to fix
by an uninformed public.

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lukesandberg
it seems like he really lost his faith in government regulation and subsidy
programs not capitalism.

~~~
meepmorp
Seems like he's lost faith in the unrestrained capitalism preached by the
right in America. Seems like he'd welcome a government entity handling the
consequences of fracking with an eye towards the environmental and community
damage, and someone stepping in to make big companies back off of anti-
consumer, pro-profitability-at-any cost fees and other schemes.

Sounds like he's losing confidence in capitalism the way it works in the USA
in our times. It might not be what you'd call capitalism, but that's what
capitalism is for many people.

~~~
kls
_Seems like he's lost faith in the unrestrained capitalism preached by the
right in America._

To be fair the right loves anti-business regulation, just as much as the left.
They are after-all working for the same lobbies and part of the same revolving
door plutocracy. The right loves to implement legislation that keeps
competition out of established players markets, just as the left does. America
has not been a capitalist economy for a long time, and a century of ever
increasing regulations have accrued to the point that it is starting to
crumble. One can say they blame capitalism and cite America as their example,
but it calls into question their understanding of economic models, because
America does not meet the definition of capitalism and has not in a long time.
Plutocracy, corporate fascism, or Corporatism
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism>) better meet the definition of
America. It is pretty safe to say, that when an economy transitions to a
centrally planned economy it stops being a capitalist economy. Just because we
allow unlimited personal profit (a key tenant of capitalism) does not mean
that we meet all the requirements of capitalism. One of the other key tenants
(a market free of intervention. AKA government picking winners and loosers)
has been missing for a long time.

~~~
meepmorp
So, I'll leave off debating the validity of anything you said and remark that
that's entirely beside the point.

Feel free to argue that our economic system isn't capitalist; it's largely an
academic discussion. It's called capitalist, wrongly or not, and it's that
system that is what's meant here.

He's not talking about anti-business legislation, the picking of winners and
losers, etc. He's talking about the unwillingness of government to intervene
in business to prevent it from abusing the citizens. He's talking about the
byproducts of the mania for deregulation in the name of the free market that's
been a hallmark of the rhetoric of the right the US for decades.

Don't let details distract for the actual topic of discussion here. They
matter, but not so much that they warrant ignoring the original complaint.

~~~
kls
_it's largely an academic discussion_

I differ on that subject, one of the reasons that we are where we are is that
people don't take the time to properly analyze what we are, if people lack the
fundamental understanding that we do not have a capitalist market, to the
extent that they complain about said capitalism then it is a huge issue. It
shows that they have largely been successful in convincing the people that
what we have meets the definition of the title, to the extent that even the
blanket terms are accepted for something that it clearly is not.

 _He's talking about the byproducts of the mania for deregulation in the name
of the free market that's been a hallmark of the rhetoric of the right the US
for decades._

Yes and that was my point, they are not anti-regulation they are just anti-
regulation for the insiders and both sides are just as guilty of it. They may
preach the platform, but in practice they do not apply it across the board.
Hence they pick the winners and looser by only being anti-regulation when it
conveniently creates barriers to entry by anyone other than established
players. As such, my post was very relevant to the article and it is not
capitalism. What the author dislikes is corporatism which is the definition
and title of what we have.

 _Don't let details distract for the actual topic of discussion here. They
matter, but not so much that they warrant ignoring the original complaint._

I think you have misread my original post, the information was very relevant
to the topic. I was not ignoring the complainant but rather highlighting that
we do not have a capitalist system and his and our redress is to return to
true capitalism which will only come about by people understanding that we are
indeed not a capitalist economy.

