follower of the child's crusade?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru
But even America is far from being purely capitalist. One merely has to look as far back as the 19th century of Robber Barons and Tycoons to see the difference. Even back then, it wasn't purely capitalist. Want to know why? There were severe tariffs preventing international competition in the U.S. That's right, the American government was protecting these few but very rich companies of the 19th century. That is not pure capitalism. That is a highly capitalistic economy governed by a socialist measure: government protectionism. It was all going so well until the public pressured the government to step in to fight exploitation of workers and unfair competition practices. The rest is history.
Even in America—the most capitalistic nation in the world—deals in worker unions, labour laws, economic protectionism, socialized benefits, regulation, etc, etc. America, even in its capitalistic glory, is a mixed economy. This is a technical fact.
That said, we deal with mixed economies because what you call "interferences" are much more deeply ingrained and complex than that. It is strict and far-reaching government control of aspects of production and ownership. These economies have socialist aspects to them. That's what they are in essence. It is this combination that makes them technically mixed economies. For them to be technically capitalist, they'd need to have no government intervention whatsoever (e.g. goodbye unions, labour laws, minimum wages, safety regulations, maximum work hours, statutory holidays, etc.). As we know, government intervention is well established pretty much everywhere.
Another question: If there has been no working model for communism, how do you know it's not flawed? Hasn't it been attempted? Does that not mean it's flawed?
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Based on an understanding and experience of humanity that guides us to believe that a life based on co-operation is better than one based on competition.
---------- Post added at 08:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:44 PM ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru
But even America is far from being purely capitalist. One merely has to look as far back as the 19th century of Robber Barons and Tycoons to see the difference. Even back then, it wasn't purely capitalist. Want to know why? There were severe tariffs preventing international competition in the U.S. That's right, the American government was protecting these few but very rich companies of the 19th century. That is not pure capitalism. That is a highly capitalistic economy governed by a socialist measure: government protectionism. It was all going so well until the public pressured the government to step in to fight exploitation of workers and unfair competition practices. The rest is history.
Even in America—the most capitalistic nation in the world—deals in worker unions, labour laws, economic protectionism, socialized benefits, regulation, etc, etc. America, even in its capitalistic glory, is a mixed economy. This is a technical fact.
That said, we deal with mixed economies because what you call "interferences" are much more deeply ingrained and complex than that. It is strict and far-reaching government control of aspects of production and ownership. These economies have socialist aspects to them. That's what they are in essence. It is this combination that makes them technically mixed economies. For them to be technically capitalist, they'd need to have no government intervention whatsoever (e.g. goodbye unions, labour laws, minimum wages, safety regulations, maximum work hours, statutory holidays, etc.). As we know, government intervention is well established pretty much everywhere.
Another question: If there has been no working model for communism, how do you know it's not flawed? Hasn't it been attempted? Does that not mean it's flawed?
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On the first point, simply it is my understanding that while there are substantional differences in the experience of the people - robber baron capitalism and social capitalism are both flawed and exploitative systems. I do not consider the state of post collapse Russia - ruled by Mafiya and Plutocrats to be fundamentally different to the social capitaistic state of Sweden... the basic conditions of economic inefficiency, inequality and exploitation exist all the same.
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"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."
The Gospel of Thomas
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