I have this hope, that a stable democracy could also work under a socialist economic system. If capitalism can work without dictatorship, then socialism should also. I think it’s just a different approach to how you do economics.
That’s the other thing, though…capitalism just straight up doesn’t work. Regardless of the politics, it assumes infinite resources and infinite growth, and it empowers the wealthy. It requires unequal trades of goods and labor in order for one person to profit over the other.
Its the same social hierarchy we learned in Middle School that’s been in place since Mesopotamia. We just put new names on it, and made the bottom levels believe they had power and mobility.
Every now and then they let someone jump several classes and they make a big show out of it. Some nobody becomes a world-famous musician, or actor, or athlete, or whatever. And yeah usually they have talent and merit and whatnot, and that’s great…but they only got the fortune and fame because the higher levels let them.
Gotta keep that hope alive.
And yeah. The lower classes do have some shots at moving a class or two, over the course of a generation or two…through massive risk (either welfare through business accumen or literally with their life through military heroism)…with the looming threat of going down a level always hanging over them.
Gotta keep that fear alive, too.
Hell we took it even further and made the labor class think their enemies are other people in the labor class, and that you can fall further down the labor class before becoming a literal slave (perpetual debt, debtors prison, wage garnishment).
Man why does the world feel like a Suzanne Collins book?
It only needs infinite growth everywhere because everyone wants to retire and retirement is a massive drain on an aging society. If you want people to retire at an age where they’re still capable of enjoying life, in a society with increasingly few workers compared to non-workers, no economic system works without continued growth.
You absolutely can have a small business that doesn’t grow exponentially under capitalism. It just won’t let you retire early on your own little yacht.
I have this hope, that a stable democracy could also work under a socialist economic system. If capitalism can work without dictatorship, then socialism should also. I think it’s just a different approach to how you do economics.
That’s the other thing, though…capitalism just straight up doesn’t work. Regardless of the politics, it assumes infinite resources and infinite growth, and it empowers the wealthy. It requires unequal trades of goods and labor in order for one person to profit over the other.
Its the same social hierarchy we learned in Middle School that’s been in place since Mesopotamia. We just put new names on it, and made the bottom levels believe they had power and mobility.
Every now and then they let someone jump several classes and they make a big show out of it. Some nobody becomes a world-famous musician, or actor, or athlete, or whatever. And yeah usually they have talent and merit and whatnot, and that’s great…but they only got the fortune and fame because the higher levels let them.
Gotta keep that hope alive.
And yeah. The lower classes do have some shots at moving a class or two, over the course of a generation or two…through massive risk (either welfare through business accumen or literally with their life through military heroism)…with the looming threat of going down a level always hanging over them.
Gotta keep that fear alive, too.
Hell we took it even further and made the labor class think their enemies are other people in the labor class, and that you can fall further down the labor class before becoming a literal slave (perpetual debt, debtors prison, wage garnishment).
Man why does the world feel like a Suzanne Collins book?
It only needs infinite growth everywhere because everyone wants to retire and retirement is a massive drain on an aging society. If you want people to retire at an age where they’re still capable of enjoying life, in a society with increasingly few workers compared to non-workers, no economic system works without continued growth.
You absolutely can have a small business that doesn’t grow exponentially under capitalism. It just won’t let you retire early on your own little yacht.