“Capitalism” and “socialism” – what do these words even mean? You could just say that capitalism is the economic system of countries like the United States, and socialism is the economic system of countries like the former Soviet Union. In that case, I’d say that capitalism is at least ok, while socialism is hell on earth. Perhaps my opponent would even agree! It’s more fruitful, though, to treat capitalism and socialism as positions on the ideal economic system. Something like: the capitalist ideal is that government plays very little role in the economy – and the socialist ideal is that government plays the leading role in the economy. In that case, I say that capitalism is awesome, and socialism is terrible.
Tag: profits
Inconsistent Conservative Interventionists
With the recent news about North Korea and South Korea uniting for the Olympics and perhaps further diplomatic discussions, I am reminded of the (numerous) inconsistencies of the supposedly conservative, free-market neocons. Here is one in particular: These folks often believe in the market rather than a central planner and at the same time believe the communist government of North Korea is an existential threat to the US.
Policing is an Insult to Justice
Since laws are backed by threat of violence, their enforcement is a criminal act. One cannot serve justice in the process of creating an injustice. It’s an impossibility.
Economics, Bigotry, and Sexuality
It might seem distasteful, but we predominantly hurt women by punishing sexual harassment. Our society tolerates this because women generally dislike women who use their sexuality to get benefits when it isn’t themselves.
Anatomy of a Tax Cut
I’ve watched the debate over the vanilla Republican tax bill closely during these many months. It’s been fascinating at many levels, not least sociologically. People reveal much about themselves — and their views of personal autonomy — in how they discuss taxes.
Factory-Like Schools Are the Child Labor Crisis of Today
There is mounting evidence that increasingly restrictive schooling, quickly consuming the majority of childhood, is damaging children. Rates of childhood anxiety, depression, behavioral problems, and other mental illness are surging.
Voluntary Law and Order
People are not all the same, and they make different choices because they have different values, circumstances, and levels of understanding. Sometimes those choices are peaceful and wise; sometimes they are not. So what are the best ways to promote good choices and cooperation while preventing and providing resolution for conflict?
Cooperation vs. Interventionism
Henry J. Gomez of buzzfeed recently wrote an article about libertarianism. To his credit, he mostly describes libertarian foreign politics as non-interventionist – except for one awful passage: “libertarians believe […] less-interventionist, more-isolationist themes.” No, no, a thousand times no.
Barack Obama Goes From White House to Wall Street Seamlessly
I go back and forth on the question of which bloc of voters is politically dumber and more gullible, the average conservative or the average liberal… But here’s reason number #23,514,938 to go with liberal on that question.
Healthcare: A House Divided Cannot Stand
I predict that the US government will adopt a “single-payer” healthcare system no later than 2030, and probably sooner. And while I oppose that outcome and believe its results will be far worse than a real free-market system would produce, I also suspect that those results will be better than the current half-fish, half-fowl, largely socialized but with fake “private” players sucking it dry, system.