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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, hope your kids aren't in public school, and I really hope you don't plan on Social Security or Medicare.  Please don't take  unemployment benefits,  or complain  about potholes. Don't engage in anything that has federal funding, please, which includes higher ed, the arts, medical advances from research.

It's all a one sided understanding with you types, but you're the first to complain  about inflation,  right? We have inflation due to corporate gouging- they got bail outs and turned around and took advantage of the system by raising prices. 
. It's not even capitalism we have,  it's a 
system of oligarchy.

Our nation has the very rich, supported by tax cuts and benefits,  but also we have people literally starving on the street and dying from a lack of health  care access.  So is this the question you really want to ask  today?[/quote]

You are confused. Capitalism doesn’t mean don’t pay any taxes at all. Certain socialist services are necessary for a functioning capitalist society. And by the way the wealthiest 50% pay most of the taxes in this country so how is it that the wealthy aren’t paying their fair share. But paying taxes so someone’s student debt can be canceled when they alone agreed to their loan is not what capitalists had in mind (unless you want to buy votes). Or paying for illegal aliens’ health care for that matter. [/quote]

See this is where a compromise could be good.  I don't want to pay off someone's student loans either.  But why can't we have a (gasp) government program where we give interest free loans for behaviors we want to encourage?  Like getting our populace educated.  Maybe even incentivize them to study things we need and want more of like science and tech?

As for healthcare, I know illegals don't qualify for any official healthcare plans, so are you talking about people who go to ERs then skip out on the bill?  Also, I hope you are not Christian because the whole "care for the poor and sick" thing could create some real cognitive dissonance for you.[/quote]

I’m Christian. Capitalism, despite its flaws, has moved more people out of poverty and provided health care to more people worldwide than any economic system ever created. Good thing for you is those weight loss drugs would never have been created without Capitalism and free markets.[/quote]

Can you cite any evidence whatsoever that capitalism has moved more people out of poverty and provided health care?  China was one of the 10 poorest countries in the world in 1949 and look at it now.  I'm no fan of China but it does show you what can be achieved when you force that sort of system on people and repress individual rights for the 'common good'.  [/quote]

China has a merchantilist / capitalistic economic system with very inefficient state-run industries along actual capitalistic companies. Of course rampant IP theft, currency manipulation, opaque commerce laws that favor domestic companies, requirements for joint ventures with a Chinese company to do business there (and thereby provide another means for IP theft), trade barriers and tariffs, low but quickly rising manufacturing wages etc sure have helped the Chinese economy. Of course it’s America’s capitalistic economy that made China what it is today economically. US corporations shipped millions of manufacturing jobs there the last 3 decades in order to boost profits and provide cheap products for the Anerican consumer.[/quote]

You make some good points. But I have some questions.

Firstly, if you look at the true definition of communism, are there any actual communist countries? If not, I’m not sure what is the point of this discussion.

Secondly, while US demand has driven much of the economic growth, you draw attention to a number of measures including tariffs and trade barriers, heavy government regulation favouring domestic companies, etc. I’d add in state subsidisation of industries like EVs and solar power. These definitely aren’t a feature of the free market, but of government control. Does this suggest that ‘controlled capitalism’ might be more effective than pure capitalism?

Thirdly, everyone points out the ‘success stories’ of capitalism but nobody talks about the failures. How about those kids slugging it out in unregulated cobalt mines in the Congo or 12 year olds working in garment sweatshops in Bangladesh? Sure capitalism has given them jobs but that doesn’t feel like a great success story.

Finally, why doesn’t anybody point to success stories that are not pure capitalism? Australia had uninterrupted economic growth for 30 years (admittedly foundering now) and ranks more highly than the US on many non-economic measures like life expectancy, literacy, and even happiness. Yet it has a national Medicare system (as well as private insurance), almost all universities are state-owned, and taxes are much higher. It spends $6,500 per capita on healthcare vs $12,500 in the US with better health outcomes like life expectancy. To become a doctor, you take out about $70-80,000 loans for tuition fees and these are indexed at the CPI and there is no interest. So which is better? Capitalism or communism….or maybe something in between?[/quote]

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