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Questioning Capitalism

An undercurrent of questioning of the benefits of capitalism is beginning to be noticed. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell recently commented: “I never thought in my lifetime we’d be having a debate about the virtues of capitalism. For goodness sake, we are.” He indicated that the strategy for republicans to run in 2020 will be as a “firewall against socialism.” [washingtonexaminer.com]

The Washington Post writes: “For the first time in decades, capitalism’s future is a subject of debate among presidential hopefuls and a source of growing angst for America’s business elite. In places such as Silicon Valley, the slopes of Davos, Switzerland, and the halls of Harvard Business School, there is a sense that the kind of capitalism that once made America an economic envy is responsible for the growing inequality and anger that is tearing the country apart.

Americans still loved technology, [California democratic representative] Ro Khanna said, but too many of them felt locked out of the country’s economic future and were looking for someone to blame. ‘What happened to us?’ he imagined people in these left-
behind places asking.

Part of Khanna’s solution was to sign on as co-chairman of the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the democratic socialist who rose to the national stage by railing against ‘the handful of billionaires’ who ‘control the economic and political life of this nation’, and who disproportionately live in Khanna’s district.

The other part of Khanna’s solution was to do what he was doing now, talking to billionaire tech executives like Larsen who worried that the current path for both capitalism and Silicon Valley was unsustainable.” [washingtonpost.com]

It may be the case that wealth inequality and limited growth in real wages for average workers (a point that is disputed [marketwatch.com] ) is beginning to lead some to question the merits of capitalism. The rise of democratic socialists in the democratic party is probably also helping to raise the issue in many people's minds.

The 2020 elections could hinge mostly on concerns related to capitalism vs socialism. If so, that would suggest that racial and social concerns over illegal immigration and demographic changes that dominated the 2016 election have been replaced by economic concerns as the top voter issue. If wealth distribution strongly skewed to the top is a factor, maybe the virtues of capitalism are being seriously questioned.

Germaine 6 Apr 24
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Why do the leftists, like Khanna, believe that they can speak for what all the people want? For what it's worth, I think that most people want opportunity to improve their lot in life, they want more freedom to determine their future, therefore, less government. I see the struggle as between socialism and freedom.

@Germaine Market forces drive supply and demand and therefore prices, except when government steps in to "help". Interest rates fell like a stone after 2000 because of government intervention and created inflation in the housing prices, which are now beyond the reach of too many first time buyers.
I am not suggesting no government, that's only after we all become angels. Government stepping in to break up corporations that are "too big to fail" might be a topic worth discussing. I agree that government ought to be there to defend personal freedom and the constitution.
There has been lately a great deal of over stepping authority by government, dictating what will be defined as equal outcome and what is, or is not fair for everyone. Continuing in this way will keep us on the road to serfdom.

@Germaine I suspect we agree on many other points. The people who created the Constitution were trying to achieve a balance of power, it appears we have moved away from balance. My question is: how do we return to a place of more balance.

@Germaine While we were all getting fat and lazy, the political class learned that they could keep their jobs and create more if they continued to deliver what we wanted, implying that it will be forever. This has lead us to borrowing money from our unborn children in order to live beyond our means now. And spending beyond our means strategy, has lead to most government departments now resembling crisis centres running out of money. It is, as you said, mostly irrational and detached from objective reality and sound logic, unless the intention has been all along to place most of the population into slavery in the next generation or two.

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Yes, this terrible for our country and it's people. It's just too much and we are sick of all the winning, bring on socialism, I'm saving all the newspapers I can, to not only save the planet, but also so I have something to wipe my ass with when the time comes, yay for comrade Bernie.

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Check out some of Eric Weinstein's work on this. He's a liberal but really incredible intelligent and an accomplished economist.

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