#COP26 #climate_change #planet #earth #choice #binary #capitalism #catastrophe #uk #global #future #death
As posted on Diaspora Europe on 27th October 2021.
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@iankenway I agree with the notion that binary choices are short sighted and generally wrong... I strongly disagree with the notion that capitalism is an inherently harmful form of government. In fact most things that people blame as hallmarks of capitalism are in fact by their nature a quality that is anti-capitalism. For example corruption caused by greed, when that occurs you no longer have a capitalism because corruption implies manipulation which implies you dont have a free market, which is what defines capitalism.
@freemo
@iankenway
I agree with Freemo. The problem is not capitalism in general but its contemporary laissez-faire, neoliberal and crony capitalist forms. In the George Monbiot article linked in Ian's previous tweet, most if not all of his proposals, including the wealth tax and the idea of public luxury and private sufficiency, are quite compatible with social democracy, and thus with some form of capitalism.
In my opinion, the meme itself is more likely to alienate than convince, because while some people will associate the use of the word "capitalism" solely with the aforementioned forms, others will associate the use with any system involving some private ownership of capital. The people who are undecided on the matter of climate change action will be more likely to have the latter association, and will be more likely to recoil at the meme than agree with it.
I strongly disagree on wealth tax, that is not healthy for a society and people having wealth, even a lot of it, is not an indication of an unfair society.
I do agree with the fact that there is a problem where the poor dont get as fair a chance to rise up out of poverty as they should. I also agree markets arent as free as they should be both in terms of corruption as well as excessive regulation. But wealth tax implies that excessive wealth is the problem, it is not. At worst it may be a symptom of other inherent problems.
@freemo
To be clear, I am still undecided on wealth taxes myself.
The point is that few, if any, of the proposals I have heard from Monbiot or most other people in his crowd are even incompatible with at least some form of capitalism, so saying that capitalism itself is the issue rather than the particular form of capitalism seen now (or, as some other than me might argue, specific swathes of policy rather than the entire form of capitalism used) is at best hasty and at worst motivated reasoning.
@iankenway
I would argue a wealth tax is directly contrary to healthy capitalism or capitalism at all. It penalizes anyone who makes money, thats the opposite of a free market where making or loosing money is considered natural and desirable for the population.
Indeed, a business can succeed or fail if it fails you learn and try again.
Of course business can't survive without workers so in that resect you are still going to have the people at the top and people below doing their job. if your business makes and sells products you need a whole range of people.
Surely however the important thing is people feel they can truly move up and progress.
A company need not give the opportunity to move up if the world you live in is designed in such a way that you have good opportunity to start your own company that can compete with large companies well. In fact what youll find is that the easier it is for a worker to go off and start their own competing business the more it is in the best interest of large companies to provide career advancement opportunities in the first place, otherwise they loose their best workers and drive competition growth.
@freemo @mathlover @iankenway
Yeah move up either in the same company or a higher position at a different company, or starting on your own.