• MyBrainHurts@lemmy.ca
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    10 天前

    Shrinking populations seem more to be from two positive things:

    1. A drastic reduction in teenage pregnancies.

    2. As living standards improve, gigantic families are less essential for survival (they used to be cheap labour to worm the land, provide family care etc.)

    But in general, sure, there are absolutely bad incentives under capitalism. We’ve known this for a long time and when we could talk rationally as adults, we could deal with them, hence anti-trust and anti-collusion laws, which are required to stop the inevitable desire for monopolistic price rewards.

    Just like we changed those laws, we can change others to temper capitalism. Unfortunately, when we cede the “hey, why don’t we fix things?” Space to folks whose answer is an economic model that has literally never worked, well, then we’re left with the libertarians and other conservatives vs the centrist progressives while our Leftie flank is mia.

    Honestly, if I were one of the digital overlords who run our social media and I wanted to maintain the our current ruthless capitalism, I can think of nothing more useful than encouraging as much communist nonsense from the Left as I possibly could.

    • trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world
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      9 天前

      Just like we changed those laws, we can change others to temper capitalism.

      Guys we just have to do better laws to fix the system that lets rich people control what the laws are.

      Unfortunately, when we cede the “hey, why don’t we fix things?” Space to folks whose answer is an economic model that has literally never worked,

      Feudalism is not a perfect system but it’s the only one that has ever worked, so says the aristocracy!

      • MyBrainHurts@lemmy.ca
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        9 天前

        Guys we just have to do better laws to fix the system that lets rich people control what the laws are.

        Lile we do for anti trust laws, collusion, labour safety, employment standards etc.

        Feudalism is not a perfect system but it’s the only one that has ever worked

        There had been alternative, better economic models by this time. Though, I suppose it is fitting that your hypothetical only works if you don’t know all that much.

        • trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world
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          9 天前

          Lile we do for anti trust laws, collusion, labour safety, employment standards etc.

          The ones currently either not functioning or actively getting dismantled?

          There had been alternative, better economic models by this time. Though, I suppose it is fitting that your hypothetical only works if you don’t know all that much.

          There are alternative better economic models today.

          Yes, its of course going to be harder to build systems of power outside of the capitalist nation state system, as any working model is going to be seen as a threat and attacked.

          • MyBrainHurts@lemmy.ca
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            9 天前

            The ones currently either not functioning or actively getting dismantled?

            Are you conflating America with how all capitalism must function? Or how do you see anti trust not functioning in say, the EU?

            There are alternative better economic models today.

            Theoretical ones. Surely you understand the difference between theory and practice?

            Your earlier argument was silly because during feudalism, there were and had been alternative models that produced a similar or better standard of living.

            So far, in practice, every application of non capitalism has been a dumpster fire or yielded living standards that are significantly lower than ours.

              • MyBrainHurts@lemmy.ca
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                8 天前

                Don’t be upset because you conflated capitalism with America.

                And lol, right winger. Given that for the past decade+ I’ve taken a major paycut to work for a proudly progressive institution because I believe in our values, well, that’s just adorable.

                Knowing things doesn’t make someone a right winger (frequently, it’s the opposite!)