It’s not capitalism per se. It’s the lazy, stupid populace that allows the system of regulatory capture we have.
The fossil fuel industry also gets a metric fuck ton of tax payer funded subsidies. That’s not capitalism. That’s a quasi state economy.
In a true capitalist system, we’d see more competitive forms of energy taking off, like solar and wind which are cheaper than fossil fuels at this point. But because the government keeps fossil fuels going, we’re not getting off them.
Well, voting for one. The US has abysmal voter turnout. More people stayed home and said they don’t give a shit in 2024 than either candidate got in votes.
The highest turnout we’ve had in over 100 years is 66%. A full 1 in 3 people that can vote put literally zero effort into voting.
That would be a decent start. Just actually doing anything to participate in the system.
And it will never happen because the people who control the resources also control the narrative. They promote their candidates, who change the laws in their favour, and progressively make things worse for your average person.
The system you describe is a pipe dream, and it’s a nice dream, but it’s not reflective of the world we live in today.
It’s literally the only possible system that could work. The alternative is just giving unrestricted power to politicians, and the people have no say at all.
Their power is ultimately derived from the voting public. That’s it. That is the power. You either have the ultimate power rest with the people, or the people have zero power.
It’s a cop out excuse to not put in the effort to be active and informed in the system. “It’s pointless anyway” is just defeatist bullshit.
I really wish I could believe in the system as much as you do. I think I’d be happier that way.
However, all the power lies with the capital. The capital controls the narrative, which in turn leads to people voting against their interest. The capital promotes their politicians. The politicians enact politics in favour of the capital. Then ultimately, capital controls the forces.
See for example how Murdoch and Thatcher completely destroyed the newspaper unions in England during the 80s. They went from having really strong worker rights and collective power, to being completely powerless and literally shot at by police within the span of a few years, all due to processes the workers were purposely locked out of.
Competition encourages you to seek every loophole and exploit to keep ahead, even if it means kneecapping yourself in the long term. It’s no different than an athelete drugging themselves up for the Olympic Gold Medal just to end up hospitalised for the rest of their lives.
Regulations are just another barrier to be bypassed under the law of competition. Why? Because optimising fun out of the equation is the meta.
It’s not capitalism per se. It’s the lazy, stupid populace that allows the system of regulatory capture we have.
The fossil fuel industry also gets a metric fuck ton of tax payer funded subsidies. That’s not capitalism. That’s a quasi state economy.
In a true capitalist system, we’d see more competitive forms of energy taking off, like solar and wind which are cheaper than fossil fuels at this point. But because the government keeps fossil fuels going, we’re not getting off them.
I think it’s inevitable of any human system that it eventually is undermined by greed and selfishness. Some systems are just more prone to it.
If a system were to work, it would have a way to deal with the psychopaths and other cluster b folks. It’s always been us vs them, throughout history.
Genuine question. how are the voters supposed to keep their leaders accountable?
By voting. The US has set term lengths at every level. If the leaders are not fulfilling their job properly, they get fired.
For representatives it’s every two years.
That requires having an informed and active constituency though, which we do not have.
And what happens when the elections are not-so-subtly influenced by corporate lobbyists and whoever has more money to spend on campaigning?
Then the people need to put even more effort into exercising their power. It’s that simple.
And how do you propose they do that, since it’s so simple?
Well, voting for one. The US has abysmal voter turnout. More people stayed home and said they don’t give a shit in 2024 than either candidate got in votes.
The highest turnout we’ve had in over 100 years is 66%. A full 1 in 3 people that can vote put literally zero effort into voting.
That would be a decent start. Just actually doing anything to participate in the system.
And it will never happen because the people who control the resources also control the narrative. They promote their candidates, who change the laws in their favour, and progressively make things worse for your average person.
The system you describe is a pipe dream, and it’s a nice dream, but it’s not reflective of the world we live in today.
It’s literally the only possible system that could work. The alternative is just giving unrestricted power to politicians, and the people have no say at all.
Their power is ultimately derived from the voting public. That’s it. That is the power. You either have the ultimate power rest with the people, or the people have zero power.
It’s a cop out excuse to not put in the effort to be active and informed in the system. “It’s pointless anyway” is just defeatist bullshit.
I really wish I could believe in the system as much as you do. I think I’d be happier that way.
However, all the power lies with the capital. The capital controls the narrative, which in turn leads to people voting against their interest. The capital promotes their politicians. The politicians enact politics in favour of the capital. Then ultimately, capital controls the forces.
See for example how Murdoch and Thatcher completely destroyed the newspaper unions in England during the 80s. They went from having really strong worker rights and collective power, to being completely powerless and literally shot at by police within the span of a few years, all due to processes the workers were purposely locked out of.
I hear the French have ideas
The word 'competition" here is the trap.
Competition encourages you to seek every loophole and exploit to keep ahead, even if it means kneecapping yourself in the long term. It’s no different than an athelete drugging themselves up for the Olympic Gold Medal just to end up hospitalised for the rest of their lives.
Regulations are just another barrier to be bypassed under the law of competition. Why? Because optimising fun out of the equation is the meta.