this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2022
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Capitalism as such is only a system for the fair exchange of goods and services, the cause of poverty is not this, but the so-called neoliberalism that completely distorted this original idea due to the corruption, greed and selfishness of an elite, which enriches itself by cost and the work of the population. It is the continuation of feudalism.
That's... the result of capitalism.
I love to use the methanol example to illustrate this: Methanol by itself isn't that toxic, no more toxic than regular ethanol. But once metabolized in your body, it becomes formaldehyde and formic acid, and about 5-10 ml of pure methanol can turn into enough of those to kill you. So the methanol molecule itself is fairly benign, but you still shouldn't drink it.
No, the result of neoliberalism is the lack of sovereignty of the people, leaving it to markets, banks and economic powers. This is what we are seeing live and direct where the system fails. The capitalist system with the sovereignty of the people cannot cause this damage. Capitalism as such does not imply that policies benefit speculators, banks and multinationals, this is what makes the difference.
So where in the idea of capitalism do you see a mechanism that avoids colluding and undermining the sovereignty of people?
From my POV, capitalism is the act of maximising profit/cash flow. This may happen through peaceful agreements, soft power or hard power.
What part of capitalism are you referring to, when you distinguish it from neo-liberalism?
People are not prevented from earning money from their work, by offering a fair exchange of goods and services for this work. But in neoliberalism this does not work like that, in politics they favor, not their corresponding voters, but they work for the benefit of large companies, banks and economic powers, at the cost of the work of others. This has nothing to do with the sovereignty of the people, but with the sovereignty of an economic elite with our politicians and the media as spokespersons. Even this war and also the previous ones were because of this, every time when this bubble was about to burst, to make a "reset", enriching those who caused it and leaving crises, miseries and deaths for the population, just like now, look who have an economic crisis now, with banks and multinationals making record profits, who suffers is the people. This is what I mean by sovereignty so that capitalism regains its original meaning.
If there's no way to prevent a horrible side effect, then it's just as bad as if that effect was intentional.
Same in any other system which lacks the sovereignty of the people and that grants it to an elite. In this case there can never be an egalitarian and fair system. If a small merchant charges you abusive prices for a service or item, you will be left without clients and those who trust him, if a multinational or a bank does, you can even be required by law to go to them, if they have the necessary lobbies in politics. This is independent of the political system where there is an elite and a capital that governs the rules. The only way is to put the sovereignty of the population as a whole ahead of the factual and economic powers and not the other way around, as is done now. Only in this way can the abuse and greed of a few be avoided. Se also this thread https://lemmy.ml/post/492455
No... that's just a market lol. Capitalism is the ideological belief that those who have wealth are good at turning that wealth into "capital" (which is just wealth that makes more wealth). So the result of this belief is the idea that we should give those who are wealthy more wealth so that they can continue to generate more wealth in total. Rising tides lift all boats type of thing.
Capitalism isn't just a system. It's an ideology that even modern economics has disproven
Not true capitalism, folks!